I was a lord farming, how did I become an emperor?

Chapter 146 Rune Code Lock

Labette led her people back to Frostleaf Town the next day.

The Snow Rabbit people also witnessed the meals served to the slaves of Frostleaf Town and, in their excitement, ate their first hearty meal of the winter.

In order to ensure that everyone would have food to eat in the future, that very night Labet led his people to study the blueprints.

He even went directly to the manor the next morning to consult Rhodes.

Rod appreciated Labette's straightforwardness and explained some key knowledge to the snow rabbit.

In Rhodes's previous life, modern coking was extremely complex.

But the principle is actually very simple.

In short, it is the process by which coal is heated to about 1,000 degrees Celsius in the absence of air, causing a reaction and decomposition to produce coke and other substances.

Without considering the collection of other materials, the traditional coking method only leaves coke, which is relatively simple.

Labette is smarter than I thought.

After fully understanding the plan, he chose a location in a ravine, following the blueprints provided by Rhodes.

This eliminated the need for a platform; instead, they excavated directly from one side of the gully, creating a pit four meters long, two meters wide, and one and a half meters deep.

Inside the pit, Rhodes' slaves built a stone wall around it, which was then reinforced by the Snow Rabbits to serve as the furnace cavity.

A flue is dug next to the furnace chamber, and a channel is opened directly above the gully to allow the gases produced during coking to escape.

The bottom of the cave served as the furnace floor, and after being compacted, it was made into a slope with flat stone slabs. This made it easier to dig out the coke by opening the furnace door below after refining.

Once everything is prepared, put the coal in, seal the top with straw or rammed earth, leaving only the ignition hole and the smoke exhaust hole.

Then ignite it at the air inlet to guide the coal to burn slowly and dry distill.

It is worth mentioning that Labette brought twenty members of his tribe out of goodwill.

Labette wanted to speed things up and produce results to show Rhodes.

However, he overlooked an important issue.
—The cramped cave simply didn't have enough space to accommodate so many people.

Building this kind of rudimentary coking furnace only requires six or seven Snow Rabbit people; having more would only make things more chaotic.

But their trip wasn't in vain.

Rodin Labette divided the men into two groups, one of which continued to build the coking furnace.

Meanwhile, another group of thirteen Snow Rabbits began building Rhodes' brick kiln.

The previous brick kilns were all temporary and produced a small number of bricks. Now, Luode Bricks only has a little over 10,000 bricks in stock.

It sounds like a lot, but compared to building a city wall that's thousands of meters long, it's just a drop in the ocean.

Therefore, Rod wanted to build a special brick kiln in advance.

Brick kilns are much simpler.

Simply have the Snow Rabbits dig a tunnel, then build a brick-making room inside, leaving a firebox and flue below for burning firewood.

For the snow rabbit people, once they know how to dig, there is no difficulty at all.

Seeing the Snow Rabbit people busy inside the cave, Rhodes had a new idea in his mind.

Perhaps these snow rabbits could build a "pit-style mold-making house" underground.

In fact, the most difficult part of brick-making in winter is not the firing itself, but the "brick blank making" step.

The biggest problems are that the bricks crack because the moisture is difficult to evaporate, the low temperature makes it difficult to mix the clay, and the inability to air dry.

But if we could dig a warm greenhouse underground and add a heated brick bed for insulation, we might be able to fire bricks in the winter.

Thinking of this, Rhodes immediately called out Labette from the pit.

"What is it, my lord?"

Labette wiped the yellow mud off his nose, but the more he touched it, the messier it became.

How many people are left in your clan?

Rod asked, "Can everyone come?"

"There are still twenty-three people who can work!"

Labette answered without hesitation.

Because he counted them before he came.

"Call them all here and get this brick kiln built as soon as possible."

Rod ordered, "Build five kilns first. After that, you'll have much more to do."

"it is good!"

Labette answered excitedly.

As long as there is work to do, there will be enough food to eat!

"I'll go and call people right now, and have them go back and inform the tribe."

Labette ran excitedly toward the cave dwelling.

Not long after, he returned with droopy ears.

"My lord, my people are also eager to get to work... Why don't you send someone to inform them?"

Labette looked somewhat helpless.

After the groups were formed, another snow rabbit served as the captain on the other side.

The brick kiln team leader didn't want to waste his manpower to make the notification, and the other Snow Rabbit people were also unwilling to go.

Just kidding, who wouldn't want to do their job well and finish it as quickly as possible?
Why didn't your coking furnace team send anyone back?
These are the exact words of the brick kiln team leader.

"Alright, I'll inform Sherry and have her go back and organize it. Lawrence is just about to send food to your cave."

Rod smiled and didn't interfere further.

This was indeed something Labette did impulsively, without proper planning.

"However, your approach lacks authority and will make it difficult to lead the team in the future."

"Yes!"

Labette straightened his back. "Don't worry! I'll discuss it with Sherry!"

"Okay, make the arrangements, and don't let them affect the progress of the tasks I gave you."

Rhodes offered a reminder, then left.

The coking oven was successfully built in four days.

Add coal, seal the top, ignite, and then wait.

After about three days, when the smoke coming out of the flue became thinner and less, and there was no more irritating smell, all the vents were sealed with mud.

After waiting for two more days, once the furnace temperature had dropped, the furnace was opened.

Rhodes' first batch of coke was finally produced.

The first batch was very small.

Rod had someone count it, and it was only 833 jin, but that was enough for the blacksmith's shop.

Upon seeing these dark, charred objects, Rhodes immediately instructed Lawrence to arrange for the coke to be delivered to the blacksmith's shop.

Bedo was mechanically adjusting the plate armor blanks, his eyes vacant as he waited for the hammer to fall again and again.

When he saw the baskets of earthenware carried in by the slaves, his eyes widened instantly. He threw aside the blanks for armor plates and grabbed one out.
"This is... Blackstone?!"

Bedo looked outside and saw basket after basket of black stones being carried in!

Bedor's eyes were filled with excitement, and his voice trembled slightly.

"You really got the Black Stone!"

Rhodes nodded slightly and said, "It looks very similar to your description, but we'll have to try it to know for sure."

"You are simply amazing, like a god!"

Beethoven exclaimed in admiration.

His exaggerated words made Rod laugh.

If this little thing is compared to the divine, and if the charlatans of the Holy Council nearby find out, then Bedor will surely be accused of blasphemy.

However, you can say whatever you want here.

"Alright, give it a try," Rod urged.

"Yes, my lord!"

Bedor bowed respectfully to Rhodes.

Bedo quickly instructed his apprentices to clear the stove beside them, and then carefully put the coke into the stove and lit it.

He stared intently at the flames burning inside, his eyes sparkling with anticipation and joy.

"It really is! It really is!"

When he saw those wisps of blue-white flame, Bedor jumped up excitedly.

He quickly turned and ran into the inner room, took out the harpoon made of sea-patterned magic iron, and put it inside.
Before long, Rhodes saw the harpoon gradually turn orange-red, with faint blue patterns on it.

"Finally, I've softened it!"

Bedor's hands began to tremble as he looked excitedly at Rhodes.

"Rest assured, my lord, leave everything to me this time!"

"I'm sure I can do it this time!" Beethoven confidently assured him.

"it is good."

Rod nodded calmly, no longer bothering Bedor, and immediately left the blacksmith shop.

However, reforging is a time-consuming process.

If Bedor succeeds this time, Rhodes will throw the remaining harpoons directly into the blast furnace for remelting.

Rhodes returned to the manor.

Avril was organizing teaching materials in the old cabin, while Vivian and Millie were fighting over a honey jar next to her.

"That's enough! Can't you just give way to Millie?"

Rod said with a hint of helplessness, "She's still a child."

"Based on the time I was born, I'm still a child!"

Vivian retorted indignantly, "Besides, this jar was given to me by my sister, but she eats more than I do!"

Rhodes sighed, ignoring the two guys.

Just as he was about to put his arm around Avril to relax for a while, a guard rode into the manor in a flurry of activity.

"My lord, I've brought back what you requested!"

There aren't many people who can ride horses freely in Frostleaf Town right now.

Rhodes naturally recognized the guard.

—It was the guard who was sent to contact the Dawn Society.

The guard trotted up to Rhodes, presented the package, and said, slightly out of breath, "Dawn will deliver it to you!"

Rhodes looked at him and smiled slightly: "Thank you for your hard work."

After taking the cloth bag, Rod immediately opened it, revealing an exquisite wooden box inside.

Opening the wooden box, inside lay a thick, handcrafted booklet, inscribed with the words "Hai Clan Script Handbook." "Very good, hmm."

Rhodes nodded in satisfaction, then said to the guard, "Go and rest. I'll give you two days off."

"Thank you for your generosity, sir."

The guard bowed respectfully and withdrew.

Rhodes immediately returned to his workshop on the manor and eagerly began studying the sea creature scripted manuscript.

This journal is written on new paper by Rhodes; it is clearly newly made.

However, the contents are very detailed, with thousands of characters corresponding one-to-one with the Imperial language.

Rhodes immediately took out the four books he had collected at the bottom of the sea and matched them one by one.

The Fundamentals of Sea Clan Rune Books

The Epic of the Deep Sea: 30,000 Years

Complete Guide to Basic Apprenticeship Subjects

The Silent Chamber

"It seems that, except for the last one, they are all quite valuable."

Rhodes muttered to himself, but he did not rush to read these books.

I don't recognize the characters, so opening it won't help.

Rhodes put the books away, then took three sheets of parchment from the cabinet and spread them out on the table.

These three sheets of scrap paper are covered with various intricate patterns, and they can be pieced together in the correct order.

—These were all rubbings taken from the gate of the ruins, and it seems that this is also the script of the Seaweed Clan.

Rhodes stared intently at the patterns on the paper, then searched for the corresponding entries in his journal.

He found most of the text, and based on the clues in the smaller characters, he learned that it contained mostly witchcraft runes.

Rhodes immediately opened the book "Basic Sea Clan Rune Codex" and searched for the corresponding rune patterns.

I was busy from day to night.

I was busy like this for two days.

Rhodes finally found all the runes in the books and figured out the meaning of the combination of runes on the gate.

A total of nine different runes are combined to form the most commonly used rune restrictions by sea tribe wizards.

Once the rune restriction is broken, the gate to the ruins can be opened.

This restriction is very simple.

Rhode only needs to inject energy into these nine runes in a specific order to activate them and remove the restriction.

Simply put, it's like a nine-digit combination lock from a past life.

"Oh my god."

Rod felt like he was going crazy.

"If the nine runes are activated in sequence, and the combinations are calculated using permutations and combinations, wouldn't that result in hundreds of thousands of combinations?"

Rod did a quick calculation and sat down in his chair, somewhat dejected.

Nine factorial.

Do we have to try them one by one?

In this situation, he might not be able to find the right combination even if he waits until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.

It is absolutely impossible to open unless there is the correct permutation and combination.

Rod thought to himself, "This is even harder than winning the lottery."

"How to do this?"

Rhodes was still somewhat unwilling to give up on this ruin.

This first floor was most likely the dormitory for wizard apprentices.

So, is the dwelling of a formal wizard located beneath the ruins?

At the very least, it could be a wizard apprentice's laboratory, training ground, or even a warehouse.

In short, a rune-coded lock is definitely not simple.

Rod refused to give up.

They rallied and began rereading the basic rune texts to find other ways to break the spell.

Rhodes studied patiently and actually found other solutions in the classic texts.

Relying on his powerful mental strength, he directly destroyed the rune array on the stone gate and forcibly opened it.

But this approach only fueled Rhodes' despair.

Because the mental strength required to break this runic combination lock must reach fifty points.

—This level of mental strength is at the level of a formal wizard.

"hehe."

Rod could only let out a helpless, cold laugh, then listlessly and boredly tapped the table.

It seems he'll never be able to open the next level in his lifetime.

"Dong dong dong."

Just as Rod was feeling helpless, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Rhodes sighed. "Come in."

The door was pushed open, and Millie's small figure appeared in the doorway.

"Gone."

She held a jar of honey, turned it upside down and shook it, looking at Rod with expectant eyes.

Rhodes calmed himself down and patiently asked, "Is this the last can?"

Millie nodded, then shook her head, her little ponytail swaying with the movement.

"My sister said there are two more cans to save for you, and I'm not allowed to eat them."

Rhodes bought ten jars of honey from Mansh last time. Avril and Millie each had two jars, and Rhodes also had two jars. The remaining four jars were for making medicine and for daily use.

Rod barely ate anything, but Avril and Millie ate very quickly.

Millie, in particular, finished both cans in just over a month.

Millie wasn't holding her own can now, but Avril's.

"It's okay, just tell her you can eat it."

Rod smiled and gently stroked the little girl's hair.

"Thank you!"

Millie excitedly skipped and jumped out of the house, clutching the jar, forgetting to even close the door.

Left with no other option, Rod got up and closed the door himself.

"I wish I were as carefree as Millie."

Looking at the figure outside the door, Rod couldn't help but think that perhaps he should eat more sweets like Millie to improve his mood.

"and many more……"

Rod watched as Millie suddenly realized something, a glint of light appearing in her eyes.
"I might not win the lottery myself, but Millie can!"

"If she really is the Witch of Fortune, then she should be able to directly arrange the correct order of these nine runes, right?"

Thinking of this, Rhodes's hope was rekindled!

He quickly ran out to catch up with Millie, picked the little girl up from behind, and ran straight back to the studio!

"Hey, hey, hey?"

Millie was startled, but her face lit up with curiosity when she realized it was Rod who was holding her.

"You're not allowing me to eat honey anymore?"

Millie stared longingly at Rod.

"Don't rush, help your brother with something, and all the honey is yours after it's done!"

Rod said to Millie, "And if we can make it, I'll let you eat candy every day!"

"sugar?"

Millie blinked her big eyes and asked.

"It's as sweet as honey!"

Rod smiled and nodded, then reached out and patted the little girl's head.

"it is good!"

Millie clapped her hands excitedly, her smile especially bright, "White Sister and Black Sister want candy too!"

"no problem!"

Rod loudly assured him.

Although he didn't know why, Rod knew that the white sister and the black sister were Avril and Vivian.

Rod, holding Millie, sat at the wooden table and pointed to the runes on the scrap paper, asking:

"If you were to arrange these nine patterns in order, how would you do it?"

Rod said gently, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Millie looked at the pattern, her brows furrowed, a hint of pain in her eyes.

Her expression immediately caught Rod's attention.

If Millie were just pointing randomly, it might not have any special meaning.

But Millie's expression now clearly shows that she is thinking.

But Millie doesn't understand runes, so what is she thinking about?

"No rush, take your time."

Rod whispered words of advice.

Millie didn't reply. After a long silence, she stretched out her delicate little hand.

"This is the first one,"

"The second one,"

"The third one,"

……

Rod quickly labeled the numbers one by one in the order Millie had indicated.

"This is the last one..."

Millie stretched out her finger, and before she could finish speaking, she suddenly collapsed softly into Rod's arms.

(End of this chapter)