Kingdom Simulator: I, a Fallen Noble, Build a God-Level Kingdom!-Chapter 49: If It’s Too Heavy, Just Add More Power

Romon tore his gaze away, turning to look toward the poisonous marshlands south of Stone Town.

The toxic swamp had now been completely purified. In fact, it should more properly be called the Dwarven Factory Zone.

At this moment, the dwarves were still hard at work, heads buried in research. If they wanted to produce a product that could pass the tests, there was no room for shortcuts.

Suddenly—

Lukoff, watching the others arguing and nearly coming to blows, was struck by a flash of inspiration. He brusquely shoved aside a few dwarves crowding around the table and spread out a fresh sheet of blueprint paper.

In a flurry, his short, stubby fingers began to redraw the design. In an instant, what had been a hodgepodge mess became a blueprint with real promise.

The arguing gradually quieted. The dwarves stared at Lukoff’s drawing, their astonishment growing with every line they studied, feeling as if their technical understanding was being elevated before their eyes.

"By the gods, Lukoff, when did you learn all this?"

"Damn it, yes, yes, we’ve been doing it wrong! This is how we should have done it!"

"That’s right, we missed several points—look, they’re all here on this blueprint!"

"I get it! Lukoff, this part, it should be drawn like this—yes!"

The dwarves were soon of one mind, unanimously approving Lukoff’s new design.

As Lukoff finished the last stroke of his blueprint, he let out a long breath, sweat beading on his brow.

He wiped his forehead with a grimy sleeve and declared, "Blessings of the Forge God!"

That simple invocation erupted through the workshop.

"Blessings of the Forge God!" "Blessings of the Forge God!" "Blessings of the Forge God!"

The dwarves’ shouts shook the forge until Lukoff brought his hammer down hard on the table. "You heard me! Get to work, lads—follow the blueprint!"

They set about re-forging the parts at once. All 255 dwarves worked in perfect coordination. Only the remote-control core required enchanter magic; every other component was made right there, by dwarven hands.

It was painstaking work, and would take time.

Romon, satisfied, withdrew his attention, letting them give their full play to creativity.

...

The next morning.

At dawn, before even getting out of bed, Romon pulled up the dwarves’ progress in the Simulator Blueprint.

There it was:

The dwarves, who’d worked through the night without rest, were now in the great pit testing the second-generation drone.

Compared to the rough, junk-like prototype, the second-gen drone was a qualitative leap forward in both appearance and performance.

Its frame was now made of smooth, lightweight steel, trimmed down to an "X" shape for weight reduction. The four corner engines were no longer jury-rigged fans, but real, well-made products.

The drive gears and remote-control core were no longer exposed, but hidden within the body.

At last, it looked like a true industrial product.

As for its altitude: it now hovered sixty or seventy meters above ground, and with every flick of Lukoff’s crystal joystick, it turned and maneuvered with impressive agility.

Clearly, it was up to standard—ready for the next stage: integrating Talia’s rapid-fire magic.

With that in mind—

Romon brought Talia and Nini straight to the dwarven factory.

As soon as the three arrived, Lukoff couldn’t wait to show Romon the results."Milord, take a look at this—you’re sure to be satisfied!"

"Well done, Lukoff. And the rest of you as well—you’ve passed the test." Romon nodded. "Now, the next thing I need you all to do is actually quite simple."

As he spoke, Romon gestured for Talia to demonstrate a basic rapid-fire magic.

She raised her hand and fired a ray of light at the edge of the pit. The blast didn’t cover a large area, but its penetration was impressive, leaving a deep scar in the dry rock and dirt.

"I want you to enchant this machine with that magic," Romon continued. "Is it possible?"

Lukoff hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Milord, we’ve already cut the weight of the magic crystals embedded in the machine as much as we can. The stored mana is just enough to keep it flying. If we try to power a new enchantment on top of that, I’m afraid it’ll crash right away."

At this, Romon smiled—he’d already prepared for this.

He tilted his head slightly, and Nini immediately understood. She dragged a burlap sack from behind her.

The unsealed sack tumbled forward, spilling out glittering magic crystal ore. If there was one thing the Thune Lord domain wasn’t short on, it was magic crystals.

"If there’s not enough mana, add more magic crystals. If it gets too heavy, just add more power!" Romon declared.

When it came to the first steps of a new technology, there was no need to be stingy with resources. First, get the product working in the field—then, in the next generation, gather feedback and solve the problems all at once.

The dwarves, hearing this wonderfully straightforward approach, erupted in cheers. Sometimes, endless technical refinement could give you a headache—there was a certain beauty to the brute-force method.

For dwarves, elaborate designs were hard work, but copying a working model, super-sizing the engine, and increasing the payload was as easy as working on an assembly line.

A few hours later—

A drone the size of an eagle soared out of the pit, its frame set with a much larger magic crystal—holding 120 times the mana of the previous version.

"Talia, Lukoff, I need you to integrate rapid-fire magic into this machine," Romon reiterated.

"Um, Lord Romon, rapid-fire magic takes learning and experience. I’m not sure how to teach a machine..." Talia scratched her head.

But Lukoff, ever the master of forging, had a solution. He pulled out a sheepskin scroll and scanned the densely written runes.

"Found it, milord! This enchantment lets you store a spell inside and have it copied and released by the magic source." Lukoff grinned. "Miss, all you need to do is wait for my signal and cast your spell at the machine."

With that, Lukoff brought the drone in for a landing and prepared for the second round of enchanting.

Success rates for enchantments depended on the quality of the equipment, and drones were no exception.

The original junk-drone could only take a remote-control enchantment—anything more, and it simply wouldn’t stick.

The second-generation drone, being an upgrade, could handle a second enchantment slot, though not without risk: Lukoff had to try three times before the enchantment finally took."Now, Miss—strike here!"

At Lukoff’s signal, Talia unleashed her rapid-fire magic, hitting the center of the drone dead-on. The spell was absorbed straight into the device—there was no explosion.

Lukoff let out a relieved breath. As he sent the drone climbing back into the air, he reported, "Milord, we did it!"

"Target the spot Talia just hit on the pit’s edge—open fire," Romon ordered.

Sweating, Lukoff gripped the joystick tightly, struggling to control the drone’s angle. Then he pressed the switch for the new enchantment.

A white beam shot from beneath the drone, striking the ground about ten meters off from the target.

Aerial firing: success. Accuracy: abysmal.

On one hand, controlling the drone was tricky; on the other, it was missing any kind of remote aiming device.

Trying to aim from the operator’s perspective was like steering blind—hitting a target was pure luck.

"If only we had a pair of goggles that could sync with the drone’s view—then it’d be a true finished product," Romon mused aloud, though his words were really a hint for Lukoff.

Lukoff stroked his bushy beard, thinking hard.

Crafting goggles wasn’t actually that difficult, but that would mean adding a third enchantment. The second slot had already pushed the limits—was a third even possible?

This machine was already near its limit.

To add more features and improve its quality, they’d need an all-around upgrade—and better materials to match.

Still, if Romon’s concept could really be built, the end result would be a true masterpiece: not only could it fly and shoot, but it could also share its vision remotely—combining offense, defense, and reconnaissance all in one.

"Milord, I’ll need mithril," Lukoff requested. "Just a piece the size of a finger, and I promise I can make your vision a reality."

Romon didn’t hesitate. He shot Nini a look.

She understood at once, sprinting off toward Stone Town. Before long, she was back, running even faster than before thanks to her newly upgraded speed."Master."

Nini placed a chunk of mithril into Romon’s hand—larger, in fact, than the size Lukoff had just indicated.

Romon handed it all over to Lukoff. "Get to work. I want results before the day is out."

A few hours later—

Lukoff donned a pair of blue glasses, their lenses cut from magic crystals. Once again, he took up the joystick and sent the drone into the air. This time, aiming was a breeze. With just one shot, he landed a hit—only ten centimeters off the bullseye.

Still a little off, but the margin of error had shrunk dramatically. The rest would just be a matter of honing his piloting skills.

All in all, Romon was quite satisfied.

"Lukoff, I need you to manufacture more drones—as many as possible. I’ll provide all the materials. All you and your team need to do is enjoy the work. When you’ve reached a total of one thousand, I’ll bring you a whole new concept—and the wages you deserve."

At this, Lukoff glanced at his fellow dwarves. Assembly-line production without the headache of design? They could handle that with ease.

What really excited them was Romon’s next idea. Unlike the humans’ oversized swords, staves, or crude golems, Romon’s concepts were truly new. They relished the challenge.

"Milord, I don’t need wages," Lukoff said after a moment’s thought. "Trade them for better materials instead."

With top-tier materials, the quality of the finished product would rise, and enchanting would become easier. If all three enchantments could be completed in one go, producing a thousand drones would be much less exhausting.

But if he had to attempt the third enchantment five or six times on each drone—well, for a thousand drones, that would mean five or six thousand tries!