Manufacturing New Weapons

The Magic Empire once possessed a remarkably powerful civilization and technology, something Li Lin had always been proud of. This was evident in their current Ringwraith City; even on Earth, no technology could allow such a massive city to float in the air. However, Li Lin did acknowledge that Earth's power system had its advantages in certain aspects, though as a former ruler and mage, he didn't particularly appreciate them—for example, the widespread and simple use of weapons. Any child could use a submachine gun to attack older and stronger adults, easily taking their lives. Such weapons were far too dangerous and lacked any restraint. It was like someone completely ignorant of magic receiving a missile wand—at least they couldn't harm those who could use Lesser Spell Shield.

The modernization of large-scale weaponry inevitably leads to instability, and Li Lin doesn't want to repeat Earth's mistakes, where anyone could easily attack the president with a gun, causing unpredictable and uncontrollable damage. At least in this world, untrained assassins can't get close...

Because the power systems of the two worlds are completely different, Li Lin did not intend to completely replicate the knowledge from Earth. However, he had to admit that because their power systems differed from those of this world, people on Earth did possess unique insights in certain areas. These insights were precisely what could be learned from and utilized.

A war cannot be fought without soldiers, but it also cannot be fought with only soldiers. Even disregarding the current conflict, considering the future need to maintain borders and strategic deterrence, the empire's past practices are clearly no longer suitable for the modern world. Furthermore, that defensive system was once breached by the Five-Nation Alliance; using it again would only repeat the same failure. Li Lin and the other Arcane Mage had already grasped this conclusion when the Magic Empire was on the verge of collapse.

Although Ringwraith City possesses a sufficient number of mages with formidable power, the barrier confines them to the Ringwraith City's boundaries, preventing them from leaving. While the mage apprentices sent by the City of a Thousand Towers are highly promising, it will take a considerable amount of time for them to adapt to combat. The Magic Empire's educational system is entirely different from the current spellcasting practices on the continent. While it allows them to become mages faster, it cannot quickly transform them into competent military forces, especially considering their relatively small numbers.

Therefore, what Li Lin desired was a weapon capable of causing immense damage and deterrence from a distance. Such weapons were almost nonexistent during the Magic Empire era, but fortunately, such weapons existed on Earth.

Of course, although Li Lin borrowed the concepts from these weapons, he couldn't replicate their systems. Therefore, after drawing the concepts and sketches of these weapons, he handed them over to Nia's illustrators and calligraphers, hoping they could create similar weapons—but it seems that progress is slow now.

The manufacturing and research of weapons were not carried out in the central tower. Li Lin did not want his home to be blown to bits one day. Fortunately, there was a suitable place in the Ringwraith City.

"Ah, Master, what brings you here?"

Yi Aier looked at Li Lin and Nia, who appeared from the portal, with slight surprise, and asked curiously. Then, when she turned her gaze to Angela, who appeared last, she couldn't help but frown.

"Why is Miss Angela here too?"

"I heard things aren't going very smoothly, so I've come to check on things."

Unlike Kalin's Garden of Verdure and Suoxiate's residential area, the city of Yi Aier appeared to be entirely forged from steel. Thick iron plates covered the ground, and magical light flowed like streams through the gaps. If one had to compare, it somewhat resembled the UFOs Li Lin had seen in Earth movies. As the most powerful of the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys, Yi Aier's city also vividly displayed its power; massive magical Ring Spirit Envoy were everywhere, giving the illusion of entering an armory. For reasons he couldn't reveal, Li Lin decided to make this the center for developing new weapons.

"As a maid, you certainly have quite the nerve, you cow."

Angela clearly wasn't going to let Yi Aier's words go unpunished.

"Hmph, I'm the master's maid, not yours. Why should I listen to you?"

"Isn't the job of a maid to serve everyone? Judging from that, you're completely unqualified."

"Well, thank you so much for your kind reminder."

Yi Aier responded to Angela's statement with sarcasm and provocation, then turned to Li Lin, clearly not intending to respond to Angela's provocation any further.

"Then, Master, please follow me."

Under Yi Aier's guidance, the group arrived at the central fortress. Since Yi Aier's city was entirely military-style, even her residence reflected this. At this moment, inside this steel fortress, many mages were going back and forth, conducting various adjustments and experiments. And right in the square, a huge metal cone-shaped object, several meters tall, stood.

Is there a problem?

Li Lin carefully examined the steel cone-shaped object in front of him but found nothing amiss.

"The etching of the magic circle is fine, and the conflicts between the various spells can be resolved, but the problem lies in... our inability to control the timing of activation."

Nia opened the report in her hand and carefully reported to Li Lin.

"According to Li Lin, this thing called 'Mischief' should be a weapon capable of bombarding the enemy over a long distance. However, once these magic circles exceed a certain distance, mages cannot use their mental power to activate the inner magic circles to complete the explosion. And the distance is simply too short to fulfill your requirements."

What about trigger-based startup effects?

Li Lin took the report from Nia and examined it carefully.

"It's too dangerous. We've etched about twenty Chain Fireball Spell into it; the trigger-based magical structure can't guarantee its safety."

"Master, are you planning to build missiles?"

Only then did Angela finally understand Li Lin's intentions.

"While it's impossible to manufacture nuclear weapons, creating a similar effect isn't difficult if magic is used effectively."

Li Lin smiled and explained to Angela, but Angela was clearly very confused.

"Even if it could explode, how would you launch it? I don't see any rocket launchers or anything like that here."

"The Targeted Teleportation can directly transfer the weapon to the target's location; then you just need to throw it down."

Clearly, Li Lin had already considered this issue. He didn't intend to create tanks or airplanes; after all, these were too strange, difficult to achieve with current magical technology, and ultimately useless. For flight, magic ships and floating cities could achieve the same effect. This magical cruise missile, designed according to Li Lin's ideas, didn't use gunpowder-based chemical reaction explosive devices, but rather a magic array for etching activation. Thus, under specific conditions, the internal magic array would activate, causing immense destruction. Take the Chain Fireball Burst, for example; once the missile's inner surface was fully activated... Twenty etched magic arrays are enough to engulf a large area in flames and cause destruction. Simple, convenient, and incredibly destructive. Moreover, these magical missiles are more flexible than missiles on Earth—their effectiveness depends entirely on the magic arrays etched inside. Chain Fireball Explosion would result in massive explosions and destruction; Cloudkill or Stinking Cloud would turn them into poison gas bombs; not to mention spells like Ice Storm, which can also cause immense damage. Previously, the Magic Empire, possessing a considerable number of mages, never considered resorting to such unorthodox methods, but now it seems a change is necessary.

"The immediate issue is the impact of the teleportation process... Triggered systems become unstable due to fluctuations in teleportation spells... I don't want to wipe out my own side before I even cast it..."

"However, the magical framework for controlling the form cannot support such a long distance, and moreover, we cannot confirm whether we can effectively hit the target."

In this regard, Nia had clearly considered things more thoroughly than Li Lin. Although this method seemed convenient and powerful, even the technology used by the Magic Empire had its limitations. To activate the etching array, one had to input Magic Power —this was the usual method used by mages. Alternatively, one could pre-store Magic Power and use it at the appropriate time—this was exactly how Angela used Li Lin's scroll to cast the Greater Dispel spell in the Sealing Tower.

However, both methods require close-range activation, either by injecting Magic Power or tearing open a scroll. These methods are clearly unsuitable for this colossal steel structure. First, mages cannot enter to inject Magic Power. Even setting aside the fact that few mages possess the Magic Power to fill twenty spells at once, simply unleashing a burst of spells would make survival difficult—that would be tantamount to a suicide bombing, and Li Lin had no intention of resorting to human suicide tactics.

"Furthermore, according to Miss Angela, this wasn't originally intended for teleportation."

"That's right... I only realized then that copying isn't so easy after all..."

Just as Li Lin and Nia fell silent, Angela looked curiously at the huge, missile-like metal object and casually remarked.

"This humble servant doesn't understand the purpose of these things, but doesn't Master possess a spell that allows you to see scenes in other places? Why not just use that spell to determine the location?"

"That requires the spellcaster to create a location marker for communication, and it also has distance limitations; otherwise, we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble running around the streets..."

At this point, Li Lin suddenly froze, remaining motionless in his previous position. Then, as if he had just remembered something, Li Lin suddenly clapped his hands.

"Nia, have them continue researching how to break free from the magic circle's effects of teleportation. I have a new idea; if we can complete it, this problem here will also be solved."

With a very confident smile, Li Lin gave Nia the order. Angela's words had given him a very interesting and highly feasible idea.

"I think we can now manufacture a continuous range of surveillance weapons."