Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 373 Artificial Bombs
Heavy snow fell, and a large number of fully armed Northern Army soldiers gathered halfway up the Divine Ridge Mountains.

Harvey's magic advisor Duncan took off the heavy fur coat he was wearing and asked the magic apprentice who came with him to bring up a small wooden box.

Vaughn stepped forward respectfully and asked in a low voice, "Master Duncan, are you planning to use offensive magic weapons combined with area-of-effect spells to deal with the enemies hiding in the valley?"

Duncan's gray hair fluttered in the wind. He glanced at the orc officer and said teasingly, "Area casting? You heard that term from the Lord, right?"

He raised his metal mechanical arm and carefully opened the box at his feet. "You really think highly of me, a disabled old man with a prosthetic limb... My magic veins are severely damaged, and I can no longer cast high-level area spells!"

A large, oddly shaped "cannonball" sat securely in a box at his feet. Wayne and the others recognized it immediately. "A magic cannonball? This... if we don't have a cannon, what are they sending this thing for?"

Duncan smiled without saying a word and slowly took a few steps back. The sound of the spell was accompanied by a violent friction between flesh, bones and metal. His body twisted and expanded at an extremely fast speed, and finally transformed into a lion-headed monster that was stronger than a dire bear. A pair of huge metal wings suddenly extended from his hairy ribs, which could be stretched and retracted freely, looking extremely flexible.

"Oh my god! A lion with wings!" Dave took two steps back in fear. "The four legs and wings are shining with metallic luster. Could they be made of iron?"

Duncan's apprentice explained quietly, "This is the Master's newly improved illusion technique, which works perfectly with the alchemical prosthetic limbs... the Iron Griffin."

The griffin gasped heavily, and a stream of hot white gas spewed out of its bloody mouth. Then it stepped forward and stretched out its claws to grab the huge "magic cannonball". Then its wings rolled up the fierce snow debris and it took off directly into the air. The huge black body gradually circled and climbed above the camp, then turned around and flew straight towards the mouth of the valley.

"Master Duncan wants to take this cannonball to the mouth of the col?" Vaughan was confused, but seeing that the reinforcements had begun to move, he hurriedly gave orders to the soldiers who had been on standby. A group of people took advantage of the night and slowly advanced towards the col under the guidance of the moonlight.

When they arrived at the mouth of the valley, they discovered that Duncan, transformed into a giant griffin, was swooping down from a very high cliff into the valley, still clutching the "magic cannonball" that was obviously several sizes larger in its claws. The remaining enemies in the valley also sensed the enemy attack from the sky, and several fireballs and arcane missiles the size of heads whizzed into the sky, but they were all dodged by the giant griffin's nimble turning of its body.

It swooped down at high speed again, its massive wings gleaming metallically in the moonlight as they flapped vigorously. When it was still fifty or sixty meters above the ground, it loosened its tightly grasping claws, and a "large magic energy shell" flew out of its hand, whistling towards the enemy hiding among the rocks in the valley...

Boom——

Vaughn only felt a buzzing in his ears, and the surroundings seemed to become quiet in an instant. Then a huge and thick column of fire suddenly rose from the valley. In an instant, the entire mountainside shook. Many soldiers were shocked by the loud noise and sat down directly in the snow.

Before Duff could rub his ears, which were aching from the shock, he noticed a large amount of rubble and snow falling from the cliff above. He quickly shouted a warning: "Stay away from the valley! Avalanche!"

Everyone scrambled back to the vicinity of the camp, watching helplessly as the falling rocks and snow from above quickly buried and filled up the entire valley mouth, as if it had never appeared.

The soldiers were stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into loud cheers, marveling at the tremendous power of this new weapon.

"This... this is far more powerful than a magic cannonball..." Vaughn muttered to himself, "It's like a punishment from the gods..."

Duncan, who had already landed and transformed back into human form, approached and asked with a smile, "How is it? The power of the magic alchemical bomb is much stronger than the area attack spell you mentioned, right?"

Another grand celebratory dinner was held in the hall of Harvey's lord castle.

This was mainly to commend Wayne and the other two who went to Fengyuan City to complete the deterrence mission, and also to praise the Northern Army who had successfully blocked a large number of enemies in the Divine Ridge Mountains the day before.

In addition to Wayne, the Eye of Illusion and the Astrologer, all the senior officers of the Northern Army were present. In order to make the atmosphere of the banquet lively enough, Harvey also invited the Chief Executive Reiner, the Chief Advisor Asdalen, and the Dean of the Academy of Sciences Arturo.

The three alchemical beings clearly had neither the need nor the ability to enjoy delicious food and fine wine, but they were not embarrassed at all. Instead, they gathered together and happily chatted about the technical research topics related to alchemical creations.

Also forced by Harvey to attend the party were Chris and Benoit, who had been hiding in the alchemy laboratory for many years. They had no way of staying out of the noisy party. After seeing the power of the new "magic bomb" produced by the laboratory, a group of officers of the Northern Army, led by Pierce, surrounded the two alchemists and began to "torture" them repeatedly in the name of urging them to drink.

They tried their best to get from them the final test results of the new weapons, when they could be put into mass production, and when they could be equipped to the army for their use.

This was also the first time that Harvey tried to copy the banquet format of his previous life into the present world. It was no longer the traditional long wooden table that separated the guests and the host and made them sit opposite each other.

Instead, all the food is finely cut and placed on large plates. Meat, vegetables, and fruits are classified and each is accompanied by rich sauces, allowing everyone to choose according to their preferences and tastes, similar to a "buffet".

This novel banquet style was something that had never been experienced by the spellcasters from the South, and even the local officials who had lived in the wilderness with Harvey for several years had never experienced. A group of officers from the North squatted beside the long table with their plates in hand, and they were so overwhelmed by the food that their mouths were drooling.

"Using a magical magic energy array to heat the indoor botanical garden, allowing everyday fruits, vegetables and flowers to continue to grow and bloom even in the dead of winter... I never thought that magic could have such a special effect." Duncan took a glass of iced vodka and took the initiative to approach Harvey to chat.

Harvey smiled and clinked his glasses with him, saying softly, "In the past, we've limited the use of magic to advanced research that's detached from the mundane world, forgetting its inherent universal value."

Since spellcasters advance to the transcendent level with mortal bodies, why can't the magic that allows spellcasters to advance to the transcendent level be passed down to ordinary people?
Duncan was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then he slowly nodded, staring at the glass full of wine in his hand in a daze, as if thinking about something.

Seeing this, Arturo, the dean of the Academy of Magical Sciences, took advantage of the situation and leaned over to Harvey and whispered, "Sir, the three experimental teams at the Academy are making very encouraging progress on the soul transfer project..."

Harvey nodded in satisfaction. "As for equipment and materials, if you have any needs, just report them directly to the City Hall. They've allocated ample research budget to the Academy of Sciences."

"Hmm? Hmm..." Arturo was clearly not here to ask for funding. "What I mean is... sir, there are quite a few mid- to high-level colleagues in the Academy of Sciences who would like to apply to you for, uh... the opportunity to voluntarily transform into alchemical life forms..."

(End of this chapter)