Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 347: Academy of Magical Sciences

The long winter in the North was just half over when Egno and Chris hurried into Harvey's study holding a stack of drawings.

"Is this the northern border map of the entire Jackdaw Ridge area that your exploration team mapped out throughout the autumn and winter?"

"Not just Jackdaw Ridge," Egno said with a smile, "it also includes a portion of the ice sheet area further north, as well as the Divine Ridge Mountains, which stretches 300 miles from east to west."

Chris pointed to a large, blank area east of the Pioneer Territory on the map and explained, "Further east of the farmland where the garrison is located, we've discovered an even more vast river valley plain...surrounded by mountains on three sides, our preliminary estimate suggests it's dozens of times larger than the entire East Coast farmland."

Harvey looked intently at the location marked on the map and discovered that this river valley plain hidden in the dense primeval forest was a natural basin from a geographical point of view - the mountains to the north blocked the cold wind blowing from the ice field, and the Divine Ridge Mountains to the south gave rise to several rivers fed by snow. If it could be cultivated and utilized, the food produced could probably feed more than 100,000 people.

The most crucial thing is that the perfect terrain of this basin valley blocked the evil orcs' route of invasion to the south, forcing them to choose to detour to the north of the pioneer territory, invade from the ice valley where the outpost fortress was located, and then enter the southern border by crossing the relatively low-altitude Raven Ridge.

"It took you less than five months to thoroughly explore this area?" Harvey asked cautiously, feeling a little worried.

Egno and Chris exchanged a glance and replied confidently, "Yes, we enlisted the help of your three high-level spellcasters, Jin, Melissa, and Lord Duncan. We used the flying spell to quickly survey the surrounding area and create a map."

Arsdalen pondered for a moment and commented, "If this river valley basin truly remains untouched by the evil orc tribe, then incorporating it into the territory's development and reclamation plan would be like providing us with a huge granary."

Harvey slowly extended his palm over the vast basin plain and said with a wry smile, "That being said, where can we find the resources to attract so many people to develop this fertile virgin land?"

……

As everyone gathered around the map, heatedly discussing the surrounding terrain, Construction Minister Haru hurried into the study, bowed, and reported, "Your Excellency, the Construction Department has completed the first phase of the Magical Science Research Institute as per your request."

In just two months during the dead of winter, one-third of the construction project for the Academy of Sciences assigned by Harvey was completed. One cannot help but sigh that the construction level of the Pioneer Territory Construction Department is already considered first-class in the world.

This is of course inseparable from the epoch-making product of cement concrete, coupled with the assistance of various newly developed construction engineering alchemy beasts, which have enabled construction to change from relying solely on manpower to semi-mechanized operations, and the efficiency has increased by many times.

The institute, which was originally designed in the shape of a Chinese character "U", has only completed the "L"-shaped main part of the main building and the base of a huge tower located in the center of the "U".

However, Harvey did not want to wait until the spring for the subsequent construction to be completed. He planned to hold a unique "project completion" ceremony in advance.

...Sirius and Prall stood behind Arturo Lambert, patriarch of the Lambert family, and looked at the huge gray-black building in front of them with complicated expressions. There was no trace of stonework on the facade of the building. The entire building was smooth and flat. It was a terrifying height of more than 30 meters. Only the enchanted wizard tower in the magic city of Alaye could reach that height.

The completion ceremony of the project arranged by Harvey was very simple. A huge shiny metal plaque was welded firmly to the stone pillar in front of the main building of the Academy of Sciences under the lifting of the alchemy beast. A group of engineering personnel from the Ministry of Construction and city hall officials burst into warm cheers and applause, marking the successful completion of the "hanging" ceremony.

"Everyone, please follow me in for a brief tour. By the way, I will ask my colleagues in charge of the construction to give us a detailed introduction to the planning layout and internal furnishings of the academy." Harvey clapped his hands, and the necromancers who were gathered in a group and stood there with their mouths slightly open came to their senses. They excitedly surrounded him and entered the main gate of the academy.

"The main entrance to the building is the reception hall. On the left and right sides of the first floor are the daily reception rooms, lounge, restaurant, and kitchen..."

"The second and third floors are the independent laboratories for the spellcasters, consisting of ten small labs and four large labs. The interior design of this space is being handled by a team dispatched by Mr. Chris from the alchemy lab. They're responsible for drawing various protective arrays and enchanting and reinforcing the walls... The Construction Department simply can't get involved."

"The fourth floor consists of two large conference rooms and an entire connected library... The interior decoration is still in progress, but it will definitely be operational before spring."

"The fifth floor is your private office, which also includes a temporary research office for the Lord..."

"Since the ancillary buildings are not yet completed, the originally planned underground magic testing ground is now temporarily used as a material and equipment storage room..."

Minister of Construction Haru spread out the blueprints and led a group of spellcasters headed by Harvey on a slow tour around the main building of the Academy of Sciences, introducing the functional divisions and internal settings of each area in detail.

Most of the people present had never been to the magic city of Alayeh in their lives, so how could they have seen such a luxurious spellcasting research building? They were extremely satisfied with the design and planning of almost every area, and kept discussing it in low voices and giving out exclamations of praise from time to time.

After touring for nearly half an hour, I reluctantly returned to the first floor hall.

"Patriarch Lambert, Elder Sirius, and Councillor Prall," Harvey turned and looked at the three with a smile, "How is it? Are you satisfied with the Academy of Magical Sciences built by the Ministry of Construction?"

Arturo subconsciously gathered the loose wizard robes wrapped around his alchemical prosthetic body and said in a deep voice with some emotion, "Sir Harvey, with all due respect... this is truly an extremely heavy gift for us. I can't think of any other way to repay you."

Sirius and Prall nodded and continued, "Indeed, Necromancers have never been treated so favorably and respected anywhere. We are willing to wholeheartedly follow the path you desire for the development of our spellcasting faction and return our focus to the study of the soul."

All the necromancers bowed and touched their chests in greeting, saying in unison, "We are willing to follow the wishes of Master Harvey and reshape the research direction of the undead spellcasting faction!"

(End of this chapter)