Pioneer Wizard's Notebook

"It's too inefficient and too physically demanding for the workers; this method won't work."

Linde shook his head upon seeing this.

In frigid weather, workers find quarrying stone much more difficult and less efficient.

Excessive sweating can easily lead to colds, severely delaying production and construction.

"Stop all work here!"

Linde spoke up.

Upon seeing the lord arrive, the workers quickly put down their tools, bowed respectfully, and watched with curiosity as he approached the mountainside.

Linde pressed his palm against the sandstone mountain, and magic permeated it.

The magical release of "fossils turning into mud"

Under his control, the mountain he touched became as soft as putty, and in a short time, he would allow his magic to knead it.

Once the shaping is complete, the effects of the magic wear off, and the rock will harden again.

Linde estimated that, with his current magical power, he could extract about ten tons of sandstone bricks from the mountain in a whole day.

Compared to the weight of the Wall Golem, which exceeds 20,000 tons, this is a drop in the ocean.

Linde decided to try a different approach.

This is a good opportunity to test whether the theoretical runes I just constructed are effective.

The mountain slopes inward, and fossils are used as mud to create a cavity inside.

Lind altered the trajectory of magic, constructing entirely new runes in his palm.

The power of the Earth Bear's runes!

A yellowish light shone forth, and invisible waves spread out from the cavities within the mountain, reaching all directions.

With most of his magic power drained, Lind immediately retreated.

While creating distance, take out the magic liquid and pour it into your mouth to restore your state.

And in front of him.

The mountain trembled, and a rumbling sound like an earthquake came from the hollow.

The noise stopped after about ten minutes.

The mountain has returned to calm and appears to be intact on the surface.

"Can I borrow your hammer?"

Linde picked up the worker's hammer.

The remaining magic power transformed into power projection runes in his palm.

The hammer was hurled, and the deafening explosion that tore through the air vibrated in our ears.

boom!

The hammer struck the mountain's surface, shattering it into countless pieces and creating shockwaves.

At the center of the collision, a crack appeared where the mountain had caved in.

The next second, to the workers' astonishment...

The cracks spread rapidly outwards like a spider web, covering a large area of ​​the mountainside.

boom!

Piles of sandstone and rock broke off from the surface, crashed to the ground, and kicked up clouds of dust.

"The theoretical rune model is fine, and the effect is quite good."

Linde rubbed his arms, relaxing and releasing the burden from the power runes, his expression satisfied.

Under the dual pressures of internal and external forces, a section of the mountain at the quarry collapsed, providing a massive amount of stone.

Just come here a few times every day.

It will take about half a month to mine the amount of stone needed to build the outer wall.

Looking at the scene of the landslide, the new workers looked on in disbelief, looking down at the hammers in their hands, wondering if they were dreaming.

The town's residents, on the contrary, took it for granted.

He looked at these outsiders with a smug, country bumpkin-like gaze.

Having solved the stone problem, Linde left the quarry and rode his maned horse to the valley.

He needs to find out about the iron mine.

The road was cleared by rangers and soldiers and was now unobstructed.

When Linde arrived at his destination, the Frostfang wolves waiting there had already caught his scent and wagged their tails as they pounced on him joyfully.

Stroking its fluffy head, Linde looked at the approaching craftsman Sobo and asked:

Has the situation regarding iron ore been settled?

Sobo replied, "According to preliminary investigations, it is a small iron mine, buried beneath a hill in the valley."

"Unfortunately, there are no exposed parts; the shallowest mineral layer is more than five meters below the surface."

Sobo shook his head, looking very disappointed.

Iron ore reserves are not that important.

Given the current size of Sunflower Manor, this small iron mine can provide more than enough ore.

The problem is that it is not exposed to the elements, but buried underground, making it difficult to mine.

Unlike the quarry right next door, the iron mine is located 20 kilometers away from the manor.

Miners spend a lot of time traveling each day.

Moreover, given the manor's current production schedule, it's difficult to spare enough manpower to delve deeper into the underground mineral deposits.

Seeing the worried expressions on Sobo's and the other dwarves' faces, Lind smiled and encouraged them:

"That's enough. Thank you for your hard work in exploring and searching all this time. I'll take care of the rest of the problems."

Unlike mountains, underground mineral deposits cannot be directly shattered and collapsed using runes.

Linde couldn't possibly come here every day and waste his precious time mining iron ore.

Fortunately, after analyzing the power runes, Lind had an inspiration.

If the experiment goes smoothly, it will be enough to solve the problem of iron ore mining.

Linde rushed to the location of the iron mine and recorded the situation there.

After confirming that open-pit mining was not possible, they rode back to the manor.

Linde entered the laboratory on the second floor.

His gaze fell on the broken bone steel lice on the experimental specimen display case.

The steel scales on the backs of these little guys have been removed, and they look just like miniature beetles.

They are now curled up inside the quartz tube, playing dead.

Linde took one of them out, used a bear claw scalpel to cut open its chitinous shell, held down its struggling body, and observed the internal condition.

There are three main parts of the bone-crushing steel beetle that deserve attention:

Their powerful, pincer-like mandibles help them crush bones.

The abdominal cavity can secrete strong acids that dissolve flesh and bones.

It can restore its steel back, and over a long period of time, it grows wings that resemble steel armor plates, which can be shed and regrown at any time.

Linde seized the inspiration: by making good use of these small things, it was entirely possible to say goodbye to outdated manual mining and metallurgy.

To achieve highly efficient bio-metallurgy that belongs to this world.

The problem now is that the mouthparts of the steel lice are not sharp enough to cut through the ore layer.

Its abdominal cavity is also not strong enough to digest rocks.

Linde decided to lend them a hand, using the materials at hand to cultivate a group of hardworking and resilient employees.

"By transforming the body with the blood of the earth and strengthening the physique, and by inscribing power fluctuation runes into the mouth, a high-frequency drill capable of shattering rocks is evolved."

Linde spread out a blank sheet of paper.

Record the body structure of the Bone-Shattering Steel Lice and determine the general direction of [Bloodline Modification].

"Stop playing dead. You are about to undergo a new evolution, a day worth celebrating."

Linde poured the magic liquid of the superior sunflower into the quartz tube.

These feigning dead steel lice immediately became active, greedily sucking up the magic liquid.

A longing look appeared in his tiny, black eyes, no bigger than a grain of rice.

"If you cooperate with me, I guarantee you'll have an endless supply of magic liquid in the future."

Linde shook the magic liquid, then grabbed a bone-crushing steel louse and placed it on the experimental table.

He then took out the sealed blood of the earth from the experimental sample cabinet.

As if sensing his will, the Bone-Crushing Steel Lice stopped struggling with its chest legs.

Driven by an evolutionary desire lurking in its blood, it gave up resistance and allowed Linde's scalpel to cut open its body.

Yellowish runes were inscribed, with a trace amount of earth's blood incorporated into them.