I Pioneered Scientific Magic

An hour later, at the capital, Lynn, having entered the Institute of Magic, was warmly welcomed by Vice Dean Tim, who temporarily took over as dean after Victorio left.

Upon learning that Lynn was there to see Dennis, Tim was even more forthcoming with his complaints.

"Chairman Lynn, you might as well advise Master Dennis this time. He had been doing well with his propeller aircraft, constantly raising its maximum speed limit with very pleasing results. Its cruising speed was approaching four hundred kilometers per hour. Then, out of nowhere, he suddenly decided to experiment with some kind of explosive propulsion device..."

The Alchemy Institute had initially supported Dennis's new endeavor, but his explosive propulsion device turned out to be as literal as its name, extremely explosive.

In the past year, not a single day in Dennis's lab had been peaceful, from constant minor explosions to the lab itself being destroyed.

Accidents are common in magic research, but this frequency was just too high! The continuous noise severely disrupted the other wizards' studies, not to mention the injuries. Over sixty official wizards and more than a hundred apprentices had been injured...

Given that the kingdom was currently short-staffed, ideally splitting every official wizard in half to double their availability, the injuries affected not just one project's progress.

Listening to Tim's endless complaints, Lynn was quite surprised. Even research on jet aircraft shouldn't involve explosions at such a terrifying frequency, and now he was unsure what Dennis was really up to.

They had just reached the entrance to a large, crudely built workshop—with only a framework in place. According to Tim, there was no need for decoration; as long as the walls were sturdy enough, making it look nice was pointless since it might explode any day.

A sharp piece of metal, caught in the blast, sped towards them but slowed dramatically just before reaching Lynn, who then caught it in his hand and stepped inside.

The entire interior of the alchemy workshop looked smoky and dim, and the ground, walls, and ceiling were pitted from repeated explosions, unrecognizable from their original form.

"Indeed..." Tim followed Lynn inside, shaking his head.

If it weren't for Dennis's significant contributions to the improvement of steam engines, internal combustion engines, and propeller fighters, which had given some council members a glimmer of hope for his new results, this dangerous research project would have been halted long ago.

Due to the recent explosion, the alchemy workshop was in complete disarray. Fortunately, this wasn't the first time accidents had occurred, and no one was injured this time.

"Chairman Lynn?"

An alchemist quickly spotted the entering Lynn and Tim, and upon learning their purpose, immediately went to notify Dennis.

They didn't have to wait long before Dennis arrived with his team, everyone covered in dirt and ash yet visibly exhilarated.

Seeing Lynn and Tim, Dennis grabbed their sleeves in excitement. "Quick, quick, you've come at the perfect time! My research has succeeded, it has succeeded!"

Tim, about to offer a sarcastic remark, swallowed his words, instead showing a puzzled expression. Could it be that Dennis had actually succeeded with that explosive propulsion device?

An overjoyed Dennis led the two to the interior of the workshop to show them his new achievement—a propulsion device about two meters long and forty centimeters in diameter.

However, the middle section of the device was twisted like a pretzel, obviously the result of the recent explosion.

"Is this what you call a success?" Tim asked, pointing at the severely damaged propulsion device with a weird expression on his face.

"Of course, it's a success. You know, this time it ran for a full minute, a whole minute!" Dennis's voice rose several pitches, trembling with excitement.

This time, instead of exploding immediately, it had started working, a breakthrough from zero to one, indicating they were incredibly close to the finished product.

"I think it's still far off," Tim said dryly. What's a minute good for? It's simply a waste of precious manpower and resources...

Dennis ignored Tim's comment, continuing to instruct the halflings and alchemists to inspect the propulsion device and summarize their failures while he enthusiastically explained his new design concept to Lynn.

Traditional propeller aircraft convert engine power into thrust through the continuous rotation of propellers, pushing large amounts of air backward, generating a forward force on the blades...

But Dennis believed that relying on wind power was too inefficient, and as the speed increased, he had vaguely sensed its limitations, which led him to decisively switch to researching a new type of propulsion device.

This time, he planned to utilize the shockwave produced by explosions!

This was not an impossible task. In fact, they had widely used this force in weapons,

such as bullets and cannons relying on the shock of gunpowder explosions to achieve high-speed attacks, and even internal combustion engines relied on internal combustion to provide power.

This fully demonstrated that explosions are the prime mover!

"You're insane, Dennis, a fighter jet made this way is basically a walking bomb! It might be more appropriate to call it a kamikaze aircraft!" Tim rolled his eyes.

"If there's sturdy enough material that can withstand high temperatures and shock forces, along with a reasonable structure to make the most of the shock force, there will be no problems!" Dennis asserted confidently.

His experiment undoubtedly confirmed this point. Compared to the violent shock of the explosion, the thrust provided by propellers was simply too weak!

Dennis pointed to each part of the propulsion device, explaining them one by one.

This explosive propulsion device contained three air chambers.

The first chamber was engraved with a magic array that continuously produced pure oxygen, while the second chamber was responsible for delivering pure hydrogen. They would be sent through pipes at a stable speed into the third chamber, where they were mixed and ignited, producing a terrifying thrust as the high-temperature, high-speed explosive airflow shot out from the rear of the device...

"I've already tested that pure oxygen and hydrogen don't create a combustion reaction, so the first and second chambers are safe. Moreover, the pipes filled with gas block the return path of the explosion airflow, allowing it to only escape from the rear nozzle..." Dennis explained his design concept quickly and then turned to Lynn, proudly asking.

"How about it, Chairman Lynn? What do you think of my explosive propulsion device?"

"Hmm, I can only say... it's simple, direct, and clear!" After hearing Dennis's description, Lynn squeezed out these words from his mouth.

Dennis's design principle was essentially four words—force makes bricks fly!

It was so simple it was almost absurd!

Originally, when designing aircraft, he had considered propeller fighters instead of jet fighters because of the high difficulty in manufacturing jet engines.

Before arriving at the Alchemy Institute, he had been puzzled about how Dennis had solved so many problems in just one year. Clearly, Dennis didn't plan to solve these problems at all, creating something between a jet engine and a rocket propeller.

This thing could indeed be used, but as Dennis himself said, how to create materials that could withstand high temperatures and shock forces was a huge problem.

The power of the hydrogen-oxygen explosion was terrifying, and its danger was evident from the damage to the alchemy workshop.

Lynn's praise clearly delighted Dennis, the joy of having his results recognized, especially by someone as esteemed as the Star of Magic.

Dozens of alchemists and halflings like Lydia and Darren were nervously conducting the final adjustments and inspections, reporting periodically.

"The hydrogen-oxygen mix delivery array is working fine!" "The first air chamber is also problem-free." "The inner wall of the second air chamber has some damage, likely from metal fragments entering during the explosion..."

"The metal inner wall is severely damaged; we've used the strongest metal and added a fireproof magic array, but it still couldn't withstand the high temperatures and pressure from the explosion..." Lydia raised her hand high, her originally fair cheeks covered in grease and dust, looking pitch-black.

"It seems the problem last time was probably here!" Dennis nodded continuously as he listened to the reports from the alchemists, then continued. "This time, reduce the fuel delivery speed by thirty percent, adjust the hydrogen-oxygen burning ratio, and try again. We're very close to success!"

Lydia nodded excitedly. Although Dennis had said similar things hundreds of times during this period, the recent experiment differed from previous failures because the explosive propulsion device had indeed started working.

Even though it exploded again after just a minute, at least they had seen the light of completion!

Dennis took a deep breath, silently praying that this time it would succeed. This was crucial for future research funding and the continuation of the explosive propulsion research...

With the joint efforts of the halflings, the cylindrical metal propulsion device over two meters long was quickly reassembled, then ten alchemists used magic at the joints, added weights, and fitted wings. A very rudimentary prototype flying device was completed.

"Experiment number three hundred sixty-seven, let's get started!" Dennis said with great anticipation.

Hearing this, the halflings who had been gathering near the propulsion device quickly retreated to a protective wall fifty meters away, while even the now-wizard Lydia and other alchemists backed up ten meters and cast several protective spells on themselves.

Dennis was very confident in this experiment, and with his self-preservation measures, he didn't move at all.

Lynn also didn't retreat, as no experiment accident could harm him.

Tim, initially wanting to hide, saw that neither Lynn nor Dennis moved and had to brace himself to stay in place, comforting himself that he was, after all, a great wizard and probably wouldn't be blown up...

Once everyone was safely

positioned, Dennis pressed the start button, activating the alchemical array inside the propulsion device. A large amount of magic was converted into a specific mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, which was pumped into the third cylinder and ignited instantly.

A deafening roar resounded through the workshop, and the propulsion device shook violently. Then, a blazing tongue of flame shot out from the rear of the device.

Under the strong impact of the explosion, even the device used for stabilization creaked alarmingly. Tim's heart raced, fearing the device might just blow up.

Lynn's domain was already deployed, ready to handle the worst-case scenario, while Lydia and the others watched the trembling propulsion device without blinking.

One second, ten seconds, thirty seconds, sixty seconds...

The minute quickly passed, and although the outer metal of the propulsion device had turned red-hot from the high temperatures, the expected explosion did not occur!

"We did it, we really did it!" An alchemist shouted immediately, his face filled with ecstatic joy.

The other wizards were also uncontrollably excited, and Lydia cheered joyously.

Dennis was undoubtedly the most excited of them all. The concept of using explosive shockwaves for propulsion had been in his mind for a long time, and after a year and a half of effort, he had finally turned his initial idea into a real achievement!

"What's the speed? How fast is it?" Dennis grabbed the alchemist responsible for monitoring and eagerly asked.

The device below the propulsion device had a thrust detection device, which could easily determine the thrust provided by the device.

"About seven hundred kilometers per hour!" The alchemist's face was filled with amazement.

"Doubled... it's doubled!" Dennis's left fist heavily pounded his right palm, muttering excitedly to himself.

Tim's eyes widened in disbelief, and Lynn also marveled. He had thought it was still too early for jet planes, but Dennis had taught him a lesson with his actions, showing him how to solve problems with magic and alchemy!