199: Chapter 197 I have something really cool for you to see

The young man, lost in thought, led the way forward while clutching the stone.

The stone didn't look light, and it was indeed quite heavy to carry; his steps were unsteady, and he walked with great effort.

However, this didn't stop him from introducing the mage they were about to meet to Zhang Mu.

The refugees fleeing to Gur City weren't all families; a large portion had been separated from their kin in the chaos and arrived alone.

These people didn't need individual houses to live with family, and for the sake of work convenience, they simply moved into collective dormitories at the construction site.

The mage named Geoffrey was the young man's roommate.

According to him, the mage was about forty years old—his professional rank wasn't high, so judging his age by his appearance wouldn't result in a large error.

He usually kept his head down, muttering something under his breath, and he never seemed to stop, even while laying bricks on a dangerous rooftop.

He didn't like working.

Most others would rush to do night shifts to earn extra pay. Zhang Mu offered very high hourly wages for night shifts, so the workers were very willing to work overtime.

Geoffrey was different; every evening, as soon as the bell signaling the end of work rang, he would immediately drop his tools and head straight for the dormitory.

After returning, he wouldn't sleep in; instead, he studied strange and unusual things.

When he first moved into the bed next to the young man, he would hold a magic book and mutter to himself about why mana could be converted into magic.

Later, he would hold a cup of water and pour it onto the ground, rambling—why doesn't the water float toward the sky?

Perhaps because he really couldn't figure it out, he eventually switched to other objects.

In this way, the things he studied changed one after another, and he never reached an answer, so the process of switching never stopped.

“Recently, Geoffrey has been studying a stick.”

Walking to the door of a wooden cabin in the living area, the young man put the stone down and complained with a bitter face: “Lord City Lord, do you know? He stays up until the early hours of the morning every day.”

“Gods above.”

“Ever since he moved to the bed next to mine, I haven't had a single day of peaceful sleep. It's like a swarm of mosquitoes buzzing in my ear.”

Zhang Mu, who was raising his hand to push the door open, turned back and asked curiously, “Didn't you report this to the management?”

“The Soldier Captain came by. Every time, he promises to behave, but by nightfall, it's the same as before.”

“I remember the dormitories have ten beds, right? Did the nine of you manage to hold back from getting physical?”

“Oh! Lord City Lord, he is a mage!”

Fair enough.

Zhang Mu shook his head helplessly and pushed the door open to enter.

“Officer, it is currently the lunch break.”

Geoffrey, who was not dressed like a mage, wore ordinary linen clothes.

At the moment, he was sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to the door. Zhang Mu could only see a slightly hunched back and a head of short, curly hair.

“Geoffrey?”

Hearing the inquiring call, he didn't move his seat but twisted his upper body around, holding a wooden stick about a meter long in his hand.

“Who are you?”

“This is the City Lord of Gur City.”

“Oh!” Having some emotional intelligence after all, he immediately stood up and bowed. “Lord City Lord.”

“Mhm.”

Straightening his back, he asked, “You are looking for me...”

Zhang Mu was in no hurry to state his purpose. He walked over and took the wooden stick from his hand. “An ordinary stick.”

“Yes.”

“What are you wondering about?”

Perhaps not quite understanding why this Lord City Lord before him would be curious about a habit others criticized, he was stunned for a moment.

After a few seconds, he came to his senses and hurriedly replied, “I was wondering why two people carrying something with a wooden stick would feel the weight differently.”

“Is there a result?”

“Uh, sorry Lord City Lord. Although I have thought about it very hard, I still haven't figured out the reason.”

“Research cannot be just empty talk; it must be coupled with practice.”

Zhang Mu picked up the hemp rope hanging on the iron hook on the wall, tied the stone by the door securely, and tied the remaining end of the rope into a loose knot in the middle of the wooden stick.

Next, he called the young man over, and together with Geoffrey, each took one end and hoisted the wooden stick onto their shoulders.

“How does it feel?”

“No problem, Lord City Lord.”

Smiling, Zhang Mu moved the knot a few centimeters toward Geoffrey's side. “How about now?”

Seeming to notice that his shoulder had become a bit heavier, he was dazed for a moment. “It seems...”

He continued to move it toward his side.

“Heavier...” Geoffrey muttered to himself, his gaze falling on the knot near his side. “Does it have something to do with the position of the stone?”

“Put it down.”

Instructing the two to drop the wooden stick, Zhang Mu waved the young man away. “Have you ever heard of Physics?”

“No, Lord City Lord.”

It would be a miracle if you had.

Zhang Mu cheerfully picked up the half cup of water on the nightstand and poured it onto the ground. “The earth beneath our feet has a force, so water falls downward instead of floating toward the sky.”

“Lord City Lord, the Church says that the Gods forbid all things from ascending to the sky. Only through magic bestowed by the Gods, or creatures loved by the Gods, can the restriction be broken.”

“I am very skeptical of this explanation, but your explanation seems even more...”

“There's no rush for this; I'll tell you later.”

Soren was at the door, and Zhang Mu didn't want to get involved with the Church, so he smoothly avoided the topic. “Do you know how a Fireball Spell is condensed?”

Probably because they were talking about a topic he loved, his eyebrows arched upward. “Of course!”

“Mental Energy mobilizes the mana within the body to perform regular arrangements and combinations.”

Zhang Mu felt a bit of a pleasant surprise in his heart.

This was indeed the principle of the Fireball Spell, or rather, the principle of how magic operates.

But in the Saul Continent where magic was common, the vast majority of people didn't know this, including Potter.

If you asked a mage how they cast magic, the most likely answer you'd get would be: like this, then like that, and it comes out.

Zhang Mu understood this because of the information flow instilled by the panel.

And Geoffrey had clearly found it through his own exploration.

Searching far and wide only to find it by chance!

Grinning, Zhang Mu turned and walked out. “Come with me, I have something good for you to see.”

Following behind, he asked, “What is the ‘Physics’ the Lord City Lord just mentioned?”

“If you learn it well, you will no longer feel that magic is everywhere in life.”

“Huh?”

“Don't worry, I'll teach you later.”

Leading Soren and Geoffrey, he strode away from the construction site and headed all the way back to Gur City.

On the way, Zhang Mu thought about having to make a trip to the ‘World’.

Although with the knowledge in his head, equipment like machine tools could be manufactured in the Saul Continent given some time.

But it was a hassle; how could it be as convenient as directly bringing finished products?

He had taken some time to visit Hogwarts once two days ago.

Wino and the Librarian were getting along famously. Zhang Mu planned to control the puppet to hint at him to send some machine tools as gifts.

Next, while mass-producing firearms to equip the army of Gur City, he would work Geoffrey like an ox to combine magic and firearms as quickly as possible.

Thinking of this, Zhang Mu felt a bit anxious. He grabbed the two by their collars and sprinted back to the City Lord’s Mansion.

Afterward, he ordered all other matters in Soren's hands to stop and for him to go with Domit to the Resistance Army's settlement village to form a new army.

This was something Zhang Mu had thought of while studying on the Blue Star.

Who knew if there were any of Joey's spies in the current Gur City army? Or rather, there definitely were.

Them causing trouble when the enemy arrived was a minor matter; it would be truly troublesome if the firearms he was preparing were leaked.

Once Soren took his orders and left, Zhang Mu grabbed Geoffrey and entered the ‘World’.

He partitioned a space in the ‘World’, sent the man inside, dropped two middle school Physics books, and turned around to go to Hogwarts himself.