Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 272 - 8: What Can a Witch Do?

"Conquest Knights’ standards cannot be used to measure witches, they can only serve as a reference."

"Witches generally possess Talent Spells."

"Some Talent Spells are strong, some are weak."

"Talent Spells do not define a witch entirely, because there are basic Universal Magic spells."

"Even without Talent Spells, mastery of Universal Magic can still make one powerful."

"Gwivelle and Sanna were both studying Universal Magic."

"This group of witches, however, had already grown."

"Therefore, Roman had to examine an issue."

"There were 18 witches in total."

"Margaret was a High-level Witch, and the other 17 were Middle Rank witches."

"Leaving the former aside, according to the Witch Forest, Middle Rank witches are at least as powerful as a third-tier Knight."

"Roman took this group of witches quite seriously."

"Once those five severely wounded improved, he would have directly gained 18 Transcendents of the third-tier and above."

"So, what could the witches achieve?"

"Firstly, it must be acknowledged that they are Spellcasters, they are human, beings who need rest—not tireless and weary monsters."

"Among these individuals was a Flame Witch named Mabel, whose Talent Spell was Flame Magic."

"According to Roman’s estimate, the flames she released ranged from about 1,000 to over 2,000 degrees."

"Certainly hotter than the furnace temperature at the blacksmith."

"But what could Roman have Mabel do?"

"Burn limestone for cement? Refine iron in a blast furnace? Process iron ingots? Or maybe work in alloy smelting?"

"Or perhaps more precise metal processing, like producing seamless steel pipes and gun barrels?"

"The answer was none!"

"At least not now."

"It would take Mabel about three to five minutes to heat a twenty-kilogram iron ingot to a forgeable state."

"However, time was not the point."

"The point was that heating steel is a process that requires a constant output of heat."

"Roman knew the limitations of Conquest Knights long before designing the Hydroelectric Hammer."

"A fifth-tier knight could certainly swing a 200-pound forging hammer."

"But even with his considerable durability and stamina, he would strike once every three seconds on average."

"Yet, after half a day, the knight’s arms would be incredibly sore."

"Roman would swear that if he continued, this fifth-tier knight’s arms would be ruined."

"Compare that to a Hydroelectric Hammer—running half a month without issue wasn’t a problem; if a part broke, you just replace it."

"But if Roman treated Mabel as a perpetual flame engine, then this perpetual engine would only work intermittently for half an hour at most before it broke down!"

"Because witches are also human—they need to eat when hungry, rest when tired."

"They don’t have perpetual energy pipelines attached to their backs."

"Roman wanted to ask."

"What kind of witch can release high temperatures of over a thousand degrees all morning, not feel tired afterward, and leisurely sip afternoon tea? Then discuss with other witches what to have for dinner?"

"If Mabel had such miraculous strength..."

"Then she wouldn’t fall within the category of Middle Rank witches, and even High-level witches wouldn’t suffice to describe her."

"Unless the gods that the Church Court worships come forward, witches would be invincible terrestrial deities, utterly unoppressable!"

"What Conqueror Order?"

"Witch Order!"

"Let them taste the iron fist of a witch!"

"The correct approach for Roman was not to engage Mabel in industry."

"But at all costs, to craft armor for her—be it from platinum, Fine Gold, or Mithril."

"In short, concentrate all resources on Mabel, arm her to the teeth."

"Then deploy her onto the battlefield!"

Human Flame Throwers!

The flames emitted by Flamethrower Soldiers at their highest temperature barely reach a thousand degrees.

The temperature of Mabel’s flames surpasses that of the Flamethrower Soldiers.

She is an invincible presence on the battlefield.

When faced with Mabel, even a High Order Knight must withdraw from the battlefield within two minutes, otherwise, they will be burned alive.

With Mabel at hand, it would take at most five years to crush the Church Court.

In an extreme case, directly charging into the Holy City with her to set the Holy Seat ablaze would pose no problem.

However, the reality is that when Mabel releases her spells at full power, she can only maintain it for about ten minutes before she becomes utterly exhausted and faints.

Roman had to pinch her philtrum till it bled, blew air into her like inflating a doll, and struggled desperately to wake her up so she could cast spells again...

Then, he ended up with a corpse thoroughly drained of life.

So, that scenario was merely a daydream.

Of course, Roman didn’t think they were completely useless.

In fact, they just couldn’t play a definitive role; their supportive role was still significant.

The specifics of their usage varied from one individual to another.

The next morning, Roman took the twelve witches to the military camp.

The most direct way to understand was through battle.

Roman had issued his orders the day before.

Upon arriving at the camp, five hundred warriors clad in plate armor had assembled.

These temporarily formed military units included members who were either close to becoming First Rank Conquest Knights or were First Rank Knights.

Dick, Aaron, Green, Nathan, and other squad leaders, squadron leaders, and squad leaders were also in the army.

A tightly-organized, all-highly-skilled force stood in formation in front of the witches.

"You’re not seriously thinking of sending us against them, are you?" Gwen exclaimed. "We can’t win, no matter how you think about it."

She could tell at a glance that the army in front of her could easily overwhelm them.

Compared to them, the Conscript Army was just a bunch of pigs.

Roman said, "This is a trial!"

Shasta also said, "Then we can’t exert our full strength."

Such a lukewarm exercise greatly undermined their abilities, managing to utilize thirty percent of their power would be good.

These witches were all survivors of life-and-death battles, and they usually used lethal moves—now they feared accidentally killing their practice opponents, making it impossible to end the exercise smoothly.

Roman pondered for a moment.

He had to admit, he had not thought this through completely.

If war exercises wouldn’t work, then they would have to rely on a real-time simulation—everyone would fight in slow motion.

The reason Roman had prepared this trial wasn’t just to test the witches’ power.

More importantly, it was to psychologically prepare his army, to know that apart from the Conquest Knights, there were other Transcendent Units in the world.

To maximize the avoidance of being completely taken aback when they encountered such situations in the future.

Preparation ensured success, lack of preparation spelt failure.

Persons like Dick and Green were eager to try out this simulated combat.

Probably because of the Conqueror Order, the Witch Forest never opposed the Nobles, unless a Noble blatantly hunted witches, otherwise, there was no chance of conflict between the two sides.

Roman, like a director, detailed the specific approach of this war scenario to the witches and Conquest Knights.

The concept of this slow-motion exercise was straightforward to understand.

Suddenly, Shasta said, "If that’s the case, let’s not count on Margaret; just have her watch from the side."

Roman glanced at Margaret. Her hair, brushed neatly, looked as if stained with blood, naturally draped and partially covering her highly charismatic face.

She spoke very little, and Roman had never seen Margaret speak up on her own. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

She was like a vampire in an ancient castle—cold, silent, uncommunicative, lying in a tomb without feeling out of place.

Hearing Shasta’s words, she didn’t show any emotion.

"Alright," Roman agreed with Shasta’s suggestion.