After throwing the last piece of material into the crucible, Ivan set about tidying up the things on the table.The precision balance used for weighing materials had to be carefully maintained. Those little pieces of paper spread out on the table had to be gathered up and destroyed. After all, the paper was stained with scraps of materials, and these magic materials were extremely dangerous for those who were not familiar with them. And the beakers and flasks also needed to be cleaned as they would be used again tomorrow.After arranging everything on the table neatly, Ivan checked the fuel in the stove to see if it was enough to burn until the next morning. The result was quite satisfactory to him. Then he picked up the asbestos cover placed aside and covered the stove and the crucible together to prevent a fire.Having done all this, Ivan walked to the other side of the laboratory. There were eight or nine boxes made of glass pieces piled up there. The boxes were tightly sealed all around, and inside them were all kinds of strange creatures, including insects and reptiles.Beside this pile of glass boxes was a cabinet full of drawers, which was custom-made according to the style designed by Ivan himself.Ivan carefully observed these strange little creatures. They were all the "spoils" he got from the unlucky magician he had killed. Every time he recalled the scene of that day, Ivan still couldn't help feeling a shiver in his heart.That day was really dangerous. The magician he killed was much more skilled than him. This magician had actually cultivated such a large number of magical creatures, and several of them were particularly dangerous. To have achieved such a feat, that unlucky guy must have been a rather powerful summoner.These magical creatures had originally been forced into a hibernation state by the magician using mysterious magic. As for those blood bees, because the effect time of the hallucinogenic powder was short, Ivan had no choice but to dispose of them all.In fact, Ivan didn't know at that time that he had made the wisest choice. Those blood bees were extremely dangerous creatures. Moreover, in order to deal with a powerful opponent, the magician had brought a large number of blood bees, and there was even a queen bee among them. If he wanted to, he could breed this kind of bloodthirsty and highly aggressive magical bees in large numbers in Luxembourg.Faced with such a "rich fortune", Ivan had no idea how to deal with it at all. The only person he could consult was his teacher, Magician Lavash.So, Ivan made a special trip to the laboratory left by his teacher near Piton County. The journey was quite long, but there was no other way.Fortunately, the teacher quickly noticed the message he sent.Magician Lavash was full of praise for Ivan's achievements in learning magic. After all, Ivan was still young and had only been learning magic for a short time, yet he was already able to sense the existence of magic elves in nature. This was really remarkable. You should know that most magicians might not be able to achieve this even if they spent their whole lives.Because of this, the old magician decided to teach Ivan a kind of magic - to make a magic mirror. However, for an apprentice like Ivan who had just started learning magic, this magic was a bit too advanced for him to learn.After all, with Ivan's current magic power, he couldn't control a real magic mirror at all. To send messages to distant places, although the magic power consumed was not extremely huge, it was definitely beyond what Ivan currently possessed.But if it was just to send messages to the laboratory deep in the Bart Forest, Ivan's little magic power was enough.In this way, in the future, if there was anything, Ivan wouldn't have to make trips to the laboratory again and again.For Ivan, being able to study a new magic brought him indescribable joy. His excitement made him completely ignore the warning of Magician Lavash. In the teacher's opinion, with Ivan's current level, it was as difficult as reaching the sky for him to master this kind of magic, and the chance of success was less than ten percent.But Ivan didn't care about that. In his opinion, what did ten percent matter? Optimistically speaking, if he tried a hundred times, he could succeed at least ten times, and that would be a good harvest. And to be honest, for him, one success would be enough.After collecting the materials from the laboratory, Ivan was in a dilemma. The materials were okay, but those apparatuses like beakers and flasks were not only big in size but also very fragile. It was impossible to carry them on horseback. So he had to ask Ted to make another trip in his carriage the next day.However, the location of the laboratory had to be kept secret. After thinking about it, Ivan placed all those apparatuses and materials in Baron Lipper's forest villa.Now, Baron Lipper no longer lived in that villa. Since the end of the ceremony, almost all the members of the Leonard family had left this place that originally belonged to them. As a result, a large number of positions in Luxembourg became vacant. You should know that these positions had been firmly held by the Leonard family before.Since there were vacancies, naturally someone had to fill them. The few noble families left in Luxembourg tacitly divided up these vacant positions among themselves. Although Baron Lipper was not one of these noble families, among those who could hold power in Luxembourg, who was not a shrewd person? How could they fail to see the connection between Baron Lipper, Ivan and the Juan family?So, of course, one of the best positions had to be reserved for the baron.However, Baron Lipper was used to a leisurely life and had little interest in high positions and handsome salaries. He declined those important positions with high power but busy schedules and only accepted the title of financial advisor.Since he became an official, he had to live in Luxembourg. So the small cottage in the Bart Forest, which was full of happy yet poor memories, was left empty. Baron Lipper didn't want the villa to go to waste. Firstly, he was sentimental. Secondly, he always remembered that there were the signatures of three great men in the villa, as well as a seemingly ordinary but really shocking house deed. Not to mention the statue embedded in the wall that had left a deep impression on many people.How could such a mysterious and historically long villa be allowed to decay? The baron entrusted it to the son of the old butler to take care of it, and everything was maintained as it was before. The son of the old butler was quite familiar with Ivan and would follow all of Ivan's instructions.After coming back from the laboratory, Ivan was excited for three whole days. But then he was troubled.Just as Magician Lavash had said, making a magic mirror was really quite difficult for him. Not to mention anything else, just the production of glass was troublesome enough. The glass needed for making a magic mirror required extremely high purity and had to evenly incorporate several rare metal powders.
Although Magician Lavash explained the production steps and key points meticulously, it was by no means easy to actually operate according to the methods in the book. After all, books have their limitations and it's impossible to cover every aspect. Ivan's previous magic experiments were merely about refining psychedelic powder, and such meager experience was truly a drop in the bucket. Fortunately, Ivan was now the heir to the lordship. Once the king's edict arrived, he would become the legitimate Lord of Luxembourg.
In everyone's eyes, who would be willing to offend a magician for no reason? Moreover, in the eyes of the nobles, Ivan was regarded as the most knowledgeable and talented lord among all generations. However, his temperament was not as gentle and friendly as that of the previous lords. On the day of the ceremony, the scene where Ivan resolutely fought back against the provocation and instantly killed the magician was deeply engraved in the hearts of every noble. What was even more striking was that after the incident, the young lord looked at the dead with cold eyes, and his indifferent expression clearly indicated that it was not his first time killing. Luxembourg had always been a peaceful place.
Even a knight like Count Mick rarely had the opportunity to engage in combat. Except in recent times, there had been few bloodsheds here in the past, so there were not many knights with blood on their hands. In contrast, their young lord had obviously crawled out of the life-and-death battlefield. His fighting skills might not catch the eye of senior knights like Count Mick, but if they were really put on a bloody battlefield, Count Mick would also be hesitant in his heart. It was truly hard to say who would survive to the end between himself and the young lord. For this reason, the people of Luxembourg, from top to bottom, never dared to disobey the orders of Lord Ivan.
The first order Ivan issued in Luxembourg was to go to South Port to summon glass craftsmen to help him make glass. No one outside knew that the young lord's move was only for his personal magic experiment. In everyone's view, the lord intended to make Luxembourg the glass manufacturing center of the Kingdom of Francois and break free from Otto's control over the lucrative glassware trade at one stroke. If this could be achieved, Luxembourg would immediately transform into an economic powerhouse of the Kingdom of Francois. Everyone thought so, and naturally worked with great enthusiasm.
Summoning glass craftsmen in South Port was not a difficult task. The glass trade was the pillar industry of South Port, and most merchants were involved in this business. Glass was extremely fragile. Even in calm weather, there were often one or two broken glassware shipped from Otto. Those that were severely damaged could only be remelted and rebuilt; those that were slightly damaged could still be sold after repair. This was the usual means for merchants to cut losses. For this reason, glass craftsmen and workshops could be seen everywhere in South Port. However, the glass production technology in South Port was not satisfactory.
Not to say it was far inferior to Otto, even the craftsmanship of the craftsmen in the capital was better than theirs. Therefore, improving the glass production level in South Port had always been a top priority for the South Port Chamber of Commerce. Ivan's proposal was extremely attractive to the nobles of Luxembourg and also excited the merchants of South Port. Thus, there was no problem with personnel and funds. For Ivan, he didn't care about these trifles. The only thing he had to do was to guide the workers to produce the required glass according to what Magician Lavash had taught. Of course, before the workers produced the qualified glass that satisfied him, he would never take out those precious and rare metals for the glass craftsmen to squander, but replace them with cheap metals such as lead and copper.
The glass-making method left by Magician Lavash was by no means comparable to ordinary glass production methods. Although those craftsmen were also novices and had no relevant experience, the glass they produced was, in Ivan's eyes, no less excellent in quality than the glass products made by Otto, and even better than the glass produced in Francois. Seeing this situation, Luxembourg and South Port jointly held an extremely grand and solemn celebration ceremony. Almost everyone present praised and was extremely satisfied with these glass products.
But why say "almost"? It was just because there was one person who didn't buy it at all, and this person was Lord Ivan. In Ivan's eyes, these glass was simply unqualified. So he ordered the craftsmen to remelt and refine again and again, and set extremely strict standards for each process of production, and never allowed the craftsmen to make even the slightest mistake. Those who didn't know the truth and didn't know Ivan's real intention secretly put a label on Ivan, saying that he was a perfectionist who was rigid and pursued perfection.
Since then, every official who came to report to Ivan was trembling and walking on thin ice, for fear that there would be the slightest mistake in his work and make the Bratislav lord unhappy. In fact, except for the production of glass, Ivan was really not interested in other daily official duties. After all, according to the agreement previously made by Mr. Juan and Miss Madin, his sitting in the lord's position now was just a formality, and the actual power of the lord would eventually be handed over to others. Therefore, Ivan had safely handed over most of the official duties to Miss Betty for handling.
Under Ivan's so-called "high-pressure" situation (at least that's what others and those glass craftsmen thought), the quality of the glass finally met the standards in Ivan's mind. After Ivan thoroughly grasped all the tricks, he plunged into the laboratory and successfully made his own magic glass. The following steps were relatively simple. All he needed to do was to carefully forge pure silver into flat and evenly thick sheets, and then meticulously polish the side that needed to be attached to the glass to make it a mirror. Although this process was rather time-consuming, it wasn't difficult for Ivan. The only thorny issue was to engrave those mysterious incantations on the four corners and the back of the mirror.
Ivan failed numerous times and only after dozens of attempts did he finally overcome this difficulty and complete this arduous task. It was no wonder that the originally oversized mirror, which was over a person's height and one and a half meters wide, now became only slightly larger than the dressing mirror that a girl usually held in her hand to comb her hair. After all, if the back of the mirror was engraved wrongly, it could be easily repaired with a little pure silver. But if the glass was engraved wrongly, the entire edge had to be cut off. After so many failures, it was only natural that the mirror became smaller and smaller. Even so, Ivan was still excited for a whole day because, after all, he had accomplished his goal.
With the magic mirror, communication between Ivan and Magician Lavash became much more convenient. In the first week after the magic mirror was made, under the careful guidance of Magician Lavash, Ivan woke up those magical creatures that had been in a slumber one by one. Magician Lavash didn't do this to make Ivan a summoner. As an alchemist himself, his knowledge of summoning magic was actually quite limited. Moreover, it was by no means easy to tame and control those magical creatures. However, alchemists were among the most knowledgeable in the magician community, and Magician Lavash was an outstanding one among them.
He had an extremely in-depth understanding of the habits and characteristics of magical creatures. Based on this, he encouraged Ivan to raise these magical creatures and carefully observe their characteristics and living habits. In his opinion, this was an excellent way of cultivation for an alchemist. Ivan was already very interested in all kinds of magic cultivation, so he naturally obeyed his teacher's orders. He carefully raised those awakened creatures in glass boxes, fed them regularly, and regarded observing and recording their daily habits as one of his important daily tasks.
Another great benefit of making the magic mirror was that Ivan made rapid progress in his magic studies. After he grasped more advanced magic knowledge, when he went back to study the relatively simple content, it felt much easier. What's more, now that he had the magic mirror as a powerful assistant, whenever Ivan encountered difficulties or puzzles, he could immediately consult Magician Lavash in the distance through the magic mirror. Because of this, Ivan spent most of his day in the laboratory and often didn't come out until late at night. Ivan's dedication like this stemmed from his extreme thirst for magic knowledge on the one hand, and on the other hand, an important reason was that he really didn't want to go back to his bedroom too early.
Recently, Miss Susanna had been making Ivan increasingly annoyed. To be fair, Miss Susanna was truly a beauty. Every time Ivan was with her, he could experience an indescribable pleasure, a kind of joy that was hard to find even in heaven. However, Miss Susanna's mouth made Ivan really unbearable. Now, Ivan was no longer the unknown shop assistant in Southport. Although the flattery and respect of the nobles and officials didn't make him conceited and forget himself, thinking that he was already above everyone else or regarding himself as the master of the southern part of Francois. In Ivan's heart, Mr. Juan was still the elder he respected and admired the most, Herbert was still the person he feared, and Audrey was still the good teacher who guided him outside of magic.
Besides these people he had known for a long time, Miss Madin was also an object of his respect. And Miss Betty, Ivan had a special feeling for her. Miss Betty was destined to be his wife. Although this was part of the agreement between Miss Madin and Mr. Juan, Ivan himself really liked Miss Betty. Miss Betty was noble and elegant, without the affectation of ordinary noble ladies. Her noble blood didn't bring her much happiness in her childhood, but instead endowed her with gentle, considerate, tolerant and kind qualities. The careful cultivation of Miss Madin made her possess profound knowledge and elegant demeanor. Like Mr. Juan, this old lady was also a very successful educator. Because of this, Miss Betty was almost perfect in Ivan's eyes.
For him, Miss Betty was both a gentle and lovely wife in the future and, at least for now, like a kind and amiable sister, and also served as his secretary and chief advisor. All of these people were those Ivan respected and loved from the bottom of his heart. But Miss Susanna was completely different. In fact, Miss Susanna was indeed Ivan's woman, at least their physical relationship was quite harmonious. Ivan had to admit that Miss Susanna had taught him many things, including some novel and interesting things that he was quite interested in. He also had to admit that Miss Susanna's almost perfect body had brought him unimaginable pleasure. But even so, Ivan found it increasingly difficult to bear Miss Susanna's ridicule.
Although Ivan didn't care about the flattery and respect of the nobles and officials, hearing them too often would inevitably have a subtle influence on his character. Moreover, Ivan had seldom been ridiculed in the past. Aunt Jenny and Uncle Karl had always been very kind to him. As for Audrey and Herbert, if they thought he had done something wrong, they would always let him understand in a straightforward and effective way. Ivan actually appreciated this simple and efficient approach. In his concept, if you did something wrong, you deserved to be punished, which was only natural. And Mr. Juan's way of handling problems was even more brilliant, always enabling Ivan to understand what was right unconsciously.
In Ivan's memory, besides Miss Susanna, the only person who had ridiculed him was the hunchback in the Southport shop. And that hunchback was one of the people Ivan hated the most. Now, Miss Susanna had also been added to Ivan's list of people he hated. After tidying up the laboratory neatly, Ivan walked out of the laboratory door. It was pitch black outside. In the night sky, the stars were twinkling, and the moon, like an elegant traveler, had climbed up the treetops and was still struggling to climb higher. For Ivan, who had night vision, a night with the moon and stars shining was no different from daytime.
In the past, when Herbert trained him, a so-called night in his definition never included a moonlit night. Even the twinkling starlight was too bright for Ivan at that time, so bright that it made him disgusted. Therefore, when Herbert trained him, he never gave him any light. There was a certain distance between the laboratory and the villa because Miss Madin really didn't want to live in the same room with a bunch of bugs. Since those blood bees had given her a bad experience, the old lady's aversion to insects had been increasing day by day. She hated all insects.
That laboratory was the second achievement of Ivan exercising his lord's privilege. However, as far as he knew, it seemed that the Southport Chamber of Commerce had actually paid for it. This was their way of currying favor with him. Ivan didn't know whether Mr. Padraig Lipper was involved in this matter, but knowing the inside story, he thought that he probably wouldn't flatter him. Returning to the villa, Ivan walked straight to his bedroom. The bedroom was still the same bedroom. Miss Madin didn't give him any special treatment. In this villa, the only places he could go were still the bedroom and the garden living room at the back.
However, Ivan's bedroom was no longer what it used to be. Since Miss Susanna had moved in and Ivan had moved out, Miss Susanna had redecorated the bedroom. Ivan still went back to the bedroom every day, not to sleep, but to "attend class", to learn from Miss Susanna how to be a playboy, or rather, to have some fun, enjoying Miss Susanna's extraordinary skills and perfect body. Now, the bedroom didn't look simple at all. It would be more than enough to entertain a king.
On the ceiling of the bedroom was a gigantic fresco painted by the top painter in Southport. A huge crystal chandelier hung beneath the ceiling. To move this much wider-than-the-door object into the bedroom, the suspended ceiling had to be dismantled and then reassembled after it was brought in. Hundreds of crystal pendants sparkled blindingly under the illumination of the lights. The bedroom walls were clad in the finest teak, inlaid with gorgeous gilt and pastel painted sculptural wall hangings.
The originally small bedroom became much more spacious as the wall with the window had been completely knocked down and replaced with six floor-to-ceiling windows. The furniture in the bedroom hadn't increased much. There was still only a wardrobe, a bed, and the low cabinet had now been replaced by a dressing table. However, compared with the rough and simple items before, all these pieces of furniture were worlds apart. The wardrobe almost took up an entire wall. It was carved from mahogany and inlaid with colorful jades. Miss Susanna's dressing table was both tall and large. The upper half of the dressing table was semicircular and fitted with three mirrors over a person's height.
The tabletop was one and a half meters wide and one meter deep. Ivan estimated that he could even lie on it comfortably. The lower half of the dressing table consisted of three drawers. The first drawer was filled with cosmetics. Ivan had caught a glimpse once and saw that there were thousands of lipsticks alone, not to mention countless rouge and powder. Besides, the potions and cosmetics Miss Susanna used for her daily skin care were even more astonishing. Ivan had once casually asked Miss Susanna how much money she had spent on these cosmetics, and the answer left him dumbfounded.
It was enough to buy a fleet of ships. The second drawer contained Miss Susanna's undergarments, stockings, corsets and the like. In the bottom drawer were those "toys" that Ivan was growing fonder of. He was now an expert in the use of these "toys". He not only mastered the usage of each toy but also had a good understanding of their characteristics and drawbacks, as well as how to constantly alternate their use or combine several different "toys" to bring various or extremely intense stimuli to girls.
Ivan had an ulterior secret. Deep down, he hoped to try these "toys" on a girl other than Miss Susanna. Ivan wasn't sure whether these "toys" were really as effective as Miss Susanna claimed. Although he had practiced with these "toys" countless times on Miss Susanna, she would only use the same unchanging voice to give comments like "not bad", "terrible", "okay", "no feeling". When she was in a bad mood, words like "are you a man?", "barely a man", "idiot", "fool" became the indicators of whether he was using the "toys" correctly. Ivan knew in his heart that Miss Susanna was already used to all kinds of stimuli. Thinking of this, he found it rather dull. Sometimes, he even felt that Miss Susanna was extremely dirty, and consequently, he felt filthy himself. Perhaps it was precisely for this reason that Ivan couldn't bear to sleep in the same bed as Miss Susanna.