Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 89 “Ancient” Technology
Sometimes Ethan couldn't help but wonder whether Winter was a human who turned into a cat, or a cat who turned into a human. Recently, whenever she suddenly turned into a cat, it meant that she wanted to pounce on people.

I really don't know where he learned the skills of rubbing against others and pushing them around.

In the evening, before going out, Ethan tidied up his clothes which were a little messy because of the cat. The cat went to Fireplace Bay to look after the store for him, and he went straight to the mountains outside Creekwood Town. Ivy had not been idle these days. She mobilized all the connections she could, and after begging everyone for help, she finally found an airship.

The airship will arrive tonight and will carry the knights of the empire back to their temple.

Ethan felt that the technology tree of this world was very strange. While most warfare methods were still based on horses and muskets, high-tech products such as airships had already been born. He recently heard that the Empire's golden fleet named "Sword of Damocles" was not a ship, but a group of airships equipped with enough firepower to raze a city in a short period of time.

Listening to Teacher Maomao's story, he subconsciously thought of something like the Kirov airship.

But the most outrageous thing is that the people of the empire call these "ancient technology" - the Golden Fleet is a technological product created in the Sixth Era, when the first king established the empire. After that, the empire experienced six long-lived kings, but not only did the technology not make any progress, it even regressed.

Nowadays, the people of the empire generally call the early years of the establishment of the empire the golden age, and dream of returning the empire to its former glory. They believe that today's technological creations are absolutely unable to catch up with ancient technology.

Teacher Maomao believes that the fundamental reason is that after the heroes who founded the empire died of illness one after another, although the later generations inherited their titles, their abilities have been declining with each generation, and now they have completely become a cancer of fame and fortune.

After traveling all the way, Ethan finally found Ivy and her...camp on a hill.

"What are you doing?"

When they met, the tent had already been set up. Ivy found an open space on the edge of the cliff and wrapped herself tightly in a sleeping bag, leaving only her head exposed. She was fully equipped and had brought a pot of broth, canned fruit, sour cream and a platter of four kinds of bread.

There was a book about magical technology on the ground. She was too lazy to even stretch her hands out of the sleeping bag, and the golden hair on her head could actually serve as a page turner.

Looks like camping.

"Study. Aren't you going to study magic technology? I've never been exposed to these things before."

Ivy yawned, with obvious dark circles under her eyes as always.

Ethan's words opened the door to a new world for her. She suddenly showed a strong interest in magic technology. She bought this book from Hearth Bay and read it for several nights in a row.

This made her realize that they were not the pioneers on this path. As early as the founding of the empire, craftsmen had formed the Mystic Alliance, an organization that brought together elemental shapers, magicians, alchemists, demon hunters and other paths. The great craftsmen believed that everyone's cognitive level was limited, and only by pooling everyone's wisdom could their research go further.

The first generation of scholars proposed many ideas about magical technology, laying a solid foundation for later generations.

Ivy felt that if they knew that the descendants dismantled the organization shortly after the factional struggle, they would be so angry that they would crawl out of their graves and strangle them to death.

"Give me a grape."

Ivy suddenly spoke, and before Ethan could react, the tuft of golden hair on her head rolled up a grape from the fruit plate and brought it to Ivy's mouth.

This golden retriever can actually stretch!
Ethan was completely attracted by the fully functional golden retriever. The golden retriever even turned its "tip" and proudly stood up towards him. He couldn't help but suspect that the golden retriever was also a product of some ancient technology. "Don't stand there like an idiot. There's a box in my tent. Open it. There's a gift I prepared for you."

"Copy that, leader!"

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that Ivy seemed to be more and more lively recently. The impression that this small town security guard had given him before perfectly matched his stereotype of believers of the God of Truth.

Ethan didn't understand where Ivy found this treasure chest that looked like one from an RPG adventure game. When he opened it, he saw six gray opaque crystals neatly arranged inside.

"This is an energy storage crystal. Individuals can only buy it on the black market in Hearth Bay. The quantity is extremely limited and the demand exceeds supply."

Ivy's voice floated in from outside the tent. "This is one of the empire's unique minerals. Crystal veins in various places are firmly controlled by mineral companies under the name of the consortium. After mining, they are directly transported to factories such as the Imperial Military Industry for processing and production. These are all black goods that are circulated from who knows where."

In theory, this is also illegal.

Imperial law clearly stipulates that individual citizens are not allowed to mine energy-storage crystal veins, privately store unprocessed energy-storage crystals, or sell them.

But Ivy has let it go. These charges are nothing compared to Ethan's attack on a legitimate god.

"If you want to research magic technology, you must find a source of energy storage crystals. It's no problem to buy and sell a few crystals privately, but if you need to buy a large number of them, it will definitely attract the attention of the consortium and the empire's top leaders."

Ivy said.

In the books she had read recently, almost every conjecture about magical technology involved the consumption of basic materials such as energy storage crystals.

"It's a real problem."

Ethan took out a crystal from it and sat not far from Ivy to study it carefully.

This thing was indeed rare. He had been in the guild in Ximu Town for two years and had come into contact with all kinds of people, but he had never seen anyone take out this thing, and none of the commissions he had registered had anything to do with energy storage crystals.

"This book is very interesting. I can lend it to you after I finish reading it."

Although the book contained a lot of professional terms and was a handwritten manuscript, and many of the accompanying concept drawings were indistinguishable from simple sketches, making it impossible to understand what it was trying to express, she still felt as if she was taken to a bizarre world. This sense of exploration full of the unknown was very attractive and enabled her to further understand the situation of the empire.

"The master craftsman who wrote this book is the first 'scholar' of the empire and the Grand Mage of the Astronomical Society. He compared the relationship between magicians and elemental shapers to a carriage. The elemental shapers are like the wheels, determining the energy issues necessary for all research, while the magicians are the drivers who decide where the carriage will go."

Ivy thought this was an interesting metaphor.

What’s even more interesting is that “later the driver had a fight with the carriage and all the wheels flew off.”

(End of this chapter)