689 Boom!

In the magic room on the second floor of the magic potion shop, Amy was in the process of building a snowman. Urien cleared his throat, and in his coarse voice, he said, "Little Amy, following this period of practice, you've become a lot more proficient in your usage of manifestation magic. What we're going to do next is ability endowment, which is to inject magical power into the objects that we manifest so they can be useful in battle."

"Will it be like Master Urien's giant Frost Dragon that can break ice cubes?" Amy was very excited to hear this.

Urien nodded, and said, "Yes. Just being able to manifest something alone is nothing but a trick. If a magic caster can manifest something, but they can't endow their subject with special properties and abilities, then they're a failure in manifestation magic. It's just like the phoenix that Krassu can summon; it's just a battle rooster that looks like a phoenix."

Amy turned to Urien with a perplexed look, and said, "But Master Urien, your giant Frost Dragon and Master Krassu's phoenix have fought many times with no clear conclusion."

"Well…" Urien's expression stiffened, and he was at a loss for a reply. He cleared his throat in a slightly awkward manner, and continued, "Let's begin the ability endowment process now. Think of something that you see as the most powerful being, then manifest it while thinking about what ability you would like it to have.

"Also, this is the final warning: you're not allowed to manifest Boss Mag again!" Urien added. He had gotten really sick of seeing Mag during the past few days. He felt as if Mag was constantly attending his lessons uninvited, when in reality, it was just the subject of Amy's manifestation magic.

"I still think Father is the strongest, though…" Amy murmured to herself, but she still fell into deep thought at the sight of Urien's implacable expression.

Urien waited patiently for her decision, and didn't offer any tips or advice.

He had never seen anyone with magical aptitude as exceptional as Amy's. Even Princess Irina's aptitude was quite far away from reaching Amy's level.

As for himself, he was more than willing to admit that even if he grew a second brain, his aptitude would most likely still be inferior to Amy's. As such, he would much rather guide Amy in a general direction and ask her to figure out the rest rather than instruct her on every small detail. This was a rare subject that he agreed with Krassu on.

The 10th-tier was something that he and Krassu would never be able to transcend. Even though they were far more powerful than normal 10th-tier magic casters, they still had to admit that they were 10th-tier magic casters themselves, and had yet to reach the next level.

As such, they wanted to know if there was someone in this world who could break through that final bottleneck, and reach the legendary 11th-tier.

There were rumors that suggested the elven queen was at the 11-tier, but even in the war among species, the elven queen had only appeared in battle on a handful of occasions. As such, no one could verify the authenticity of this claim, and it could well be a smoke bomb thrown out by the elven race to try and intimidate the rest of the continent.

Amy's extraordinary aptitude was only one of the reasons why Urien and Krassu had decided to accept Amy as their disciple. The other factor of consideration was that both of them wanted to see if there was indeed an 11-tier, and they knew that Amy was perhaps the likeliest candidate on this continent to reach that level if it truly existed.

Amy closed her eyes, and an orange ball of light appeared above her head. The ball of light slowly condensed before expanding, creating quite a mesmerizing sight.

"What's this?" Urien's eyes lit up as he looked on with an expectant gaze.

Successful ability endowment was one of the signature signs indicating that one had become a 5th-tier magic caster.

Amy had been studying magic for just over a month, yet she had already become a 4th-tier magic caster. Such an insane rate of progression was simply unprecedented. If she could achieve ability endowment, then she would also be claiming the record for the youngest 5th-tier magic caster, a record that would perhaps never be broken again.

Upon seeing this ball of orange light, many powerful magic beasts flashed through Urien's mind. However, this was Amy's first attempt at ability endowment, so even if the magic beast that she manifested wasn't a very powerful one, it would still be a monumental achievement.

The orange light slowly squirmed before shrinking, and it gradually became more substantial.

"Is that… that orange kitten?"

After about 10 minutes had passed, Urien stared at the small orange kitten that had appeared above Amy's head, and he didn't know whether he should laugh or cry.

"Wow! It looks exactly the same!"

Amy had also opened her eyes, and she nodded in an extremely content manner at the sight of the orange kitten hovering in mid-air.

"Um… Little Amy, I told you to manifest something that you think the most powerful. Under normal circumstances, only powerful magic beasts would be able to unleash powerful combat prowess in battle… Your little kitten…" Even though Urien was trying to give Amy as much autonomy as possible during her magic education, he still couldn't help but interject at the sight of this adorable orange kitten. If she were to summon that thing in battle, the best-case scenario would be that her opponent would laugh themselves to death.

"Master, that's not a kitten, it's Ugly Duckling!" Amy emphasized with a serious expression. She then pointed at Ugly Duckling, and insisted, "Also, Ugly Duckling is super powerful."

Urien was still not convinced. He looked at the orange kitten, and said, "Did you endow it with an ability? If so, use it on me."

"Boom!"

The entire building tremored violently.

A massive kitten-shaped meatball had fallen from the sky, squashing Urien firmly underneath it.

"Master, are you alright?" Amy asked with a concerned look on her face.

Only Urien's upper body was visible beneath the massive meatball. His face was slightly flushed in a strenuous manner as he said with difficulty, "I'm fine, but… get this thing off me…"

…

The city lord's castle's and Scheer's efficiency were on full display as the final contract regarding the steam train operations was finalized after just three days. All three sides expressed their approval of the contract terms, and the contract was signed by Michael, Scheer, and Mag. As had been discussed earlier, Mag was going to get a 10% share of the profits.

The restrictive clauses on the contract required Mag to keep everything about the steam train project strictly confidential for three years. Also, Mag didn't have to come in contact with anyone else working on the project aside from Michael, Scheer, and Dicus.

This was a form of self-protection for Mag. The steam train was undoubtedly going to create a massive stir on the Norland Continent. Many major powers on the continent would be yearning to get their hands on the steam train technology, and if they couldn't do so through official avenues, their attention would inevitably turn to the inventor.

Mag wasn't stupid nor vain enough to put himself at such major risk just for fame and renown.

As for the development of the steam engine, the city lord's castle stated a new condition. The city lord's castle was going to invest some funds into that project, and wanted to be given 10% of the shares in return. They weren't going to participate in any of the business operations, but the Buffett Family was permitted to act on behalf of the city lord's castle. Mag would still receive a 20% share of the profits, and the Buffett Family would be entirely responsible for the project.

This is going to be the number one technology stock on the entire Norland Continent. As expected, City Lord Michael is quite an intelligent man. Mag looked on at the two departing horse-drawn carriages, then turned his gaze toward the document satchel in his hand, and a content smile appeared on his face.

This investment would perhaps make him one of the wealthiest people in this world.