Toot—!

Amidst the mixed battle of the two sail fleets, a massive, dark steel warship appeared unexpectedly bright and eye-catching.

Besides the surprising material.

The most notable feature of this warship is that it entirely lacks the standard configuration of ships of this era—towering masts and massive sails—instead replaced by towering chimneys belching dense black smoke.

This is indeed a creation bypassed by the "Tulip" technology tree—a [Steam-Powered Ironclad Ship]!

The Atlant from the Iceland country, with its weak industrial foundation, can suddenly produce such level weapons? And the steam engine is no longer auxiliary power but has completely removed all sail rigs in one step?!

Two powerful neighbors' war is certainly pleasing to them; Aiven and the other two wish they would fight to the death soon, but such a change was unexpected.

They immediately turned back to check their equipment depot.

The result was no surprise.

Including the prototype [Armored Knight], Phaletis launched four new battleships over the three years.

As Tulip's secret weapon, they remain intact, stationed in a secret military port.

Aiven Galliot also has not lost a single one of the three [All-Heavy Battleships] led by the first [Dreadnought-class: Black Sea Pearl].

The cost of [Dreadnought-class: All-Heavy Battleship] is about forty thousand Golden Lions, equivalent to the cost of ten Level 1 Sailing Warships.

Even the wealthy Phaletis and Galliot can only temporarily maintain military preparation at the rate of one ship per year.

Furthermore, the rapid weaponry updates in the era of technological explosion prevent Aiven and Liweina from digging a pit from which they cannot climb out.

As for the cost of the [Steam Ironclad] being much lower and its power far weaker than [All-Heavy Battleship], it still has a huge advantage in dealing with ordinary sail warships.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!...

Upon leaving stealth mode, the [Steam-Powered Ironclad Ship] immediately launched an extreme offensive against the Sak Empire's fleet.

Fierce conical shells pierce through the thick hulls of Sak warships with precision unimaginable by conventional shipborne artillery.

Beyond the range of conventional sail battleships, with just four consecutive shots, it sank a Level 3 main battleship of the opponent.

In the eyes of Aiven and the other three observers.

Compared to the era's mainstream sail battleships, this warship not only uses steam power but creatively employs designs where the main weapons are housed in turrets on the ship.

Equipped with 304mm front-loading rifled naval guns, it uses conical shells for range and precision.

An advantage of the turret is solving the protection issue of gunners loading front-loading artillery.

The artillery can be retracted inside the turret for loading, covered with armor plates, and then pushed back to position.

In this way, the gunners are not exposed to deadly danger on the shrapnel-flying deck while loading artillery, greatly enhancing safety.

Moreover, two twin main turrets are arranged atop the vessel, not along the sides as conventional battleships, considerably reducing their number.

This design philosophy inherited from [All-Heavy Battleship: Dreadnought-Class] is not solely Aiven and Watt's patent; it's a natural choice by engineers advancing battleship development.

Because deploying many side-mounted cannons doesn't offer an advantage over fewer cannons in rotating turrets.

Additionally, the contradiction between displacement and hull armor would see excessive side-mounted cannons consuming payload, thinning armor.

Furthermore, flexible steam-powered warships make side-mounted cannons increasingly redundant; thick armor can fully resist artillery shells from sail warships.

Therefore, battleship engineers naturally shifted their pursuit from the quantity of artillery to their quality. Larger calibers, stronger shells, greater penetrative damage!

This represents the future mainstream in the "Giant Ship Cannon" era. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

But Aiven still can't figure out how Atlant made this thing?

No industrial foundation, no technical staff, no consistent technical route—is it born from the stone seams?

Driven by strong curiosity.

Aiven simply abandoned indirect monitoring through the [Mind Network] and used the [Eye of Profound Wisdom] for remote vision, directly observing the smoky battlefield from Long Island over a thousand kilometers away.

The next second, the major parameters of this battleship quickly rolled through Aiven's eyes.

Displacement 9448 tons; length: 87 meters; width: 20 meters; main armament: two turrets, 4 304mm front-loading rifled guns, giant ram; cruising range: capable of traveling at about 15 knots for 12 hours....

The Eye of Profound Wisdom even pierced through its steel body and saw the intricate system inside.

Steam is not only used for power, but also for manipulating the steering system, anchoring system, rotating armor system, loading ammunition, pumping and raising shipborne boats, harpoons, and so on.

Some of these applications are also found on the All-Heavy Battleship, but some are quite new to Aiven.

What? You say stealing technology is wrong?

Hey, can the work of technicians be called stealing? It's called borrowing!

"Hmm, the technology indeed seems very mature, not something a genius would casually create on a whim in a moment of enlightenment.

But achieving this level without any prerequisite technology is indeed impressive!"

In the surging torrent flowing forward, some are guiding the trend, while others are swept along by it continuously.

Aiven always believed no great figure is indispensable, and the people are the true creators of history.

The world wouldn't completely stall without Mennon Watt or Aiven Galliot, it would just delay by decades or a century at most.

Suddenly, when his gaze moved to the core power room of the Steam Ironclad, Aiven raised his eyebrows slightly.

"This thing... is indeed more than it seems!"

Power Core: Steam Turbine

The apparent working principle involves affixing a brass conduit on either side of a sealed steel container, with a hollow sphere capable of rotating around an axis in the middle of the conduit.

On either side of the sphere, in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis, two reverse bent pipe nozzles are fitted, filling the container with water and heating it with coal.

The water boils into steam, carrying massive energy, and gushes out from the nozzles on the sphere's sides, driving the hollow sphere to rotate at high speed.

The rotation speed reaches over 3000 revolutions per minute, delivering continuous and powerful energy for this battleship.

Watching the Steam-Powered Ironclad sailing across the battlefield, amidst a fleet of Sailing Battleships that had fallen behind the era, Aiven gradually sank into deep thought.

"The inventor of this Ironclad... is not human!"

Since Watt could transcend the knowledge and cognitive circle of all wise beings to successfully become a Crowned Wizard, no one's expertise in steam-powered machinery should rival his.

However.

Regarding this ironclad alone, its weapon system, steel armor, and shipborne artillery are still expected, but that potent Power Core: Steam Turbine should absolutely not be a human mechanical engineer's creation.

Considering that the Atlant Kingdom is the earliest place in intelligence where demons appeared, and even Demon God descended, Aiven has plenty of reasons to suspect this is "Demon Technology" gifted by Demon Gods from the Lower Realm to some Atlanteans.

At least in the mystical knowledge Aiven possesses.

Among the 72 Pillar Demon Gods, the third-ranked "Vashak"; sixth-ranked "Valefor"; ninth-ranked "Baimon"; twenty-fifth-ranked "Kathy Morale"; twenty-eighth-ranked "Belie"; and thirty-third-ranked "Gyalpo".

Six Demon Gods in total grasp knowledge related to science or alchemy.

However, when including the "invisibility" ability that even the Mind Network couldn't detect just now, the target can be narrowed down to the sixth, ninth, and twenty-fifth-ranked Demon Gods.

Of course, it's not ruled out that multiple Demon Gods wielding various abilities are "helping" the Atlanteans.

Unfortunately, the contract Solomon established with the 72 Demon Gods prevents him from actively seeking trouble with them.

"Damn, it's not hard to fathom these Demon Gods' intention to seek life Behind the Door, but at present, they're essentially competing with us for business!"

Whether from adventure finds, personal experiences, or independent thinking, Aiven has, from a transcendent perspective, gradually unraveled a main thread.

The so-called "Renaissance," "Age of Navigation," "Steam Industrial Revolution," "Capital Torrent"... are all but minor tributaries in the great tide.

The "Weakening Compensation" tide running throughout the entire Herag Star is the consistent mainstream of this world.

As individual power wanes, scientific power makes up for it.

No matter who it is.

Every beneficial push towards "Compensation" during this process should receive substantial feedback from the World's Favor.

Perhaps it's indeed feasible to pave a brand new "Crossing the Tribulation" path beyond merely going Behind the Door or clinging to a True God's thigh.

Even if not reaching the True God's level, carrying the current strength and reason safely into the next era, ask this: which True God's thigh is thicker than the World Consciousness!