Chereads / Mechanical Mage / Chapter 24 - The Strongest Dragon

Chapter 24 - The Strongest Dragon

"How do you know?" asked Levi.

"How do I know? Haha, don't make me laugh! You can fool them but not me!" Caleb laughed sarcastically.

"So you know that I was reinca—" Levi's words were interrupted.

"Yes, I know!" Caleb was somehow proud of his discovery.

"Really?" asked Levi.

"You're an impostor!" Caleb said angrily and then he throws another magical spell towards Levi.

"Fireball Rush!" chanted Caleb. Then, several small solid balls of charcoal coated with blazing fire the size of a tennis ball appeared out of nowhere. Caleb pointed his staff with force towards Levi and then the fireballs came rushing to him.

It will be a hard task to evade all of those attacks. Yet, unfortunately for Caleb, Levi has his newfound agility. While Levi was looking at the rushing fireballs he thought of his training with Nate, he imagined the fireballs as leaves, falling leaves, but this time he doesn't need to catch them, he needs to dodge them! With his quick moves, he rolled here and there and tried anything to evade all of the attacks. But, the last fireball hit him. He was propelled several steps back and fell on his back eventually. His clothing has a burned hole and his skin suffered a mild degree of burn.

"What? Me? An Impostor?!" asked Levi in surprise while helping himself so stand up. "You got it wrong Magus Caleb! I am not an impostor, this is me! Levi! I took fundamentals of magic from you. I am the one who burned that tree over there!" said Levi as he pointed on the tree that he hit while they were training.

Caleb frowned his eyes. His doubt was shaken a little bit and slowly he was starting to believe the man.

"Then tell me, how come you can expertly use magic, and some of those magic is unknown to me?" asked Caleb.

"I don't know, Even I myself can't believe it! But there is something I want to tell you..."

Caleb just stared at him, unmoved.

"I have come across a new master!" said Levi in a high tone.

"Hmmm..." Caleb was still unmoved.

Levi tried to think of anything else to make the old man believe him, until his mouth mindlessly said, "He's a dragon!" he added.

Caleb's eyes suddenly got bigger in shock. Chills run down his spine and his bodily hairs stood up.

"A dragon! A real dragon?!" Caleb asked in excitement and at the same time doubt.

Dragons are legendary creatures only a few chosen people have ever seen them! Magus Caleb's reaction was justified.

"Yeah, a real dragon! They can even turn to a human! Hmmm... from what I saw, I think he's the dragon of thunder? lightning? something like that???" said Levi as he contemplates whether Nate was indeed the dragon of thunder.

"No, you can't fool me agai— wait, what?! The Thunder Dragon! As in the legendary Thunder Dragon?!" asked Caleb.

"Yes, I think so," said Levi casually.

"For goodness sake! The legendary thunder dragon! The most powerful of all the dragons! Legends said that he fought with the team-up of the Light Dragon, the Water Dragon, and the Wind Dragon simultaneously and he still won!"

"The Light, Water, and Wind Dragons but he still won?! That was amazing!" Levi's eyes glowed with the dazzling light of excitement and anticipation. His master was a very powerful being!

When Caleb saw the glittering eyes of Levi, he realized that he is not an impostor and he removed his worries and he put his guard aside.

"Levi!" Caleb called the attention of the flabbergasted young man.

"Oh, sorry. I just didn't how awesome he is!" Levi said whilst still wearing a smile.

"Listen to me, I now know that you are not an imposter. But let me warn you, that dragon is very dangerous. A legendary creature that can defeat three other legendary creatures means that..."

"He's awesome!" said Levi.

"No! it means that he can turn you into mincemeat if he likes it! Dragons are not beings who like to socialize, if you took a single mistake you'll be dead in an instant! so leave him." Caleb warned him.

After some thought, Levi realized that Magus Caleb was just being worried. "Don't worry, I will take your advice. But I know he's a good man and maybe he can help me with my problems," said Levi with a smile to ease the old man.

"Don't tell me later that I didn't warn you. Hmmm... always take care." with that, Caleb turned and goes inside his simple house.

Levi was left there in the yard. From a face with a smile, it turned into a serious and slightly anxious one. Caleb's advice may have gone to his head.

-------

At Garde's workshop.

There is a long line of dwarves and elves just outside Garde's workshop. It covers almost two blocks.

Levi was walking from Caleb's to the workshop when he saw this. All of the people are either carrying a hammer or some kind of tool.

Levi immediately knew what was this about. Part of his plan in the coming battle with the orcs is mostly focused on industrialization and technological advances. He proposed many projects and that means that more and more skilled workers are needed.

Garde was appointed to be in charge of this vital role and so he started the application of new workers to help him. There are numerous projects and are even hard to do. He and his current apprentices can't handle it so it is reasonable to source out other people for help.

This sudden application is not exclusive to Garde's workshop. At the mines, Jacob is doing the same thing. More work needs more resources.

Natura was even busy now.

"Levi!" a man called him.

Levi looked and saw Garde. Garde offered him tea inside and Levi gladly accepted it.

"How are you?" Garde asked him while he pours tea to his cup.

"I'm good. You? How are things coming your way?" asked Levi then he took a sip.

"Because of you, I don't have time to sleep now! Haha. Just kidding, things are good on my end. Personally, I like it. I never imagined myself to be as busy yet excited at the same time. I owe you one." said Garde and then he took a sip from his cup.

"Nice, At first I thought that I only bring you more burden, but you look happy! So I guess not?" said Levi.

"No, we should be the one apologizing for the burden we've caused you. You've been helping me and the whole of Natura!" said Garde as he flatters the man.

"Well, I promised myself to repay you and here it is! Haha. *cough* Hmmm.. by the way, what's the plan?" asked Levi.

"The plan? I don't really know! I want to make more guns and give it to our archers because they are fit to use it." said Garde.

"That's good, but I recommend not to give it to them, I have a better plan for them. You see, this rifle will be fit for accurate elven archers if it is modified to be a... sniper rifle! If they use sniper rifles, I'm sure they will kill it! As for the normal rifles, you can give them to militias or some untrained fighters." said Levi. Archers with such accuracy are the best fit to use sniper rifles.

"That's perfect! But we still have a problem, the combined number of orcs and ogres were too much for us to handle!" said Garde

"I have the perfect solution for that... Artillery!"