When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 664 - 622: Ry Court Barracks Research Area
The carriage traveled from the river through the wasteland ruins to reach the Mechanical Palace, revealing two rows of small courtyards surrounded by walls and weeds.
Each courtyard occupies half to more than one acre, with flags hanging at the entrance and signs being placed. Looking around, there's the Dragon Language Alchemy Society, Crystal Alchemy Workshop, Hydraulic Engineering Institute, Shuttle Research Institute, Divine Axis Alchemy Development Bureau, and so on.
This area is designated by Horn for scholars as a "research zoning," specifically responsible for scientific output.
At the bridgehead, there are even public carriages for these alchemist scholars and engineers to use for free.
According to Vite, a batch of seven-story brick residential buildings will be built on both sides of the Insula District inside the city, specifically for these scholars and Alchemist Priests to reside.
Institutions like the Dragon Language Alchemy Society and Crystal Alchemy Workshop primarily focus on alchemy research, while the Hydraulic Engineering Institute not only designs and studies hydraulic facilities but also researches how to create water-powered industrial devices.
For example, Horn's scroll spinning wheel hydropower version is one of their inventions and research projects.
After all, in the future, once Daze Village's two rivers are dredged and opened up, they will undoubtedly provide abundant hydropower.
At that time it can be used to supplement the sacred rotational machines, as the quantity of star-cast gears is limited.
The Shuttle Research Institute mainly focuses on researching the shuttle of loom machines, this small device rebounds automatically through a spring, greatly enhancing the efficiency of both manual and rotary sacred machine weaving.
Horn thought making a spring wouldn't be that hard, but it turned out to be exceedingly difficult; this tiny spring has surprisingly high technological content.
Things like clock springs can be made using well-hammered low carbon steel coated with a layer of copper from the mountains.
However, dwarves calculated that springs require high carbon steel combined with special alloys, while ordinary steel with mountain copper coating doesn't work well.
It's not that dwarves can't forge a spring with their skills, but the cost is prohibitively high.
Putting down the carriage curtain, Horn bowed his head pondering the method for producing spring steel from his hometown.
In Horn's hometown, large-scale production of such spring steel requires the spread of the Bessemer conversion process before this type of qualified spring steel can be produced.
Even with Jeanne using lightning smelting, she still can't consistently succeed in making spring steel.
Horn rubbed his temple; alchemical industry is great everywhere except that his steel industry has hardly seen any progress until now.
Lightning smelting is definitely more efficient than chemical vat iron-making methods, but the problem is this lightning is practically exclusive to Jeanne.
How can he possibly invent some kind of lightning furnace?
Wondering how Hilov's "Emerald Record" translation is progressing, it would be great to have alchemical substances capable of controlling and releasing lightning.
Finally, among them, the Divine Axis Alchemy Development Bureau is of particular importance.
This division is responsible for two parts: collaborating with the Black Snake Bay Secret Faction on alchemy and magic technologies, and handling industrial and commercial advancements.
In Horn's eyes, this is a vital department, but people at present don't value it and haven't managed to secure a single deal.
Passing through this research zone, moving further forward leads to stretches of flower beds and trees, organized and planted by Hilov's arrangement.
During spring and summer, a glance from the Mechanical Palace's terrace reveals an expanse of flower seas.
Unfortunately, Horn is in the midst of autumn right now and can't see such a scene.
Some newcomers are quite curious about the figure appearing punctually every morning on the terrace of the Mechanical Palace, but the palace is guarded lifelessly by guards, making approach difficult.
Therefore, rumors recently spread in the ry Court Barracks about a "Two-Wheeled Monster," joining the ranks of "Electric Ghosts" and "Long-haired Zombies" in the three major horror stories of the ry Court Barracks.
Those who witnessed Hilov at the New Year Festival were far too few, unable to dispel these rumors, thus letting them run their course.
As the slope gradually rises, Horn can feel his back pressing against the carriage wall, signaling that he is getting closer to the Mechanical Palace.
Ascending a small slope less than ten meters high, the Mechanical Palace is there.
After alighting from the carriage, Horn looked around.
The previous gear-rooster crafted by Hilov has been repaired, and the clown doll on the pediment has been freshly painted.
Entering through the gate, Horn could see Hilov and others in the center of the courtyard.
In one corner of the spacious yard, seven or eight vertical containers with red stripes stood under the eaves, clearly ceramic but gleaming with a metallic sheen.
"What is this?" Horn asked as he tapped the reaction vessel with his knuckle, addressing a middle-aged man with shaved beard and hair nearby.
"Your Majesty, this is an alchemical reaction vessel for peat. Through this reaction vessel, we can greatly reduce the manpower required for peat consumption and establish more peat workshops."
He was silent until he spoke, at which point Horn recognized him: "Isn't this Robert? I thought it was someone else. It turns out to be you, lad, what's with that clean-shaven mouth of yours."
Robert smiled with closed lips: "I returned to Black Snake Bay earlier, and at the tavern, a Wizard burned my hair and beard, so I simply shaved it all off, feeling cool."
Robert was originally a member of the White Mountain Hermitage; he stayed on Autumn Dusk Island due to his extensive study of alchemy.
"This reaction vessel doesn't look like ceramic, does it? What did you add?"
"It's red salt, I added red salt." Robert asserted proudly, clasping his sleeves.
Differing from the past methods that involved digging pits locally to refine peat, this method also incorporates a large crucible with a white yet reddish glow.
Horn walked around this person-height vertical-furnace-like crucible and saw no discernible features, casting a questioning gaze at Robert.
Robert hurried to explain to His Majesty Saint Sun: "Red salt is believed to be a substance capable of gathering mystical vitality, and there's significant mana wastage during alchemical processes.
So I wondered if it could combine red salt with the crucible to slow mana dispersal.
Fortunately, after trying more than fifty materials, I succeeded. By mixing mountain white clay and red salt clay, this red ceramic crucible can be created.
Placing peat inside the red ceramic crucible, directly connecting it with the magic staff and ceramic basin, saves up to 4 human workers."
He spoke while handing Horn the detailed data report.
Upon glancing at the report, Horn's eyes couldn't help but widen; according to the projections within, the red ceramic crucible allows a reduction from the original 10-person peat team to a 6-person team.
Almost halving it!
It's important to know that an Alchemist Priest needs a two-hour rest after each spell, and each peat refining ceremony involves 10 people working together.
So a peat workshop working ten hours a day effectively refines peat only five times, producing around 6400 pounds in total.
Although the red salt ceramic pot and magic staff increase some cost, they lower the manpower for each peat refining ceremony by 40%.
Initially, Horn worried whether Alchemist Priests could keep up if peat production were increased abruptly, given the current speed and frequency of Blessed appearances.
But now it seems there's no such issue, peat may even lower its price again, significantly reducing the cost of wood and other fuel.
