Thunderstruck stones were high-grade materials with the lightning element, and were the core of the Seymour people's magical engineering technology.
Cape Town's artificial creation of thunderstruck stones was something that even the Aishi magical engineers were astonished at. Cape Town was only able to create thunderstruck stones in a special environment, and this was a technology that could only be created in this wasteland's special environment.
Thunderstruck stones were priceless in other regions, but they were rare and precious. After all, natural thunderstruck stones required a long period of intense lightning strikes to form, and they also needed to be struck by lightning on a suitable magical metal ore. The chances of them forming naturally were far too low.
Thunderstruck stones were highly concentrated, naturally occurring magical conduits, and engine materials that came with their own mana pools. They were ridiculously practical in industrial and magical engineering technology, and they were incredibly rare in production. Natural thunderstruck stones were incredibly expensive in other regions.
However, in this wasteland where lightning constantly struck, thunderstruck stones were the only common industrial materials in Cape Town. In fact, they even had relatively mature man-made technology.
Although they were inferior in quality, there was enough production to solve all problems, especially since Cape Town's "Aishi technology" wasn't obtained through proper means, and their technology tree wasn't complete.
Magic armor's magical engines weren't powerful enough? Why not add more artificial thunderstruck stones? These thunderstruck stones came with their own energy pools, greatly increasing their power.
Airships weren't buoyant enough? Why not add more artificial thunderstruck stones? The conversion between electricity and magnetism was the most basic of physics. If the maglev engines weren't powerful enough, why not just make a few more?
Do my brothers have any handy weapons? Why not add more artificial thunderstruck stones … cough, I meant attach a wooden handle to a thunderstruck stone, and activate it with mental power when necessary, then use the Seymour people's natural talents to guide it? Wouldn't that make a simple and easy thunderstruck gun?
Why couldn't they burn coal and cook without wood? Thunderstruck stone stoves were already common, and there were also thunderstruck stone water heaters and floor heaters. The Seymour people's natural talent for controlling lightning allowed them to safely and comfortably enter the age of electrical appliances.
"This technology tree is a little crooked …"
Although this material wasn't considered rare here, and the locals didn't think much of it. After all, they were already used to the existence of the Thunderstrike Stone. However, in the eyes of outsiders, it was a little abnormal.
"Although the Seymour people's magical engineering technology is very creative, they have been greatly influenced by outsiders. They tend to be too utilitarian and impatient for quick results. It's not that this is bad, but it's easy to fall if one's steps aren't steady. At least in my opinion, there are two hidden dangers that are close to terminal illnesses."
Back then, Rorschach had made such a judgment.
"First of all, there's an overreliance on thunderstrike stones … Our Earth used to be completely dependent on local resources. Those oil princes and the heaven-sent rich indeed lived quite comfortably. But when the oil ran out, or when the local oil fields attracted greedy outsiders, how were they supposed to live without oil …? At the very least, as far as I know, areas with natural treasures like these aren't very peaceful."
This was not a groundless fear, but a prophecy that had already become reality.
Now, so many Aishi People had come here to reclaim the land, build the city, and win over the locals. The large churches had sent their elites here, and the small churches had fought to get in. Were they really here for charity?
Rorschach dared to say that apart from the powerful individuals who had their eyes on no man's land, more than 99% of the Aishi People had come here for the rich ores in this wasteland. They had built cities, built transportation networks, and chased away magical beasts for the sake of mining.
Right now, the entire wasteland was filled with rich ores. The powerful individuals looked down on low-quality man-made thunderstruck stones and focused on high-quality natural thunderstruck stones. But what would they do when the ores dried up in one or two hundred years …? No, if the ores were successfully mined, perhaps the situation would change greatly in fifty years.
Natural thunderstruck stones required lightning to be produced, which meant that most of them were shallow mines or surface mines. Large-scale mines were especially likely to appear in tall mountains. But comparatively speaking, as long as it wasn't the thunderstorm season, mining ores wasn't that difficult.
The more you mined, the more you took. Naturally, the faster the ores dried up.
What would happen then? Rorschach didn't dare to think about it, but he would never underestimate how shameless those who were greedy could be.
Steal the locals' ores? No, the Aishi People didn't need to do such a thing. All they needed to do was "trade goods." They would be able to use simple goods, luxury goods, and consumer goods in exchange for "heavy, heavy stones that weren't as easy to use as man-made thunderstruck stones."
Steal the technology behind man-made thunderstruck stones? Of course. And, there was no need to steal the technology. They could buy the technology and research it together. In the end, they could still trade the technology.
Force the locals to mine in no man's land? That would basically be the case.
Relying too much on one industry, especially one that relied on natural resources, would obviously be a huge hidden danger to the country's industrial system.
Actually, many people had already noticed this hidden danger. But, for example, the former resource-rich countries that had fallen from heaven to hell after their oil ran dry, or the former wealthy countries that had been turned into ruins by powerful invaders, hadn't they all noticed this problem long ago?
"Even if they noticed, what could they do? Could they possibly stop the rich merchants and government officials from selling oil? Could they possibly reduce the citizens' benefits of being rich just by lying down? Are we going to force the citizens one after another to give up their comfortable and wealthy lives to work so hard? "
Theoretically, this could be done. But, it would be really difficult to do so without being overthrown by the angry citizens and the military that threatened their livelihood. Moreover, this was a non-information era without telephones and telegraphs. If the territory was too large, it would be difficult to maintain the rule by relying on reputation rather than the system. It would be difficult to forcefully reform a dictatorship.
This hidden danger was like a ticking time bomb. It was just a matter of when it would explode.
But, the second hidden danger was the root cause of a single warship being able to fight more than ten warships.
"… The industry is relying too much on man-made thunderstruck stones. This excessive reliance can easily become a targeted weakness. It's like using an EMP on an information technology unit and turning them all into trash. Using such a single technology industry in the military industry is simply forcing us to develop targeted weapons. "
Even in front of the Mount Sainte Faction, Rorschach didn't hide his guard against the Seymour natives (Cape Town).
And it was precisely with the help of the Mount Sainte Faction that Rorschach's weapon development project was extremely successful … Actually, even a Seymour child would know that the power of man-made thunderstruck stones was nothing in front of natural thunderstruck stones. The principle was similar to throwing two magnetic sources together. The weaker one would even be instantly degaussed.
And now, in front of the warship that was 70% constructed from natural thunderstruck stones, there were only a dozen inferior products whose core components were man-made thunderstruck stones. And so, a battle that the citizens couldn't understand occurred.
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