187 New Inventions

After a while, Braedyn couldn't bear to see the injustices anymore, and he had made a point to avoid the slavers market, but he still saw just how cruelly slaves were treated by high-rank families whenever he took odd jobs at their estates. Braedyn had thanked the gods that he had been born a bronze, else he too would have ended up living a miserable life just like those poor souls.

While Braedyn had little experience fighting, his pure size was a deterrent, and while he didn't think Jayde's plan would succeed, he was more than willing to join her cause. At least the slaves Jayde bought would die, free men and women, he thought.

Since Braedyn had already blood sworn himself, Jayde retrieved the rest of her designs and handed them over to Braedyn. As the two discussed the various plans, Elder Terrakeep sat mute, dazed at the contraptions Jayde and Braedyn were discussing.

Like Braedyn, Elder Terrakeep immediately understood the implications such inventions would have for the people of the Lower Realm. As Jayde explained how the plow, seed drill, hoe, and harvester would work, Elder Terrakeep was filled with excitement for the future. Even if Shaihshire ended up being wiped out in the future, these inventions would still be known to the low born, and it would make such a difference to their lives.

The one thing Elder Terrakeep knew was that once this sort of knowledge was made known, it would be too late for the nobles to prevent it from spreading. Many families would risk building their own plows and harvesters. And just maybe these contraptions would help them in the long run, he thought. If the nobles and royals didn't have to rely so heavily on slaves, they wouldn't be so determined to keep their slaves.

The biggest problem facing the low borns in the Lower Realm, was how reliant the high ranked families had on their free labor, but Jayde's inventions would ensure that these high-rank families would need fewer slaves, and surely these machines would be cheaper than having slaves. If the high ranked families profits weren't hit, then just maybe they would be more inclined to the idea of freeing their slaves, Elder Terrakeep thought wistfully.

Since Jayde had returned from Telia she had worked on various designs, at the time, Jayde hadn't thought that she would ever use them. Jayde had drawn up these designs more out of boredom than anything else, her experiences on Telia had made her curious about what other technologies from ancient Earth she would adapt to working in a magic filled world.

Jayde had already given Charliye instructions on how she wanted the defensive walls built. She had based her design on the design similar to the ancient city of Constantinople. Since that ancient city had stood for over eight hundred years, Jayde figured it was one of the better designs. She had ordered Charliye to build the walls 40 feet in height and 15 feet thick. With massive towers bastions every 175 feet. Outside of the enormous wall Jayde also wanted a 60-foot wide moat dug up that was at least 20 feet deep.

Since Shaihshire was right next to the coast, Jayde was going to use the sea water to fill this moat. Only one large gate would be built, with a drawbridge. The entrance itself would have two portcullises. As the entrance gate was the weakest point, Jayde wanted to set up a killing field, should the first portcullis be breached.

On top of each bastion, Jayde wanted ballistae mounted. These would be used to shoot down any enemies who were mounted on flying beasts, as well as any ships trying to attack. Jayde's final design was for a compound bow. The biggest drawback for low-level mages was the strength difference. With this in mind, Jayde figured that by using the leveraging system found in a compound bow, this would equalize the playing field.

Braedyn gazed intently at the weird design of the compound bow. Up until now all the designs Jayde had handed over had made sense to him. But this strange contraption with two wheels made little sense to him. Seeing his befuddled look, Jayde patiently explained how the wheels, which she called cams, would reduce the amount of strength required to draw the string.

Seeing Braedyn still didn't understand, Jayde went on to explain. "In a typical bow, the energy is stowed directly, which means that the further you draw the string, the harder they become to pull," Jayde said demonstrating the drawing of a bow.

"This means that once you have drawn the string back fully, you are left holding the entire weight, so if your bow weighs fifty kilograms, you are left holding fifty kilograms in your hands."

Braedyn nodded since most bows were really heavy most low borns didn't have the strength to hold them. A fifty-kilogram bow in the Lower Realm would be considered a child's bow, most adult size bows weighed over a hundred kilograms.

"Well these cams," Jayde said pointing to the two small wheels, "They reduce the amount of weight, but allowing the energy to be stored in the limbs of the bow, this means that the weight is reduced by sixty to eighty percent. Which would mean if this bow weighed fifty kilograms, then fully drawn would only weigh about ten to twenty kilograms."

"What? Impossible!" Braedyn exclaimed.

"Hmm, not only that but the force applied to the arrow would increase. Typically the arrow from a normal bow travels about a hundred and eighty feet per second, whereas an arrow shot from this bow should travel at around three hundred and seventy feet per second."

"Amazing," Braedyn whispered.

Braedyn has built many bow overs the years, and he understood just how important the speed of an arrow was, not only would this bow's arrows be more powerful, but also more accurate.

"The only problem is that we will need to forge these compound bows out of Dwarven Dark Gold, it the only metal that is light and durable enough to handle this design. Unfortunately, the number of moving parts on this bow makes it more fragile than the normal bow," Jayde said while retrieving a barrel filled with Dwarven Dark Gold ore from her spatial ring.

"This should be enough ore to create a ballista as well as a compound bow," she said, pointing to the barrel. "I will have to try and source more Dwarven Dark Gold through the auction houses, but since it is so rare, it will take time."

"Once we have a working prototype, then we will be able to forge these weapons incorporating runes to add magic to the projectiles, but for now let's just concentrate on getting working prototypes."

Braedyn stared at the barrel filled with Dwarven Dark Gold, then throwing Elder Terrakeep a guilt-filled gaze, he turned to look at Jayde.

"Dwarven Dark Gold won't be a problem," Braedyn mumbled, his high cheeks flushed a dull red. Looking down, he shamefully admitted. "There is a large deposit of Dwarven Dark Gold, near the quarry."

"WHAT!" Elder Terrakeep shouted.

Rubbing his nose, Braedyn looked down at the table in front of him, refusing to meet Elder Terrakeep's eyes.

"Years ago I stumbled upon it. Initially, I only found Humming Titanium, but over the years as I mined deeper, I have run into thick veins of Dwarven Dark Gold, Truesten, and Astrilium. There are even pockets of Enchanted Dust," Braedyn admitted in a small voice.

Seeing the incredulous look on Elder Terrakeep's face, Braedyn hurriedly explained. "I never took any of the ores for myself, but have been using them to forge items for the villagers."

Rubbing his face, Braedyn said. "I never said anything as I was worried that if news of the mine got out, the emperor would definitely kick us all out and take over the mine."

"Oh," Elder Terrakeep said. Elder Terrakeep didn't know what else to say, he realized then that he had been remiss during the years, as he had never once questioned where or how Braedyn was getting the metal to forge all the items the villagers had needed. He had just assumed it must have been ores left when the village was abandoned.

Elder Terrakeep felt a bit embarrassed that he hadn't looked into the matter—that it hadn't even crossed his mind to question Braedyn where he was getting all the metal ores from.

"No, you were right to keep the mine hidden," Elder Terrakeep said, trying to reassure the shame-filled blacksmith. "If the news of your discovery had been leaked, I doubt we would have been lucky enough to been expelled from Shaihshire, most likely one of the higher rank families would have found out and had us all murdered just so that they could take possession of the mine quietly."

Elder Terrakeep's mind boggled just thinking how much gold was sitting right on their doorstep. Nevermind the incredible value of Dwarven Dark Gold, but Truesten and Astrilium were even rarer, and the value of their veins was incalculable.

As Elder Terrakeep thought more about having those three metals sitting just outside their small village, he felt cold sweat drip down his back. Thank the gods, Braedyn had kept his mouth shut. Elder Terrakeep trembled just thinking about what sort of disaster would have fallen Shaihshire if the news had been leaked.

"Best to keep this mine a secret until only members of the Centauri clan occupy Shaihshire," Jayde ordered. "While I would love to see the mine for myself, rather avoid going anywhere near it until we are secure and only have villagers who are blood sworn to the Centauri clan."

Braedyn and Elder Terrakeep agreed with Jayde. Jayde then questioned Braedyn further about the mine he had stumbled upon. She was shocked to find out that the mine was even more significant than she had imagined. According to Braedyn, he hadn't yet scratched the surface of the mine's potential.

Braedyn had been too worried about being found out so had only mined a few ores when he needed to and only two or three times a year. He had also only entered the mine in the dead of night and had made sure to leave long before the sun rose.

Jayde was ecstatic with Braedyn discovery. Now that the pressing matter of sourcing the metals needed for Shaihshire weapons had been solved, Jayde felt relieved that at least one of the significant issues facing Shaihshire had been lifted.

Since it was growing late and Jayde and her group needed to return to Aeris, Jayde bid farewell to Braedyn. Braedyn was happy when both Elder Terrakeep and Jayde left since he was eager to start working on the designs that Jayde had left him. Not giving either of them time to delay him any further Braedyn practical pushed Jayde and Elder Terrakeep out of his front door, before closing it swiftly and hurrying over to his giant furnaces.

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📌 Quote of the day

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." -- Nathaniel Hawthorne

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