Zhou Tian's ultimate goal was to build a great ship, a fact he presumed the elves would understand. However, before he could clash directly with the elves, what Zhou Tian was currently doing, even though it was laying the foundation for that very purpose, had nothing to do with shipbuilding at all.
First, it was the bicycle, followed by the tricycle. Next, Zhou Tian planned to focus on power systems.
Originally, things like steam engines and diesel engines were what Zhou Tian intended to work on. However, considering Zhou Tian had limited knowledge about these systems and researching them would undoubtedly consume a lot of time. More importantly, if Zhou Tian did manage to create them, the issue of energy consumption alone would be a headache.
Thus, rather than working with Earth's power systems, Zhou Tian preferred to use the magic power system present in this world.