I made up magic and taught a world-destroying witch?

Joseph sat to the side, his expression calm as if he had expected it all.

In reality, he had already begun to lose his ability to speak.

Can you really grasp that?

Strictly speaking, what he just said had no meaning at all.

A fire in the stove is also light, isn't that obvious?

This is similar to saying that hot water is still water, grilled meat is still meat, and money spent can be called project costs. Essentially, it's a very flexible way of packaging language.

How can such nonsense actually be used?

Joseph looked at the red-gold light in Mia's palm and suddenly felt that the students' extraordinary comprehension had caused a slight problem in his understanding of the world.

The man in goggles finally came to his senses.

"Miss Taylor." He unconsciously became much more polite.

"If you can maintain this heat, we can try to soften the resin layer."

Mia opened her eyes, and the light from the furnace in her palm flickered, startling her so much that she almost pulled her hand back, but she managed to hold back.

She glanced cautiously at Joseph.

"gentlemen?"

Joseph looked at her and nodded.

"Go with your judgment."

If the judgment is correct, it's because the student is quick to understand and the mentor provided in-depth instruction. If the judgment is wrong, it's still because the student made an independent attempt based on their own observations.

Joseph felt that his statement was perfect, both from an educational perspective and from a liability-avoidance perspective.

  

Mia, however, seemed to have been reassured. She bit her lip and slowly brought the small amount of furnace light in her palm closer to the crystal layer.

The man in goggles stood beside him, so nervous that he even held his breath.

"Don't touch the resin directly," he whispered a reminder. "Keep it away; it will crack if it gets too hot."

"I know." Mia stared at the translucent crystalline layer.

She slowly moved the furnace light from her palm closer, and after a while, the edges of the translucent layer softened as if it had been soaked in warm water.

The man in goggles couldn't help but whisper:

"Stop, don't get any closer, or you'll damage the buffer."

Mia's hand stopped immediately.

Joseph breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing this.

Thankfully, at least he listened to advice. Otherwise, if today's incident turned into Miss Taylor publicly burning down the Dwarf Merchant Guild's display device under the encouragement of the Archmage, he would hear people in the Grey Pigeon Town tavern telling the story that he attacked Dwarf Technology with an evil fireball spell.

Mia held the red-gold furnace light in one hand and a thin copper needle in the other, leaning over the wooden table. After a while, the black crystal finally loosened a little.

Mia's eyes lit up, and in that instant, the light from the furnace in her hand vanished.

She panicked, but she didn't have time to worry about that. She immediately used a copper needle to gently push on the other side, picking out the black substance from under the crystal and placing it on the white cloth on the wooden table.

Everyone crowded around.

The thing was only half the size of a fingernail, with some fine silver powder mixed in.

The man in the goggles saw the silver powder and his expression changed instantly. He took out a thin pair of clips from a small pouch at his waist, picked up the charred object, and examined it closely against the luminous stone.

"It contains silver-conducting powder."

"What is silver powder?" the bearded merchant asked.

"A small additive used to enhance low-magic conductivity is something many low-magic structures in the Dwarf Merchant Guild use, but it shouldn't be here," the goggles-wearing man said, frowning.

Mia also looked down at the object and frowned.

"It looks like it was pressed into the seam by heat, and when the axle turns, it pushes the buffer plate out of place."

"So it wasn't faked?" the bearded merchant asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It's too early to draw conclusions," the man in goggles said, frowning.

But everyone in the room could tell that someone had left something inappropriate inside the device.

Joseph sat next to him with a slight headache.

After-sales disputes are turning into accident investigations, accident investigations are turning into suspected sabotage, and what usually follows suspected sabotage?

He was given a bunch of things he didn't want to know at all.

Before he left home today, he only wanted to buy some cheap equipment and maybe have a barbecue roll.

Why did things turn out this way?

Mia was completely unaware of Joseph's inner turmoil; she was still staring at the low-magic axle.

After the crystal was removed, the thing that was holding the buffer sheet away disappeared. She carefully pressed the softened crystal back to the edge and used a copper needle to smooth out the crack a little.

"You can try running it under low load."

"Are you sure?" The man in goggles was taken aback.

"I'm not sure if it will work properly," Mia answered honestly.

"But at least the buffer plate isn't stuck right now. If you rotate it once under low load, you should be able to see if the inner shaft is deformed."

The man in goggles hesitated for a moment, then subconsciously looked at Joseph.

At times like these, one must pause and reflect; otherwise, it appears unsteady.

Joseph pretended to ponder for a moment, then said:

"This is contingent on both parties agreeing and recording it as a low-load observation, not as a formal resumption of operation."

The man in the goggles' eyes lit up immediately.

Rigorous! Extremely rigorous!

Professor Grantham even clarified this for them; this is no ordinary passing by.

This is someone who truly understands the risks of new technologies!

The man in goggles nodded immediately:

"Yes, only perform low-load test runs!"

After he finished speaking, he and two other people from the Dwarf Merchant Guild quickly checked the external connection and then inserted a small gray-blue crystal core back into the fixing slot.

Everyone in the shop took a step back. The gray-blue crystal core at the center of the axle lit up slightly, and the next moment, the several nested metal axles emitted a soft hum and slowly began to turn.

"It's been forwarded!"

"It really changed?"

"Wasn't it smoking just now?"

"Did Mia really get it done?"

"Low load? Didn't Professor Grantham say it? Just low load!"

"That's still a transfer!"

The man in goggles was overjoyed as he watched the low-magic axle spin.

"Professor Grantham, Miss Taylor, the Dwarf Merchant Guild owes you a great favor this time."

Joseph immediately became alert. Favors sound nice, but they often end up causing more trouble.

He was about to say that this was just a temporary disassembly and inspection, and did not constitute any commitment to long-term technical cooperation.

The man in goggles spoke quickly:

"Miss Penny should be back tomorrow. Once she returns, we will formally thank you and Miss Taylor, and the payment will be made to you both according to the Chamber of Commerce's standards."

Upon hearing the word "reward," Joseph swallowed back the words he was about to refuse.

Compensation? Why not accept compensation? It's not that I can't stay and listen.

After all, he couldn't have come off-campus for nothing, and this experience could be used in the review process a month later.

Isn't this a ready-made interim observation result? It even has the Dwarf Chamber of Commerce as a third-party witness.

Moreover, if he could get in touch with the Dwarf Merchant Guild, he might be able to find a way to get the so-called observation equipment he needed for the verification process that month.

Joseph's mood suddenly improved a lot.

I originally thought I had recruited two brilliant minds, and that as long as I didn't drop out of school by the time I ran away, I would consider it a success.

Unexpectedly, these two students could bring in additional revenue.

Looking at it this way, his judgment in recruiting students back then might have been quite good.

Although the goal was entirely to collect waste samples.

But that's not important. A good result means that the process can also be reinterpreted as visionary.

"Okay," Joseph said.

The man in the goggles immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"The environment around Grey Iron Alley is also chaotic. The Chamber of Commerce has a long-term cooperative tavern in Grey Pigeon Town. I'll have someone arrange rooms and dinner for the two of you, and all expenses will be covered by the Dwarf Chamber of Commerce."

Joseph nodded in satisfaction. Although he hadn't yet had his kebab, a free dinner wasn't out of the question.

Mia's eyes lit up when she heard about dinner, but she quickly looked down at the axle again, still not fully recovered from her success.

The light from the stove in her palm had dissipated, but the warmth remained in her hand.

Mia quietly clenched her fist, unable to suppress the smile on her face.

Joseph was about to put away the old ledger filled with disclaimers and observation records when he suddenly felt something stir slightly in his mind.

What is that? He instinctively closed his eyes.

The next moment, he almost lost his composure.

That night, he thought it was just a blurry box that he had imagined before going to sleep because he was too tired, but it actually reappeared in his mind, filled with red and gold light!