Chapter 372 — A New Life at the Research Institute

It was a girl with dark brown hair, younger than everyone present, who looked as though she had only just come of age. She wore a bright smile and strode in with brisk, vigorous energy, yet no one in the laboratory dared to take this young woman lightly—Cohen included.

For this girl, who looked to be only seventeen or eighteen, was the master of the entire Arcane Technology Research Institute, and the heir of the ancient family that bore the Cecil name and ruled this land.

"Hello, everyone!" The girl walked cheerfully to the center of the laboratory and waved to greet those present, betraying not the slightest air of nobility. Yet Cohen, like the others, bowed his head respectfully and voiced his respect in unison: "Good morning, Viscountess Rebecca."

"All right, all right, no need for formalities," Rebecca said, waving her hand. "We'll continue with our topics today. Each group, keep testing the data and materials you're responsible for. Bruce, Terry, come over here—I have a new idea I need to verify."

The laboratory's workflow sprang into action at once, and the members of each "group" were at work within moments. Cohen threw himself into his own task as well. He had not yet become a full arcane technician, but was still in training as an apprentice—only, being a third-rank arcanist by qualification, he had made such rapid progress in the field of runic logic that he had been granted early admission to work in the laboratory.

He treasured the opportunity.

The "magical research" of the Arcane Technology Research Institute was unlike anywhere else. Here there were no dim, cramped mage towers and no gloomy, solitary mages; no trembling mage apprentices and no bizarre, obscure spell experiments left wholly to chance. Here, a great many technicians discussed matters together and coordinated with one another; everyone's inspiration and ideas were explored and verified. A large topic was broken down in the laboratory into smaller parts, and then several groups worked in concert to "storm the citadel." This unprecedented way of researching magic had opened Cohen's eyes from the very start, and it had not taken him long to become wholly absorbed in it. This collision of thought with thought, this blending of inspiration with inspiration, this way of working where everyone shared knowledge freely and strove toward a single goal—it was far more comfortable than sitting in the royal capital's Mages' Association.

Cohen's task was not complicated: he was responsible for testing which spells could leave marks upon which materials, and for ensuring the process was reversible.

In fact, most of the working groups in the laboratory were engaged in this simple yet tedious work.

Cohen knew the purpose of this work was to create a kind of "printing tool" that could both make plates quickly and be reused. This objective was posted on the wall directly facing the door of the laboratory, and it had been hanging there for many days already.

Which was why he said the project he and his colleagues were working on was closely tied to the "newspaper." Everyone in the laboratory was clever, and each could imagine what fields this new printing tool might be put to once their research succeeded.

The thought that the research he was conducting might be transformed into something new and profoundly significant gave Cohen a drive unlike any he had felt before—utterly different from the feeling of finally mastering a new spell after months of rote memorization.

He had the sense that he too was taking part in building history.