-262- A girl from Cloudfield

"Don't mention it, Your Majesty. After all, this is something we have already agreed upon."

"Well said."

"On another note, we have already built the new teaching building here, and Twin Cities University is now ready to enroll the second batch of students. The matters we discussed earlier can now be put into action." Linwin held the Hextech phone and spoke to King Jarvan III on the other end.

The second batch of students from Twin Cities University will be recruited from Demacia.

After multiple exchanges between Jarvan III and Silco, he decided that the first batch of young Demacians going to Twin Cities would consist of fifty individuals.

Sounds like a small number, doesn't it? But in reality, it's not a small figure at all. You see, the total number of students at Twin Cities University is only a few hundred, and these young people going to Twin Cities from Demacia are all outstanding young soldiers of Demacia, that is, the nobles of Demacia.

But one thing is certain, the children of the major noble families of Demacia definitely won't come.

The priority is given to noble children outside the capital of Demacia, of course, outstanding children from ordinary families are also welcome.

Linwin can understand why this is the case.

Of course, he also hoped that those who came from Demacia would be the Dauntless Vanguard or the Dragonrider Legion, scout soldiers and the like. It would be even better if Jarvan III gave him a list and let him choose. In that case, Linwin would definitely select Garen and Quinn; they are the ones who can make Linwin stronger. But that's obviously impossible.

What a pity.

It's a pity that Demacia is a closed country. Even if Jarvan III includes his own children in the candidates, most of the nobles in the capital of Demacia are still unwilling to send their own family members to Twin Cities.

But Linwin is already satisfied because it's now confirmed that Jarvan IV is coming.

And if Jarvan IV comes, maybe Garen will come along, and Lux will come too.

Calculating like this, Linwin can continue to increase Lux's favorability. Lux is also a five-star card, isn't she?

On the Hextech phone, Jarvan III continued, "My son will be there in seven days."

"Linwin, please take good care of him when the time comes."

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will take good care of the Prince." Linwin said with a smile.

Jarvan IV, the crown prince of Demacia.

————

August 21st, afternoon, after three o'clock in Demacia————

"No, I think some of the petricite here definitely needs to be reduced, otherwise it will be difficult to move at the joints."

Lifting her arm, rolling up her sleeves wet with sweat, Orianna's fair arms were exposed as she looked sideways, sitting on the ground and looking up at the red-haired girl next to her, who was bending over with her hands on her knees, frowning and continuing to say:

"Puppets are not humans. If their joint flexibility cannot reach close to 360 degrees, then they are a failed work."

Lorana nodded, looking at the cardboard in her hand, touching her chin, and said, "But you also guessed the effect after reducing the petricite. The power will greatly decrease. This stone not only can banish magic but also release magic. Paired with Hextech gems, it can make runes operate infinitely. If a large number of petricite is added to the joints of the arm, it will be able to do a lot of things by then."

"Such as?"

Orianna sniffed, her body covered in sweat, her clothes soaked and sticking to her body, the hot weather made Orianna sweaty, although her body still smelled fragrant now, but Orianna knew that when she returned to the dormitory at night, the fragrance would turn into a sour smell.

She really hates that smell!

But there's no way. This is the Demacian foundry!

Working in such weather in the foundry is really, hot, unbearable, hot!

Orianna couldn't help but miss home a little.

She missed her father, Corin.

She missed the technology of Piltover.

You know, Twin Cities has cooling technology, especially fans and Hextech air conditioning units, the latter being Orianna's favorite in summer.

Although Corin always forbids her from turning on the Hextech air conditioning unit, after all, the energy consumption of the Hextech air conditioning unit is Hextech gems, and because it is still an unfinished product, the energy-saving effect is zero, often a gem can only be used for half a month, and if it's turned on and off frequently, it can be used for one or two months.

But, even so, it's still expensive!

But once it's turned on, the effect.....

Especially compared to the weather here, even though Lux found a cooling basin for them, the ice in the basin can't last long, in such hot weather, it often turns into water within half an hour.

In Orianna's heart, Demacia is really incomparable to Twin Cities.

Although it is very large.

But, it's just not comparable.

"Such as? For example, with weather like this, if there were inscriptions of ice magic, it could release ice magic to cool down. The joints of the other hand could be inscribed with fire magic, which would increase the ambient temperature in cold weather."

Lorana smiled, her nose slightly red, sweat dripping onto Orianna's arm. She smiled and asked, "What do you think of my idea?"

Although petricite is very useful, Orianna and Lorana don't have much of it at hand, just a little bit, so it has to be used in separate locations. For example, if you want to make a forearm, there's not enough petricite, and if you mix it with other special Demacian metals, the effectiveness of Petricite will be suppressed by those metal.

So it must be used in separate places, like the eyes. The eyes of the puppet are made with petricite-made eyeballs.

As for using petricite all over the puppet's body, Demacians wouldn't do that no matter how much money they were offered. Allowing outsiders to use it is already a decision that goes against their ancestors.

"But if we do that, it becomes a daily item, like a Hextech air conditioning box." Orianna blinked her eyes, her little face puffed up, she pondered with her arms crossed.

"No, we agreed to make it into a weapon, if the arms can't move, how can it be a weapon?" Orianna said seriously.

"Let's change the petricite at the joints to a better polished soft cloudstone? Then use the extra petricite to make earrings or a special small item to put on the puppet? Maybe that way it can still absorb magic?" Lorana nodded, saying, "I'll follow your lead, Orianna, you call the shots."

"Okay, let's continue then!"

Orianna rolled up her other sleeve, got up from the ground, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Lorana.

Looking at the work in front of her, anticipation filled Orianna's face.

Silver and white are its main colors, with a small amount of blue as auxiliary colors, but there are also some gold and red on it.

It's a huge puppet, with long limbs and a sturdy torso. Its fingers are strange, looking a bit shorter and thicker than normal human fingers. But if you look closely, you'll see that these short, thick fingers are actually folded up. Once in combat mode, the fingers folded into the grooves will spring out into sharp claws.

It's made of Demacian petricite steel, and as for weapons made of Demacian petricite steel, let's not talk about anything else, at least the hardness is unquestionable.

Its torso also has a feature. Although it's a puppet, the reason why its body is so full and strong is because the puppet has another mode, which is the beast mode.

And in beast mode, the beast's head is hidden inside the full body.

It took Orianna and Lorana months of time and a large amount of funds to figure out this thing. Of course, it's still unfinished, and it can't even operate yet, but they are not discouraged because they have found the general direction, and what they need to do next is to continue to move forward and correct it.

"bang! bang!"

Hitting the joints with a hammer, Lorana is about to remove the puppet's arm. She thought for a moment, then suddenly spoke again, "By the way, have you thought of a name for it?"

"A name?" Orianna, holding the hammer, paused, then spoke, "No, I was just thinking about making it."

"I have a good idea." Lorana, tapping the puppet's arm with effort, continued, "Highlighting the characteristics of Piltover with Hextech, and its beastly wolf form."

Lorana said, "Let's call it Hextech Spirit Wolf, what do you think?"

"It's a puppet, A puppet!" Orianna emphasized.

Although Hextech Spirit Wolf sounds good, it's still a puppet!

"Hextech Puppet?" Lorana said the name, then immediately shook her head and said, "No, this name sounds too bad."

"Hmm, how about Hextech Battler?" Orianna suggested.

"Too long, how about something shorter, like Battletech?" 

"Wow, that sounds pretty good."

Orianna and Lorana looked at each other and smiled at the same time.

Battletech, this name is really good!

---

Piltov, the place where Garen and Lux spent their childhood.

At this moment, in the Crown Guard family, Garen stopped his training, picked up the Hextech phone placed aside, looked at the number on it, and after a moment of thought, Garen recognized who it was.

Then, Garen answered the phone, listening quietly to his aunt's words.

"It's been confirmed, the prince will go to the Twin Cities to study Hextech, and your task is to ensure the safety of the prince on this trip." Tianna held a glass of red wine in one hand and a Hextech phone in the other, standing straight in the corner of the banquet.

At this moment, there was no one around Tianna. In the lively banquet, people around voluntarily gave way because no one dared to eavesdrop on the kingdom's marshal making a phone call.

"I understand, Aunt."

"At that time, you can also go and learn their knowledge, you are also a student of the Twin Cities University." Tianna thought for a moment and said again.

Garen was startled and remained silent for a while before saying, "I remember, Aunt... but you were very opposed to it before."

"You might think so because I refused to let Luxanna have contact with the Twin Cities?" Tianna listened to Garen's words, took a sip of wine, and strolled to the balcony.

Looking at the night sky of the royal city, under the night sky, the all-blue Hextech airship center was still in continuous operation. Tianna gazed quietly at the building emitting blue light, shook her head with a light smile, and said, "I admit, Garen, I was short-sighted."

"As Luxanna said, Hextech can change the world, just as we changed the ecology of mages with petricite in the past. In the future, people from the Twin Cities will use Hextech to change human life."

Tianna squinted, and as a flash of blue light flickered in the starry sky, an airship disappeared into the night sky. Tianna knew that it wouldn't be long before it appeared over a small town in Demacia.

Not to mention Hextech phones, just Hextech airships have greatly improved the lives of people in Demacia.

"What His Majesty said is right, this is an opportunity, and we must seize it. Demacia must keep up with this era."

"At that time, you will take Luxanna and go together."

"Yes, Aunt," Garen replied earnestly.

————

"Father, why do I have to go to the Twin Cities when Soli and the others aren't going?" 

The girl with beautiful brown curly hair, wearing a nightgown, asked the man standing in front of a row of peculiar sculptures.

"Haven't you realized the power of Hextech yet?" The man didn't turn around but continued to wear glasses, lowering his head to examine the sculptures in front of him.

These sculptures were all white and varied in shape but all resembled animals.

And in the moment the man walked away, something strange happened: two of the sculptures seemed to move.

A sculpture of a dog, only half the height of a regular person, seemed to shake its leg, while another, a large, wolf-like beautiful sculpture, moved its head.

"Your work is not yet perfect, Saline."

Cassio Durand, the current head of the Durand family, straightened his back and said loudly, "I can see that Hextech gemstones possess magic. If used properly, they could become the core of petricite stone sculptures. And the only person in the family who meets the conditions of the Twin Cities University is you. If you don't go, do you want me and your mother to go?"

Saline pursed her lips and said nothing.

When Cassio turned around and saw his daughter's expression, he sighed and said, "I understand your concerns. You haven't traveled far, you haven't even left the family."

"But it's urgent, Saline, you must bear the future of the Durand family."

"Petricite sculptures are powerful, but they consume a lot of manpower to transport to the battlefield every time. Only after the enemy mage's attack can they move. This is actually a major flaw, so if it could operate from the beginning...."

Cassio's voice gradually lowered.

And in front of him, Saline Durand's face flushed.

Demacia's strategic system is simple and brutal: direct confrontation with the enemy's most elite forces on the front line, using dragonrider and sliverwing raptors troops in the air, and as a last resort, bringing petricite sculptures over to absorb the enemy's magic for countermeasures.

In other words, if you don't use magic, we'll come at you with real swords and guns, but if you do use magic, then you can wait for monsters like Galio to come and kill you!

But because of these harsh conditions, petricite sculptures often only appear when Demacia's situation on the battlefield is deteriorating.

Because the enemy won't notify you when they're attacking you, so every time the heavy stone sculptures are dragged onto the battlefield, the situation is already very critical.

Therefore,

"I understand, Father, I will go. I will study hard and try to understand the principles of Hextech gemstones."

Saline said earnestly.

————

Near the eastern border of Demacia, there is a remote town called Cloudfield, located south of Greenfang Peak and north of Terbisia.

The only nobleman in Cloudfield Town is named Sri.

At this moment, Baron Sri was talking to his wife.

He received a Hextech phone call from the Count and learned some news.

"Our family has been selected. In seven days, someone must go to the capital and then proceed to the Twin Cities for four years of study."

Baron Sri looked at his wife, whose face was also filled with concern.

"But, but we only have one daughter, and she just turned sixteen today!"

Sri shook his head to reassure his wife and said, "Don't worry, I've already figured it out."

"What are you going to do?" The baroness looked up at Sri.

"I've found a girl about the same age as our daughter, and she will go in her place," Sri replied.

"Isn't that risky?"

"Don't worry, I've already asked the Count. The requirement is not necessarily for noble children; an outstanding soldier is also acceptable."

"What's her name?"

The image of that young girl, who was not very old but showed remarkable performance on the training ground, appeared in Sri's mind.

"Cithria."

"A girl from a commoner family."

////*Cough*, so some of y'all might not know who Cithria is, but she's a card from loR and does have quite an interesting story. She's present in many events like Turmoil, Weight of Expections, First shield and so on.

Her entire story is quite epic, from a new recruit to the Lady of cloudfield. She appeared in many of the art and also a powerful card in loR. I even use her in some of my Demacia deck. I'll leave a pic in the comments.////