Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 560 - 559: Ideas

The shimmering sparks of energy danced between the magic symbols, surging magic power distributed from the power spine to each magic-powered engine. Accompanied by the loud sound of a whistle, on the experimental platform that stretches hundreds of meters, a train made up of four sets of powered carriages and numerous complex linkage mechanisms, control systems, and power systems began to move forward slowly.

On the observation tower a hundred meters away from the platform, Rebecca and the technicians focused intently on every detail of the massive, complex, and precise mechanical beast, watching every turn of the wheel and listening to every roar coming from within the body of the train.

The train traveled several dozen meters when a mid-section powered carriage suddenly reduced its output as planned.

According to the design, the linkage mechanisms at the front and rear of the carriage would immediately respond, with the offset rune trigger reallocating the power supply from all powered carriages and releasing the wheel axle transmission of the faulty carriage to prevent it from disrupting the balance of the entire train or even damaging the mechanical structure of the linkage device.

However, a particularly loud noise came from the connector between the second and third powered carriages. Accompanying this noise, a bright arcane flame suddenly burst forth from the magic obelisk atop the carriage, immediately followed by the power spine connected to the magic obelisk bursting into flames—the uncontainable magical power instantly erupted between all the rune triggers, engulfing the two powered carriages entirely in flames almost instantly.

The fireball created by the explosion rose into the sky above the experimental platform and slowly condensed into the word "embarrassment."

In this virtual test field, where costs and consequences are mostly not considered, this small special effect serves as an effective warning and spur for the project participants.

Countless bright, illusory lines trembled and wandered across the platform; the carriages destroyed by the explosion and the fireball hung suspended in mid-air, revealing clearly decomposed structures, while in the distance on the observation tower, Rebecca scratched her head.

"Oh dear," said the Marchioness with a face of cold sweat, "thank goodness we’re conducting the experiments here..."

Beside her, Kamel also voiced with resignation: "If this were reality... Lady Heidi would definitely go mad."

Rebecca pursed her lips, not daring to imagine the scene of her aunt going mad and hanging her up for a beating. She waved her hand: "Let’s check the cause."

The upper layer of the observation tower immediately detached from the tower body, carrying all the technicians to the now-suspended experimental wreckage.

In this experimental space formed by virtual reality, everything becomes particularly convenient.

The two project leaders, accompanied by a group of technicians, began analyzing the cause of the failure. They observed carefully, calculated meticulously, hypothesized, explored, verified, debated... For the birth of something new, human wisdom was concentrated together, not based on strength and status but simply on "knowledge and truth," the entire team started bustling about.

On the periphery of the crowd, Daniel, who participated in the "Cecil Style Scientific Research" team for the first time, looked somewhat bewildered at the scene before him.

This was his first involvement in team activities since becoming a follower of the "Wanderers from Outer Realm," yet the atmosphere and form of this team activity were completely different from what he had imagined.

He had imagined it would be a gloomy and oppressive group or perhaps a stringent and ruthless organization—most secret organizations were like that. He had also imagined the work atmosphere would be tense, mysterious, and filled with forbidden and heterodox knowledge—those involved in evil cults were mostly like this. But he had never thought the true atmosphere here would be like this.

These people seemed to be simply pursuing new knowledge and exploring technical possibilities. In this "Mystics Doctrine" established by the Wanderers from Outer Realm, people’s motivation to pursue truth was unexpectedly simpler and purer than even that of the brilliant Royal Mage Association.

Having spent his entire youth and middle age in the Royal Mage Association and another decade in the Eternal Sleepers cult life, Daniel was not accustomed to such a "pure" atmosphere or rather, no mage or scholar from this world, this era, would be accustomed to this unprecedented atmosphere. Still, watching these people argue heatedly over a technical problem and celebrate joyously over several calculation results, Daniel felt not even a shred of resistance.

He even couldn’t help but recall his youthful days, thinking of the time when he first came into contact with the mysteries of magic—in his somewhat faded old memories, only that period seemed to retain a trace of warmth and color.

The unknown domain and the process of seeking knowledge are the most captivating.

Beside the experimental stage, Rebecca pulled a twisted and deformed metal part close to her eyes, shaking her head: "The mechanical structure of the linkage device has flaws, it’s too complex, lowering reliability..."

Saying this, she suddenly noticed Daniel standing not far away; she waved: "Master Daniel, what do you think?"

Daniel awoke from his brief contemplation; hearing Rebecca’s call, he walked over while saying, "No need to call me Master, just call me Daniel."

This girl named Rebecca, although young, was one of the original envoys of the Wanderers from Outer Realm, and also a bloodline descendant of the current vessel used by the Wanderers. Though the reason was unclear, the master obviously treated her as a true descendant, protecting and cherishing her. Knowing this, Daniel naturally remained courteous in front of Rebecca.

Apart from Rebecca, the ancient Arcanist named Kamel was likewise extraordinary, having survived for a thousand years, an ancient powerhouse, Master Mage of the Gondor Empire, who even used divine power to transform himself—equally not to be underestimated.

Compared to such people, Daniel himself, as a powerful mage from the Royal Mage Association, was hardly significant—even if he had taught a legendary powerhouse, so what? Do the Wanderers from Outer Realm lack legendary power?

Rebecca, with her simple mind, could not fathom what the old mage before her was lamenting about. She simply asked the other party’s opinion: "Daniel, what do you think is wrong with the Magic Train’s idea?"

Daniel glanced at the magic-conducting construct filled with an incredibly complex and unbelievable mechanical structure, shook his head with a bitter smile: "To be honest, I still haven’t fully figured out its principles... I can only help you construct the virtual environment."

Daniel was an expert in the fields of dream spells and virtual reality. Here, he was serving as an advisor to assist Kamel and Rebecca in building the laboratory environment, but when it came to magical mechanic constructs... although he knew a bit, his expertise was obviously not comparable to Rebecca’s.

Rebecca didn’t really expect to get any answers from Daniel either, she just shook her head: "Both approaches seem quite difficult to proceed..."

"After distributing the power, the overload and interference issues of the high-power engine were indeed resolved, but the mechanical complexity and control difficulty increased by several times," Kamel said in a low tone, "To ensure multiple power cars can run synchronously, synchronize control, and to ensure the entire system can automatically balance if some cars malfunction and shield faulty segments... With current technology and materials, we can’t make reliable control mechanisms."

One of the technicians couldn’t help but say: "After all, the train chassis is limited, we have very little space to work with..."

"On one hand, we can’t build a large power group, on the other, the mechanical structure is complex and unreliable," Rebecca again scratched her hair—her hair was already a tangled mess, "Perhaps we should reorganize all the parameters..."

Daniel silently observed this scene in front of him, although he was new to this project and didn’t understand all the secrets of the Magic Train, he could very well understand Rebecca’s distress—

In a project, the calculated data may no problem, but applying it to reality always brings errors and unexpected situations, this is almost an inevitable issue whenever a technological product moves from paper to reality, his Non-Implantable Neural Link research was stuck in this phase for over half of the last decade.

He raised his head again, seriously observing that complex-structured and huge magical mechanized construct.

This is truly an incredible thing, an incredible idea.

Before coming into contact with the knowledge of the Wanderers from Outer Realm, he never imagined that magical power could be applied in this way, never thought that when ordinary people participate in the extraordinary field, the entire society’s operation would undergo such dramatic change.

Every descent of the Wanderer from Outer Realm has its mission, either to create, destroy, conquer the world or save it.

Then this descent... is it to build a world propelled forward by magic guide technology?

I’d really love to see what Cecil, where magic machinery is already widespread, looks like...

"Daniel? Daniel?" Rebecca noticed that the old mage suddenly started daydreaming with his head up, couldn’t help but curiously ask, "Master Daniel what are you thinking about?"

Daniel snapped out of his momentary daze, blinked and looked at the mechanical train that has become overly cumbersome and complex through several modifications, suddenly he said casually: "Does the Magic Train’s power have to be placed on the train?"

"Where else would you place the power if not on the train?" Rebecca said as if it were obvious, "Not on the train, power... wait, you’re saying, the train’s power doesn’t have to be on the train?!"

"Ah, I was just asking casually," Daniel hurriedly said, "Because I don’t understand its architecture..."

"No no no, listen to whoever has a reasonable idea," Rebecca interrupted Daniel, "You just said not placing the power on the train... could it be placed on the track?"

Listen to whoever has a reasonable idea...

It’s the first time in decades that Daniel heard such words.

This saying is exceptionally reasonable.

"I don’t understand the architecture of the Magic Train, but as an ’outsider’, I know the purpose of building a train is to transport a large amount of cargo from one place to another," Daniel said while pondering, "Whether the power is placed on the train or on the track, as long as this purpose is achieved—based on what I see now, the train has a massive amount of mechanical structures already severely exceeding what its body can accommodate, forcefully squeezing those things inside will only sacrifice reliability, and if the power isn’t placed on the train... we have many spells that can push a movable entity externally... like installing repulsion mechanisms or traction spells on the track."

Rebecca and Kamel looked at each other, and in each other’s eyes, they saw a hint of brightening light.

Kamel’s was slightly brighter.

"Power can be placed on the track, this idea never occurred to us, really never occurred..." Kamel’s tone carried a hint of excitement, "But if the power is on the track, can the train still control its forward and backward movements and brake on the train? Rely on the Magic Obelisk for remote control? Or... let all control be handed over to the track’s operator?"

"... The latter is not safe, the train itself must have a way to control power, at least have a way to brake, since in the future it will transport people, no one would dare sit in a metal can that is pushed to run on the track and can’t stop itself when something goes wrong," Rebecca said while thinking, "... Perhaps we could disassemble the power structure? Or... ah, I have an idea!!"

She suddenly raised her head, looking at the mage technicians around her who were showing expressions of contemplation.

"Everyone, let’s get busy—Let’s try again!"