When Victoria returned to her room on the upper floor of the White Silver Castle, snowflakes were falling from the window.
The snow in this winter... came one after another, especially in the latter part of the Cold Month, where the snow almost never stopped.
An appropriate amount of snow could bring about a good harvest in the coming year, but it would also make the cold months even more unbearable. After this snowfall, many people in the villages and towns on the outskirts of the capital would probably die again.
The cold wind from the north hovered over the Captical, stirring the falling snowflakes into a hazy curtain. Maggie, the black-haired maid, closed the wooden shutters on the inside of the window, isolating the cold and bleak scene outside. The fireplace was burning in the corner of the room, keeping the gorgeous room warm and comfortable. The world of ice and snow outside the castle seemed to have become another world.
"You don't look very good," Maggie looked at Victoria, who walked into the room. She stepped forward to help the Duchess take off her cloak and asked softly, "Is today's meeting still not going well?"
"There are too many mediocre people sitting in those chairs. Everyone's vision is as short-sighted as a snow mouse," Victoria shook her head. "What's worse is that I can't drive them out."
Maggie hung the cloak on the shelf next to her and said softly, "After all, the country still depends on them."
Victoria glanced at the maid who was also her servant and friend. She knew that although Maggie was her maid in name, she had extraordinary knowledge and the power of a superhuman. This "butler of the Northern Region" was one of the people she trusted the most. When the two of them were alone, they could talk about most of the topics.
"The country doesn't have to rely on those stale nobles to run," the Duchess said calmly. "You've seen it with your own eyes."
Maggie raised her eyelids and glanced at Victoria. "Yes, but the price is high. There's another important point — you are also one of them, and an inseparable member."
Victoria was silent for a moment.
Yes, she could not take that path.
"Don't think about that anymore. There's a more important thing," Maggie's words woke Victoria up from her brief thoughts. The black-haired maid picked up a sealed letter tube from a nearby table and handed it to the Duchess. "This is a letter for you. It's from the Grand Duke of the Southern Region, a white-feathered griffin."
Victoria's eyes widened in shock as she took the letter and said, "Duke Cecil?"
She instinctively sensed something disturbing from the letter. She had just returned to the Captical, and the Duke of the Southern Region had hurriedly written a letter to her. Moreover, it was delivered by a griffin messenger in the coldest month of the year. What was so urgent?
She quickly opened the envelope and took out the handwritten letter. After reading the contents, she frowned.
Maggie stood quietly and did not ask about the content of the letter. Although she and Victoria were close, they did not cross the line.
"Maggie," Victoria quickly read the contents of the letter and immediately asked, "when did the astrologers of the Association of Mages report that the red lines at the bottom of the sun shifted?"
The black-haired maid recalled for a moment and said, "It should be the 10th of the cold month."
"The 10th of the cold month … the same day …" Victoria lowered her head and looked at the content of the letter. "It can't be a coincidence …"
Then she noticed Maggie's slightly curious gaze. She took a slight breath and took the initiative to mention the content of the letter. "Duke Cecil sent a warning that the Grand Wall had a change on the 10th of the cold month. A large-scale overload lasted for three days. On the day the letter was sent, the Grand Wall had returned to normal, but Duke Cecil believed that the barrier had been permanently damaged during the overload process …"
The black-haired maid's eyes slowly widened, and she did not hide her astonishment.
"It seems that I need to summon the royal mages and the royal scholars," the Duchess said in a low voice. "And … a new round of aristocratic meeting."
When the word 'aristocratic meeting' came out, Victoria could not help but sound a little tired.
However, she, who was familiar with the Ansu system, knew very well that no matter what she wanted to do — even if she was the Queen of the Ansu — she could not avoid the aristocrats.
"What a quagmire."
…
The light blue runes flickered between the layers of overlapping rune boards. The surging arcane energy produced crackling electric arcs, bursting out from the energy contacts and gears. On the experiment bench, which was specially built for testing large equipment, the heavy and complex power mechanism slowly began to operate under the power of magic. The sound of steel meshing and rotating was like a roar from weak to strong, causing the whole experiment bench to tremble slightly.
On the monitoring platform, which was more than 20 meters away from the experiment bench and separated by two layers of magic shields, Rebecca and Kamel were standing among the technicians, paying attention to the machine in the distance and the various magic devices around it. Beside the two of them, each magician was also paying attention to the monitoring unit they were responsible for.
A dazzling spark suddenly appeared at the top of a tower-like device in the corner of the experiment bench.
"Amplifier No. 1 is overloaded!"
"Amplifier No. 2 and No. 3 are out of balance. The protective tiles may have melted!"
"The core is heating up. The amplifiers are interfering with each other —"
"Stop it immediately!" Rebecca's eyes widened as she hurriedly shouted, "Stop it immediately! Stop it immediately!"
A magician quickly got up to pull a lever on the side of the control panel, but due to the sudden movement, the lever got stuck between the operating and emergency stop gear. A strange buzzing sound came from below the control panel, and on the experiment bench more than 20 meters away, electric arcs formed by arcane energy began to burst out from the surface of the rune devices.
"Let me do it!" Rebecca shouted at the critical moment, and then picked up the iron staff that never left her side, swung it and smashed it on the control panel. She, who had designed the entire control panel, knew very well where to smash it. Although, according to the normal procedure, there should not be a 'smash' operation. With a loud bang, a part of the control panel was completely dented, and the magic connection below was immediately cut off.
The arcane sparks on the experiment bench quickly weakened and disappeared, and the whole unit also gradually stopped after a continuous low buzzing sound. At the corner of the experiment bench, the top of a two-meter-tall tower-like device was billowing smoke. The whole unit was mostly intact, but the rest was obviously badly damaged.
As soon as the device stopped working, the staff who had been waiting by the side rushed up to the tower-like device and raised their arms to point at the alloy tower that was still emitting billowing heat waves. The engineering magical terminal then released a large number of weakened icicles, and with the impact of the icicles that contained magic power, the temperature of the entire tower began to rapidly drop.
Rebecca craned her neck to look at the situation around the experiment bench. Kamel's voice came from behind her. "What's the situation?"
"Don't think about it, just make a new one …" Rebecca said with a sad face. "Aunt Heti will kill me … The last time I reported the budget of the repair lab to her, her eyes were red …"
"… I'll report it," Kamel said after a short silence. "Accidents and failures are inevitable in research."
"But burning eight amplifiers and two large magic engines in six days is different …" Rebecca still looked sad. She looked up and looked at the large 'laboratory' that was temporarily built with steel frames and prefabricated boards, and felt a dull pain in her head.
This was a newly built laboratory in accordance with the orders of the ancestors. It was located in the suburbs, far away from the residential area, and implemented a safety isolation system and new operating procedures. It turned out that this arrangement had indeed greatly improved the safety of the experiment, but the success rate of the experiment … seemed to have not changed at all.
"Why?" Rebecca muttered to herself. "Why is it always stuck on overload and interference …"
A high-level arcanologist looked at the data that had been recorded recently and said, "According to the tests, arranging the Mana Net units in a dense array and overlapping layers can indeed greatly increase the output, and the volume can also be stuffed into the front of the vehicle. However, it will cause the amplifiers and repulsive mechanisms to frequently overload and interfere with each other. The stability and purity of the mana output from the Mana Net with multiple layers of overlapping layers is very problematic."
"It seems that to make the multi-layered magic network practical, we first have to find a way to solve the interference between each layer of the magic network," Kamel continued. "Also, too much pressure during the start of the engine is also a problem. We have to find a way to redesign the transmission and transmission mechanism to reduce the starting speed and at the same time reduce the instantaneous pressure of the magic engine. The previous two magic engines were damaged because of the instantaneous pressure."
"It seems that mechanical transmission is not suitable for such a huge thing like the magic train. The transmission mechanism can't withstand such a huge impact." Rebecca shook her head. "If it really doesn't work … we can try the 'hydraulic transmission' that the ancestors once mentioned."
Even as she spoke, she frowned as she thought of another problem. "But it's not enough to just reduce the pressure on the mana engine … The pressure on the machines can be reduced, but the pressure on the amplifiers and the mana net can't be solved."
"The magic power of the runic array is rigid … It is indeed difficult," Kamel said. "Even if the load of the magic engine is reduced, it is still a big challenge for the amplifiers to keep it running."
This was a common problem that most arcanotech machines faced. No matter how sophisticated and complex the arcanotech machine was, its core essence was still a 'magic circle'.
Since it was a "magic array", the amount of magic power consumed for each activation was fixed. The "effect" of the spell might be affected by the casting materials and the environment, but the amount of magic power consumed was a fixed amount.
Even if the starting pressure of the mana engine was reduced to the minimum, the mana required to operate it would be reflected in the amplifiers and Mana Net units that powered it. There were as many repulsive runes as there were, and that was how much mana would be consumed. There was no discount.
As a result, the mechanical structure of the magic engine may be able to withstand it, but the runes that powered it would still burn out, just like today.
Problems came one after another, and before each problem could be solved, a new series of problems would appear. Mechanical structure, material strength, magic interference, load of various devices … All the obstacles were piled up together, and it was almost impossible to figure out what to do.
It was like a quagmire.
Rebecca looked at the arcane master in front of her and suddenly could not help but ask, "Master Kamel, what kind of transportation did the Kingdom of Gondor used? Logically speaking … such a huge empire would definitely need a large transportation tool like the magic train, right? "
Hearing Rebecca's question, Kamel could not help but look nostalgic. "Back then … back then, we did not use mechanical transportation tools. Instead, we used the power of large elemental summons to transport goods, such as the Hurricane Bringers and the Wave Bringers. They were so powerful that they could move mountains and seas …"
Rebecca was taken aback. "You … you can summon and control such a high-level elemental creature? How did you get them to help? "
"It's simple. Half a ton of dark blue magic crystals for each summoning contract …"
"Alright, you don't have to say anymore."
Dark blue magic crystals! Half a ton! Not to mention the Hurricane Bringers, even a wind elemental lord would kneel and deliver goods to Gondor, right?
Rebecca was amazed by the rich people of the Kingdom of Gondor, but soon, the problems of the magic train project before her filled her mind.
The marquise held her head and said, "My head hurts …"
Kamel looked at the talented but somewhat naive girl and could not help but want to comfort her. But before he spoke, Rebecca suddenly looked up and said, "Actually, I think … isn't our way of thinking a little wrong? Or … maybe we can change the direction? "
"What you mean is …"
"Concentrating the power on the front of the train may seem simple and crude, but it's too difficult to achieve. It's very unstable to stuff these powerful things together," Rebecca said as she pondered. Her wonderful brain was working quickly. "Master Kamel, do you remember that we had a plan? If we can't build the powerful front of the train, we can distribute a few low-power magical engines to the several carriages of the train and make them into power carriages …"
"I remember that plan had a problem with the synchronization of the power carriages," Kamel said as he pondered. "Do you think … synchronization will be easier than the problem we're facing now?"
"What if?" Rebecca said. "Anyway, we've made plans for both plans, and now that the key components of the front of the train have been burned and have to be rebuilt, why don't we just build an experimental platform and try the power distribution plan? Of course, we won't give up on the power distribution plan at the front of the train. We can continue to work on it. Maybe the two plans can complement each other and find a breakthrough! "
As she spoke, the girl pondered again. "Also … I've been thinking about whether we can use the continuous operation of the weight-reducing magic circle to reduce the load of the entire train. But weight-reducing magic is an area of effect spell. As for how to control its effective area and prevent the train from losing balance when it turns, I still need to think about it carefully. But I think these may be the direction of the breakthrough."
It was an optimistic idea.
But looking at Rebecca's passionate eyes, Kamel found that he was also infected. Maybe it made sense?
"Okay." The ancient arcanist nodded. "Finish the plan tonight. Tomorrow, we'll go to Madam Heti together to apply for funding."
"… Eh? Aren't you going? "
"Let's go together," Kamel said. "You're the head of the entire magical technology department. There's a major change in the project, and you need to go in person."
The grand mage's words were reasonable and righteous.
Rebecca had no choice but to believe it.
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