After spending just a few days together, Ghislaine and Eris had established a very close friendship, being inseparable all day long—belonging to the category of being both teacher and friend.
Ghislaine's primary job was as a guard; it would actually be a problem if she wasn't seen by Eris's side.
Philip immediately spread the news that he had hired a Sword King, which indeed caused the intense undercurrents originally surging in the city to gradually calm down.
Now it was these people's turn to worry about whether Philip would turn up the heat on them.
However, for the time being, Philip's energy was still focused on the business expansion of the self-governing automaton.
It was just a pity for the original tutor, who lost her job.
Philip helped by introducing her to another noble's home.
"Kael, you want to learn high-level sword techniques from me too? That is certainly no problem."
Ghislaine readily agreed after hearing Kael's request. She had received 'Menkyo Kaiden' recognition from the Sword God, so she naturally had the qualification to grant high-level sword techniques.
"Wait, then shouldn't you call me Senior Sister?"
Eris crossed her arms, her eyes filled with expectation.
It was just a bit of roleplay; Kael happened to enjoy that as well.
"Hello, Little Senior Sister."
Kael's expression became obedient.
"Hehe, what a sensible Junior Brother."
Eris happily swayed her twin tails, deciding to find some time later to secretly give Kael a little treat as a reward.
"If possible, I would actually like to learn arithmetic and some basic magic from you as well."
Ghislaine scratched her face somewhat sheepishly.
After suffering for a long time from being uneducated, she had also deeply realized the importance of culture.
As for basic magic, it wasn't meant for killing enemies but was a means of starting fires and drawing water.
"No problem, we'll learn from each other."
Kael smiled easily on the outside, but inside he was already beginning to feel the pain.
Teaching a 'monkey' to count was already torturous enough, and now there was another one; this was truly a great test of one's patience.
"May I ask why Ghislaine covers her right eye? Is it injured?"
Kael's gaze fell on Ghislaine's eyepatch.
Eris also looked up curiously upon hearing this.
"Oh, this? It's not an injury."
Ghislaine casually lifted the eyepatch, revealing an emerald green pupil distinct from her left eye. This slightly glowing eye seemed to carry a special kind of magic.
"It's just that I've never been able to control my Magic Eye very well, so to avoid affecting my life and combat, I usually keep it covered."
"A Magic Eye?!"
Eris exclaimed in amazement.
Legend has it that there was a Demon Emperor with the ability to grant Magic Eyes to others, and most of the demons under his command possessed Magic Eyes with various functions. This was also the simplest way to obtain a Magic Eye.
However, Ghislaine's Magic Eye was innate.
As for its ability, it allowed her to observe the flow of magic power, also known as the Mana Eye.
It sounded very basic and ordinary, but if developed properly, it could provide a great boost to the holder. Ghislaine, however, clearly had no talent in this area.
She still couldn't control her innate Magic Eye well and had to wear an eyepatch to reduce the negative effects it brought.
Kael could already foresee what a torturous task teaching her magic would be.
"Can I study it for a bit?"
Kael asked directly. There was no need to beat around the bush with Ghislaine; she was single-minded and couldn't grasp subtleties.
"How do you want to study it? Digging it out is not okay. Although this Magic Eye isn't very useful, it is still my eye, after all."
Ghislaine said, shaking her head.
"It's not that much trouble. Just squat down and let me touch it."
Kael said, beckoning with his hand.
Hearing this, Ghislaine believed him immediately, squatted down, and leaned in close to Kael.
Kael pressed his hand against Ghislaine's eye socket, using magic power fused with his spirit as an extension of his perception to penetrate into her body.
This process was actually quite difficult.
Mainly because Ghislaine's body had long been tempered a thousand times over, and her blood and muscles were saturated with magic power, instinctively resisting external forces.
This was why low-level magic was hard to use against a high-level swordsman; their bodies had become like those of high-level magical beasts, developing a resistance to magic power.
However, the nature of Kael's magic power was also extraordinary. After some effort, he successfully enveloped Ghislaine's Mana Eye.
As he had previously anticipated, the core composition of this Magic Eye consisted of a combination of several Magic Circuits.
Observing the flow of magic power was, in essence, a type of magic itself.
However, the combined structure of these circuits was too complex and delicate. With Kael's current methods, it was still difficult to see the full picture.
The observation method combining magic power and spirit was already falling behind Kael's progress in exploring the world. He had to hurry up and develop new methods or tools.
Ghislaine's Mana Eye for observing magic power was a very good reference and could provide Kael with inspiration.
"How is it? Is there any discomfort?"
Kael withdrew his hand and asked.
Researching the Magic Eye was certainly not a project that could be finished in one or two sessions, so he had to take Ghislaine's feelings into account.
"It felt a bit sore at first, but now it's much more relaxed. Kael, what did you do?"
Ghislaine inquired curiously.
"I just helped you release some of the accumulated pressure."
Kael explained.
Ghislaine usually kept her Magic Eye closed and unused, leading to a large accumulation of magic power, which placed a burden on the eye. Kael had essentially given her a set of eye exercises.
"Perhaps I can help you master this Magic Eye, but that will require more research time."
Kael proposed.
"Not bad at all, kid. Then I'll temporarily leave this eye to you."
Ghislaine patted Kael once, her strength a bit heavy.
Mastering the Magic Eye?
It sounded somewhat unreliable, but coming from Kael's mouth, it made Ghislaine instinctively believe him.
A sixth sense really defies logic... It had been snowing for several days in the Fittoa Region, directly changing the color of Roa City.
For most ordinary people, such weather was hardly good news.
Living inside Roa City was fine, as one only had to face the harsh weather, but those living in the outskirts had to face starving magical beasts rioting in the winter.
At this time in previous years, Philip would face a shortage of manpower, but this year was different.
With the existence of the self-governing automaton, the pressure on the territory caused by magical beasts was greatly alleviated.
The combat power of an Advanced Swordsman was enough to deal with most magical beasts.
Most kingdom knights reached this level of strength at most.
Furthermore, there was no need to worry about casualties for the self-governing automaton. As long as the core was not damaged, replacing it with a new body could revive it with full health.
Although a single body wasn't cheap, money was the one thing Philip didn't lack now.
Because of the self-governing doll business, several more trade routes had even opened up for Roa City.
With Philip spending money like water, those merchants did not hesitate to transport various raw materials even through the wind and snow.
The income brought by the automaton workshop was almost catching up to the population tax of Roa City. The profit could account for ninety percent of the selling price, which was even more exhilarating than a robbery.
More importantly, the latest orders were already backed up for two years.
As a result, Philip hadn't bothered Ghislaine for the past few days.
He kept circling around Kael, wanting him to put down his current tasks and expand the production of the automaton workshop first.
Kael completely ignored this and directly had Sandrone close the automaton workshop, refusing Philip entry.
Compared to expanding production, what Kael wanted to do more was upgrade and iterate his self-governing dolls.
He had already had Ghislaine help test them before.
Ordinary clay self-governing dolls, when facing a Sword King, could not pose any threat even with an absolute numerical advantage; various data points were simply not on the same level.
The next generation, the Adamantine self-governing automaton, was already on the planned schedule, with its raw material being the highest-grade Adamantine.
It was directly aimed at King-tier combat power.
Upon hearing the news, Philip no longer pestered Kael to expand the production line and went off with bloodshot eyes to acquire Adamantine.
However, this was no easy task. Adamantine was a quite rare magic-conducting material with very high mining difficulty, and it rarely circulated on the market.
Besides this, Kael had a pile of research topics on hand.
"...Constructing Magic Eye circuits..."
Sandrone's eyes were vacant, a sign that she was utilizing her computing power to the extreme.
Meanwhile, Fufu on the side served as the experimental endpoint, presenting the results of the calculations.
An eyeball glowing with green light was slowly appearing through Fufu's Mimicry talent, finally stabilizing into form.
"...Beginning Magic Eye test number 1534..."
"Performing basic test items... Visual acuity test... color vision test... visual field test... intraocular pressure test..."
"Basic items fully passed, beginning Magic Circuit test..."
"Increasing magic power input... testing circuit structure..."
"Stability test passed... attempting magic generation..."
"Magic generation confirmed... testing Mana Eye effect..."
"...Data feedback in progress..."
"..."
"Mimicked Mana Eye failed to reach expected effects, beginning calculation scheme number 1535."
"Nna!!"
Hearing this, Fufu hurriedly launched a protest.
As the subject of the experiment, even if such tests wouldn't cause it substantial harm, the various forms of consumption and discomfort were certainly unavoidable.
Its body, originally the size of a basketball, had shrunk by a visible margin.
A large part of the reason was the failure to construct the mimicked Mana Eye in previous test schemes, leading to gel loss.
Due to its own characteristics, Fufu could simulate any Magic Circuit. Combined with its Mimicry talent, it could theoretically even transform into a dragon.
The prerequisite was that Fufu could analyze all the physiological structures and Magic Circuits of a dragon.
This was a bit too high a requirement for a Slime.
It didn't have that kind of intellectual talent, nor the ability to process and integrate the biological information contained in a dragon.
Sandrone's existence filled this talent gap for it.
She was essentially an external brain.
Through 'Mental Synchronization', Sandrone could directly transmit the analyzed information data to Fufu, and the latter only had to follow that data to directly generate the Mimicry result.
Of course, the magic power required to completely mimic a dragon was not something Fufu currently possessed.
"Denied! According to calculations, you can still perform at least 1,241 simulation tests today."
Sandrone said expressionlessly.
Thanks to long periods of 'Mental Synchronization', her Slime language had long since reached maximum level.
Hearing this number, Fufu shuddered violently.
Like a wobbling pudding jelly, it directly disconnected its mental link with Sandrone, its body contracted, and with a 'Duang', it jumped into Kael's arms and skillfully burrowed into his pocket.
Without the massive output of computing power, Sandrone's expression became vivid again. She walked to Kael's side, first bowing in a maid's curtsy, and then spoke.
"Master, please do not indulge Fufu."
"Alright, I see that the latest mimicked Mana Eye circuit scheme can already achieve seventy percent of the original eye's effect. Rather than wasting a lot of time and energy on exhaustive calculations, it's better for me to collect more data first."
Kael said as he pulled Fufu out of his pocket and picked up a leftover little cake to feed it.
"Nna!"
Fufu bit through the silver spoon in one go, swallowing it along with the cake into its stomach, happily collapsing into a Slime pancake.
"...Yes."
Sandrone curled her lip secretly.
She didn't quite like interacting with Ghislaine. The reason was simple: this beastwoman was too indecent, with no sense of etiquette at all, swaying her two lumps of assets everywhere all day long.
Through self-learning and refinement, Sandrone had built a complete set of cognition based on 'maid's etiquette', which conflicted with Ghislaine's beastman concepts of advocating nature and liberation.
More importantly, if the other party was present, Kael's gaze would be drawn away by those spheres most of the time.
If possible, Sandrone still wanted Kael's gaze to linger on her more.
After all, she was Master's most perfect creation!
Ghislaine, however, liked Sandrone very much; the meals the latter cooked were simply too delicious.
And so, Ghislaine had requested to come over and mooch a meal today.
"Remember to prepare a few extra portions for dinner today, and also give Fufu some extra nutrition; its consumption over the last few days has indeed been a bit high."
Kael said as he patted Fufu's head; this warm and elastic feel was indeed excellent.
"Nna!!"
With Kael's backing, Fufu's body puffed up as it expressed its demands to Sandrone.
"Little cakes are not an option on the dinner menu."
"En?!"
Fufu mimicked a pair of pitiful puppy eyes and looked at Kael.
"Add one specifically for it."
"Yes."
"En!!"
Fufu expressed the love and longing in its heart to the God of Little Cakes in the most enthusiastic and passionate way.
It swallowed his hand in one go and started sucking on it, even mimicking a dog tail.
"I told you, don't learn from the neighbor's dog when there's nothing else to do."
Kael pulled his hand out with some disdain.
Fufu actually wasn't stupid, but its cognition of the world and itself wasn't as fast as Sandrone's; it was still in the process of learning and constructing its understanding.
During this period, it inevitably used the surrounding creatures as references for learning.
However, for some reason, the neighbor's pet dog had become the direction of Fufu's recent learning and reference.
Kael suspected that Fufu had taken a liking to the role of a pet, which indeed fit its pursuit quite well.