Chapter 306 The Burden of Knowledge

Arsher was strolling leisurely along the spacious corridor on the second floor. As he stepped onto the top step of the wooden staircase, he began making his way down to the first floor.

At that very moment, a whistle sounded from below.

Elyria was hurtling straight toward him at an astonishing speed. Arsher spotted her immediately and teleported out of her way, materializing at the very foot of the staircase.

He turned around and watched Elyria rush past, seemingly without even noticing who had been in her way.

Arsher let out a calm breath, taking in what had just happened. A slight smile crossed his face:

"So they're already here."

In the very next instant, the space around him warped, and Arsher silently materialized right inside Abel's laboratory.

In the silence of the laboratory, Arsher immediately began scanning the area for Iron's familiar energy signature.

Wave after wave of mana swept through the corners, walls, and technical systems of the room, but the readings stubbornly remained at zero.

After a while, however, instead of the familiar traces of mana, he detected a barely noticeable anomaly. Arsher approached the far wall and clearly identified it: a hairline crack in the fabric of space, with light seeping through it.

Arsher stepped forward. As he drew closer, the spatial rift began to widen, gradually taking on the shape of his figure.

Without breaking stride, Arsher walked straight through the opening.

The moment he stepped inside, the spatial rift immediately closed behind him, shrinking back into a narrow slit.

Before Arsher stretched a vast clearing, bathed in an even, steady light.

Despite the absence of a sun in the sky, the entire area was filled with a bright, clear glow that seemed to come from everywhere at once, casting no harsh shadows. Arsher slowly looked around, taking in the sheer scale of this world, then quietly muttered to himself:

So this is where he's been all this time...

After taking a few more steps through the soft grass, he turned around and spotted, a few dozen meters away, an impressive collection of technological tools floating in the air, along with sheets of titanium armor, fastening modules, and bundles of cables.

A little farther away, at the base of a massive metal frame, stood Iron and Abel. They were completely absorbed in their work, focused on assembling the various components.

The space around Arsher briefly rippled, and in the next instant, he materialized right beside Iron, who was carefully aligning the edge of the tail plate.

"Yo, Iron," Arsher said, his voice quiet but clear. "You should be spending some time training right now."

Abel immediately cut him off:

"He can train with you later. He's busy right now."

Arsher turned his calm gaze toward Abel and retorted:

"You know as well as I do that the seal is extremely unstable right now. It would make far more sense for Iron to start training with me right away."

Arsher reached out and placed his palm directly on top of Iron's head. Iron was so deeply absorbed in calculating microscopic gaps and monitoring plasma flows that he didn't even look up, mechanically continuing his work.

Abel took his attention away from his work, let out a heavy sigh, and gave Arsher a long look. He then glanced at Iron, who was still completely engrossed in his work, and finally said:

"Fine... Let him go."

Arsher gave a barely noticeable nod, slowly moving his hand from Iron's head to his shoulder. Leaning toward his ear, he quietly said:

"You heard him."

In the very next instant, Arsher and Iron vanished without a trace.

The sudden disappearance left the tool in Iron's hand unsupported. His fingers completed the motion out of inertia, but with nothing holding it anymore, the heavy calibrator slowly began spinning in midair before finally coming to a stop.

Iron and Arsher materialized in the middle of a small, completely empty wooden room.

Iron was still moving his right hand, continuing the exact same motion he'd been making while aligning the plate just moments earlier. Realizing that his surroundings had suddenly changed, he blinked, quickly turned around, and glared at Arsher before snapping irritably:

"What the hell am I doing here?!"

Arsher calmly crossed his arms over his chest.

"You and I... well, more accurately, you'll be learning from me how to control your magic. How to use it as efficiently as possible while wasting as little energy as you can."

Iron completely ignored his words. In the very next second, he attempted to teleport back.

But space didn't even tremble. The coordinates seemed to have been locked in place.

Not believing what he was sensing, Iron tried to shift again. Nothing. The surrounding reality firmly resisted any attempt to move.

Letting out an irritated breath, he thought to himself:

Lumon, teleport me. Recalculate the vector and remove the lock...

At that very moment, a cold voice sounded inside his mind:

"Spatial displacement blocked. Subject Arsher has applied absolute quantum fixation of the spatial metric — induction of infinite vacuum impedance at the Planck scale. Local gradient frozen. Deactivation of this physical state by our computational network is mathematically and physically impossible."

Iron sharply raised his head and looked Arsher straight in the eyes. In a cold voice, he said:

"Take me back."

Arsher let out a breath and lowered himself onto the wooden floor, sitting cross-legged. He rested his elbow on his knee and propped his chin up with his fist.

"Nope," he replied casually. "I can't do that."

Iron let out a heavy sigh, feeling his irritation building, but knowing there was no point in arguing. Clenching his teeth, he asked shortly:

"How long is this going to take?"

"About ten hours," Arsher answered calmly.

Iron's voice immediately rose in disbelief:

"How long?! Ten hours?! We could completely assemble the dragon in that time instead of wasting it on this bullshit!"

Arsher nodded, remaining perfectly calm.

"Yeah, you're right. The ship is important. But right now, developing your magic and learning to control it are the highest priorities... So stop complaining and sit down. Put your legs like this."

He spread his arms and demonstrated a specific meditative position, folding his limbs into the proper angles.

Iron desperately wanted to be back among the metal parts and blueprints, but his rational mind told him otherwise. After thinking it over for a while, he finally let out a long, resigned sigh and lowered himself onto the floor.

"I'll do it. But you have to promise me that I'll be spending all of tomorrow working on engineering. The entire day."

Arsher opened one eye slightly and lazily shook his head.

"Nope. Can't promise that."

Iron was already about to lose his temper and let everything out, but Arsher spoke before he could, his voice becoming quieter and more serious:

"But I can promise you something else. After today's... let's call it a 'lesson', you'll feel much lighter mentally."

Arsher raised his index finger and tapped himself on the forehead.

"Controlling physics, knowing practically every thermodynamic potential, equation of state, quantum state of matter, constants, physical quantities, and so on... That's an enormous burden on an ordinary person's mind. And that's exactly why I took you on as my student, Iron. To prevent your own mind from eventually tearing itself apart."

Iron fell silent, listening carefully to every word.

After a moment, he finally steadied his breathing, settled into exactly the same position as Arsher, and quietly said:

"Alright... Let's get started."

Arsher nodded approvingly.

"Yeah."

Meanwhile, Elyria was rushing all over the place, checking every room, hall, and alcove, constantly teleporting from one floor to another in her desperate attempts to find Nivea. Once again, she tried to track her down by following traces of residual mana.

Finally, stumbling into the spacious corridor on the third floor, Elyria dropped to the floor, completely exhausted. Breathing heavily, she threw her hands up in frustration:

"That's it! I'm done! I give up!"

At that very moment, Nivea materialized out of thin air right in front of her. With her arms crossed over her chest, she looked down at the exhausted Elyria.

"Well... You really are useless in this form."

Elyria lowered her head, looking sadly at her palms.

"Yeah... I know that myself..."

Noticing how genuinely upset she was, Nivea became flustered and immediately blurted out:

"Well... um... actually, this can all be fixed! With deep meditation and the training we've been doing together! After all, learning to clearly see someone else's mana flows is a damn difficult thing!"

Ever since Iron and Abel had shut themselves away in the pocket dimension, Nivea had been deliberately concealing almost all of her own mana from Elyria. Elyria's task was to develop her ability to perceive energy flows through repeated attempts.

They slowly floated down the long corridor on the third floor, heading toward Nivea's room. A heavy, oppressive silence hung between them. Elyria was still feeling down about how the training had gone, and Nivea could clearly sense her emotional strain.

Unable to stand the silence any longer, Nivea suddenly perked up, floated a little ahead, and blurted out in one breath:

"Hey, why is it that you... I mean, how can you even see your own mana flows if you can't see anyone else's?!"

Elyria blinked in complete disbelief, abruptly stopping in midair.

"What are you even talking about? That's... that's one of our basic abilities."

Nivea froze for a moment, processing what she'd just heard, then immediately flushed bright red.

Awkwardly touching the back of her neck, she thought to herself:

What did I even just say...?

Trying to hide her embarrassment, Nivea glanced toward a large arched window. Outside, Kai was training. His movements were precise, every step perfectly measured as he swung his sword with incredible speed.

Eventually, they reached Nivea's room.

Nivea moved to the very center of the room, and at that very moment, a spatial rift crackled into existence right in front of them, opening up in midair. Without wasting any time, they both stepped inside.

The portal immediately shrank and closed behind them. Once they arrived, Nivea casually remarked:

"Anyway, all you need to do right now is meditate. And meditate. There's no other way."

Elyria rolled her eyes, let out a heavy sigh, and looked up at the sky, where a few clouds drifted by. She then muttered dejectedly under her breath:

"Ah, damn... I really can't be bothered with all this."