NEC Chapter 114: Vast Sea Industrial Plan, East Xia Fusion Experiment

The word "industry" was not only a novel concept to Vast Sea Territory, but would also be completely incomprehensible to any country across the continent.

Before the emergence of large-scale production machinery, the continent's production structure could at most be called "handicraft industry."

Even the kingdom's standard armor was meticulously crafted by individual smiths, with the armor maker's name engraved on the inner wall according to royal workshop regulations.

If there were any problems with the armor, there were traces to follow and accounts to check.

It would even be more convenient when the kingdom suffered defeat and needed to find a scapegoat.

Industry, assembly lines, final assembly, these terms seemed understandable when explained, but when placed in the Starry Continent, they always felt rather fantastical.

Indeed, when people from a fantasy world found the word "industry" fantastical, wasn't that itself a kind of science!

So far, faced with the lord's proposal to build an industrial system, the vast majority of territory residents, including Vast Sea Territory's Chief Administrator and "second smartest person," Lord Herlan, were all completely bewildered.

What? Who was the first smartest person?

Did that even need asking? In the words of the territory's people, even every grain of sand in Vast Sea Territory knew that the one who could turn decay into magic and transform yellow sand into fertile soil was the omnipotent Lord!

It should be said that the Seven-Eyed God's miracle demonstration had quite a shocking effect, but the reason everyone remained unmoved was because in the hands of the supreme Lord of Vast Sea, miracles were being displayed almost every moment.

Three underage centaurs crushing an entire vicious bandit gang to powder in the depths of the Gobi was itself an extremely terrifying battle achievement.

Moreover, based on the inevitable amplification characteristic of word-of-mouth transmission, this bandit gang's size had expanded from the original six hundred-plus to over a thousand, over two thousand, over three thousand, over five thousand...

In the latest version, it had swollen into a terrifying legion of over ten thousand people, with over a thousand professionals and hundreds of two-headed ogres!

This wasn't wild speculation, if you asked any of the sand people who had participated in that battle, or any of the captured hobgoblins who were prisoners, they would all nod vigorously in agreement after a brief moment of confusion, "Yes yes yes! That's right! Absolutely true!"

When the sand people said this, it was to add glory to their own faces, while when the hobgoblins said this, it was a strange psychological compensation effect.

Such a massive army had lost and died, yet I survived and am living quite well, wasn't this the blessing of the ancestral gods!

If the might of military force inspired fear, then the miracle of cultivation drove people to madness.

One point must be repeatedly emphasized: Vast Sea Territory had no nobles!

Chen Mo himself only held an empty lord's title, having never received investiture from any country on the continent.

Although Master Downs once held a high rank, he had risen from humble beginnings, otherwise his wife wouldn't have run off with another man.

Herlan was a steward, Lynn was a prisoner of war, even the grand elder among the sand people couldn't rank among humans, and as for the centaurs, their home base had just been raided.

The only one who might have some slight connection to the upper class was the minotaur Liu Zaiyue, who was said to be descended from some pure-blooded superior minotaur in the Skytop Ridge, but this had no value, human territories didn't recognize it, so he could only be counted as a prisoner of war.

Precisely because of this, the vast majority of territory residents on this land came from bitter backgrounds, with a craving for "grain" already carved into their bones and fused into their bloodlines.

When the seeds the lord scattered in the desert's saline greenhouse stubbornly broke through the sand and gravel, took root, spread leaves, grew tall, headed, and finally produced plump grains, the entire territory's people fell into a grand carnival.

Even though the saltwater rice didn't taste good and was even somewhat bitter, this didn't matter.

In this barren land, grain had been born with yields exceeding most plain areas, with full kernels that could fill people's stomachs, wasn't that enough?

Even more miraculous was that the territory residents who ate this magical rice generally felt more energetic and spirited when working.

Truly the lord's blessing!

This really wasn't any psychological effect. In terms of nutritional value, the content of trace elements like iron, zinc, and selenium in saltwater rice was three to seven times that of ordinary rice, amino acids were four times that of ordinary rice, and it also contained various amino acids like GABA and anthocyanins.

In this place with scarce food varieties, saltwater rice could completely be said to crush other ordinary grain products.

For the territory residents, this was an incomparable miracle brought by the lord!

What was the Seven-Eyed God digging a ditch compared to this? Could he make rice grow in the territory?

The new zero-level bishop of the Seven-Eyed God stationed in Vast Sea really wanted to righteously declare that gods were omnipotent.

But in the end, he still didn't dare say it aloud.

First, because he truly didn't know whether gods could do it, in the historical records of the divine court's classics throughout the ages, there had never been a "miracle" demonstration of rice planting.

Second, because he understood that even if gods could do it, they basically couldn't possibly do it as casually as this lord did.

What kind of mental illness was that! With such ability, what couldn't you do instead of accompanying lowly people to plant rice?

Third, and most importantly, if he said it aloud and those fanatical territory residents took his words as disrespect toward the lord, they might very well use fists and hoes to send him directly back to the Seven-Eyed God's embrace!

So, he should... just honestly recite scriptures.

Regardless, with one miracle after another as foundation, Vast Sea Territory had formed the absolute cognitive framework that "whatever the lord says must be right." Based on this, no matter how strange or bizarre the territory's orders were, they could be executed without compromise.

Vast Sea Territory's industrialization began its difficult journey in such an atmosphere.

Chen Mo didn't lack cutting-edge technology, didn't lack laboratory-level prototypes, didn't lack guidance from top expert teams, and even had academician-level experts holding the top-tier sacred text "Engineering Cybernetics," providing hands-on guidance.

But he lacked workers, he lacked qualified industrial workers with basic cultural literacy and fundamental skill levels.

So what could be done? He couldn't exactly start by implementing nine years of compulsory education across the territory.

For external matters, consult East Xia; for internal matters, consult East Xia.

East Xia had long prepared contingency plans, but the adults at home had said not to let the child feel they were constraining his direction.

Often, when adults arranged paths for children, the children refused to walk them, or walked them reluctantly.

Respect, guidance, preparation, and backup, these were the main tasks East Xia needed to do.

As soon as Chen Mo raised the problem, East Xia immediately delivered a complete set of suggested solutions.

First, by type, East Xia broke down all work in the entire industrialization process into three parts.

The first part, called Category C work, involved low-tech or no-tech tasks like moving bricks, unloading cargo, digging holes and laying pipes, carrying water and clearing sand...

These jobs would be completely handed over to local workers, requiring only someone to demonstrate for them.

The greatest value of Category C work was freeing up transport capacity. Work that one bulldozer could complete in a day would take a group of workers over ten days to shovel, but as long as local workers could do it, they could simply use more manpower rather than precious transport capacity.

The second part, Category B, involved slight technical thresholds requiring basic cultural abilities and operational skills.

Such as securing molds, checking alignment, operating cranes, connecting circuits...

This part would be handled by outstanding members of the "Youth Corps" who had already undergone basic literacy training, learning hands-on according to materials provided by East Xia, then serving as technical backbone to spread skills downward, training groups of workers who might not know the why but knew the how.

Gradually improving proficiency, becoming Vast Sea screws.

Finally came Category A work with high technical thresholds, such as precision machining according to blueprints, machine tool parameter adjustment, and complex component replacement and repair.

This part was completely entrusted to the "Luban No. 1" engineering robots from East Xia.

These were the culmination of East Xia's mechanical craftsmanship, with big heads full of data, and when necessary, they could connect to that massive central database for consultation.

Their entire bodies had eight mechanical arms and two data transmission interfaces, capable of matching and operating any type of machinery East Xia sent to Vast Sea Territory.

For instance, East Xia had specially allocated high-precision 3D printers and complete series of powder materials for Vast Sea's industry. "Luban No. 1" could print over ninety percent of small and medium-sized parts based on this, and complete equipment replacement, maintenance, and restart.

With work types clarified, next came the advancement steps.

According to the design of East Xia's planning group, the entire territory's industry was divided into four steps.

The first step was to continue promoting large-scale photovoltaic solar panel networking and complete line connections to major planned industrial areas, ensuring power supply.

Energy was the foundation of all industrial development.

The second step was the "first three small," namely small cement, small fertilizer, and small steel.

Relying on the desert limestone mines already discovered, they would build rotary kilns to establish basic small cement production capacity.

This was the fundamental guarantee for industrial infrastructure.

The main component of small fertilizer was building an ammonia synthesis tower south of the already operational seawater desalination plant, relying on seawater desalination byproducts to mass-produce nitrogen fertilizer, supplying and expanding agricultural production to guarantee the territory's food security.

The Starry Continent wasn't a place of extreme food abundance. Long-term large-scale food purchases were destined to be unsustainable, self-sufficiency had to be the goal.

Small steel came last, not only because it was most important, but also because it was most difficult.

Equipment could be transported in batches by East Xia, but what about raw materials?

So far, there were no signs of iron ore or coal mines explored around Vast Sea Territory.

To develop basic industry, these two things were indispensable, meaning East Xia needed to purchase large quantities of these industrial raw materials.

Coal was relatively easier to handle. Whether it was the southern Crescent Moon Federation or the northern orc tribes, traces of coal mines had been discovered.

And because of this world's extremely low industrial level, coal mines were mostly used for daily life and workshop processing, with low prices and large supply quantities. Once Vast Sea Territory put out large orders, merchants and local powers would naturally organize mining.

After all, for things like coal, the transportation costs were more expensive than the ore bodies themselves.

Iron was more troublesome.

This stuff belonged to strategic-level resources. You could say that small quantities of three to five hundred kilograms might be possible with enough money, but anything beyond that would require illegal channels.

Like smuggling!

But no matter how difficult, they had to proceed.

If even orcs could buy steel, why couldn't a human territory!

The core of small steel was building a small electric arc smelting furnace and a set of hydrogen-based direct reduced iron reactors. In the future, this would provide continuous material and equipment support for the latter two small industries, as well as support for further exploration and initial mining.

After the first three small industries basically took shape, the last two small industries would be implemented in sequence: small chemical and small machinery.

These were the most complex industrial categories. In civilian applications, small chemical mainly focused on production and processing of non-metallic components. In military applications, it provided materials for nitrocellulose reactors, producing propellants.

In civilian applications, small machinery locally produced various detection equipment, production equipment, and maintenance auxiliary equipment. In military applications, it worked with casting machines and stamping machines to create bullet and artillery shell production lines.

After carefully reviewing internal and external factors, it seemed internal difficulties were no longer so troublesome, what remained were mainly external resource problems.

Finally, there was a timeline schedule coordinating execution steps, broken down to every execution detail and time node, distributed according to core first-level nodes, important second-level nodes, and basic third-level nodes, unfolding in order with meticulous attention to every detail.

And on the first line of the first page of this schedule, in the primary position, was something completely unrelated to industry called: Establish Propaganda System.

On the afternoon the order was issued, the wooden sign for "Vast Sea Territory Special Propaganda Department" was hung in the most conspicuous position of the lord's mansion's side wing.

Setting up bulletin boards, selecting speakers, erecting broadcast stations, recruiting reporters and editors...

As night fell, the night sky over Vast Sea desert was pierced for the first time by a strange, powerful melody.

"Clang clang clang, clang clang clang, red flags flutter in the wind, how loud the singing is."

Stirring music rang out for the first time over the great Vast Sea desert, and the entire territory fell into excited emotions.

In simple shacks, patrolling guards, workers under lights, children in the square... countless people looked up expectantly, listening intently.

And in distant East Xia's dimension, also accompanied by stirring music, the Material Science Research Institute of Dong'an Prefecture's Plasma Physics Research Institute welcomed an extremely important experiment.

The main content of the experiment was called "Controlled Nuclear Fusion Stability Testing Under Special Energy Constraint Structures."

Undoubtedly, this was a complete new set of medium-sized magic arrays that Chen Mo had sent back from the Starry Continent, basically built according to East Xia's experimental concepts.

From its appearance, its base was a semicircular stone slab. The circular position had an obvious slot, with bright silver lines swimming out from the depths of the stone slab, converging at the opening like tree rings in tight arcs around a mana crystal in the center of the slot.

The upper part of the stone slab was a hollow structure supported by three short struts, with another stone slab on top, also covered with dense lines.

When East Xia Academy of Sciences experts first saw it, they felt like they were looking at a primitive, crude, giant integrated circuit with visible pathways.

The technical team had long systematically analyzed all its observable structures through various methods. These energy transmission lines, each serving different functions, were precisely the pathways for transmitting magical energy.

To ensure absolute safety, this experiment was equivalent to a dual-system startup.

The external magical array was the focus, observing results in plasma flow control.

All protective measures of the original equipment remained in place as backup.

Presiding over the experiment was Academician Li Ze from the Plasma Physics Research Institute. As an elderly professor who had devoted nearly twenty years of his prime to this endeavor, Academician Li Ze felt both anticipation and bitterness at this moment.

Two guidance officers from the military's "Mystic Bird" group, one primary and one assistant, stood beside the magic array, with a backup team standing straight behind the rear dotted line.

Under psychic guidance, the magic array was activated.

A rainbow-colored light appeared in the void.

This was one of the magic array's auxiliary functions: psychic manifestation.

The psychic energy of the Starry Continent was invisible and intangible, especially when building spell models. The inability to observe them led to extremely low teaching efficiency among mages, who often needed to first solidify spell model patterns onto magic stone slabs, letting students practice repeatedly until they were familiar before daring to enter the next practical phase.

But when instructors engraved real spell models onto slabs and students tried to restore spell models from the slab patterns, this back-and-forth not only reduced efficiency significantly but was also very prone to errors.

After all, spell models were three-dimensional, while slab engravings were only two-dimensional.

Thus came this later development, hailed as the "crown jewel of first-tier spells": psychic manifestation.

It dotted the psychic trajectory of spatial spell models with light arts, and the colors of the light traces would change over time.

For example, the psychic trajectory at the initial starting position would be pale yellow, growing deeper over time until finally becoming rich orange. Even without instructor guidance, clever students could understand where to begin from such a colorful spell model.

Pale fluorescent yellow writhed in the air.

Of course, here it wasn't called psychic energy or magic, but rather the laboratory term: stellar energy, stellar body energy!

"Stellar energy model construction program is orderly, pathways match, structure meets standards!"

"Detection module confirmed, stellar energy protective barrier is in position!"

"All units fully prepared!"

"Experiment begins!"

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