A year passed by very quickly, and a lot of things had come and gone. Unfortunately, even now, Lucen was unable to get a hold of a dwarf, but the craftsmen of Ironhold were able to make a few bolt-action rifles with a few cartridges.

The hand-crank Gatling Gun was still something they could not make properly, since it jams most of the time.

On the other hand, they were able to improve the Thunderspears into something similar to naval guns. Unfortunately, this new type of Thunderspears, called Roaring Thunder, were too big to be moved around too much.

So instead, Lucen placed them as non-moving artillery in Ironhold, the First Fortress, and his own small city, Dorsen.

They didn't transport them. Instead, the craftsmen, including Lucen, Robert, and a few more Alchemists of the yellow tower, were forced to make the Roaring Thunder in said places.

Right now, each place had only a single one of them, and the shells were fewer than a dozen.

The first time they used it was an incredible sight. With his Gun Knowledge skill, Lucen, with great difficulty, was able to create explosive shells.

It was a limited amount, but they could make more later. When he fired the HE shell for the first time, the distance it travelled was quite far, so that no spell below the fifth rank could reach that far, and the explosion it made, though not as strong as any of the WW1 shells, was enough to surprise everyone present.

When the shell left the mouth of the gun, the air itself seemed to rip apart. The shot traced a clean, long arc, vanishing into the white and returning in a smear of motion.

A blinding flash erupted, followed by a thunderclap so deep it shook the lungs. The impact was not merely a sound but an upheaval: the ground near the target rose in a geyser of snow and stone, a cloud blooming outward that painted the sky with dust.

The shockwave rolled over the soldiers like an invisible tide, rattling armor and making the banners whip violently.

Men shielded their faces, horses reared, and for a suspended moment, no one knew whether to cheer or to be afraid.

Robert was mesmerized by the sight. A weapon that used alchemy to create an explosion without the need for mana, aura, or mana crystals.

The speed the shell moved was quite fast, but not too fast that an aura user at the third mantle can evade.

The problem was the explosion, that powerful explosion that rivaled the full-powered blast of a fourth circle mage like Robert, was not something that could be taken lightly. Not to mention it could be fired faster than a spell.

Still, since it cannot move from its position, it was easy to target, but that was something that could be solved with someone defending it.

Of course, there were many trying to copy or steal Lucen's weapons, but none had succeeded as of now.

***

On the side of the items being sold by Aldric Marren, he was able to start selling to neighboring kingdoms.

The board game and toys had spread far beyond Norvaegard's borders, turning Aldric's wagons into gold-drawing machines.

The merchants whispered that Thornefang's emblem was now not only a symbol of Lucen's military power, but in their eyes, it had become a symbol of clever design and northern craftsmanship.

Of course, he sold only to neutral or allied kingdoms, and those like Inevir he had no interaction with.

Lucen had created a few more toys, like the puzzle box. It was a fun toy made of wood, which you needed to solve a puzzle to open the box. It was also used by some as a safe of sorts.

Of course, those who were serious about making the puzzle box as an actual safe for expensive items bought ones that were made of iron, and they modified it using runes and mana crystals to increase durability.

There were also the interlocking wooden rings. You needed to unlink them without breaking them or using spells.

This one was bought numerous times, since there were many people who accidentally broke the rings while trying to solve it.

Finally, there was the labyrinth maze box. A small wooden board with knobs that tilt the surface, guiding a marble through a maze.

Most of the newer toys were things that you needed to use your brain quite a bit, which frustrated not only children but adults alike.

***

In a certain someone's lab, Robert and Lucen were resting. Despite Robert's interest in the Roaring Thunder and the explosive shells, he was still more interested in steam power.

He got even more excited when Lucen built a toy he called a train. Lucen showed Vardon and him that it was something he called a train.

He put metal tracks on the ground, and then in the so-called train, he made something he said was something he called a makeshift steam engine.

Using the steam, the train pulled several carriages through the metal tracks. For Vardon, this opened up a lot of possibilities, not just for the military, but for a lot of things like transporting goods.

On the other hand, Robert had become even more interested in the power of steam. It was able to move things, and based on what Lucen said, depending on how much steam is created, it can move so much more.

Unfortunately, with their current level of craftsmanship in metalwork, and such they could not build the parts needed to make an actual train and steam engine. This was why Lucen wanted to find dwarves who would work for them.

After seeing the demonstration of the train and learning about the need for the dwarves, Vardon did his own search for dwarves who could come and help.

It might take some time since dwarves were a rather proud race, and it was hard even for someone like him to hire them for work if they did not want to. Not to mention the difficulty of finding one.

Robert, who kept on playing with the toy train, was deep in thought. Robert watched the small train clatter along its iron tracks, a plume of white vapor trailing lazily behind. It wasn't the toy that fascinated him so much, but the power behind it.

Robert had long since understood the principle of steam, boiled water creating pressure strong enough to move even metal, to turn gears, to power motion itself. But now, as the faint vapor coiled upward and vanished into the air, a new thought gripped him.

He whispered under his breath, "If steam can move weight across the ground... Why can't it lift it?"

He paced slowly, his hands clasped behind his back. "Hot air rises, that's simple enough to understand..."

He turned toward Lucen, eyes gleaming like a man glimpsing the dawn of something dangerous and magnificent.

"Lucen, imagine a ship not bound by water or wind, a vessel that sails the air itself. A structure of reinforced wood and metal."

When Lucen heard Robert's words, he knew what the other party was thinking. How could he not? A staple in the fantasy genre, especially the steampunk one the airship. A smile appeared on Lucen's face.

'This guy is a true genius, unlike a fake like me.'

"You're talking about building an airship."

"Yes! I knew you would understand!"

"Unfortunately, like my train idea, yours is not something we can make right now."

"Tch... Damn, I guess you're right. Our genius is being blocked by the limitations of our race and era," Robert muttered, scratching the back of his head in visible frustration. His gaze returned to the little train, still circling the metal track with steady puffs of steam.

"I heard the dwarves have a special sense when it comes to metal," he continued. "They say a true dwarf can hear when the steel sings. Their craftsmanship is said to be something out of myth. Most of the famous weapons and armor, the ones from legends, were dwarven made. If anyone could shape our dreams into form, it would be them."

"Yeah, that's why we need them to make our thoughts into reality."

For a moment, both men fell silent, watching the toy train chug along. The rhythmic hiss of steam filled the workshop like a steady heartbeat.

Robert finally broke the silence, voice lower now, filled with something between reverence and longing.

"A ship that sails the sky... And a machine that crosses the land faster than any horse. If we can build those, Lucen, we'll change not just Norvaegard, but the world itself. As expected of my partner on the path to the future."

Lucen smiled as he looked at Robert, dreaming of the future. Despite Robert being older than him by a few years, he found that this person was the closest person to him in this world that wasn't family.

"Yeah, let's go and see that future together."

The toy train's faint whistle echoed once more, then came to a stop. Steam drifted lazily upward, curling like a ghost before vanishing into the rafters.

Robert yawned and leaned back in his chair, looking at the roof, but his eyes seemed to be looking at something beyond that. "We're not just going to see that future, we're going to shape it with our genius. A future so great, our names will be forever remembered."

Lucen chuckled softly. "Yeah..."

Lucen's gaze lingered on the tiny trail of steam fading into the rafters. A fleeting thing, and yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that what they'd just begun would one day blanket the skies.

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