Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Clang, clang. The magic steam train ran quickly on the railway, and the beautiful view out of the windows moved backwards equally fast, dazzling Nodanielle, an elvish girl who had never taken such a vehicle before.
Wu! Wu! Wu! The siren echoed, and the magic steam train came to a stop.
“What happened?” Although it was the first time that Nodanielle had been on a magic steam strain, she had a basic understanding about the train as a girl who enjoyed listening to Arcana Voice. She knew that not stopping at railway stations usually meant accidents.
Iristine had been to the Congress of Magic a few times before. She immediately sensed the anomaly. Therefore, she cast a spell to her eyes and looked at the edge of the forest far away.
In the narrow area between the forest and the railway, hordes of crazy wildlife were attacking the human beings on the opposite side.
There were about a hundred human beings, who were in standard silver chain mail and solid helmets. They were standing in three rows, with black ‘metal sticks’ in their hands.
The animals that were attacking them were originally normal creatures, including tigers, wolves, rabbits and goats, but right now, bloodred scales had grown out of their bodies, with yellowish mucus flowing among the scales. Their eyes were bloodshot and full of the lust for killing.
“Demonization? A senior-rank demon snuck out of the Stroop forest?” Observed Iristine in astonishment. For her, such a scene was all too familiar. The same had happened to the animals in the Stroop forest a while before!
Nodanielle said in deep thought, “When the abyssal gap was suddenly expanded, the elders were busy dealing with the Sovereign of Blood and the Demon Dukes. The other demons were resisted by common warriors and the adventurers in Town of the Anonymous. It’s perfectly normal that some of them ran loose…”
“Those demonized animals are very dangerous. How can Holm send the soldiers only at the level of knight squires to deal with them?” Iristine blamed herself after seeing the situation. The accident could’ve been avoided if Lankshear’s sanity weren’t consumed by his greed.
She stood up and was about to open the window of the VIP carriage, ready to assist the human soldiers to deal with the demonized animals.
BAM! BAM! BAM! After a series of noises, the overwhelming bloodthirsty animals seemed to be hit by invisible hammers, collapsing and bleeding.
“What’s that?” It was not until then that Iristine really paid attention to the almost identical ‘black metal sticks’ in the human soldiers’ hands.
Nodanielle observed carefully and suddenly remembered something. “It’s very similar to the high-pressure steam rifles of the dwarfs!”
The dwarfs’ steam civilization was a lost civilization, but the elves had a deep understanding about it thanks to the abundant collection of classics that had been gathered since the age of myths.
“No high-pressure steam backpacks… No smoke… Both hurt the enemy by high-speed bullets. The attack is as good as regular knights’…” Iristine identified the difference between the weapon and the high-pressure steam riles carefully.
BAM! BAM! BAM! Of the three rows of human soldiers, two squatted and one stood straight, shooting in turns and loading bronze bullets into their guns from their pockets now and then.
Iristine discovered that those bullets were engraved with simple magic pattern patterns. The vague air of alchemical matter could be felt.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Although the demonized animals were very fast, they saw nothing but the enemies in their bloodshot eyes, and they thought nothing but to tear the enemies into pieces and ate them alive. Therefore, it was easy to lock onto them. Also, the range of shooting was very wide. They could avoid one bullet but not a whole sector of bullets. So, their numbers plummeted, and dead bodies dropped everywhere.
“The bottom level of Holm has been significantly fortified by such weapons.” Iristine said in a low voice, “They can organize more legions, and the legions that may hurt the real knights.”
Nodanielle shook her head. “What’s the point? They will be butchered irresistibly when they encounter high-level warriors, like the steam civilization in the past. They will suffer an equally heavy loss when they meet the sorcerers and knights who are capable of remote attacks.”
“High levels advance from low levels.” Watching the battle far away, Iristine said, “If such weapons and armors can be manufactured, like the popularized alchemical items have been, the Kingdom of Holm and the Congress of Magic will have great advantages in the battles below the senior rank.”
In the past, a knight legion had five hundred knights at most, and a kingdom had only three to four such knight legions. The squires were basically useless, but if the weapons and armors could be popularized, it would mean that there were more knights. Knights were few, but knight squires were plenty. Still more were the ordinary people who could become squires!
Iristine went on. “Also, who knows whether or not the Congress of Magic has developed weapons with higher power and precision for the middle-rank and low-rank knights?”
“If they have weapons with longer range and higher speeds, together with anti-prophecy arrangements, wouldn’t they be able to blow up the head of a sorcerer who doesn’t have a passive defense from somewhere far away?” Having heard ‘Arcana Voice’ a lot, Nodanielle was particularly fascinated by head explosions.
At this moment, the conductor who was responsible for them walked in, intending to explain the sudden stop to them.
Hearing their conversation, the conductor smiled, “By the time such a weapon is developed, the defensive magic against it will certainly have been created. Also, it’s possible that Spell Trigger and similar spells will become middle-rank spells.”
His tone was full of the unique confidence of the sorcerers in the Congress in the past decades, about the Highest Council and the prospect of arcana!
“I believe in the research abilities of the Congress.” Iristine expressed her friendliness.
Nodanielle, on the other hand, asked curiously, “I’m told that the Congress’ research in the microscopic domain has stagnated since Mr. Evans proposed the observer effect, right?”
To satisfy the curiosity of the ordinary people, ‘Arcana Voice’ had added new programs that were similar to Herald of Arcana and Magic.
The conductor replied with apparent embarrassment. “There is indeed an argument regarding why microscopic particles show such uncanny properties, without a conclusion that convinces most people. However, it doesn’t mean that the studies in the microscopic domain have stagnated. For example, the in-depth studies about fission made by the Lord of Storm and the Lord of Elements may give us a better source of power.”
“Isn’t fission very pollutive?” Asked Iristine, frowning.
The battle far away suddenly changed. From the few mutated animals left, a goat leaped out abruptly.
Its appearance changed drastically, with a pair of bat-like wings growing on the back. It was obviously a demon close to the senior rank!
Iristine became grave. A strong demon had indeed snuck out of the Stroop forest.
Right when she was about to aid the soldiers, when silver bolts of lightning struck glowingly.
Even the air seemed to be repelled during the glow. The demon did not even have the opportunity to dodge when its upper half body was bent backwards and blown up. Blackened pieces of its body fell like raindrops.
“This is…” Iristine saw a knight in silver armor at the edge of the forest. He had gold hair and a handsome, determined face, with a complicated, streamlined rifle in his hands.
Observing that, the conductor took a soft breath. “It’s the Gauss Rifle that Mr. Evans developed. Only the experts close radiant knights and senior-rank sorcerers are capable of using it. Since it cannot be manufactured, there are only three of them right now. He seems to be Grand Knight John, from the Sword of Truth’s Knights.”
Nodanielle was relieved. If such a weapon could be manufactured without any user restraint, the senior-rank experts would be more or less threatened by them!
Wu, wu, wu. Clang! Clang! Clang! After the battlefield was cleaned up, the magic steam train was reactivated.
……
Inside the Atom Institution in Allyn.
Heidi was showing her new friends, Iristine and Nodanielle, around in the famous place.
The elves couldn’t stop complimenting the institution that was full of fantasies and mysteries, but they did feel that it did not quite agree with nature and was more like a symbol of the sorcerers’ conquest over nature.
“A few days ago, Mr. Lazar created a new element when he bombarded the atomic nucleus with the cyclotron. The new element exists stably and can be placed in the periodic table.” Heidi pointed at the cyclotron before her proudly.
It was the first step that the sorcerers achieved in the field of creation under the guidance of the new alchemy. Nobody would ever doubt the new alchemy’s correctness in that regard. It could really allow the sorcerers to transform other elements into gold that could steadily exist even after the magic effect was over! Although the ways hadn’t been found out yet, it was only a matter of time now that theoretical foundation had been found.
Looking at the cyclotron before her, Iristine was lost for words for a long time. Had the sorcerers started to steal the power of nature under the glow of Mr. Evans’ new alchemy?
Seeing that, Nodanielle changed the subject. “Heidi, how is your artificial intelligence going?”
Heidi said, not entirely satisfied. “Our research team is assembling a prototype with vacuum tubes and magic circles. Our teacher said that trying is always better than thinking, and that’s the way we can find the problems. Since the final product was too large and heavy, and the computation speed was not high enough, many sorcerers said that it was probably good for nothing… But everything has to be improved gradually! After the studies on crystals go deeper, I believe that artificial intelligence will be a great complement for golems and alchemical lives!”
That was her best hope right now.
Hearing Heidi’s complaint, Iristine and Nodanielle smiled at each other and comforted her.
……
Inside the Allyn magic tower, before the secret gate to the core of the City in the Sky…
“Master, have you finished the construction of the fission reactor?” Lucien guessed something after they reached their destination.
Despite their disagreement on the observer effect, Fernando was not hostile to Lucien because of that, and they kept their friendly teacher-student relationship. He nodded his head and said, “We modified some of the models according to your suggestion and completed a prototype reactor that can be used as the backup power source of Allyn.”
After they reverse engineered fission, they had begun the studies in that aspect. However, because their analysis was not detailed enough and did not show them the function of neutrons, their progress was not fast. It was not until recently that they completely a fission reactor whose output was more powerful than the input.
……
In Rentato, in the district of workers where dwarfs gathered…
Augustus, the senior elder, was worshiping a silver, iron item devoutly, when Harold ran in. He covered his eyes and paid tributes first, “Supreme Steam.”
Then, he put down his right hand and said to Augustus. “Senior elder, there’s a compatriot outside who claims to be from the Kingdom of Dwarfs. He says that he is an emissary of the great God of Steam.”
