Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 625 - 546: Territory Inspection and Innovation

Western Georgia Territory, at the edge of the Cumberland Mountains.

"Open the furnace!"

At the command of the person in charge, workers clad in full protection used iron hooks to forcefully pull open the furnace door at the steel-clad high furnace made of refractory bricks.

Whoosh—

Amidst the surging heat and splattering iron sparks, orange-red molten iron surged out, flowing through the intermediate tank and slowly into the water-cooled crystallizer.

Even though the final ingots were not completely formed, a cheer erupted among the onlookers. Everyone's faces were illuminated with a red glow, not just from the molten iron's reflection but also from the boiling hot blood inside them.

"Oh—!" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Ah, it's done!"

"Hahaha, it really worked, this new-style high furnace is fantastic!"

Olivia, who was also there eagerly watching the furnace door, pumped her pink-white fist. Turning slightly, she wasn't surprised to see the same excitement in Aiven's eyes.

After a short wait.

A thin middle-aged man wearing a gray wizard robe, with one eye replaced by a red artificial eye, jovially ran over to them, cradling a rough, gray iron ingot weighing ten kilograms.

He presented the ingot to Aiven with both hands, bowing to report on the first furnace opening:

"Sir, the iron ingot has come out, and its quality is very good. The first cast of molten iron has crystallized and been weighed, and it appears that achieving an average daily production of six hundred tons as designed is absolutely feasible."

Aiven received the ingot in hand and snapped it with his bare hands. After seeing the fracture surface, he nodded in satisfaction:

"Mr. Kingsley, thank you for your hard work."

At this, the thin middle-aged man with the artificial eye bent even lower, utterly unwilling to take credit:

"We owe it all to the new ironmaking technology brought by you, sir. Our work is hardly worth mentioning."

Clearly, he was a former "Mechanical Immortality School" wizard apprentice and an apprentice who was nearly too old to have any potential for further progress.

By now, it was late September.

Brought back to Georgia Territory and implanted with the [Symbiotic Strain] by Aiven,

these restored orthodox "Mechanization" wizard apprentices, all clever individuals, clearly saw the situation and eagerly integrated into the various new production industries in the territory.

With their knowledge and skills far surpassing ordinary people, they brought about substantial breakthroughs in these industries.

These individuals could be monstrously cruel during forbidden experiments, yet they also possessed the purity of technical personnel. At least with the help of these wizard apprentices, Aiven's industrial plans had blossomed in many areas, quickly moving into the fast lane.

Just like this newly-built first ironmaking high furnace with an effective volume of 200 cubic meters, capable of producing an average of 600 tons of pig iron per day, reaching an astonishing annual output of 220,000 tons.

Compared to Aiven's era, this would be considered inefficient and inevitably consigned to history's trash heap. But currently, its significance is epoch-making compared to the kingdom mainland which has just learned coke ironmaking technology.

Even expanding the effective volume to 400 cubic meters or even 800 cubic meters posed no technical difficulty.

For this reason, after careful screening, Aiven also mobilized a large batch of loyal "Skin-Wearing People" to serve as the steel plant's guard army, closely protecting the secrets here.

This technology clearly did not originate from the Alchemist's hands but from a city of an ancient god in the Spirit Realm, a discovery from an exploration of Aiven and Olivia.

Previously, they deliberately avoided cities of ancient gods, but now, with the [Mythical Language: Ancient Code] as a maze-clearing reward, it is possible to transform it into valuable knowledge.

Although they wouldn't deliberately pursue it, they also wouldn't intentionally avoid it.

Among the practical technologies they deciphered, this advanced ironmaking high furnace equipment fits perfectly with Georgia Territory's current conditions.

Using this high furnace technology to smelt 1 ton of pig iron requires 1.5-2.0 tons of iron ore, 0.4-0.6 tons of coke, 0.2-0.4 tons of flux (limestone), totaling 2-3 tons of raw materials.

The prerequisite is to ensure continuous high furnace production, requiring ample raw material supply which is precisely the advantage of the rich iron and coal resources in the Cumberland Mountains.

One generation of high furnace (from opening to major repairs and shutdown) can continuously produce for several to ten years, a true profit generator, regarded by Aiven and Olivia as the key to reversing Georgia's steel industry fortunes.

In the future, as industry scales expand and steel production capacity increases, the day will come when Georgia challenges the entire New Continent, even the world.

After encouraging the local steelworkers, the two left the newly emerging "Steel City."

Through [Black Cavity], in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the second stop of their inspection over a hundred kilometers away in the central part of the territory—Ceramic Town.

Here possibly lies the world's richest clay resources, and determining how to transform the earth is paramount in their work.

As the two stepped out of [Black Cavity] into this small town with only a few buildings,

Old Buck, Will, and another wizard apprentice Kenneth, who once survived the sword of the evil spirit "Deer Bone God," were already waiting here.

Witnessing such mysterious means, they showed full reverence as they presented yesterday's first batch of kiln products.

In reality, there were only a dozen items, and not only were they all small objects, but also riddled with various defects.

When Olivia marveled at this magical "magic" and carefully played with a deep blue porcelain bowl.

Aiven furrowed his brow slightly, somewhat dissatisfied:

"Since it's the first kiln, let's not talk about appearance and variety—the yield of even defective products is really too low, probably not even half, is it?"

In his memory, the rate of qualified porcelain products in ancient kiln firing should reach about ten percent, not to mention defective products.

Old Buck, who had some expertise in pottery and was currently the technical supervisor here, stepped forward cautiously to report:

"Sir, of the two hundred porcelain blanks placed in the kiln, only eleven could be fully extracted. Most of the others shattered. Based on my experience, the main issue lies in the control of the kiln temperature."

Within Aiven's knowledge system, there wasn't much stored about ceramic firing.

He only recalled that pottery is fired at temperatures between 800-1000 degrees, while porcelain is fired between 1300-1400 degrees. The specific firing temperature varies with the different local porcelain clays and should be determined based on final sintering.

This knowledge, considered secrets of the trade in the Peacock Islands, had already been previously shared with the craftsmen, but achieving final success clearly required long-term experiments and exploration bit by bit.

Additionally, the glaze on porcelain is another tricky point.

Glaze is essentially that shiny coating on the surface of the porcelain.

Primarily composed of clay, quartz, and feldspar, it's applied to the blank surface after grinding and mixing, and then fired at high temperatures to form glassy crystals upon cooling.

The simplest basic colors are celadon, white porcelain, and black porcelain. Celadon appeared earliest, generally containing an iron content between 1%-5%. Below 1% is white porcelain, and above 5% is black porcelain.

The purpose of this experimental first kiln was to first fire celadon, with the short-term goal of producing white porcelain, which is highly sought after among the nobility of the kingdoms in the Old Continent.

Firing white porcelain involves removing iron from the glaze and serves as the foundation for all other colors, marking a significant milestone in porcelain firing.

Only afterward would the issue of personalized coloration be considered—the color agent for blue and white porcelain is cobalt, red comes from iron oxide or copper oxide, beyond which Aiven couldn't quite recall.

After some thought, he looked at the three people again:

"Currently, the fuel used for firing porcelain is mainly wood, but coal can also be used. The nature of the fuel indeed makes kiln temperature difficult to control. Continue experimenting afterward; our raw materials are not lacking at all."

After pausing, he specifically named the Wizard Apprentice:

"Mr. Kenneth, can we try designing a temperature control device using the power of alchemy? You're responsible for submitting whether a feasible research proposal can be presented to me.

At the very least, we need to be able to stably produce white porcelain, and then we can start marketing. Gentlemen, I need not say how valuable porcelain is—the opportunity to turn clay into gold is right before us."

"As you command, Sir!"

With the support of the knowledge provided by Aiven, they were already a step ahead of other countries also experimenting with porcelain production; failing to achieve results would be truly unacceptable.

...

When the two returned to the Governor's Mansion hand in hand, it was already that afternoon.

The warm golden sunlight filled the clean and tidy study, Aiven and Olivia snuggled up against the wide sofa, both feeling somewhat physically and mentally exhausted.

Thanks to the gradually strengthening abilities of Kaka, they could travel at will between the Governor's Mansion, the Wizard Tower, and various locations within the territory, achieving detailed control over this land of one hundred thousand square kilometers.

In just half a day, they had visited all five towns scattered across the Georgia Territory, dealing with countless miscellaneous affairs, to the point that even the constitution of an Extraordinary felt quite weary.

Additionally, combining the knowledge of Gem Witchcraft and the Mechanization inherited from the Alchemists, short-distance teleportation devices within the Wizard Tower were already underway.

Afterward, members of the school or even territory officials could use this to travel, indirectly allowing Aiven to firmly control the entire territory.

The needed resources weren't a concern at all.

That day, after eradicating the "Mechanical Immortality School," they conveniently scavenged the spoils of war.

No wonder they are the representatives of advanced productivity, the wealthiest among wizards. Of less than twenty Official Wizards, they found five magic pockets alone.

Moreover, after the fort crumbled, though it sank into the riverbed, it was packed entirely by Kaka's open [Shadow Secret Vault], with no waste at all. Coupled with the knowledge acquired from the "Mechanical Immortality School," it was like strapping rocket boosters to the previously impoverished "Vitalist School."

In terms of personal cultivation, Aiven had begun learning the second volume "Flesh Puppet" with Angie.

Aside from the Meditation Method progress, the biggest challenge Aiven faced in advancing to Tier 3 was achieving groundbreaking results related to the biology of the three previous volumes of the Inheritance Secret Scroll.

Aiven's secular inventions could already be described as numerous, but the pioneering breakthroughs on the wizarding path required deeper thought.

"Master, Viscount, afternoon tea is ready."

At that moment, Sarah, wearing a neatly attired maid skirt, walked in with a silver tray. These beautiful "Night Spirits" had immersed into their maid roles remarkably well with incredible adaptability speed.

"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Sarah."

Looking at this "Night Spirit," actually already thirty-eight years young yet still as youthful and beautiful as a maiden, a flash of inspiration struck Aiven's mind.

"I've got it!"