They've already fought their way through the Holy Grail War, and you still call them dragons?

"Right, right! You've hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what they're asking about!" The Night's Watchman took another sip of his wine. "But they also said they want to build a carrot as big as the God Slayer!"

"Radish?" Ange asked in confusion.

"It's a robot. 'Carrot' is a term unique to their otaku culture!" the night watchman explained impatiently.

"Then, when I thought that it couldn't be replicated and that they couldn't possibly do it, the guys in the Equipment Department started mocking me, saying that the alchemist from the Atlas Academy could definitely do it! They said that my title as Master Flamel was just empty!"

"His precious Atlas Court!"

The Night Watchman felt that his professionalism was being harshly mocked, but he had to admit that his level of alchemy was still far from that of a true master.

"An alchemist from the Atlas Academy? You're talking about Fingel's report, right? ...The Equipment Department actually found out about it. That Fingel kid is still as tight-lipped as ever."

Ange also received Finger's task report. This time, in order to accumulate enough internship credits before graduation, Finger worked hard and submitted the report in a detailed and clear manner.

"Atlas Academy" is the force that appeared in Fingel's mission report.

It is said that they were the organizers of the Holy Grail War, but because the results were usurped by the White King Izanami, they had to cooperate with many masters and servants.

In the end, he even demonstrated the modification of the servant's spirit base to create a god-level mecha. His advanced alchemy technology was dazzling, and even Fingel didn't know how to understand and analyze it.

"...Who do you think this alchemist from the Atlas Academy is?"

The Night Watchman shook the bottle. "It's most likely the Dragon King? Odin? No, that Emiya wouldn't cooperate with Odin. So it must be Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire. Rumor has it that he's quite accomplished in alchemy..."

"Do you think it must be the Dragon King?" Ange suddenly asked.

"how?"

"What do you think of Emiya's alchemy skills?" Ange asked, looking at the red-haired figure in the distance. "Before killing the gods, he was the one who actually defeated the Dragon King."

"...If you're talking about talent, it's probably difficult to evaluate. He's probably a prodigy never seen before. I can't even assess whether his alchemy skills have surpassed those of the first generation Dragon Kings."

The night watchman replied, "Why? Do you think there is more than one such person?"

"...Yeah, why would I think that? Maybe it's because the times are changing so fast, and my eyesight is blurry, making it difficult for me to judge."

Ange sneered, "Come on, we secret party bumpkins, it's time to get close to the God Slayer."

The Night Watchman staggered after him, "Remember those little moves by the Snake Qi Eight Families before the Holy Grail War to break away from the Secret Party and become independent? Even the school board treated them as a joke... But this time, they've truly become independent, and even found a powerful and formidable financial backer!"

"The world is full of changes, and fortunes change! The Sheqi Eight Clans have finally had their fortunes turn."

----

The uninhabited area where the Sahara Desert meets the Atlas Mountains.

Two male figures, one tall and one short, wearing typical white desert robes, are trekking a long distance in the dry and hot desert.

The tall man's face was expressionless. He looked at the flying sand and said, "Master, why don't you use a more efficient method of movement?"

"Goetia, you need to learn many tricks of human society, including the tricks they like to play. For example, if you want to reach our destination, you can't use flight or teleportation. You need to walk to specific coordinates to reach the entrance..."

The short man straightened his headscarf, revealing Lu Mingze's face.

"Some people like to play tricks like this, but it doesn't matter. For us, we only need to go there the first time. The next time we want to come, we can just use the coordinates to quickly find it."

"Where are we going now?"

"Go to a partner we need to meet. He's in the huge cellar down here—the Atlas Courtyard."

Lu Mingze stopped halfway, walked a few steps to the left in the empty desert, and then began to walk backwards. The next second he began to turn around again. Gaetia followed behind him, going back and forth many times, and finally saw a huge stone wall entrance appearing in the desert.

"Let's go and find the future King of Alchemy and discuss our 'Star Anchor' concept with him."

Chapter 263: Dragon Clan Bronze Pillars of Heaven and Earth

"Finally finished. Brother, thank you for your hard work..."

Constantine took the long bracket from Norton's hand. The crystal-textured metal frame reflected a dazzling glow in the artificial underground sunlight. As long as he raised his head and looked a little further, he could see the blue sky filled with sunlight.

This sky is also constructed.

The underground environment of the Atlas Courtyard is like an independent and substantial Nibelungen, which is quite similar to the bronze White Emperor City built by Norton, but also has many differences.

This time, Norton still built Atlas Court into a cityscape with numerous buildings, while retaining the design concept of the previous Baidi City's mechanical city, turning the interior into a giant maze from which invaders could not easily escape.

While he cut down on many dragon carvings, he also planned and built a massive spire in the center of the city. The spire resembled an ancient Egyptian obelisk, brimming with religious mystery... but in essence, it was a cutting-edge computing device designed and researched by Norton.

Spirit Calculator: Tricuspid Hermes.

Its naming method is inspired by the ancient doctrine and motto "The Emerald Records" in the history of human alchemy, which records the "Three Great Hermes".

The computing unit that constructs this calculator is the lepton, in other words, the essence and basic structure of the soul.

Just like when Odin conducted soul experiments on Frigga Zero, Norton also noticed that the soul has a basic unit, the "spirit particle", when using the White King's authority to create heroic spirits.

This discovery itself is not surprising. The Dragon King, who is good at alchemy, can interfere with the soul of life, but in the past, he lacked the perspective like human science to study the essence of matter such as "atoms" and "quarks".

However, Odin noticed the merits of science and chose to cooperate deeply with humans, and Norton also changed his methodology under the influence of Emiya.

Norton believed that since the spirit particles could constitute the heroic spirit, accommodate unimaginable energy and maintain a huge output of combat power, then if the spirit particles were integrated, they would definitely have excellent data capacity and computing power.

To put it simply, a Heroic Servant is like an extremely complex program. Running such a program requires an extremely high-performance processor and storage system.

But what Norton wants now is not the Heroic Spirit, and he does not have the Holy Grail to maintain the extra Heroic Spirits. What should he do?

He chose to cut off the redundant combat output system and no longer construct servants. Instead, he integrated a large number of spirit particles into a simple calculation machine. This is how the "Spirit Particle Calculator: Three-pointed Hermes" was completed.

Its purpose is to obtain extremely high computing power, calculate the future, and observe the world line.

Norton always remembered Lu Mingze's divine perspective, looking down on the world from a higher dimension, and tried to find a way to reach that realm. He might not be able to do it himself, but with the help of external objects and equipment, everything is not impossible.

Clang.

Norton moved the crystal-textured rack away from the towering computer. Two dragon attendants flew in from a distance, wielding their giant claws for their king, carefully moving the numerous supports that stood like a forest. Finally, the Three-pointed Hermes was fully exposed to the artificial sunlight.

"Brother, do you want to start the experiment now?"

"Okay, Constantine, you'll be in charge of the left side. Keep an eye on the floating point numbers on Hermes No. 1..."

As Norton was speaking, he suddenly stopped talking.

"elder brother?"

"...Let's not experiment yet. A guest is coming."

Constantine looked at Norton's expression, which suddenly became serious, and his face was filled with obvious worry. "Brother, I'll go with you to deal with it..."

"No need, Constantine, go to Workshop No. 3 first and bring me that 'spear'. They are not simple guests, so I must personally entertain them."

"Okay, brother."

When Norton saw Constantine walk away without a word of rebuttal, he breathed a sigh of relief, yet also felt a subtle sense of loss. After all these years, his brother's spirit still seemed to have not grown.

Constantine's lack of independence made him heavily dependent on his older brother's guidance...

Perhaps having an obedient brother by his side, rather than the troublesome and incompetent Jörmungandr, was a comforting thought. However, the harsh future ahead made Norton anxious about how to foster the growth of those around him.

The burning of the world... the bleaching... What exactly is the meaning of the words spoken by that god?

Norton stared at the spire in front of him, which was the result of all his recent research. He waved his hand and asked the dragon servants who were responsible for defense to retreat.

In the darkness in the distance, something was stirring, and soon two figures, one large and one small, in white robes appeared.

The short Lu Mingze took the initiative to walk out of the shadow cast by the huge building and took off the hood of his white robe. "Hello again."

"...Sir, are you here specifically to retrieve something like that?"

Norton stared at the Three-pointed Hermes with a seemingly calm demeanor. He knew he still owed him something: the Spear of Destiny (a replica) that Lu Mingze had lent him during his time in Shenzhou. It was also something he had asked Constantine to fetch from the workshop.

This Spear of Destiny was originally lent by Odin to Leviathan as a key to connect and control the Nibelungen. Lu Mingze didn't know where he found it, but since it was originally loaned to Norton to rob Odin of his vast reserve of Heroic Spirits, it must be returned one day.

"Oh...you mean that one?"

Lu Mingze approached with great interest, craning his neck to look up at the erected obelisk-like calculator. "Don't worry, I still have to return it, but it has other uses."

"Any other use? Odin can't possibly not take defensive measures. This gun is useless right now."

Norton anxiously speculated about Lu Mingze's intentions. It was a replica of Odin's Spear of Destiny, supposedly the Key of the Nibelung, but that was about it.

Odin's Nibelungen is his own hometown.

Knowing that his home had been robbed once, how could he not change the key? Even if he took out the Spear of Destiny, he would probably not be able to open the other party's "Avalon" Nibelungen.

"No, no, if Odin himself is still active, he naturally can't invade the Nibelungen. But what if he returns to the 'egg' state and needs to be revived?"

Lu Mingze chuckled, "Then his home has become unguarded again. There are ways to crack it. Even if the key has been replaced, it can still be used."

"So, what exactly do you want to do?" Norton could never see through Lu Mingze's thoughts. Perhaps it was because they were on different levels.

His gaze passed Lu Mingze and aimed at the tall white-robed man hiding in the shadows in the distance. Unlike Lu Mingze, that man always hid his face and reacted indifferently to the outside world. Unlike Lu Mingze, he was not interested in anything here... He seemed to lack self.

"It's simple. Don't overthink it. You just need to understand that our goals are the same."

Lu Mingze stretched out his finger and pointed it at the three-pointed Hermes.

"Like me, are you also seeking a way to prevent the world from falling apart?"

"Yes, that's right. In fact, there's nothing wrong with your calculation of the direction of the world, but you overlook the issue of how to 'maintain the world.'"

Lu Mingze spread his hands, his idea was very clear: in order to prevent the world from being destroyed, he needed to find a way to maintain it.

"What do you think?"

"It's not a brilliant idea, just some thoughts."

Lu Mingze said, "Well, let's start with recent phenomena, such as the advent of myths. When it comes to human myths, have you ever thought about the methods or tools used in myths to maintain the world?"

Norton thought for a moment and then said, "There are many such things. There are the Buzhou Mountain, Jianmu, and Dinghai Shenzhen in Chinese mythology, the Lord of Heaven in Japan, the Shiva Linga Pillar in India, the Cotton Tree in Maya, the Tower of Babel in Mesopotamia, and the Benben Stone in Egyptian mythology..."

Lu Mingze added, "Yes, of course, the 'World Tree' from Norse mythology is also indispensable... Don't you think that myths around the world share common characteristics?"

Norton was stunned for a moment. "As the pillars of the world, they are all columnar or tree-like structures?"

...Is this the answer? Isn't it too straightforward?

However, Lu Mingze suddenly laughed:

"Yes! Yes! Although it's very simple, this is the symbolic style of the mythological world! Mythology is the world of the spirit, the world of cognition. Different things are symbols and direct projections of various phenomena and meanings!"

"Just as fire symbolizes the creative power of civilization, but also represents the destructive power of fire, water is the foundation that nourishes all things, but can also become a flood that ravages the earth! The simpler the understanding, the closer it is to the order of the mythical world!"

Lu Mingze spoke for a long time, and suddenly changed the subject:

"Oh, right, the same is true for the dragon tribe. They love to erect bronze pillars. They also write a vast history from the past to the future on these bronze pillars. These pillars are not just simple supporting structures, but also a profound destiny that is anchored."

Lu Mingze was hinting at something, because the Atlas Courtyard reconstructed by Norton also had many upright columnar structures, which was almost a common custom among dragons.

It was the first time that Norton discovered that both humans and dragons had so many similarities in their understanding of the world!

...So this shared cognition can be used as the basis for spiritual reshaping and the reappearance of mythology?

"So... you think we should imitate mythology and build a pillar structure to anchor this planet and prevent destruction?"

"Of course, this shared concept can be utilized. We need a planetary anchor to maintain the world... But as I said, I'm here to offer some suggestions. The design is up to you."

Lu Mingze pointed to the spire-shaped three-pointed Hermes and said, "You can design it as a column or a tower, either is fine."

'column……'

In the shadows, Goetia listened to the entire conversation silently, with ripples of thought in his mind.

Chapter 264: There is a traitor in your secret party, terminate the deal!

When the old man in the black suit came over to say hello, Emiya probably thought that this was his first formal meeting with the so-called secret party principal of Kassel Academy, Hilbert Jean Ange.

But the other party said that they had met before.

what?

This feels quite déjà vu - just like the clichéd routine of saying, "Oh, have I seen you somewhere?" when chatting up people in daily life.

This opening line might as well be "What a nice weather today—?"

Uh……

Emiya looked at the heavy rain outside. Well, he almost forgot.

Now a large area here, from Japan to the southeast coast of China and even to Southeast Asia, will be raining non-stop for the next few months... There is no way to talk about the weather.

"...Let me introduce this person. She's my friend who came with me. We were in the crowd just now and didn't get to meet each other. She admires your great feat of killing gods...very much."

Ange didn't continue the awkward conversation, but instead introduced the woman who was obviously with him. "Ms. Elizabeth Laurent, the eldest daughter of our school's director Laurent, is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Arts in Britain."