My Swap Life Game

Chapter 158 The Steam Age and Miracles

Lu Xing smiled and said, "I believe you all have a lot of questions, so I won't explain them one by one. Later, Annie and I will take the train to the mine outside the city to bring back some inferior magic crystals. You can see them for yourself then."

After saying that, he also walked down.

Anne invited the saint to the stage again, but Temira just made a prayer gesture on the stage: "May the goddess bless you."

All those who believed in the Goddess of Light stood up and prayed. Lu Xing estimated that two-thirds of the people were believers of Heli.

"Katherine, have someone bring in the train!"

Anne gave the order.

Lu Xing didn't understand how she arranged it and thought the train would drive directly into the station, but he soon found out that he was wrong and had made an empiricist mistake.

The magic continent is different from the earth!
Only a few loud shouts were heard from behind the station, followed by the sound of a train moving forward. A moment later, the platinum-colored front of the magic steam train appeared in everyone's sight, slowly moving along the track.

The train was not emitting any steam. Behind the locomotive, there were six three-meter-tall, hairy Cyclopses, grunting and pushing the heavy locomotive and train carriages with their shoulders.

One Cyclops pushed the locomotive, and the rest of the giants pushed several carriages that were separated from the locomotive.

The first train in the Magic Continent was a small train, with the front of the train only slightly taller than Anne and a track gauge of less than half a meter, but it was still very heavy. The front of the train and the carriages were all made of steel, and a carriage weighed more than ten tons. Except for magic airships and some special alchemical creations, it was the first time that the nobles of the Moria Empire had seen such a huge steel machine.

"Is this a train?"

"It's so long. A train is more than ten meters long. Can it run just by boiling water with inferior magic crystals?"

"The body of the train is made of heavy steel, no wonder the ground is paved with rails and wood!"

"Why is that train ahead different from the others?"

Everyone started talking about it. After the Cyclops pushed the train to the ground and walked back, the nobles gathered around and saw the luxuriously decorated seats in the train. They all expressed their satisfaction.

Annie smiled and said, "Everyone, this is actually a train. Please look at the first car, which is the front of the train. The four cars at the back are for passengers! There will also be three cargo boxes later, which are used to transport inferior magic crystals!"

"Just one train? I thought it was five! They're going to be spliced together?"

"One section after another, like a big snake."

"The seats in the car are nice."

Amid their discussions, the Cyclops pushed over three more freight cars, and then, under the command of an alchemist from the magic tower, he connected the seven cars to the locomotive one by one. Under the gaze of everyone, he assembled them into a... small train that was over a hundred meters long!

In Lu Xing's eyes, it was just a small train used to complete the tasks he had received and to transport the inferior magic crystals from the mine outside the city.

But in the eyes of many nobles, clergy, and college professors, this was undoubtedly a huge steel monster that was beyond their imagination!

"Conductor Annie." Lu Xing said to her with a smile, "It's time to remind the passengers to prepare for departure!"

"oh oh!"

Anne ran to the side quickly with her skirt lifted up, and pulled the bell hanging next to the platform. With a series of crisp bell sounds, she shouted with a smile: "Dear distinguished passengers, if you are interested in the train, please get on board in turn~~The train will soon leave for the mine outside the city!"

There were many people who wanted to take the train, and the number exceeded the passenger capacity. The Duke of Swinton came forward and invited suitable people to get on board.

Only he can do this. If Annie invites him, it will easily offend people.

When the passengers were getting on the bus, Lu Xing also came to the cab, opened the feed port, and used a shovel to send a pile of inferior magic crystals in.

If it were a steam locomotive on Earth, it would take an hour to boil water and increase the pressure, but in the magical world, Phyllis directly used magic to boil water and skipped the preparation process.

"Ling ring ring~"

Annie rang the bell for the second time, then ran along each carriage one by one, chatted with the passengers on the train, then returned to the cab and worked with Lu Xing to steer the train forward, her little face full of excitement.

In the train carriage.

Renee was sitting on a cushioned seat with a table in front of her. The four of them sat opposite each other and could see the crowd of onlookers outside through the car window.

The train hadn't started yet, but the novelty made her happily chat with her friends:

"Annie told me that she wants to build a railway track to West Town and the snowy mountains. If the train can reach there, we can charter a carriage and travel to West Town together!"

"That's good, but I think it's difficult. Laying tracks is too expensive."

"I really hope Anne can succeed. It's better to take the train than the carriage. It's much more spacious here!"

The noble ladies were chatting about traveling by train, while Professor Balder from Imperial Capital College was watching the changes in the magic power of the train with a few alchemists:
"The water temperature was raised by Miss Phyllis's magic."

"The magic power of the inferior magic crystal is beginning to be channeled out, and some device is trapping the steam. The power is increasing!"

"Can a 100-meter-long car be pulled by the power of steam alone?"

People outside the car were also talking.

Saint Themira sat with Miss Phyllis and the maid Catherine. She was silent because the goddess was communicating with her.

A moment later, a whistle sounded in the station, and people outside the train saw a stream of steam coming out of the chimney at the front of the train.

Then, the long train slowly started to move, causing everyone to exclaim: "It's really moving!"

"Click, click!"

The bearings drive the rollers, and the hundred-meter-long magic steam train moves slowly on the rails. Although the speed is very slow, it is a miracle that such a huge car can run without using any sophisticated alchemical machinery and only relying on inferior magic crystals to boil water!
Under the gaze of everyone, the train drove out of the station and appeared in the sight of civilians who came to watch the excitement, causing another commotion.

"Woo~~!"

The train blew its whistle loudly again, startling the crowd. After seeing where the sound came from, they excitedly stood on tiptoe and crowded closer to see. The riders had to hold hands to stop the oncoming crowd.

The nobles who did not get on the train followed the train on horseback. Among them was Parker. He deliberately flicked his whip, rode his horse to the front of the locomotive, and then turned back with a smug look on his face.

He didn't need to say anything, everyone knew what he meant:
Riding a horse is faster than a train!
The crowd burst into laughter. They knew that the train was huge, and it was amazing that it could move, but the train in front of them was simply too slow, not much faster than a normal human walk.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

The train blew the whistle three times in a row. Miss Anne was angry. She blew the whistle three times in a row in the cab, and then pulled the handle to increase the speed to second gear.

"The magic power has increased!"

The magicians around were keenly aware of the changes in the front of the train, and even more amazing power was stimulated. The steel wheels turned faster and the magic steam train began to speed up!
Gradually, those walking could not keep up with it and could only watch the huge train passing by, leaving behind a gust of wind. Those riding horses had to whip their horses and make them run just to keep up with the speed of the train!

"Goddess, it really started running!"

In the blink of an eye, the train passed through the residential area and arrived at the gate of Rowanskie. The soldiers on the city wall widened their eyes, and the civilians watching at the gate exclaimed again. Although they were not near the railway tracks, they were still frightened by the huge train and stepped back, fearing that it would hit them!

The magic steam train roared through the city gate, drove out of the city and into the wilderness.

The passengers on the train looked at the scenery outside from the windows. After climbing a small hill, the train began to slow down slowly and finally stopped in front of an abandoned mine.

Phyllis saw that the mine had been abandoned for a long time, the wooden houses where the miners had lived had collapsed, and the entrance to the cave was overgrown with weeds.

But there were clearly many inferior magic crystals scattered around the mine. Before Lu Xing arrived, who could have known that these unwanted things could drive a hundred-meter-long train forward?
"The train has arrived. Dear passengers, please get off the train or stay on and have a rest. The train will return in half an hour!" Annie jumped out of the cab and shouted to the passengers with a smile.

It was dirty around the mine, and the noble ladies didn't want to get off the car and dirty their skirts.

However, Lu Xing saw that Annie didn't care at all. Her crystal shoes stepped on the mud, but she was very careful not to get her skirt dirty.

"It's incredible, Mr. Lu Xing, you showed me a great train that is comparable to a miracle! May the goddess bless the Moria Empire!"

The emperor's nephew Owensius praised the goddess of light without reservation.

Lu Xing smiled and said, "Trains have amazing carrying capacity, but unfortunately, there is not so much cargo for them to transport at the moment."

"Maybe we can build a railway between the Imperial Capital and the city of Rowanschwitz!"

"This requires your consideration. The cost will definitely not be low."

The nobles got off the train one after another and came to talk to Lu Xing. Many of them were interested in his previous speech, some wanted to talk to him about the cost of building and maintaining the train, and some even went to take a look at the cab.

Catherine commanded some knights to go into the mine, first eliminate the magical creatures lurking inside, and then let the workers and the knights work together to mine up the inferior magic crystals.

There was a group of magicians and alchemists there. They used magic to lift the inferior magic crystals that were transported to the cave entrance and dumped them onto the train. The three cargo boxes were filled in just ten minutes.

Lu Xing was amazed. Magic is the productivity of this world!

"How long can these inferior magic crystals be used to boil water for a castle?"

Owenhus asked curiously.

Lu Xing couldn't answer, so he looked at Phyllis. The high-level mage made a simple estimate and said, "It can last the current city of Rowanschi for a month."

There are now seven boilers in the city, which can provide hot water for tens of thousands of people. When the heating system is truly established in the future, three cargo boxes of inferior magic crystals will not be enough for a day.

"so little?"

“It can actually last for half a month?!”

Two completely opposite opinions appeared at the same time. Phyllis said to those who felt that there were too few: "Although the inferior magic crystals have become useful, the efficiency of using magic power is still not as good as that of pure magic crystals."

Duke Swinton said, "We can use only these inferior magic crystals to provide hot water for heating for the entire city. This is already very cost-effective. In a mine, the amount of inferior magic crystals is far greater than that of pure magic crystals. I just went down to the mine to take a look. I roughly estimate that this small mine can provide the city of Rowansch for fifty years."

Everyone's eyes flickered and they were calculating in their minds.

They had never paid attention to the Inferior Magic Crystals before, but they roughly knew the reserves of the Inferior Magic Crystals. There were large amounts of these discarded things under each mine. It took a lot of effort to dig them out in the past. Now the Inferior Magic Crystals can also be used, and the profits that a mine can bring will increase a lot.

"It doesn't seem appropriate to call it inferior magic crystal anymore." Annie interrupted, because she thought of the coal mines and oil on Earth.

Seeing that no one objected, she looked at her fiancé and said with a smile, "Mr. Lu Xing, how about you give the Inferior Demon Crystal a new name?"

"It's called Steam Magic Crystal?"

Lu Xing came up with a random name, and Phyllis laughed: "Inferior magic crystals can only be used to boil water, so this name is just right."

So everyone unanimously agreed to change the inferior magic crystals into steam magic crystals!
All are happy.

Everyone got on the train again. This time, Lu Xing and Anne did not act as drivers. After teaching Owenhus how to drive, he and Anne came to the carriage where the saint was and sat with a group of noble ladies.

Not long after, the train carrying the steam magic crystals returned to the city, where people were already waiting. After the magic crystals were unloaded from the train, they were quickly transported to several boilers in the city and put into them.

Half an hour later, steam rose from all over the city, and hot water was sent through pipes to several population centers.

Holy Light Cathedral, Swindon Castle, Town Hall, Orphanage, Pier...

Before the cold night came, in places where there were hot water pipes, people were so hot that they took off their thick coats and stayed indoors wearing only one piece of clothing!
"An incredible miracle!"

"Thank you for the grace of the goddess, thank you Mr. Lu Xing and Miss Anne!"

Inside the church, Saint Temira looked at the people praying devoutly. She heard the goddess' voice: "Temira, you did a good job."

"Great goddess, I didn't do anything. It's all Mr. Lu Xing's credit..."

Temira said tactfully that she was embarrassed to say that she had not accomplished anything in the past few days.

"You've been taking a bath with Lu Xing these days and have sacrificed a lot."

There was a hint of laughter in the goddess' voice.

A blush of embarrassment appeared on Temira's cheeks, which were covered by the veil.

Except for the first day, she did not wrap her body in a towel in the bathroom in the following days. Mr. Lu Xing deliberately avoided her eyes, but Temira had seen many times that he was admiring her smooth body.

"goddess……"

Temira's voice was soft and gentle.

"What do you want?" the goddess asked her directly.

Temira hesitated for a while before expressing her wish: "Goddess, I want to serve you and Mr. Lu Xing in the future."

"I promise you, Temira, you will be my seventh angel!"

"Goddess, this gift seems too precious."

"I have one more request. Next year when he goes to the imperial capital, you can bathe with him again. You can also do other things you want with him."

"What do you mean by other things? Goddess, bathing with Mr. Lu Xing doesn't seem to be a requirement, it's... a reward."

Temira stammered that she would be happy to bathe with Mr. Lu Xing and Miss Anne, although she was a little shy.

The goddess laughed, "You said the same thing as him. You will know the rest next year. Temira, I am coming to the continent!"

"Yes, goddess!"

After hearing this, Temira became excited, prayed and looked up at the dome of the church, "Great Goddess, please use my body!"

Holy light bloomed from her pure white body, but it remained concentrated and did not dissipate. A great will entered her body.

She watched the goddess stretch her body, then stretched out her hand and pointed to the sky.

Temira subconsciously looked towards the church. A miracle had happened!

Her consciousness was with the goddess, and she saw thousands of Holy Light Churches of all sizes across the continent, all glowing with light.

The great goddess has brought down a miracle!

"The age of steam has arrived. Temira, after returning to the imperial capital, order the Pope to change the Holy Light Calendar to the Steam and Mechanical Calendar at the beginning of the new year!"

"Temira obeys your instructions, goddess."

(End of this chapter)