Chapter 4 - Jayce's request

Lilin stayed at the Kiramman house after reaching an agreement with Cassandra.

One must admit that the family is indeed rich and powerful. The room arranged for him even has a living room, a bedroom, and a private bathroom.

Not only that, Madam Cassandra also specially equipped him with a workshop furnished with all kinds of machinery and equipment.

His workshop is not far from Jayce's, and Cassandra intends to bring the two geniuses closer to each other, to facilitate the connection between the two, to promote the innovative thinking, and to spark insight to making better devices.

Unfortunately, Lilin didn't have many ideas of actively communicating with Jayce, because the branch of technology he wanted to put points in and research was completely different from Piltover's, let alone Jayce.

Besides, Jayce didn't live at Kiramman Estate, and Lilin liked to work late, so they rarely saw each other.

Caitlyn, on the other hand, visited him occasionally.

The night falls, and the moonlight gently casts a silvery white veil on the long night.

Piercing the silver veil is the streets of Piltover, bustling with activity at night as Progress Day approaches.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

There was a soft knock on the door of Lilin's workshop.

He reluctantly stopped his work temporarily and took off the hex headlight, "The door is unlocked, come in."

The door slowly opened.

To Lilin's surprise, it was not Caitlyn who came to visit him tonight.

"Uh, good evening Lilin, I'm sorry to disturb you so late..." A familiar young male voice entered his ears.

Lilin turned his head to look at the door in surprise.

There stood a tall and burly young man with his hair combed back, looking at him awkwardly.

"Talis? A rare guest at this hour." Lilin got up and invited him into the room, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Call me Jayce..." opening his mouth with a slightly hesitant expression, as if he had something to hide.

He paused for a moment, then turned around to close and lock the door, then explained to Lilin.

"I have something very important that I want to discuss with you..."

"With me? " Lilin returned to his workbench, confused, "I've only been here for a few days, shouldn't you ask the madam regarding something of importance?"

"No! I can't let her know about this!" Jayce gritted his teeth, "I've asked her before, but she refuted my proposal..."

Lilin raised his brows slightly, "If Madam Cassandra forbids it, I'm afraid I can't help you much."

Jayce shook his head, "I thought, as the brilliant mind behind the 'electric dynamo', an invention that can lead Piltover to a new era of energy, that you would surely be able to understand me."

The dynamo Lilin invented had already been put into production within the few short days. Madam Cassandra asked for it to be kept a secret until the Progress Day Conference. It was not unusual for Jayce to know about it.

Lilin resisted the urge to complain, and asked patiently: "Tell me, what is it?"

"You have to make a promise to disclose to no one."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then Jayce. I can promise nothing." Lilin shrugged and spread his hands, "I'm not like you, the madam doesn't fully trust me yet. If she finds out, I am sure that I will have to pack my bags."

Lilin knows some of Jayce's champion lore, but Riot's stories have many contradictions throughout the years of development.

For example, right now, he really doesn't understand what this "riddler" is hiding.

Very sus, if an emergency meeting were to be called.

Noticing that Jayce's expression dimming, Lilin finally sighed, "At least tell me what it is about first, right?"

"It's also a way to start a new era of progress, it's just that I'm quite stuck in my research."

"Hextech?" Lilin immediately guessed what Jayce was hiding.

Jayce's pupils dilated, "How did you know!?"

Of course, it is clearly written in your background.

Lilin smiled, "Simple, Piltover uses two power systems: hex crystal and steam"

"Steam power as an energy source is obviously behind the times. You said that this is the way to bring in a new era, and you can't let the lady know so I can't think of anything other than hex power.

"Of course I'm guessing, but obviously I guessed right."

He found the nearest chair at random and sat down, put his hands on his face, and sighed.

"I'm curious, you want to study hex crystals. Isn't this a technology monopolized by the Ferros family?"

Aren't you afraid that The Grey Lady will come to your house for tea in the middle of the night?

Lilin thought to himself.

"The hex crystal isn't stable, I've been working on it recently, and I think I've discovered a new... substance?"

"Huh? New substance? Wait...you said you were working on hex crystals?!"

Lilin was stunned by Jayce's words, and almost jumped up from the chair and pushed him out and said, "Sorry, we don't know each other well!"

I thought I had taken a lot of risk by coming up with so many designs at once to get sponsorship. I didn't expect you to be more daring than me, Jayce, studying hex crystals.

"Since Madam Cassandra disapproves of the research, where did you get the crystals? Didn't Clan Ferros ban the crystals from circulating in the market?"

"There are so many things banned from the market, so do other people get a hold of them?" Jayce retorted.

"You went to the Zaun black market?" Lilin frowned tightly, "That is very dangerous Talis."

"What is a little risk for a better future? And that's besides the point."

Jayce glanced at Lilin angrily.

"I found many black-market merchants who deals in stolen goods in the Under City, but I couldn't find a complete crystal. I only found a fingernail-sized fragment in a store in the back alley.

"But the boss told me that his people can get complete crystals, but they have to wait until after Progress Day, no later than March or April next year."

Shut up, Jayce, I don't want Camille barging in my bedroom...

Lilin's eyes widened, and he finally took back the words of persuasion in his mouth and listened silently.

"I've been studying this crystal shard for some time now, analysing its energy composition, and trying to find a way to stabilize the crystal.

"But after a thorough analysis of the composition of crystal energy, I found that science alone doesn't fully explain how it works."

Jayce paused for a moment, his expression suddenly serious, "It's a kind of magic."