The "Nuwa Project" conference lasted for several days, and Roland was amazed by the professional level of the participants, and even more surprised by their abundant energy.
Throughout the conference, disputes and debates were constant, often running from nine in the morning to seven in the evening. When facing difficult decisions, it was not uncommon for arguments to last until midnight. Although most people were dressed in formal attire, they were unyielding in technical matters, and the intensity was no less than fighting bare-chested. This was true not only for the core members of the industry in their thirties and forties, but also for the gray-haired veterans.
Normally, people at this age would be prone to slurred speech and sluggish thinking, but other than their appearance, they showed almost no signs of aging. Their voices were clear and loud, their eyes were bright and piercing, and they often outargued younger participants. This made Roland believe that the brain is indeed an organ that becomes more developed the more it is used.
In the Dream World, he could rely on the power of awakening to maintain highly concentrated mental energy, but after waking up, he would feel noticeably tired and weak. To cope with the conference content, he had to increase the number of times he slept, using time in the real world to replenish his energy.
Of course, the atmosphere in the project department was not always like this. At least initially, everyone did not show much enthusiasm, and the focus of the disputes was more on Roland's "settings."
For example, another type of "competitor" formed by the degeneration of Demonic Fallen after the destruction of human civilization, as well as variants of natural forces such as Blackfire and elemental purification, which were obviously inconsistent with the overall level of technology... Although no one openly questioned whether this was possible, given that the Martial Artist Association and the government were jointly leading the project, resistance and perfunctory attitudes were frequent. People either remained silent or, under the guise of "facilitating work," repeatedly questioned the details, and the tone used in the process was naturally not very good.
If Roland hadn't given Ling and the others several knowing looks, the Taqila witches would probably have started a fight on the spot.
The conflict between the two sides reached its peak during the summary on the first day at night.
A chief engineer specializing in mechanical control stood up and bluntly said that no matter how much they discussed, it would be useless if they couldn't remember it. The amount of things decided in just one day was enough for the Martial Artist to digest for several weeks, so it would be better to adjourn the meeting earlier next time. Roland clearly remembered that Scroll, who had been silent all along, suddenly slammed her palm on the table.
The conference room then became her personal domain.
Not only the content discussed at the meeting, but also who had spoken several times, how many questions they had asked from beginning to end, and how much they had contributed to the project, were all listed one by one. This incredible super memory immediately shocked everyone present, and the chief engineer who had raised the objection was speechless. For a moment, it seemed that everyone present had become students, and Scroll was the only teacher.
Perhaps she had confirmed the Association's deduction that "the power of nature indeed possesses infinite possibilities, and is not just about strengthening the muscles of the limbs," or perhaps it was the engineering elites' natural affinity for highly intelligent people, coupled with Scroll's own outstanding temperament and appearance, the situation suddenly turned around.
From the next day on, disputes still occurred from time to time, but the focus of the discussion had shifted from the settings to the Nuwa Project itself.
Not only that, with no shortage of money or people, every "point of contention" that arose in the meeting could be immediately conveyed to the research and development team, and physical testing could be carried out at the first time to verify its feasibility.
For Roland, these were undoubtedly the most rewarding days in the Dream World.
According to the suggestion of Wu, the chief technical director of the academy, his current focus of improvement should be on "tools."
His original words were: "It is a waste to continue using such crude machine tools when you have such high-precision processing methods and reliable quality metal materials. Even if you lack electronic control technology, you can use mechanical methods to achieve semi-automatic precise control. If you had brought it up earlier, you wouldn't have had to endure these defective products until now."
Roland couldn't help but laugh and cry. The "defective products" in the other party's mouth were the pinnacle of design that he had created with all his life's learning, but he completely agreed with the dean's evaluation.
Before the popularization of electronic technology, pure mechanical equipment had once developed to a level that could be called "works of art," such as mechanical computers, and the difference engine that developed from them but ultimately remained on paper. Anyone who saw the layers of overlapping gears and interconnected screws would feel a pure beauty. However, the advancement of electronic technology was like a torrent, instantly sweeping these huge and complex machines into the historical ditch. Even if he searched through textbooks, he would not be able to find design knowledge of related equipment.
Now that there is a dedicated team to improve his production tools and restore these mechanical devices that have disappeared, he is naturally more than happy to have them.
Once the level of "tools" is improved, it will not only increase production efficiency but also reduce personnel needs. This means that Neverwinter City can use the same number of workers to complete more work, which is very meaningful for a kingdom with a limited total population.
In addition to production machine tools, the New Design Bureau of Administrative Tools has also provided a lot of things, such as relatively simple mechanical calculators, typewriters, and automatic printing presses... They basically do not need to use electronic components, and only a few units can greatly improve the speed of administrative work.
And this part constitutes the foundation of the Nuwa Project.
The content built on this has suddenly expanded a lot.
Most people in the venue agreed that strengthening oneself is the primary task to protect humanity from extinction. Only by having the power to resist the degenerated Demonic Fallen can one have the capital to talk about the next stage of development. Therefore, the second phase of the discussion mainly focused on weapons.
Considering the conditions given by Roland, the participants did not directly throw out a one-step solution, but divided it into three steps—namely, a quarterly plan, a one-year plan, and a five-year plan.
While the war history of the Dream World certainly provided the best answers to some questions, it was clear that completely replicating history was not realistic because the number of "survivors" in the setting was not enough to support a complete industrial system. Therefore, experts preferred to focus on the enemy's situation and develop several projects with the greatest benefits. This was also the original intention of the first two plans—to bring about transformative changes in human combat capabilities within three months to one year.
The first project mentioned, and also the easiest to improve, was various high-performance explosives and propellants.
This is also Neverwinter City's biggest shortcoming.
If nitrated gunpowder can still be seen in chemical books to learn the production process, then there is much less information available about elemental explosives such as TNT and RDX, not to mention the composition and ratio of modern composite gunpowder. Now that the official representative has started this, this gap can finally be filled.