Lord: I have built a witch's sanctuary.

Chapter 13 Multi-willow Steamed Steel

The three second-tier lava watchtowers sizzled and baked the snow around the camp, filling the air with a damp, earthy smell.

For those who make a living on the icy plains, this warm, earthy smell is more alluring than the most expensive perfume.

With the crisis temporarily averted, a wave of fatigue washed over me as my adrenaline receded.

But Lorraine did not go to sleep.

He sat cross-legged at the only wooden table, holding a charcoal pencil, scribbling on a rough piece of parchment.

Anna was adding firewood to the fireplace in the corner, the firelight casting a long shadow over her.

Olivia, meanwhile, was sprawled out in another chair, holding a cup of hot water, her eyes glazed over, clearly still reeling from the miraculous architectural spectacle.

"Four hours left."

Lorraine suddenly spoke, tapping her pen heavily on the paper, "The first wave of strange changes in the snow season is about to officially begin."

Olivia snapped out of her daze and gave a wry smile: "Yes, but these four hours are the last period of calm. With these three towers, as long as no lord-level monsters of tier three or higher appear, our lives are safe."

"Staying alive is only the first step."

Lorraine turned the parchment around and pushed it in front of Olivia. "Next, we need to think about how to live like a human being."

Olivia glanced down at the paper, which had several hastily drawn circles with coordinates marked around them.

"Are these some of the baronies in the vicinity?" She recognized the locations.

"That's right." Lorraine held up three fingers. "We're facing three problems right now. First, we're short-handed. There's still a lot to do after the snow season, and the three of us alone couldn't finish it even if we worked ourselves to death, let alone the subsequent farming and construction."

"Secondly, the supply of materials is limited."

Lorraine pointed towards the cellar, her expression turning somewhat disgusted. "Although you sent barley seeds, and there's some food stored in the cellar, humans are omnivores. If we only eat carbohydrates, we won't even last until next spring. We'll have all our teeth rotten from scurvy, and then we'll die a horrible death from a minor cold."

"Third, and most importantly."

He tapped his fingers hard on the circles on the paper. "How can I allow others to snore beside my bed? Since this wasteland has become an isolated island, then I must be the only voice on this island."

Olivia understood.

That madman.

Having just crawled out of a seemingly hopeless situation, and still catching his breath, he was already thinking about annexing the surrounding forces.

"You want to consolidate control of the surrounding baronies within these four hours?"

Olivia shook her head, her reason allowing her to quickly make a judgment: "Impossible. Lorraine, I admire your ambition, but the laws of physics won't change because of your ambition."

She pointed to the thick snow outside the window, enough to bury a person.

"This is the snowy plains of the North, not the flat roads of the capital. The nearest baronial post, 'Blackrock Outpost,' is dozens of kilometers away. In these snow conditions, even the best snow steeds would take six or seven hours to make the round trip."

"By the time you get there, the moment of upheaval will have already begun. When the monsters rampage, you'll be a sitting duck in the snow."

"Even with Anna, a second-tier witch, by your side, it's impossible for her to protect you during the unpredictable changes of the snow season."

Lorraine wasn't annoyed by the cold water being poured on her.

He looked Olivia up and down with the same gaze one would give a "tool".

That look made Olivia feel extremely uncomfortable, like a fish being appraised on a chopping board.

"What...what are you looking at?"

"Miss Olivia, if I remember correctly, your professional certification is 'Alchemist,' right?"

"So what if I am?" Olivia puffed out her chest, her proudest achievement. "Although I majored in plant cultivation, I'm also quite skilled in basic material processing."

"That makes things easier."

Lorraine snapped his fingers. "Since walking is too slow, let's build a car."

Olivia paused for a moment, then looked as if she had heard a joke.

"A vehicle? You mean one of those alchemical vehicles that can run on snow?"

She stood up, casually picked up a magic crystal from the table, and tossed it in her hand:

"My lord, do you have some misunderstanding about alchemy? The capital does have those levitation magic vehicles, but they require 'floating stones' as the chassis, 'mithril' to inscribe the conduction circuits, and at least a third-level alchemy master to spend a month meticulously crafting them."

"What do we have?"

She spread her hands and pointed to the simple wooden hut, "A bunch of blank magic crystals that only have energy and no attributes, and me, a first-order alchemist who can only perform 'mortal crafting'."

"As the name suggests, in the realm of 'Mortal Refining,' I can only consume magic crystals to create ordinary materials such as steel, wood, and stone out of thin air. I cannot conjure mithril or adamantite."

"With ordinary steel, there isn't enough magical conductivity to make a vehicle that can move. Even if you could manage to make one, it probably wouldn't be as fast as my beast-drawn carriage in this snowy landscape."

Olivia felt she had made her point perfectly.

This is a dead end.

To achieve high speed, advanced materials are needed to reduce weight and increase buoyancy. Using ordinary materials would make the machine as heavy as a dead pig and unable to move at all.

"Who says you have to use mithril to run fast?"

Lorraine pulled out the heavy book, "The Witch's Codex," from her bosom.

On Lorraine's retina, pale gold lettering was rapidly forming.

[Search criteria: High-speed vehicle requiring only common materials and powered by the Flame Witch.]

Search Results: Wasteland-style Steam-powered Rammer Truck (Modified Version)

[Required technologies: basic mechanical structure, thermodynamic conduction]

[Required materials: Large quantities of steel (made from mortal materials), rubber (made from mortal materials), and water]

[Core Power Source: Sustained Magic Output of a Second-Tier Flame Witch]

Looking at that wild look, Lorraine couldn't help but smile.

This thing doesn't require intricate magical circuits or lightweight levitation stones.

It only needs two things:

Hard enough iron, and powerful enough fire.

"Olivia, the essence of alchemy is equivalent exchange, right?"

Lorraine tore off a new piece of parchment and, with swift, flowing strokes, sketched out a drawing.

"As long as you have enough magic crystals, you can produce steel and rubber indefinitely?"

"That's how it works in theory." Olivia frowned and leaned closer. "As long as the structure is clear and the magic power is sufficient, crafting ordinary objects isn't difficult. What do you want to make? An iron shell?"

Lorraine slammed the completed drawing onto the table.

"It's not a metal shell."

"It is the violent aesthetics of the Industrial Revolution."

The drawing depicts a ferocious-looking creature.

It has a locomotive-like front end, with six huge, wide tires covered with snow chains underneath.

The front of the vehicle features a large triangular ram, resembling a rhinoceros ready to charge.

In the middle of the vehicle, there are no complicated magic transmission lines, only an enormous, exaggerated boiler and a thick connecting rod that connects to the wheel axle.

The rear section is a huge steel warehouse.

"What...what kind of structure is this?"

Olivia was dazzled by what she saw.

She was used to those elegant and intricate magical circuits, and this monster full of rivets, connecting rods and pistons seemed to her like a product of another civilization.

"The structure is very simple: boiling water generates steam, which pushes the piston, causing the wheel to turn."

Lorraine pointed to the enormous boiler. "The only problem is the power source. Inferior coal can't generate that much thrust, but we have Anna."

Anna, who was squatting by the fireplace warming herself, looked up, her face blank. "Huh? Young master, shall I sit inside and warm myself?"

"You don't need to go in; you just need to channel magic from the outside."

Lorraine looked at Olivia, "With the magic crystals we have, can you refine it?"

Olivia stared at the blueprints for a long time, mentally simulating the structure.

All the parts are solid steel, without any magical materials.

"If it were just this kind of crude material and structure..." She bit her lip, "I could make it in twenty minutes with the energy supply of eighty magic crystals. But are you sure this thing can run? It looks like it weighs at least five tons!"

"You'll know once it's built."

Lorraine pushed the bag of magic crystals she had just "tricked" Olivia back to her.

"start."