The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Chapter 21 Explosion

The research on cement and gunpowder by the gray-white-collar workers gradually got on track. Cement, in particular, directly accelerated the development of the gray-white-collar workers. Many of the original tents were dismantled, and people began to build new houses.

Next, Linde planned to start researching steelmaking.

This is a big job, but because the gray-collar workers haven't found any iron ore yet, Linde hasn't made it a regular task. Now, Linde plans to see how steel is made in this world.

As long as steel can be produced on the territory, then with the addition of water-powered forging hammers, future military needs can certainly be met.

The artisans in the territory are mainly from the Lars family, who came to Gray Collar with Lena back then.

Many of them are even low-level professionals.

The place where steel is made now is more like a blacksmith shop than a steel mill.

At first, there wasn't even a blacksmith shop. Linde arranged jobs for these craftsmen, although their work was limited to repairing tools for the people every day.

Hearing that the lord was coming to visit today, these craftsmen were all gearing up to give a good performance, after all, this lord really spends money when he needs something, even if it's all Lars family's money.

However, after the craftsmen demonstrated their steelmaking methods, they noticed that the lord seemed distracted and left the steel mill after a brief inspection.

The old craftsman, who had initially thought the lord would offer all sorts of imaginative machines and improvements as he had done with other craftsmen, stroked his beard, wondering if he had done something wrong that displeased the lord. Otherwise, why did he feel that the lord was treating him differently?

Back in his tent, Lind started spinning around in place, flipping through the introductory manual on rune magic circles in his hand and studying it by comparing it with the original owner's memories.

That's outrageous. Although Linde had been giving this world a little bit of a shock about its past life, this time it was the world's distorted technology tree that gave Linde a little bit of a magical shock.

Linde had anticipated that there were many ways to improve steelmaking technology in this world, such as blast furnace steelmaking. Having read so many transmigration novels, even if he couldn't operate it, he could at least talk about it and inspire these craftsmen. But he didn't expect this world to directly use brute force to overcome all methods.

Insufficient temperature? Heating too slowly? Impurities easily formed?

With a burning magic circle, several first- or second-tier rune masters can directly use rune magic circles to raise the temperature, brute forcefully solving all problems.

Of course, it's easier said than done. Only rune masters who have studied runes can control rune magic circles. Rune masters are professionals, not common people. Moreover, rune magic circles require constant fine-tuning and maintenance, so the cost is not low.

It can only be used for steelmaking and has no practical combat significance.

But this still gave Lind a little bit of a shock from another world.

For a fleeting moment, Lind even doubted whether everything he had done was truly meaningful, and whether there was already some other magic in the world that could perfectly replace his solution.

For example, didn't cement and gunpowder already have superior alternatives?

Judging from Lena's reaction, it seemed that there was no such thing. However, she was Lena after all. Linde, still not entirely at ease, went to see Isa again and asked her in detail before he felt a little more at ease.

After that, Linde took Lena into the Giant God Mountains.

Today is the day for testing gunpowder and mining.

Although Lena spent her time hunting and playing in the mountains before building the water-powered forge, she wasn't completely idle. The Giant God Mountains still have a lot of mineral deposits, and Lind has now arrived at the jadeite vein that Lena recently discovered.

Although the scale is not large, to be honest, Linde's main purpose in mining now is just to practice his gunpowder mining skills.

The Giant Mountains have abundant mineral resources, but due to their remote location and high transportation costs, they have not been effectively developed.

In addition, the Surd region north of the Northern Snowfield not only has higher quality ore, but also more convenient transportation, with roads that are well-connected. No one would be willing to come to the Giant God Mountains and spend more money to mine there.

Especially when the elves on the other side of the mountain occasionally jump out and demand a share.

Moreover, with the overall decline of the Kingdom of Cape and the increasingly extravagant lifestyle of the upper nobility, fewer and fewer professionals are willing to come to this remote corner and painstakingly use their magic to help the nobles mine every day.

After instructing a craftsman to chisel a large hole at a designated location, Linde ordered the explosives to be placed inside, then stepped back several dozen meters to direct the lighting of the fuse.

Because no craftsman dared to take on the job at first, Susan, who was next to Lena, impatiently went to the fuse.

Susan's understanding of the explosives' power was limited to the firecrackers that blew up an iron pot at the beginning. She didn't find them scary at all. After snapping her fingers, the fuse started burning fiercely. She then struck a pose, waved her cloak, and walked towards the bunker where Lena was.

boom!

A powerful shockwave swept in, like an angry dragon roaring past, shaking the mountain so much that rocks flew everywhere, and deafening explosions echoed through the mountains.

Caught off guard, Susan was thrown forward by the force of the explosion, and the defensive runes on her armor immediately recognized the attack and began to operate at full capacity.

"Protect the eldest lady!"

The knights around Lena instantly raised their shields and formed a battle formation. The explosion was beyond their comprehension; they had thought it was an attack by the enemies of the Lars family.

As the flickering flames in the smoke died down, a chaotic scene came into view: the rocks were blasted to pieces, and huge boulders collapsed like fortresses.

Linde looked with satisfaction at the dumbfounded Susan and the knights who were on high alert. It seemed that his previous worries were unnecessary. Although there were many things in this world that were beyond his understanding, it seemed that gunpowder was still an invention far beyond this world.

"Record the amount used in this explosion, as well as the effects of the mining."

After reminding the dumbfounded craftsmen behind him, Linde began to observe the explosion site.

“These gravel stones can also be collected and mixed with cement as building materials, but remember to remind the workers to sort and separate them first.”

Linde smiled slightly as he looked at the knights who were still on high alert. After glancing around, the knights awkwardly lowered their shields.

But instead of chattering away asking Lind how he did it, Lena, protected by the knights, stroked her chin and began to think.

"brother."

Lena excitedly approached Lind, but instead of showing the shocked expression Lind had expected, Lena's mind started working again.

"Do you think this so-called explosive can be launched using magic?"

"For example, if you use a second-tier strong wind spell to send this explosive to the enemy and ignite it, wouldn't that be equivalent to using a second-tier spell to create a fourth-tier or even stronger spell?"

Lind blinked, making sure he wasn't mistaken; the person in front of him was indeed Lena.

This kid's suddenly become so smart today! He's already starting to think about combining gunpowder with magic to create a magical version of a cannon.

Before Lind could speak, Lena continued, "Using the Strong Wind spell won't work; we should find a more powerful spell that can be cast accurately."

Have they already come up with a prototype of a missile?

"No, that won't work. This method is completely impractical. If they're using high-level magic for long-range projection, why not just use high-level magic for direct attacks?"

Lena rejected her own plan again, and then turned her gaze to the craftsmen around Linde.

"Is it possible to reduce the amount of gunpowder you made, brother, and stuff it into stones, so that when these stones are thrown, they can explode like magic, and the stone fragments can also injure the enemy?"

Lind looked at Lena in surprise. She had thought of the fragmentation grenade so quickly? And this time, Lena didn't insist on using magic in conjunction with it.

At this moment, Susan, who had scrambled to her feet, said, "But Miss, reducing the amount won't be enough to inflict effective damage on a high-level professional."

"How many high-level professionals does a noble family have?"

Lena looked at her knights, most of whom were third-tier professionals, slightly inferior to Lind. However, among their peers, they were already considered geniuses. Coupled with their equipment, they would be the most terrifying killing machines in a chaotic battle.

"Susan, the explosion just now was reduced to one-fifth of its original power. Do you think you could withstand it head-on?"

In response to Lena's question, Susan tapped the shield on her wrist and confidently said, "If it's a head-on collision, I'm confident I can block five or six times without getting hurt."

Then Lena looked at Lind.

"So, brother, how much gunpowder can the territory produce in a day? If all those alchemy equipment and workers in the territory were used to produce gunpowder, it could probably provide a continuous supply of gunpowder for those ordinary soldiers, right?"

After speaking, Lena also gave a detailed account of the remaining alchemical materials and gunpowder production in the territory.

Susan, who was standing nearby, shut her mouth. She had just described the situation of blocking with a shield from the front. But when she thought about how ordinary people could use such a weapon and that there might be several of them, Susan started to break out in a cold sweat.

Yes, high-level professionals aren't as common as cabbages. Even a sixth-level professional like Miss is a once-in-a-century genius.

Lind didn't answer, but instead started circling around Lena, as if trying to see if she was possessed by something.

"What's wrong, bro? Did I say something wrong?"

Lena, lacking confidence, started drawing circles on the ground with her feet.

"No, absolutely right."

Linde encouraged him, "To be honest, there are many ideas that even I haven't thought of yet. You've done a great job, and I will give these proposals a good consideration."

The beginning and end are absolutely correct, to be honest, they're almost too correct. You have to understand that gunpowder in the original world went through a long period of research and practice before it truly became the dominant substance on the battlefield. But Lena only saw gunpowder mining once and then concluded and predicted the future of gunpowder. Linde even thought that Lena was more like a time traveler than himself.

After all, in this world where magic truly exists, Lind couldn't guarantee whether gunpowder would still have the same status on the battlefield as in his previous life. But Lena's vision was not only unconstrained by magic, but she even began to research how to use gunpowder, relying on magic.

Lena is not only an engineering genius, but she might also be a born general.