Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 521: Dinner

Chapter 521: Dinner

Dasha walked out of the basement backroom, past Savario who was cooking the fish he was known for, and to the tables where food was being served.

"Ah, finally. I was beginning to think you stood us up. Not very gentlemanly of you to keep two young ladies waiting, Professor."

Dr. Thornton, as smirking, proud, and tomato-haired as ever. The classically English woman’s remark earned a grimace from Aya Nakamura.

"My apologies." He took a seat at the small round table. The fish was already served. "Please, eat."

Dr. Thornton blemished. "From the Underground? No thank you. I’d rather eat garbage. Ha, I’d probably get less sickness from it too."

Dr. Thorton was one thing, Aya was another. The petite alchemist asked for chopsticks and ate the fried monster fish with haste and excitement.

"Ew."

"You should not be so judgemental, Doctor," Dasha said.

"Oh come on, they don’t speak English or serve tea—Lord, they don’t even use toilets. I have no need to respect these inferior cultures."

Aya happily ate her food anyway. The taste of the fish down in the Underground had a spicier tone. She liked it.

The doctor pursed her lips. "You are far more disgusting than I ever thought possible, Aya Nakamura."

"Did you bring everything that I asked for?"

Dasha’s simple statement earned an eye from Dr. Thornton. "Are you sure we should be speaking here?"

"I’ve instructed the owner to temporarily close up shop for us."

Her nose flared in amusement. "You already have these monkeys wrapped around your finger, hm? Well done, Professor. As for the materials of the teleportation circle, yes. I have it in my purse. And you?"

"Everything is in my possessions. I do have some interesting things to show you, however, to speed up the process." The doctor raised a brow until the Professor showed his Teleportation Badge, a skull that fit perfectly in his palm.

Dr. Thornton pushed herself forward, eyes wide like a child. "A Teleportation Badge! You attained one for yourself, Professor?"

Even Aya paused to sneak a look.

"I’ve only seen it a couple times but I’ve never had the opportunity to fully manage it. Supposedly, it’s made by the Thousand Sorcerers who live on the hundredth floor. The same ones who maintain the spell that makes this place..." The doctor gave a loathsome look at Savario. "...what it is."

Aya swept the skull from his hand and the two ladies analyzed it.

"I believe it functions as more of a signal rather than an actual teleportation device," Dasha said.

"Oh. Ah. I see, I see. Yes." A couple nods and a small touch earned Dr. Thornton a proper look and feel of it. "Hm, yes, it doesn’t feel magically dense enough for teleportation."

At a certain point, masters of magic circles could feel the weight of the magic inside. Not literally weight, but it was intuition based on experience. Sometimes, it could be illogical. Such was the way of magic.

"Hm...can I keep this?" Dr. Thornton asked.

"Patience. I have other souvenirs for you, Doctor." From his inventory, which he discreetly made it appear as though he got it under the table, he pulled out a white disc made of a magically-conductive metal. A certain piece of an old school teleportation device.

"Wait a minute...that’s second war era markings. I recognize it. They used a special kind of chalk back then..." She laughed haughtily, crossing her legs. Tentatively, Dasha handed it over and with both hands Dr. Thornton received it. A laugh, a smile, a look of awe. "Goodness gratuitous. What a gentleman! I didn’t think I would ever see one of these. Teleportation devices from the war! A mix of magic circles and technology! Ho...these were all decommissioned and used by the war parties for other products but you..."

"I presume a thanks is in order."

A glance and a laugh, the corners of her eyes wrinkling. "Ha, thank you indeed! I would very much like to study this." She didn’t wait to study it either, her eyes got quite close to it. "The disc has special wiring in it, you see, that is connected to the magic circles on the disc’s inside walls. The disk is hollow and was constructed in a very specific way. Very expensive, you see. This alone is worth ten thousand gold coins."

"Souvenirs, the only good thing here in this god-forsaken place, hm?" Dasha remarked.

"Agreed! I can’t believe you found it in this disgusting bug-ridden trash bin. Say, you have the skull badge of the Dark Tower, are the magic circles similar to the Teleportation Devices of the war?"

"No. Like I mentioned, the skull is more of a signal. My theory is that the Thousand Sorcerers living up top have cast a Territory spell on everything in the Underground, hence why the rule of non-violence is lifted," Dasha said. "So the magic circles principally aren’t drawn the same way. The Thousand Sorcerers, I theorize, are who are the cause of the teleportation, not the circle itself."

"Therefore, the receiving circle is worthless," Aya chimed in.

"In the war," Dr. Thornton began, "the Axis Powers devised the Teleportation Devices in order to be in constant contact with Gates, even ones that they completed and were not accessible through the Heavenly Tower. They did the impossible. They were able to go to and fro between two different dimensions. It was one thing to be able to warp space in the same dimension but across dimensions? That is a whole new aspect. A whole new world. The Noble Families—well, mostly the Eternal Emperor and his lot—have placed teleportation circles in his Territory and in whatever areas he owns. For lowly people such as ourselves, seeing the marks of those circles is impossible."

What she was saying was:

’The secret of teleportation has remained a secret for a reason. Within the same space-time, the Great Noble Families keep it to themselves, having discovered it through their own languages and lettering. The art of setting up teleportation between two completely different space-times was lost in the war. As for the teleportation done by the Dark Tower, that too was impossible to figure out because it was likely done through a spell, not a magic circle.’

Dr. Thornton flipped the white disc, pursing her lips. "Where will this teleportation circle be? That is what we are here for, yes? To help you establish magic circles?"

"Correct," said Dasha. "The three of us will be re-discovering the art of crossing between dimensions."

Dr. Thornton blinked twice. "Excuse me?"

"To do so, we will be climbing over the Great Wall."