Magic Industrial Age.

Chapter 573, Section 571: Abundant Talent, Numerous Projects (Two-in-One)

Marius Gray, a fourth-tier Cataclysm Mechanic, is proficient in creating small and medium-sized mana pools and his main research area is new types of projectiles (missiles).

This is the one introduced by the legendary mage Venus Carter, nicknamed 'Stubborn One,' who is notoriously bad-tempered in the Imperial magical research community.

He was short and stout, with a classic "strongman" hairstyle, a flat nose, and a stubborn expression on his face, making him look quite unkempt.

He arrived very quickly, just four days after Venus and Loytis, at the gates of Lion Manor. Clearly, he had received the news and hadn't delayed at all.

When the legendary mage Venus received the news, she hesitated for only a moment before abandoning her work and rushing back from the demiplane.

He was genuinely afraid that his old friend's stubborn temper would flare up and cause a conflict with Luo Yi.

Ordinary people would never provoke a saint-level being like Luo Yi, but the problem is, his old friend is no ordinary person.

However, when he arrived, he saw his old friend Marius Gray holding Roy's hand, looking very excited.

"A true friend! I've finally met someone who understands me."

"Your Majesty, you have no idea, when I talk to people, they all think I'm crazy!"

Luo Yi was also very sincere: "Being half a step ahead is genius, being a full step ahead is madness."

It's not that you're crazy, it's that they can't reach your level.

"Don't worry, once you're here, you can just focus on your research. The information I give you can be used as a reference."

If you have any needs or ideas, feel free to contact me anytime!

"Great, great, that's wonderful."

"What do you suggest we name the second mage tower in that demiplane?"

"Let's call it the Tower of Mage Marius. Your Majesty, you understand me so well, I will never let you down."

I'll teach you how to manufacture small and medium-sized magic energy pools! Whoever wants to learn, I'll teach you right away!
"With so many types of missiles, which one do you see as the most urgent? I'll prioritize its study."

"Hahaha, Lord Marius is truly magnanimous and generous!"

Loy and Marius Gray chatted happily, and when they saw Venus arrive, they nodded in greeting.

After the matter was discussed, Luo Yi got up and left, leaving the venue to her two old friends.

The legendary mage Venus walked up to her old friend, looking incredulous, and asked, "What happened to you two?"

Marius Gray looked up at his old friend and shook his head: "You don't understand me!"

Looking down again, he saw a thick stack of documents at his feet, and his eyes welled up with tears: "Your Majesty understands me! You truly understand me!"

Venus's lips twitched, and she looked down, only to see a lot of documents on the table, with the cover reading—Missile Iteration, Types and Partial Structural Speculations.

He reached out and picked it up, quickly flipping through it. In just a few glances, he saw many unfamiliar terms.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, anti-tank missiles, anti-ship missiles, stealth missiles, close-range air-to-air missiles...

It also features long-range air defense, precision guidance, hypersonic speed, and maneuverable trajectory control...

"This is?"

Venus opened her mouth to ask a question, but Marius Gray snatched it away, exclaiming, "Mine! Mine! All mine!"

"You're not allowed to steal my project!"

……

Kennen Albert, a fourth-tier mechanical mage, participated in the construction of the ironclad warship. Although he was not the designer or chief engineer, he was one of the three leaders in charge of the construction.

He was also a victim of factional strife, contacted by spies sent by Ang, and initially unwilling to go to Flower Territory.

However, following Luo Yi's handwritten letter, she still came.

He became the master of the Siren Harbor Mage Tower, specifically in charge of the design and development of the Flower Territory Ironclad Warship.

This is to fill the gap in the Flower Territory; Luo Yi has given him enormous authority and resources.

……

Terry Jones, a fourth-tier mechanical mage, comes from the Habsburg Empire and is introduced by Hill Douglas.

Hill Douglas also had a lineage, though he only met them after he rose to prominence, but the power of that school of thought was undeniable in the magical world.

The reason he was willing to accept Hill's invitation was that his own research had reached a bottleneck.

As mechanical mages, everyone dreams of invention and creation, but not everyone has the talent for design and invention.

Therefore, he was very interested in the project offered by his junior fellow disciple, Hill.

After taking on Roy's project on wireless communications, Hill worked day and night, but made little progress.

Even Luo Yi couldn't offer him much help, which is why he thought of seeking help from others.

They hit it off immediately and came to team up with Hill Douglas, taking over the third mage tower in the demiplane.

……

Lady Bridget Lyman, a rare female fourth-order mechanical mage, recommended by His Majesty Saint Bartholomew.

Don't think that His Majesty Saint Bartholomew is undermining the empire. Although he is royalty, he is not Hohenzollern III and cannot solve all problems.

As one of the few female mechanical mages, she is ostracized in a field dominated by men, making it almost impossible for her to move forward.

Not to mention, Ms. Bridget Lyman was also strong-willed, which offended many people and led to her being suppressed.

So His Majesty Saint Bartholomew introduced her to Loy. Of course, he didn't just introduce her randomly; this lady's research focused on the compression and storage of magical energy.

In other words, how can we store more magical energy using the smallest volume, the most common materials, and the safest method?

This topic was not taken seriously in the past because a simple piece of moonstone magic crystal could meet the needs of all firearms and field artillery.

However, with the advent of magic tanks and magic aircraft, this inefficient energy storage method became insufficient.

Therefore, this kind of research has value. The research on the three generations of land warfare kings is stuck on this energy reserve.

After speaking with Ms. Bridget Lyman, Loy introduced Ms. Palacios to her.

As both women were victims of natural disasters, they obviously had more to talk about. After a long chat, Ms. Bridget Lyman looked at Loy with much kinder eyes.

What others say is never as good as what you see for yourself. She saw in Ms. Palacios that Roy respected women.

Therefore, she did not hesitate for long before choosing to stay, and brought a group of researchers with her to start the 'High Energy Magic Crystal' research project.

……

Orphion Benitez, a fourth-order classical alchemist, later turned to mechanical science.

This person is also a typical example of someone whose talents were not recognized. He was exceptionally skilled in classical alchemy, but life was not easy in the context of the empire.

Although he later explored mechanical engineering, his ingrained way of thinking was difficult to change and was not accepted by many schools of thought.

In this internal power struggle within the empire, he was just a small fry caught in the crossfire. Unable to make a living there, he was recommended by Baron Miller and came to the Flower Territory.

After a deep conversation with Luo Yi, the research direction was set—the development of individual combat equipment. In a very practical situation, when artillery fire became the norm and magical tanks wreaked havoc on the battlefield, infantry became the branch of the military that suffered the most casualties in war.

They couldn't withstand artillery bombardment, tank crushing, or grenades and bullets...

Once they went to the battlefield, they became expendable resources, using their flesh and blood to consume the enemy's bullets.

But they are also human beings; they are sons of parents, husbands of wives, and fathers of children.

They went to the battlefield to defend their country, not to die.

Therefore, Luo Yi needs to improve the soldiers' battlefield survivability.

The materials he provided to the mage Orphion Benitez included individual magical energy-powered exoskeletons, individual magical energy shields, small-area life detectors, kinetic energy reduction bulletproof vests, cornering magical energy guns, magical energy blast swords, and so on...

The reason for choosing Orfin Benitez was that he had a strong desire to prove himself and wanted to develop projects.

On the other hand, these individual soldier equipment are not easy to make; in fact, they are difficult for current magic-powered machines to achieve.
Therefore, the best approach would be to combine magical machinery with classical alchemy to see if a breakthrough can be achieved.

……

Eberhard Fletcher, a fourth-tier wind mage, specializes in wide-range sonic attacks.

This one originally operated in the Kingdom of Sardinia, where he had his own independent mage tower and a group of disciples.

He was friends with Benito Freud, the great alchemist of the Freud family, and this time he came to him on his own.

The reason is simple: he wants to explore mechanical magic, and in the entire Old World, the highest hall of mechanical magic is undoubtedly the Habsburg Empire.

But as a typical Sardinian and a fourth-tier mage, it was naturally impossible for him to study in the Empire.

If he went there, he would most likely be treated as a traitor and spy, so he had no choice but to settle for second best and found the Flower Territory.

The reason why Loy was willing to take him in was largely because he wanted to study radar.

Yes, based on sonic magic, it is possible to mimic the detection methods of bats and form a remote detection method.

Whether it's a fighter jet or an ironclad warship, only when it's equipped with detection radar can it be considered to have eyes.

The last one is His Majesty Cicero Griffith, a legendary mage and also a lich.

Liches are not all necromancers; rather, many legendary mages liked to transform themselves into undead beings, or liches, at the end of their lives.

Thus, life continues!
They can be reborn by splitting their soul fragments, but as life goes on, their emotions will become increasingly indifferent until they have no emotions at all.

Of course, that will take a long time.

His Majesty Cicero Griffith is actually a traditional legend, obsessed with magical research, belonging to the top-tier reclusive type.
He transformed into a lich because he wanted to prolong his life and continue his magical research.

His most well-known work, titled "The Complete Guide to the Practice of 'Resurrection' and Key Points," is a must-read for all legendary sorcerers studying 'Resurrection'.

In a sense, he and the evil lich Vito Marquez are two different types of liches and cannot be compared.

He approached us himself, for a simple reason: he wanted a safe and stable research environment.

Of course, once he arrived, he couldn't just sit around doing nothing. Luo Yi assigned him two tasks.

First, use the legendary spell 'Animation' on all the mage towers to create tower spirits.

This is very important; only with the tower spirit can the mage tower be considered complete!

Its offensive and defensive capabilities have increased by at least 50%, and its convenience has increased several times over.

Secondly, and also the subject Roy gave him, was a preliminary attempt at the auxiliary control role of tower spirits in war command and magical machinery.

The topic is a bit long and convoluted. To put it simply, if we consider the Tower Spirit as artificial intelligence, how can it be applied to war command and magical machinery?

This topic is somewhat ahead of its time, but it is definitely one of the directions for future development and is worth exploring and trying.

……

If the development of Flower Territory in the past was mostly about infrastructure construction and the production of magical machinery, it was a stage of accumulation.

Now, having passed the initial construction phase, we have begun to develop towards independent research and development.

In a short period of time, the number of projects launched by Flower Leader and the amount of wealth and resources spent were so great that even Loy was finding it hard to keep up.

As for Virgil the Red Dragon, he berated Roy for being a complete spendthrift, and he was heartbroken to see the gold being taken from the vault.

However, Luo Yi knew that all of this was necessary; once the initial stage was over, they had to move towards these high-tech and sophisticated directions.

Even trial and error is a form of accumulation!
Not to mention, with Luo Yi's grasp of the overall direction, she can guide them onto the right path. As long as they are willing to put in the effort, they will always reap the rewards.

Furthermore, despite the large number of projects, even just one or two breakthroughs, when applied to the current warfare system, could potentially create a devastating effect.

If a first-generation fighter jet encounters a second- or third-generation fighter jet, it may not even have a chance to make a move!

If the research and development of 'high-energy magic crystals' is completed, the endurance of magic tanks and aircraft will experience a qualitative leap, and they may even be able to incorporate more magical techniques.

And then there are the missiles. Let alone intercontinental ballistic missiles, even a cruise missile with a range of 1,000 kilometers would be enough to make the Empire and the Allied Forces listen to him obediently.

Of course, the reason why so many talents can be recruited is because Luo Yi is no longer what she used to be.

Previously, Luo Yi had tried to recruit him, but in reality, Legend completely ignored him.
The ancient red dragon Virgil spread the news through his own channels, but not a single legend was willing to come. They were reluctant to even talk to him, feeling that it would be a loss of face for them.

Even among those who applied for the fourth-tier natural disaster position, there weren't many applicants, and those who did come were all arrogant.

But now?

His fame grew after he slaughtered a demigod.

After occupying half of the plane, he had a stable rear base.

After being canonized, his identity was recognized throughout the Old World.

Now, just by spreading the word, many people are willing to invest; that's the importance of reputation.

Of course, with so many people coming, there will inevitably be some who are just filling in the gaps.

It's even hard to say that there weren't spies planted by the Empire and the Allied Forces, or people with ulterior motives among them.

But now, on one hand, Luo Yi is fearless!
If it really causes huge losses, Luo Yi would even dare to ride the ancient red dragon and go directly to the palaces of those people to demand an explanation.

Those emperors also had to show their respect and escort him out of the country with courtesy.

This is the deterrent power of the top combat forces in the prime material plane, the presence of demigods.

On the other hand, it is also the sense of urgency that comes with Luo Yi after she learns the 'truth'.

In the future, if he wants to protect this world, he will have to stand on the opposite side of Netheril, so he must be as prepared as possible.

But his actions didn't stop there!
The time arrived at October 1st, 316th year of the New Divine Calendar. It was night.
The moonlight was hazy, and the fog was thick.

A figure emerged from the mist, seemingly moving between illusion and reality, passing through barriers and magical traps before entering the Lion Manor.

At a moment, he suddenly paused, looked up, and then a hoarse voice rang out: "Holy Dragon Knight, Godslayer, Great Lord Loy, I have come at your invitation!"

Ahead of him, Luo Yi stood with her hand on her sword, her posture ramrod straight.
After a few breaths of silence, Loy smiled and said, "Welcome, Your Majesty, the great King of the Magic Eyes, the legendary Archmage, Fero Farnsworth!"

(End of this chapter)