Riding the carriage to the edge of the Fairy Lake, Charlotte immediately spotted Cliff Chapman, whom she had appointed as the Dean of the Lanwan Research Institute, and the researcher Robert Kay, the moment she stepped off the carriage.
Charlotte performed a curtsy to the two men who came to welcome her, and then asked, "Mr. Chapman, have you reviewed the results of Mr. Ferguson's adaptation?"
"Yes, I have reviewed it," Cliff Chapman knew what Charlotte was worried about, so he spoke directly. "Although Mr. Ferguson has only adapted it up to the Third Wing, after my careful inspection, I found no issues with the core structure. The Rite of Awakening should be safe, and the subsequent Fourth to Sixth Wings already have a prototype..."
Charlotte nodded slightly, finally setting her mind at ease. Although Cliff Chapman's professional ability might be slightly inferior to Ferguson's, he was once a scholar supported by the Royal Family, so he possessed the basic discernment required.
Cliff's words also resolved a doubt in Charlotte's mind: why had Ferguson worked so quickly? It turned out he had only completed the adaptation from the First to the Third Wing.
Charlotte then turned her head to look at Robert Kay, who looked haggard and sported heavy dark circles under his eyes. She asked, "Mr. Kay, why do you look so exhausted?"
Robert Kay, who was in the middle of a yawn, was forced by Charlotte's question to swallow the remaining half of it back down. He replied grumpily, "Of course, it is to complete the task you assigned, Your Excellency."
"Then have you finished it?" Charlotte asked again.
Robert Kay instantly lost his wind. "Not yet..."
After arriving in the Lanwan Viscountcy, Charlotte had called a halt to Robert Kay's research on the "Exploding Collar" and assigned him a new research task: to design a portable device that could assist a person riding a Giant Eagle at an altitude of three thousand meters in aiming at ground targets.
Charlotte had offered a bounty of one hundred thousand Fuso for this research task, with a time limit of one month.
At first, Robert Kay thought this matter would be simple; even a four-year-old child knows how to shoot a slingshot. He pounded his chest and guaranteed that he would complete the task and claim the bounty within ten days.
However, it was only after Robert Kay personally flew on a Giant Eagle that he understood just how difficult it was to aim at a ground target from three thousand meters in the air. At such a height, even a majestic church looked as small as a speck of dust. The flight speed of a Giant Eagle far exceeded that of a Griffin, and the winds at high altitude were powerful... Under the influence of all these factors, throwing a javelin and missing the target by several hundred meters was considered a minor deviation.
Charlotte took the time to give Robert Kay a few remedial lessons, fleshing out concepts such as inertia, acceleration, parabolas, and so on.
Robert Kay finally understood that he had likely been pitted by Charlotte. With such a complex subject, given his level, it was simply impossible to complete within a month. However, he was a person who truly loved to delve into research; otherwise, he wouldn't have researched the "Exploding Collar" until he was heavily in debt yet still enjoyed it tirelessly. So, even knowing he had been tricked, Robert Kay was still attracted by this novel knowledge and dove headfirst into the subject, researching, drawing diagrams, and conducting experiments day and night.
It was just that although Robert Kay's mathematical and physical level was decent, he was still limited by the era and remained slightly immature. Just studying the mathematics textbooks Charlotte had prepared for the future formal school was enough to consume his mental energy.
Therefore, Charlotte asking him why he was so exhausted, in Robert's view, was asking a question she already knew the answer to.
But as he spoke and walked into the military camp, Robert suddenly cheered up again and said, "However, I already have some ideas regarding the flight sight you mentioned."
"Oh?" Charlotte became interested and asked, "What ideas?"
"Do you know about the 'Shadow Ritual'?" Robert asked.
"Ah, I've heard of it." Charlotte nodded.
The 'Shadow Ritual' was not a formal name. The overarching populace of Oran, who were not financially well-off, in order to awaken extraordinary power, constantly simplified the Rite of Awakening of the Royal Griffin Knights faction. This ultimately led to many "cheap substitute versions" of the Rite of Awakening circulating among the people. Some of these rites were reasonably reliable, while others were very unreliable. After the failure of an unreliable simplified Rite of Awakening, victims would often encounter adverse symptoms where dark shadows appeared in their vision, taking a long time to dissipate.
Therefore, these unreliable "cheap substitute versions" were called "Shadow Rituals" by the populace.
"I once studied the causes of the shadow formation in the Shadow Ritual in detail, and I summarized and created a small ritual of my own. this kind of ritual can not only make black shadows appear in a person's field of vision but also red, green, and yellow shadows. I call it the Rainbow Ritual," Robert said, as if showing off.
The corners of Charlotte's mouth twitched twice. The Shadow Ritual was a bitter joke made by the impoverished Oran populace regarding those terrible simplified rituals. Yet, Robert had not only become interested in the formation of the shadows but had also seriously researched shadows of various colors. For a moment, Charlotte really wanted to make a retort.
"My concept is to use this kind of small ritual to construct a reticle in the Giant Eagle Knight's field of vision," Robert got more excited as he spoke. "As long as we experiment repeatedly and test the drop data of standard javelins at different heights, flight speeds, and forces beforehand, then all the Giant Eagle Knights need to do is throw the javelin when the target is caught in the reticle in their eyes."
Charlotte listened to Robert's description, and her expression gradually became serious as well.
Robert's words reminded Charlotte of the augmented reality technology from her previous life. She had to admit that, at least in terms of the concept, this was an exceptionally excellent solution.
"How do you intend to construct this ritual on the Giant Eagle Knights?" Charlotte asked.
"Have you forgotten my amplifier?" Robert said proudly. "The difficulty of modifying the ritual that amplifies the 'Eagle Eye' ability into the Rainbow Ritual is not great."
Charlotte immediately shook her head. "Don't mention that Exploding Collar of yours to me. I don't want to see my knights having their heads blown off inexplicably before they even get to the battlefield."
"But..." Robert still wanted to say a few words for his invention.
Charlotte waved her hand again to interrupt him. "Unless you can replace the Spark Agate with other safer extraordinary materials."
Whatever arguments Robert had were stuffed back into his stomach.
Entering the military camp, Charlotte saw a row of teenagers around ten years old preparing to undergo the Rite of Awakening at the drill ground. Charlotte had not specifically emphasized the need for secrecy to Jack Moore, but old Jack had proactively cleared the military camp, so only a sparse few people were standing by the drill ground to watch.
"Miss Charlotte." Jack Moore bowed in greeting.
"Viscount." Ferguson, who had moved into a big house and looked to be in much better health, bowed to Charlotte.
Charlotte nodded to the two of them.
"Miss Charlotte, I am very happy to see you again," an old man with graying hair and a few bristles on his cheeks said with a smile as he bowed to Charlotte.
"I am also very happy to see you again, Grandpa Nathan," Charlotte smiled and curtsied in return.
"I can't bear for you to call me Grandpa, Miss." The old man hurriedly waved his hand and laughed.
The old man's name was Nathan Mellerfield.
At the same time Herman Green returned to the Lanwan Viscountcy, the second wave of reinforcements sent by Jose Mellerfield to support Charlotte also arrived. Nathan Mellerfield was the commander of this army.
Charlotte was very glad that Jose Mellerfield hadn't sent a pitfall like Stanley over again this time.
Nathan's status in the Mellerfield family wasn't high, which could be seen from the bristles on his face. His mother was a female slave with tribal blood, and his father was just a collateral branch of the Mellerfield family—the kind so distant they didn't even have a title. That was why Nathan said he dared not accept the address of "Grandpa" from Charlotte.
However, Nathan was a fine general who had been through many battles. Starting as an ordinary soldier, he had accumulated military merits bit by bit to earn the title of Baron. The gold content of his barony was obviously much higher than that of the likes of Stanley and Andre.
What was even better was that Nathan had no astonishing battle records and no outrageous legends. His personal resume for most of his life seemed only to prove that he was a qualified general.
The benefit this brought was...
"General Nathan, I may have to split the reinforcements you brought into several units over the next few days and station them in different places. I may have to trouble you to coordinate with my troop deployments," Charlotte said with a smile.
"As you command. This is my duty to begin with," Nathan answered without hesitation.
Precisely because his origin was not high enough and his resume was not too flashy, Nathan did not dare to put on airs in front of Charlotte at all. If Charlotte wanted to break up the army under Nathan's command, she broke it up, and Nathan didn't have a single objection—or rather, even if he had an objection, Nathan couldn't say it out loud.
Charlotte curtsied to Nathan again, then turned to Ferguson and said, "Mr. Ferguson, I heard that you have preliminarily completed the adaptation of the Citizen-Soldier Faction."
"Yes. According to your requirements, the ability of the First Wing is Flying Stone, the Second Wing is Eagle Eye, and the Third Wing is Vigor," Ferguson pointed to the six teenagers already standing on the drill ground and said, "We are conducting a test."
These teenagers with extraordinary aptitude were all bought by Charlotte from the Minister of Finance, Earl Rad Paster; there were fifteen in total. In Charlotte's plan, they would be the first batch of Giant Eagle Knights of the Lanwan Viscountcy, just waiting for Ferguson to produce a suitable extraordinary faction.
Charlotte didn't waste words either and nodded, saying, "Then let us begin."
Under Ferguson's supervision, as six squire knights poured the last type of extraordinary material down, six Yalan Roots began to emit specks of starlight...
Except for one Yalan Root that suddenly extinguished before the ritual ended, the other five Rites of Awakening proceeded very smoothly.
Unfortunately, three teenagers successively showed signs of bleeding from the nose and mouth, and the fourth even fainted directly. The squire knights assisting on the side had to drag them out of the drill ground.
Just as the expectation in Charlotte's heart was getting lower and lower, and she thought this test was going to fail and be announced as finished hastily, the last teenager successfully condensed bronze-colored Wings of Light.
Charlotte was pleasantly surprised in her heart. She stepped forward and asked, "What is your name?"
"Damic, My Lord. My name is Damic." The teenager knelt excitedly on the ground, expressing his respect and gratitude to Charlotte—these teenagers were actually all from serf families on Earl Rad Paster's estate. Without the appreciation and funding of a noble, it would be absolutely difficult to have any chance to stand out.
"Congratulations, you are now an extraordinary individual," Charlotte said.
"This is all My Lord's grace. I swear on my life that I will be loyal to My Lord forever!" Damic shouted loudly with his forehead touching the ground. Even having awakened to become an extraordinary individual, this teenager of lowly birth still dared not raise his head to look directly at the young lady of a great noble family like Charlotte.
"How do you feel now?" Charlotte asked again.
Damic seriously felt his own body, and after careful consideration, he replied, "I feel... um, very tired. I can't exert any strength all over my body, and my calves are cramping..."
Charlotte looked at Ferguson doubtfully, asking if this situation was normal.
Ferguson frowned slightly and answered, "His body is not robust enough. The Citizen-Soldier Faction has high requirements for overall physical fitness, which is why the creator made 'Vigor' the ability awakened at the First Wing. I deleted and modified 'Vigor' according to your request. If the awakener is not robust enough, it is natural that a situation where they become very weak after awakening will occur."
"It seems we need to let the remaining children supplement their nutrition more and exercise their bodies," Charlotte said.
"That decision of yours is wise," Ferguson nodded in affirmation. "This can also increase the success rate of the Rite of Awakening."
Charlotte laughed and said, "Mr. Ferguson, although you have not fully perfected the 'Giant Eagle Knight Faction' I need, since you have already produced staged results, I cannot be stingy. Of that one hundred thousand Fuso bounty, I will pay you threety thousand Fuso first."
Ferguson, who had not had a good expression on his face since coming to the Lanwan Viscountcy, instantly beamed with joy upon hearing this: "Your generosity will definitely bring you more returns, I guarantee it."
The old money-grubber's nature really hasn't changed... Charlotte secretly roasted him in her heart.
However, Charlotte did not feel heartache over the huge bounty she had offered.
Watching Damic, who under Ferguson's command first began to test his body and the newly awakened First Wing ability, and then tried to fly a small circle riding a Giant Eagle...
Charlotte suddenly smiled with emotion to Renee and Cecilia beside her: "This is the Giant Eagle Knight I have been planning for so long. Although there is only one person so far, I have the illusion that my own territory has already become strong."
Cecilia bit her lip, not knowing how to respond for a moment.
Renee, on the other hand, had no hesitation. She nodded and said, "This is not your illusion. The Lanwan Viscountcy has indeed become much stronger."
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