The young man named Lynn took out a primitive "pendulum clock" made of wooden gears from the box, an action that completely overturned Todd's understanding.

Historically, the pendulum clock was first discovered by Galileo, but the true "pendulum clock" was invented in 1657 by the Dutch physicist Christian Huygens.

Although the clock in front of him was crudely made and its appearance was quite different from what Todd remembered, the design of the timing and pendulum parts was a unique invention of this era.

Todd looked at the slowly turning gears and asked Ulysses, "And how did you come up with the idea of ​​gravity from this machine?"

Ulysses said with some excitement, "When we discovered that the pendulum was falling, we wondered what force was pulling these heavy objects? Later, we experimented with various materials such as stone, iron, and wood, and found that no matter how the weight and material changed, the time it took for the pendulum to swing back and forth was always fixed. We thought that there must be a force under our feet giving these objects a constant speed!"

Todd listened and nodded, thinking to himself that although his approach to discovering gravity was different from Newton's, it was a unique entry point into the understanding of mechanics.

Ulysses was a competent scholar, but certainly not a competent businessman. Pointing to the pendulum clock, he continued, "Although we have discovered gravity, we can't think of any other use for it besides designing pendulum clocks to calculate time. Moreover, this pendulum clock often makes mistakes in calculating time, and the wooden parts often need to be replaced..."

The young man wanted to say something more, but his companion couldn't stand it anymore and nudged Ulysses with his elbow, signaling him to shut up.

Todd laughed: "You want to use this invention to get investment from the 'Twilight Cooperative'?"

Everyone nodded quickly.

Todd looked at the crowd before him, then glanced at the 'pendulum clock,' and finally nodded, saying, 'I can sponsor you…'

The crowd's faces first showed surprise, then delight, and finally they cheered loudly.

Todd gestured for the crowd to restrain their excitement, his hands pointing downwards. He had more to say: "But I require you to write a book, a book about explaining 'gravity.' Where does this force come from, how does it act on objects, what are its energy characteristics, and so on. The amount of funding I give you will increase or decrease depending on the quality of the book."

Upon hearing this strange request, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. They never expected that the head of the group would use the research on 'gravity' as a premise to determine the amount of funding.

Watching this group of students from the Capital Academy, monks studying ancient texts, and residents with a penchant for research emerge from the Grand Master's office, Todd thought about the future technological advancements in Twilight Town. He himself, whose specialization leaned more towards biology and chemistry, didn't possess any particular talent in physics, especially mechanics, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics. A future industrial revolution would inevitably depend on the continuous progress of the world's own scientific advancements.

With that thought in mind, Todd picked up the paper he hadn't finished writing on again and began to write furiously.

The next day, two notices were posted in front of the church in Twilight Town. The first was to inform the holders of the sacred relics of the "Twilight Mutual Aid Society" to come and collect their share of the society's profits for the year; the second was to announce a celebration called the "Storytelling Contest" throughout Twilight Town.

The residents of Muxi Town understood everything about the first announcement, except for the new term "profit sharing." What puzzled them most was the second announcement about the story festival.

Regarding the celebration announcement for the 'Storytelling Contest', Todd's handwritten announcement is as follows:

To enrich the residents' entertainment life and discover the town's literary talents, this storytelling competition is being held.

I. There are no restrictions on the identity, occupation, age, or gender of the participants.

II. This competition only accepts written submissions, with no restrictions on the type of writing, length of the story, or subject matter.

Third, the submission period is one month. The review panel will evaluate the submitted stories from multiple aspects such as plot, theme, and writing style, and select the top three, each of whom will be awarded a reward of one hundred silver months.

Fourth, for the top three winning stories, the town of Muxi will hire a theater troupe to adapt them into plays and perform them throughout the town. All ticket revenue will belong to the authors.

When this announcement was first released, all the residents of Muxi Town were filled with questions. Everyone had only one thought in their minds: What was the Holy Son planning?

But then again, when you think about it, the lords in other places are always levying taxes arbitrarily, beheading people, and exercising the "right of the first night." In comparison, Lord Todd, the actual controller of Twilight Town, just likes to read other people's stories, which is really rare.

Therefore, the residents, grateful for the Son's grace, all planned to present Lord Todd with their best stories. But another problem arose: the stories had to be written, and in the vast town of Muxi, with a population of nearly two thousand, fewer than two hundred people could read.

This ratio looks awkward, but compared to the entire medieval world, the literacy rate in Muxi was already quite high. It's worth noting that some town church priests couldn't even read all the words in the Bible, and their sermons during Mass were practically nonsense – this was by no means unusual.

Out of desperation, a new profession emerged in Muxi Town—the "transcriber." These people were mostly monks and students who, commissioned by wealthy individuals, would take payment to transcribe the stories they narrated orally into written form and submit them to the church.

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