The bard in the Royal Capital really wasn’t lying. After confirming Barlow’s identity as a Second-Rank Rune Master, they arranged a delicate little house for him.
However, the work content turned out to be vastly different from what Barlow had imagined.
Although it was indeed the same as rumored, the Lord Governor was supposed to build a Mage Tower, this Mage Tower was completely different from what Barlow had imagined.
The functionalities of the Mage Tower were simplified, leaving only the ability to store and release magic power.
Rather than a Mage Tower, it resembled a gigantic black obelisk in its current form.
Around the obelisk, the ground was covered with a dense array of complex lines, most of which were metallic pipes.
The complex circular runic formations surrounded the obelisk layer by layer, creating a kind of indescribable beauty in conjunction with the minimalist obelisk.
“Don’t you think this is beautiful?”
A blond-haired youth appeared beside Barlow.
“This is more beautiful than any Mage Tower I’ve ever seen.”
Barlow nodded in agreement; this gigantic obelisk only had a few rooms that appeared to be for maintenance, while the rest were constructed from magic stones, raw-colored sand, and some conductive materials—simple, unadorned, yet grand.
The blond-haired youth extended his hand for an introduction: “Sean Lars.”
Barlow instinctively shook hands and replied, “Barlow Hubert.”
But Barlow quickly realized the other party’s surname and immediately withdrew his hand, momentarily flustered and unsure of proper etiquette.
Sean pressed down on Barlow’s hands, which were unsure of what to do, and said, “I’m just an apprentice, so you can call me Sean.”
That said, no one dared to treat Sean as an ordinary apprentice, although he was indeed dressed in the same uniform as everyone else.
The Graywhite Territory did not assign work to these professionals directly; instead, after assessments, they gathered them together for pre-employment training.
The main content of the training was about magic power triggers and arcane magic circles. A petite female teacher, holding a hefty notebook, stumbled her way through explaining the working principles of arcane magic circles, the various parameters of magic power conduction, and the disassembly of runic formations.
The professionals in the audience gradually shifted from confusion and disdain to seriousness.
Barlow even began to struggle a bit with understanding what the petite female teacher was saying on stage, as various complex parameters and formulas filled his mind.
Relying solely on computation, without utilizing professionals to drive magic power, everyone felt they must have gone mad for sitting here learning these bizarre pieces of knowledge.
However, many individuals found themselves irresistibly drawn to this knowledge, feeling deeply immersed, thinking this was the mystery of the Old Empire, eager to rush out and practice immediately.
After all, most of the people here were frustrated professionals, marginalized and overlooked—who hasn’t imagined themselves to be the favored child of heaven?
The arcane magic circles seemed to give them a path that didn’t require competing with magical talent.
It is unclear whether the Lord Governor had considered this point, but in the afternoon, these professionals were taken to the construction site under the obelisk to begin practical work.
It was at this moment that Barlow finally understood what this minimalist Mage Tower was meant for.
In simple terms, it was an energy supply device. In that respect, it was no different from an ordinary Mage Tower; the Mage Tower provides magic power to the professionals inside the tower, but this obelisk connects with other buildings.
The massive magic circle below was the core of the magic power focusing array; the circular magic circle beneath the obelisk was referred to as the mother circle, used to concentrate the obelisk’s magic power for distribution.
Barlow and the others’ tasks were to plan sub-circles connecting to the mother circle according to the requirements, to link the magic power circuits on both sides, adjust, and couple the magic power from the mother circle, and then transmit this magic power to where it was needed through transmission media.
The obelisk served as a gigantic power supply while the magic array below functioned as a capacitor, possibly also bearing the work of a transformer.
At this point, a sub-circle had already been planned within the magic power focusing array, which was meant to charge magic containers made from raw-colored sand.
Barlow and the others were tasked with imitating that sub-circle and creating additional sub-circles based on the requirements.
“First is the design of the magic array interface, by recompiling the symbol position group in the arcane magic circle, to enable the two magic circles to connect with each other, allowing magic power to flow from the high-level circle into the lower-level circle.”
What? A magic array interface? Symbol position group? High-level circle? Barlow first suspected he had misheard, then doubted his generally average performance in universal language during his student days.
Barlow felt that his years of being a Second-Rank Rune Master were of no use here; the prior mother circle and sub-circle had completely surpassed the knowledge range of a Second-Rank Rune Master, and Barlow could only understand them as circles with different functionalities.
The magic array interface, however, completely touched upon Barlow’s knowledge blind spot.
Lysha seemed to realize something, saying, “The teaching materials for compiling the symbol position group will be distributed to all of you shortly, don’t worry, it’s quite simple.”
It turned out that math might require more talent than using magic; after only one day of learning, many felt somewhat desperate.
This was entirely a whole new magical system, one based on mathematical foundations, and the magic tasks professionals relied on for survival played the largest role in verification and exploration within this system.
That evening, upon seeing her first batch of students looking somewhat despondent over the magic power focusing array, Lysha recognized that her starting point might be a bit too difficult for everyone; she could only try to comfort everyone:
“Don’t be scared; as long as you grasp the basic knowledge, the arcane magic circles are quite simple. The foundational elements from today can be easily mastered by even rune craftsmen, and since I can’t even manipulate magic power, you all will definitely do better.”
When hearing that these were merely the basics, everyone felt even more desperate. However, when they heard Lysha saying that she couldn’t manipulate magic power, many gazed at the petite teacher with expressions as if she were a monster.
Fortunately, even if they couldn’t grasp the arcane magic circles, many could still handle the basic calculations; not only was this everyone’s assignment, but it was also part of their job.
Although most didn’t quite understand the significance of the problems before them, after viewing the symbol position group compilation, Barlow seemed to gain a vague feeling that these purely numerical symbol position groups weren’t just simple numbers; they resembled a new language.
As everyone was preparing to leave, Sean stopped Barlow to ask him some questions about the symbol position groups, as he was the only one who had moved his pen after the questions were distributed.
“Lord Sean, why not directly consult the teacher?”
Barlow found it odd that the Lord Governor’s brother-in-law was sitting with him learning these things and was still seeking his consultation.
Sean smiled wryly, “There’s no need to call me Lord; Teacher Lysha’s level is too high. My talent in this area is quite ordinary; I truly don’t understand.”
Barlow completely agreed. After chatting with Sean for a while, he asked, “Why are you so fixated on this obelisk, Your Excellency? Can’t you just take care of management tasks?”
“My brother-in-law once set the standards for tent building; he personally spent a whole day pitching a tent. If I don’t understand how this obelisk operates, how can I manage it in the future?”
Sean continued, “Besides, don’t you want to etch your name on this first obelisk?”
After returning home, Barlow didn’t scratch his head over the problems like the others; instead, he kept pondering Sean’s words.
The Lord Governor’s construction of this obelisk and the magic power focusing array was absolutely not simply for creating a spectacle. Reflecting upon what he had learned about the arcane magic circles and the factories he had passed by on his way to Graythorn Territory, Barlow suddenly understood the significance of the obelisk.
After lighting the lamp, Barlow excitedly trembled as he took out the materials and draft paper given to him today. A new era was about to dawn, and the key to that new era was now in his hands.
He must etch his name on the obelisk.
