When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 909: Chapter 279 Leipzig, the City of Knowledge

As night falls, little starlights begin to illuminate the city of Leipzig, the City of Knowledge.

They are bright yet not dazzling white illusory spheres, floating above the streets.

“Quite beautiful.”

Under a clear night sky, Aleister strolls through the streets with a black umbrella open.

She admires the scenery before her and wonders, “Is this the product of Stibium Alchemy?”

“Strictly speaking, it should be considered a by-product.”

The Honey Badger clearly knows more about it.

With no one around, she doesn’t have to pretend to be a retainer and speaks directly, “A few years ago, Stibium’s Royal Alchemy Association developed a technology to crush failed products into a pure energy source.

“This energy source is inherently unstable and extremely mixed, yet under the separation and purification of an Alchemy Array, they can mix in different proportions, supporting the entire city’s energy supply… much like the Titan Tree’s Blood in the Holy Nation. Even Goblin Merchants have offered a fortune to buy this technology, but Count Leipzig refused to sell it.

“Even compared to the electric power that has been commonly used in Stibium for decades, its energy efficiency is a bit higher—however, Hawkeye suspects that there might be issues with the experimental data. After all, Alchemists are very eager to spread this recycling device to process their accumulated alchemical waste, so data falsification can’t be ruled out.”

The Honey Badger gives a relatively objective assessment.

But from her reaction, it’s clear she doesn’t believe the Stibnite could have invented such technology.

“This is a miracle of human Wisdom.”

Yet Aleister exclaims in admiration: “The Elves rely on the blood of Angel Envoys to achieve what Stibnite have with mere waste. The illumination efficiency might not be high, but the heating efficiency and safety have improved significantly over previous technologies.”

“That’s not necessarily the case.”

The Honey Badger shakes her head: “As far as I know, this energy source can also be mixed into dangerous explosives. From this perspective, building such ‘Gold circuits’ within a city is tantamount to setting up a time bomb.”

“If I’m not mistaken about your certainty that there is a problem with this technology…”

Aleister glances at her with a slight smile: “It’s actually because you don’t want it to exist… Am I right?”

As an Irisflower Person, the Honey Badger has a natural hostility and wariness towards Stibium. If the technology is flawless, then the problem is serious— it means that Stibium, which is highly dependent on energy imports, has solved its energy problem. It must have issues.

The widespread use of Alchemy has brought more than changes to the lives of the residents of Leipzig.

At the harbor, there is a large Rune device operating at high efficiency, loading and unloading cargo. Compared to the old fuel cranes in Avalon, their precision and efficiency are much higher, and the whole process emits no black smoke, only visibly glowing Runes on Clay Giants moving goods with precision-altered arms.

There are street corners and alleyways with “large television screens,” similar to the crystal screens used by Elves.

Yes, although the picture quality doesn’t seem great— looking more like early color films with limited colors and low refresh rates. With Aleister’s Transcendent vision, she can clearly see the refresh lines scanning down with the naked eye… which causes eye pain after watching for too long.

But it is indeed what Aleister remembers as a “television,” even in color.

At least 20 or 30 meters high, the walls of the buildings are made up of these “screens.” Advertisements flicker on and off with alternating colored lights.

Clearly, with the spread of this convenient source of energy, Stibnite hasn’t given up on electricity.

“Wow!”

Suddenly, Aleister hears a group of children laughing in surprise.

Beneath the black umbrella, she shifts her crimson gaze quietly to the side.

There’s a street performer on a street corner.

He looks to be in his twenties, quite carefree and cheerful.

With the waving of his hands and his movements, he continuously shapes fire into balls, bouncing them like basketballs and throwing them like boomerangs, and they fly back to him.

He also occasionally sprays a bunch of gold flaming stars, resembling fireworks, and his hands continuously ignite and extinguish in mid-air, drawing enthusiastic jumps, clapping, and screams from the children.

Beyond the children, there’s also a crowd of adults gathering around. There are couples, elderly people, and passers-by who stop to enjoy this marvelous magic performance, with people occasionally tossing coins into the hat at his feet.

“What is that?”

Selene, who is clutching Aleister’s arm, can’t help but ask curiously: “A Transcendent street performer?”

—She finds it hard to understand how such an oddity could exist.

Selene’s personality and knowledge are derived from Lily, and in Lily’s view, Transcendents are either especially dangerous criminals or official enforcers. Regardless of the kind, they are all beings far beyond ordinary humans… How could they be performing on the streets?

“That’s not a Transcendent.”

The Honey Badger glances briefly, displaying a lack of interest: “That’s called a ‘Magician’.”

“Magic?”

Selene mutters.

Of course, she also knows about Magicians— even Avalon has street magicians. However, they usually perform insignificant tricks pretending to be Transcendents. Basically, the profession is synonymous with swindlers… and it only works on those ignorant masses.

But… the magician sprayed real scorching flames from his hands!

Those fireballs, controlled by him as nimbly as flying disks, could easily confront one or two transcendent beings of the second ability level.

“Because magic is also an extension of alchemy.”

Aleister said with a light chuckle, “It’s also based on the same ‘demystifying’ technology… but it’s used in reverse as the art of ‘enchanting’.

“Magicians use various products and techniques developed through alchemy to achieve the objective of ‘utilizing certain transcendent abilities’. In a way, ‘firearms’ are also a replication of a hunter’s shooting skills. However, normal alchemists are very resistant, even abhorrent to this… They believe it goes against the essence of alchemy, as it returns the mysteries they unravel back to where they started.”

“Normal… alchemists?”

“That’s right, Stibium Alchemy differs from the guidelines of alchemists in other countries. They emphasize pragmatism over philosophical pursuits, and because they face insufficient funds, they need to accept capital sponsorship… This makes their inventions often have a distinct ‘practical purpose’.

“Among them, ‘magic supplies’ are a unique product of Stibium Alchemy.”

Aleister looked towards the cheerful magician; the corners of her mouth also turned up slightly: “But generally speaking… such magicians seldom perform on the streets. So those kids must be so happy, I guess.”

“He must be practicing.”

The honey badger said softly, “The face of that person is fake; he has used another magical technique to disguise himself. Underneath that disguise is a face known as ‘Dexterous Harry’. He’s a quite famous magician… and he is one of the Irisflower People.”

“He’s not a transcendent?”

Selene seemed surprised, “One would think such a clever person could easily become a transcendent, right?”

“He could become a transcendent at any time, as this also counts as the Path of Beauty.”

The honey badger responded, “But he’s chosen to ‘first exhaust all possibilities as a mortal, then have himself witness the truth’, thus preserving his ‘innocent imagination’.”

“—This man will surely achieve great things.”

Aleister spoke with a tone of absolute certainty.

It was as if she had already seen through the future, witnessing his fate.

As if he heard Aleister’s voice or sensed something.

The “Dexterous Harry” suddenly turned his head back, smiling as he drew an arc in the air with his right hand ablaze with flames, then turned it horizontally upwards towards the palm of his left hand, performing an elegant Irisflower People’s courtesy towards the three of them.

Then he turned back to his audience, saluted them again with his left hand. Bringing his hands together, he produced a burst of dazzling firelight, once again eliciting amazement from the crowd.

When the firelight dissipated, both he and his large hat had vanished from the spot.

Aleister and her companions clearly saw—after he produced the fire, he immediately ducked down and pulled a cape from behind to cover himself, scrambling towards the corner of the wall with all three limbs, maintaining a crouched stance. His left hand held the hat filled with coins, looking like a peculiar creature.

After he rose to his feet, he somewhat sheepishly smiled at Aleister. Then, he emptied the money from the hat into his pocket and reversed his coat and hat, changing into a gentleman’s attire, and casually walked away with his cane.

“Quite interesting.”

Aleister smiled softly, showing a gentle smile towards him.

Yet what caught her attention even more was a parent behind those children.

One of them turned back during the magic show and saw Aleister’s red eyes under the black umbrella—the woman startled and immediately, discreetly, pulled her child away.

Her departure led towards the building at the end of the street, which also happened to be Aleister’s destination.

—White Dove Opera House.

It looked more like an amusement park than an opera house with its decoration style. The colored pillars, like spotlights in a dance hall, soared into the sky, sometimes converging and separating again. You could faintly hear melodious singing from the open-air opera house.

At a great distance, a glowing marker floated in the sky. It was a chibi-style white dove LOGO, grasping a mic and singing with its eyes closed.

At the same time, a super long, glowing moving light strip that read “White Dove Opera House, The best friend for your leisure time! Leipzig May special guests: Alanis Poulgar, Lucien Norton, and the Terror Theater Troupe. Perhaps the wonderful performance is once in a lifetime, don’t miss the opportunity!” encircled the opera house like a roller coaster, sparks flying as it swiftly zipped by.

When you get closer, you could see it was indeed a roller coaster—there was a train driver driving a dark train adorned with glowing letters along the equally dark tracks. The closest part was less than half a meter above the ground, while the highest section wrapped around the “singing white dove.”

It was so eye-catching that if someone saw just a part of the lettering by chance, they would inevitably stop to watch the whole. Two letters appeared to be damaged and did not light up, but it was possible to understand the intended message when considering the context.

As Aleister approached the White Dove Opera House, two bunny girls with high heels and fishnet stockings and curvy figures welcomed her with smiles.

“…Why does the opera house have bunny girls?”

Selene voiced her confusion.

What puzzled her even more was that these bunny girls, without any concern for their genders, clung to them just as usual.

“Sister, you are so beautiful!”

One of the bunny girls, looking no older than fifteen or sixteen, hugged Aleister’s other hand with a longing gaze in her eyes. Only Selene did not have anyone by her side.

She looked at the girl with some jealousy, baring her teeth like a protective dog. Soon enough, Aleister gently tapped her on the head and she quietened down, feeling aggrieved.

“I am looking for your manager.”

Aleister gently stroked the girl’s head, “Take me to him, will you?”

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