---

What could be the greatest driving force behind invention?

I believe it to be ‘deficiency.’

Only when humans feel discomfort in some actions necessary to maintain life activities and realize their desires do they truly sense deficiency, and in order to remedy that deficiency, they invent.

In that sense, this world is filled with convenience.

The cheat keys called ‘Mana’ and ‘Magic Formulas.’

Because of the existence of those two elements, the deficiencies that humans should feel have been taken away.

Thus, there is no necessity to strain for invention.

“The dwarves’ engineering skills are impressive. But…”

That’s why the engineering skills of the dwarves are imbalanced.

While magical engineering is extremely developed, natural sciences are underdeveloped, leading to a lack of mechanical knowledge.

It is easy to patch things up with magic formulas, after all.

“It’s just a workaround.”

But that’s not the orthodox way.

As the laws of physics from Earth also apply in this world, one must understand and apply as many mechanical relationships as possible to extract the best efficiency.

Not merely relying on magic formulas and Mana.

“Thank you all for gathering here. Before we start this lecture, I won’t be using formalities for convenience.”

Thus, I prepared a lecture to teach them.

In order for the dwarves, trapped in the confines of magical engineering, to abandon their stubbornness and actively follow my blueprints, they must learn the techniques of modern engineering.

Moreover, understanding and implementing the intention of the design rather than just following a simple blueprint can enhance work efficiency.

“Now, let’s begin the lecture. Please open the book you’ve been given and look at the overview of the ‘Steel Mill’ process on page 3.”

And with that, I started the lecture.

The audience for this lecture consisted of Adela, members of the “Shithead” club, and the dwarves.

Additionally, it includes 100 of my outstanding troops from a total of 1,000 personnel.

Since so many people were attending, I prepared teaching materials and took care to enhance my voice with Mana to increase its conveying power.

“As you can see, the process at the steel mill is divided into ironmaking, steelmaking, and rolling. The ‘Ironmaking Process’ is the process of melting iron ore to create molten iron, while the ‘Steelmaking Process’ removes impurities from molten iron to create steel. Finally, the ‘Rolling Process’ is where various types of steel products are manufactured.”

I provided a rough concept before diving into the actual lecture.

I explained just the larger concepts so that images could form in their minds.

“However, to facilitate the Ironmaking process, the iron ore and coal going into the furnace need further processing. The uneven components of the iron ore must be uniformed, then shaped to a suitable size for the blast furnace. This process of dressing the iron ore is called the ‘Sintering Process,’ and the dressed iron ore is referred to as ‘Sintered Ore.’”

After that, I explained the Sintering process.

I also explained ‘Coke,’ the heat source used to melt the sintered ore.

Coke is a solid fuel made by heating coal to around 1000℃, acting not only as a heat source but also a reducing agent that separates oxygen from the iron ore.

“Thus, through the Sintering Process and the Coke process, the raw materials and fuels used in the blast furnace are completed. The completed raw and fuel materials are injected through the ‘Charging Equipment’ installed at the top of the blast furnace. As the charged raw materials rotate, they are evenly distributed inside and accurately stacked in calculated positions, forming about 40 to 50 layers.”

I used a 3D hologram to show the process of how materials are injected.

By adding not just words but also visual information, even those unfamiliar with modern technology could keep up.

“Next, from the bottom on the opposite side, a hot blast at 1200℃ applies heat to the raw materials and fuels. This causes the coke, the fuel, to reach high temperatures and generates a chemical reaction to melt the materials.”

The chemical reaction occurring inside the blast furnace.

It refers to the reduction reaction that removes oxygen from the iron ore to make pure iron.

In other words, the carbon from the coke combusts incompletely, producing carbon monoxide, which reduces the iron ore to create pig iron, the pure iron.

Expressed in chemical formulas, it looks like this:

2C(s) + O2(g) → 2CO(g)

Fe2O3(s) + 3CO(g) → 2Fe(s) + 3CO2(g)

Fe3O4(s) + 4CO(g) → 3Fe(s) + 4CO2(g)

I skipped over the chemical formulas.

The chemistry in this world isn’t well-developed yet, and explaining it in a way they could understand would take up too much time.

“Thus, the molten iron by the hot blast becomes pig iron, pure iron. However, since pig iron still contains impurities like carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur, it needs to go through a process to remove them. The process of removing these is known as the ‘Steelmaking Process,’ which turns pig iron into steel.”

After that, I summarized the Steelmaking process and then delved into its details for clarity.

In short, the molten iron (the pig iron made in the blast furnace) is carried by a special vehicle called the ‘Torpedo Car’ to the converter, then poured into a massive pot, and pure oxygen is injected. This burns away components like carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur, resulting in clean molten iron.

“I’ll reiterate once more with the concepts we covered.”

Thus, I explained the Steelmaking process and summarized it here.

Sintering process using iron ore as raw material.

Coke process using coal as fuel.

Ironmaking process where sintered ore and coke are placed in the blast furnace, heated to produce molten iron.

The process of pouring molten iron into the converter and blowing pure oxygen to make steel.

“Next is the Casting Process, followed by the Rolling Process.”

Then I explained the Casting Process.

The Casting Process refers to the method of continuously pouring molten iron into a specific mold and cooling it to create intermediate materials like slabs, blooms, or billets.

Simply put, it’s similar to pouring batter into various cookie molds and baking them.

“Finally, the Rolling Process.”

Now that the research process is over, only the final stage, the Rolling Process, remains.

The Rolling Process is simply quenching.

Passing intermediate materials like slabs through rotating rolls to adjust the thickness and width, as well as modify the properties of the steel.

Depending on how the Rolling Process is performed, hot-rolled products made from construction materials and pipes can be produced.

Cold-rolled products for consumer electronics, drums, and automotive frames.

Galvanized products for luxury appliances, office equipment, and car exteriors.

Hot-rolled products for strong pipes, buildings, and ships.

Having explained the Rolling Process, I glanced around at the audience.

Then I asked if there were any questions about what we’ve covered so far.

“……”

No one raised their hand.

Perhaps this was as far as they could go.

I projected the next lesson material with a hologram to dive deeper.

“It seems everyone has understood this much. Next, I’ll give a rough overview of the equipment used in each process.”

***

After about six hours of class.

The dwarves left the lecture room with shocked expressions.

Even though they possessed the world’s greatest engineering skills, they realized they were just a drop in the bucket compared to Edgar.

Indeed, Edgar had completely excluded magical engineering.

He had established a mass production system for iron and steel using only the principles of mechanical structure and natural science.

For the dwarves, who had solely pursued magical engineering until now, this was a shocking level of skill.

How could someone devise such equipment and systems without using magic formulas even once?

“Perhaps our methods… might be wrong.”

Thus the dwarves started to think for the first time.

Wondering if their unique production techniques were barriers that confined them.

Seeing as every mechanical relationship was solved with magic formulas, perhaps basic engineering had been neglected.

They could take the time to self-reflect.

“…Indeed, he is a titled blacksmith. It is time for us to learn too.”

With Edgar’s heartfelt lessons, the dwarves completely let go of their longstanding pride.

When they were initially dispatched here, they felt a bit uneasy about taking orders from a human to create things, but now they were eager to learn proactively.

They began to genuinely respect Edgar as a blacksmith.

“I will now start a class. This lesson will be about the integration of magical engineering into the Casting Process.”

It was now the eighth day of special classes for steel mill production.

Finally, Edgar began to teach the equipment that integrates magical engineering.

First, he laid a foundation in basic engineering before explaining how to effectively substitute it with magical engineering.

Thanks to this, the dwarves were able to clearly understand why certain magical engineering and formulas were integrated into each piece of equipment.

Day by day, they sang praises of Edgar’s genius endlessly.

“Surely, this must be infused with the spirit of the dwarves! You were born in the wrong era! You should have been born a dwarf!”

“Could it be that the spirit of Toolkan has been reincarnated incorrectly?”

“Bwahahaha! That could very well be!”

They even went so far as to compare Edgar to their idol, the ‘Great Creator Blacksmith.’

Edgar’s engineering knowledge evoked that much awe.

“Well then, this is the final two weeks. Please give it your all.”

Thus, the mid-level managers who received quality education from Edgar began to focus on the field in earnest.

Without needing to receive orders from Edgar, they took the initiative to lead and give directions on site.

This was entirely because they understood the processes of the steel mill through Edgar’s lessons.

By comprehending all the processes, they came to know why the equipment used in the steel mill was necessary and could easily grasp the design intent of the equipment for fabrication.

Thus, with 56 construction robots and 47 skilled dwarf artisans.

And 110 mid-level managers directing a workforce of 1,400 without rest were dedicated to establishing the steel mill.

As Edgar predicted, they successfully completed the steel mill within the timeframe.

Of course, while some magical engineering shortcuts were applied, it was not problematic because it was based on an understanding of basic engineering.

“Everyone worked hard. Tonight, we drink all night!”

“Waaaaaah!”

Thus, on the day the steel mill, which could be called the flower of industry, was completed.

Edgar set free the storehouse for the hard-working laborers.

Today could be considered the most historic day for the industrialization of the territory.

 

---