System vs Rebirth

"By the way, what do you think about this?" Noel produced two runes on his hands. The right produced an Enhance Forward Rune, moving the chair forward. The left hand created a Rune Sword, forming a sword made of Spiritual Energy.

These runes should have a different concept, so he wanted to know what Felicia thought about these runes.

"This is…" Felicia widened her eyes. Her gaze was glued to the sword, which seemed to contain the 'Void Element' she was talking about.

Noel had to agree with the 'Void Element' concept, considering the rune ability couldn't be affected by elements. However, he still didn't know whether the Enhance Forward had the same Void Element or not.

After examining the Rune Sword, Felicia moved to the Enhance Forward Rune. Noel might not notice it, but there was nothing different in this rune.

"If you're asking me about Spiritual Energy, then I don't think there is anything different. Both of them have a Void Element." Felicia replied with a serious expression. "This sword is pretty obvious. While the other rune is a bit hard to see, there is indeed a thin layer of Spiritual Energy that pushed the item forward."

"Hmm?" Noel had never thought about this before. When he used the Enhance Forward Rune, would it actually create a thin layer of energy on his back that pushed him forward, or would it envelop his entire body?

He indeed mastered the rune through the system, but he didn't learn this concept. Even the Void Element was a new term that Felicia had created to match the rune's ability.

Noel asked, "Can you sense the Spiritual Energy?"

"Thanks to my Spirit, not only can I sense it, but I can directly see the Spiritual Energy."

"What does my Enhance Forward Rune do?"

"It's…" Felicia paused for a moment. "The Spiritual Energy seems to be enveloping the entire chair, pushing it forward. This way, the chair is able to move without changing its balance. But if you apply a different force…"

Felicia suddenly pushed the chair's top rail backward. As she expected, the chair's balance slightly tipped upward, causing the Enhance Forward Rune to slightly elevate the chair instead of moving it forward.

Felicia didn't realize it, but this was also the concept that Noel used for his floating plate that Anna usually used to fly around.

He never had any explanation earlier, but Felicia actually managed to see through the concept and even provided a clear detail.

It seemed that it wasn't a mistake to make Felicia his retainer.

When Noel thought about this, he pulled the chair back and cut everything except for the seat, creating a small plate where Felicia could stand.

He then said, "Since I promise to allow you to fight with runes, I will show you what I promise. How about standing on top of this?"

Felicia didn't understand what he was talking about, but she still followed his direction and stood on top of the seat. Noel then used the Floating Rune to elevate her a few centimeters above the floor.

"This is…" Felicia spread her arms to maintain her balance.

Seeing Felicia was ready, Noel activated the Enhance Forward Rune to propel the seat forward.

"Woah!" Felicia almost tripped right away, but she managed to hold it for one second before her left foot stepped slightly stronger than the other, causing the plate to curve upward.

She slipped off the board and fell to the ground. "Ouch!"

Instead of the pain on her butt, the first thing she thought about was what the rune could do. "My lord… Correct me if I'm wrong. Does this plate fly?"

"It seems that you understand it." Noel smiled. "I'm planning to create a board that can fly. It looks like you are surfing in the air. This will allow you to be able to fly in the sky, right?"

"But the speed…"

"It can go pretty fast. And since the rune is embedded in it, you just have to control how much Spiritual Energy you pour into the rune to get the speed you want. The first thing I imagined when seeing your power was you flying in the air with this and throwing that bottle at the demons, blowing them up from the sky."

Felicia sucked a cold breath. She had never thought about this before. Due to the nature of her power, she was never able to fly. In fact, most people couldn't.

Yet, the rune made this a possibility. "There are so many things you can make. In fact, you can create a flying carriage!"

"Flying carriage?" Noel tilted his head in confusion.

"Yes, Sir. I thought that you could create something like a boat and use the rune to let it fly. You mentioned that the speed was determined by the amount of Spiritual Energy poured into the rune, so I believe weight, height, and other things are also determined by Spiritual Energy.

"I believe it would cost a lot of energy, but if you think about it, a carriage in the sky would definitely be fantastic for a lot of things. First of all, you wouldn't be harmed by bandits or low level demons. Even if you do, you can reinforce the carriage like the city walls. And maybe you can even create a small mobile fortress that is able to bombard the enemy."

Listening to Felicia's explanation widened Noel's perspective. He thought about using the small board to let his soldiers fly so that they could bring news like the bird message or even a special flying squad.

But Felicia actually went one step further and thought about a flying carriage.

When he thought about it, he couldn't help but smell money. Yes, the development and the cost would be extremely high.

But there were going to be a lot of people who wanted to experience it, especially nobles. They would pay a huge price to experience such a thing.

When he thought about it, Noel posed a concern. "Still, this is going to be dangerous. What if it's taken down in one way or another? If it's a fortress, once taken down, it will be destroyed by the demons and all the people will be killed."

"That's…" Felicia thought for a moment. "I am not sure about it. Maybe create an armor for it."

"What do you mean?" Noel frowned.

"If I'm not wrong about the Spirit Enchantment, the Rune System should be able to embed the same rune on armor, right? If the board is taken down, this armor will be activated. And everyone should move back to the city. While it's true that the platform will be crushed, the humans will be saved.

"Of course, there is also a chance that you will be shot down while flying back, but this is also part of the risk. You can't simply save everyone, especially with the current level of technology. Though, if you use armor, you might need to strap their bodies so that the armor is not the only thing that moves forward."

"Interesting." Noel thought for a moment. Felicia seemed to be knowledgeable about weird technology. But considering she was affiliated with the Tower Association in the past, she should have seen the weird technology that the association tried to replicate.

The boards that the soldiers would use weren't going to be that expensive since their only purpose was to fly. The expensive ones were the soldiers who used it. If the soldiers only needed to abandon the board and fly back, it would certainly reduce the casualties.

For the time being, he might only be able to let a soldier at the Spirit Practitioner or Wielder stage use it since, lower than that, they had to resort to the Demon Crystals and had a higher chance of dying in the process.

"Your insight is quite helpful." Noel nodded. "As a reward, I will show you another way to fight."

Felicia watched Noel closely, wondering what kind of wonderful thing Noel planned to do.

To her surprise, Noel started unbuttoning his shirt.

Felicia dropped her jaw as she hurriedly covered her eyes and said embarrassedly, "My lord. Although I agree to be your retainer, I haven't thought about being your mistress."

"What are you talking about?" Noel shook his head helplessly. "Look at this."

"Huh?" Felicia opened the gap between her fingers to take a peek at Noel's body, noticing the drawing on his body. She subconsciously put down her hand and asked, "Is that… rune?"

"Yes. Armor is not the only one that can be embedded with runes. Your body too. Though, because of the Spirit Seal, it requires a different way to draw a rune like this." Noel activated the Energy Gathering Rune on his body, causing the Spiritual Energy inside the room to gather around him.

Felicia trembled as she couldn't help but think, 'This is just the first time we've met. While I have become his retainer, I never thought that the lord would be this open to revealing his secret. He doesn't seem to be a fool, so is it because he trusts me? Or is there anything else?'

Noel obviously saw the increase in Felicia's loyalty. At the very least, Noel showed that he trusted her enough to show something that the public had yet to know.

Name: Felicia

Affection: Loyal (67/100)

Description: Dedicate her energy to you.

The system used 'energy' instead of 'life' to show that she still wasn't loyal enough to lay down her life for him. But Noel never expected someone to be like that after the first meeting.

Noel showed this to test Felicia's loyalty. Her knowledge might be useful, but if he couldn't possess it, it would just be a weapon that would be used against him.

But since her loyalty could be increased this way, he knew how to treat her in the future.

Noel put on his clothes while saying, "I told you earlier. Give me your loyalty and dedicate yourself to the Ardagan Family, and I will fulfill your wish. I want to show you that I can fulfill your wish."

Just like the soldiers, Felicia had to contribute to the Ardagan Family if she wanted this rune. Only by helping the family would she be able to fulfill her dream.

Felicia lowered her head and said, "I apologize for my action earlier. I have understood my part. So, what should I do now, my lord?"

Noel noticed that Felicia's loyalty increased again and finally reached 70 points. He said, "You are to help Roel and Douglas in their project. Your insight regarding Spiritual Energy will be useful there. And since you have become my retainer…"

Noel took out a badge of the Ardagan Family and tossed it to her. "This is your identification. Show it to Dimitri and he will direct you to your own place. Bring all your luggage there first before learning the projects from those two."

"Understood, my lord. If there isn't anything else, please excuse me." Felicia looked excited as if she wanted to acquire this power as quickly as possible.

Noel knew that Felicia's loyalty could decrease as quickly as it increased, but he also wanted Felicia to love this city with all the new inventions. When she became attached to the city, her loyalty would definitely remain at a certain level.

'When that happens, I think it's not bad to make her one of the pillars.' That was right. There was one more status that Felicia could get in the Ardagan Family. It was the last pillar that Noel wanted in the family, the Pillar of Research and Development.

Although Felicia's talent in rune was low, her insight regarding Spiritual Energy and how to utilize it was extremely high. She would be suitable as the leader and manage all the developments in the team.

Still, Noel had to make sure of her loyalty first. He didn't want to give the pillar status to someone who could easily be swayed.

'Well, things are going to get interesting from here on.'