Chapter 149 — Containment

Without a highly compatible magic net, traditional magic crystals had to be lit by a mage's uninterrupted infusion of mana—and the notion of making noble mages run about all night like menial servants, pouring mana into hundreds or thousands of crystal lamps, was hardly something ordinary folk could imagine. So all along, the only places brightly lit at night had been the castles of kings and lords. For commoners who had to count every coin even for a lamp's worth of oil, the very idea of "nightlife" was beyond imagining.

Thanks be to the magic net: it made up for the shortcomings of crystal lamps, reducing the greatest cost—that of mana—to almost nothing. The surplus mana left over from the factories was enough to light the lamps of the entire camp.

By the lamplight, Gao Yang returned to his own tent. He looked at the tent he had lived in for several months now and shook his head with a smile.

It really was time he moved out of a tent. The brick kiln had long been running smoothly; the territory had already begun building its first batch of brick-and-tile houses, and even wooden cabins were being phased out—yet he, the lord, still lived in a tent. If word of that got out, it would make plenty of jaws drop.

Some guessed it was because the lord cherished his people; others guessed it was because the lord, a pioneer of the old days, was frugal by nature. In truth, it was because Gao Yang had long ago designed the dwelling he wanted—storage rooms, a magic laboratory, an armory, a kitchen, a drainage system, and so on and so forth—which the territory at its early stage could not possibly have built. And Gao Yang could not be bothered to put up a temporary wooden cabin only to tear it down again, so he had simply waited until today, until conditions were up to standard, to get it all done in one step.

The moment he entered the tent, Gao Yang saw Betty sprawled across his desk, sound asleep. The little maid had probably been sleeping there for quite a while—judging by the spread of drool, she had been lying there for at least an hour.

Yet soundly as Betty slept, she was keenly sensitive to the sound of Gao Yang's footsteps. The instant he came within three meters of her, the girl's head snapped up, and she said, eyes still glazed, "Master, you're back! I wasn't asleep—I was only resting my head a little..."

"Drool," Gao Yang said, looking at the rather dopey girl with amusement. "Wipe your drool."

"Oh."

Gao Yang was curious. "Why were you waiting here? Was someone looking for me?"

Betty thought carefully about why she had fallen asleep on the desk, and at last remembered what she had come for. "Ah, I remember! Miss Rebecca and Miss Jenny came looking for you!"

"What did they want with me—" Gao Yang began, then waved a hand. "Oh, you've surely forgotten."

"I won't forget this time!" Betty said, chin up and chest out, then happily fished a little notebook from the pocket of her maid's dress and opened it with great ceremony. "Miss Jenny wrote it down for me on this! They said... they worked out the rune model, the rune model... Master, I don't know this word!"

Gao Yang, both delighted and not knowing whether to laugh or cry, went over to take a look. "Let me see... this means scorching ray. Very good, very good—I've been waiting for this good news. Hurry and bring them to me!"