"Your Highness, Miss Crownguard."
Soon, someone came forward to greet them.
His face showed a bit of fatigue, but his eyes were very bright, and his features bore some resemblance to Wenward.
It was none other than Director Smith. Looking at the two of them, he said, "Please come this way."
The petricite colossus had already been moved to an open area. The experiment was only waiting for Luke's arrival before it began.
When they arrived, a portion of the core personnel were already there, numbering around sixty or seventy people. Frey was among them as well.
"Aunt Frey, good morning!"
Lux greeted her with bright eyes.
"Good morning, Miss Crownguard."
Frey smiled lightly and replied to her.
"So this is the stone statue made by the Petricite Colossus Department?"
Lux looked toward the center of the area with great interest.
Although she had learned about this quite early on, this was her first time seeing the stone statue.
It stood there, and it was indeed extremely eye-catching, roughly five meters tall and shaped like a crouching beast.
Its entire body was snow white, with golden engraved patterns covering it.
Its appearance resembled a cross between a lion and a leopard. Its form was elegant and slender. Even though it was entirely made of petricite, thanks to the craftsmen's superb skill, the smooth lines of its body could still be seen clearly, white and sleek like fur.
It had no eyes, but that did not affect its overall appearance.
"This statue was completed yesterday. It took more than a month in total and consumed the energy of countless craftsmen."
Smith stepped forward and gave a brief introduction to the statue.
Five mages were already standing by nearby, and many people were eagerly awaiting the next moment.
Whether their hard work could be realized, whether it could succeed, all depended on what happened next.
"Everyone, prepare!"
Smith raised his hand, his tone solemn as he spoke loudly.
In an instant, the five mages all raised the staffs in their hands. Light appeared at the front ends of the staffs, and the aura of magic began to swirl through the air.
"Petricite colossus activation plan, begin!"
At Smith's command, the five mages released the magic within their staffs at the same time.
Five streams of magic flew like chains toward the unmoving petricite colossus. When they struck it, they caused no damage.
Instead, it was as if the magic had been devoured. This was the special trait of petricite, its ability to absorb magic.
As magic filled it, the entire petricite colossus lit up with a faint glow, and subtle patterns began radiating across its outer shell.
Everyone focused their attention completely on the statue. Even Lux quietly watched in silence.
Time passed second by second. The continuous release of magic gradually began to exhaust the five mages, and one after another, they stopped.
They were panting heavily.
One, two, three, four...
Until only one person was still holding on, the snow-white petricite colossus still remained completely motionless.
"In the end, it's just a statue."
Someone said that, though no one knew who.
More and more people began to feel discouraged.
Smith was the same. His disappointment was written clearly across his face, and he sighed. "Is it still too difficult to recreate our ancestor's technique?"
Ever since he was young, he had especially admired his ancestor, Durand. There had once been a period when he read everything about Durand day and night.
On the day Galio descended as a hero, he believed that the time had come for him to step forward and carry on his ancestor's great achievements.
However, after all this effort, it still ended in failure.
At last, the final mage could no longer hold on either. He gave up releasing magic and collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
Yet that statue still did not move in the slightest.
Lux could not bear to see everyone's efforts end like this, so she stepped forward and said, "Let me try."
Maybe it was because of light magic?
She guessed inwardly.
But before she could act, Luke grabbed her at once. Holding her slender arm, he gently pulled her back. "Don't rush. Keep watching."
Lux did not understand. She glanced at Luke and found that his eyes were still fixed seriously ahead.
So she also settled down and looked over patiently.
Everyone placed their hopes on this final moment, countless pairs of eyes staring nervously at the petricite colossus.
Suddenly, with a click, a stiff sound of movement rang through the air.
Everyone froze. Someone rubbed his eyes. "I don't know if it was just my imagination, but it looked like it raised its head."
At first glance, the statue seemed no different from before, but some people still felt that the statue had raised its head just now.
Smith, however, said with certainty, "It was not your imagination!"
A light of hope appeared in his eyes. He looked at the statue expectantly, and his expression gradually turned excited.
It moved. It really had moved!
Even if it was only a tiny movement, he had been watching so closely. How could it possibly have been his imagination?
The next second, another clacking sound rang out. This time, everyone was certain that they had not seen wrong. The statue had truly moved!
Another second passed, and the petricite colossus suddenly seemed to come alive. Its entire body stepped forward, changing from a sitting posture to a standing posture on all fours.
In the next several seconds, the people there witnessed with their own eyes the process of this petricite colossus going from dead to alive.
They watched its movements become increasingly natural and its range of motion grow larger. After that, this stone statue truly began moving freely through the open area like a four-legged beast.
First, it stretched lazily, its body seeming to lengthen by an entire meter. Then it looked up at the sky, opened its mouth, and let out an excited roar.
"Roar!"
It seemed to be celebrating its own birth. Like a newborn cub that had just arrived in the world, it was curious about everything in reality.
Even though the craftsmen had not carved eyes for it, it could clearly see everything around it.
Especially those humans standing on two legs. A sense of closeness deep in its bones told it that these people were its parents.
"It worked. It really worked!"
Smith was already so excited that his teeth were chattering. Even his steps trembled, and his eyes were filled with tears as he walked toward the petricite sculpture.
"Careful..."
Someone reminded him with concern.
This petricite sculpture had only just awakened, and not many people dared to approach it.
But Smith turned a deaf ear and continued walking toward the stone sculpture step by step.
The stone sculpture also noticed Smith approaching and seemed to walk toward him with curiosity and confusion.
Then it appeared to sniff, smelling something pleasant on Smith's body, and moved closer.
A kind of intimacy deep in its bones made it like this human in front of it immensely at first sight.
Smith raised his hand, and the stone sculpture actually lowered its head cooperatively, allowing him to stroke it.
Many people could not help offering applause, their expressions just as excited.
To them, this would be the day they witnessed the beginning of a new era in Demacia.
The petricite colossus creation plan had succeeded!
Seeing this scene before him, Luke was also quite moved.
In his memory, there had indeed been craftsmen who recreated Durand's legendary craftsmanship and successfully forged a new generation of petricite colossi.
So from beginning to end, he had always believed that these skilled craftsmen would succeed.
"It really worked!"
Lux also clapped excitedly, beautiful light shining in her bright eyes.
She felt that she should share this good news with Galio. Soon, he would have many brothers and sisters.
With the petricite colossus project successfully concluded, Luke formed a new plan in his heart.
After testing, all of the magic from five mages could probably allow the petricite sculpture to move for around twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes later, seeming to sense that its life was fading, the petricite sculpture was not afraid. Instead, it slowly returned to its original pose, and finally stopped moving entirely.
"Having us continuously provide magic for it is naturally impractical. However, the powerful part of a petricite colossus is that on the battlefield, it can actively search for its source of power."
Smith's tone was still excited as he spoke.
If their ancestor Durand's autobiography had not been lost, then it would certainly have mentioned how to create and use petricite colossi.
The purpose of developing petricite colossi was to fight against the mages that Demacia lacked on the battlefield.
They absorbed the power of mages to awaken. On the battlefield, as long as enemy forces had mages, they would gain a steady stream of power.
Although these methods had now been lost, several centuries later, he had once again recreated the glory of his ancestor.
That made Smith incredibly proud.
"Congratulations."
Luke offered his congratulations, sincerely happy for him as well.
It was precisely because of the hard work of people like this that Demacia would have a better tomorrow.
After leaving the Petricite Colossus Department, Luke still had something to handle at the Mage Association, so he said to the little blonde, "Go wander around for a bit first. I'm going to take care of something."
Lux asked curiously, "What is it?"
"A surprise. You'll know when the time comes."
Luke smiled mysteriously.
Lux immediately became extremely interested. "What surprise? Can you give me just a tiny hint?"
"You'll know when the time comes anyway."
Seeing that this girl seemed ready to shamelessly follow him, Luke directly reached out with his merciless iron hand and expressed his refusal.
Miss Crownguard, whose face had been covered as she was pushed back, could only look at him with a somewhat resentful little gaze.
It would have been fine if he had not said anything, but now that he had, it made her heart itch terribly.
What kind of surprise was it?
Watching Luke leave, Lux pouted, but she still did not follow him. Instead, she wandered around the association in boredom, passing the time while waiting for him.
Luke and Frey headed to the third underground floor.
The Dreamnet laboratory.
The little black dog lay lazily on the ground and yawned in boredom. He was actually enjoying this leisurely life quite a bit.
Other than being treated like a dog all day, there was nothing particularly bad about it.
Soon, he saw Luke and Frey walking toward him, and he could not help secretly laughing twice in his heart.
These humans had finally failed to restrain themselves and decided to come seek his help, had they?
After hearing their plan, the little black dog had concluded that these humans one hundred percent needed his help.
"Ahem, little black dog. Let's discuss something."
Luke walked over to him, coughed lightly, and said, "You can speak now."
"What is it?"
The little black dog spoke human words, yet for some reason, he put on airs.
He knew that these humans now needed something from him, so naturally, he had to take a loftier attitude.
His posture remained casual and lazy as he lay there.
Luke was not angry. In a gentle tone, he said, "You should have heard about the Dreamnet the other day. I need your help with something."
When the little black dog heard this, the corner of his mouth curled into an arc. "What you're talking about is indeed something I can easily accomplish. It would probably only take a single thought. But why should I help you?"
He had been sealed inside this black dog's body, treated with no dignity all day, ordered around, and beaten or scolded at the slightest provocation.
Now that they needed something from him, they were suddenly showing him a nice face?
Heh. Too late!
He knew these humans could forcibly control his body, but what use would that be?
In the end, they needed him to enter the spirit realm.
Luke said, "Because I can return your freedom to you."
This time, the little black dog opened his lazy eyes a little wider. "Anyone else, maybe. But as for the words that come out of your mouth, I wouldn't believe a single punctuation mark."
Return his freedom just because he said so? He would only believe that if he were stupid.
Some humans were even more rotten than demons deep down, like the guy in front of him.
Besides, what Nocturne truly needed was simply to enter the spirit realm. As for whether he was free or not, he believed everything still depended on himself.
Right now, he was putting on a lofty attitude and acting as if he needed conditions, all to make these humans lower their guard around him.
He knew these two humans still had misgivings about letting him return to the spirit realm.
However, Nocturne was certain that they no longer had any means to restrict him. Coming to discuss this matter was only a matter of time.
"True. I really never thought about returning your freedom."
Luke wore an expression as if he had been seen through.
The little black dog chuckled, completely unsurprised. Even if Luke had not admitted it honestly, he would not have believed him.
"But you also know that letting you return to the spirit realm is no different from releasing a tiger back into the mountains. We are still a bit worried."
Luke suddenly spoke with complete honesty.
The little black dog looked at him, not knowing what this guy was trying to say.
If these humans really canceled this plan, then he would actually be somewhat devastated.
After all, contact with the spirit realm might be his only way to reclaim his freedom.
Then Luke revealed a confident smile at the corner of his mouth. "So, I prepared a contract here. The contract is reinforced by magic and possesses a special power. I think you can take a look first."
Luke slowly took out an ordinary paper contract. It was only a single yellowed sheet.
There were only a few simple terms written on it.
Among them, Nocturne's name was mentioned.
Seeing his own name written on the contract, Nocturne frowned slightly, but he did not care much.
Some mages could use a demon's name to do things that harmed demons, but given his current situation, having his name known could no longer harm his true self.
The contents written on it were as follows.
First: After the contract is signed, the contract will automatically take effect, and neither party may violate it.
Second: After the contract is signed, Party A, Luke, agrees to return freedom to Party B, Nocturne, after sixty years. This clause will automatically take effect upon expiration.
Third: After the contract is signed, Party B, Nocturne, must unconditionally obey Party A, Luke's commands and may not defy them.
Notice: Party A holds the dominant position in this contract. Once signed, Party B may not defy Party A's will.
Party A signature:
Party B signature:
The contract's contents were that simple.
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