Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 278 The Technology Tree is Wrong
After returning to the Frontier Territory, Harvey, who had consumed a great deal of mental energy in order to recover and rescue the Scorching Lord, took a full week off, putting aside all his official duties and experimental projects. He spent the whole day either reading some magical biographical novels in the castle or playing adventure games on the Magic Network forum to pass the time.

Four days later, the Federation sent the first batch of magical materials to offset the rescue costs through the magic network teleportation array - it turned out to be hundreds of boxes of extremely cold black iron. A rough estimate showed that it probably weighed more than ten tons.

This was undoubtedly something the Federation borrowed from the Alchemy Exploration Society. Ever since the Exploration Society switched to taking orders for the precision processing and assembly of the Spear of Annihilation, the cheap standard magical instruments that used to require mass production had long been discontinued, and the mountains of magic ores and auxiliary materials were completely useless.

Harvey had only known this common magic metal in the basic materials science course at the Magic Academy, but he didn't know much about its specific uses, so he directly sent someone to call Chris, an expert in material identification.

The director of the alchemy lab hurried over. He looked at the pile of refined black iron ingots being sorted and carried by the guards and alchemy beasts. He tutted in disdain and turned to Harvey, saying, "My Lord, the Federation's actions clearly seem perfunctory. Frigid black iron is the least valuable magical mineral. Even if used to forge protective magical tools, its anti-magic effect is almost negligible..."

He took the shipping list from Harvey and noticed it was stamped with the official price tag, indicating the total value of the goods was approximately 10,000 gold pounds. He then slightly suppressed his dissatisfaction and muttered, "But their price is reasonable. If this batch of goods were shipped through the official channels, it would be worth about 12,000 gold pounds. We're not at a disadvantage."

Harvey picked up a piece of black iron ingot and held it in his hand. He found that it was not heavy at all, but it was extremely cold to the touch. He could intuitively feel the magical properties contained in it.

"Besides forging low-level magical tools, does this mineral have no other uses? If I mix it with ordinary metal ores and use it to produce mass-produced parts for alchemy beasts, it should be fine, right?"

Chris smiled and said, "Sir, this is a bit extravagant... Although the magic-conducting properties of the Arctic Black Iron are mediocre, it is the main material for the Dragon Flame Spear. We can follow the example of the Alchemy Exploration Society and produce a batch of finished products. We can then sell them to the Evil Moon Mountains through the Dragonstone Merchant Guild."

Harvey knew that compared to the magic gun and annihilation gun he developed, the thing made by the alchemy exploration society could only be regarded as a firecracker tube at best - as thin and hollow as a bamboo pole, with dragon flame powder poured into it and compacted, and then using its own magic power to stimulate the high-temperature magic flame to spray outward.

It's just a cheap magic flamethrower, and its attack range is very short. Low-level combat mages holding dragon flame guns will often only use this weapon in close combat with demon soldiers when fighting in groups.

The reason for choosing extremely cold black iron to make the Dragon Flame Gun, in addition to its low cost, is that its main advantage is its inherent icy effect, which prevents the Dragon Flame powder from directly melting the gun barrel and turning it into a disposable attack weapon.

In other words, Arctic Black Iron possesses remarkable high-temperature resistance, and the metal's ductility during the smelting process is also quite good, allowing it to be easily forged and press-cast into the form of a hollow iron pipe...

After listening to Chris's explanation, Harvey suddenly had a good idea in his mind.

Try casting a cannon with this thing...

But Harvey did not intend to tinker with the ordinary medieval flintstone cannon or bronze long-barreled cannon. After all, dragon flame, an alchemical powder mixed with magical substances, was far superior to ordinary gunpowder in both power and stability. Now that he had come to a magical world where extraordinary powers existed, he naturally could no longer follow the scientific concepts of his previous life.

Rushing all the way to the top of the technology tree that has long gone astray in this magical world is the correct choice that conforms to the development trend of the times.

……

Chris's alchemy laboratory has a special magic weapon manufacturing team, which is stationed in the magic military factory all year round. Together with those working alchemy beasts, they complete the mass production of magic guns and ammunition. They are also responsible for the miscellaneous work of gun maintenance and scrapping and returning them to the factory.

Harvey directly asked Chris to transfer them out and began to develop a new type of "magic energy beam explosive" in full swing. In order to cast an extraordinary version of the cannon, it was naturally necessary to first make its loading shells.

Liquid magic energy, which has long been able to be mass-produced and canned, is the main experimental target chosen by Harvey.

After all, the liquid magic energy encapsulated in the enchanted iron can is different from the solid iron ball cannonball cast as a whole. There is no way to reversely infer the caliber of the barrel through the poundage of the cannonball. Harvey can only abandon the usual experience and common sense of his previous life and use the energy generated by the explosion and the attack effect to test the launcher model that is most suitable for it.

The test site was located outside the territory's walls, in a pre-cleared valley in the woods. Large, solid rocks served as shelter on all sides, essentially ensuring the safety of the experiment. By the time Harvey arrived with several of the lord's personal guards and Northern Army officers, Chris had already led a group of alchemy apprentices in completing the preliminary preparations for the experiment.

A cylindrical barrel-shaped magic energy tank as big as an American football was placed in the central open space. Metal plates of the same thickness were erected around it at intervals of one meter, five meters, and ten meters. Small wild animals caught in advance were tied behind the plates.

If you want to detonate the liquid magic energy in the magic energy tank, you naturally cannot rely on ignition. Instead, you need to connect a thin magic-conducting metal hose and let a spellcaster pour his own magic energy into it from a distance, and detonate it through energy conduction.

The specific principle is very simple. Once pure liquid magic energy comes into contact with and mixes with other magic energy mixed with elements or abnormal energy characteristics, it will immediately lose its original stability and turn into a violent energy beam turbulence that ejects from the enchanted tank.

This is a unique phenomenon that Harvey discovered a long time ago when he was studying beetle ore. It is now just right to be used as a detonation mechanism for magic energy.

Chris volunteered to be responsible for the task of detonating the magic energy - the alchemist is also a spellcaster. He has been studying fire magic since he was a child to assist in his alchemy learning and experiments.

The magic hose extended for nearly 150 meters. After repeatedly estimating the distance, Harvey ordered Chris to start importing elemental magic.

Then, as the lord requested, everyone squatted and hid behind a metal protective plate that was two fingers thick, quietly waiting for the effect of the magic explosion in the distance.

Vaughn and Duff were also called to watch the weapons test, but they were quite disapproving of the situation before them.

At such a long distance, even if the magic gun was fired directly, it would be unlikely to penetrate the layers of thick metal shields. The lord was still too cautious and there was no need for that.

The muddy ground in early winter was extremely cold. The two half-orc officers were only wearing thin military uniforms. They could feel the chill spreading from all around them through their cotton coats. Vaughn subconsciously twisted his body, trying to stimulate the blood power in his body, speed up blood flow and bring warmth to his body.

He suddenly heard a teeth-grinding sound of metal tearing in the distance, followed by a broken piece of metal guard plate brushing past his head, and then pierced the soil behind him in a parabola.

The other two defense officers were squatting next to them, and the guard plates in front of them were hit by an equally sharp piece of metal fragment, making a loud bang.

"Okay, we can lift the protection now, everyone get up." The lord's voice came from not far away, and everyone stood up and walked out from behind the protective plate.

When Harvey led everyone to the explosion point in the center of the open space, they found that the place was in a mess, as if it had been bombed by some kind of cluster magic.

Only short sections of the nearest metal plates were left stuck in the ground, and the rest were shattered and scattered everywhere. The iron plates five meters away were in a slightly better condition, but they were also covered with broken holes penetrated by the violent energy beams.

The metal plate, which was only ten meters away, showed no signs of being broken, but was also directly blown out of the ground by the energy impact and fell about ten meters away.

All the small beasts tied behind the guard plates were killed. Some were blown so badly that their bodies could not be found, while others were shaken to death through the metal plates, with blood coming out of all their orifices.

Harvey looked at the scene in front of him with satisfaction. It seemed that his artillery-making plan could be implemented smoothly.

(End of this chapter)