This thing called the 'Arcane Transfer Cylinder' was very different from the printing cylinder that Gwen had imagined.
In fact, apart from the similar outline, its entire working principle and usage had never appeared in his imagination.
This was another product of the 'magic technology' that had taken root in this world.
He quietly looked at the blue lines on the surface of the silver-white alloy cylinder in front of him and realized that these lines should be a built-in 'standard layout' that was specially used to check if the device was working properly. When his hand approached the blue lines, he felt an obvious heat.
This heat phenomenon should be the key to the printing process.
"Tell me how it works." Gwen looked at Rebecca. Although the device was brought by Nicholas, it was Rebecca who had placed the order. She must be the one who knew all the technical mysteries of this device. "How does it work?"
Rebecca looked a little proud. "Ancestor, do you still remember those 'detection posts' that I set up in the magic network?"
"Detection posts?" Gwen was stunned for a moment, but he quickly reacted. "Oh, I remember now. Mithril will temporarily heat up and turn black after being infused with arcane energy, right?"
"That's it!" Rebecca nodded happily. "I want to mention someone here. It's an arcanist named Cohen from the group of sorcerers that Santis brought from the Captical. He was the one who found the breakthrough. He thought of the special properties of Mithril under the influence of arcane energy, and then we finally found the right way."
As she spoke, Rebecca pointed at the silver-white surface of the transfer cylinder. "This thing has two layers. The inner layer is a very fine purple copper mesh, which is used to conduct magic and act as the framework of the whole device. The outer layer is actually a coating. We used Mithril and other metals to make an alloy, plus other auxiliary materials to make a coating, and then evenly covered the surface of the purple copper shell, forming the silver-white layer that you see.
"You should know that the surface of the original detection post was covered with pure Mithril, but pure Mithril has many problems. First of all, it's too conductive to magic. Basically, as long as one point is affected by arcane energy, the whole piece of Mithril will change. It's impossible to make a plate, and the whole piece will turn black.
"Secondly, mithril's reaction to arcane energy is delayed because it's a very special magic conductive material. Its ability to store and dissipate magic power is exactly the same. When it's continuously injected with magic power, its storage and dissipation speed reach a balance, so it looks like there is no change on the surface. Only when the energy stops will it heat up and change color due to the energy balance being broken. If this kind of 'delay' is used in the plate-making process, the editing process will be slow and cumbersome. Therefore, we have to find a way to make mithril more sensitive to arcane energy and more timely.
"Other than that, pure Mithril has another problem, which is that it will turn black when its property changes. This way, it will easily mix with the printing ink of the printing press. Even if there is a problem, it won't be easy to see it at first glance. That's why we considered using Mithril as the main material and using other magic conductive materials to adjust the property of Mithril and add new properties to it.
"We added inert white copper to the alloy to reduce the magic conductive efficiency of Mithril, so that it will only change when it is directly exposed to arcane energy. We also used blue crystal steel to affect the dissipation speed of Mithril, so that it will change immediately when it is exposed to arcane energy. We also added crystal dust to the final coating material, so that the coating will emit blue light when it is exposed to arcane energy instead of turning black. This part of the work was done by Mr. Egg."
Egg Nicholas, who was floating on the side, slightly moved his body and said, "This part of the work took most of the time. It's not easy to find the right coating formula. If the coating activity is too low, it won't change when it is exposed to arcane energy. If the coating activity is too high, it will become blurry. And the final coating formula is not as simple as Mithril, White Copper, Blue Crystal Steel, and Crystal Dust. There are many other auxiliary materials to achieve adhesion, solidification, and stability. Fortunately, I'm pretty good at this. If this work was left to an ordinary technician, I'm afraid it would take them a long time to test out the formula. "
All the research and development work that involved 'materials' was always the most difficult, and most of the time, it was related to luck. The Captical sorcerer named Cohen had set his mind on Mithril, which had saved the whole project a lot of time. However, in the end, Egg Nicholas still spent a lot of effort to come up with the final coating, which was enough to show how difficult the research work was.
Gwen let out a sigh and said, "So the basic principle is to use arcane energy to form a picture to illuminate the coating layer, let the illuminated part of the coating heat up to form a 'layout', and then use this heated 'layout' to print?"
"That's right!" Rebecca opened her hands and said, "We've already found the ink. We'll use charcoal ink mixed with the gum of the giant wood to make an ink board. The gum of the giant wood is usually solid, and it will only melt a little when it's heated up. And once the heat is gone, it will solidify again very quickly. We can put the ink board at the bottom, the paper in the middle, and the arcana cylinder on top. After the cylinder is heated up, we'll 'brush' the paper, and then the words and patterns will be printed on it!"
"What about the arcana source to illuminate the coating layer?" Gwen had no doubts about the 'ink board' that Rebecca mentioned. It was easy to understand the principle, but he was more concerned about where the arcana source came from. According to the principle described by Rebecca, the arcana cylinder was completely different from the traditional printing. It used magic energy to produce patterns, which meant that it must have a matching 'illuminating end' that could emit accurate images.
For a moment, he did not know how to implement the illuminating end, but judging from Rebecca's expression, this function must have been implemented.
As expected, Rebecca giggled. "Ancestor, have you forgotten the crystal on the magic network communicator?"
Gwen was startled and suddenly realized something. The 'holographic projection' produced by the magic network communicator was actually a traditional illusion spell, and the image produced by this spell … was the effect of arcana magic.
"The illuminating end is in the cylinder." Rebecca pointed at the shining magic runes on one end of the device. "Look, this is actually the rune board at the base of the magic network communicator used to connect the crystal …"
To be honest, Gwen did not recognize it. But after recognizing it, he could not help but marvel at Rebecca's unrestrained creativity.
How did this girl come up with the idea of dismantling a magic network communicator and stuffing it into a printing cylinder? It turned out that the technical routes of these two things could be mixed together in this magical world!
Rebecca was still explaining the technical details of the cylinder. She had obviously noticed the look of surprise on Gwen's face. To be able to surprise this ancestor who was always thinking ahead of everyone else, obviously brought her a great sense of achievement. She said excitedly, "… I did not directly stuff the projection crystal of the magic network communicator into the cylinder. Instead, I carefully adjusted it. To ensure that the projection of the arcana from the crystal would accurately fall on the inner wall of the cylinder and not cause any distortion, I installed a set of lenses around the crystal, just like the lenses on the crystal resonator …
"In addition, I also redesigned an input device that is compatible with the arcana transfer cylinder to transmit images and text to the projection crystal. The basic principle is similar to the process of receiving images from the magic network communicator, but I added something: I made an extra-large 'color palette' with all 28 letters and a few commonly used symbols. This way, the plate-maker can directly edit the text on the machine. Of course, if you don't use the 'color palette', you can also directly 'flash' the content written on the paper to the input device, and it can also be converted into images projected by the projection crystal on the cylinder wall. However, these things are still rather troublesome to operate because ordinary people can't directly use magic to control the projection like mages. They have to use a bunch of runic triggers to adjust the images. I've tried it in private, and even those who can read have to practice for a long time before they can master how to use the input device … "
Rebecca talked a lot, but Gwen was stunned. It was not that he could not follow the girl's train of thought, but he did not expect that the girl could come up with the concept of a 'keyboard' without anyone teaching her. Was this silly girl going to be the founder of the keyboard warriors in the future?
Of course, the admiration for the 'keyboard' was only secondary. What really amazed Gwen was the working process of the device. It directly 'scanned' objects or papers in the real world, and then transmitted the images to the projection crystal. The projection crystal then used to generate arcane illusions, and the illusions were projected on the back of the mithril alloy coating to create a 'hot plate', and then the 'hot plate' would transfer the images to the paper …
The process was so delicate, so interconnected, and so … out of his expectation.
And he was almost not involved in all of this.
He only drew a useless sketch for Rebecca at the beginning and explained the features and requirements of the new printing machine to the girl. As for how to implement the printing machine … he himself had never figured it out.
But Rebecca succeeded … No, it was not she who succeeded, but she and the team she led succeeded.
This project should be credited to the entire Arcanotech Research Institute.
Of course, this included the arcanist from the Captical who was originally a traditional mage, Mr. Cohen.
Rebecca was still describing her imaginative technical ideas, but she soon noticed that Gwen's expression became a little strange, so she could not help but stop. "… Ancestor, what are you thinking about?"
Gwen woke up from his thoughts, but he did not answer. Instead, he rubbed Rebecca's hair and said, "Nothing. You did a great job. And that arcanist called Cohen, he did a good job too. "
Just as he had realized before, the technological accumulation of this world had long matured, and the wisdom and creativity of the natives had never been lacking. Even the traditional mages who were regarded as "stubbornly conservative and backward" did not appear to be backward because of a lack of wisdom.
Gwen, a soul from Earth, could not be an inventor or a prophet in this world that walked the path of magic technology, but he could find people with such abilities, give them the right environment and conditions, and let these talented people grow.
The "Cecil R&D – Production System" that he painstakingly built had gradually begun to show its value and power.
Rebecca blinked. She did not know what her ancestor was sighing in his heart, but it did not stop her from rubbing her head under Gwen's palm. Ever since she was young, the relationship between her head and the palm of her ancestor was rarely so harmonious.
After rubbing her head twice, the girl suddenly stopped, and a thoughtful look appeared on her face.
Gwen was curious. "What are you thinking of now?"
"Ancestor, I just thought of something … You said that the printing cylinder and the input device used the technology of the Mana Net communicator. Could this set of things be connected to the Mana Net communicator?"
Gwen gaped at the girl before him. Even Egg Nicholas, who had been silent all this while, let out a strange buzzing sound from his body. Clearly, the iron ball was also touched by Rebecca's idea.
Rebecca continued. "We can connect the printing machine to the Mana Net. After all, its core component is the Mana Net communicator projection crystal. With some adjustments, the crystal and the signal in the Mana Net communicator can be … what was it called again? Oh, it can be completely compatible. This way, not only can the people on both sides of the Mana Net communicator talk, they can also print out documents directly in some more important occasions … The government offices across the southern border will definitely use this function! "
Gawain was still dumbfounded. "…"
Rebecca saw Gwen's reaction and could not help but worry. "Ancestor … Say something, my idea … Is it too unrealistic?"
Gwen blinked and looked at Rebecca as if he was looking at a transmigrator. How did her thoughts jump so quickly?
After a long time, he broke the silence. "Let me introduce two things to you … One is called fax, and the other is called remote printing …"
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