Chapter 686: Growth Spurt

Other than powering bigger, better blast furnaces, there was also a need for many more steam engines in Torren Ridge to pump out water, pull mine-carts, and circulate fresh air into the mines.

Basically, however many LBM Mark 1 and Mark 2s Lucas could produce, Torren Ridge could absorb.

And that was just Torren Ridge.

After months of arguing, the nobles of the Southern Province had finally reached an agreement on ownership of the newly discovered iron mine, and it was fair to say they were interested in the rumoured ’steam monsters’ the Balfour Family had invented.

In fact, all the mines throughout the Rockwell Kingdom that had somehow or another gotten word of the LBM Mark 1 now wanted at least one to test out, which was hardly surprising given just how useful steam engines were.

This was both good news and bad news for Project Revolution.

Good news in that there was considerable demand for their products, bad news in that they would likely be so busy supplying the needs of these potential customers that using the LBM Mark 2 for more experimental purposes would have to wait.

Of course, Lucas did prioritize his own interests somewhat in that the first 5 production model Mark 2 steam engines had all remained in Misty City.

4 of these were used in the Balfour Family’s forges while 1 was actually sent to Lucas’ tailoring factory where it powered a massive set of custom-built sewing machines, a few of which were even designed specifically to work with Spirit Grade fabrics.

Naturally, Isaac and Felicity were overjoyed when the new machines began operating as it meant that even Body Tempering Realm tailors could quickly and professionally create Spirit Grade clothing, something that would have been utterly unthinkable just a year ago.

As for Project Thor and Project Dyson, both had basically come to a standstill as they had reached technical hurdles that were impossible to overcome in short order.

Railguns demanded extremely high precision manufacturing, high-capacity electrical discharges, and specialized materials that could withstand both intense heat and friction.

None of these things was easy to accomplish, so while Lucas and his team of explosion enthusiasts had created a few single-shot disposable prototype cannons, one of which actually had power even his Master was frightened by, they were still just very expensive novelty items rather than qualified weapons.

As for trying to collect massive amounts of solar rays and concentrate them into a small area to greatly boost the local World Qi density, that required mirrors, which required either perfectly clear glass or extremely thin highly-reflective metal sheets, two things nobody in the Rockwell Kingdom knew how to manufacture.

That said, Lucas had a genius plan to acquire the necessary expertise to manufacture mirrors in the Rockwell Kingdom, but that would require him taking a trip to the Kore Sovereignty to poac... to recruit some professional glassmakers.

He had considered forming a partnership with one of the glass-making businesses in the Sovereignty at first, but through some correspondences with Second Queen Ancestor Ariana, Lucas had been forced to reconsider.

According to the former Queen, any kind of deal Lucas tried to negotiate with an established company from the Sovereignty would undoubtedly be incredibly one-sided, with the company demanding he hand over all new technology and manufacturing methods to them in exchange for some small discounts on final products.

Ariana getting personally involved in such a deal might mitigate this kind of exploitation, but not by much as her rivals in the Vast Ocean Trade Company would almost certainly interfere and try to sabotage her efforts, especially if the venture was highly profitable.

As such, the former Queen advised Lucas to come to the Sovereignty in person, where she would try to help him quietly hire some disaffected glassmakers or specialists.

It might take longer for Lucas to establish a glassmaking industry in the Rockwell Kingdom from scratch, but it would be under his exclusive control, which would be better for him in the long run, especially if his theoretical method of producing perfectly flat, flawless sheets of glass really turned out to be effective.

As for the backlash such an invention might create for him from the established industries... as long as Lucas didn’t expand too quickly, he probably wouldn’t see too much pushback from the powerful chambers of commerce in the Large-Sized Nations right away.

If nothing else, he could just sell finished products to the Queen Ancestor and have her ’launder’ them through the Trade Company; for a reasonable commission, of course.

.....

It wasn’t just in regards his various projects that Lucas had seen great progress; the boy had also experienced quite a lot of growth in terms of his cultivation and even his physical body in the first half of the year.

Perhaps because he hadn’t started up many new projects during this time and was simply monitoring or maintaining his already ongoing works, Lucas had more time to focus on his training.

That, in addition to spending quite a bit of time helping teach Project Ascension’s new recruits the new cultivation method, Lucas managed to break through multiple times over the past 6 months, reaching the Third Step Vein Opening Realm.

If he had been an ordinary boy, this would have been an astonishing level of cultivation for a 12-year-old, but Lucas was anything but ordinary, so it was actually a bit lacking in his personal opinion.

Sure, his foundation was incredibly solid and his actual strength was much higher than an average Third Step Vein Opening Practitioner, but keep in mind that Lucas had begun cultivating almost half-a-year earlier than normal and that he had essentially unlimited access to the best resources, teachers, and training facilities in the Rockwell Kingdom.

Whether his rate of cultivation was actually slow or not was debatable. Lucas’ Master, Celestina, thought it was quite good considering the highly unorthodox approach her First Disciple was taking, but he wasn’t really satisfied with that answer.

It was for this reason more than any other that Lucas was very eager to get more results from both Project Ascension and Project Dyson, but simply wishing for something didn’t make it happen.

As for his physical growth, it seemed puberty had arrived in full-force for Lucas.

Hormones, intense training, excellent nutrition, and a whole host of other factors had caused the young boy’s first growth spurt to be quite shocking.

8 centimetres in just 6 months, with no signs of it slowing down.

Lucas was still shorter than his Junior Sister Disciples, but if he kept shooting up at this rate, it probably wouldn’t be long before he at least matched Eris and Christina in terms of height.

Both the girls were also experiencing rapid periods of growth, but the changes in their height weren’t nearly as extreme as Lucas’. With regard to their figures, however...

In any case, as a result of him growing so rapidly, Lucas actually looked a bit thinner and lankier than before as he simply couldn’t keep any kind of bulk on his frame no matter how much he trained or ate.

Coupled with a bit of a lingering baby-fat on his face, the boy actually had a bit of an awkward appearance at the moment.

However, Lucas wasn’t worried about this.

He had never been particularly vain about his looks, but even if he was, his father, Drake, had a rugged, handsome charm to him while his mother, Anna, had a rather noble bearing to her face. Both of them were also quite tall and had well proportioned physiques.

In other words, Lucas had good genes to lean on when it came to looks.