[Book 1 Completed] Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World [Kingdom Building LitRPG]
B2 | Chapter 52 – How is this possible?!

Jacopo POV

"Jacopo, haha, are you sure about this?" Gelden looked at him nervously.

Jacopo gave a snort. He was certain of this, of course! He grinned and crossed his arms. He couldn't wait to see how this boy's attempt to persuade them would turn out.

"What are the terms of the bet, boy?" He looked at him with disdain. What Theodore was saying was preposterous! Not to mention, it was insulting to enchanters!

"Simple," Theodore said. "We put some of the most fragile herbs in there. If it remains good, doesn't malfunction, and works exactly as intended, I win. If it doesn't, you win."

Jacopo snorted.

"What do I get out of this?" Jacopo asked.

"If you win, you can have the refrigerator. Keep it. Study it. Prove to everyone that it's a fake. And I'll publicly admit that my invention doesn't work. Or do you want me to throw in money?"

"No, that'll do! And if you win?"

"You publicly acknowledge that the device functions as advertised, you stop claiming I'm lying and apologize, you shoulder the cost of patents all by yourself and Lady Ivy will be returned to this facility as soon as possible. Since you're an alchemist, you must be rich, so I must humbly ask for a few million aurums I'm afraid."

The nerve!

Jacopo's eyes lit up, but he calmed himself.

This exceeded his expectations. A humiliation in public and an opportunity to investigate whatever ruse this young man was playing. He was so engrossed in that fact that he didn't think through things properly. He just needed to put this junior in his place!

"Deal," Jacopo said immediately. "But I get to choose the herbs."

"Fine."

"And the timeframe."

"Fine."

"And we test it for at least two hours. Nothing fragile lasts that long under normal enchantment."

"Fine."

The woman in ornate jewelry leaned forward. "Are you sure about this, Lord Theodore? Jacopo knows his herbs. He's going to pick the most delicate ones he can find."

Theodore just stared at her without blinking.

"I'm sure."

Jacopo was on his feet already, virtually bouncing with anticipation. To get his herb collection out of his carriage, he dispatched one of his servants. The man came back carrying a fancy wooden case stuffed with wrapped parcels and tiny vials.

"Let's start with this," Jacopo opened a bundle of what appeared to be silver-tipped grass. "Moonbell grass. Spoils in under ten minutes at room temperature. Turns black and crumbles. Even master alchemists struggle to preserve it without constant ice magic."

He held up the herb for everyone to see. It was lovely.

"Ten minutes," Jacopo repeated, grinning. "That's all it takes. Under normal conditions, this herb starts decomposing the moment it's exposed to anything warmer than near-freezing temperatures."

Theodore opened the refrigerator. Everyone in the room shivered a little as the chilly air instantly wafted out of the box.

"Put it in."

Together with a few other herbs from his collection, Jacopo carefully placed the moonbell grass within. Anything that, in normal circumstances, would go bad soon.

"There," Jacopo said, stepping back. "Now we wait."

Theodore sat down again and shut the refrigerator door. After then, he did something that caused everyone to look at him.

Without saying anything, Theodore lifted his hand and began to channel mana.

Jacopo nearly burst out laughing. Now what was this fool up to? Wasting time?

He started training.

Oh, for heaven's sake. Was he seriously going to try and train here? In front of everyone? Jacopo sighed and rolled his eyes.

A cube formed in the air, glowing with mana that was far too dense. Slowly it started to rotate. Jacopo frowned. Well, fine, a cube. How original. Probably the most primitive form that could be found. Any freshman could do it.

The spin was smooth—perhaps too smooth—but it had little significance. Stability and skill were not synonymous. A form could be memorized by anyone.

Theodore subsequently added a pyramid. Out of all things, an upside-down pyramid had to be the last thing Jacopo had been expecting. He managed to keep it spinning in the opposite way by balancing it on the tip of the cube, which was already spinning.

Jacopo's eyebrow went up. That was a little more sophisticated. Nevertheless, it didn't mean much. It's likely that he was simply using brute force to make up for it by using raw mana to force the movement. A Rank 2 doing this was already stretching things. It wouldn't last long.

And then the spheres appeared.

Many of them formed in a moment. They were rather stable and clean. They started to revolve on their own axes while hovering in a complete circle around the revolving pyramid.

Jacopo's lips pressed into a tight line. That was no longer the work of a novice. Such multi-object coordination needs multi-threaded control. It was exhausting. Of course, it was not impossible; it was just a bit out of the ordinary, particularly for a person like him.

The spheres started to revolve around the pyramid. They didn't travel at random; instead, they followed precise, planned paths.

He had to be using some kind of assist. An item? There was no way a Rank 2 could handle that much movement in real time.

The orbits then stretched into lengthy ellipses while remaining balanced and coordinated. That was complex and harder. It was as if Theodore had decided to make things more challenging for himself, for whatever reason.

Then the spheres broke formation entirely.

At first sight, they appeared to be chaotic when they parted ways, but they weren't chaotic in reality but rather being controlled and moved like that deliberately. Like a school of fish, they twisted and weaved around one another, moving through unseen currents that only Theodore appeared to be aware of.

None ran into each other. Not one faltered. Without a single adjustment, all of them continued to be steady, spinning, moving, and tracing new orbits.

How was he doing this?

No Rank 2 should have that much control over mana. Not that precise, at least. By now, it ought to have come undone. It ought to have fallen apart due to its own intricacy, but it didn't.

It was going to fail. Any moment now. Something would slip. It would disrupt the orbit. The entire thing would disintegrate if one of the spheres collapsed.

Any second. Any moment now. Surely. Right?

Time went by. Slowly. Jacopo muttered to himself as he continued to check his pocket watch. While engaging in casual talk, the others' gazes kept straying to Theodore's mana display. Gelden appeared enthralled as well.

"How is he doing that?" the thin noble whispered.

"I don't know; I've never seen mana control like that." The woman replied.

When Jacopo heard them, his face reddened even more.

"It's just a parlor trick. Flashy but useless. Anyone can spin mana around if they waste enough of it."

But even as he said it, he knew it wasn't true.

"Time. Two hours. Let's see your 'miracle' device." Jacopo announced, looking at his watch. It was already time, and Theodore hadn't failed at the mana exercise even once. Just what kind of monster was he? There had to be some kind of trick or item he used; there was no other way.

In an instant, Theodore's mana constructions vanished. Without saying a word, he got up and proceeded to the refrigerator.

"This is going to be good," Jacopo said to the room. "Just you wait. That herb will be black mush by now. Complete decomposition. I'll win this bet easily."

Theodore opened the refrigerator.

Inside, the moonbell grass was in wonderful condition. Beautiful and silver-tipped. As if it had just been picked. The other herbs even retained the same appearance as when they had been put inside.

Jacopo choked on his words.

"Impossible!" he sputtered. "This is not possible! This must be fake! The herb... it should be... it can't be..."

Shaking his hands, he reached for the moonbell grass and studied it intently. It was flawless. There was no indication of degradation. Not a single bit of discoloration.

"This is fake," he said desperately. "You switched it somehow. You must have switched it."

Theodore just stared at him.

"Let's try again. Different herbs. More of them. I'll watch the refrigerator the entire time. You won't be able to cheat."

With a blank expression, Theodore nodded.

This time, Jacopo brought out even more delicate specimens. Frost lily petals that would wilt in minutes. Special dewdrops that'd evaporate at room temperature. Things so fragile that most alchemists couldn't even transport them without special preservation spells.

"These won't last five minutes," Jacopo said, placing them inside. "Five minutes, and they'll be gone. Completely gone."

After closing the refrigerator, Theodore took a seat again. He started that mana exercise again. The display was even more sophisticated this time.

Jacopo was standing directly beside the refrigerator, keeping a close eye on it. ensuring that Theodore couldn't alter the contents or cheat in any way.

More time went by. Jacopo continued to grumble to himself. "It's not feasible. Ice Mana cannot continue in this manner. By now, the conversion matrix ought to have failed. Enchantments should be breaking down."

The refrigerator, however, kept operating until it was time once more.

"Time," Jacopo said again, though his voice was less confident now.

Dissolving his mana constructs, Theodore headed to the refrigerator and opened it.

The interior was perfect. The petals of the frost flower remained immaculate. The drops of dew remained whole. There was no trace of deterioration even in the most fragile herbs.

There were shocked murmurs among his colleagues. Even Gelden appeared to be speechless.

"This is impossible!" Jacopo shouted. "You must be cheating somehow! There's no way... no way this is real!"

"I have no reason to," Theodore spoke for the first time since the bet began. "You've lost the bet, Jacopo."

Jacopo's face flushed red. In a desperate attempt to find a way out of this humiliation, he glanced around the room.

"There's still the mana affinity conversion to test!" He said abruptly, latching onto that element like a drowning man

"Yeah, that must be it," Jacopo continued, his voice getting more desperate. "You must be lying about that part. There's no way you made an enchantment that can turn one type of mana into another. That's the real trick, isn't it? You're just using ice mana to begin with!"

Theodore looked at him dryly.

"Okay," Theodore said. "Who among you has fire mana?"

The woman in ornate jewelry raised her hand hesitantly. "I do. Fire affinity."

Theodore pulled out a small crystal device. It looked like a battery made of enchanted components. Runic symbols covered its surface, glowing faintly with ambient mana. They weren't actual runes, obviously! Jacopo knew that much. They were a language humans had made for enchanting!

"Pour your fire mana into this," Theodore instructed, handing her the device. "The enchantment will convert it to ice mana, which then powers the refrigerator."

The woman took the device, examining it carefully. "Hah, you still have time. Just give up. Are you really going to embarrass yourself like this? This is not possible, so it's better to not continue this farce anymore."

Theodore just stared at her.

She sighed and did as she was told. Fire mana flowed from her hands into the crystal device.

Unbelievably, the fire mana then started to shift. The energy changed from red-orange to blue-white.

"Ridiculous!" Jacopo screamed.

The room was filled with shock. They gazed at the device as if it were defying reality. Which it was, based on all their knowledge of magic.

"This is impossible," the thin noble whispered. "Mana conversion at this efficiency... the masters in the capital said it couldn't be done."

"The loss should be enormous," the woman added, still holding the device. "Converting fire to ice should waste ninety percent of the mana. But this... this is almost perfect conversion."

Jacopo was hyperventilating. "You... you can't... this isn't... how did you..."

Theodore took the device back and connected it to the refrigerator. Immediately, the cooling effect intensified. The temperature inside dropped even further.

"The bet is over," Theodore said simply. "You lost."

Jacopo's face turned purple instead of red. Desperately, he glanced around the room, but everyone was looking at the refrigerator curiously.

"You...!" Jacopo said.

Theodore had just demonstrated technology that shouldn't exist. Mana conversion that defied every known principle. Preservation techniques that surpassed anything the kingdom's master enchanters could achieve.

And he'd done it with the casual indifference of someone demonstrating how to light a candle.

Gelden was still gaping at the refrigerator when Theodore said, "I think we can move forward with the patent registration now."

The burly man nodded frantically. "Yes, yes, of course. Right away, my lord. Right away."

Jacopo slumped into his chair, defeated. How was this possible?!

***

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