Farming in the Magical World

That afternoon, Eric and Ford left the castle.

Ford's feelings when he left were... rather complicated.

Although Lanny promised not to sell high-end glassware to other chambers of commerce for the time being, he also rejected his suggestion that Lanny stop selling glass bottles at the small shop in Hexi Village.

From his own perspective, he could understand Lanny's approach. This way, he could maintain limited other sales channels, preventing them from being held hostage by the Locke Merchant Guild, and also avoiding a significant impact on the cooperation with the Locke Merchant Guild.

But he happens to be a member of the Locke Merchant Guild, and in business, he would absolutely do anything to monopolize the supply channels.

This is contradictory!

In contrast, Eric was in a much better mood. When he left, he not only changed his poker face from before, but he was all smiles.

He even gave the Thunderwood directly to Lanny, and thanked Lanny profusely before leaving, leaving Ford completely bewildered.

He had only come to talk to a magician, hoping to find some inspiration to move on to the next stage, but unexpectedly, Lanny directly pointed out his problem, which was much better than he had expected.

He even had a feeling that he could successfully advance if he went back and meditated for a few days. How could he not be happy?

When asked about the reasons why he couldn't get promoted, Lanny gave a long, rambling explanation, mentioning things like internal and external resonance and the unity of heaven and man. Eric was completely baffled, though he felt that it made sense, but he didn't understand what the other person was talking about at all.

Seeing that the other person seemed genuinely fooled, Lanny stopped his rambling and started talking about something truly useful... ...Melissa's comments!

Simply put, Eric's magic level already meets the requirements for advancement.

But this guy was too impatient, always wanting to achieve great things in one bite, which caused his mindset to become unbalanced and made the core of his magic power unstable, so he was unable to enter the next stage.

The solution is simple: relax, let the magic work more naturally, and when it reaches a smooth and satisfactory state, you will naturally enter the next stage.

Although Lanny was talking about solutions, he himself didn't have much confidence in Melissa's solution!

Is it really that simple...? Is this some kind of scam?

Lanny wasn't very confident about this method, expecting the other party to have some doubts, but to his surprise, the other party seemed to have heard a divine message and believed it wholeheartedly, their eyes shining as they nodded repeatedly, muttering to themselves, "No wonder, no wonder, I always felt the magic core was vibrating slightly, so it was unstable..."

Well, so it turns out this guy's magic power wasn't unstable, but rather it was just dancing a disco within his body! No wonder he's having this problem!

After seeing Eric and the other man off, Lanny returned to his study and sat down, still somewhat uncertain as he asked Melissa, "If Eric slows down as you suggested, will he really be able to advance?"

“Of course!” Melissa answered decisively, as she was always very confident in this regard.

"That's a pity. Why won't he help me?" Lanny clicked his tongue in regret. "If he could come with me on the expedition, I would have a mid-level mage bodyguard!"

“You can’t rely on others. Aren’t we making that magic gun?” Melissa advised. “Of course, it would be even better if you could become a magician yourself!”

"I want to too!" Lanny sighed. "But I can't sense any magical elements!"

"Hey, by the way, is there really no solution for this magic insulator?"

“This… your problem is more complicated than that!” Melissa has been thinking about this issue recently.

“You can actually attract some magical elements when you're sensing them, but I've noticed that you seem unable to activate or sense them!”

“Ordinary magic insulators don’t react to magical elements at all, but you’re different. I’m sensing you carefully, and it seems there’s a faint reaction, which is very strange!”

"Oh, why is that?" Lanny asked, puzzled.

“I’m not sure,” Melissa said, also looking puzzled. After a moment of thought, she continued, “I feel like there’s something wrong with my soul, something seems... different?”

Shaking her head, Melissa seemed unable to describe her feelings. "I can't quite put my finger on what it feels like. I don't know much about the study of the soul. If there were a great dark mage here, perhaps he could figure it out!"

When Lanny heard Melissa talk about the soul, he felt a tightness in his heart!

Melissa didn't know what was going on with her soul, but didn't she know herself? It wasn't even a product of this world; it was an imposter that had sneaked in!

However, if the reason why I cannot cultivate magic is because there is a problem with my soul, then it makes more sense!

He had always found it strange that, no matter what, his body was 100% of the Wells family and had vampire blood, so how could he be completely unable to sense magical elements!

What is bloodline?

It's just flesh and blood, right? It can directly enter the realm of a great mage through a ritual, and then you tell me it's some kind of magic insulator? Isn't that ridiculous?

Although Claudia never actually became a great mage, and Isaac, the ancestor of the Wells family, was likely exaggerating, it's safe to say that Claudia could flawlessly impersonate a high-level mage, right?

Since Claudia can become... no, can simulate a great mage, he must have magic within him. Is he also immune to magic?

Besides, what can I say if I can't activate the bloodline activation array myself?

If there was no response at all, that would be fine, but every time I start it it feels like the battery is depleted. This is clearly what Melissa was talking about, that there is still a problem with the subtle sensing!

After thinking it over, Melissa's explanation actually seems to be the most reasonable!

But what would Melissa do if she found out that she wasn't the original owner? Would she still be able to stay in the castle as peacefully as she is now?

Or even further, what if she did something to herself?

Judging from her curiosity about research, it's really hard to say!

He only breathed a sigh of relief when Melissa said she didn't know much about the soul. As for finding a high-level dark magic user or a powerful mage to help him with the problem?

Thank you so much...

I'm trying to avoid it, why would I actively seek it out? Are you asking for trouble?

But even though, according to Melissa, it seemed there was really no possibility of him becoming a magician, he was still somewhat unwilling to accept it!

Now I've started making magic guns, and it seems I've found another way to use magic. But if I could learn magic, why would I need to go through all this trouble?

Castel Ridge was already sparsely populated, and he himself was only a baron, the lowest rank of noble, so he had even fewer subjects.

The North seems relatively peaceful for now, and given the kingdom's strict management of border noble conflicts, there's little possibility of external expansion. This... is quite a dilemma!

Industrialization requires a large workforce, and with only a few Miao people in our own territory, developing industry would be too difficult.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this magic pistol seems to have been made quite quickly, as if the first experimental weapon was produced in just a few days. You should know that this thing is completely cobbled together.

The array was provided by Melissa, the energy source was a modified Rubik's Cube that had been prepared beforehand, and even the gun barrel and firing mechanism were greatly simplified.

Because it only needed to fire shot, the rifling wasn't even engraved, which allowed it to be produced in such a short time.

Even so, it still exploded. It's unknown how long it will take to reach practical standards!

He didn't even know if he would be able to make it to the expedition!

Okay, even if all of these are resolved, if we want to distribute this thing to the security forces as their standard weapon, we will naturally need to add rifling and new bullets. Given the current scale of the workshop, the production speed will probably be maddeningly slow!

Huh, why is it necessary to have rifling? Who made that rule?

Lanny suddenly realized that he seemed to be influenced by a fixed mindset, as if all bullets must have rifling, but his situation seemed to be different.

The fact that one's own weapon's kinetic energy comes not from gunpowder but from a magic circle, while ruling out the possibility of making metal-cased fixed bullets, also has its advantages. That is, the limitations on bullet production become fewer, as there is no need for a primer or a casing.

To give an imperfect analogy, this is more like an electromagnetic weapon. Do electromagnetic weapons need rifling? Do they?

Based on the results of the last experiment, the power of the Fireball Array provided by Melissa is still seriously too high!

If you really can't reduce the power, just make the barrel bigger and thicker, which will actually make it more powerful. As long as you solve the problem of bullet trajectory, it will still be a good gun!

However, this makes it seem more like an anti-materiel weapon like the Barrett!

But it's fine, he doesn't mind being anti-material equipment, he actually thinks it's even better!

More than a hundred security guards, each armed with a Barrett rifle, just thinking about it is exhilarating!

In this era, they are absolutely unstoppable, capable of slaying gods and Buddhas alike!

However, this is all just wishful thinking. Putting everything else aside, just the cost of the iron used to fire bullets of this size would be too much for him to afford!

So, in the end, we still have to go down the rifling route?

However, once he let his mind wander, he seemed to have thought of some ways to increase the population!

On one hand, there were the Grummans in the mountains, and on the other hand, there were the bandits in the surrounding area!

If he remembered correctly, someone had said that these bandits were some destitute people, savages, and even servants who dared not return home because of their defeat in battle.

It seems like it's a viable option if you can find a suitable reason to organize things!

As for the savages in the mountains, he could try to find a way to deal with them.

Don't be fooled by the fact that these barbarians are fierce and savage now; they come down from the mountains every year to burn, kill, and plunder.

But as long as they gradually become stronger, they... will definitely become talented singers and dancers!