Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 505 - 505 503 Industrial Age

Chapter 505: Chapter 503 Industrial Age Chapter 505: Chapter 503 Industrial Age The Torrential Flood Dragon had no knight, and such a state had persisted for centuries; its original knight was also a member of the Lieyang Royal Family.

But now, with innumerably many branches of the Lieyang Royal Family and the contract’s power having not been reinforced in hundreds of years, the bond of the contract had effectively become null and void.

It wouldn’t be surprising for the Torrential Flood Dragon to take interest in any knight and form a contract with them.

The current decision-maker of the Scorching Torrent Kingdom is King Ares.

If the Torrential Flood Dragon wanted to choose a knight, it would certainly need King Ares’ approval—of course, if the Torrential Flood Dragon truly fancied a knight from another race, King Ares would not directly oppose it but would find a way to assimilate the knight from the other race.

If the Torrential Flood Dragon truly took a liking to Russell, it goes without saying that King Ares would definitely let him marry into the Lieyang Royal Family.

The two dragons are the foundation upon which the Scorching Torrent Kingdom stands, an aspect that is unequivocally unshakable.

“Hmm, it’s not impossible that the Torrential Flood Dragon has taken a fancy to you…” Cousin Mel really believed Russell’s jest.

“Stop fantasizing, Cousin,” Russell patted his shoulder. “Wuyao Snake Manor is in the process of relocating; there’s no good turnaround to be had, let’s take a walk around the Black Fire Plains. I’ll show you what the Industrial Age is all about.”

“Industrial Age?”

Mel’s confusion was quickly met with a preliminary answer.

Distillation towers, kilns, towers of scholars, factories centered around the Black Oil Mine, factory after factory sprung up. Chimneys of varying heights emitted thick black, grey, or white smoke depending on the type of fuel used.

Countless greenhouse gases were slowly being injected into the atmosphere of the Dragon Sleep Continent.

Perhaps these greenhouse gases wouldn’t significantly affect the “global warming” of the Dragon Sleep Continent, but at least it was a good start.

“So, this is your Industrial Age? Does ‘industrial’ refer to the various factories?” Mel rode an Iron Winged Grey Crane, strolling on the asphalt roads between the factories. The roads throughout the industrial area were all paved with asphalt.

“Not at all, not at all, these small factories don’t even count as a prototype of the Industrial Age,” Russell beckoned. “Let’s go to Blackfire Tower of Scholars; the true essence of the Industrial Age is still lying in the laboratories.”

The Blackfire Tower of Scholars is not just a high tower, it is surrounded by several independent laboratories.

Russell led Mel to one such independent laboratory, where a sign reading “Steam Engine Project Team” hung above the laboratory door.

“Sir Russell!”

“Lord Russell!”

The laboratory staff greeted Russell as they saw him, and then the person in charge, Grand Scholar Kirov, quickly arrived: “Sir Russell, Lord Mel, welcome to instruct the Steam Engine Project Team.”

“Grand Scholar Kirov, please introduce us to the progress of the steam engine research,” Russell said with a smile.

Of course, the steam engine project was his initiative.

However, the actual experimental inventions were the work of these scholars—since Great Scholar Placido left, there had been no Grand Scholar in charge at Blackfire Tower of Scholars. The Grand Scholars at Red Castle all focused on research into how to monitor the Snow Giants and Frost Trolls.

“Certainly, Sir Russell.” Kirov immediately began to vividly describe the research progress of the steam engine.

Boilers, cylinders, pistons, flywheels…

The principle of the steam engine was simple: to use heated water to form steam, which would drive a piston to move and then power a flywheel, transmitting force.

“The prototype of the first steam engine is expected to be made in another month…” After Kirov finished updating on the progress, he immediately began to complain, “However, many parts of the steam engine require manual grinding by blacksmiths, which makes it difficult to put them into production.”

“Don’t be afraid of difficulties, there’s always a solution,” Russell responded.

He had a plan to set up a steel mill and a foundry, introducing assembly line production to process various parts.

Of course, all of this only existed in a notebook for now.

The Industrial Revolution wasn’t achieved overnight. Ninety percent of the knowledge in Russell’s mind had been returned to his teachers, unable to provide more advice for the scholars—everything had to be figured out by the scholars themselves.

“Cool!” After visiting the entire project, Mel exclaimed, “So, this internal combustion engine is basically a machine that boils water, and then it uses the steam to generate power?”

“Exactly.”

“It sounds interesting but also unreliable. How powerful can boiling water be? The real power in this world is magic power, the strength of bipedal flying dragons, and even dragons, which can initiate a revolution. Boiling water… I doubt that will be easy.”

“Magic power is strong, but cousin, don’t underestimate boiling water,” Russell chuckled.

Clearly, the natives of this extraordinary world couldn’t understand the potential for an explosive burst of power in a technological world like Earth’s.

Of course, the fundamental rules of the two worlds were not consistent.

The power of technology might not flourish in Dragon Sleep Continent, but it could complement what was lacking, enabling magic to shine even brighter with the help of technology.

“Let’s go, let’s take another turn at the internal combustion engine project team,” Russell said and visited another independent laboratory.

The scholars here were researching more complex machinery—the internal combustion engine.

The limited knowledge Russell had acquired back on Earth reminded him that the steam engine was the hallmark of the first Industrial Revolution, while it seemed that the internal combustion engine was the invention that marked the second. Later on, the internal combustion engine had replaced the steam engine.

But he was afraid that the scholars might not be able to handle the internal combustion engine if they started working on it blindly.

So he picked up the steam engine and started with it alongside the internal combustion engine, accumulating technical experience and training qualified craftsmen.

“I’m still experimenting, Sir. The internal combustion engine you speak of is too complicated. The structure is very difficult to design, and the craftsmanship is also not up to standard… I need more manpower and, moreover, more time,” said the scholar in charge of the internal combustion engine project, Dun.

Like Kirov, Dun was a student of the Great Scholar Placido and had been attracted to stay at the Blackfire Tower of Scholars by Russell’s substantial remuneration.

No prototype had been seen, not even a theoretical validation machine.

The entire internal combustion engine project team was still in the blueprint design stage, and the craftsmen couldn’t even make the parts properly.

“Is this also about boiling water?” Mel asked, utterly confused.

“Fundamentally, you could think of it that way, but the internal combustion engine skips the water boiling, directly heating the gas to perform work,” Russell explained as he left the laboratory, displeased with Dun’s progress, who couldn’t even design a blueprint.

Unfortunately, there were no better talents to recruit.

Apart from a few great scholars, scholars like Kirov and Dun were the most outstanding scientific researchers in the Shadowflame Duchy.

“It’s hard to imagine how you plan to achieve an Industrial Age with boiling water,” Mel remarked after the tour of the Blackfire Tower of Scholars. “But it looks like each project is very interesting and may yield unexpected surprises.”

“No, I’m not simply boiling water,” Russell corrected, “I’m accumulating the experience of boiling water and then combining magic with it.”

The worlds were different, and blindly copying was not advisable. Russell hoped to merge the strengths of both worlds to form an industrial age unique to Dragon Sleep Continent, with magic as the main force and technology as an assistant.

“Wait and see, cousin. I will live a very long life, lifting the mighty Industrial Age and eventually leading humanity to conquer the invasion of the Frost Giants!” Russell said with grand ambition. “My greatest wish in this life is to reach the Frost Giants’ homeland and experience the exotic customs of another world!”

Looking at his cousin who seemed to be glowing with excitement, Mel was momentarily stunned but quickly recovered.

Suppressing a sense of inferiority welling up within, he laughed heartily, “You ride a giant dragon first, then you can talk big!”