Chapter 173: Two Revelations
"Ladies, what are you saying? Is this not immoral? Will you stand by and let our Lord Dominic be stolen away by some boy?"
"My, Camilla, you simply don’t understand," one of the ladies said while fanning herself with a blissful smile. "It is exactly because Lord Dominic is so far above us, like a being in the heavens, that such decadence suits him perfectly."
"This is nothing less than divine will," another declared. "The ultimate choice to ensure he belongs to none of us."
Camilla’s mouth fell open, but no words came out.
What on earth were these women saying?
Yet instead of calming down, their excitement only grew hotter, like a fever spreading through the salon.
"I shall support his love with that beautiful boy from now on!"
"Surely he must be lovely... fragile, pale, like the light of the moon. Ah, I cannot bear it!"
"A man as handsome as Lord Dominic would only choose someone equally refined as him. He should be so delicate and so fine he might break if touched, yet as charming as a flower."
"They must look so perfect together."
"I will absolutely take their side!"
"There must be so many obstacles between them. Overcoming them only proves the depth of Lord Dominic’s love."
"We must all continue to support them, together!"
"Yes, that is what true fans of Lord Dominic should do!"
"Yes, yes, exactly so!"
The room boiled with their fantasies, building higher and higher, though none of them even knew if this supposed "wife" was truly a beautiful boy at all.
Camilla slipped away quietly, unable to endure any more of their madness. She could only think that these women had lost their senses.
Lord Dominic was meant to be her husband.
No matter how beautiful the boy might be—whether as fragile as moonlight or as delicate as a blossom—Camilla could never allow Lord Dominic to be taken from her.
No, it was clear: Dominic must have been deceived by that boy.
And Camilla swore to herself then and there—she would be the one to open Lord Dominic’s eyes.
...
La la la. Lala laa laa.
A hum slipped out of Aaron’s nose, and before he knew it, it turned into an actual song.
He was simply too happy, so happy he couldn’t stop himself.
Why, you ask?
Because everything was going exactly the way he wanted.
How could he not be excited when things were turning out like this?
Thanks to Lord Shiao Yi and Captain Dominic.
Well, Dominic was no longer his captain, but that way of calling him still felt natural.
Habits were hard to break, weren’t they?
Aaron had been able to run an experiment.
And this experiment had opened his eyes to an unbelievable possibility.
With Shiao Yi’s telekinesis and Dominic’s flame magic, they turned ordinary dirt, sand, and stone into crystals.
Mr. Vundo had once conducted experiments to create flame-type magic stones from huge amounts of magic power.
However, Aaron had wondered couldn’t it be done with other materials as well?
He remembered Shiao Yi explaining that the structure of crystals was formed when atoms lined up in an orderly way and that depending on the composition, many kinds of crystals could be made.
So Aaron tried it with all kinds of materials—at least until Captain Dominic’s patience wore thin.
However, Dominic’s magic power was absurdly huge, far beyond the limits of any normal human.
That made experimenting so much easier.
If Aaron had tried the same with other magicians, he would have had to call in several of them and rotate them out just to keep the process going.
By focusing intense heat on sand or rock while also applying pressure with telekinesis, the material would melt into a liquid state.
Then, by pressing harder and harder, Aaron could compress it down into a small lump.
After that, if he slowly released the pressure, a clear, beautiful crystal would form.
The speed at which the pressure was reduced changed the size and shape of the crystal that grew.
But no matter what, the finished crystal had an incredibly high purity.
And there was something even more important: the crystals were created without any magic stored inside them.
They carried no element, no power—they were completely empty.
Which meant this process had produced something extraordinary: containers of terrifyingly high purity, ready to hold magic power of any kind.
Until now, magic stones had only been mined by chance when nature happened to form them.
They were rare, and the places they were found were dangerous, like inside volcanoes, deep underground, at the bottom of the sea.
On top of that, most stones were riddled with impurities and had low purity overall.
While they were necessary for activating magical tools, they had always been inconvenient.
The stones with high magical efficiency were far too expensive, while the cheaper low-quality ones were nearly useless.
As an alchemist who crafted magical tools, Aaron knew it was only natural almost like an illness of the profession to constantly crave high-quality magic stones.
But this new discovery was on a whole different level!
These crystals could be filled with any type of magical power and as much as one wanted.
They could be charged again and again, storing and releasing power freely, until the crystal itself finally wore out.
A magic stone that could act as a reservoir of pure energy and serve as a power source.
This was no longer just a magic stone—it deserved a new name: a magical power stone!
Ah, Aaron thought, what incredible sense I have! At that very moment, he made his decision.
From now on, this newly created crystal would be called a magic power stone.
He had to inform Mr. Vundo and everyone else immediately!
With this magic power stone, countless magical tools could be created.
From the smallest devices to massive facilities, the possibilities stretched endlessly in Aaron’s mind.
His imagination was swelling with ideas.
Mr. Vundo’s personal study, which also served as his research room, occupied the entire top floor of the wizard’s tower.