While Evan was dealing with mining issues, he did not stop the selective breeding simulation for wheat, barley, and oats. He managed to complete it on the 22nd day.
Now he has one bushel of wheat, one bushel of barley, and one bushel of oats that have undergone selective breeding for 200 years.
These plants can now produce 30 bushels per acre. They are disease resistant. They have shorter, stronger stems and are better at absorbing and receiving fertilizer. Not to mention, they have larger seeds and a shorter growing season. About 6-8 months compared to 10-11 months.
Although not yet comparable to the modern era, this is still a remarkable improvement. The village will experience a food surplus for some time to come.
A month had passed since Evan returned to Einsburg Village. He spent this month opening an iron and coal mine. Now that coal and iron have been successfully obtained, the next step is, of course, to build a blast furnace.
He had planned a blast furnace 5 meters high with an internal diameter of 1 meter. It is cylindrical in shape with a tapered base or hearth. The hearth is shaped like an inverted cone or a narrow cylinder with a diameter of 60-80 cm. At the base of the hearth is a tap hole and a slag hole above it.
The blast furnace is built of refractory bricks lined with silica bricks and reinforced with wrought iron rings and stone pillars.
The construction of the blast furnace will take some time. During that period, Evan also built a clay oven, into which he put coal, sealed it tightly without any air holes, and then burned it from the outside. That was the process of making coke from coal.
Whether it was the two mines or the construction of the blast furnace and clay oven, all of them required workers.
Evan's salary expenses increased, but for now he could cover them with his own money and his father's savings. Income from wheat sales would also increase after planting the new wheat variety.
However, he also needed to find other potential sources of income.
In addition, there was also the issue of security. Who knew when the wild animals from the forest would return to attack the village like they did two years ago?
These problems needed to be solved one by one.
Evan sat on a chair on the second-floor balcony. He raised his glass, letting Celine, who was standing beside him, fill it with wine.
From the second floor, Evan could see some of the villagers working on the farm, some working on the ranch and plantation, and a small number transporting iron ore, coal, and building blast furnaces.
"It's still not enough," Evan muttered.
"Do you need more wine, sir?" asked Celine.
"No, that's not it. What I mean is that our village's population is still too small," Evan explained.
"I'm sorry, My Lord, but our village already has a larger population than other villages in the area," Celine argued.
Some of the surrounding villages have a population of several hundred, compared to Einsburg, which has a population of fifteen hundred, clearly more than Einsburg.
"You're right, compared to other villages in the area, the population here is quite large, but what I want is not a village, I want to turn this village into a city!" said Evan enthusiastically. He raised his glass high and took a sip of wine.
"I hope your dream comes true, My Lord."
There are only two ways to increase the population: immigration and natural population growth. Immigration requires time and the right conditions, and the current conditions of the village do not make people interested in moving here.
Natural population growth is about increasing the birth rate and reducing the death rate. With prosperity and abundant food, the birth rate will naturally increase, but Evan needs to address the issue of the death rate.
Just like in the Middle Ages, viruses, bacteria, and unhygienic water are still the main causes of death.
Evan has popularized boiling water before drinking it since he was a child. Regarding vaccines, Evan still feels unprepared to develop it.
Bacteria are a different matter; he has already planned to produce antibiotics, specifically penicillin. But it may take several months before everything is ready.
He may also recruited healer, but again, every wizard even the lowest one still need lot of money.
***
There are six levels of wizards, the lowest being apprentice or level 0. At this level, a person is just beginning to feel magical energy.
After some time, that person will slowly learn to absorb magical energy and form a nexus. A nexus is a kind of magical core within the human body that is used to store magical energy.
Once a person successfully forms a nexus, they have entered the first level, or novice wizard. At this level, a person can officially be called a wizard and is able to learn and cast spells. However, the number and quality of spells they can cast is limited by the amount of magical energy in their nexus.
Evan is currently at this stage. He reached this stage two years ago at the academy. He spent the last two years mastering the free spells provided by the academy.
Unfortunately, Evan is still very far from reaching the next stage, which is practitioner.
To become a practitioner, a beginner wizard needs to go through a process of meditation. Meditation is a technique for polishing and growing the nexus within oneself. There are many meditation techniques, but they all boil down to improving the amount of magical energy that can be stored and its quality.
When the nexus within a wizard undergoes a transformation, that is when a person can be considered a practitioner.
On May 8, Evan, accompanied by Steven, went to the capital. He intended to purchase meditation techniques to replace the free ones provided by the academy, as well as some useful spells.
The village of Einsburg was located in the country of Vrution, a small nation in the northwest of Rhineland and south of the Moenstadt mountains. The country's capital was Zephyr, about 150 km from the village.
Sitting on a horse-drawn carriage, Evan looked around at the scenery while waiting to arrive in Zephyr.
"Uncle, do you go to Zephyr every year?"
"Yes, my Lord. I go there to sell our wheat during the harvest season."
Just as Evan was about to speak, a loud rumbling sound suddenly heard. The horse in front looked startled and pulled the carriage to the side.
"Look, there's a flying ship!" shouted the coachman.
Evan stuck his head out of the window and looked up. He saw a flying ship flying quite low. The ship flew past his carriage, and it was its rumbling sound that he had heard earlier.
The airship had the same shape as the ships on the water. It was one of the achievements of magical development that had revolutionized human industry and civilization.
Evan had once boarded such a ship to reach the capital of Rhineland. Unfortunately, the ship was expensive to use, so its use was limited.
The high cost stemmed from the fact that the airship's fuel was magic crystals. Unfortunately, the aircraft designed today tend to be wasteful of magic crystals, resulting in high costs.
There is also the fact that 70% of the aircraft manufacturing and transportation industry is monopolized by the Britton Islands.
Britton sets aircraft standards by incorporating a lot of unnecessary spell and wasting magical energy for something that they claim safety and security.
Why do they do this? Because Britton has a lot of magic crystal mines! They can profit by using magic crystals at low prices. That way, other countries cannot compete with Britton, and if they try to compete, they will suffer huge losses.
"Damn Britton," Evan cursed after thinking about Britton's greed that was hindering technological progress.
"What is it, My Lord?" asked Steven, who thought he heard his lord say something.
"Nothing. Are we there yet?" Evan changed the subject.
Steven glanced back and nodded at Evan. "We'll be entering the city of Zephyr soon."
Evan always thought that when he was in the village, this world looked like 14th-century Europe. However, after going to the capital, he felt that this world looked like a 19th-century version of magic.
This huge difference occurred because the development of magic was only felt by wizards and ordinary people in the capital.
This was an extreme gap that had become normal in this world.
This gap also exists in Vrution. Evan could say that if one day Vrution lost all its territories except Zephyr, Vrution would continue as usual because their only real loss would be 5% of their tax revenue.
How dependent and centralized this country is on the capital.
"No matter how many times I come here, this city remains like a fairy tale," the coachman exclaimed in admiration.
Evan understood why the coachman said that. The buildings were towering. The streets were wide with beautiful trees on the left and right. People were bustling about. Dozens of airships floated in the sky. Finally, something like a train was seen moving between the buildings.
Although Jannover was still better, Zephyr wasn't bad either. Evan was quite impressed when he first came to this city.
The horse-drawn carriage stopped at the side of the road. Evan took some papers out of his pocket and handed them to Steven.
"Here are the designs. Please order each part from a different workshop and negotiate the lowest price possible."
"Yes, My Lord," Steven responded to Evan's order and took the papers.
After that, Evan got off the horse-drawn carriage. He walked towards a 2-square-meter box that was 10 meters high. The box was next to a tall building and was an elevator.
He waited for a moment, then handed a penny to the attendant and entered the box with several other people.
The floor moved upward, lifting Evan to a higher place. The floor stopped after Evan reached a height of 10 meters. The door opened, and right in front of it, the floating train had stopped to welcome people coming out of the elevator.
Evan followed the other people onto the floating train.
Whether it was Jannover or Zephyr, both cities had two layers. The upper layer and the lower layer.
The lower layer was usually where ordinary people carried out their activities, with shops, markets, and vendors, all catering to ordinary people.
Meanwhile, the upper layer is for the wealthy and the wizards. Trading, information exchange, gatherings, auctions, and everything related to magic takes place in the upper layer.
The floating train is the simplest way to see the boundary between the upper and lower layers.