Lord: Starting with Summoning the Regular Army of Earth

Chapter 133 Successful Magical Power Generation (Part 2)

The discovery of lightning-struck stones was like a key, opening up entirely new avenues for the development of magic generators.

Evelyn immediately devoted most of her energy to analyzing this strange ore, and the alchemy laboratory remained dark all night.

Meanwhile, the chemical engineering group has also made new progress.

Under the leadership of Professor Lin Zhiyuan, the team conducted a systematic chemical analysis of samples from different layers and forms of Jinshiling local Jinshi ore, including observation by burning, acid dissolution test, and crystallization precipitation.

When Liu Qian slowly mixed a crushed piece of ash powder with the preliminarily prepared dilute sulfuric acid, an impressive phenomenon occurred: the reaction was violent, producing a large amount of colorless gas with a strong, pungent odor.

"It's nitrogen oxides! It's most likely a gas of nitric acid or nitrous acid!" Liu Qian exclaimed excitedly, wearing a simple "mask" made of multiple layers of burlap soaked in alkali.

Further testing confirmed this. When the generated gas was introduced into water, a liquid with strong acidity and strong oxidizing properties was obtained, which could react with copper to produce a brownish-red gas.

Although the yield and concentration are still very low, this points to an exciting conclusion: ash is rich in nitrate minerals!

"Great! This means we don't need to specifically search for saltpeter mines. The stone from which our territory is named is itself a natural treasure trove of nitrates." Lin Zhiyuan was overjoyed.

This means that as long as the technology for efficiently and economically extracting nitric acid from pyroxene is mastered, the raw material problem for higher-quality gunpowder, nitric acid, and even a series of subsequent nitrochemical products will be largely solved.

This is more significant than the discovery of a separate nitrate mine, because nitrate is an existing, perceived "native resource" for them.

The chemical engineering team immediately adjusted its research and development focus.

They improved the sulfuric acid production process and, with the help of Evelyn's alchemy, obtained sulfuric acid with a higher concentration.

Next, they began to try treating the pulverized ash with sulfuric acid.

The initial experiments were rudimentary.

In acid-resistant ceramic jars, concentrated sulfuric acid is mixed with ash powder and heated, resulting in a violent and difficult-to-control reaction. The generated nitric acid vapor is highly corrosive, and its collection and condensation are major problems, leading to low efficiency and danger.

"We can't directly heat and mix them. We need a controllable stepwise reaction environment, as well as a more efficient condensation and recovery device." Professor Lin calmly analyzed, looking at the pitted ceramic jar and the small amount of dilute nitric acid collected.

Xu Minghui then once again demonstrated his "magic hand" technique.

He fabricated an all-glass experimental apparatus, including a reaction vessel, condenser, and receiver. Although crude, it achieved airtightness, heating control, and steam flow.

Liu Qian and Cheng Yufei, relying on their extensive experience in chemical engineering, repeatedly adjusted the sulfuric acid concentration, ash particle size, heating temperature, and time.

Failure is commonplace.

Equipment shattering, yield too low, product impurity—but each failure makes the process a little more refined.

Finally, after countless adjustments, they successfully established a relatively stable and reproducible small-scale experimental procedure: ash powder of a specific particle size and an appropriate amount of concentrated sulfuric acid are slowly heated in a glass reactor. The resulting nitric acid vapor passes through a long glass condenser tube, is cooled by external flowing cold water, and condenses into a pale yellow concentrated nitric acid liquid, which is then dripped into a receiving bottle.

Although production is still limited, the concentration and purity are sufficient for further applications.

"We succeeded! We have our own nitric acid production line, although it's still at the laboratory level!" Liu Qian looked at the yellow liquid with its unique, pungent odor in the receiving bottle, her eyes glistening with tears. This process, entirely based on local resources and independently developed, is of extraordinary significance.

With nitric acid, many doors were opened.

By processing phosphate rock with nitric acid, they can obtain primary products of nitric acid phosphate fertilizer, which is crucial for Jinshiling agriculture, which is about to be cultivated on a large scale.

More importantly, they have taken a significant step toward producing more powerful "nitro explosives".

Although we are still a long way from synthesizing stable TNT or nitrocellulose, the theoretical path has been illuminated.

Moreover, the resource exploration team also sent back good news one after another.

One of the teams not only discovered iron ore in the heart of the wind-eroded highlands, but also found an exciting sight in a peculiar, barren, reddish-yellow mountain valley: the exposed rock strata were covered with large areas of sulfur crystals, giving them a distinctive yellow color, and the air was filled with a faint, pungent sulfurous odor.

It was later confirmed to be a large sulfur vein.

Preliminary assessments indicate abundant reserves, making open-pit mining feasible.

When the news and ore samples were brought back to Ember Ridge, the chemical engineering team and Matthew were also very excited.

Looking at the sulfur shimmering with a golden luster in the sunlight, it was as if I were looking at gold.

It is important to know that sulfur is a key raw material for the production of sulfuric acid, and sulfuric acid is the "blood" of modern chemical industry.

Previously, the production of black powder and the preparation of sulfuric acid by the chemical division all relied on purchasing, which was always a bottleneck restricting the development of the chemical division.

The discovery of large mineral veins means they can establish their own sulfuric acid production lines, which could then drive a leap forward in the entire chemical industry and even in metallurgy and explosives manufacturing.

Moreover, the discovery of the iron ore vein provided more abundant raw materials for the industrial development of Jinshi Ridge.

A few days later, another exploration team that had ventured deep into the Misty Mountains also sent back good news.

They discovered a sizable natural alkaline lake in a secluded valley.

The lake shore is surrounded by thick, snow-white natural alkali crystals.

Natural alkalis are a valuable resource for the production of caustic soda and pure alkalis.

Caustic soda and soda ash are indispensable chemical raw materials for many industries such as soap making, papermaking, textiles, and glassmaking.

In this way, the problem of a stable source of several core raw materials that had been troubling the chemical engineering team—sulfur, nitrate, and alkali—was solved in one fell swoop.

The resource territory of Emberstone Ridge has been decisively expanded.

This also gave the chemical engineering team enough resources to fully utilize their capabilities.

Meanwhile, research on the magic generator, inspired by the lightning-struck stone and supported by some materials provided by the chemical engineering team, also entered a period of accelerated development.

Through complex alchemy, Evelyn separated a peculiar silver substance, which was fibrous or dendritic crystallized, from the silver patterns of the lightning-struck stone.

It is not a single metal, but a composite material with a special lattice structure that is naturally formed under the long-term influence of mana. It has extremely low resistance to the conduction of lightning energy and a certain peculiar "guidance".

The key question, however, is how to artificially create or mimic this structure.

Directly mining lightning-struck rocks to extract this "conductive path" material is too inefficient, and the ore reserves are unknown.

Matthew proposed a bold idea: "Now that we have a preliminary understanding of its composition and structural characteristics, could we try to grow similar conductive structures using alchemical synthesis methods? For example, using a certain metal as a substrate, under specific conditions—simulating a lightning environment—could we guide the directional crystallization of lightning-related energy?"

This idea inspired Evelyn.

She designed a complex alchemical array, with a pure copper plate at its core, surrounded by an array of runes that could slowly and continuously generate a weak lightning energy field. She also scattered a small amount of purified silver conductive path material powder as "seeds" on the copper plate and soaked it in a specially made electrolyte.

The process is slow and delicate, requiring constant adjustment of the intensity and frequency of the energy field, as well as the composition of the electrolyte.

Failure after failure resulted in either no change on the copper plate or the formation of a useless oxide layer or disordered crystals.

But no one was discouraged.

Every failure was recorded in detail, and the parameters were adjusted little by little.

Finally, in the early hours of the morning, when Evelyn was checking the experimental setup again, she held her breath.

In specific areas of the copper plate, guided by "seed crystals," fine, shimmering silver-white crystalline structures grew.

Dendritic crystals that are extremely similar to the patterns of natural lightning-struck stones.

They are interconnected, forming a tiny yet complete network structure.

She carefully removed a strand with tweezers and connected it to a homemade, extremely sensitive electroscope. Then, she injected a faint pulse of charge, mimicking the output of a magical power generation array, into the residual natural conductive path material that served as the source of the "seed."

In an instant, the gold foil on the electroscope opened.

Although the angle is small, it is clearly visible.

When this artificially grown "conductor" is removed, the gold foil immediately closes.

"It worked! It conducts electricity! It really conducts electricity!" Evelyn, who was usually calm, couldn't help but exclaim softly, her voice trembling.

Although the efficiency is still far lower than that of natural materials, this proves that it is feasible to artificially produce conductive materials with similar properties.

This is a qualitative leap from 0 to 1!

Upon hearing the news, Matthew, Lin Xiaoyang, Chen Yu, and others rushed into the laboratory immediately.

Everyone was overwhelmed with excitement as they watched the silver threads that caused the gold foil to unfurl under the faint electric charge.

"We have artificial guide wires now, although they are still very crude and inefficient, but the road is open!" Lin Xiaoyang excitedly waved his fist.

"Optimize the process immediately, find the best base metal, electrolyte formula, and energy field parameters! We need to manufacture longer, more uniform, and more conductive wires!" Matthew immediately ordered.

With the wires, the "electricity" generated by the magic generator finally has a "blood vessel" to be transported out.

Next, the research focus returned to optimizing the magic power generation array itself.

With the artificial wire as the clear target output, the design concept becomes clearer: there is no need to pursue powerful instantaneous power, but rather a "source" that can stably and continuously output low-intensity charge.

Under Matthew's guidance, Chen Yu and Lin Xiaoyang worked together to perform a "surgical" transformation on the Thunder Arrow model.

They completely abandoned the original "burst-acceleration-projection" structure, retaining only its core "seed" part, which uses a specific rune array to disturb the lightning element mana to generate charge separation.

Then, drawing inspiration from the energy cycle of a perpetual magic circle, they designed an ingenious "energy-conversion-maintenance" loop that could be activated by a small amount of magic crystals or initial magic power injected by the caster. After that, it could slowly extract non-attribute mana from the environment and convert it into weak lightning energy to maintain the "charge separation seed" operating at low power.

This complex magic circle is far more complex than a single spell model, and its depiction requires extremely high precision.

Matthew and Evelyn personally took charge, meticulously inlaying and outlining the design on a specially made, insulated stone slab using mithril threads mixed with silver powder and magic-conducting materials.

Failure is still common.

Unstable energy circuit, intermittent charge output, runes overheating and burning out —

But each adjustment brought them one step closer to their goal.

Meanwhile, with the assistance of the magic research team members, Evelyn continued to optimize the manufacturing process of artificial wires.

They experimented with various substrates, including copper, silver, and iron, and adjusted the electrolyte composition and energy field frequency.

Ultimately, it was found that the best performance of the silver-white crystalline wires grown on a pure silver substrate in a pulsed energy field of a specific frequency and in a solution containing trace amounts of "seeds" and newly prepared copper sulfate was achieved. The conductivity reached about 70% of that of natural materials, and the toughness was also improved.

After making a breakthrough in the wire problem, Wang Hao volunteered to use the existing materials, copper wire, iron nails, and some simple iron parts made with the help of an old blacksmith in the territory, to try to wind the most primitive "coil" and "magnet".

His idea was simple: since electricity and magnetism are related, perhaps using coils and magnets could better "guide" and "utilize" this new electricity, and even amplify or convert it.

This classic electromagnetic concept from Earth gave Matthew and others new inspiration.

Although the physical laws of this world may differ, there's never a harm in trying.

Ten days later, one night, the atmosphere in Evelyn's alchemy laboratory was both solemn and exciting.

On the workbench lay a thick stone slab, about a foot square, inlaid with a complex and exquisite composite magic circle outlined by mithril wire, with a small, dim magic crystal embedded at its core as the power source.

The two output ends of the magic circle were connected by two newly made one-foot-long silver-white artificial wires.

At the other end of the wire, a simple device handcrafted by Wang Hao was carefully connected: a coil made of thin copper wire wound around an iron rod hundreds of times, with a fine needle made of magnetite suspended in the center of the coil. Next to it was an even simpler carbonized bamboo filament connected by two thin, silver-white wires and enclosed in a glass bulb with some air removed. This was the most primitive "electric light" they had made, imitating the early incandescent lamps on Earth.

The laboratory was packed with people: Matthew, Evelyn, Lin Xiaoyang, Chen Yu, Wang Hao, Liu Jun, Zhou Mingyuan, as well as Wang Qinian, Zhang Hongjian, Will, and others who had rushed over after hearing the news.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the worktable.

"Let's begin." Matthew took a deep breath and nodded to Evelyn.

Evelyn focused intently as she channeled a wisp of pure magic into the activation node of the magic circle.

Buzz————

The mithril threads on the magic circle lit up one by one, and the intricate patterns seemed to come alive. The light flowed slowly along the predetermined path and finally converged at the core.

The small magic crystal that served as the starting energy point flashed slightly, and then the entire magic circle emitted a stable,

A soft, pale blue glow.

The magic circle has been successfully activated!

It did not emit any violent energy fluctuations, but simply operated quietly, continuously drawing negligible mana from the surrounding void to maintain its own existence and the charge generation structure at its core that had been "castrated" and "constrained".

Lin Xiaoyang held a hand-modified precision electroscope and carefully brought its probe close to an output wire.

The gold foil on the electroscope slowly and steadily unfolded.

Although the angle was not large, it no longer flickered or went on and off, but maintained a constant opening angle.

"Stable charge output, voltage—although very low, it's stable!" Lin Xiaoyang's voice was low, but filled with barely suppressed elation.

Everyone’s heart is raised.

Wang Hao licked his dry lips, his hands trembling slightly, and touched the two wires connected to the "light" to the ends of the two output wires respectively.

No response.

You could hear a pin drop in the laboratory.

"Is it a bad connection?" Liu Jun whispered.

Wang Hao made some adjustments and then used a small piece of silver to strengthen the contact.

There was still no response.

Just as a sense of disappointment began to spread, Chen Yu suddenly spoke up: "Could it be that the voltage is too low and not enough to drive it?"

Try that one.

She pointed to the device with the coil and the magnetic needle.

"It should be!" Wang Hao quickly replaced the coil device.

When he connects the two ends of the coil to the output wire—

hum!

The coil seemed to vibrate very slightly.

Immediately afterwards, everyone's eyes widened.

The magnetic needle suspended in the center of the coil trembled slightly at first, and then, without any external force touching it, it slowly but firmly deflected at an angle.

Although the angle of deflection was very small, perhaps only about ten degrees, it did move.

It deviated from its original north-south orientation.

"It moved! The compass needle moved!" Wang Hao was the first to shout, his voice trembling.

"Success! Electricity generates a magnetic field! Electromagnetism! The electromagnetic laws of this world are at least partially interconnected!" Lin Xiaoyang excitedly slammed his fist into his palm.

Matthew let out a long sigh of relief, as if he wanted to release all the tension, anxiety, and anticipation of the past countless days and nights.

He looked at the slightly deflected magnetic needle, at the faint light of the stable operation of the magic circle, and at the two slightly rough silver-white wires that connected to the future. An indescribable sense of accomplishment and joy, like a warm tide, instantly overwhelmed him.

This faint electricity, this ten-degree deflection, is the first spark of civilization—a fusion of "science" and "magic"—lit up Emberstone Ridge in this other world! It proves the correctness of the path, and demonstrates the miracles that can arise from the collision of wisdom between two worlds.

"We succeeded—" Evelyn murmured, her eyes reflecting the light of the magic circle and the deflecting magnetic needle, filled with shock and pride.

She personally participated in and witnessed the birth of an unprecedented form of energy.

Will was equally excited; he seemed to see the electric-powered future world that Matthew had described, and from this tiny deflection, the first rays of true dawn were breaking through.

A burst of enthusiastic cheers and applause erupted in the laboratory.

Everyone was excited, high-fiving and hugging each other.

This is not just the success of an experiment; it is the opening of a new era, which they have personally turned.

"Record all parameters!" Matthew commanded, suppressing his excitement. "This is just the first step! We have a stable source, and we have a conductive wire. Next, we need to increase power, optimize the wires, and research how to store electricity. We need to usher in the electric era for Ember Ridge as quickly as possible."

His voice was full of power and confidence.

Everyone knows that tonight's ten-degree deflection is just a trivial beginning.

But it is this beginning that foreshadows a brilliant and powerful future driven by both magic and science, which is irresistibly sprouting and growing on the land of Emberstone Ridge.

Before long, the nights of Emberstone Ridge will be completely illuminated, and the industry of Emberstone Ridge will be given a significant boost.

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