Magic Industrial Age

Let's not dwell on the huge stir caused by the Percinas's high-profile return, as that will take some time to develop.

At this moment, Loy was already sitting in the Raymond family's carriage, heading to the Champs-Élysées Mana Textile Factory.

The carriage rumbled along, driven personally by Oliveira, the extraordinary combat professional.

Loy sat inside the carriage, with the most important box at his feet, containing magic books, silver dragon skin, ambergris, and other precious treasures.

Of course, Loy wasn't alone in the carriage; there was also Hoover, the butler, and Little Ang, who had boarded the carriage halfway.

Seeing everyone was present, Loy asked directly, "How has Auckland City been while I was away?"

Hoover and Ang exchanged glances, and Hoover took the lead, bringing explosive news: "Young Master, has the bishop from the Church of the Seven Gods arrived?"

"Who is it?"

"Tiffany Morgan, the bishop of Shahar Cathedral, a fanatical follower of Milil, the God of Song, known as the 'Angel Singer'."

"A woman?"

"Most of the fanatical followers of the God of Song are extremely beautiful women who can sing and dance.

This one is said to have conquered mountain giants with her beautiful singing voice."

"Has this Angel Singer met with the Wings of Light?"

"I haven't heard of that!"

"Ang, what about your side?"

"There's a lot happening on my side. Lord Dorgi, the governor, has been having a rough time lately.

It's mainly the aftermath of the pirate raid on Auckland City..."

"What specifically?"

"First, there are the descendants of the nobles, who are concerned about... then there are the merchant groups, who believe that if pirates dare to come ashore, the result will be..."

"That's interesting, but it doesn't seem like there's any real conflict?"

"Not really. These days..."

"..."

As Hoover and Ang spoke, the various trivial matters that had occurred in Auckland City during Loy's absence were narrated in detail.

If Loy were to evaluate it, it would be in five words: lively yet quiet!

The reason for the liveliness is naturally that the events of the Night of Divine Grace are not over. So many people were robbed, and the survivors are bound to make a fuss.

Plus, with the guidance of some interested parties, everyone is directing their anger at the governor's inaction.

Even if Lord Dorgi can handle the royal family, he will still have to face trouble from the Council of Elders.

From noble descendants to merchant associations, from artisans to ordinary civilians, everyone is holding Dorgi accountable.

The uproar from these people is like wave after wave, and it's not easy to quell!

Then there's Eusis Koch, the Wings of Light from the Church of the Sun God, and Tiffany Morgan, the bishop from the Church of the Seven Gods.

The arrival of these two naturally implies some confrontation.

The 'quiet' part is because, although the situation seems tense, as if it could erupt at any moment, it's just tense and hasn't completely exploded.

Perhaps this is the calm before the storm, or perhaps the matter will be suppressed directly; no one knows.

But, without a doubt, the situation is a bit chaotic!

And Loy's high-profile return adds fuel to this chaotic situation.

...

Time flies when you're talking, and Hoover and Ang didn't dare to disturb Loy when he fell into thought.

As they approached the Champs-Élysées Mana Textile Factory, Ang got out of the carriage first and left, while the carriage drove directly to the factory's warehouse.

If there was anything Loy missed while at sea, it was this place.

Without waiting for the carriage to stop, he jumped out and quickly walked into the warehouse, only to find the large space in a mess.

The factory's ceiling was covered with gears and connecting rods, and the ground was embedded with mana-infused lapis lazuli.

There were also newly built furnaces, blacksmith's anvils, blowers, and various tools of all sizes scattered everywhere.

There were many people in the warehouse, with blacksmiths and coppersmiths busy at their respective tasks, the heat from the furnace scorching the air and bringing warmth.

When these people saw Loy, they put down their work and bowed in greeting.

As the employees of their boss, they naturally had to show the proper respect, except for Lilia, who seemed completely unaware.

She was squatting in front of a semi-finished forging hammer, focused on her work, completely oblivious to the presence of another person behind her.

Loy waited for a long time, but unable to wait any longer, he had to reach out and pat her on the shoulder.

Who knew that Lilia would shake her shoulder and say only one sentence, "Don't bother me!", and then ignore him.

Loy found it amusing and reached out to pat her on the other shoulder, which this time annoyed Lilia.

She turned around directly, glaring with her big eyes, exasperated, "Who are you? Can't you see I'm busy...?"

Meeting Loy's smiling face, she couldn't finish her sentence, but after a moment of daze, she spoke again, which made Loy's expression freeze.

"Loy, didn't you go out to sea?"

Loy grinned and said after a long while, "I'm back!"

In fact, Loy hadn't been gone for too long, setting off around January 18th, and today, January 25th, it's only been about seven days.

But so much had happened at sea, and the back-and-forth commotion made it seem like a long time had passed.

However, looking at Lilia's small face again, with thick dark circles under her eyes and exhaustion almost overflowing from her pupils, he couldn't help but ask, "How long has it been since you had a good rest?"

"Rest?"

Lilia was a little dazed, but the next moment her eyes lit up again: "Rest, no need to rest!

Come, come, let me show you our mana forging hammer, no, I don't think the name forging hammer is appropriate.

I call it the Mana Hammer Forging Machine!"

Saying that, Lilia didn't care about Loy's opinion and directly pulled him to the semi-finished machine. With a wave of her hand, she pressed a switch from who knows where, and mana was input into it.

As a result, the huge hammerhead on the machine began to fall, but it didn't hit the anvil below. After a certain distance, it was pulled back up.

And with the rotation of the gears and belts, the speed became faster and faster!

Loy was immediately attracted by the sight. He first walked around the huge machine, and saw that in addition to the gear structure, there were also mana patterns attached, emitting a faint light.

The places where these mana patterns eventually converged had several knob-like devices.

The entire machine looked rough, large, and a bit top-heavy.

There were too many things distributed on top, while there was only an anvil below, which seemed a bit uncoordinated.

After walking around, Loy forgot everything else and just looked at Lilia, saying, "Try it out?"

"Try it out, let's try it out!"

So, a blacksmith used tongs to take out a fist-sized, red-hot iron block from the furnace and put it on the anvil.

Then, the forging hammer fell, hitting the iron block, the 'bang bang bang' sound accompanied by exploding sparks, splashing around.

Loy dodged to stand in front of Lilia, using his clothes to block the sparks, but the blacksmith didn't care at all.

Lilia didn't care either. She poked her head out from behind Loy, staring intently at the constantly falling hammer, and saw the red-hot iron block deforming, flattening, and lengthening at a visible speed...

The blacksmith slowly raised the tongs in his hand, gradually bending the iron block, then took it to the anvil next to him, hammered it a few times with a small hammer, folded the iron block, and put it back under the forging hammer for continuous hammering!

This is the simplest method of refining steel, the folding method, which creates weapons with beautiful cloud patterns.

However, this seemingly simple step, if done manually, would take an unknown amount of effort and time, and would require the cooperation of several blacksmiths.

As long as this step is completed, Loy's purpose in designing this mana hammer forging machine is considered achieved.

However, he was satisfied, but Lilia hadn't finished demonstrating. She flashed to the side of the machine.

Pressing on a certain knob, mana resonated, and she slowly turned the knob. Visibly, the speed of the hammer falling became faster and faster, the 'bang bang bang' hammering sound becoming more and more dense!

Lilia's voice came through the clash of metal, a bit blurry, but Loy heard it clearly: "According to your requirements, I designed three switches and six adjustment methods."

"They are light, heavy, high, low, slow, and fast, which can basically meet all the requirements of blacksmithing."

Accompanying Lilia's demonstration, the hammer was sometimes heavy, sometimes light, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes falling more, sometimes falling less...

Basically, Lilia had helped to achieve all of Loy's designs.

Loy looked at this machine as if it were a treasure, but couldn't help but ask, "Since you've achieved the goal, why aren't you satisfied yet?"

Lilia asked strangely, "Didn't you say that mana machines are meant for everyone to use?"

"These knob designs all involve mana patterns, and using them requires mana resonance.

But how many of the blacksmiths have mana?

So, I'm trying to find a way to avoid this. I originally had some ideas, but you interrupted them when you came."

Saying that, Lilia couldn't help but glare at Loy, but Loy didn't care at all. He laughed loudly and directly carried Lilia up.

"This is good enough, very good, Lilia, you should rest!"

"These days, you probably haven't even had a proper meal, let alone a good rest, right?"

Lilia was startled by Loy's actions and couldn't help but exclaim, "What are you doing? Put me down, there are so many people here, you, you, you..."

Before she could finish speaking, she saw a group of craftsmen secretly laughing there, laughing so much that she buried her head in embarrassment.

Loy ignored her and waved his hand, "Today, the mana forging hammer is completed, everyone rests for a day, wages are paid as usual, I said it!"

"Wow!"

Cheers came, and a group of craftsmen jumped up happily.

And Loy carried Lilia into the carriage, directly calling Oliveira to drive back to the city.

Other than anything else, he had to let Lilia Lightninger have a good rest!!