Knowledge was great and all, but what was the use of him having it if he could not use it? If he did not have the materials to implement his knowledge to upgrade his gear or create new magi-tech, then what use did he have for it?

Cecil lost the compet.i.tion later that day, but he didn't lose because his creation lost to anyone else's. He lost because he forfeited when he found out that his name was going to be announced as the winner. As for how Cecil found out, he had his disciple to thank for that.

This way, he lost not because he didn't have the ability, but because he chose to. Serilla was a little upset after this. However, she was quickly pacified when Cecil engaged in a little night-time activity with her.

Once Sola delivered her end of the bargain, Cecil immediately fulfilled his. He didn't give anything too mindboggling to the Empire, just some unimportant crafting methods and inconsequential ancient runes and runic arrays. Although they were not too important for him, Sola didn't see it that way when she completed their transaction.

Seeing Cecil's sincere att.i.tude in the way he conducted business with them, Sola had even forcibly appointed him as one of the Great Workshop's honorary elder. Now, not only did he have access to the library and the workshop, he even had access to all the other districts except for District 0.

The materials he acquired through the transaction were something that he had been eyeing ever since he saw the Empire's Mag-Cannons.

Cecil was already planning on developing and upgrading his Adamantium Sword, his longtime partner. He didn't want to swap weapons and he just found the best inspiration for the modifications to add onto his sword for the upgrade after taking a look around the Empire.

When he took a look at his disciple who had grown up to be a splendid teenager and the sword strapped to the back of his waist, he couldn't help but smile proudly.

Cecil's Adamantium Sword had practically undergone an overhaul in design, functionality, and practicality. It could no longer be called just a sword, but more like a Gun Sword.

Cecil, with the help of his disciple, Ren, had used artificing methods to redesign the blade and extended it to be much longer than it originally was. It was extended by another 30 centimeters reaching 1.5 meters in length and the gun barrel ran about half a meter long on one side of the blade which was modified to perfectly fit the barrel.

Near the sword guard, was where the chamber was located and Cecil could load in the cartridge of the magi-tech bullets he had personally designed. Due to the limitation of how he designed the bullets and the gun, he could only load in one bullet at a time.

The gun he designed didn't shoot out bullets or mana like the rifles designed by the Empire, instead, they shot out magic spells.

The bullet cartridge's hollow insides weren't filled with gunpowder, but were instead replaced with a small mana crystal which would be needed to activate the complex set of runes which were engraved on the walls of the cartridge. So because of this, the cartridge was pretty big, it was about the size of a chicken's egg give or take.

Thanks to Ren's help, Cecil was able to quickly finish the battery that he had been developing. This battery was what supplied his magic gun sword with mana so he didn't need to use a single drop of his mana whenever he fired the gun.

Since the battery could store mana that was equal to 5x his mana, Cecil had redesigned and created accessories for both of his wives. This way, even in a desperate situation, the two wouldn't run out of mana.

He also made one for Silver, Yuna, and his family's butler, Quinn. Ren of course, already had one since he was gifted with a magi-tech gun that Cecil had specially create for him which could fire off magic spells just like his gun sword.

Of course, the creation of the bullets was very money consuming and since they were disposable, Cecil and Ren always had to keep on creating more. It was a good thing that Sola had gifted to Cecil one of her most prized runic arrays which she had personally developed, the replication array.

Using this array, all Cecil had to do was provide the materials needed to create his bullets and an original finished version of his bullet. The array would do the rest by replicating the bullet using the materials he provided. He now understood why an ambitious woman like Sola could achieve her spot as the Empire's Head Artificer.

Sola had essentially created the Empire's industrial production line. Sola had thought that this formation array wouldn't be of much use to Cecil since there was probably not much he could use it for.

It's not like he could use it to replicate any complex magi-tech since the array itself was limited to only things that were of basic and simple design, like a bullet or parts to a cannon and such. However, she didn't know was at the time, Cecil had already been planning to create a gun sword for himself when he saw the rifles the Empire's soldiers had on them.

It was a G.o.dsend for Cecil since he had skipped many of the difficult phases of creating his bullets. He currently only had 5 different types of bullets, a Lava Rain Bullet, a Geyser Bullet, a Cyclone Bullet, an Ice-Fire Barrier Bullet, and a Healing Bullet.

He wanted to create more kinds of bullets, but for now, these were the only ones he deemed were worthy of his creation since he couldn't engrave more complex arrays on his bullets that could be replicated by the Replication Array.

Of course, he did create a limited amount of bullets that could invoke spells like Lucia's Apocalypse though only on a smaller scale. He also had a bullet for Lucia's Meteor Fall. Once again, the spell was only on a smaller scale. Despite it being on a smaller scale, Cecil could use all of Lucia's high ranked spells with the special bullets he had created.

These bullets couldn't be replicated using the Replication Array due to how complex their spell formation was so he only had about 1-2 of each kind. The amount of runes needed to create the spell formation was too much for even Cecil. If it wasn't because he wanted to at least try it out and see if it was possible to create or not, he wouldn't have even tried creating a bullet for any of Lucia's high ranked spells.

In the end it did work, but Cecil never wanted to create another bullet apart from the limited ones he already had. Its creations were too time-consuming and it would take him weeks just to complete one bullet and if messed up even a little bit, he'd have to start all over again from scratch.

As for why he upgraded his sword into a magic gun sword, it was mostly on a whim and for practicality's sake, Cecil's usage and invocation of magic spells during battle were a little too slow for his taste, so the instant invocation of his magic bullets were very much welcomed.

He could easily deal with monsters using his physical abilities and mana, but he wanted more options to his attacking methods.

******

It had been about a week after he had separated the party into 2 teams. Cecil was rus.h.i.+ng so he was able to reach close to the Kingdom's borders while riding on Yuna through the air nonstop.

Unlike Silver, Yuna could fly through the air for as long as she wanted, at least until she was too tired to continue flying off course, but flying for a couple of days without rest was something that she could easily do and this was why his team was able to arrive at the border regions of Regulus so quickly.

"Silv, I know I'm pus.h.i.+ng your big sis Yuna, but—"

"Don't worry Master, Yuna and I understand. Besides, you want to quickly get this trip over with and hurry on back to the wives, right?"

"Thanks, Silv. Thanks, Yuna."

"No problem Master."

"It's nothing."

By now, Cecil had already discovered the intimate relations.h.i.+p Silver and Yuna had going on.

Behind him, Ren was clinging tightly onto Yuna's large back in fear at the moment. He didn't think that his leisurely travels with his master would turn into a roller coaster ride through the air.

"D-daaaammmiiiiittt! I hate flying!!!"

******

While Cecil and the rest were rus.h.i.+ng to the Revertia Holy Kingdom, Lucia and Serilla had already arrived at the next city over and heard some interesting news.

"The War Saintesss will lead our kingdom to victory! Long Live His Highness, the Third Prince!" A person was shouting on the streets of Ahnor gathering the attention of many pa.s.sersby. Ahnor was the city Lucia and Serilla were currently at.

"Hey, Lulu, who do you think this War Saintess is? And why are they saying long live the prince? Shouldn't it be princess?"

"Wait, let me ask."

Just as Lucia was about to exit the wagon, their butler immediately stopped the carriage and quipped up.

"Madam, let me do that in your stead," Quinn jumped down from the carriage and immediately began inquiring one of the people who had stopped to listen to all the propaganda. He was able to find out a few things about this War Saintess after asking around.

"The War Saintess is the Third Prince of the Regulus Kingdom's Fiancée, her name is Fatima."

"Really? Being called a War Saintess must mean she has pretty decent ability," Lucia replied.

"Yes, not only does she have outstanding combat ability, her wits and strategies are also one of the major factors that have led the Regulus Kingdom in victory after victory. It wasn't until only half a year ago that the War Maiden had stepped onto the battlefield to lead the kingdom's armies. Before, the kingdom was on a long losing streak in the neutral territories and was beat back until they nearly had to fight within their kingdom's borders, but with the War Saintess' help, they were able to repel the Merkruz Princ.i.p.ality's armies and now their battles have once again remained on the neutral areas." Quinn reported.

"Hmm... so the war situation we were able to get from the mercenary guild wasn't all wrong then. Honestly, I thought that we might have joined the losing side, but apparently, the Regulus Kingdom still has some tricks up their sleeves." Serilla said.

"I want to meet her! She seems interesting!" Lucia added with a grin.

"Lulu, we can't just meet royalty, but if she's on the frontlines of the battlefield, I'm sure we'll cross paths with her eventually."

"Let's hurry on to the capital then! We should quickly register ourselves, look for information about Cel's family, but if there isn't any, we'll join the war to pa.s.s the time until Cel comes back!"