Chapter 389: Chapter 388: Non-Newtonian Fluid Shield

“”Um…” Pandora looked over, her eyes twinkling as she explained to Richard, “These weren’t broken by me; they broke on their own, it’s not my fault.”

I know it’s not your fault, but could you hide that excited look on your face a little?

Richard thought to himself, but before he had the chance to say anything, he heard Pandora eagerly ask, “You don’t need these broken glass pieces, right? If you don’t need them, can I take them all?”

“Well…”

Alright, you’re really not hiding it at all.

But… What exactly is the use of collecting so many glass shards?

Richard wondered, and as he hesitated for a long time without answering, Pandora looked over again, cautiously asking, “Is it… not okay? Do you need them?”

“Not at all.” Richard spoke with slight resignation, “Take them.”

“Oh, that’s great.” Pandora quickly set to work collecting them, her enthusiasm could not have been higher.

Richard watched and couldn’t help but shake his head, then he headed over to the experimental table.

Sitting at the circular table, Richard took out scrolls, ink, and a quill, quickly recording the findings from the spell tests.

After recording everything, Richard glanced at the pesky quill in his hand and thought, perhaps he could find some time to try making a fountain pen to use.

Of course, that was just a fleeting thought. After hanging the scroll to dry and putting it away, Richard then became busy with another, more important task–raising his own lower limit of strength, not in offensive capabilities, but… on the defensive side.

In simple terms, combat is nothing more than offense and defense, swords and shields, that’s all.

Having produced magic salt, which gave him a sharper sword, he naturally needed a sturdier shield to match.

His defense had always been a weak point; other than condensing air to create air shields or air walls, that was about it.

This way, facing ordinary people, Apprentice Level wizards, and even comparatively weaker wizards, he could cope, but against stronger wizards, or beings like Suo Men, Mu Konni, and the slovenly man in blue, it verged on being hopelessly outmatched.

When he had first encountered Som and Mu Konni, he had not even considered defense, as it was simply indefensible, which was why he had desperately seized the initiative.

Not long ago, when confronting the assassin who killed Great Scholar Socrates, the slovenly man in blue, he didn’t think about defense either–it was indefensible as well, with no confidence in withstanding any attack, which led to a hit-and-run tactic.

His strategy had always been to capitalize on his attack far surpassing his defensive capabilities by taking the “agility” approach, striking like an assassin, aiming to kill with a single hit. If that failed, he would retreat, dodge the enemy’s attacks, then attempt a new strike for a quick kill.

This method wasn’t bad–in fact, he preferred it. This mode of combat ensured minimal fighting expenditure when defeating an enemy, allowing a person to deal with many peers at once, far better than the stationary, toe-to-toe slugging match.

But then again, while the toe-to-toe combat style might seem outdated, that did not mean it was without merit.

According to his analysis, the existence of such a battle method was due to wizards excessively pursuing safety. Out of confidence in the power accrued over decades, wizards would rather exhaust their mana in a spell duel to determine the winner than rely on a risky, unconventional tactic to decide victory or defeat.

Therefore, the merit of the toe-to-toe fighting style was that it could ensure a certain degree of “absolute stability,” guaranteeing effective defense against attacks in most situations and then attempting a counterattack.

That way, even if caught by surprise, as long as it wasn’t too sudden and they could defend against the first wave of attack, they could gradually adjust their condition to the best and then engage the enemy properly in a fight.”

The core of the stance combat technique lies in a potent defensive measure–defense is more important than offense, for only by withstanding attacks does one earn the right to be called a “pillar.”

So, how does one acquire such a formidable defensive means?

Furthermore, how can one employ scientific methods to achieve a more powerful shield, one that is even stronger than those of most wizards, at a smaller cost?

Richard had some ideas about this.

“Dada dada…”

Richard left the experiment table, ignoring Pandora who was happily collecting fragments of exceptions, and walked towards a storage cabinet in the corner of the test laboratory.

Then he pulled out a bag of flour from the storage cabinet.

Flour, yes, flour!

The flour in the bag was very white, sifted many times, a luxury that even many nobles were reluctant to use regularly, and Richard was about to test it in some experiments, trying to create a powerful magic shield.

This was not a fool’s dream, because flour is a quite miraculous substance.

It can be used as food to fill one’s stomach, as an explosive in a dust explosion, and even… to make non-Newtonian fluids.

Non-Newtonian fluids!

Non-Newtonian fluids refer to those that do not follow Newton’s law of viscosity.

In other words, the relationship between the shear stress and strain rate of these fluids is not linear.

To put it another way, these fluids are not ordinary fluids; they are different from water and alcohol commonly seen, possessing the characteristic of “growing stronger with resistance, weaker with yielding.”

For example, this fluid appears to be a liquid and feels like a liquid when touched gently with a hand, but when you clench your fist and strike the fluid swiftly, it will not break apart like water. Its special properties cause it to rapidly change and solidify under the force of the fist, becoming like a solid.

The stronger and faster the punch, the harder the fluid turns into a solid–hard as bricks, stones, or steel!

Such properties make it useful for many things, some of which might even seem unbelievable.

Like using chewing gum to open coconuts.

The specific method is to mold several pieces of modern Earth’s chewing gum into a cone shape, ensuring it can stand on a table. Then take a coconut with a hard shell you wish to crack open, aim at the chewing gum, and smash it down as if hammering on a metal spike.

Chewing gum is a non-Newtonian fluid that, at the moment of contact with a coconut, exhibits the characteristics of such fluids by becoming extremely hard and actually piercing the coconut like a metal spike.

Similarly, chewing gum can also be used to open pull tabs, soda bottles, and many other things.

Of course, these uses alone don’t make non-Newtonian fluids particularly impressive; what’s more important is their defensive application.

Some of the most advanced bullet-proof vests on modern Earth have begun to incorporate non-Newtonian fluids–normally they are very soft when worn but rapidly harden when struck by bullets or shrapnel, providing astonishing defense.

What Richard is now considering is the creation of a high-tech magic shield using non-Newtonian fluids.