Chapter 207: Fierce

Chapter 207

Fierce

After dealing with Young Lord Ryker, Ellie quickly parted ways with Senior Tor. He hadn’t initially intended to disturb Ellie. It was only by chance that he saw Ryker, with whom he had previously spoken and somewhat liked his nature, conversing with Ellie using such ridiculous statements. Otherwise, Tor wouldn’t have personally engaged with Ellie.

The status of the "Hister family" in the eyes of the Setter Family was merely that of a good follower. Tor understood well that he shouldn’t try to stand out too much. While others believed that getting close to Ellie would elevate their family’s standing in the Setter family’s eyes, he didn’t share that belief.

The Setter family had clear boundaries. They didn’t like other families getting too involved in their affairs. Sometimes they did things secretly, while other families liked to announce themselves. The greatness of the Setter family was hidden behind their reputation. Hence, maintaining a proper position would ensure long-term stability. Tor Hister thought this way.

Ellie returned to her room and continued to rigorously train her powers. She didn’t neglect her efforts in this area. A week passed, and Professor Nico only managed to check on the students on the first day. He continued to work hard for the institution and the royal family, leaving some assistant professors to oversee and advise students facing problems. Mostly, the advice was for students to reflect on their learning.

However, by the end of this week, Ellie completed the first part of her assignment. She had successfully prepared the foundation of the stratagem. This initial stage involved laying a rough framework, using the Rattus A rods in a manner similar to driving solid foundation piles. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Without keen eyesight and steady concentration, it could take a whole month to finish.

Once Ellie completed the first part, she asked the others to stop working on the Rattus A and prepare other equipment. This next set of equipment would take some time, but Ellie didn’t rush them. She planned to disappear for the next 3 weeks anyway. Her herb cultivation was going smoothly, and Professor Lucien promised to water the plants while she was away on her mission. Nevertheless, Ellie planned not to burden him for too long.

She had been studying some stratagems that could help with the watering problem, based on the principles of the sprinkler systems from her previous life. Timed water dispensers, though this life didn’t have electricity, had the abundant energy of magical crystals. Therefore, Ellie tried to design a system for such a task. It was likely the first time anyone attempted to create an expensive stratagem just for watering plants.

Ellie had prepared the water channels using a type of animal bone that was hollow, hard to break, non-absorbent, and leak-proof. In her previous life, this would require a water pump, ball valves, and automatic timers. However, in this life, she didn’t need to do like that. Ellie could create a stratagem to set the operating intervals directly, using a water magical crystal as the pump.

Though the concept was straightforward, the execution was not. She spent an entire week studying similar stratagems until she developed a rough plan. This stratagem wouldn’t take long to build; it wasn’t as complex as combat stratagems. It just needed to make the water magical crystal function properly. Using a trigger, which was the time stratagem, it would push water through the channels and out of the small holes, creating pressure to spray water effectively.

Ellie had prepared the necessary materials, but she wasn’t an expert in creating stratagems and lacked the experience. Therefore, instead of working alone blindly, she decided to take her rough design of the simple stratagem to one of the assistant professors, who were busy with their own tasks.

As a direct disciple, she had a lot of privileges. At least, consulting with the assistant professors was doable.

"Hmm? What are you doing? Don’t tell me that’s the base for the Vortex Stratagem?" Before she reached the assistant professor, Ellie had to pass by Nadia, a highly experienced girl. Nadia, who had been observing Ellie’s work daily, couldn’t resist commenting.

The previous day, Nadia had taken her stratagem base to the assistant professor for checking and knew she had done an excellent job. With this speed, it clearly demonstrated her superior skills. However, she didn’t expect that today, Ellie would carry her own stratagem base as well. Nadia couldn’t resist checking it out Ellie’s base that didn’t look anything like a Vortex Stratagem. Naturally, in Nadia’s mind, she really wanted to laugh out loud.

It seemed that Ellie was so anxious, and eventually wanted to submit her work in order not to lose face, but the result was far from satisfactory!

Nadia’s comment drew the attention of some seniors and second-year students. Everyone knew that Nadia and Ellie didn’t get along, and they had been watching for any signs of conflict. For almost a week, both Ellie and Nadia had remained calm, but now it looked like there might be another confrontation.

"It’s not something I need to explain to you, Lady Nadia." Ellie paid no attention to her. There was no reason to inform Nadia about her actions, was there? However, as Ellie was about to walk away, Nadia stepped in her path, blocking her way with a disdainful look at the stratagem base in Ellie’s hands.

"It’s obvious this is an incorrect stratagem. Just by looking at the base, I already know that it is not the Vortex Stratagem base, and it doesn’t resemble any level 1 stratagem base I’m familiar with. Perhaps...you’re afraid I’d mock you, causing you to feel embarrassed, so you don’t dare to speak with me, my lady?" Nadia covered her mouth while intentionally laughing, her feigned behavior making several people’s eyebrows twitch.

"It seems you have a lot of free time, Lady Nadia. Your stratagem must be nearly finished."

"Of course. You should have seen yesterday when I submitted my Vortex Stratagem base for the assistant professor’s review. Meanwhile, you were busy with that malformed stratagem of yours."

"Oh, so you want me to applaud you in admiration?" Ellie sighed, holding the stratagem with one hand and casually clapping her other hand against her arm.

This gesture made it clear she saw Nadia as nothing more than a child seeking attention, and others weren’t foolish. Everyone understood her intent. Nadia was no exception!

"You! How dare you be so arrogant. Who do you think you are to..."

"Ah...so you don’t want my admiration then? I must have misunderstood. You often look at me and now block my way even though we’re not close. I thought you wanted to be friends and were seeking my attention." Ellie smiled, her eyes glinting slightly, which only angered Nadia further.

"You! You are!!"

"Alright, if there’s nothing else, please move aside. Though I am the owner of 4 cities, I don’t have much say in things. If you want to be close with me because of resources or anything, you should approach the Setter family directly. Following me around isn’t a good solution." Ellie waved her hand, gently pushing Nadia’s shoulder out of her way, which nearly made Nadia scream in rage.

Everyone in the room was stunned. Who would have thought Ellie could be so fierce? She had always been quiet, rarely speaking. No one expected her to handle Nadia with just a few words, yet in such a sharp and ruthless manner!

Thud, thud, thud.

The sound of Ellie’s footsteps echoed in everyone’s ears. They felt a bit afraid of the girl. They had initially thought she was just a lucky commoner girl because she had been so quiet, rarely interacting with anyone. Some days, she would work silently from morning till night without talking to anyone. But now...being in Ellie’s presence might require more caution.

"Assistant Professor, I have something to discuss," Ellie called out, snapping the assistant professor out of his daze. He had heard what Ellie said to Nadia, making Nadia look like a fool chasing after Ellie. In reality, Nadia was just a conceited child.

"Oh, um, sure," he replied, gathering his thoughts. Ellie handed him the stratagem base. The assistant professor had initially been confident in Ellie, but after seeing the stratagem base, his first thought mirrored Nadia’s. However, Ellie’s first-day work still left an impression on him, so he didn’t rush to judgment.

"This is...?"

"Sorry to bother you. I tried to create a new stratagem base to solve a problem I encountered. You should know that I am a user of botanic power, so I have some herbs growing at the Botanical Building. These herbs can be exchanged for points in the future. However, I’ll be very busy with my training from now on. To avoid forgetting or spending too much time watering the plants, I planned to create a stratagem to help with this task."

"Hmm? Are you saying this is a new type of stratagem base that hasn’t been seen before?" The assistant professor’s eyes flickered slightly.

Wasn’t this girl too ambitious? She had just become a student in the stratagem branch for the first year. And now she’s trying to create a new stratagem? This...Maybe they had misjudged her. Initially, they thought she wasn’t overly arrogant, but hearing this idea, it seemed she had more confidence in her skills than anyone before her!!

"It’s not exactly like you’ve said, more like combining elements from various stratagems."

"Mmm, so what do you need my help with? Also...I think it might be better if you focus on the stratagems Professor Nico assigned you. The herbs aren’t that necessary in my opinion. Perhaps this year and the coming years, you might not need to plant them for points. You should already know how many points these assignments can bring."

"Yes, even so, cultivating herbs helps increase my magic power. So, I still need to do it,"

Ellie lied through her teeth. But no matter what she said, no one else knew if it was true or false. In this institute, only she and Professor Medik knew that it helped only a little and was almost useless once one reached a certain level. However...Ellie preferred herb cultivation much more than creating stratagems.

In the future, after she finished creating the stratagems necessary for daily life, she didn’t plan to touch them again. Well...who would want to spend their boring time on work that felt like programming? It was too much of a headache, wasn’t it? Even potion-concocting was more fun than this.

She didn’t want to spend her time on work that felt like the paperwork from her past life!

"Ah...that’s right. After all, you are a botanic elemental student," the assistant professor sighed. He had no choice but to listen to Ellie’s explanation.

"Then, I’ll explain my idea to you. If you have any suggestions, please let me know." Ellie was very earnest. She began to explain her thoughts step by step, including referencing various stratagem creations she had studied.

The base of this stratagem was enough to show the framework of forming different stratagems. Ellie pointed to the points where the stratagem components would be installed for the assistant professor to see. Initially, he looked bored, thinking there was no way this stratagem would work. After all, it was a new type of stratagem that no one had ever made before, and the idea came from a new student in the branch.

However, after just 10 seconds, as she explained the first step, then the 2nd, and then the usage, installation methods, and so on, he was almost on his feet with surprise.

Fortunately, the assistant professor kept his composure. He clasped his hands tightly, looking at Ellie with incredulous eyes.

As an assistant professor, he had encountered many difficult tasks. Often, when Professor Nico received new work, he and the professor had experience in forming stratagems they had never known before. The first crucial step was to study and demonstrate how to proceed. With just this, his and the professor’s experience was enough to tell whether the approach to forming the stratagem would succeed. And with the stratagem base already made, it was clear what the next steps would be.

And that meant...the stratagem in the hands of the girl before him, which she claimed was a new type, maybe...it might actually succeed!

"Uh, Assistant Professor, do you have any opinion?" Ellie called out to him 3 times in a row. Fortunately, on the third call, he snapped back to reality. He couldn’t give her an answer right away. Instead, he stepped away from his workstation and called for the other assistant professors to gather and help make a decision.

Even though he had a strong hunch about it, he didn’t want to admit right away just how feasible this idea might be. It was necessary to gather everyone to witness this potential miracle together!