Mystic Overlord: Reading Gives Strength
Chapter 564 - 561: Astronomical Tower

Chapter 564: Chapter 561: Astronomical Tower

"We’ll meet tonight, don’t forget to gather information."

"Okay, stay safe."

"..."

Ronald and Bapulor rested in the room for half the day, during which they did not engage in any further conversation.

It wasn’t until the day of departure that they briefly exchanged words of care.

After saying goodbye to the heretic Magician, Ronald once again made his way alone to the location of the Astronomical department.

All around him were apprentice Wizards of the Barrier Mountain.

The place was not difficult to find.

Having asked for directions, Ronald navigated through the complex mountain city. After spending just over an hour, he arrived at the location of the Astronomical department before noon.

Due to the influence of the subject matter,

the location of the Astronomical department was considerably high; apart from the mountain’s peak where the Council of Six, linked to the Well of Judgment, resided, this was the highest exposed building of the Barrier Mountain.

Stepping out from a side door with a similar architectural style to a watchtower,

Ronald this time did not see the kind of expansive platform.

There was just a lonely arch bridge hanging off the side of the mountain, leading to the only solitary tower a hundred meters away.

This tower, belonging to the Astronomical department, was primarily black with silver patterns accenting it. Compared to the tower of the Prophecy department, its cross-sectional area was clearly more than twice as wide, and the Magic Fluctuations it contained were powerful and unmasked.

And if there was anything most attractive about this Magic tower...

it was definitely the top of the tower.

A huge instrument embedded with numerous star molds was placed there, continuously rotating according to certain patterns. At the same time, the orbits and speeds of these star molds also varied.

Ronald could tell it was similar to an astronomical device.

But with the enhancement of Magic Power, the utility of this contraption was hard to estimate.

Ronald paused and observed for half a minute.

During this time, he did not see anyone coming in or out of the Astronomical department’s tower.

Compared to the other departments he had seen on the way, this place was decidedly deserted.

"..."

Scratching his head, Ronald finally moved forward.

As he got closer, more details of the Magic tower revealed themselves. The silver patterns that spread across the surface of the tower were, upon closer inspection, made of some metallic substance.

With Ronald’s exceptional vision,

he could even vaguely make out even finer patterns within.

Ronald raised an eyebrow, then reached out to knock on the door.

Creak—

The grating sound of hinges echoed from the edge of the doorframe.

The tower of the Astronomical department was not locked; a gentle push from outside, and it would obediently open.

Shaking his head as he entered the tower, Ronald couldn’t help but remark,

"Is management really this lax..."

As he walked into the interior of the tower.

The first floor, aside from the staircase leading upward, was a simple circular plaza, guarded by a few magic golems fashioned out of metal and shaped in human likeness.

When Ronald appeared, these golems merely sized him up,

showing no other actions.

Had Catherine logged her identity into these guardian golems?

With this thought, Ronald ascended the stairs.

Starting from the second floor, the tower of the Astronomical department finally began to resemble a Magic tower.

Floors designated for storing books, for conducting experiments, for housing special items...

These essential facilities appeared one by one, but overall, there were very few people.

Even now, as noon approached, there were people who seemed carelessly asleep within the Magic Tower, with an experimental table just standing there, giving one the sense that the place might be a bit dangerous.

The location was now over two-thirds up the tower.

The situation changed once again.

From this floor upward, several consecutive floors were enclosed by steel walls, with the doors so tightly locked that it was impossible to see inside.

"..."

This was a situation unique to the Astronomy Department.

Or is it... that all the floors of the Magic Towers are like this?

Ronald’s expression was somewhat nuanced, but as soon as he passed these steel-enclosed floors, he saw the red-haired Catherine almost immediately.

On this exceedingly high floor, the head of the Astronomy Department had transformed three whole floors of the Magic Tower into her living quarters. When Ronald came up, Catherine was busy preparing lunch in the open kitchen.

With Ronald’s sense of smell...

He could even smell that this woman was frying eggs.

"Yo, Drake, you’re here."

Catherine noticed Ronald as expected.

However, she didn’t turn around and continued attending to the lunch while inviting Ronald with her back to him, "You can sit down and rest for a bit, I am actually preparing lunch, and you could try some too."

Ronald didn’t hesitate to decline:

"I’m not hungry..."

"But you haven’t eaten anything, right? There’s no need to be formal with me since we’re all part of the Astronomy Department."

Catherine interrupted Ronald’s refusal without turning around, directly exposing the fact that Ronald hadn’t eaten lunch yet.

How did Catherine know this?

Was this person monitoring him?

A series of questions quickly flashed through Ronald’s mind.

But since entering Barrier Mountain, he had been carefully on guard about what was happening around him. Under his own vigilance and Bapulor’s assurance, it was unlikely that they were being monitored.

Watching Catherine’s busy figure in the kitchen.

Ronald confirmed once again that she was not an easy wizard to deal with.

Bowing his head slightly, he complied with Catherine’s invitation and left the spiral staircase to enter the floor.

After he sat down in the similarly semi-open living room, Ronald immediately noticed something on the table in front of him.

— This was an unfinished manuscript.

— The handwriting was neat, but there were many erasures and corrections.

Was it written by Catherine?

Ronald glanced at Catherine with some interest.

The person still cooking didn’t care about Ronald’s movement and was only focused on the ingredients in front of her.

So, Ronald unceremoniously picked up the manuscript in front of him.

His fingers habitually resting below the text.

[Civilization’s development will bring certain (crossed out), will bring a highly exaggerated demand for materials. At the same time, the population growth rate will also surge during the development process. Even with the power of wizards, it is difficult to cope with this upward trend...]

"..."

Ronald raised an eyebrow at the content and continued to turn the pages.

[Regarding this issue, necessary strategies to resolve this phenomenon are required.

— Consolidate resources, enslave ordinary people without spellcasting abilities (crossed out)

— Widely spread spell knowledge, essentially enhancing group productivity?

This method could solve the production problem for a short time (crossed out), it could solve it for a very long time, but the world’s own resource limitations still exist, and later control inevitably has to be adjusted through population control...]

After reading another segment.

Ronald was about to turn the page when he heard Catherine’s footsteps approaching from the front:

"Yo, Drake."

"Are you interested in what I’ve written?"