Despite its sophisticated technology, the stirrup is quite simple in structure and easy to use. If Linley was the first to adopt the stirrup, the Romans would quickly learn and utilize it.
Stirrups are easily lost in the heat of battle. Inevitably, some would fall into Roman hands. The Romans would only need a quick look to replicate it, even without an actual example.
The Roman Empire had far more resources than Linley could muster. Linley could only equip his followers with stirrups. But once the Roman Empire mastered their use, they could equip tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of cavalry, dramatically increasing their fighting power.
After careful consideration, Linley decided to manufacture stirrups. Though Linley had few people, the Roman Empire was surrounded by barbarians. These barbarians relied mainly on cavalry. If stirrups became common, their cavalry would become far more powerful, making Roman formations obsolete.
The Roman Empire would be forced to shrink its borders, constantly replenish its legions, and ultimately rely on barbarian mercenaries to maintain a semblance of control.
Next, the barbarians could rebel, seize power, and depose the emperor. Just as the ancient Roman Empire split, with the Eastern Roman Empire becoming the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire falling to the barbarians, a similar fate could befall Rome.
For Linley, chaos in the Mediterranean region would be preferable to an invincible Roman Empire. The more powers in the Mediterranean, the less pressure Linley would face.
Historically, Christianity spread its teachings among the surrounding barbarians during the decline of the Roman Empire, becoming a truly global religion and spreading throughout Europe with the newly converted barbarians.
However, Linley could now offer the barbarians another choice. As long as Linley's beliefs were more appealing than Christianity, the latter would not spread as smoothly as it did in history. Besides, the Greek world had always been the domain of the Olympian gods. If Rome collapsed before Christianity had taken root, and Linley offered an alternative, the Greek world might return to the worship of the Olympian gods.
Furthermore, technological diffusion takes time. Before the Romans mastered the use of stirrups, Linley could gain an advantage. By the time stirrups became widespread, Linley would have already developed more advanced technologies.
At that time, if Linley could develop firearms, even if the Romans mustered tens of thousands of cavalry to charge into Linley followers' positions, they would be cut down by firearms in rows. It's quite amusing to imagine.
As for whether inventing the stirrup would lead to more deaths, that worry is unnecessary. The stirrup would be invented sooner or later, and the Roman Empire would collapse sooner or later. Linley was simply accelerating this process.
Whether or not there were stirrups, the world would still be full of violence. The stirrup might change the scale of death, but that doesn't make a Roman life more valuable than a German one.
Upon learning that the island lacked blacksmiths and fuel, Linley quickly gathered the tailors among his followers, drew detailed designs for stirrups, and instructed them to create soft stirrups out of cloth.
While metal stirrups were the norm, the Island of Dionysus could not yet support a blacksmith's forge, making cloth stirrups a temporary solution. Although these soft stirrups helped with mounting and standing in emergencies, they lacked stability, especially during impacts, often causing the rider to fall.
The soft stirrups were completed quickly, and Linley tried them out. While they proved better than having no stirrups at all, they still weren't good enough.
Linley decided to try using wood instead of metal. He called in the carpenter, drew patterns for hard stirrups, and had him make a pair of wooden stirrups. The wooden stirrups significantly improved performance, allowing riders to fix their feet in the stirrups, which, in combination with the saddle and reins, greatly enhanced the stability of riding. Even when encountering powerful impacts in combat, riders could absorb the force by adjusting their posture.
The only issue was that wood wasn't as strong or durable as metal, and could break during intense battles.
They would have to make do with the wooden stirrups for now, and they would be improved when enough metal and fuel were obtained in the future. Fortunately, the timber from the Thunderclap was blessed by Zeus and was much stronger than ordinary wood, and lighter than metal stirrups.
After half a day of work, the stirrups were finally completed and attached to the saddle. Linley felt instantly rejuvenated, as if he could take on an entire army with just a stick in his hand. This was not only because the stirrups enhanced the convenience of riding, but also because his own level had been raised.
A system prompt sounded: "You have invented the stirrup, gaining 500 experience points. Please enter the Divine Realm to claim your reward." Five hundred experience points were equivalent to a level five increase, but compared to the significance of the stirrup, this amount of experience seemed trivial. The invention of the stirrup had the potential to change the world.
Linley entered the Divine Realm and found the reward on the table. He opened the box to find a pair of stirrups made of grapevine, which he squeezed and found Dionysus to be more finely crafted than the carpenter's work.
Besides the stirrups, there was also a skill card called "Dionysus Cavalry": "Cavalry units made up of followers of Dionysus gain a fifty percent increase in attack power, a fifty percent increase in defense, and a twenty percent increase in speed."
"Is this real?" Linley asked in surprise.
"Of course."
Linley worriedly said, "What if other people also learn to use stirrups? Wouldn't my advantage disappear?"
The system explained: "Even if others learn to use stirrups, the skill effect will still exist. This means that your cavalry units will always benefit from this bonus, regardless of whether others learn to use stirrups."
This was incredibly powerful. With the same cavalry units, equipment, and training, simply being a follower of Dionysus granted increased attack, defense, and speed, making his cavalry force incredibly strong.
"So my cavalry force is invincible!" Linley said.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. It's not like you're the only one with cavalry skills. Other races and deities have their own unique troop types, and some high-level troops have even stronger buffs than Dionysus Cavalry." The system replied with a sigh.
Linley thought to himself that the system was becoming increasingly human-like, but this was enough for him. Since the Dionysus Cavalry skill benefited all followers of Dionysus, it was essentially cost-free.