Chapter 212: The Alchemy Factory

As more and more basic rune arrays were deciphered and simplified into universal rune templates, the equipment of the Cecil soldiers was inevitably due for a major upgrade. In Gawain’s vision, a complete set of infantry gear for the Cecil troops should include the following systems:

An energy system—a combat backpack equipped with a highly efficient honeycomb magic network and mana capacitors, capable of simultaneously charging numerous mana crystals while still having surplus energy to power the various energy-consuming units on the soldier’s body.

A protection system—steel armor forged by machine stamping, with various defensive and auxiliary magic arrays inscribed inside the armor. This would provide comprehensive protection against external magic, toxic gases, and physical attacks. Traditional enchanted armor was prohibitively expensive, but by using universal arrays to achieve effects similar to enchantments, costs could be drastically reduced. The force field shield embedded in the arm guards was also part of this protection system.

A weapons system—primarily the thermal ray gun mounted in the arm guards and the swords and knives carried by the soldiers. The former had already entered mass production, but the latter had yet to see any improvements. In Gawain’s concept, even if cold weapon combat training was retained, the swords and knives of the Cecil soldiers had to be modernized. Traditional steel weapons were too weak against opponents like aberrations and supernaturals; various enchantments were absolutely necessary.

But exactly how to upgrade traditional swords and knives still required careful consideration.

Beyond that, Gawain was even more eager to realize real-time battlefield communication.

The importance of communication technology was self-evident. Allowing every soldier to receive commands from the rear in real time, and every commander to instantly grasp changes in the battle situation, would unleash a level of combat effectiveness unimaginable to traditional noble armies. Therefore, adding a communication system to the “Cecil Combat Suit” was a top priority. Unfortunately, there was no clear solution yet.

There were indeed communication spells, and the Mithril Treasury had even produced devices like the Mithril Ring for communication. But from Gawain’s perspective, this special magic was a “black box” technology. Its magical principles remained a mystery, and the rune arrays composing it did not conform to conventional array logic. Jenny’s rune logic studies were still incomplete and couldn’t simplify or analyze such an obscure magic. This meant the cost of communication magic items couldn’t be lowered for now, and without cost reduction, they couldn’t be issued to soldiers.

The combat arm guards with the added force field shield module looked unchanged externally. Gawain snapped the arm guard’s shell shut, and when the crisp click sounded, he turned to Rebecca. “The arm guard can integrate even more modules. We can add more interchangeable components. Right now, it has offensive and defensive capabilities, so we can think about auxiliary functions—like a basic ‘Lesser Mind Purge’ or a low-energy illumination cantrip like ‘Magic Light.’ These spells consume very little energy but can be very useful…”

Rebecca and Jenny had somehow already pulled out notebooks and were furiously jotting down notes. Jenny paused halfway through and asked, “But my lord… after adding so many functions, is the arm guard still just a ‘thermal ray gun’?”

“That’s why I said from the start—the arm guard is just a carrier. The thermal ray gun is only one part of it, not the whole,” Gawain smiled. Only now could he clearly explain his original concept to the two girls, and only now could they fully understand what modularity meant. “This kind of arm guard—we should give it a separate name. I call it the ‘Magitek Terminal.’ Depending on the modules installed, it can be a thermal ray gun, an energy shield, a communicator, a medical device, or even a lightning or fireball launcher. Different troops can use different functions. We could even develop civilian models.”

Rebecca finally caught on. “So… that was your real idea from the beginning?”

Gawain nodded, then smiled wryly. “Too bad if I’d said it back then, most people wouldn’t have understood or imagined it.”

Jenny looked at Gawain in surprise. Suddenly, she felt something strange—this wasn’t just a hero from seven centuries ago, nor simply a modern-day Cecil lord. This duke exuded an aura that didn’t belong to this society, or even this world. He viewed the events on this land almost as an outsider, and on that basis, was carrying out a plan—one so grand and beyond contemporary understanding that no one could grasp what he intended, no matter which step he casually mentioned…

But the feeling vanished quickly when Gawain suddenly reached out and tapped Amber’s head—Amber had been sneaking around beside the table. The approachable lord with a quirky sense of humor was back.

“What are you sneaking around for?” Gawain glared at Amber, who had tried to startle him but didn’t expect her stealth to be undone early by the protective aura around Gawain. Rubbing her head, the half-elf looked aggrieved. “I just came to report something. Did you have to hit me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Who sneaks in with Shadow Step just to report?”

“Pfft,” Amber pouted. “How much longer are you going to be? Pittman told me the number one reaction vessel at the alchemy factory is ready. He’s waiting for you to come inspect it.”

“Ah, I completely forgot!” Gawain slapped his forehead. He knew the number one reaction vessel was finished today, but the batch of rune templates and magitek armor designs Jenny and Rebecca brought had completely distracted him. Now that Amber reminded him, he stood up and set down the arm guard. “Jenny, Rebecca, I’m heading to the alchemy factory first. You two arrange the universal template design yourselves—I’m satisfied with the current progress.”

Jenny obediently packed up the blueprints, templates, and arm guards on the table, but Rebecca clearly wasn’t planning to return quietly to the research institute. She grabbed Gawain’s arm and shook it hard. “I’m coming too! I want to see what the factory looks like…”

Gawain gave her a dumbfounded look. “What are you going to do there? It’s just the reaction vessel completion, not the whole factory’s opening ceremony—and you don’t even understand alchemy.”

“I could throw a couple of fireballs to liven things up! Isn’t a celebration supposed to have fireworks?”

Gawain glared at her. “If you dare throw fireballs inside the alchemy factory, I’ll throw you out like one!”

“I said I’d throw them into the sky…”

“Not allowed either!”

Rebecca stuck out her tongue and raised a hand solemnly. “Then I swear by the ancestors of Cecil, I’ll behave perfectly…”

Gawain was about to nod when he suddenly realized, “I am your ancestor!”

Rebecca: “…”

Amber sidled up to Jenny and whispered, “Don’t you think these two sound like they’re missing a few screws when they talk?”

Jenny, now used to the atmosphere in Cecil territory, was at a loss for how to respond to Amber’s mouth. “I… I don’t know what to say…”

“Pfft, no fun at all,” Amber sneered at the rune scholar who couldn’t play along, then turned to Gawain. “Old timer, are you coming or not? It’s no fun arguing with your granddaughter…”

Amber’s words successfully diverted Gawain and Rebecca’s attention, and the tension immediately dissolved.

In the end, after Rebecca’s persistent nagging, Gawain took the curious, stubborn girl along with Amber and headed to the alchemy factory on the outskirts of town.

Despite the “black tech” level of new construction technology, the alchemy factory was far from complete. Only Workshop One and its supporting storage facilities were finished. Inside Workshop One, only one set of reaction vessels had been fully assembled and sealed. In Gawain’s plan, at least three workshops and twelve reaction vessels were needed to meet the production of basic alchemical potions—plant growth catalysts, soil conditioners, weed suppressants for agriculture; druidic healing potions, weak mana potions, various disease cures for humans, and so on. There were over a dozen basic potions in total.

Traditionally, alchemists made these potions in small labs using a single alchemy table and a few reaction flasks. But such methods couldn’t be applied in a factory setting: the reaction vessels in a factory would operate continuously, with raw materials added and finished products output in batches and nonstop. Therefore, except for special cases, each potion required its own dedicated reaction vessel.

Pittman had divided the potions into twelve “production lines” across three separate workshops. The workshops were isolated from each other to prevent mixing and accidents. In fact, according to Gawain’s standards, potions for ordinary people, supernaturals, and agricultural use shouldn’t even be produced in the same factory. But given the limited resources of the territory, the astronomical cost of running three separate alchemy factories, and the fundamental differences between druidic potions and the “pesticides” Gawain remembered from his previous life, the currently planned basic potions posed little pollution risk. So he allowed the three workshops to be housed in one factory.

However, he specifically instructed Pittman that if higher-grade potions with stronger effects and greater side effects were to be produced in the future, the entire production process must be completely isolated—from raw materials to semi-finished to finished products—to eliminate any risk of cross-contamination.

Tall reaction vessels stood in the still-spacious workshop. Pittman, his apprentices, and recruited laborers busied themselves around the new equipment. This was an unprecedented apparatus, unlike any alchemical container ever seen in this world, unlike the flourishing magitek machinery in the territory, and certainly unlike the chemical equipment Gawain remembered from his previous life.

At its center stood a two-meter-tall vertical iron tank, connected by several curved pipes to smaller reaction vessels arranged in a star-shaped radial pattern. These pipes not only transported materials and gases but were themselves part of the magic array. At the junctions where these “pipeline runes” connected to the reaction vessels, shimmering druidic runes and various magical symbols intertwined. On some reaction vessels’ surfaces, glowing magic arrays pulsed faintly. And on the entire apparatus’s base—a cement platform raised about a dozen centimeters above the floor—lay the key to it all: the inverter array.

It drew magical energy from the underground demon web and transformed it into “natural divine power” that the druidic magic array could recognize. Through this wondrous process of conversion, humanity came to wield a power that once belonged only to the gods.

(End of chapter)