Chapter 116 — The Metal Master
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
Old Hammer, the blacksmith, stared wide-eyed, watching that strange machine spin at furious speed with a look of astonishment and blank bewilderment.
Its core brimmed with the radiance of magic; the repulsion mechanism—crude, to put it mildly—was driven back and forth by a simple array and a series of mechanical linkages, and the heavy flywheel spun furiously, driven by the connecting rod and crankshaft, faster than any windmill, waterwheel, or hand-cranked wheel. He knew full well how heavy that great iron wheel was—a thing that, once spinning, could easily shatter a man's bones—and yet it had been set in motion, and set in motion with the greatest of ease.
The two rune artisans standing beside him, however, saw more, and thought more.
They were servants trained by mages. If rune masters were the "circuit engineers" who designed the blueprints of magic arrays, then rune artisans were the "mechanical engineers" responsible for building the mechanical parts of magical contraptions, and so they naturally understood far more of such matters than an ordinary blacksmith.
Rune artisans built all manner of mechanisms and magical tools day in and day out, and were of course entirely familiar with the repulsion array, the most basic of trifles. Yet it had never once occurred to them that this simple, parlor-trick-level thing could produce such wondrous effects—that with only a workable set of mechanical linkages, an array originally good for nothing but pushing a mechanism door or a falling-rock trap could be made to cycle and switch automatically. Though the whole magic engine was propelled by magical force, its inner principle was utterly different from that of any magical tool before it!
In the magic engine, magic was no longer the sole and total power; it was no longer used crudely, but transformed by cleverer and more indirect means, amplified, and turned into something more... practical.
At first, having been ordered to work alongside a pack of blacksmiths and blacksmith apprentices, the rune artisans had harbored a trace of resentment. But after seeing the finished magic engine, that resentment was involuntarily replaced by a kind of epiphany: they finally understood what that female steward named Hetty had meant when she said, upon their first arrival in this domain, "Cast aside all old thoughts and bonds, and submit to the new order of this land." Compared with the brand-new things they had witnessed in this land, those rules and bonds truly counted for nothing.
A blacksmith apprentice stared at the steadily running magic engine and could not help muttering, "This is what we built..."
Hammer hurriedly cut his apprentice off: "No—this is the wisdom of the Duke and the Viscount, and of Lady Hetty."
"No," Gao Yang cut Hammer off in turn. "This is what you built. Make no mistake—honor belongs to every pair of hands that labored. So all who contributed to building the magic engine shall receive not only rewards but glory. Every one of your names will be recorded, cast into nameplates and set upon the first-generation magic engine, and written into the history books of Cecil."
The artisans and apprentices exchanged glances. Hammer twisted his beard so hard he tore out several hairs without even noticing, and it was only when the two rune artisans from the royal capital—men who had seen a bit of the world—bowed in thanks that the old blacksmith finally came to his senses and hastily followed suit.
Gao Yang withdrew his gaze and looked at the still-running magic engine prototype with barely suppressed delight and excitement.