Star Forge Titan

"I'm fine." Ivan shook his head and calmed down again:

"Well, then, do you have anything to say?" Heidi said meaningfully:

"There's something wrong with the Sorcerer King's secret technique. Not only will it damage the environment, but it will also severely affect the user's self-awareness, ultimately leading to complete madness." Ivan said bluntly.

Heard this, Heidi fell silent.

After a while, she let out a faint sigh.

"It seems that there is no way I can complete my promotion this way."

"Although I think it's unlikely, I'll still ask if you want to try using the Fist Fighter method to complete your promotion." Ivan asked half-jokingly:

"After the previous battle, I already fully understood how the Dou Qi Armor operated. Based on this, I can at least infer the promotion rituals for levels one to three. Moreover, they are powerful classes with certain high-level characteristics."

"As for higher levels, if you have enough time and further understanding, you can try."

Heidi felt it was absurd to listen to the casual words of the black-haired boy in front of her.

What a joke! That was a brand new Transcendental Sequence that several generations of Freedom Fist had spent a hundred years to complete. How could he say it was something so simple?

Given enough time, even the fourth level wouldn't be a problem, right? That's the fourth level! It's the true crown-wearer, capable of earning titles like Champion Swordsman or Crown Mage!

Ordinary extraordinary people rarely even dream of becoming such a being.

"The extraordinary people in this sequence should be able to master spells with power comparable to that of ordinary spellcasters in their chosen specialization. But ultimately, the design concept of the Fighter Sequence is still more inclined towards combat professionals, so..."

Ivan looked at Heidi's wavering eyes.

"Want to try natural promotion?"

Chapter 10 Cats and the Sky

In the world of Palladia, when the first extraordinary being was born, there was no such sound system as there is now.

Even so, extraordinary people are still born, and even they, like their descendants, strive to climb to new realms that are higher, stronger, and faster.

At first, it may have been a simple matter of increasing strength and improving physical intensity, but later on, various talents and abilities were derived. Even the magic civilization that gradually prospered later on was continuously developed in the brainstorming session generated by the collision of inspiration between people.

It is undeniable that these studies and developments have been somewhat influenced by the remnants of the past era that have only a few words left from ancient ruins, but human subjective will has undoubtedly played the greatest role.

The most primitive promotion ceremony among these is natural promotion.

Just as a cup filled with enough water will overflow when it can no longer hold the water, there is also a limit to the self-training that a transcendent can perform.

The process of breaking this limit is like breaking a cup and then adding materials to recast it into a bigger and better new cup. The whole process is full of uncertainty and unknowns.

Simply and roughly breaking a cup will often only result in fragments on the ground. It is for this reason that various promotion ceremonies were invented in later generations.

The purpose is ultimately to increase the success rate of reshaping the cup.

However, natural promotion still exists in every corner of the world of Palladia. There are always some extraordinary people who cannot obtain promotion information and dare to take risks. Such behavior is like drawing cards. The worst result is only one of them. There are also extreme cases that are completely opposite to it.

Some succeed by chance, some even achieve extraordinary success, but more people die (literally) in the process of uncontrolled mutation and promotion.

So when Alvin made this suggestion, he got a cold look from Heidi.

"Don't look at me like that." The black-haired boy waved his hand.

"Although the success rate of natural promotion is extremely low, the first half of this process allows transcendents to rely on their instincts and the excellent intuition brought by their extraordinary perception to vaguely sense the most suitable promotion direction for themselves."

Hearing this, Heidi finally withdrew her dissatisfied look and showed a thoughtful expression again.

Seeing this, Ivan nodded secretly and continued to speak:

"That might not be the most powerful one, but it's the most suitable direction for promotion. Using this as a clue, you can find a suitable promotional position relatively efficiently."

"Could it be that you have a way to make people enter the state of natural promotion and then exit it?" Heidi, who heard something, looked at the black-haired boy in front of her in surprise.

In the world of Palladia, there are many studies on how to help extraordinary people complete their promotion more smoothly, and there are also many studies on how to prevent extraordinary people from accidentally entering a state of natural promotion. However, research on how to prevent people from failing in promotion... cannot be said to be completely non-existent, it can only be said to be quite unpopular.

Who would study this kind of thing except for those with bad intentions?

"Two or three kinds, but only one meets the conditions for use now." As he spoke, Alvin raised one hand, and the palm of his hand slowly lit up until it turned into a handful of white magic flames rising upwards.

Although the flames were constantly rolling and swaying, they did not give people a sense of burning, but instead revealed a warm vitality.

"Phoenix flame..." Heidi muttered to herself with her eyes wide open. For the first time, the female mage looked a little out of control.

"It's not to that extent. It's just a similar power simulated by the blood of the phoenix." Alvin shook his head. What was burning in his hand was only the flame of life filled with life force, not the legendary phoenix nirvana flame that could resurrect the dead.

During his promotion to the Ash Knight, due to the use of phoenix tail feathers as his promotion material and the physical attributes entering the perfect realm, a variety of harsh conditions worked together to allow Ivan to master a special magical flame called the Flame of Life.

This magical flame has a magic-breaking property similar to the positive energy flames of heaven, which can greatly enhance special attacks against negative energy creatures and magic. It also has the ability to restore things distorted by external forces to their normal state, so it can be used to destroy some special curses and spell effects, etc.

The scope of this retrospection is actually quite limited, but it happens to include extraordinary people who have just entered the state of natural promotion.

"So, do you want to try it?" Alvin said in a calm tone.

But to Heidi, these words sounded like the devil's whisper, full of undisguised temptation.

The female mage's breathing became basic, and her nostrils were slightly flaring under the high nose bridge that was unique to northerners. A beautiful crimson color rose on her fair cheeks.

She also knew that while natural advancement carried numerous uncertainties, it allowed one to accurately identify both their deficiencies and their strengths. More importantly, it allowed transcendents, during the near-out-of-body experience of advancement, to rely on an intuition that transcended instinct and perception to discern what they most needed.

The female mage suddenly drank the black tea in the cup as if she had finished a bottle of liquor.

"Huh..." Heidi let out a long sigh.

"not now."

Ivan smiled slightly, and flipped his right hand, which was burning with white magic flames, downwards. The flame of life immediately disappeared as if it had never existed.

"Since you have mastered such a magical flame, why don't you try it yourself first?" Heidi rolled her eyes at him and asked unhappily:

"Because I always know what I need most." Alvin stood up and gave this brief and powerful answer.

"What a confident young man." The female mage picked up the silver dessert spoon and thrust it hard into the snacks that the accompanying cat had just brought.

Although she still had a smile on her face, the speed of her movements and the sharp sound made by the spoon rubbing against the exquisite plate scared the kitten next to her so much that its fur stood on end.

As a result, this lucky laboratory creature, which had just started to live a normal life after following its hostess, couldn't help but start to wonder if there was something wrong with the new dessert he had learned.

Fortunately, when Heidi put the elegant dessert spoon filled with Lind's complex patterns from the last century into her mouth, the spreading sweetness immediately diluted her dissatisfaction, and even her expression became gentle.

This dish is called "Kunafa" by the locals and is prepared in a distinctly desert style, using a large amount of white cheese mixed with flour and roasted nuts.

When the dessert is baked until the surface is golden brown, the chefs will pour a layer of sweet milk syrup or rose syrup on it, so that the dessert itself is full of extra fragrant sweet aroma and has an attractive texture of crispy outside and tender inside.

Of course, the heat was also explosive, just like how Alvin's hair almost exploded when he saw the experiment that Catworm was going to do next.

A cat-worm, a cat-worm wearing goggles, sat on a round, oddly shaped wooden vehicle. It was then lifted up by its companions and pushed directly from the top deck of the Rogilas...!!!

Chapter 11: The Flying Pastry Chef

Just as Alvin showed a look of astonishment, he saw a black shadow rising high from under the side of the ship with a "whoosh".

"Meow, la la la la la" the cats and insects all cheered loudly, and at the same time waved their short limbs vigorously towards the figure flying high in the sky. They looked so funny and cute.

"Are these guys experimenting with some weird vehicles?"

Recovering from his shock, Ivan quickly stepped forward, his divinely-transformed golden eyes accurately capturing the rapidly moving figure. More precisely, it was a new cat-carrying aircraft tracing an "⑧" (likely a character) trajectory across the sky.

This new cat-carrying aircraft has a rather wide, oval-shaped trunk with very flat front and back ends, almost like a barrel. The wings extending from either side appear particularly short compared to the trunk.

When Alvin paid close attention and looked carefully, he discovered that the trunk of the aircraft was actually made of a whole oak barrel with the top cover and bottom plate removed!

The cat-worms used their own high-toughness silk threads to wrap around the outside several times to increase its strength. This made it difficult to see the true identity of the oak barrel at a glance. Instead, it looked like some high-grade material wrapped in white silk.

The front and rear covers and bottom plates of the barrel were removed and replaced with a large propeller installed inside.

The propeller drive was also integrated into the front of the barrel, and the magic vision showed a very regular flow of magic power. Clearly, this should be a magic engine that consumes magic power to operate.

Wow, even though the materials and environment are very limited, the cats and bugs still used various parts dug out from the garbage dump to create a magical engineering creation that is no less powerful than Lind's modern magical technology.

Of course, this vehicle looks very decent, and its actual operating principle is also very simple.

The large propeller inside the hollow trunk continuously sucks in the air in front through high-speed rotation, accelerates it, and then sprays it toward the tail along the hollow part of the barrel, thus forming a force that is enough to propel the entire vehicle forward.

Because its structure is different from that of ordinary propeller aircraft, the airflow that serves as thrust will not be lost due to passing through the fuselage. In addition, the hollow trunk also plays a role in compressing the airflow to a certain extent. Therefore, the operating efficiency of this vehicle is actually much better than its simple appearance. The short and miniature wings alone are enough to provide the lift for the entire vehicle to fly.

However, the designers obviously did not seriously consider the driver's experience. The cat-worm serving as the driver does not have a dedicated cockpit and seat. Instead, it grabs two sticky silk threads that it sprays out like the reins of a horse and stands upright right above the vehicle!

In addition, there are two silk threads connected to the wings that can be adjusted in angle, and the other end is held on the middle limb of the catworm hidden in the furry cat hair.

In a sense, the cat-carrying aircraft, which had a crude appearance but could actually fly, was controlled by the cat bug like a puppet.

Of course, the bold driving style also makes the driving difficulty of this vehicle increase sharply, but judging from the joyful shouts of the cat-bugs, including the one standing on top of the plane (let's use this term that everyone is familiar with to call this thing), none of them showed any fear at all, but were very happy instead.

"Is that Lind's magic technology?" Heidi's voice came from behind.

"That's about right. My group of kids really like to tinker with all kinds of machines." Alvin shrugged and made a reluctant explanation with a pitifully unbelievable excuse.

"Before, I left them a few magazines introducing magical engineering."

"You mean, these furry little cuties were able to create a magical vehicle that could fly smoothly into the sky just by relying on a few magazines available on the market in Linde, the Central Empire?" Heidi's tone sounded very skeptical, but Alvin pretended not to hear and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I didn't expect them to be so talented."

"If people from the Linde Alchemist Association and the National Mage Association saw this, they would probably wonder if they were drunk." Heidi joked with a hint of meaning.

"Actually..." Thinking back to the big news he had created in Linde, Alvin couldn't help but reveal a slightly strange expression.

"They're probably used to it."

"Huh?" Heidi tilted her head with a confused look.

At this moment, the oak barrel plane, which had completed its first flight test and soared to high altitude and dived down many times, finally began to return.

"Meow! Meow!" The driver used his appendage to take out a pencil-sized wand, put it against his neck and recited a spell, then began to use meows that were difficult for others to understand to notify the crowd below to prepare for support.

As if some simple spell was used, the voice of the driver Cat Cat Bug became particularly loud at this moment.

Hearing the driver's shout, a large number of catworms immediately gathered on both sides of the top deck. Alvin tried to figure out what these little guys were going to do next, but he soon gave up because this group of guys looked so chaotic and didn't seem to have any pre-prepared plans at all.

Next, the oak barrel plane drew a graceful arc that was inconsistent with its clumsy appearance, landed lightly and nimbly on the edge of the top deck of the Rogilas, and then began to glide quickly towards the bridge.

Judging from its current speed, it will either crash into the bridge or rush down from the rear.

Just as Ivan was about to do something, the long-awaited cat-bugs meowed in unison, then simultaneously sprayed a large amount of sticky silk threads in front of the oak barrel plane. He immediately realized that the cat-bugs were planning to use this method to slow down the oak barrel plane.

Originally, Alvin thought that those silk threads would be like the arresting cables on the deck of an aircraft carrier, gradually reducing the speed of the aircraft by consuming kinetic energy in stages.

But unexpectedly, the silk threads sprayed by the cat bugs actually stuck to the plane directly, and then their whole bodies fell backwards, and they exerted force together with a "meow" sound, just like tug-of-war.

The huge inertia directly dragged more than a dozen catworms into the sky, but at this moment the number of catworms on the deck had exceeded one hundred. Coupled with the special metal boots that could be attached to the deck by magnetism, although most of these catworms rolled into a ball on the ground, the speed of the oak barrel plane was indeed reduced.

So, relying on this method that seemed very chaotic to ordinary people, the cats and bugs actually stopped the plane, preventing it from hitting the bridge or rushing out of the deck.

This is really cause for celebration!

There's nothing to celebrate about this. Don't these naughty kids know how dangerous this is?

Ivan felt the veins on his forehead bulging, and his originally smiling expression immediately turned cloudy.

Seeing the big captain, chief, and commander showing such a 'terrifying' expression, all the cats and bugs finally realized what was happening and huddled together, with their soft fur blowing outwards. They looked like a pile of huddled plush toys, shivering in the wind.

"Mee——" the little ones made a sound with a slight cry.

Looking at those big, watery eyes that were about to cry, Alvin held his forehead weakly.

"Oh, I forgive you."

"Oh oh oh oh oh!" The cats and bugs who were about to cry immediately cheered loudly and pushed several of their companions off the deck to celebrate. Oh, of course, they wrapped them with silk threads as safety ropes before throwing them down.

"Meow--" At this time, the cat-worm that was brave enough to fly into the sky on an oak barrel airplane, came to Ivan with difficulty, holding a metal barrel that was much bigger than itself, and staggered with every step.

This iron barrel was originally installed at the end of the oak barrel plane's short wings. A rotating propeller was connected to the top cover, but there was no magical reaction inside it. It was obviously not an auxiliary engine used for propulsion.

"Well, what's inside?" Alvin took the metal bucket that Maomao Chong brought up with some curiosity.

As soon as he touched the iron barrel, he felt a cool touch on his fingers. Coupled with the fact that it had just been taken down from the oak barrel plane, Ivan immediately had a strange association.

Could it be that...

As the sealed lid of the iron barrel connected to the propeller was opened, a white cold mist mixed with a sweet scent immediately wafted out.

"Ice cream..." Alvin was amused and helpless when he heard the cats and bugs cheering loudly again.

Seeing the ingredients in the iron bucket successfully turned into a large bucket of ice cream under the combined action of the cold environment at high altitude and the propeller mixer, they seemed to be happier than seeing the oak barrel plane successfully take off.

After the cheers, other cats and bugs immediately pushed over a whole cart of freshly baked cone-shaped egg rolls, and some cats and bugs took the initiative to put a white kitchen apron on Ivan and a white chef's hat on his head.

Subconsciously, Alvin took the golden ice cream scoop that Maomao Chong held high above his head, and he saw a long line in front of him.