The First Magic World War

A young female secretary said to the black-haired young man, "Sir, the Duke has been waiting for you in the study."

The female secretary was slender with long legs that ordinary people might not possess, and her beauty was like a blooming flower, her laughter and speech brimming with charm, instantly dazzling the black-haired young man. Stammering, he said, "I'll go right now."

He was completely captivated by the beauty of this female secretary and it took him a while to come back to his senses, exclaiming, "The Duke?"

"The one I met today?"

The Great Act Devil secretary smiled and answered, "Yes, Duke Mecklen and Duchess Brittany."

The black-haired young man was boiling with excitement!

There was only one thought in his mind, "Did Duke Mecklen actually take an interest in me? Does he also believe in my ideas? Is there any better supporter in this world than the Duke? If Duke Mecklen supports my research, the Mecklen Duchy will surely unite the entire continent one day."

Lost in his wild thoughts, the black-haired young man followed the Great Act Devil secretary to Charles's office, where Anne had already gone to rest, and only Charles was present.

He gave a gentle smile and said, "Let me introduce myself, Charles Mecklen! I am the master of this city and the Mecklen Duchy is my fiefdom. I am very interested in your invention."

The black-haired young man stammered, "William Triton! A senior at Mecklen University."

Charles clapped his hands, and the same Great Act Devil secretary who had been there before brought over a cup of coffee with a graceful swing. He smiled and said, "Let's continue discussing your invention."

The black-haired young man took a few deep breaths, pulled out a roll of manuscript from his chest, and spread it on the table. His spirit suddenly soared as he spoke, "I am not a formal alchemist, but I am passionate about alchemy. Whether it's the ancient Magic Crafting, Classical Alchemy, or Classic Alchemy, I have done research on them all. I think alchemy should not be divided into factions but should work together sincerely. I have found that Extraordinary Objects created from different alchemy systems, if combined, can have a tremendous effect."

"Take, for example, these two inventions of mine."

Charles leaned in to look at the drawings on the manuscripts and paused when he saw the first one; he found it somewhat familiar. It was a long, large box with sixteen huge wheels, eight pairs in total, adorned with countless Magic Array runes—of course, many of the runes were wrong. Now knowledgeable, Charles could tell at a glance.

However, he also understood what this black-haired man named William Triton wanted to create—a tank!

It was a primitive tank that didn't even have tracks, nor a turret or machine gun, just a plain, square body.

An excited William Triton said, "Transcendents can't handle everything. If we create this thing with a Magic Array on it, even Transcendents won't be able to break the Magic Array easily, and it could stand against the charges of Transcendent Knights."

Indeed, a Magic Array could resist a Transcendent, and if there were enough people forming the Magic Array, it could even possibly withstand the Evil God. The idea was quite remarkable.

Charles silently praised the concept and asked with interest, "How do you resolve the energy source problem?"

An embarrassed look spread across William Triton's face as he whispered, "I have only thought of one method, but it's too cruel."

"You know that members of the Blood Clan can devour the flesh and blood of living beings to gain Transcendent Blood Energy; my idea is to borrow the Blood Clan's Secret Technique..."

Charles shuddered, he understood what William Triton meant. This "Transcendent World's Tank" required no fuel but consumed the corpses on the battlefield, transforming their Life Force into Blood Energy to drive this terrifying war machine.

Charles hesitated for a moment before deciding to seal away this technology.

Although it indeed could allow ordinary people to rampage across battlefields and combat Transcendents, Charles believed that if he brought this thing into existence, he would instantly become the Old Continent's number one villain, with a reputation stinking worse than Zimmerman's!

A "monster" capable of devouring life on the battlefield and converting it into power, charging unobstructed.

It was truly too sinister!

At the same time, he also decided that he must not allow William Triton to leave Mecklenburg by even a step; this dark-haired lad must remain by his side.

William Triton was unaware that Charles had already taken him "very seriously." He spread out the second manuscript and said, "The previous invention, I called a Land Battleship. This invention, I call a Centurion!"

It was the first time Charles had seen such an extraordinary design, and his first thought was—Centaurs!

The lower half was a Magic Alchemy warhorse, created with Classic Alchemy, or rather, Mechanical Alchemy, just without a horse's head. Instead of a head, there was a Magic Shield that perfectly protected the Knight.

The upper half was a turret in which the Knight would not ride atop but sit entirely inside the belly of the 'horse,' with only his arms exposed to operate the rifles mounted on the shooting positions on both sides.

This thing was indeed peculiar, and upon further consideration, Charles realized it could actually be deployed in real combat.

Just as Charles was about to pinpoint a flaw in this design, he heard William Triton say, "I know that when a Transcendent Knight ascends to the nineteenth rank, they can consolidate the King's Proof and become the Leader of Ten Thousand Horsemen."

"A Leader of Ten Thousand Horsemen can utilize the strength of a city, an army, to confront enemies who have superior Transcendent power."

"But Leaders of Ten Thousand Horsemen are extremely rare; the whole Old Continent might not have more than twenty such individuals."

"My Centurion is different. It too can aggregate the strength of an army, and although the current design can only withstand the power of a few dozen ordinary soldiers, combined with the alchemical engine of the Mechanical Warhorse, it is enough to allow an ordinary person to rival a low-level Transcendent."

Charles was astonished and asked, "It can also aggregate the strength of ordinary people?"

William Triton confidently replied, "That's right, I designed a Magic Array! Of course, I didn't invent this Magic Array. It was the invention of a professor from Inglima, but because it was so weak, it was almost ignored..."

Half an hour later, Charles reached out to grasp William Triton's wrist, earnestly saying, "Lord Triton! Work for me!"

"I sincerely invite you to join the Westwind Knighthood, and I am willing to appoint you as the Lifetime Professor for the Classic Alchemy Department at Mecklen University."

"And I am willing to invest two hundred Aegeus upfront, as well as allocate an experimental site to you, so please quickly create prototypes of these two Extraordinary Objects."

The purchasing power of two hundred Aegeus was equivalent to around four million on Earth, enough to cover the early research and development for these two inventions. As for the later stages, Charles would definitely invest more manpower and send his most trusted individuals, such as—Krel or Ebner!