Anything that can cover the surface of an object and form a solid, continuous film can be called a coating. Coatings themselves can be gaseous, liquid, or solid, and their uses vary. From initial aesthetic decoration to later protection of an object's durability, all can be considered a type of coating.
Roland then launched a series of tests.
The test results delighted him. Perhaps influenced by the idea that "the longer a painting lasts, the better," her previous photo-paintings were already difficult to completely remove without damaging the substrate. The evolved ability elevated this characteristic to a new level.
First, this adhesive and lightweight "pigment" exhibited two distinct physical properties—it could change the flexibility of its material depending on the object being painted. For example, when painting the sky or clouds, it was as soft as a *zhuaji wu*, with extremely high resistance to stretching and shearing. When painting iron ingots or glass, it became hard and brittle, and could be shattered directly with a hammer. In other words, due to its limited mass, its flexibility was far superior to its rigidity, which aligned with Soraya's understanding of pigment.
Second, regardless of which characteristic it exhibited, its chemical properties were very stable. It not only did not react with dilute sulfuric acid or dilute nitric acid, but also showed repulsion to water and oil. When he filled a paper box coated with the pigment with clean water, there was no sign of water seepage from the thin box bottom. After pouring out the water, the clear liquid beads rolled around in the box like dewdrops on a lotus leaf. Touching the bottom at this time still felt dry.
In a high-temperature test, after Anna dripped molten iron into the paper box, the paper, as the carrier, immediately caught fire and burned. However, the coating itself did not change much, except for being stretched open a little by the molten iron. It was not until Anna's Blackfire continued to heat and burn the coating that it began to melt and deform, emitting white smoke and eventually turning into a black, gel-like substance.
What excited Roland the most was that this coating was also insulating. When it coated copper wire, it could be considered enameled wire like in later generations. He proved this with the simple DC generator in the yard.
At this point, Roland had a complete understanding of Soraya's new ability.
Unlike Anna's Blackfire, which surpassed Green Flame in all aspects, her evolved ability was more like an extension of her previous painting ability. Now she could paint realistic "oil paintings" as well as the thin "photo-paintings" she had painted before. This depended solely on her thoughts, and the two abilities could be used in parallel.
In addition, when painting scrolls with thickness, if the thickness was controlled below one centimeter, Soraya could paint almost continuously for several hours. Once it exceeded three centimeters, magic consumption would increase rapidly. After ten centimeters, it would reach a threshold where using almost all of her magic would only be enough to paint one or two strokes. Of course, from another perspective, this was also the fastest and most effective way to release magic when facing magic backlash.
It was still a summoning-type ability. Within the effective range of the God's Stone of Retribution, the magic pen would suddenly disappear, and Soraya would no longer be able to paint new patterns. However, the coating that had already been painted would not be affected by the God's Stone of Retribution. Under Nightingale's observation, there was no trace of magic remaining on it—in other words, the substance created by the magic pen was real.
As for the uses of the coating... there were too many. Soraya herself would never have imagined how much her new ability could change the town. This meant that Roland could quickly obtain a batch of water pipes coated with anti-rust materials, as well as large bundles of enameled wire, and even high-temperature resistant firebricks. The originally seemingly unattainable Three Connections Project (water, electricity, and roads) suddenly saw the light of dawn.
At the same time, this gave him a reminder: firsthand experience is far more profound than axioms in a book.
If he could allow the witches to see the microscopic world more intuitively, would it accelerate their acceptance of the particle theory, thereby triggering a new round of evolution? For example... a microscope that could observe cell structures and microorganisms.
Roland felt it was necessary to try.
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North Slope Kiln Group.
"Blow! Make the fire burn even hotter!" Losya shouted.
Although he couldn't see the inside of the blast furnace, with three carts of charcoal poured in, the iron ore inside should already be burning red.
When Karl. Vanbert called him to Border Town with a letter, he originally thought this was a remote and barren place. If the letter hadn't stated that the Stonemasons' Guild might be able to be reborn here, he would not have been willing to go beyond the borders of the kingdom to resume his old career.
After temporarily leaving his family and packing his bags, he had prepared himself for drinking thin porridge and living in a tent. As for having no people and no money, those were problems he often encountered during construction.
Losya didn't plan to stay in Border Town for long. Seeing Karl, an old friend he had known for many years, and seeing those stonemasons who had been exiled or lived in seclusion, he would be satisfied.
But reality is always so incredible.
After he arrived in town by boat, he met Karl. Vanbert, a distinguished stonemason from Greycastle, and a strong contender for the next leader of the guild, at the dock. Compared to the image in his memory, he had white hair at his temples and more wrinkles on his face, but his body had not become thin. On the contrary, he had become much stronger, and his face even looked shiny.
After exchanging pleasantries, Karl didn't take him to the noisy and chaotic construction site. Instead, he led him to a clearly newly built residential building and handed him a key, saying, "This house is yours. Put your luggage away first, and we'll go to the tavern for a good drink."
...Then Losya heard a series of incredible stories from him.
Karl, as a commoner, had been recruited into the City Hall by the lord and became an official with a fixed monthly salary, and also the director of the construction department!
If he stayed, he could also enter the City Hall to work!
A free house!
After working for ten years, he could get a retirement pension! What is a retirement pension? It means getting money without working!
Losya thought Karl was drunk at the time, but he didn't expect... everything he said was true.
"Sir, the ore is melting! I saw molten iron flowing!" the worker at the top of the furnace shouted.
"Open the slag outlet to discharge slag!"
After starting work, none of the problems Losya had envisioned appeared. Not only did they provide people when he needed people and money when he needed money, but they also provided them very quickly. Often, after submitting an application, he could get a reply the next day. In addition, this place also produced an alchemical material called cement, which could quickly bond bricks and stones, making the construction speed increase rapidly. He felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction here.
In just one month, Losya built five furnaces with bellows and three blast furnaces for ironmaking.
The blast furnace in front of him was the culmination of his years of hard work and experience after leaving the Stonemasons' Guild. He originally thought it would only be passed down in the form of blueprints, but he didn't expect it to become a finished product one day.
This improved blast furnace was nearly two meters high and about seventy-five centimeters in inner diameter. The lower part of the furnace body had multiple tuyeres that could be used for blowing and exhausting air, and the bottom had a slag discharge outlet and a molten iron outlet. Next to the blast furnace was an earthen slope made of sand and stones, which made it easy for workers to add materials and observe the conditions inside the furnace.
Today was the day when the first blast furnace was officially put into use. Before opening the furnace, a smelting inspection would be carried out as usual.
After opening the slag outlet intermittently more than ten times and adding two more carts of charcoal to the furnace, the inspection was basically declared qualified—molten iron had already settled at the bottom of the furnace, the slag outlet was unobstructed, and the temperature could now meet the needs of smelting. There was no need to continue wasting charcoal to burn it. After all, in order to reduce losses, the initial furnace inspection used waste ore from the corner of the stockpile.
After opening the iron outlet to discharge the melted iron, Losya announced that the furnace would be stopped.
...
Two days later, the townspeople cleaning the hearth dug out several dark black stones. Under the high-temperature baking, other waste ore had shrunk by several circles, but these few pieces of ore had not changed much compared to when they were first thrown in. On the contrary, the surface was brighter, as black as ink.
Losya couldn't judge what kind of ore this was. If it was useless waste ore, its shape and appearance were really pleasing, and it didn't seem to be useless. But if it was useful, how could it be made into objects if it couldn't be melted? After thinking about it, he simply picked out a piece of ore with the most square shape, wrapped it in cloth, and sent his men to the castle to give it to the lord of Border Town, Roland. Wimbleton.
Perhaps the knowledgeable lord knows the answer. (。)