NOVEL NEXT 209. In The Origin Domain
The Origin Domain stretched endlessly before Ravenna, a vast and infinite office-like chamber without walls, windows, or doors. Its sheer emptiness was oppressive: featureless white walls rising higher than any imperial palace ceiling, its ground echoing beneath her boots like polished stone. A faint, continuous hum filled the air, neither loud nor soft, but ever-present, like the buzz of unseen machinery that kept this strange place alive.
[ Reputation System v1.0 ]
[ Origin Domain Customization Menu ]
Set Time: 00:00:00
Set Date: 3/10/1804
Set Temperature: 23°C
Set Humidity: 46% RH
Set Season: Winter
Set Brightness: Medium (350 Lux)
White Noise: On (Mild)
At its center, where she had transferred and piled her resources, lay a mound of objects: barrels of oil from the refinery, sacks of industrial chemicals, crates of glassware, distillation apparatus, even a massive oak table she had ordered to be placed in the castle's warehouse. Everything she had transferred from the warehouse into this sterile void stood there in one strange, mismatched heap, like the spoils of a mad inventor.
"Well then," Ravenna muttered under her breath, deep raven dark eyes narrowing as she surveyed her hoard. "I should get started."
She waved her hand through the floating panels. "Set Temperature: 20°C. Set Humidity: 5% RH. Set Brightness: High."
The sterile void shifted instantly, responding to her will. The air cooled, dry as desert winds; the brightness intensified to surgical clarity. No dust, no moisture, no interruption. A perfect laboratory.
[ Reputation System v1.0 ]
Reputation Level: 76 — (150,001 / 320,400 EXP)↑
Current Reputation Points: 780,040 RP↑
Titles Unlocked: Raven of the Sun Palace, Unruly Princess, Beast Slayer
{ View Reputation Log } { Spend Reputation Points }
"I lost nearly twenty thousand points transferring all of this," Ravenna muttered darkly looking at the main menu of the system, dragging the heavy oak table into place with a grunt. "But this is worth it."
She laid out the glassware one by one, arranging beakers, flasks, and tubing across the table in an ordered chaos only she understood. The barrels of crude oil were rolled to the side, their pungent scent now faint but unmistakable in the sterile air. Finally, she straightened, staring at the setup with a small grin curling her lips.
"It's time to experiment," she said, the excitement in her tone almost feverish. "How to make explosives."
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Her grin widened, sharp and almost feral.
It had always been a problem, her army needed more than steel and rapid fire crossbows. They needed firepower, deterrence, weapons that could force even the proudest nobles to hesitate before crossing Kim Dukedom again. And now, with enemies tightening on all sides: the imperial court, her siblings, the cult. she could no longer afford hesitation.
Up until now, she had stalled on this particular project. Gunpowder had crossed her mind many times, but the lack of saltpeter on the island made creating a standardized black powder almost impossible. The oil mines and refinery had given her a different possibility: petroleum-based explosives, closer to what Earth would later call smokeless powder.
The issue was that when she had checked the internet, she quickly realized the horrifying truth: modern chemical explosives were infinitely more complicated, unstable, and far more dangerous to refine than the ancient black powder of simpler days. One misstep, and one could kill themselves before ever firing a weapon.
"However…" She dragged her hands across the smooth table, her grin refusing to fade as she began filling a beaker with thick, crude oil. The glass glistened as the black liquid swirled inside.
"Here, I can experiment as much as I want. No dust, no contamination, no chance of outside interference. With The Office" she said, the name of her Origin Domain rolling off her tongue with ironic affection, "I finally have a safe place to make progress."
Another panel opened in front of her, its light glowing across her pale features. A floating browser page, lines of text scrolling with diagrams and formulas. She traced the instructions with her finger as she set up a rudimentary distillation apparatus, tubes and flasks clinking together with every movement.
"First things first.. I'll need nitric acid. To get there, I must begin by refining fractions of crude oil. Let's derive it properly, step by step. No rushing."
Her dark eyes gleamed with sharp focus as read the formula and heaved one of the barrels closer, pouring thick black crude into the distillation flask she had set atop her table. The glass glistened under the stark brightness of the Domain, every droplet sluggish and viscous, like liquid shadows.
She paused, then opened the floating translucent panel with a flick of her wrist.
[ Origin Domain Customization Menu ]
[Select Area: Distillation_Flask]
Set Temperature: —
"Set the temperature to one hundred and fifty degrees Celsius." her command resounded through out the room as The system pulsed, accepting the command.
[ Origin Domain Customization Menu ]
[Select Area: Distillation_Flask]
Set Temperature: 150°C
The transformation was instant. The crude oil inside the flask shimmered, then began to bubble furiously without the need of flame or fuel. The stench of hydrocarbons would have been overwhelming in the outside world, but here the Domain absorbed it, leaving only the faint impression of heat and motion.
Ravenna adjusted the coiled condenser tube, her lips curving in satisfaction. "Good. Now to strip the vapor properly." She tapped again.
"Set the temperature to five degrees."
[ Origin Domain Customization Menu ]
[Select Area: Condenser]
Set Temperature: 5°C
A sharp hiss filled the air as vapor from the flask snaked through the glass tubing, condensed almost instantly, and collected as pale, translucent liquid in the receiver beaker. Ravenna bent close, examining it with the eye of a raven looking at its prey.
"So this…" she murmured, swirling the faintly sweet-smelling liquid, "…is purified naphtha. Cleaner. Lighter. Volatile?"
The thought made her smirk. This was no longer just oil. This was the first step toward weaponry that could terrify armies, topple fleets, and redefine her dukedom's power.
She leaned back, stretching her fingers, adrenaline still humming in her veins. "One fraction down. The foundation is laid. With this, the first step is complete."