Chapter 114: 104th Success!
From that day on, his life had followed the same pattern every day—morning was for training, and afternoon until evening was for studying with Owen and Ellory, who had also joined his daily lessons not long after she found out what Axelius had been working on.
Together, they read books, tested theories, broke things, fixed things, and failed so many times that no one could even remember how many versions they had already tried and remade. But through it all, they never gave up, and they never stopped trying.
The project that took most of their time and energy was the small mana-powered car—a toy-sized vehicle that they dreamed would be able to move on its own using only stored magical energy. The world only knew carriages pulled by strong beasts, so even the idea of a moving object without a beast or constant mana caster was already strange and exciting, but Axelius believed it could be done, and Ellory believed in him.
Every version they tried had some kind of problem. Some didn’t move at all. Some used too much mana and burned out. Some wobbled, some caught fire, and some even exploded, though luckily none of the explosions were strong enough to hurt anyone.
Each time it failed, Owen explained what went wrong in a calm and patient voice, Axelius would write notes and draw changes, and Ellory would suggest new shapes or materials.
Their study room became a messy but magical place full of papers, books, wires, crystals, broken parts, and diagrams drawn on the walls and floor. But even though it was hard and tiring, they never stopped building, learning, and hoping.
And now, Five months later, it was a sunny afternoon with a soft wind blowing across the courtyard behind the Grand Duke’s mansion. The trees were tall and green, the sky was clear and blue, and the grass felt warm under their feet.
Axelius and Ellory stood side by side, facing their newest version of the small mana car, which looked completely different now—its body was smooth and polished, painted white with gold lines, and the crystal inside was bright but stable, connected to the newest type of mana wire that they and Owen had created together for better energy flow.
A few meters behind them, Owen stood in his dummy form, arms crossed as he watched silently. From the mansion windows and corners of the garden, several maids and butlers had quietly gathered, pretending not to be interested, but everyone’s eyes were on the two young inventors and the little car sitting in the middle of the yard.
"Are you ready?" Ellory asked, holding her breath with both hands clenched in front of her chest, her eyes locked on the car.
"Yeah," Axelius answered, his voice calm but his hands slightly shaking with nervous energy. "Let’s do this."