"Save them! Somebody, help!"
"Put out the fire! Where are the mages?!"
"We need more people over here!"
At the disaster site, many houses had already collapsed under the force of the explosion.
However, with a special class skill active, even those who had died on the spot could be brought back, provided their brains hadn't been completely pulverized, even if their hearts had burst.
This was the terrifying aspect of Luo Li's skills.
Ordinary healing arts could rarely regrow limbs, but her healing... seemed to have been heavily modified, possessing fundamental differences from standard magic.
Those rescued from the ruins were currently staring blankly in a state of shock.
Among them were a few who had died instantly because their heads had been crushed.
For such cases of immediate death, Luo Li had no effective solution.
Even if the body was restored, had the cells in the brain truly returned to their original state?
Looking at those in a coma, Luo Li knew their brains had suffered severe trauma.
While others remained conscious, only these few were currently unresponsive.
Luo Li stepped forward and reached out to check their breathing.
She used her healing art to probe their vital signs.
They were almost identical to a healthy person.
Yet, these individuals remained in a deep coma.
This caused Luo Li to sink into deep thought.
The status of these three clearly showed normal physical signs.
But they were trapped in a comatose state.
Didn't this raise a significant question?
Could it be that this world also possessed something like a soul?
Or was it that once the brain was destroyed, the information stored within was permanently deleted?
If the former was true and the soul resided in the brain, then the moment the brain was damaged, their souls would have already departed from their shells.
A long-term coma would be expected.
If the latter was true, then these three would wake up as simpletons.
Luo Li frowned slightly and beckoned with her hand.
Nara, who was standing nearby, quickly stepped forward and bowed, awaiting orders.
"Your Highness, what are your instructions?"
Luo Li pointed at the three men lying on the ground.
"Keep these three under protection and care for them well. Notify me the moment any of them wake up."
From the information provided by the 【Light up the Brilliant Night with My Moon Banner】 skill, she knew these three were the ones whose skulls had been heavily damaged.
Whether they could wake up, and whether they would remain normal if they did, was very important to Luo Li.
No matter the type of healing art, there was always a delay.
In the future on the battlefield, there might be situations where someone close to her had their head cut off.
Or perhaps... even her own head might be shattered.
Such a situation might not happen, but if it did, it would be certain death.
Regardless of the circumstances, Luo Li wanted to have a contingency plan.
If her healing art could truly restore these people to their original state, then she wouldn't need to be so cautious.
Perhaps at a critical moment, she could even deliver an unexpected fatal blow to an enemy.
But if they couldn't be restored, it meant her healing art still had certain limitations.
In that case, she would have to do everything possible to prevent head injuries.
Lost in thought, Luo Li raised her hand.
"Lola."
"I am here, Your Highness."
Lola was already close by and reached her side in two steps.
"Calculate all the losses. Whatever the compensation is, the Temple will pay it in full, plus an additional ten percent as a consolation fee."
Luo Li pointed at the collapsed houses around them as she gave the order to Lola.
"Your Highness."
A heavy voice suddenly came from behind her.
Luo Li instinctively glanced back and saw Anton kneeling on the ground, his face covered in dust and soot, looking utterly disheveled.
"Master Anton? Please, stand up."
Seeing it was Anton, Luo Li quickly moved to help him up.
"What are you doing? Stand up before we talk."
However, Anton shook his head, resisting slightly, and remained kneeling on the ground.
"It is all my fault. It was my recklessness that caused this to happen. Everything... is my fault."
Hearing this, Luo Li couldn't help but become curious.
A steam engine could explode, but under normal circumstances, it shouldn't have been to this extent.
What exactly had Anton done?
"Master Anton, stand up first and tell me exactly what happened."
Anton looked up at the Saintess, sighed, and stood up with Luo Li's assistance.
"Sigh, Your Highness... do you remember what you said a few days ago?"
Luo Li scratched her head, feeling a bit lost.
She said so many things every day; how could she remember everything?
Anton also realized there was a problem with his question.
"Do you remember, Your Highness, when you were inspecting the steam engine a few days ago, you casually mentioned... 【If a more powerful mana stone could be used as a single-cylinder drive, we could achieve an explosive growth in power】?"
Luo Li was stunned for a moment upon hearing this.
Over the past month or so, she had indeed inspected the testing phases of the steam engine several times.
She was essentially certain that the steam engine was nearing completion and was ready for use.
While it might not be perfect, it wouldn't have any issues in daily life.
Therefore, she had been constantly planning the railway construction between cities lately.
Something like a railway would be a waste of potential if it were only used within a single city.
It was meant to be a long-distance transportation tool that could cross regions.
Luo Li's plan for the railway was as follows.
First, connect the northeast to the Great Wall, the east to Moonrise City, and the southeast to Seaview City, using Brilliant City as a central hub.
In the plan, Brilliant City needed three to four railway lines connecting the ten major cities, forming a massive transportation network.
Each railway line would need at least four parallel tracks to allow four or more trains to pass simultaneously.
To this end, Luo Li had already begun selecting an area within Refugee City to be reserved specifically for a train station.
After all, Brilliant City itself was difficult to modify now; the phrase 'every inch of land is worth its weight in gold' was practically invented for such a place.
Regardless of the era, the value of real estate in a capital city was always higher than in others.
Once the railway was built and short-distance steam cars were developed, goods would be transported by rail to Refugee City and then transferred to Brilliant City.
Everything seemed to be proceeding in an orderly fashion.
But today, this incident happened, which worried Luo Li greatly.
However, when Anton spoke those words, she couldn't help but feel a shock in her heart!
"Are you saying you actually followed what I said and built a single-cylinder explosive engine?"
Anton nodded with a heavy expression.
"I did."
"How were the results?"
A single-cylinder explosive engine was essentially the precursor to a gasoline engine; once such a thing was created, the change it would bring would be monumental.
"The results... were exactly as you see now. The metal I forged was completely unable to withstand the high-pressure environment of a single-cylinder explosion."
Speaking of this, Anton looked toward his small workshop.
"The single-cylinder explosive engine you described has very strict requirements for the mana stone's power. I selected one carefully, but... the engine block simply wasn't strong enough to withstand that level of pressure. The moment I added just a bit of power, this happened."
Luo Li frowned slightly and beckoned for Anton to board the Saint's Carriage.
Then they headed toward the Temple.
Beside them, Nara brewed a cup of black tea and handed over a towel.
Anton took the towel with an apologetic look, wiped the dust and soot from his face, and then took a sip of the tea.
"Anton, tell me how you did it."
Anton recalled the process.
"Reporting to Your Highness, it was just as you described back then. I installed the mana stone directly onto the internal piston and then used mana elements for short-term stimulation. With each stimulation, the mana stone would create a small explosion, triggering the piston's movement. For the first few seconds... the engine did indeed start running."
"However, it exploded immediately after."
Luo Li's brow furrowed. She hesitated for a moment before turning to Lola.
"Lola, have Camilla come here immediately."
It had to be said that Anton was indeed a genius, but he was a genius of the forging type. His ability to control mana stones could never be perfect.
Anton's idea was simple.
It was a single-cylinder engine, similar to a single-cylinder motorcycle engine on Earth.
In theory, this kind of engine shouldn't have caused such a massive explosion.
But Luo Li thought about it and was essentially certain that for a small engine to cause such a huge blast, the only possibility was that... Anton had chosen the wrong mana stone.
Even though he said he had selected it carefully, he wasn't the person most familiar with mana stones after all.
When it came to familiarity, alchemists and mages were far more knowledgeable than Anton.
Judging by that explosion, the mana stone Anton had chosen was likely of a very high grade.
Such mana stones did indeed contain massive amounts of energy.
From what she knew, the energy contained in a high-quality mana stone was enough to keep a steam engine running for over ten days without stopping.
The amount of energy hidden within was terrifying.
If Anton had chosen a top-tier mana stone, then once it was triggered, the result... would likely be exactly this.
"Your Highness, do you suspect the mana stone I chose was... incorrect?"
Anton also keenly sensed something and asked with some doubt.
Luo Li didn't hide it and nodded.
"Yes, and I suspect more than just the mana stone."
"What else? Which part?"
Anton was stunned and quickly followed up with questions.
His current attitude toward Luo Li was completely different from how it had been at the start.
Initially, Anton truly didn't think much of this Saintess.
He had lived in Brilliant City for quite some time, and after the previous Saintess passed away, this Highness had succeeded her.
In a year's time, Brilliant City had declined at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Although it was later revealed that it was because the personal nun, Martha, was a witch who controlled the government, it still meant the Highness lacked the judgment to see people for who they were.
This caused Anton to still look down on Luo Li slightly.
As for the first defense of Brilliant City, although it sounded incredibly fantastical, perhaps it was just a coincidence?
He wasn't originally from the Kingdom of the Moon; he had fled the Dwarven Kingdom to escape royal infighting.
If Brilliant City couldn't accommodate him, he could leave at any time and head for the next city.
It could be said that his impression of this Saintess was initially very poor.
In his eyes, this Highness was essentially no different from an incompetent ruler.
However, as time passed and victory followed victory in the wars, things changed.
With the final naval battle in the Eastern Sea, where over three hundred thousand demon elites were annihilated in one stroke, his view shifted.
Furthermore, this Highness was even able to survive being stranded on the demon island.
All of these events had changed his mind.
Add to that this transportation tool and the miraculous things this Highness occasionally spoke of, and his perspective shifted entirely.
Following the Highness's ideas, Anton could see a path forward.
What he could foresee was the glory of the Kingdom of the Moon.
Once he realized this, his view of Luo Li changed instantly.
She went from a 'failing ruler' of a dying nation to a 'wise ruler' with a promising future.
This was why he had remembered every word she casually mentioned and even went to experiment with them.
It was also why he was now listening so intently.
By all logic, as the top craftsman of the Dwarven Kingdom, what right did a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl have to discuss craftsmanship in front of him?
Yet now, he was listening very seriously.
"First of all, Anton, I can say that you didn't do anything wrong. Your idea wasn't wrong either, but something definitely went amiss in the process."
Luo Li pondered for a moment. According to the principles of an engine, the explosion within the cylinder must be strictly controlled under a certain pressure.
The energy of each explosion had to be roughly the same for an engine to run normally.
Anton should have done this part correctly.
So where was the problem?
The pressure within the cylinder needs to be released after it builds up to a certain point.
Every explosion must exhaust gases.
Setting aside whether he had managed that step correctly, there was the issue of the mana stone itself.
Whether the mana stone, the energy source, could withstand a high-pressure environment was also a major question.
All of this required slow experimentation and testing the limits of the mana stones.
It shouldn't have been rushed into the testing phase like he did.
One could only say that Anton was too impatient.
There was another point: she had been a bit too loose with her words.
Knowing full well that current technology couldn't reach that level yet, she had still said it.
The ultimate result was the tragedy before them.
Fortunately, she was in the city and reacted in time.
With one skill, besides the three people in a coma, there was only some property damage.
The Temple could easily handle that portion of the loss.
Speaking of which, Luo Li frowned slightly.
"Also, Master Anton, you were too hasty. Some things cannot be achieved overnight; they must be done step by step."
Anton also understood this was his mistake and nodded, sincerely admitting his fault.
"It was indeed my mistake. Please punish me, Your Highness."
Luo Li shook her head.
"No, punishment won't be necessary. I also bear responsibility for this accident."
Having said that, Luo Li looked at Lola.
"Lola, make preparations to set aside a piece of land on the west side of Brilliant City."
"What does Your Highness intend to do?"
"Build an industrial zone."
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