Chapter 136: Seeds of an Industry

“Well done, Rob.”

Seeing Rob easily produce a flat-bottomed flask, Owen couldn’t help but praise him.

“From now on, you’ll be responsible for making glassware.”

“Huh?” 

Rob froze. 

“But I’m a blacksmith’s apprentice. Isn’t this supposed to be the work of a glass craftsman?”

He had become an apprentice under Jita at the age of twelve, hoping to be a blacksmith one day. From menial chores to learning real skills, many years had already passed—yet now the lord wanted him to take up work unrelated to blacksmithing. Naturally, Rob felt reluctant.

“That’s true, but are there any glass craftsmen in Bianshu Town?” 

Owen countered.

“No.” 

Rob shook his head.

“Glass will become one of Bianshu Town’s major industries in the future. Since you have the chance to be the first glass craftsman here, you should seize it.”

The sand from the Mak Desert to the north was of excellent quality—nearly free of impurities, abundant, and inexhaustible. Owen fully intended to make glassmaking a cornerstone industry; otherwise, such valuable resources would go to waste.

“But…” 

Rob still hesitated.

“Think about it,” 

Owen continued to persuade him. 

“Once you become a glass craftsman, your professional standing will be on par with your master, Jita. And your pay will see a big increase.”

Due to earlier reforms, Owen had already organized blacksmiths, carpenters, and other skilled tradesmen into the Industrial Department for centralized management.

As long as they completed the tasks assigned by the lord on time, they received generous salaries each month. Apprentices, however, earned far less compared to full craftsmen.

Hearing that he could earn the wages of a full craftsman, Rob swallowed hard. Since the lord had such confidence in him—and he truly did have a knack for glassblowing—why not consider changing trades?

After all, even his dream of becoming a blacksmith was partly motivated by money.

The promise of a higher wage was the last straw. Rob finally made up his mind.

“…Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

“Excellent.”

Owen nodded with satisfaction, then took a stack of design blueprints from Mapel and handed them to Rob.

“These are the glass items I need you to make. Most of them are lab equipment. But what I want you to prioritize is this one.”

He pointed to the top drawing—the design for a telescope lens.

“This is optical glass. It must be made using the casting method, then ground and polished. I’ll provide the necessary tools, so don’t worry.”

The most crucial part of a telescope was the lens. As for the casing, carpenters could handle that later.

“Oh, so glass can be cast as well?”

Rob was a little surprised. He knew casting techniques from blacksmithing—melting iron into molten metal and pouring it into molds to cool and solidify.

So, some of his smithing skills overlapped with glassmaking.

“Not only that,” 

Owen grinned. 

“Glass can be shaped not just by blowing and casting, but also by pressing, rolling, drawing, welding, and more. I’ll teach you all of these methods.”

Rob couldn’t help but marvel at his lord’s knowledge. To be so well-versed in the techniques of glassmaking—it meant he could save a great deal of time fumbling and experimenting on his own.

“Then I’ll be in your care, my lord.” 

Rob bowed in gratitude.

“Oh, that reminds me.”

Owen suddenly recalled something important and asked: 

“Rob, did you enroll in the adult night literacy classes?”

“Yes. I can handle basic reading just fine,” 

Rob replied. 

“My master Jita told me literacy is now a must for technical craftsmen. Otherwise, we might fall behind others who are able to study more advanced skills.”

“Your master really is quite farsighted.”

That settled it—Owen planned to only teach Rob some of the basic techniques needed by a glassworker in the beginning, and later provide him with relevant books so he could study further on his own.

There was no need to spend too much of Owen’s own time on glassmaking techniques—it was best left to those skilled in it.

“Once you’ve mastered the craft of a glassworker, you’ll also be able to start taking apprentices.”

The reason Owen wanted this was to quickly expand the scale of the glass industry.

Take apprentices? Rob found it hard to imagine.

Normally, only masters with ten or twenty years of work experience and exceptional skill were qualified to take apprentices.

But Rob was only a twenty-year-old young craftsman—what qualifications did he have to teach others? If word got out, people would probably laugh at him.

Still, since the lord had said so, he had no choice but to study diligently and become a highly skilled glassworker. Rob made a silent vow in his heart.

And so, the seed of the glass industry was planted in Frontier Town.

…

Accompanied by Mapel, Owen once again went to inspect the farmland and check on the crops.

There was little need to mention the fields along the banks of the Weishui River—after being treated, even the fields once cursed and left barren Kazitu had sprouted the wheat seeds that were planted, with no widespread burning of seedlings.

Just as Winston had said, the ash powder left after burning the Scorching Magic Stones, when thoroughly mixed into the soil, could effectively break the effects of the Kazitu curse.

Even now, many farmers remained grateful for the lord’s extraordinary means, which had saved Frontier Town’s dying agriculture.

Today, Owen wasn’t only here to check the growth of the wheat—he had come especially to inspect a test field.

“Ah!” 

The farmer in charge of the test field hurried over to greet him. “

Good morning, my lord.”

Scanning the green shoots across the field, Owen nodded and said.

“It looks like the planting is going rather well.”

“Yes, my lord,”

The farmer said with feeling. 

“I never thought this land could grow crops again. It’s been abandoned for so long—but you made it possible.”

Owen hadn’t simply ordered everyone to plant wheat. Instead, he had set aside some plots for other fruits and vegetables—some from local seeds, some transferred from Winston.

Of course, since wheat was the staple grain, it still covered the largest area.

The test field before him was planted with sugar beet seeds provided by Winston.

This was a plant of the amaranth family with a very high sugar content—an alternative main source of sugar besides sugarcane.

For Owen, sugar beets were an entirely new crop.

In his understanding of this world, no country cultivated sugar beets; all sugar came from sugarcane.

And sugarcane was grown mainly in the southern regions of the DawnLight Kingdom, the Crescent Moon Federation, the Starflame Kingdom, and the Fajalan Alliance.

But the planting area wasn’t large, the yields were limited, and that made sugar quite expensive.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter