CHAPTER 296: PREPARING THE REINFORCEMENTS

Dominic stared at the object in his hand for a long moment.

Why had Shiao Yi brought this?

Surely there were better things he could have brought...

Indeed, the food was highly nutritious.

It was rich in sugars and protein and the nuts kneaded into it added fats and minerals.

It’s also excellent food for replenishing energy and recovering from fatigue.

But it was terribly hard, dry, and rough on the throat.

On top of that, it was overwhelmingly sweet.

Of course, it was expected, since it was packed with honey.

Dominic bit into it while enduring the tooth aching sweetness as he chewed slowly and he remembered the first time Shiao Yi had tried it.

At that moment, Shiao Yi had said,

"Hey, this is actually good!"

Dominic had never doubted Shiao Yi’s taste buds more than he did then.

"This is way better than those bars I used to eat. It’s sweet, with the nuts giving it a nice crunch," Shiao Yi had said.

"I can’t believe it... Could anything really taste worse than this?"

"Yeah... that stuff was like compressed clay or chalk powder. It’s tasted like medicine, dry and crumbly. It lasted for years, provided the calories and nutrients needed, but that was it, nothing else."

Clay... Dominic thought. That sounded far worse than he could imagine. Shiao Yi had been eating that?

At that time, Dominic had sworn to himself that he would make sure Shiao Yi would get to eat real good food.

Since then, whenever it came to portable rations, Shiao Yi had chosen this one.

Apparently, in Shiao Yi’s mind, it had become "delicious."

Meanwhile, Shiao Yi pulled a mug and a small magical fire starting device from his backpack.

He set up a simple hearth with some stones, filled the mug with water from a canteen and gathered dry wood to start a fire, bringing the water to a boil.

By the time Dominic had eaten about half of the ration, the water was boiling.

Shiao Yi rummaged in his backpack once more and pulled out a small tin containing tea leaves.

He opened the lid and casually dumped the leaves into the mug.

Dominic didn’t even have time to stop him.

Shiao Yi stirred the water until it took on the color of the tea, then set the mug proudly in front of Dominic.

"Drink some tea too and make sure to rest properly. I’m going to bring some mages. Don’t push yourself too hard, if you get hurt, I’ll be mad."

With that, there was a faint whoosh of air and Shiao Yi disappeared.

He had likely teleported to Rosaria.

All that remained was the steaming mug with the tea leaves floating on the surface.

Shiao Yi was surprisingly careless in his methods.

Dominic took a bite of the remaining mushy ration and, to swallow it down, he plucked the tea leaves sticking to his tongue with his fingers.

Shiao Yi had said he had never seen tea leaves before.

In his world, anything called tea, milk, or coffee could supposedly be made by dissolving some powder in hot water.

He had called it "instant" or something like that.

"But tea made from actual leaves tastes amazing. It takes work, but the flavor and aroma are completely different. Jude really knows his stuff. It’s so good!"

Shiao Yi had laughed brightly, praising it openly, and Jude’s face had relaxed in happiness at the compliment.

Dominic felt a sudden longing for Eline’s baked sweets and Jude’s carefully brewed tea.

He decided that to fully enjoy this tea time with Shiao Yi, he would focus and push himself to do his best.

...

After teleporting to Rosaria, Shiao Yi went to meet Aaron.

When he thought of a mage capable of handling barriers, Aaron was the only one who came to mind.

Aaron was busy at the workshop, mass producing Magic Cannons.

He had cleared a section of the forest near the Magic Tower and built a large workshop.

When Shiao Yi opened the entrance door and stepped inside, he was hit by the heat of so many people working at once.

The wide space felt strangely cramped.

Normally, people worked on all sorts of magical tools and research, each using the workshop in their own way.

But now, everyone was working on the same magical tool, furiously, without even speaking.

It seemed that craftsmen from the royal capital had come to help as well, as there were easily a hundred people working.

Around thirty magicians were performing the final assembly on the Magic Cannons as they came off the production line.

They dipped board like objects into a black liquid and stamped them into the interiors of the cannons.

What made it different from ordinary stamping was that when the board pressed down, the magic circle would rise into the air and then attach itself to the cannon as if absorbed.

"Magic liquid is applied to a board shaped like a magic circle, and then it’s fixed in place using magical power. It’s amazing, isn’t it? If we drew each circle by hand like before, it would take forever, and we couldn’t make nearly this many," Aaron explained as he stood behind Shiao Yi, watching the work.

Shiao Yi felt a surge of surprise, he hadn’t even noticed Aaron come up behind him.

It was hard to sense the presence of someone who lived by magic.

"The one who came up with this was my apprentice, Reks. The Magic Communication Device too. He has more talent for invention than I do," Aaron added.

Aaron boasted with a pleased smile.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

The clever Aaron knew well that Shiao Yi wouldn’t come here without a reason.

"I need magicians who can set up barriers. I want them to be able to make as strong a barrier as possible and bring as many people as possible."

"You mean for the Aeon?"

Aaron understood everything from a single sentence, no need for further explanation.

He really was a capable man.