Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 235 - 234: Tiel’s Curiosity

People living in the Cecil often warn newcomers: this territory was established by ancient heroes, so it contains many things that seem peculiar and even unimaginable in this era. When faced with such objects that challenge your worldview, it’s best not to make a fuss, because they are generally harmless. If you really can’t understand, just regard them as ancient magic technology and relics.

The residents of Cecil have already grown accustomed to seeing rumbling machines operating in the factories and a shining silvery-white metal sphere drifting around the territory. Recently, they’ve had to get used to another spectacle: a peculiar woman with an upper body like a human and a lower body like a snake roaming around the streets and alleys, or more precisely, wriggling around...

In the fourth week after the start of winter, when the weather was clear, windless, and with few clouds, Gawain was on his way to inspect the production line of the newly completed "Rune Engraving Plate Foundry," accompanied by the Sea Demon Tiel, who under normal circumstances would rarely be seen outdoors.

This sea demon seemed to have finally adjusted her seemingly death-like sleep routine temporarily. Since the last Star’s Day had passed, she had entered a bizarre "excited state," simply put, she couldn’t sleep, couldn’t rest, stayed idle and wanted to cause trouble. Therefore, she had no choice but to leave her beloved saltwater tank and wander all over the Cecil. Gawain had no reason to confine her in the feudal lord’s mansion, but to prevent this peculiar person from causing any trouble in the territory, he thought of a compromise: let Tiel hang around him.

It seemed that the sea demon sister didn’t mind this at all: as long as she could roam around, she was satisfied.

Walking on the road to the industrial district, Gawain couldn’t help but turn back curiously at Tiel, who was wriggling hard beside him: "So what’s going on with you? Why are you suddenly willing to come out?"

"Can’t help it, the stars got aligned recently," Tiel seemed quite frustrated, her real desire was to find a saline pool and sleep until she died, but now she couldn’t stay still, "Magic power surges, and the elements become active accordingly—we sea demons are elemental creatures."

Gawain raised his eyebrows slightly surprised: "You are... elemental creatures?"

"Why? Doesn’t it seem?" Tiel put her hands on her hips and patted the ground with her tail to reinforce her point, "We are elemental creatures!"

"The elemental creatures I know look nothing like you..." Gawain explained with a wry laugh, "The elemental creatures I know are chaotic, with unstable forms that rely on spells or magic cores to exist in the real world for long periods, otherwise they can only appear briefly using elemental media as ’fuel’..."

Tiel scoffed: "Those are low-level ones, we sea demons are elemental creatures that can stably exist in the real world, we are advanced."

Gawain couldn’t argue with this sea demon, anyways, these deep-sea heretic gods even dared to nibble on gods like they were seafood. What would be surprising about them? His main curiosity was about how long Tiel’s active state could last: "By the way, how long can this... active state of yours last?"

Tiel thought for a moment, uncertain: "Not sure, maybe about a month?"

Upon hearing this, Gawain couldn’t help but frown and look at Tiel’s long tail dragging behind her: "If you really plan to be active for a month, you’d better get used to walking upright. That tail of yours swaying around the territory every day is a bit too conspicuous..."

As he spoke, he glanced around, and sure enough, found some curious yet cautious gazes, naturally from the civilians and soldiers on the territory—if it were elsewhere, the presence of a sea demon might directly incite hostility and panic. But here, due to Gawain’s protection and the territory’s frequent unusual occurrences that had enhanced the "public immunity," people were more curious and cautious about Tiel’s peculiar shape. Of course, there were probably also those secretly panicking, but with Gawain standing here, who dared to speak out?

Tiel, however, dismissed Gawain’s warnings with a sway like seaweed: "Anyway, there hasn’t been any panic with me out here, has there? Besides, your people seem pretty accepting, if I wander around in front of them a few more times, they’ll get used to it—they’ve already gotten used to a flying metal sphere around here, haven’t they?"

Gawain really had no argument for that: purely in terms of bizarre appearance, the smooth Nicholas Egg was clearly more unfathomable than Tiel, at least the sea demon had half a human body, while the Egg had its face painted by Rebecca with some paint... In that comparison, Tiel wandering around didn’t seem like much.

"You should thank the Egg for paving the way, drastically enhancing everyone’s ability to accept strange things in the territory," Gawain said with a bittersweet smile, "Okay, since you’re happy like that, I won’t interfere much, but I do hope you take care—humans have a limited ability to accept new things. They barely adapted to a ’visitor from another race’ walking with a snake or fishtail, so it’s best you refrain from using the octopus form and crab form you mentioned last time..."

Tiel regretfully slanted her mouth: she was hoping that the octopus form might be more stable on land, but before she could try it, it was quashed, leaving her quite dissatisfied.

But she soon forgot this small displeasure because she finally saw what everyone in the territory was talking about and taking pride in: the "factory using machines to produce items."

The Cecil Runeforging Factory, a new facility recently "released" from the Mechanical Manufacturing Facility, is a part of Gawain’s "Industrial Systematization" plan.

According to Gawain’s plan, the Mechanical Manufacturing Facility should not be a purely production department, but rather an "upstream" unit encompassing research, testing, and initial prototype manufacturing. Its role is to produce the first machine, not to engage in continuous repetitive mass production.

In the Mechanical Manufacturing Facility, a new industrial chain or segment experiences a process from nothing to existence. Craftsmen, apprentices, and Saint Nicholas Egg complete the construction of the prototype and pilot production based on this prototype. Once this chain or segment matures and can become a part of the industrial system, it should appropriately split from the Mechanical Manufacturing Facility and become an independent factory or a production line in a factory, embarking on a path of independent development and industrial integration.

This is the method Gawain devised to quickly establish the magical industry system he envisioned. It may not be the best, but it is currently the most suitable choice for the territory.

Only by shaping each segment within the industrial chain and allowing them to operate in their respective positions, thoroughly establishing a system of division of labor and assembly line production, can the territory break away from the traditional workshop-craftsman production model and liberate itself from the highly inefficient and wasteful hodgepodge-style production.

In the Runeforging Factory, Tiel watched with amazement at the neatly arranged machines, observing one hexagonal universal baseplate after another being sent onto the stamping machine. With a loud bang, a heavy steel hammer, driven by a large wheel, struck the baseplate’s surface, imprinting complex rune indentations directly onto the relatively soft baseplate material. These baseplates were then immersed in a mixed solution of quartz sand and hot resin to complete the filling of magic-conducting materials in the rune grooves. The excess solution on the baseplate surface would be scraped off and recycled in the next stage. Once the magic-conducting materials in the grooves solidified, the baseplates would be polished to ensure that no residual materials affecting spell effectiveness remained outside the rune grooves. If it was a relatively simple rune baseplate, processing would be complete at this step. If more complex, further manual procedures, such as embedding crystals in reserved grooves, would be required.

This was completely different from the way Tiel had heard humans made items on land, reminiscent instead of the revived factories in Antawen.

While Tiel curiously observed the production scene at the Runeforging Factory, Gawain was intently studying the sea demon’s reaction.

A curious expression appeared on her face, which gave Gawain some peace of mind—the matter was developing in the direction he hoped for.

He didn’t mind at all that Tiel saw the so-called "technical secrets" of his territory. In fact, if the typically lazy sea demon was willing, he wouldn’t even mind her seeing the original design drawings of the Magic Web.

Because this sea demon came from a society clearly far more advanced than human civilization, where she lived was even more developed than the elves’ Silver Empire.

He wasn’t worried that Tiel would steal any technology—or rather, if she indeed took an interest in any of Cecil’s technology, Gawain would be even more delighted.

Only by arousing this sea demon’s curiosity and attention could he discuss technical matters with her. Although he was reluctant to admit it, in Tiel’s eyes, human civilization was evidently a "lower-level civilization," even though this sea demon sister herself had no trace of discrimination or disdain. The gap in their technical levels was an established fact, not something to be glossed over with words.

In this situation, Gawain needed to make some attempts, to see if the developing "magical industry" of the Cecil Clan could capture Tiel’s interest. If she became interested, it would be easier to broach technical subjects.

When the timing seemed about right, he walked up to Tiel: "How do you feel?"

"Very..." Tiel opened her mouth. She wanted to compliment with "advanced," but quickly realized Gawain probably didn’t need such flattery, and the factory wasn’t quite advanced enough to warrant that description. So she changed her wording, "A very interesting way of production. So you humans have begun to use such methods to mass-produce magical items? I thought you were still making magic supplies in workshops and magic laboratories... that’s what our last ’wandering sister’ said when she returned."

"In fact... other places on this continent are still like that," Gawain said with a wry smile, shaking his head. "What you see here should be the only place using machines to mass-produce magic circles."