After the magic stone was simply processed by craftsmen in the territory, it could finally be officially used.
Next came the experiment to see if the magic power of the magic stone could be activated by the magic power trigger to successfully activate the magic circle.
Although countless experiments had been conducted in Dirk’s notes, this was Lind’s first practical attempt. Lind chose a magic circle composed of simple runes, with a clear magic power conduction route. In the territory, the molten fire magic circle had been used many times, which was the magic circle that craftsmen used for forging steel.
With Lind’s help, Lysha modified the magic power trigger into a real trigger mechanism, no longer automatically activated when placed in the center of the magic circle but able to be controlled to turn on and off via a knob switch.
Later on, this switch would also need to be optimized as part of the magic power trigger.
As Lind slowly turned the knob, the invisible magic power surged from the nearby sparkling black magic stone, slowly flowing through the runes into the magic circle beneath the boiler. The crimson flames began to erupt, roaring with the temperature to melt anything.
“Success! We succeeded!”
The excited shout came not from Lind or Lysha or Lena, but from the old craftsmen present.
In fact, these old craftsmen had already been tortured by Dirk’s notes and theories to the point of despair. They had spent most of their lives debugging the runes, and now they were told that everything in the future would have to rely on mathematics to determine the properties and positions of the runes?
However, rune craftsmen were professionals with a certain foundation in mathematics. Because no matter how talented they were, they still needed to construct spell models when casting spells. These models already included variables such as the amount of magic power to be activated, the firing angle, and the firing force; getting even one of these variables wrong could lead to the failure of the spell or even backlash.
In fact, when they learned magic, professionals had already learned the basics of mathematics. For example, although Lena seemed a bit dim-witted and lacked political intelligence, she, being a sixth-level professional, had the deepest understanding of Dirk’s notes among everyone. However, most professionals did not realize that the spell models they had learned could be translated into mathematical models.
Thus, even though these old craftsmen were very reluctant, under the persuasion and pressure from Lind and Lena, they endured the process of studying the revised version of Dirk’s notes and spent more than half a month relying solely on calculations to draw up this molten fire magic circle.
It was the most painful state to learn something only out of obligation.
Nevertheless, this speed was already very fast. It should be noted that even though there were three geniuses—Lena, Lysha, and Isha helping, there were no computers at this time, and they didn’t even have an abacus. The graywhite craftsmen relied entirely on manual calculations to complete the world’s first rune magic circle that could be drawn purely based on mathematics.
Lind also collectively referred to these types of magic circles with a dark sense of humor as “Mathematics Circles,” since modern mathematics had truly become magic in a real sense.
Before officially activating it, Lind made sure the old craftsmen calculated the magic power of this Mathematics Circle once more to confirm there were no errors.
Watching the glowing magic circle and the rolling molten iron, the old blacksmith commanding the workers felt moved, saying, “The temperature is constant, the flames are stable, this is truly incredible. We can control the size of the flames just by adjusting the output strategy of the magic power trigger; if this continues…”
The old craftsman suddenly stopped, realizing how terrifying what he was about to say could be.
But Lind continued the old craftsman’s words, saying, “If this continues, even ordinary people could become rune craftsmen.”
If ordinary people could become rune craftsmen, it meant that as long as materials and magic stones were sufficiently supplied, the graywhite territory could operate at full capacity to continuously produce steel. Not to mention the magic circles and rune triggers could not only be used for steel forging.
However, the rune craftsmen of the graywhite territory were not worried about losing their jobs. On the contrary, based on the documents Lind had drafted earlier, these craftsmen had already secured managerial positions. As long as their performance wasn’t too poor, they could comfortably sit back and count their money.
For these craftsmen, who could only assist mid to high-level professionals and were at the bottom of the professional hierarchy, this was akin to Qin Shi Huang touching electrical wires— it felt like winning a lottery.
In fact, steel forging was not the main focus, at least for the graywhite territory at this time. The actual steel production capacity had already exceeded consumption, let alone the beginning of magical industrialization of steel.
The magic circle in the steel mill was more experimental in nature, and the important project that Lind was to inspect next was—
Using a magic circle to simulate alchemy, in order to produce alchemical potions.
What is the most valuable thing in chaotic times besides food?
That’s weapons and medicines.
In a time like this, with constant wars in the Northern Border, rampant bandits, and adventurers taking advantage of the chaos, there was a huge demand for alchemical potions, whether from adventurers seeking ancient imperial treasures from a millennium ago or hired thieves working for lords, or even the nobles’ personal guards.
It had previously been mentioned that the alchemists in this world were different from those during the Renaissance in the past. They didn’t believe in merely stirring a cauldron to produce items; instead, every alchemical school had its unique transmutation magic, and each alchemical item required different magical models for its creation.
This time, the goal was to replicate the most common restoration potion, which was known as the alchemists’ gateway assessment.
Yes, the name of this potion is the restoration potion, and it is exactly the same as the red potion found in RPG games, both in name and function.
However, reality surely does not work like in games, where drinking it can heal any injury. The main use of this restoration potion is to heal external wounds and restore stamina, suitable for both internal use and external application. The required materials are very common and highly sought after by mercenaries and adventurers. Since it’s a basic potion, the magical models for it are abundant, with many modified versions available.
“Lord, we can start at any time.”
Lysha stood next to the magic power trigger, waiting for Lind’s command. Currently, this potion-making device was still in its early stages. Besides using magic power to utilize the restoration potion transmutation technique, all other operations still required manual completion.
For example, stirring the alchemical boiler, mixing materials, removing the finished product, and storing them in potion vials were all steps that required manual work.
However, none of these steps required the use of magic power; only the stirring step needed some training for the workers.
Industrialization is not something that can be accomplished overnight; for now, just managing to put the framework together is quite a feat.
“Alright, let’s begin.”
With Lind’s command, the trained workers started proportionately mixing materials, stirring, activating the magic power trigger, and after a series of processes, a batch of restoration potions was produced.
Isha opened a bottle of restoration potion, sniffed it, and exclaimed, “The color is rich, and the smell is perfect.”
Then she opened several more bottles of restoration potions and, after the same actions, remarked, “Lord, I don’t know how to describe it. If the alchemy teachers from the academy were to evaluate it, they would definitely say this is the standard restoration potion, simply as if it were taken directly from a textbook.”
“The scariest part is that the potency of these restoration potions is almost completely the same, just like they were all produced by a puppet that only knows how to replicate the same transmutation spell without ever tiring.”
One can imagine how crushed the low-level alchemists who relied on selling restoration potions for a living would be once these potions flooded the market.
However, Lind did not care. If they were crushed, they could come work in the graywhite territory because the factory was constantly recruiting, and the territory had fallen back into a crisis, with labor rapidly becoming insufficient. It should be noted that it was not even the busy farming season yet; once that time came, manpower would be even more scarce.
Even if those alchemists were unwilling to engage in manual labor, they would still serve as perfect human calculators, providing computational power for future research and analysis of runes.
