Chapter 169: Puppet Repairer Ansel - I

In the eyes of a genius, what does this world truly look like?

Ravenna never described the world as she saw it to others, for she never believed that anyone could share her vision.

— That was until he appeared.

In a room filled with chaos, cluttered with various tools and materials, littered with waste paper, and walls adorned with large blueprints, it was hard to imagine that this was an alchemist's workshop. Ravenna, holding the design in her hand, frowned and murmured:

"... A weapon?"

She looked up at the blond boy in front of her, who, like her, was dressed in simple work clothes and was personally handling the ether-malleable magi-metal.

"Why a weapon?" Ravenna questioned.

"Because weapons are the things most closely linked to power," Ansel calmly replied.

A long tubular object floated slowly rotating in his palm, its inner wall outlined by an invisible force into perfect rifling.

"Ravenna, the Tower of Babel can't hold on for much longer, can it? Although Her Highness has turned her attention to you, preventing you from disbanding under the infinite pressure of the Etheric Academy, this alone is not enough."

He held the magi-metal tube in his hand, put it in front of his eyes, looked through the inner wall at Ravenna in the hole, and laughed lightly:

"You, you all, need to bring out the key weight that can make Her Highness truly choose to stand on your side and make a heavy bet."

"And for her who is determined to conquer the land on the other side of the Celestial Path and rule the entire continent, there is nothing more tempting than pure violence."

"So, with a revolutionary innovation in power, you can make the Tower of Babel stand in the imperial capital."

He threw the tubular object to Ravenna, walked briskly to her side, and whispered in her ear like a devil tempting mortals: "The revolution is in your hands."

"..."

The woman was silent for a long time, and for some reason, her heart was always filled with unspeakable hesitation.

Ravenna stayed in the Tower of Babel, which had a backer, and therefore... the future where Ravenna, who hated the Etheric Academy because the Tower of Babel was completely defeated and disbanded, finally joined the revolutionary army by chance, no longer existed.

The firearms that would not officially debut until six years later and provided the revolutionary army with a powerful armed force... also became a brutal weapon in the hands of the empire.

That year, the name of Ravenna Ziegler's genius echoed throughout the empire.

That year, the young Hydral, hidden in the shadows, was only thirteen.

*

A severe pain roused Ravenna from her profound reverie.

The agony of feeling her body twisted and contorted, as if every bone in her body had shattered, would have been enough to render an ordinary person unconscious.

But not Ravenna.

Not because she possessed an extraordinary tolerance for pain, but because she had set the pain perception of her puppet body to a sufficiently low level.

Losing the sense of pain was a perilous affair. Even when using a puppet, Ravenna was reluctant to lower her guard by losing her sense of pain. However, she disliked enduring pain, so she still reduced her pain perception.

She strained to open her eyes amidst the excruciating pain of her simulated muscles tearing and bones breaking. With the slowly awakening rage, she refused to let her will succumb to exhaustion again.

"This is... this is —"

Through her blurred vision, Ravenna saw a round table and around it, a white-robed figure excitedly circling, holding something in his hand.

"This is... an unparalleled creation! Although I am not an expert in this field, I can't even imagine the grandeur of its creation just from the blueprint!"

"Hehe, the concept of mechanical armor is indeed remarkable, but it's not as exaggerated as you make it out to be, Lord Soren."

Upon hearing this voice, Ravenna's puppet body's eyes shifted slightly.

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