When he woke up from the Dream World the following noon, Roland received a genuinely good piece of news.
The Ministries of Engineering and Construction had finally completed the setting up of the required site and the equipment necessary for the “Glory of the Sun” plan.
In theory, 52 kilograms was enough to reach critical mass required of spherical Uranium-235, so the purity of the element was not the biggest hurdle for them. Lucia had been busy the entire time so they had already accumulated over a hundred kilograms of pure Uranium inside the Research Institute of High Energy Physics.
However, just piling the Uranium-235 together was not enough to release the full power of the fission reaction unless a staggering amount of energy was added to it. If they did that though, its safety and practicality would drop dramatically; thus, they had catalyze its effects through special configurations.
The other important point in the plan was testing the explosions.
After all, theory and calculations were one thing, carrying it out was another.
When transitioning from an experimental device to an actual product, it was almost impossible to succeed in one go. According to the statistics, the failed trials of the various weaponry that Roland had developed for the First Army numbered all in the double digits, and this was with the help of blueprints and the witches.
The “Glory of the Sun” plan needed to be more special.
The creations, modifications, and trials of other weapons could be performed in the same place, but fission reactions could certainly not. No matter if it resulted in success or a failure, it would always result in a piece of land becoming a forbidden zone.
In fact, just searching and surveying the test site took almost a month.
Although the Fertile Plains was vast, it was obviously not a suitable test site for the explosion as Neverwinter was planning on further development in that direction.
There were many small islands in Fjords as well, but they were too far away. The pressure that sea transportation faced was already immense and it would be difficult to find more ships to transport the various equipment needed.
It seemed that the most suitable location would be the uninhabited desert in the south, but Roland took the fact that relics of the “Match Men” were once buried there into account and after prolonged hesitation, he rejected it in the end as he was concerned about its future development and utilization.
In the end, the explosion test site was allocated to the west of the Great Snow Mountain—the location of the ex-demon outpost camps.
Even though there was a possibility of encountering demons and demonic beasts over there, the risk was within an acceptable range. At the same time, whether it was successful or not, the test explosion would always leave behind a polluted area, which would actually increase the safety of the Neverwinter’s rear.
Only after they overcame these two hurdles would they be qualified for nuclear testing.
“Your Majesty, please bring me too.”
“And me as well!”
“I don’t think I need to say any more; as long as it’s a weapon that can kill demons, I need to take a look at it no matter what!”
“Uh…” Roland had also received entreaties from the Third Border City at the same time as he received the news. Looking at the three ‘huge faces’ squished together in the light curtain across him, he could not help but wipe the sweat from his forehead. “This is only a test for the experimental device, we’re still far from testing the real weapon.”
The “Glory of the Sun had never left the minds of Pasha and Celine ever since Roland explained it to the Taquila witches. However, he didn’t expect that even Alethea would join in; there was even a hint of adoration in her voice.
“If it’s really as you describe, that it would be enough to light up the dark clouds above the humans, then I hope I can see the birth of this device from the beginning to the end.” Pasha lowered her main tentacles.
“I contributed quite a bit to the creation of the core unit of the Glory of the Sun, you can’t just leave one of the planners behind, right?” Celine added.
“But there are no underground passages from the Great Snow Mountain to the experiment observation location…”
“No need to worry about that. There is no sun during the Months of Demons, we can be active outside for longer than usual,” Alethea hastily replied, as if frightened that a word of objection would come out of his mouth. “And the passage that Fran burrowed last time is still there, we definitely wouldn’t catch anyone’s attention when we leave the city.”
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Roland exchanged glances with Anna. Anna smiled and nodded at him.
Since the three had supplicated him to this extent, it would be unreasonable to disagree.
“Then, I’ll get the construction team to leave spaces for you in the bunker. Remember to bring a few God’s Punishment Witches with you and travel safely.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” the three exclaimed delightedly.
Watching the scene before him, Roland felt some strange emotions.
In his previous life, nuclear weapons were often viewed as a device of self-destruction. Countless literary works and biographies described it as the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of mankind. But here, it was instead viewed as a ray of hope—in times of darkness, only strength could shield civilization and cut through the thorns.
He looked at Anna. “Let’s go.”
…
Fifty kilometers to the northwest of the Great Snow Mountain.
The snow here was a lot stronger here than Neverwinter; not only did it completely cover the land that had been eroded by demons, but it also made the construction of the bunker more difficult than usual.
Fortunately, through the help of the powerful God’s Punishment Witches, the construction team was able to settle down in this deserted place.
In order to guarantee construction quality, all the members of the construction team were the elite of the Northern expedition group. After they went through the bloody slaughter on the Fertile Plains, the harsh weather didn’t count as a very grim enemy. Moreover, they received a notice before they set off that this was the most serious top secret construction project from Neverwinter that involved the future of their homes and kingdom, adding on the huge compensation that the Administrative Office promised them. Every person was pumped with energy.
If it had been Graycastle in the past, no matter how much the nobilities forced them they would not be able to get their subordinates to establish a camp in this sort of place.
It took Roland and his companions almost two days to reach the test explosion site. After they entered the command post that was half-buried in the ground, the scenery in the room changed once more—a thick brick wall blocked out the wind and snow outside, the blazing fireplace crackled away, and the various project leaders held their oil lamps aloft, checking their tasks against the chart, appearing extremely busy.
Seeing his arrival, everybody stopped and saluted one after another, “Greetings, Your Majesty!”
“Continue on with your work.” Roland waved and then looked towards Karl Van Bate. “How’s the situation over here?”
“We haven’t discovered any traces of demons in the past month,” Karl replied. “They have probably abandoned this place completely. As for the demonic beasts, we see a couple dozen from time to time, but they don’t pose any threat to the garrison troops. The test explosion platform and simulation equipment have all been finished, if you have no other instructions, they meet all the requirements of the plan.”
“Where is the test explosion platform?”
“To the north, fifteen kilometers from here,” Karl said while pointing to the map. “You can’t see it from the command post. The snow has piled up too high here, even if it were three stories high, it would still be blocked by the snow.”
“No matter, we’ll naturally see it when it explodes.” Roland smiled, turned towards Anna and said, “Then let us begin the first test explosion.”
In order to verify that it could be used, the two had prepared at least three configurations for testing in the last six months. This one was the simplest one, the gun configuration.