Chapter 365 - 264 Agricultural Revolution

"This is one of my designs," Long Yi explained. "Originally, I planned to use this platform to make a tank. But due to power limitation, if crystal cores are used as power sources, they would need to be frequently replaced, and if Fighting Aura were to be used, it would require a Dragon Rider. Also, it wouldn’t have any strategic significance. However, if this device were to be turned into a tractor, it would be a different story. Staying behind at the war front, it would not be an issue to comfortably replace crystal core power sources, and a charged crystal core could be reused. Moreover, it does not have heavy armor, so energy consumption is relatively low." He motioned at his sketch as he spoke.

Everyone was shocked by this outrageous idea. How come no one had thought about this before?

"But its production cost must be more expensive!" Morton, who had recovered from the shock, said.

"I don’t plan to sell it to farmers." Long Yi smiled. "The government can fund its production and send specialists to help farmers with large-scale cultivation. We have plowing and seeding equipment, and harvesters. All that the farmers need to do is oversee the operation. It would bring them relief from strenuous labor, and they would soon come to love farming. From the government’s end, apart from the affordable cost of these machines, only the maintenance cost needs to be considered. But compared to the benefit of food security for the empire, the cost is negligible."

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Could it be that Long Yi had already thought that far? What on earth was going on in his head? This man, who always acted silly and clueless, was actually so brilliant!

"Great!"

A voice of approval drew everyone’s attention.

Upon turning around, they saw it was Emperor Kirei himself.

At that moment, the young emperor was looking at Long Yi with mixed feelings. He didn’t know what to say. Every action Long Yi took, every word he said, it was all for the benefit of the Empire!

Kirei remembered one thing. His father once asked Long Yi if he wanted to be the Emperor. Long Yi responded with clear annoyance. However, all of Long Yi’s actions demonstrated that he was truly a natural-born king. Compared to himself, Long Yi had a greater power to make an empire stronger.

A whole lot stronger!

He wanted to express his gratitude to Long Yi, but did Long Yi need his gratitude? Looking at Long Yi’s face brimming with smiles, Kirei couldn’t help but laugh himself.

"Great!"

Kirei repeated with a simple word and didn’t say anything unnecessary.

If there was still ample time, perhaps no one could compete with the White Dragon Empire in ten or so years.

"Alright, today’s lecture ends here since His Majesty is also here. The tractor is quite interesting. If you are interested, you can try to work on the power system. But right now, the main focus is this set of battle armor. We also need a number of fortification armors. Let’s inspect these two armors first," suggested Long Yi.

Long Yi disassembled the pair of armors into components, carefully inspected each part in detail, and then assembled them all.

"The core!"

Long Yi turned to Ma Deburg who quickly handed over the standard crystal core power source of the Empire.

Yes, everything was manufactured to the exact standards proposed by Long Yi.

Installation, connection, and testing. These simple words consumed the entire afternoon of Long Yi.

"There’s no problem! Let’s start mass production!" Long Yi declared.

Morton’s nervousness finally appeared to ease. In a way, Long Yi really was a very strict person. However, it was this discipline that made him highly respected amongst the Dwarves. According to Golden Hammer, Long Yi was a person with a craftsman’s spirit.

After all, Long Yi was indeed a man of science and technology!

"At the pace of the Dwarves, what would be the production rate if they were to fully focus on manufacturing?" asked Long Yi.

"We are all waiting for the news. Meanwhile, we have hoarded various rare metals. The molds have already been made. Once I bring the good news back, we can ensure that at least three units are assembled every day!" declared the Dwarf.

"No need for polishing and rust prevention, apart from the necessary joints, there is no need for any modification and lagging. There’s also no need for quenching and tempering," Long Yi said.

"These are the most time-consuming procedures. If all these steps are eliminated, ten units can be assembled daily!" Morton explained.

"Go and discuss the price with His Majesty," Long Yi said with a smile.

"This way, please." Emperor Kirei immediately led Morton to a secret room, with Long Yi following suit.

Once the door was locked, the room was left with only Long Yi, Morton, and the Emperor.

"We do not need money," Morton said.

"Wait, why?" Long Yi glanced at the Emperor who shared his confusion.

"Dwarves never lack iron, but some rare metal materials for making armor are very expensive. If you can provide these rare metals, we can do it completely for free. Of course, technically, it’s not absolutely free. We have some other conditions," Morton said with a grin.

"What conditions? Please tell me," Kirei asked politely.

"I know that the Black Dragon Empire is rich in mineral resources, which are of excellent quality, and there are three extremely rare Mithril mines. We want the right to help you exploit them," Morton proposed.

Kirei was taken aback, and then he laughed: "Uncle Morton, it sounds like you’re betting on us successfully taking over the Black Dragon Empire."

"No, I’m only betting on our Elder Long Yi," Morton smiled.

"That stakes are quite high," Long Yi also laughed.

"Because we have an ace."

Morton and Kirei both turned to look at Long Yi in unison.

Not long after the three entered the secret room, they emerged, clearly signifying that they had all struck a deal. Long Yi seemed nonchalant, but excitement flushed Kirei’s pale face. Clearly, the White Dragon Empire gained a great deal from this transaction!

Ten combat armors a day, and that makes three thousand six hundred and fifty a year! They could assemble an armored army of ten thousand in less than three years!

Once the Dragon Knights start entanglement in the sky, this armored army would be practically invincible!

But... could they handle the Undead Army of the Black Dragon Empire? Ten armors could be made in a day, but the number of dead was not just ten each day!

By now, night had entirely descended, and Long Yi, together with the Emperor and Dean Ma Deburg, was hurriedly heading towards the Magic Research Institute.

As soon as they opened the underground test field of the Magic Research Institute, a wave of heat rushed over them.

After just a few steps down the corridor, the Emperor was already overwhelmed by the heat, his body drenched completely in sweat.

Eventually, when Long Yi arrived in the testing field, he witnessed a bizarre scene.

In the field, about a dozen three-meter-high Lava Giants were all facing Little Zi. With an expression of helplessness, Little Zi was trying to instruct these Lava Giants, "Why can’t you understand? This is an attack command! This is a withdrawal command!"

In one corner of the field, the four great lords of the Magic Research Institute, wearing only shorts and fanning themselves furiously, were sweating profusely, leaving long trails of sweat on the floor, as if they had just been fished out of the water.

"Professor Ding Ge." Long Yi always preferred to call Ding Ge as ’Professor’, which felt cozier for him.

"Long Yi! You are finally here!"

Ding Ge looked ready to burst into tears.

"Professor, please calm down! Professor, don’t touch me! Ah! My new clothes that I just bought from the Red Dragon Empire!"

Having barely managed to peel Ding Ge from himself, a calmed-down Ding Ge proceeded to describe the current situation to Long Yi.

Turns out, the creation of the Molten Beasts was going pretty smoothly. The plan to replace the Lave Cores with Crystal Cores had been validated and was a success. As Long Yi saw, they had successfully created a batch of Molten Beasts, also known as those Lava Giants.

But the problem appeared.

These Molten Beasts were virtually completely unresponsive to commands. Extremely dim-witted and slow. The powerhouses of the Magic Research Institute had almost exhausted every solution they could think of, yet they still hadn’t made any headway, and in the end, they resorted to the only option left.

Waiting for Long Yi.

To be precise, waiting for Little Zi.

Today, Little Zi finally showed up, and they, full of anticipation, initially thought Little Zi would have a solution. But facing this group of numbskulls, Little Zi was also clueless. Little Zi’s Mind Spells were effective on all creatures, even on Molten Beasts. However, these so-called Molten Beasts were not true Molten Beasts, and they were replicas created with the Crystal Cores.

And surprisingly, Little Zi’s Mind Spells had absolutely no effect on them.

After an afternoon of testing various methods, she had also re-examined all structures. These replicas and the original Lava Core had no differences at the level of Magic. It was baffling why the replicas couldn’t be affected by Mind Spells? Once they were unaffected by Mind Spells, even the brilliant Little Zi was out of options and had to resort to on-site teaching, a method even she herself doubted.

Luckily, Long Yi showed up.

Big brother Long!

Little Zi floated over, her face full of frustration.

"It’s alright, let me take a look." Long Yi patted Little Zi on the head, comforting her.

Little Zi obediently nodded her head.

Upon Long Yi’s arrival, all the Molten Beasts turned towards him. They showed no aggression nor obedience, they merely faced him instinctively.

"Bajie, provide a Dragon Breath Armor, please."

A spray of molten metal shot out, shielding Long Yi’s entire arm in Dragon Breath Armor. Then, Long Yi reached out to touch a Molten Beast. The power of the Giant was slowly infused, and the Molten Beast moved slightly. Following that, inexplicably, everyone felt that this Molten Beast had evidently changed.

"Advance three steps."

The Molten Beast Long Yi had touched advanced three steps.

"Retreat three steps."

And then it retreated three steps.

"Charge! Halt!"

Every command from Long Yi received accurate responses.

"Halt." Long Yi said, and then chuckled, saying to Little Zi and a semi-naked Ding Ge, "Nothing much, they just lacked a master."

Originally, the reason why those initial Molten Beasts were extremely aggressive was that they had a commander, namely the pair of Black Dragon Hearts. But these newly created Molten Beasts lack a person to give them orders, or to put it another way, their Magic Arrays were without a master, so without any commands, they merely stood there instinctively.

Long Yi didn’t know, but the original Molten Beasts were born from the power of the Giant, and he happened to be a holder of the Giant’s Power. Precisely because of this, the Molten Beasts immediately regarded Long Yi as their master.

"If you want them to behave, you’ll need to prepare someone to give them commands, let me guess... this person must be at least an Earth Dragon Knight."

Long Yi said.

"But, you also need these Molten Beasts to follow the commands of this person!" Ding Ge said in a tongue-twisting way.

"Hmm, maybe, we can try the Engraving Technique."

Long Yi said. (To be continued. If you like this book, please come to qidian.com to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)