After meeting with the emperor, Li An and Bernstein had become completely bound together by fate.
This was a truly beautiful relationship.
If one of them tried to escape the pit, the other would death-grip his leg and drag him right back in.
“Let me make one thing clear: I actually don't know how to build a real airship.”
Bernstein admitted with complete frankness.
Li An was silent for a moment.
“Then what is the airship you built just now?”
“It looks beautiful on the outside, but the internal structure is completely flawed. It can't run properly at all.”
“So your original plan was to ruin the project and then run away?”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Bernstein wore a satisfied smile.
Li An's expression, however, was extremely serious.
“So what do we do now?”
“Which way of dying do you think is less painful? The guillotine, burning at the stake, or hanging?”
“Obviously we should avoid burning at the stake... Wait, have you already started considering how to die, you bastard?”
“Let me think of something.”
Bernstein fell into deep thought.
“Maybe I can still find the airship blueprints my mentor left behind. Other than that, there shouldn't be any other way.”
He spoke of his mentor.
He was an eccentric old man, but his skills were undoubtedly top-tier.
If he hadn't gotten drunk and drowned in the ocean back then, Bernstein might not even have had a turn to be called the empire's greatest inventor.
Like all inventors, his mentor had left behind many unfinished designs.
One of them was the airship blueprints.
“That blueprint was highly complete back then, but we lacked the funds and technology to make it a reality.”
Bernstein sighed.
“If it were today, maybe we really could build it. But the problem is, I have no idea where those blueprints were lost to a long time ago.”
“Are you talking about this?”
Li An casually pulled out a stack of blueprints.
Bernstein froze.
...
“Where did you find this?”
“I looked around the laboratory and found it,” Li An said calmly. “Develop a habit of organizing your things from now on.”
Bernstein fell silent.
He no longer knew how to make sense of this man.
It was just like when he was a child and couldn't find his things no matter what, only for his mother to find them in the blink of an eye.
Bernstein accepted the blueprints as if resigning to his fate.
He pulled out the designs related to the airship and studied them for a while.
“As expected, it is indeed the design left behind by my mentor.”
His gaze gradually grew serious.
“With this, maybe we really can succeed.”
“However...”
Bernstein frowned.
“Right now, we don't have enough hands, and time is tight. Rebuilding the airship is absolutely impossible unless all the dwarves come to help.”
“I'll try contacting them.”
“?”
Li An pulled out a communication device.
Then, he contacted the Gold Hammer Guild and the Blue Flame Guild.
Before long, teams from both dwarf guilds rushed directly to the laboratory.
The guildmaster of the Gold Hammer Guild held the blueprints, his eyes shining.
“What an exciting project!”
“Guys, get to work!”
“I never expected we would have the chance to help build the world's first airship.”
“You truly are our benefactor!”
The next moment, a massive crowd of dwarves flooded into the laboratory.
Bernstein was completely speechless.
He suddenly felt as if he had accidentally stumbled into some strange world.
But building an airship was by no means a simple task.
A few days later, Bernstein found Li An again.
“There's still one more problem.”
His expression was incredibly serious.
“The airship engine needs to be rebuilt, and we must use ultra-high-purity magic stones.”
“But where can we find magic stones of this grade right now?”
“I'll try contacting an alchemist.”
“What do you mean?”
Li An wrote a letter.
The recipient was the alchemist, Tai.
The content was very simple: The empire is building an airship and needs a large quantity of ultra-high-purity magic stones. I hope we can receive your assistance.
That very evening, the reply was delivered.
Soon after, a carriage pulled up in front of the laboratory.
A mountain of magic stones was unloaded.
Bernstein stared at the scene before him, utterly dazed.
“What is this?”
“Magic stones,” Li An replied. “Now the engine problem is solved.”
Bernstein fell silent.
He didn't even know what to say anymore.
However, the airship construction still encountered new problems.
A few days later, Bernstein once again wore a grave expression.
“We're still lacking emergency power.”
“Without a large number of Jewel Frogs...”
“My family runs a Jewel Frog breeding farm,” Li An said calmly.
Bernstein's body went stiff.
“Is it getting dark?”
“Is it?”
In the end, the airship was successfully completed.
The fateful day finally arrived.
Looking at the completed airship built according to his mentor's blueprints, Bernstein swallowed hard in nervousness.
Though the manufacturing process had been exceptionally smooth, the smoother it went, the more anxious he became.
If it failed, the empire's strongest scientist and the Light of the Empire would disappear from the empire's history on the exact same day.
“Oh?”
The Crown Prince looked at the airship.
“Is this the airship? It looks much smaller than before.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Li An answered. “By introducing new magnetic technology and a new type of material with magical properties, we have successfully created a smaller but higher-performing airship.”
“I see,” the Crown Prince nodded.
Although he didn't understand a single word of it, as a member of the royal family, all he needed to do at a time like this was look like he understood.
“Li An,” Kane said with a laugh, “are you going to pilot the airship yourself? This is the moment for the Light of the Empire to truly soar into the sky.”
“This is all thanks to the benevolence of His Majesty and Your Highness,” Li An answered very humbly.
During the construction of the airship, he had indeed maintained a strict physical regimen.
Three regular meals a day, eight hours of sleep a day, and a one-hour walk every day, all preparing himself to pilot the airship.
Of course, in reality, there was absolutely no training.
Because...
“The airship is fully automated anyway.”
“Then why did you make me the pilot?”
There was only one answer.
“Because we are bound together by fate!”
Seeing Bernstein's self-righteous expression, Li An fell silent.
Under the watchful eyes of the emperor, the Crown Prince, the princess, and nobles and envoys from various countries, Li An and Bernstein boarded the airship.
Isha looked at his retreating figure, praying silently: “I hope you return safely.”
Serena was exceptionally quiet.
“This feeling...”
“Why does it feel like I've heard a similar sound before?”
The prince was full of anticipation.
“I want to ride in an airship too.”
The next moment, the airship started and slowly rose into the sky.
It was flying. The airship was actually flying.
Li An looked out the window.
The people on the ground grew smaller and smaller.
His racing heart gradually calmed down.
Everything had changed.
In the original history, the empire would choose a pilot with a falsified resume.
After the airship took off, it would quickly crash.
Although the pilot successfully made an emergency escape, they were later found to have been a chronic alcoholic and ultimately died in an accident.
But now, the pilots had become Li An and Bernstein.
The airship had also changed.
“We won't fall, right?” Bernstein asked nervously.
“We've already done our best,” Li An said. “Even if we die here, it is our fate.”
Bernstein clasped his hands together in prayer.
“Oh God, I am about to come and see You.”
Li An barely resisted the urge to press the emergency escape button.
Fortunately, the effort they had put in beforehand did not go to waste.
The airship flew steadily.
Soon, the ground below grew blurry.
“Did I really build an airship?” Bernstein gazed out at the sky, his eyes growing misty.
He shed tears of excitement.
Li An shook his head helplessly.
“Fool.”
“You don't even realize you're about to be bound to the empire forever.”
Just then, Bernstein suddenly noticed an anomaly.
“Wait.”
“Why are the clouds so high?”
“It's very strange.”
Li An also looked ahead.
“Indeed.”
“If the cloud layer was originally at this altitude...”
“Wait.”
“Why are the clouds blue?”
The two looked ahead.
Blue clouds billowed and rolled; inside, lightning crackled continuously.
The next moment— Boom!
A voice echoed through the sky.
“Enough.”
“Land the airship.”
Bernstein hurriedly switched controls.
However, the airship showed no reaction.
“It's not working!”
“It's completely out of control!”
Just then— Crack!
A flash of lightning streaked by, and a voice rang in their ears:
“You two mortals, how dare you awaken me from my slumber?”
Li An finally remembered.
It was not humans who once ruled the skies.
It was the dragons.
Only later did they all disappear, becoming legends.
“Is this the Cloud Dragon?” Li An murmured softly.
The ancient dragon that commanded mist, clouds, and thunder.
“You know my name?”
The massive Cloud Dragon coiled around the airship.
The entire airship ground to a halt in mid-air.
With just a fraction of the Cloud Dragon's strength, the airship would be instantly crushed.
“I know of your covenant with the empire,” Li An said.
“That was already hundreds of years ago,” the Cloud Dragon responded coldly. “What meaning does that covenant still hold now?”
The Cloud Dragon had once been the guardian dragon of the ancient empire.
But after the covenant expired, out of disappointment with the empire, it had chosen not to renew it.
Although the empire never publicly announced it, everyone knew that the Cloud Dragon no longer guarded the empire.
“Humans have been working hard,” Li An said.
“To apologize to you.”
“To make up for the broken promise of the past.”
“We built an airship and came before you.”
The Cloud Dragon fell silent.
“So... you built this thing just to apologize to me?”
Li An's expression remained unchanged.
“Yes.”
“Lord Cloud Dragon.”
“Please set aside your anger and guard the empire once more.”
The Cloud Dragon pondered.
“I left the empire out of disappointment.”
“But more importantly...”
“I cannot change the flow of the future.”
“You should know.”
“The empire is destined to fall.”
“Why should I waste my strength to protect a nation destined for ruin?”
Li An was silent for a long time.
Then he asked,
“But... will the empire really fall?”
The Cloud Dragon froze.
“What do you mean?”
“I used to think I would fail as well,” Li An said, looking into the distance. “But recently, I have started to doubt. Perhaps things do not necessarily have to play out exactly as they did in the past.”
The Cloud Dragon fell silent for a moment.
Then, it produced an orb.
“In that case, let me look into the future.”
It began to manipulate the orb.
Meanwhile, Li An looked toward Bernstein.
However, Bernstein was frozen completely still, as if time itself had stopped.
A moment later, the Cloud Dragon spoke.
“I will establish a new covenant with the empire!”
“I, who bring rain and mist, will guard the empire for another thousand years!”
“...”
Li An froze in astonishment.
The next second, the sky cleared up again.
The Cloud Dragon was gone without a trace.
“Phew...”
Bernstein finally recovered his ability to move.
“The airship is working again.”
“What in the world just happened?”
Due to poor health, the emperor was unable to attend.
Thus, the prince read the imperial decree in his stead:
“Hear this.”
“Light of the Empire.”
“The empire's strongest scientist.”
“You have achieved a great feat never before accomplished in history!”
“You have conquered the sky!”
“Not only the empire, but the entire world will remember your achievements!”
Li An knelt on the ground, but an ominous premonition swelled in his heart.
This atmosphere... why did it feel exactly like a promotion ceremony?
“Li An,” the prince asked, “are you willing to continue serving the empire in the future?”
Li An was silent for a moment.
“...I am.”
“Very well,” the prince said excitedly. “Your contributions move me deeply. From this day forward, you shall become an Imperial Minister and continue to lead the Evaluation Department!”
“Thank you for His Majesty's deep favor,” Li An said hurriedly. “But without my friend, Bernstein, none of today's achievements would have been possible!”
He looked to his side.
Bernstein was surreptitiously raising an eyebrow.
Li An understood instantly, so he took the initiative and spoke first.
“If not for Bernstein, there would be no today!”
Bernstein hurriedly shook his head.
“No.”
“I am merely an ordinary inventor who assisted Li An in executing his plan.”
“In comparison, I am nothing but a firefly next to the moon.”
The prince's eyes lit up.
“Look at this humility!”
“This is truly the kind of talent that can illuminate the empire!”
The two began to push the credit back and forth.
“If not for Li An!”
“If not for Bernstein!”
The prince was deeply moved.
“How remarkably humble.”
“You are both the hope of the empire's future.”
Then, he looked at Bernstein.
“Of course, the empire will not forget your contributions either. Starting today, you will serve as the Minister of the newly established Development and Innovation Department. To continue contributing your strength to the empire.”
“...”
Bernstein's body trembled; his eyes instantly welled with tears.
“His Majesty's grace...”
“I am truly so moved...”
And so, the two youngest ministers in the history of the empire were born: Bernstein, Minister of the Development and Innovation Department, and Li An, Minister of the Evaluation Department.
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