The Admiral of Hogwarts

Hagrid's appointment as a professor was related to the killing of the basilisk last year. After capturing the real culprit in the murder case 50 years ago, he was successfully cleared of his name.

Upon hearing this news, many young wizards first looked at Hagrid sitting at the teachers' table in surprise, followed by applause from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables.

For Gryffindor students, Hagrid was a very nice person. Therefore, everyone was happy to see him become a professor.

As for the Ravenclaw students, some of them had read the book about magical creatures that Hagrid had written before, so they applauded to show their recognition of the new professor's professional knowledge.

After announcing all these things, Headmaster Dumbledore finally announced that dinner had begun. In an instant, the tableware in front of everyone was filled with various foods and drinks.

The students, who were starving at this time, immediately began to eat, while discussing the two newly appointed professors and the Dementors.

"Seriously, why didn't they let Professor Halsey be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Lisa Turpin said with some puzzlement.

"Whether it was the basilisk last year or the Dementors this year, Professor Halsey easily defeated them. This should be enough to show that she is fully capable of holding this position, right?"

"I think the current situation is better." Veneto scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes from the plate and said.

"Don't forget that there is a curse on this position. Rather than having Professor Halsey only teach us for one year, I think it's a very wise choice for her not to apply for this position."

After dinner, the prefects took the first-year students to their respective common rooms. Hugo and the others walked against the flow of people towards the teachers' table.

"Congratulations, Hagrid." Hermione congratulated in a shrill voice. Obviously, after entering puberty, she seemed to have some difficulty controlling her voice recently.

"This is thanks to you, and Professor Halsey's help." After hearing Hermione's shout, Hagrid walked over and said excitedly. Although he tried to keep his voice down, it obviously didn't work.

"I really can't imagine that I could become a professor at the school. If my dad knew—" Hagrid said, sobbing, and then took out a huge handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose.

At this time, Professor McGonagall came over and motioned for Hugo and the others to leave. So Hugo, Veneto, and Hermione returned to the Ravenclaw Tower common room together.

After returning to the common room, the three greeted each other and went back to their rooms to rest, after all, the day's travel and the Dementor attack had made them tired enough.

However, after lying on the bed, Hugo suddenly discovered that Unyielding had sent him a special document through the Admiral Network that needed his timely approval, so he had to endure his sleepiness and start reviewing the document.

"Requires an investment equivalent to 360 million pounds, plus a half-year construction period. What are you trying to do?" Hugo, who was originally drowsy, became energetic when he saw the budget on the last page of the document.

"There's no way around it. If we want to make goblin silver, the most important thing we need besides those special refining techniques is something called the Earth's Core Furnace," Salem's voice came from the Admiral Network.

It turned out that since discovering the Wiccan Party's secret base during the last Christmas holiday and obtaining the treasure trove they left behind, the ship girls had begun to study the three technologies left in that base.

The first two, broom making technology and wand making technology, were not difficult for the ship girls to crack, and even half a year was enough for them to improve on the basis of the original technology.

To give a simple example, Salem has already developed a new generation of broom making technology based on those flying broom manufacturing techniques. If there are no accidents, the broom named the 'Imagination Series' will officially launch its first product this Christmas.

But the third, the goblin silver refining technology, was the opposite. After a full half a year, they barely figured out how the entire refining process of this artificial metal, which has extremely strong effects in the magical world, actually works.

"We thought at the time that the difficulty of manufacturing this metal lay in the goblins' special magic, but as we continued to study this thing in depth, we realized that the real difficulty lies in the manufacturing itself," Massachusetts explained.

"Just like nuclear weapons, the basic principles are not too complicated, but the details inside are state secrets. And even if you know all the details, not everyone can manufacture them if they want to."

For the ship girls, imitating the goblins' special spellcasting patterns, and even improving the spellcasting details, was not difficult, but they were stuck on the last step of manufacturing.

Unlike brooms or wands, which are purely handmade or made in small workshops, the production process of goblin silver requires an industrialized production environment.

In the past six months, the ship girls have devoted a lot of energy to analyzing and optimizing the goblin's production process, and now they have finally come up with a plan for the construction of a production base.

Different from the furnaces originally used by the goblins, the furnaces that have been re-optimized by the ship girls have significantly improved both production efficiency and the quality of the final product.

The cost of the improved smelting complex has decreased by 30%, but the yield rate can increase by more than 20%. It can be said that compared with the old version, there has been a complete transformation.

The reason for this is that the ship girls themselves are the highest crystallization of a national industrial system, so they are much better at industrialized mass production than the goblins, who are closed off from the world.

However, it must be admitted that after the wizards blocked the wand making technology, the goblins also developed their own magic system.

At least for the wizards, this technological gap made it completely uneconomical for them to copy such a complete manufacturing system. So they are more inclined to use their advantageous position to buy these items from the goblins.

"Is an investment of only 360 million pounds really enough?" After the ship girls explained the value of this thing, Hugo began to worry about the funding problem.

"For example, I see on this list that it says to dig a tunnel 7,700 meters deep into the ground to draw out the underground flames. Just this one thing should require a huge investment, right?"

"If there's magic, it's actually not that expensive," Saint George said. "Otherwise, how do you think the goblins at Gringotts in London dug miles deep underground, even reaching the magma?"

"Then where are you going to put this smelting plant?" After getting the answer to the previous question, Hugo asked another question that he hadn't seen on the document.

"Because this thing requires you, Admiral, to make the final decision," Unyielding said at this time. "Some of us support putting it on that island in the North Sea, while others support putting it in the mountains near the home port."

"What's the difference between these two places?" Hugo asked.

"There are some slight differences, but overall they're about the same," Massachusetts sent Hugo a form at this time and said. "For example, a base located in the North Sea may require more shipping costs, but it can save some on the construction of a defense system—"

"If it's just this kind of difference, I personally think it's better to put it in the home port," Hugo thought for a moment and said. "After all, that island in the North Sea used to be the Wiccan Party's secret base, and it's still a little less secure."

"Understood, Admiral," Unyielding nodded. "I think in half a year, you'll be able to see the goblin silver we produce."