Emperor of Steel

Chapter 693: Prestigious Summit 2

Creak! Creak!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Get down slowly! Slowly!”

“Is the engraving of the magic circle on frame 3 done?”

“It is almost done, just a bit more!”

In the workshop of the Black Tower.

On the outside, it was similar to a Gigant workshop of any magic tower.

One difference was that the warlocks and the wizards, who were like enemies for the past hundreds of years, were working together.

Moreover, the work inside the workshop was being carried out by the warlocks and not the wizards.

“Is this the artificial muscle that works in the joints of the Gigant?”

After visiting the Black Tower, Luke pulled out something like a slippery piece of cloth that was in front of him.

The artificial muscle didn’t break even after being stretched several times its original length.

“It looks like a rubber which is produced in the Southern Continent.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. However, this is a lot stronger than the rubber, and it won’t melt easily in fire.”

At one time, there were attempts to reinforce Gigant joints by using the rubber, which was produced in the magic towers.

And they gave up right away, the reason being, the production of rubber was a lot more complicated, and the rubber wasn’t turning out as tougher as they expected, and it melted easily.

Dusting off his dress, Johas guided Luke to the place where the artificial muscles were being placed.

The test Gigants had no gloves, which made it look naked, with reddish artificial rubber attached to the joints and the frame.

Swoosh! Thud! Thud!

The Gigant, which was being used for experiment, was holding a wooden sword and performing the basic sword skills of the Symphonia Kingdom.

Next to it was a regular Gigant, placed for comparison.

However, the Gigant with artificial muscles moved a lot smoother, and its movement seemed flexible.

“We can apply complex magic circles to balance the device even in the absence of the rubber, but replacing it with the artificial muscle makes the device move simpler.”

“That must have reduced the number of malfunctions.”

“Yes, in addition to that, we were able to significantly reduce the production time and the cost of balancing the device.”

Court wizard Erwin, who accompanied Luke and Yohas, asked, “I think that there is still time and cost that needs to be applied to the artificial muscle, right?”

“Of course there is. But it is much easier and cheaper than adding in the magic circles to balance the device.”

The artificial muscle was made by culturing it with dark magic and a special solution, but it was said that the process, production, and mounting of it can be done only with ordinary engineers too.

“Moreover, it has an elasticity to it, which means that it can reduce the damage when being hit.”

“Still in thought, but the gloves too can be made lighter.”

“Right, Your Majesty. You are also very good at magic engineering, so you too understand it.”

He was bright in everything.

Even when it came to dark magic, Luke was far ahead of Johas.

And it was known not just to Johas but to Erwin too.

‘If they know Your Majesty’s identity, everyone will be shocked, right?’

Saymon, the Black Sage, the leader of the Dark Moon, the man who was called the Devil King.

Knowing that the soul of that man had entered into the body of Luke, a descendant of Rakan, would turn over the world.

However, it was a secret that had to be kept forever.

Saymon was a person whose character was being re-evaluated, and if people figure out Luke’s identity, the entire process of re-evaluation would turn suspicious, and the warlocks, who were being acknowledged by the world, would be repressed once again.

So Johas and Erwin didn’t want to reveal it.

No, they even tried to forget the truth as much as they could.

“But, what did the priests say about this artificial muscle?”

Looking at the wizards working with them, there didn’t seem to be much opposition in the workshop.

What was left were the priests who supervised warlocks in the Black Tower.

At Luke’s question, Johas replied with a firm expression.

“It is still a situation where the priests are looking at pros and cons. It’s rather controversial.”

“Any side that agrees?” Asked Luke with a frown.

“Yes, but there were more people on the side that disagrees.”

The artificial muscle was recreated from the bio golem structure that was made by Dark Moon.

It was made by removing the muscle tissue from an organism and then immersing it into a special solution, and it was cultured with dark magic.

All the priests in the Black Tower watched the production process.

“The opposition has a lot of reluctance about using the corpses. In addition to dark magic, they are questioning whether it was related to the necromancer series of dealing with the undead.”

It couldn’t be said that there was no real connection to the study of necromancy.

It was because the solution that was creating the muscles could also be used to create an undead.

“Did you tell that to them too?”

“I found it better to inform them ahead rather than to be pricked by them later on.”

“That was a good move. Still, there were priests who agree?”

“Yes, they were the kind who felt that this wouldn’t be a huge problem.”

The agreeing group of priests argued that the artificial muscle was no different from leather.

It was like peeling off the leather from a dead body and then had it treated with some chemicals to soften and remove its odor and even its color.

And some of the chemicals used to take off the leather were very toxic.

“Especially the kind of colorant… in the Irea Kingdom. There were instances where the rebel spies stole paint from the royal painters and then dissolved them in the drinking water source of the royal palace.”

“Uhm, I heard about it before.”

Using that as an example, the opposition argued that the tools used were harmful depending on its uses. That was why even the process of making artificial muscles should be monitored so that the materials wouldn’t be misused.

“What does Meister think about it?”

“Well, I don’t think that we can easily walk past the issues. The arguments in favor are reasonable, but those against can’t be ignored as they feel anxious about it.”

Last time, Johas and the elders of the Dark Moon had to step ahead to destroy the Veritas warlocks, who tried to secretly infiltrate the Kingdom.

However, even then, the people’s perception didn’t change that easily.

In particular, there was no need to even mention the priests, who walked out from talking about dark magic.

Rather, it was shocking that there were a lot who were in favor.

“Then I will have to persuade them.”

“Your Majesty will?”

“I need to use the card that I have with me.”

Having said that, Luke moved to the conference room where the priests were gathered.