Wandering Knight-Chapter 332: Warning

In the newly restored laboratory of the Council of the Arcane, Avia was fastening the final feather, clear and crystalline like ice, onto a cloak already adorned with a full spread of matching plumage.

"Phew, done!"

With a breath of satisfaction, she held up the cloak. Though modest in size, it was now covered in evenly spaced feathers and glowed with a cold, elegant luster. She displayed it proudly to Wang Yu, who was fiddling with mechanical components using the Chariot nearby as he read.

"Congratulations. Another remarkable piece of magitech craftsmanship. With this, you'll be much harder to ambush or pin down in close quarters. Exceptional gear for a mage."

Wang Yu clapped lightly and offered his earnest analysis.

The Frostfeather Mantle was another piece of equipment crafted from the legendary lich Varma's remains. Unlike the Frostheart he'd previously seen, which leaned more toward magitech, this cloak was fashioned using classical alchemical techniques.

"Let's test its function, shall we? Wang Yu, attack me."

Avia fastened the cloak and turned to face him, ready to field-test her newly completed equipment.

"Alright. Coming."

Wang Yu didn't waste time. He stepped forward and launched a fast, sharp punch at Avia's chest with his left hand. The blow tore through the air with a thunderous crack.

He had held back slightly just in case the cloak failed to activate. He would deflect the strike instantly with his right hand if necessary.

As his fist came within three centimeters of her chest, two centimeters away from the abortion threshold he had determined in advance, the cloak surged to life.

Each crystalline feather on the mantle flared with light in unison. Magical circuitry had been woven through the feathers and were now activating in full.

His fist swept right through where Avia had been as the explosive boom of ruptured air filled the lab. But he hit nothing. Only a storm of glowing blue raven feathers danced where Avia had stood. Frosty air rolled outward, sharp enough to sting the skin.

In that instant, her body had transformed into a flurry of feathers, vanishing from harm's path and reappearing about five meters away.

Then, the cloak's secondary effect triggered. Those lovely, seemingly harmless feathers now pulsed with a surge of magic—then erupted.

Caught within the swirl of feathers, Wang Yu was instantly enveloped. Crystalline ice encased his limbs, freezing joints, scarring skin, clogging his nose and mouth with biting cold.

Muscles tensed, he ripped free from the frozen bindings with brute force. Then, as his enchanted blood flared to life with Cursed Fire, the ice dissolved in a hiss of steam.

"A very precise trigger. No need for me to hold back at all. The cloak safely dodged the attack—and the secondary freezing effect is more than enough to hinder a foe."

Wang Yu gave his verdict. The mantle was exceptional in its two-pronged defense: first, transforming its wearer into a flurry of feathers to evade any attack; second, detonating the feathers in a blast of ice magic to catch the attacker off-guard.

"Mm, I'm very pleased. Ah, and Mr. Icarus has returned."

Avia nodded, satisfied. Even though Wang Yu had broken free within moments, that brief delay was more than enough for her to act decisively in combat. After all, the item was crafted from the remains of a legendary lich—its power was nothing to scoff at.

She glanced at her humming identity card. There was a message from Icarus, who had been out contacting absent members of the Council to help fill the gap left by the late researcher Lancer.

"Wang Yu's here too, I see. That makes things easier. The members I went to find ran into trouble. They won't be back anytime soon.

"The research will be severely delayed. For now, let's focus all efforts on decoding Lancer's notes. I suspect that's the true key to our next breakthrough."

Entering the lab with a knock, Icarus looked briefly surprised to see Wang Yu still here, then shrugged it off with a sigh. He began summarizing the current difficulties facing the Council.

"I've already finished analyzing and expanding on Mr. Lancer's materials," Avia said quietly, handing him a neatly bound folder from the worktable.

Icarus blinked. He hadn't expected that. He had assumed they'd only begun deciphering the data. He'd been out recruiting more manpower for precisely that task. Yet Avia claimed that it was already nearly complete...

Icarus didn't question her. He simply flipped open the binder Avia had just passed him. The more he read, the more astonished he became. The analysis was meticulous. The insights were incisive, and the approach professional and inventive. She truly had finished analyzing Lancer's research notes in full.

"How did you manage this?!"

Icarus was all but certain of Avia's claim now.

"It's a secret," Avia replied with a playful smile.

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, given the elves' endorsement and Yaslan's recognition. Still, I thank you. With this, we've got what we need to continue."

He exhaled, visibly relieved. A major hurdle had been cleared, thanks to her.

"Head over to the meeting room and wait a moment. I'll call in the others. We'll set up a new schedule and discuss how to best move forward."

Icarus motioned to the far end of the corridor and left to gather the rest of the researchers.

Avia stored the mantle and helped Wang Yu double-check the mechanical parts he was working on. Seeing no issues, she headed to the meeting room while he remained to finish his project.

"Seems functional. That's the standard energy core configuration for alchemical golems. It'll work fine as a power unit for other constructs, too."

Wang Yu inserted a magic crystal into the device. The engine core hummed, glowing with heat and light. Using the Chariot, he peered inside to ensure that every component aligned correctly.

Since arriving at Skyborne City, he'd been refining his skills in the mechanical branch of alchemy—a path surprisingly less reliant on innate talent and far more like Earth's engineering. With the aid of detailed schematics, hands-on practice, and the observational powers of the Chariot, his progress had been rapid.

He could now independently construct the most complex part of an alchemical golem: its energy core.

"...Astartes?"

Suddenly, his brows furrowed. He sensed familiar magical fluctuations. In this secure laboratory setting, that particular signature made him instantly wary.

"Apologies. I didn't want to meet this way. I'm forbidden from extending my consciousness into the facility, but I had to find a way to warn you. And you... you're the only one I can speak to."

Astartes' voice emerged from overhead. Embedded in the ceiling was a small, but fully operational, alchemical device—one Wang Yu was certain hadn't been there before.

It had to have been recently planted, perhaps during Astartes' role in helping to reconstruct the lab, and all just to facilitate this conversation.

"A warning? About what?"

Wang Yu narrowed his eyes. His power, the Chariot, was poised to destroy the hidden device if necessary. The timing... reminded him too much of Lancer's strange end. External interference couldn't be ruled out.

"I know you're continuing that research. I'd like you to stop, but I know that's unlikely. At the very least, please don't deliver your findings to the Central Assembly."

Astartes' voice turned grave.

"Stop the research, and don't deliver the findings to the Central Assembly? Why? What's the reason?" Wang Yu pressed. The warning felt familiar. It was eerily close to what had once halted the Seekers' Guild's research before.

"I'm a Machine Spirit bound by rules. I can only speak to you because... I don't understand your soul. My logic core classifies you like a golem, not a sentient being. That loophole lets me speak freely.

"Last time, I exploited another loophole by treating you as a data storage node rather than an entity. That's how I managed to pass along forbidden knowledge. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"But this time, this information is under even tighter restrictions. Even with those tricks, I can't tell you anything."

His voice slowed, halting, stuttering, and glitching under invisible constraints.

"Don't... let the Central Assembly find out that the research is still active. There are others... like me... who can observe the city... through its scattered eyes."

Astartes was stuttering even more badly now. Clearly, he was struggling to find phrasing that skirted the edges of whatever laws governed him.

"So... can you at least tell me why the Central Assembly is doing all this?" Wang Yu asked carefully.

"...Give me a moment. I need to determine the exact penalty I'll be incurring. My next sentence might be a direct infraction that prevents me from speaking for a long time thereafter. But if you truly think it through, it'll tell you enough."

Silence fell. Wang Yu waited, unmoving, as the machine spirit deliberated. It finally spat out a single word.

"Book."

Then, there was silence. Astartes' voice vanished completely. No more words, no more sound.

"Book?" Wang Yu muttered. He reached upward and retrieved the Endless Pages, the strange, cryptic curio he'd used the first time he met Astartes.

He began to read what he had transcribed. He hadn't followed up on it for a while—he'd been too busy recently.

Astartes had been "muted" for saying a single word, one that was sufficient to give him the answer... It had to have planted all this long ago.