Magic Industrial Age

Before the advent of magic-powered firearms, knights were the undisputed protagonists of warfare in the Old Continent.

While not every knight could reach the third tier and project their Battle Qi, every formal knight was at least at the second tier, with the seed of life sprouting and a thin stream of Battle Qi flowing within them.

Thus, each knight possessed immense strength and incredible stamina, coupled with heavy armor and riding steeds with the bloodline of magical beasts.

Truly, wherever they went, they were like mobile primeval behemoths, capable of crushing any enemy.

Therefore, knights were the lowest-ranking nobles, the cornerstone of governance.

But when magic-powered firearms appeared, this 'invincibility' became a mere illusion.

Decades ago, the Habsburg Empire and the dominant Bonaparte Empire of the Old Continent had a major war that proved the effectiveness of the three-stage firing method.

Forming ranks in three rows, they took turns firing, and the denser the enemy's formation, the faster they died.

But that was just the beginning.

Back then, magic-powered firearms were single-shot, cumbersome to reload, and slow to fire, requiring time to activate.

But now, the Habsburg Empire already has rapid-firing magic-powered pistols, magic-powered rifles with a range of hundreds of meters, and magic-powered cannons with outrageous power...

It can be said that the emergence of the magic-gunner profession has changed the traditional warfare model of thousands of years, making the clustered charges of knightly orders a joke.

Of course, cultivating a qualified magic-gunner is not easy!

Unlike the gunpowder firearms that anyone familiar with Loye could use, the use of magic-powered firearms requires magic power as one of the rigid conditions.

Even though most of the consumption is provided by magic crystals, to get the magic array on the gun body moving requires a bit of the user's own magic power to trigger it.

It doesn't have to be much, but it must be there!

And to have magic power, one must master the basic meditation method and have accumulated knowledge about magic.

The problem is that formal mages are not so easy to cultivate.

Putting aside the effort one makes after birth, innate elemental affinity and a sufficiently wise and intelligent mind are things that one either has at birth or will never have!

Especially for formal mages of the Habsburg Empire, there is too much to learn, and the requirements are far stricter than those of traditional mages.

It can be said that among so many people in the magic academy, ninety-nine percent will not be able to embark on the path of a mage, but they are not really without a way out.

In the second-year professional selection, there is the 'magic-gunner' profession, which focuses on the manipulation and use of magic-powered machinery, and after graduation, one can join the army.

For most people, earning military merit on the battlefield is also an excellent choice.

So many people on the training ground are doing physical and swordsmanship training, all striving in the direction of 'magic-gunner'.

At long range, they attack with magic-powered firearms; at close range, they kill enemies with swordsmanship. If they are agile enough and fast enough, they can form considerable combat power.

An elite magic-gunner squad, executing interspersed beheading tactics, can even make most legions fear.

Let me tell you something funny. In the past, on the battlefield, knights liked to use greatswords, heavy swords, and giant swords, because their attack power was high enough, and they were very destructive when swung.

As a result, the knights' extraordinary cultivation all developed in the direction of 'big, clumsy, and rough', pursuing stronger strength, thicker defense, and a more valiant posture, hacking and slashing all the way.

But now, with the advent of magic-powered firearms, being big, clumsy, and rough has become a living target.

Unless one cultivates above the third tier and projects Battle Qi, one's survival rate on the battlefield is truly worrying.

On the contrary, agile warriors, who were previously unpopular, have become mainstream.

With a gun in one hand and a sword in the other, they move and dodge within a small space, with a fast sword and an even faster gun, capable of taking lives in an instant!

Of course, the magic academy is not a military academy, so naturally there is more than just the 'magic-gunner' direction. There is also a very popular major: magic-powered machinery!

In theory, to design mature magic-powered mechanical products, one must be a formal mage and have sufficient attainments in modern alchemy.

It's not looking down on ordinary people, but if you don't understand magic inscriptions, don't know the structure of spells, and can't inscribe runes, you can't design them even if you want to!

However, the design can be left to formal mages, but in addition to that, the production, equipment, debugging, improvement, maintenance, upkeep, and even the final repair of magic-powered machinery...

These links require a large number of professionals.

They may not reach the level of formal mages, but if they don't have any magic power, they can't even do the simplest testing.

These people are indispensable and extremely scarce technical talents, and they are the most indispensable part of any magic-powered machinery factory.

Take the most common magic-powered textile factory as an example. Although the work efficiency is dozens of times that of traditional craftsmanship, the opening, closing, maintenance, and upkeep of magic-powered spinning machines all require these professionals to operate.

The salaries of these people are also the highest in each factory. Ordinary employees can earn thirty to forty silver Tills per month, while these technical employees must have one gold Till or more.

If their skills are excellent and they can solve various problems, they may even be snapped up by factory owners, belonging to the proper middle-class elite.

Of course, whether they are magic-gunners or professional magic-powered mechanical technicians, they are talents that the Habsburg Empire craves, the more the better.

Therefore, the Habsburg Empire has launched universal education. When they reach the age, they must be sent to school to study. After six years of compulsory education, there will also be corresponding assessments.

As long as their grades are not bad, they can be sent to the magic university for further study. If one or two formal mages can emerge, it will be a big profit.

At the very least, they can become magic-gunners, who can make contributions on the battlefield; or they can become technicians, filling the big hole in the magic-powered industry, acting as a cog in the machine.

Either way, for commoners, it is a very good way out!

Loye awakened his past life's wisdom and knew the power of the industrial revolution, so he naturally wanted to join it.

Therefore, his goal, from beginning to end, was to become a formal mage.

It's just that traditional learning methods are too slow, and he can't wait, so he has to think of some ways.

—

Early in the morning, the reason why Loye came to the academy training ground instead of the classroom was because the morning's course was not the study of theoretical knowledge, but physical exercise and basic swordsmanship.

When the class bell rang, the physical education teacher was already there.

Matthew Bolivar, a standard Habsburg strongman, nearly two meters tall, with full muscles and extremely broad shoulders, looked extremely majestic at a glance, with a very strong visual impact.

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It is said that he is a retired officer of the regular army, a second-tier, seventh-level knight, whose physical fitness is almost perverted, and whose strength is exaggerated.

Loye has seen his weapon, a greatsword, the blade of which can cover half of his body when erected, and the wind it creates when swung can make people unable to open their eyes.

However, in this era, his body type is very disadvantageous. While his strength is great, he must sacrifice agility and reaction. Facing the concentrated fire of magic-powered firearms, he is a living target.

Therefore, he is only a physical education teacher and does not teach swordsmanship.

The swordsmanship teacher is Mr. Williams Keller, who is slender, his muscles are not full but refined, like strands of steel twisted together and attached to his bones.

He has an amazing fast sword technique, which can be swung and turned six times in an instant. The most amazing performance was on the first day of class, when he threw an apple into the air.

When it fell, the shadow of the sword flashed past, and the apple became seven petals. The sword speed and reaction were incredibly fast.

Mr. Keller is a second-tier, eighth-level Wind Chaser Swordsman, but he is not from the army, but a mercenary who has traveled north and south. He was only invited to the academy as a teacher because he knew the dean.

It is said that one of the conditions he agreed to was to have the dean find a mage apprentice to teach him meditation techniques and accumulate magic power.

Obviously, unlike the physical education teacher Mr. Matthew, who is just making a living, this one has a bright future.

If he really gets started with meditation, has magic power, and becomes familiar with the use of magic-powered firearms, coupled with his fast swordsmanship, then his future is truly promising.

Even if he can't enter the imperial civil service, those wealthy merchants, and even nobles, are willing to offer extremely high salaries to hire such a person as the captain of their guard.

The courses of the two teachers take up the entire morning. After the exercises are completed, almost all the students are lying on the ground.

The reason why it is said 'almost' is naturally because there are a few who perform very easily, and Loye is one of them.

In fact, he doesn't pay much attention to the teacher's arrangements, but follows the plan given by Deep Blue, doing a large amount of physical training.

The effect is naturally immediate. His current agility and reaction are definitely the limit among his peers, and the Swift Sword skills he has learned are far superior to the basic swordsmanship taught by Mr. Williams Keller.

These two teachers can naturally see that Loye has his own inheritance, so they behave very indifferently. As long as he doesn't cause trouble, they don't care much about him.

When the class bell rings, Loye doesn't delay, and starts running towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria of the magic academy has special subsidies from the empire, calculated per capita, which is given extra funding.

Therefore, the food is not delicious, nor is it very clean, but the quantity is sufficient, and there is a lot of meat.

A group of seventeen or eighteen-year-old lads, coupled with high-intensity training, would naturally not be able to withstand it without sufficient nutritional supplements.

As for the afternoon, they have classes in the classroom.

First-year students can only be regarded as beginners in magic, and what they learn is not in-depth, but there are still a total of eight courses, including 'A General History of Magic,' 'Introduction to Meditation,' 'Initial Contact with Magic Inscriptions,' and 'Popularization of Basic Magical Materials,' and so on.

The coursework is considered heavy and is also a kind of screening to see which direction each person is suitable for.

However, classroom management is not strict, as long as you pass the exam and get the credits.

Therefore, Loye did not hesitate to skip class, turned around, and hurried to the academy's library.

PS: Although there is an academy, I don't plan to develop much plot in the academy. There will be basically no content of pretending to be forceful and slapping faces in front of little kids.

Therefore, the academy is the most important way to obtain information, and this part will be simplified...