Chapter 382 - Vick’s Barrel

"We’re here, that’s Weizemay Manor. Just a moment, Miss Luna, I hope you can restrain yourself as much as possible. There are undead creatures in Weizemay Manor now, but they’re not evil," Gaven repeatedly admonished with a lack of reassurance."Uncle Darnell has already reminded me three times last night about this. Since you’ve earned Uncle Darnell’s trust, I naturally won’t meddle in uninvited business. After all, I’m not a true Holy Warrior," Luna responded calmly.

"That’s good, that’s good. It’s just that I’m used to being misunderstood!" Gaven said, scratching his head with a bit of embarrassment.

No sooner had Gaven and the others landed than the Dog Demon was the first to hurry up with a fawning expression, saying, "Lord, you’re back."

Though I wanted to send this creature packing, I worried that trying too hard would be counterproductive. Talk about bringing up the very subject that should be avoided.

Don’t you see the kindly new arrival here? What business does a devil like you have crowding in?

Stealing a glance at Luna, the Half-Moon Colt tucked in its massive wings and resumed its warhorse form, and aside from giving the Dog Demon a couple of extra looks, its demeanor remained exceptionally calm.

Clearly aware of the Dog Demon’s existence beforehand, Uncle Darnell had thoroughly prepared her.

Gaven’s heart settled back inside his chest, and he took the opportunity to ask, "Has Lord Virginia been here today?"

"She has already been here, left just half an hour ago," the Dog Demon added, "She brought over Lord Vick."

"Vick? Why did she bring Vick here? I don’t have any use for him at the moment," Gaven asked, puzzled.

I’d almost forgotten I had a Goblin Sorcerer servant like that.

"Perhaps she found Lord Vick too noisy over there," the Dog Demon said with an odd look on its wolf-face. "You should go and see for yourself, Lord."

"Too noisy? Vick?" Gaven was thoroughly baffled.

The adjective didn’t seem to fit the Goblin Sorcerer at all; the guy was virtually invisible, never one for many words. You’d overlook him not just in a crowd but even if he were right behind you.

It didn’t take long for Gaven to understand why the Dog Demon had used that description.

The put-put sound that carried over from afar seemed just like an old tractor, and plumes of black smoke billowed out with each put-put, making the resemblance even stronger.

The sound was emanating from a bizarre machine.

From a distance, the machine seemed like nothing more than a pile of junk stuck together, comprised of both roughly hewn logs and metal parts where every piece of metal was covered with rusty spots.

He could distinctly make out a bent shield, reshaped swords, all crafted shoddily and not fully forged together yet.

The machine was both crude and squat, resembling an upright barrel about one and a half meters across and tall.

This barrel-like machine was fitted with a hodgepodge of mechanical limbs including support structures, as well as some exposed tubes made from some unclear material, translucent with black liquid pulsing through them.

On the four mechanical limbs were mounted a solid hammer, a mechanical pincer, a rotating gear, and an impact drill bit.

In the middle of the barrel, there sat a person, revealing only the upper half of their body.

Pointy ears, a large nose, an erect back, orange eyes, sparse hair topped with a pair of short devilish horns.

This creature, looking more like a small devil than a Goblin, was none other than Vick, who had made a contract with the Dog Demon.

With Vick’s tinkering, dark smoke belched out from the machine’s rear exhaust pipe, and the barrel-like contraption suddenly sprang into motion.

However, it clearly had not considered any shock-absorption system, so with every step, it moved unevenly, trembling constantly from top to bottom, with metal, logs, and various other parts clanging loudly against each other. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the NoᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt

It gave the illusion that it was about to fall apart at any moment, yet it stubbornly refused to let such an opportunity arise.

All four mechanical arms started moving simultaneously.

The speed was not very fast, but the strength was considerable.

The massive hammer came crashing down, creating a shallow crater right on the spot.

The rough drill bit, spinning rapidly, turned a solid block of stone taller than a man into rubble in no time.

The mechanical pincers effortlessly lifted heavy objects off the ground.

The rotating gears sawed through the logs on the ground, making a squeaking noise, and in just a few seconds, they were split in two, with smooth and even cut surfaces—completely contrary to the unreliable impression given by this barrel machine.

Tut tut tut...

This mad operation lasted only three minutes.

The black smoke billowing from the tail of the barrel machine started to grow weak, the rotation of the barrel became slower, and the mechanical arms above stopped moving.

Vick hopped down from the barrel machine, holding a pair of pliers and a wrench, apparently intending to check things.

However, the scent that wafted from his body was not of oil, but of a dense aroma of alcohol, including the black smoke expelled from the barrel’s tail, which carried the same smell.

Seeing Vick focused solely on the barrel apparatus, completely oblivious to the arrival of his own party, he cleared his throat loudly.

The Goblin Sorcerer, who had been mumbling around the barrel device, finally looked up and glanced around, spotting Gaven and his party not far away. In his orange eyes, there was an unmistakable joy that he couldn’t hide. He ran up to Gaven in a few quick steps and said, "Master, master, do you have any grape wine with you? You know, that ’Ghost Grape Wine’?"

Gaven was full of confusion, struggling to keep up with the Goblin’s erratic train of thought, and couldn’t help but ask, "Ghost Grape Wine? What do you need Ghost Grape Wine for?"

As he asked, he took out a bottle of Ghost Grape Wine from his backpack.

He did want to see what new tricks Vick could come up with.

The Goblin Sorcerer, without the time to explain, snatched the Ghost Grape Wine and excitedly ran back to the barrel device. He opened a lid on the back, turned his hand, and poured the Ghost Grape Wine in.

Then he tapped the barrel device.

Tut tut tut...

A few puffs of black smoke emerged from the chimney, but the sound was highly unstable, with varying intensity and urgency.

Gaven couldn’t help but wonder if it was his illusion, but did the tutting sound seem like rhythmical burping?

The Goblin Sorcerer, dissatisfied with the barrel device, gave it two solid kicks.

The tutting sound immediately became rhythmic, and the dejected mechanical arms all lifted and rotated once.

If the Goblin Sorcerer hadn’t been extraordinarily agile, leaping away in time, he would have likely been swept away by the movement.

Seeing this scene, Gaven’s eyes widened.

This isn’t fantasy, this is magic realism.

Previously, Gaven had wondered what exactly powered this device.

Although he had detected the presence of magic on it, it wasn’t particularly strong.

At least, there was a not insignificant difference between it and those golems completely driven by magic.

Vick now provided an answer through his actions.

Ghost Grape Wine.

This device actually used Ghost Grape Wine as its power source.

No wonder both the barrel apparatus and Vick himself exuded a strong aroma of alcohol.

Initially, he thought Vick had been drunk driving, but now it seemed that this kind of DUI was even more hardcore.

The barrel apparatus was alcohol-powered.

No, no, that can’t be right.

Energy conversion doesn’t add up.

Even in Felen, they couldn’t escape the bounds of the law of conservation of energy.

The operation of magic adheres to its own set of energy conservation laws—the spell levels were enacted based on this principle.

Actually, during the era of the first Magic Goddess’s rule, spell levels weren’t measured in circles, and even the divisions were very vague. Magicians cast spells based on their own feelings and gropings, with a frighteningly high failure rate.

It wasn’t until a mortal attempted to extract the Magic Network’s primal energy and ascend to divinity that the entire Magic Network spiraled out of control, leading to the demise of the first Magic Goddess.

The second Magic Goddess reshaped the Magic Network, reinforced oversight, and set an upper limit on spell levels while also lowering the threshold for casting, making the operation of spells more stable.

She closely linked each vocational template with spellcasting and tied them tightly to the Magic Network.

This spell slot, in fact, is our quantified and reshaped consciousness.

A key designed to activate a spell.

Matching keys open the corresponding locks, simplifying the process while significantly increasing the success rate.

But I digress.

The energy provided by the normal material components in Ghost Grape Wine definitely couldn’t power this large machine for an extended period.

What could possibly achieve this were the negative energies contained within.

As the barrel apparatus reactivated, Vick didn’t sit back down to restart it but instead walked back with a satisfied smile.

Gaven couldn’t resist asking, "Did you invent this?"

Pride was undeniable on Vick’s face as he straightened his back and held his head even higher, nodding continuously.

"When did you learn mechanical forging?" Gaven’s puzzlement deepened; he clearly remembered that Vick was the most pure Goblin Sorcerer. When had he dabbled in this sort of advanced science?

"This spellbook, Lady Virginia gave it to me, about the creation of mechanical golems, from the Foul Giants. He helped me make it," Vick said, pulling a greasy spellbook from his bosom.

At the same time, he pointed to the huge figure not far from the barrel apparatus.

This figure was corpulent and stood over four meters tall. Even Half-Ogre Roar seemed like a shorty in front of him.

Vick had only just reached the waist of this figure while sitting in the barrel apparatus.

The most distinctive feature of this figure was the huge single eye right in the middle of his face, with a vertical pupil that shone with an orange-yellow light. His massive head was bald and adorned with a ring of raised keratin layers, irregularly dotted with four or five blunt horns, giving the appearance from afar of wearing a unique helmet.

Cyclops.

More accurately, a Wilderness Cyclops from the Fairy Wilderness.

Felen also had Cyclops, but in both size and appearance, they were vastly different from those of the Enchanted Realm; besides the single eye, not many similarities could be found.

This Wilderness Cyclops was one of the three captured during the assault on the Foul Giant Prince.

After re-education and enlightenment, these Wilderness Cyclops had abandoned darkness for light and joined the ranks of Spring Bud Forest and Dragon Oak Territory.

The Foul Giants ruled over the Wilderness Cyclops using fear and violence; there was no real loyalty to speak of.

Wilderness Cyclops were not renowned for their unwavering loyalty; as long as a better deal was provided, switching allegiances was a matter of moments.

And indeed this proved to be true.

All three Cyclops now served Gaven and Lady Virginia.

But the demeanor of the Cyclops before him was severely at odds with his imposing stature.

His back was slightly bent, his shoulders were slumped, his head bowed, and his face bore an obsequious smile, especially when Gaven’s gaze fell upon him.

It prompted Gaven to involuntarily recall the first time he met Vick.

This was the hallmark of servility ingrained deep into the marrow; it most likely was a domestic slave bred for generations by the Foul Giants, never having tasted freedom. Now he had merely swapped one master for another, even if this new master stood at only a quarter of the original master’s height.

Gaven took the spellbook directly from Vick, flipping through it cursorily.

The specific owner of the spellbook was unknown, but it wasn’t hard to infer from the context that it belonged to a goblin.

The number of bizarre mechanical component schematics far exceeded the textual descriptions.

He didn’t find any finished schematics of the barrel apparatus in it, but the parts sketches were almost all there.

No need to ask, Vick had certainly cobbled it together based on the things in the book. That it moved at all, and was usable, was nothing short of a miracle.

Finally, at the back of the spellbook, he found three or four relatively complete schematics.

Yet they were so abstract in style that only by combining them with earlier schematics could one barely make sense of them, through a mix of guessing and inference.