Emperor of Steel

Chapter 18: The Black Knight Appears 1

When Luke came up with the only manner to solve the situation, he looked over at Philip once again.

“Can you surely win if the performance of the Gigant improves?”

“Of course. It is a bit awkward for me to say it with my own mouth, but I was one of the best performers in the whole history of the Royal Military Academy when it came to maneuvering Gigants.”

‘Such a guy, why was he in a not so important estate?’

Was there some other reason for things to have turned out this way for Philip?

He decided to find those out later.

The more important thing was something else.

“Okay, then wait a moment.”

Luke confirmed it with Philip and asked Reina for permission.

“Is it alright if I change a few functions in the Gigant?”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

Reina agreed to it with a pleased expression.

The wizards didn’t oppose, neither did the owner of the Gigant, but they all frowned to themselves.

It was because they were worried that the young boy would ruin the Gigant with the very little knowledge that he had.

‘Kid, not everyone can repair a Gigant, you know?’

‘Don’t you know that the ones who specialize with Gigants are called Iron Mages?’

‘This guy is a problem too, but the princess has accepted it…’

While the Iron Mages alternated between worry and lament, Luke climbed the ladder and carefully examined the inside of the armored, Mir, specifically the core engine.

The structure of the core engine was exactly as it was in the past.

However, there was another part.

It was the assemble.

‘Neither are there any rivets or slips, but furrows… I used a guy called NASA. Do I need a wrench to solve this?’

Luke picked up the tools and tried to recall the work of an Iron Mage and the others.

He put the wrench into the hexagonal groove and turned it clockwise; it was very tight and hard but, thankfully, it could be done with his own strength.

After removing a few screws and removing the cover, the core ore inside the core engine was exposed.

Luke carefully pulled out the core ore and looked at it.

“This ore is definitely at the end of its life.”

He was able to grasp it because the inside of the Gigant was starting to turn black.

The change in color was due to the fact that some of the mana that flowed from the outside had accumulated inside the stone without circulating.

Reina took a glance at the expression of Luke.

“Isn’t it good if the mana is build up?”

“No. even if it accumulates, it must be circulated to make use of it. Consider a reservoir as an example. If the water freely flows in and out, it is always going to be clean, but if the water stays stagnant it will start to get poisoned.”

“Ah, I see.”

“And in order to facilitate the circulation and to ensure a good water supply, we will have to remove the sediments that got accumulated in the water and the ground. In other words, it is an ill-maintained reservoir.”

“Then how do we get rid of the mana that accumulated?”

The Iron Mages in there admitted that Luke was much more knowledgeable than what they had thought.

But they weren’t able to think of an answer to the question of Princess Reina.

It was because the mana deposition in the core was a problem that no one had been able to solve till then.

At the end of the life of the core, they would either replace the ore or discard the whole ore.

In particular, as the artificial magic stones began to be produced and the price began to drop on them, the research on recycling them was reduced.

“I know of a way.”

“What!”

It wasn’t princess Reina, but the Iron Mages who screamed.

The wizards were introduced by a person who was acquainted with the princess, and they thought that the noble kid with no magic circle on was making unneeded noise by speaking without common sense.

“Don’t spew rubbish!”

“Let’s see. This will be an interesting thing to see!”

“You can never revive a magic stone that has reached the end of its life.”

Luke frowned at the Iron Mage.

He could understand why they wouldn’t believe.

But for a wizard, who always explored nature and was willing to solve questions and pursue the truth, it was ‘absolute’!

“What if I can revive it?”

“Ah, that isn’t possible!”

“Then let’s do it this way. If I bring back this magic stone, you’ll burn away the robes that you are wearing. And if I can’t bring it back, I will give you the money that I have.”

Luke put the money in his pocket onto the floor.

Looking at the bag of money, the Iron mage just gulped.

Freelancing wizards didn’t belong to any place and were always desperate for money.

It was because it cost a lot of money to study magic and improve their skills.

They became very happy when such a situation presented itself as they were with the princess with just a little pay.

‘No matter how pretty the princess is…’

‘Tch tch, this young one!’

It was unpleasant to ask them to burn their robes; it was like denying their existence as a wizard, but the task that was given to Luke was impossible.

“Okay, if you do it. I will definitely burn my robes and serve you.”

“Kukk, I’ll dedicate my entire life working for you.”

“As wizards or slaves, do whatever you want with us.”

The wizards, who were convinced that the boy would fail, didn’t hesitate to make additional promises.

Luke scoffed at them.

“Don’t regret your decision later.”

And thus came in the oral agreement, making Princess Reina as the notary of the bet.