Chapter 297: Lily

Two months passed since Angus met Grandpa El, the old fire elemental spirit. Angus realizes that he still does not fully understand the nature of fire and decides to increase his knowledge about the fire before doing more Firecast training.

During these two whole months, Angus is completely focused on reading books related to fire elements. Be it from his family's private library or the royal academy, he read all these books.

Angus needed two whole months to read all these books despite having an enhanced mind. Still, this is an incredible feat since it usually takes years to read and understand all these books. Currently, Angus in the backyard decides to back training his Firecast skill.

'Huft… calm down and don't force the fire. Let it burn by itself.' thought Angus.

Angus closed his eyes while in front of him placed a row of candles. Suddenly, the candles burn intensely. They keep going bigger and immediately burn the entire candle. Despite that, the fire is not extinguished and keeps becoming bigger.

Then, the fire begins to dance in the air. Sometimes it is almost extinguished. Sometimes it also becomes more immense. Its intensity also keeps changing while burning and dancing in the air. 

After a dozen minutes, Angus begins to sweat from trying to control the fire with all his mind. At this moment, the fire exploded and disappeared into thin air.

"Haa.. Haa.. Haa…" as Angus tried to calm his breath.

'This is quite more exhausting than I thought. Still, this is a huge improvement from before.' thought Angus before writing something in his personal notebook.

In the meantime, the others couldn't help but be surprised at Angus.

"H-He did it!!" said Axel.

"Well, it is not perfect yet, but I think he somehow managed to manipulate the fire a little bit." said Ian.

"Hmph.. He cannot outdo us. Let's train more." said Mia.

"Yes, agree." replied the others.

Then, everyone begins to train more seriously, not wanting to get left behind by Angus. After the little success, Angus started to be motivated to train more. Without notice, another month passed by, and the break came.

The day before the break starts, Angus gets a letter from the research center. Since Angus' involvement at project H half a year ago, Angus kept getting in contact with the research facility about the project development.

At first, he thought it would take years before the artificial material was successfully made. However, Angus underestimates the mind of all the people that are working on this project. 

Within these half years, they successfully created a material that could conduct mana faster than an ordinary high-grade combatant. The material is called Manather. Actually, this is a common material with low conductivity of mana.

After getting engraved with the various kinds of runes, Manather becomes a very conductive material. Moreover, as it keeps transmitting mana, the material is able to transmit faster than before. Basically, as it continues to transmit mana, it will get faster and stronger.

This is the perfect material for homunculus for it to be able to improve itself. Previously, Angus and the others didn't know what to do to improve the homunculus on their own like any ordinary living being. 

However, with this material, they could make the homunculus stronger independently. Still, this material is not cheap as it is a combination of various rare materials. Just to create a gram of this material, they need to consume a few kilograms of rare materials.

Their project budget is almost completely exhausted just from this research step. Fortunately, they managed to create Manather enough for the homunculus. Otherwise, they didn't know how to report to the finance ministry.

After hearing of their success, Angus immediately went towards the research center the next day. He couldn't help but be excited to finalize the homunculus.

After getting a strict check by the research center guard, Angus immediately went towards the Project H location. Entering the room, Angus finds the others working on the enlarged homunculus. Currently, three meters naked big humanoid things are lying on the table.

They decide to enlarge the homunculus to be able to engrave runes easier. After knowing it is Angus, they return to work seriously at the homunculus. 

Benjamin is working at the brain of the homunculus. Valeron and Gilford are engraving various runes on the Homunculus body. Vigo is working at the core of the homunculus. Without wasting any more time, Angus also started working at the homunculus.

He is working on the design of the homunculus inner part. This is a very meticulous task since an error could possibly make the homunculus malfunction. They keep working for a few days straight non-stop.

Fortunately, everyone has stamina like a high-grade combatant besides Vigo. Still, Vigo's task in creating the core is already done. All he needs to do is to integrate the core with the homunculus.

As time went by, a few days passed by, and they finally completed the homunculus. They take the homunculus to the secret testing room.

After checking everything for the last time, "Alright, this is the moment of truth. Turn it on, master Vigo." said Benjamin.

Hearing this and getting everyone's confirmation, Vigo immediately turns on the energy core. *Wung* *Wung* *Wung* The energy core starts to supply mana towards the whole homunculus body with a certain rhythm like a heartbeat.

As the beat gets faster, all the runes in the body begin to shine brightly. After a while, everyone heard a mechanical sound from it.

"System online, Lily is at your service." said the homunculus as she opened her mouth and talked.

"Does it just talk?" said Vigo.

"Yes, it is. This is what homunculus should be." said Benjamin.

"It seems our hard work is successful." said Angus.

"Yeah, there is not a problem with her body part." said Gilford while looking through his goggles.

"Alright, Lily, start the calibration." command Benjamin.

"Calibration starts… Output energy maximized... Brainwork 100%.. Data checking.. Backup data check.." said Lily while all her body started to move.

After a while, the three meters Lily became smaller and turned into one and 170 centimeters height girl. It even has her growing her own silver hair.

"Calibration complete." said Lily 

Then, Lily looked at everyone in confused expression.

"Are you the one that created me?" said Lily with an inquiring tone, unlike her previous emotionless tone.

"I-It.. could it have an expression??!" said Vigo.

"Fascinating.. This is really a masterpiece.." said Valeron.

"Yes, Lily. Is there anything that discomforts you?" replied Benjamin.

Hearing Benjamin's reply, Lily looked at her hand and gripped it for a while.

"No. I feel my body is lighter and stronger compared to before." said Lily while shaking her head.

"Before?" said Angus.

"Yeah, I integrated her memory data with Lily from before. With this, she will retain her battle experience and not learn from zero." said Benjamin.

"Her battle experience?? You do not mean that thousand years of battle experience, right?" said Angus.

"Yep, it is." said Benjamin.

'Damn, we really created a monster. I just hope it will not go berserk like last time.' thought Angus.

Looking at Angus's worried face, "Hahaha.. Don't worry, she is unlike before. She will never go berserk or hurt us." said Benjamin.

In the meantime, Lily keeps looking at the surroundings in a confused manner before looking at Angus for a while.

"Lily, is there any discomfort or anything you don't understand?" said Benjamin.

"No, there is no discomfort. However, can I make a request?" replied Lily.

"Request??" said everyone.

"Yeah, Can I fight with master Angus once more?" said Lily.

Hearing Lily reply, everyone was immediately surprised.

"Err… Is there a problem with master Angus?" asked Benjamin.

"There is no problem. I just want to test my new strength against someone that beat me. Please grant me this selfish request." said Lily.

"T-This…" said Benjamin.

Before Benjamin could reply further, "Alright, let's fight." said Angus while grinning.

"W-Wait, Angus. She is different like before." said Benjamin.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, this is a good time to test her capability." said Angus.

Looking at Angus' resolute face, "Haa… Alright, I will permit it. However, Lily should use any lethal attack and will stop before hurting Angus." said Benjamin.

"Sure, father." replied Lily.

Then, both Angus and Lily go towards the center of the room. The testing room is quite large since it is also originally for testing weapons and other dangerous stuff. After getting prepared, Angus takes his twin sword artifact and swings it a few times in the air.

On the other hand, Lily is getting a dull dagger similar to the one she used before. Wielding the dagger, Lily immediately spun the dagger in her hand skillfully.

"Hoo.. It seems her hand and body are coordinated perfectly." said Gilford while using [Analyze]

After the two get ready, "Lily, try to match your speed and power with mine. We will battle only with your battle experience." said Angus.

Hearing this, Lily is surprised for a moment before replying with a smile.

"Sure, Master Angus."