That"s because he really is your father. Mag patted Amy"s head with a rather complex look on his face.
He was Shen Mag, but he was also Mag Alex; that was inevitable from the moment their memories were combined.
He was willing to shoulder all of Mag Alex"s responsibilities, but he also had to live life on his own terms.
Looking at the wooden giant, Mag seemed to have been struck by an epiphany, a moment of self-discovery. However, he still couldn"t help but exclaim internally, Holy f*ck! Isn"t that a Transformer?!
I didn"t think that this kid was a young prodigy! To think that he was able to build a Transformer at such a young age; I wonder if it can move, though. Mag found himself having to reevaluate Yuri in his heart. To see a block of wood transform into a giant was an extremely marvelous visual spectacle, making him feel as if he were witnessing a special effects scene from a Hollywood film.
This was not a simple engineering mechanism; a magic spell formation must"ve been infused into the structure. How boring would it be to sliced one ma.s.sive block of wood into countless smaller pieces, and then a.s.semble it into a wooden giant?
Mag was suddenly reminded of one of his university roommates in his past life. In order to a.s.semble a Gundam, he could work tirelessly for days and nights on end, sometimes even forgetting to eat.
Mag was very much in approval of Yuri"s creativity, but this was clearly not the right time to be drawing a connection between himself and Alex.
Regardless of which one of his elder brothers was to inherit the throne, they definitely wouldn"t show any mercy to a younger brother who idolized Alex.
"Alex!"
Gajeel abruptly rose to his feet, glaring at the wooden giant with flames of fury burning in his eyes.
Irina turned to Gajeel with a deriding sneer, and said, "Are you scared of even a wooden mannequin, you old fart? Looks like you still remember what happened all those years ago."
Gajeel"s expression darkened slightly, but a cold smile quickly appeared on his face as he sat down again, and retorted, "Hmph, it"s just a dead piece of wood, just like that dead b.a.s.t.a.r.d."
"Looks like someone"s asking for a beating." Irina"s expression immediately cooled upon hearing this. The demon race was definitely involved in the a.s.sa.s.sination three years ago, but she didn"t know which of the powerful beings from the demon race had partic.i.p.ated in the incident.
"Don"t worry, I"ll send you to the other side to see him sooner or later." Gajeel"s smile faded as he aimed a vicious glare at Irina.
Irina"s expression cooled even further in response, but there was a hint of a gentle light in her eyes as she caught sight of Mag in the corner of her field of vision.
"Big Sister Irina seems to recognize that wood man?" Amy murmured as she looked at the enraged Irina.
Mag merely held her in his arms, and didn"t explain anything.
All of the representatives from the different races also wore different expressions as they looked at the wooden giant.
Everyone knew about the relations.h.i.+p between Irina and Alex, and no one dared to pour salt into her wounds like Gajeel was doing.
After all, there had been recent news that she had slain a 10th-tier elven magic caster.
She never followed any rules, and anyone in this entire palace could become her target if they were to draw her ire.
"I"m not a dead piece of wood! I can move!" Yuri"s indignant voice sounded from within the wooden giant, following which the structure raised its heavy right foot, and then its left foot. Even though it looked a little maladroit, it was indeed capable of movement.
He must"ve used a magic inner core to control this thing. If it can perform in battle, then it really would be a Gundam! Mag was flabbergasted by the sight of the moving wooden giant.
Even though it had only just completed a sequence of extremely simple movements, this was still a monumental step in the world of automatons, and Yuri was still only 15 years old; he was a genius pioneer!
Yuri"s rather clumsy movements were quite amusing to many of the guests present.
General Alex was the hero of the empire, and the entire nation had been plunged into grief in the wake of his death three years ago.
Yuri"s brilliant craftsmans.h.i.+p made it appear as if General Alex had returned to life, and there was certainly no one denouncing him to be an idiot anymore.
"Alex."
The king was looking at the wooden giant with a rather complex expression.
Right at this moment, a military official rose to his feet, and exclaimed, "Your Majesty, I believe it"s inappropriate for His Highness to make his wooden statue resemble General Alex! How could he make fun of our empire"s greatest hero like this!"
The chatter in the palace gradually subsided, and everyone"s expressions gradually changed again as they looked at the wooden giant.
They had been stunned by Yuri"s creativity, but this was General Alex, after all; how could he be made into a toy like this?
No matter how intricately crafted this wooden structure was, it was still nothing more than a toy.
The third prince had indeed gone too far by insulting General Alex with his creation.
These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds sure are obnoxious! Even though General Slog was speaking out for Alex, Mag knew better than to be fooled into thinking that his intentions were pure. From Alex"s memories, he knew that this was one of Sean"s lapdogs, and he was actually just criticizing the third prince so he wouldn"t steal the limelight away from Sean.
The king furrowed his brows slightly, seemingly thinking about something, but also seemingly a little displeased.
The wooden giant stabbed a finger toward Slog as Yuri said in an angry voice, "Who told you this is a toy? This is a suit of battle armor, not a toy! Alex was a War G.o.d, and I"m aspiring to become someone like him by donning this suit of battle armor, so why can"t I make it resemble Alex?"
Slog maintained his furious expression as he interrogated, "General Alex was an invincible deity, the most powerful warrior the Norland Continent has ever seen! How can he be compared to a block of wood? Could it be that this block of wood could also march into battle?"
All of the officials in the palace were also looking at the wooden giant with deriding sneers on their faces. Yuri had always been frail and weak, so for him to become a War G.o.d like Alex just by donning a suit of wooden armor was an absolute joke.
This wooden giant looked like it would even have trouble walking, let alone engaging anyone in battle. Could it be that its only strong point was its defensive properties?
If so, then how was this thing different from a turtle sh.e.l.l?
A deriding sneer appeared on Sean"s face. A brother like this didn"t even have the right to be viewed by him as a worthy compet.i.tor.
Is it fun to bully children like this? Mag furrowed his brows as he looked on from his seat. These people really were abhorrently despicable.
Just as everyone thought that Yuri would bow to these insults, the wooden giant pointed a finger directly at Slog, and he said in a cold voice, "You, do you dare to battle me?"