During the weeks the liquid mana extractor or what it was commonly known as ; CLASSIFIED PROJECT 001 was being constructed many new things were being put into place.
The most prominent of them was the new education system.
All residents of Valum were required to attain at least basic levels of education, this included basic reading, writing and arithmetics.
This was the minimum requirement to gain employment at least for adults.
Then for individuals between the ages of six years old to sixteen, there were already fixed classes nessesary for them.
They had to study extensively, reading, writing, mathematics, critical thinking and quantitative analysis,philosophy and social studies.
There was no age limit for each of these courses which meant that a ten year old could graduate if he or she has concluded his basic course work.
There were more advanced courses like engineering, accounting, military training, political studies, magical application and business management.
The foundation for education had already been laid, steam powered printing press has been making textbooks and reading materials, paper making had gone into overdrive and finally Maximilian had gotten an material necessary for the creation of more modern weaponry.
He had gotten gun cotton a material nessesary for the creation of smokeless powder which in turn would be used as propellants for his guns and cannons.
Immediately he went to work and the first smokeless gun powder was produced. As soon as it was successful mass production was inevitable.
Next was nitroglycerin, the most unstable of them all made from the byproduct of producing soap added with a mixture of sulfuric acid and nitric acid.
Still he did not forget about the regular black power, sulphur, saltpeter and charcoal made up most of its structure.
The black powder, smokeless powder and nitroglycerin were all labeled CLASSIFIED PROJECT 002, 003 and 004 respectively.
Next thing he did was to to design weapons that would suit his security services and align with his current technological level.
So instead of designing muskets, he designed replicas of the M1 garand to be used by the army as standard issue rifles, the Leo Enfield bolt action rifles to be used for precision shooting, lever action rifles, a pump action shotgun, a double barrel breach loading shotgun, single action revolvers, a semiautomatic pistol with inspiration from the Colt 1911 and the water cooled maxim machine gun.
All of them immediately went into production immediately.
Four months after the engagement ceremony which he did not attend, the last snows were just beginning to melt and most of the projects were completed.
CLASSIFIED PROJECT 001 had been completed, three of them actually the size of an Indian tuk tuk tricycle.
If a single vial (1ml) of liquid mana was produced by a single small sized converter in two days, the current full size converter could now produce 306 vials or 0.306 liters per day, if multiplied by three it would be almost a liter everyday.
A lay man would assume that this was a slow production rate but considering that mana stones take years to form.
Three days later, there was a gathering of all military personnel, this included the militia, the ISB and the DEA.
The gathering was made up of personnel of Sergeant rank and above.
" Sergeant Bosco you're here, do you know...."
" ATTENTION!! "
Immediately the entire crowd of about a hundred or so people stood up and saluted as Maximilian entered the field.
" AT EASE! "
Max stood in front of them in silence for a while , his silvery hair tied up in a bun.
" Last year, some of you participated in the Thagalia conflict. We won, but only by a hairs breath and in the end we lost three soldiers.
It is no secret that in war, people would always die but I will always strive to reduce that number as much as possible.
And within the last few months, I have created new weapons that would allow both mage and non mage serving under me to have almost equal fighting. " He went to the prepared table and picked up the semi automatic rifle which had been named the SR-1.
He loaded the riffle with an eight round bloc clip of .306 center-fire cartridges . He took it off safety, aimed at his target which was a steel plate set between one hundred and two thousand meters which was separated at one hundred meter intervals.
The first shot rang out 'BANG!' which caused the men to almost jump out but they eventually calmed themselves .
He hit all the targets but missed at the eight hundred mark.
He then switched to the bolt action rifle which has been named the SRB-1. Which was accurate till the 1100 mark.
The lever action rifles and shotguns had effective ranges of three hundred and two hundred meters respectively.
The pistols were also tested but were lack luster compared the previous tests.
The machine guns however were the highlight of the display . Maximilian has ended up creating two different types of machine guns, the general purpose machine gun which was hugely influenced by the German MG42 machine gun and made out of stamped steel and chambered in 7.92×57mm cartridge.
The maxim machine gun had been modified with a cooling system that kept the barrel almost at freezing point and this allowed for a near infinite fire rate, as long as there were enough bullets.
" You will all train to be perfect with these weapons, you will learn to use , it care for it and see it as an extension of your body.
Infact you will come to love it just as you love your own child and when you achieve that, there would be no enemy to big for you to face. "
An unknown person in the crowd suspected to be a veteran of the Thagalia conflict immediately shouted,
" VICTORY TO SCORPIA!! "
The rest of the men and women replied by chanting, " HAIL SCORPIA! HAIL SCORPIA! "
Great things were unfolding for Maximilian and his territory but unknowingly his recent actions had caught the attention of a certain person and it was up to him to navigate this storm.