Chapter 71: Secrets, All Secrets!
Two days later, a convoy pulled by several robust camels slowly made its way along the official road of the harbor city.
At the forefront of the convoy, inside a lavishly decorated carriage, an elderly wizard gazed out of the window, taking in the architectural layout of the entire city.
"Mr. Tike, do you really believe this continent could be spherical?" Beside him, a well-dressed mage inquired curiously, tossing a gold coin in his hand.
"Ror, until we have definitive proof, no one can truly confirm or refute this speculation..." Tike took a while to shift his gaze away from the rows of buildings that were identical in size and shape, and then continued, "Rumors within the Council suggest that a legendary wizard well-versed in elemental magic, upon hearing this theory, is preparing to use flight magic to ascend into the sky to confirm whether the continent is round or flat..."
"And what's the result?" Ror asked, greatly intrigued.
"By the time we departed, that esteemed person had not returned!" Tike shook his head.
It has been quite a few days, hasn't it? Ror couldn't help but shudder for a moment, but then dismissed the thought. He hadn't truly witnessed the power possessed by legendary wizards, but he understood that it was undeniably immensely formidable.
The safety of these influential figures doesn't seem to be a concern for someone like me.
"In any case, once this news is released, the divination wizards will probably be in an uproar," Tike remarked.
Those divination wizards always tried to interpret signs of destiny from the trajectories of celestial bodies, and the widely circulated star maps in the land of wizards were created by them. Lin's theory about the shape of the planet undoubtedly completely contradicted this theory.
From Tike's perspective, the divination wizards were simply squandering the Council's funds, uttering cryptic words that sounded mysterious and then interpreting them word by word based on actual events after they occurred, leaving people uncertain whether the prediction was accurate or merely concocted afterward.
Ror wasn't particularly concerned about the thoughts of those divination wizards; he was contemplating the theory mentioned by a wizard named Lin, the law of free fall.
The acceleration of an object in free fall is independent of its weight and mass. When two objects of different masses are dropped from the same height, they will hit the ground simultaneously.
While this theory had received some confirmation from great wizards, it still seemed incredibly unusual, bordering on unbelievable.
Could it be that if you were to carry a small pebble and an entire mountain into the sky, they would both fall to the ground simultaneously?
Ror attempted to toss the gold coin in his hand alongside a feather pen, and without a doubt, the heavier coin landed first.
Just as he was lost in thought, the convoy came to a gradual stop.
"What's going on?" Ror asked, slightly irritated. They shouldn't have reached Iyeta Magic Academy yet.
"The road ahead is blocked, Mage Ror," the servant driving the camels hastily explained.
Ror pulled back the carriage curtain and immediately saw numerous townsfolk gathered in the square, seemingly discussing something.
"What's happening?" Tike also inquired, as he had just heard the commotion from outside.
Tike looked ahead and, with the height advantage provided by the carriage, they both saw the massive, bizarre alchemical contraption situated in the center of the square.
This thing was as tall as a two-story building, divided into upper and lower sections.
Above was an elliptical sphere, its estimated length exceeding twenty meters. Below it, there was a structure somewhat resembling a ship, but much smaller in comparison, making up less than a third of the overall size of the elliptical sphere. It was all tethered together by sturdy ropes.
"Is this the alchemical contraption Master Herlram recently developed? It's enormous!" Ror marveled. This contraption was even more massive than the golems in the Wizard City.
"No, I'm afraid it has nothing to do with His Excellency Herlram..." Tike countered after listening to the lively discussions around them for a while.
Most of the townspeople here mentioned Lynn, Lydia, and something called an "airship."
Airship... Is that the name of this alchemical contraption?
"So, is this related to that wizard from the Sekas Empire again? Quite interesting... Let's go and take a look on foot!" Ror stepped down from the carriage, his interest piqued.
On the other side, in the center of the city square, Lydia and the airship she had crafted were surrounded by curious townsfolk. Children as young as seven or eight and burly farmers alike were eager to touch this massive creation, even taller than some houses.
About a dozen halflings, like guards, encircled the airship with proud expressions. This was their treasured creation, painstakingly worked on for over half a month!
A mischievous boy secretly climbed up the sculpture, standing on his tiptoes and raising his hand high to poke the underside of the airship's balloon. He felt the soft texture and realized he couldn't pierce the seemingly fragile balloon with his hand. But his eyes remained fixed on the enormous airship before him.
"Ah, it's so soft!" several other mischievous children exclaimed excitedly as they climbed up and used their rough hands to touch the airship.
Darren was startled and jumped up, intending to shoo them away, but he was too short to reach them. He could only sternly scold them.
"Go away! Don't damage it. I can't afford to compensate you even if I sell you all!"
Although the balloon was made of sturdy camel leather and was hard to pierce with a knife, they had invested all their energy and savings into this flight experiment. They couldn't allow the slightest error.
"Uncle Darren, how did you move such a big thing here? It's called an airship, right? Can it really fly?" The lead boy, who was shorter than Darren, asked with a mischievous smile.
The onlookers were equally curious. Judging by its appearance, this airship seemed to weigh several tons, but Lydia and the others managed to move it all the way from the workshop to the square.
"You guys wouldn't understand. This thing looks big but it's not heavy at all... No, that's not it. I should say it's not heavy when you push it. According to the wizard, it's because most of the weight is offset by lift, and there are wheels at the bottom, so moving it isn't tiring at all..."
Darren spoke triumphantly, his beard curling up. But before he could finish, Lydia gave him a hefty kick. He realized his mistake and instantly changed his expression, now watching everyone present with a serious look.
"Confidential, all of this is confidential!"
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