Sword of Dawn

Page 408

"While waiting for the progress of the projects in other regions, we still have a lot to do. You go and prepare for a meeting tomorrow morning..."

The young subordinate left, and Margarita exhaled lightly. After calming down a little, she got up and left the desk, and walked to the French window beside her.

Solimbok, which is gradually recovering, is bathed in the bright midday sun, and the residents who have migrated here are busy with their lives in the gradually repaired city blocks.

A group of businessmen from the east were loading and unloading goods on the square under the castle. They brought the most popular sugar and spices here, and they were going to transport the local specialty "Shorin fruit" to distant places.

Cheerful music was being heard from another corner of the square: Artists from the north entered the city today, dancers in bright costumes were spinning and dancing on the temporary stage, and two young people were busy on the edge of the stage, using magic terminals to create The mist and flying snowflakes added a touch of stunning effect to the originally simple stage and dance.

Even if magic web broadcasts and newspaper ghosts appear in this world, some traditional entertainments still have room for their existence, especially in relatively remote and isolated areas or areas with special conditions, where limited magic net facilities cannot meet everyone's needs. Bards and traveling entertainers are as popular as ever.

And these people who are active in the new era are also using their own ways to contact and explore this rapidly changing world, adapting, learning, and trying to survive.

It's getting busier here every day.

The female knight from the Kant region in the south sighed softly, but couldn't help showing a smile on her face.

Born and raised in a small place, she is a "knight from the country". She never thought that one day she would stand here and have the identity she has today.The position of commander of the Sorin Construction Corps was a position that her deceased father could not have imagined—that old man had guarded the farm for the Kant family all his life, and even as a knight, his knowledge might not be as good as that of this era An ordinary citizen, but at this moment Margarita's mind suddenly appeared a sentence that her father once said to herself:

"Margarita, good things don't always happen in this world—in many cases, there may be more bad things, but as long as the sun rises tomorrow, we might as well look forward to the future a little more, just like the common people Looking forward to the same crop next year.”

The female knight looked across the city, beyond the city wall. In the condescending castle, the vision of a transcendent allowed her to clearly see the green waves that fluctuated with the wind on the farmland outside the city.

The seeds jointly cultivated by the Druid Institute and Ms. Bertila are thriving on this land. They have a higher survival rate, higher resistance to cold and wind, and are said to have higher yields——Ma Greta didn't know farming, but she knew what those undulating waves represented, the hope of the whole plain for a whole year.

The empire used the food raised by various parties to exchange for the opportunity for the reconstruction area to last until the next harvest season. The construction corps and the builders of the various reconstruction battalions did not waste this opportunity. With the assistance of soil purification agents, the reconstruction area has exceeded The original spring plowing plan was completed—now that summer has arrived, hope is surging in the wheat fields.

Soldiers patrolled the villages and towns every day. Margarita ordered sentries to be set up in all grain-producing areas. The heavily armed soldiers and militia guarded those fields day and night like dragons guarding treasures. Anything— No matter whether it is the bandits who have been wiped out or the wild beasts that destroy the fields, they cannot touch a single grain.

His father did the same thing when he guarded the farm for the Kant family. Although some people ridiculed him that he would become a knight with a pitchfork sooner or later, his father never let any bandits and beasts destroy the farm under his guard in his life.

"In the end, I'm still 'inheriting the family business'," the female knight from Kant suddenly smiled and said to herself, the waves of the distant wheat field reflected in her eyes, "It should be a good harvest..."

……

There should be a good harvest this year.

A young government official with dark complexion, strong hands and feet, and short brown hair squatted on the edge of the field, carefully picking out a bunch of wheat. He observed the health of the plant, and then put it into a special crystal Inside the glass tube, one side nodded slightly.

Several other people were busy beside him, some were collecting soil samples, some were recording and counting data, and some were using alchemy potions to test the land and plants on the spot.

"It's doing well," the young, short-haired, brown-haired government office official told those around him. "These seeds look like they're growing well."

"The No. [-] wheat variety used in the Western District is said to be in poor condition—although it's not too bad, but it's not up to expectations at all," another government official shook his head, "Fortunately, all the new varieties except No. [-] The follow-up of the seeds has met expectations, and the production plan will not be affected."

"The purification of the soil is the most successful part. All the purification plans have been overfulfilled." The person in charge of collecting the soil samples stood up and said with a touch of emotion, "I really didn't expect that the alchemy factory of San Sunil produced The biggest effect is to fill the gap in the purification potion..."

"At the beginning, the nobles of the old capital carried out the 'New Deal Reform' and built a lot of factories, and then quickly abandoned most of them due to various reasons. But although the factories were abandoned, at least the equipment inside were all good things bought from the southern border It can be used after debugging—it’s a pity that some of the machines in the factory were dismantled during the war and used to make weapons and strengthen the city defense.”

"It can't be helped, Romulin, at least in terms of guarding the old capital, we can't blame the nobles who chose to stick to it," the colleague who collected the soil samples shook his head, then looked at the brown-haired The wheat sample in the hands of the young man, "Let's take the sample back and show it to Minister Norris, he is still waiting."

The young government official named Romulin looked down at the transparent container in his hand, and the vigorous plant was lying quietly inside, full of greenery.

……

When a breeze blew into the house through the open window, Norris slowly opened his eyes. He saw a figure nearby, and a scent of plants wafted through the room.

"It's time to bloom..." The old man said softly, as if talking to himself, "It's so fast..."

The rustling sound of vines came from the side, and a group of moving vines came to Norris's bed. Bertila looked down at the old man on the bed surrounded by flowers and vines, and couldn't help revealing his inflexibility on his stiff face. With a hint of helplessness: "Now is not the time to care about these things—it is your current job to take a good rest."

"Aren't I resting now?" Norris looked at the woman surrounded by flowers and vines, with a smile on his wrinkled face. "I have never rested like these few days in my life."

Bertila frowned and glanced at Norris, a gust of wind that was slightly stronger than before blew into the room, making a string of shell wind chimes hanging by the window rattle.

A vine suddenly spread across the floor, wall and window sill, closing the window quickly and silently.

Norris looked at Bertila helplessly: "The druids say that fresh air is good for me."

"Fresh air is not blown 24 hours a day—it also depends on how strong the wind is," Bertila said coldly, "and can those druids compare with me? When I picked up the oak cane, they Grandpa's grandpa hasn't been born yet."

Norris was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly couldn't help laughing—but maybe he laughed too hard, and his laughter soon turned into a series of coughing.

The cough was stopped by Beltira's healing spell.

"Is this worth laughing at?" The former patriarch of the Doom Society, the former pioneer saint, and the former Princess Typhon frowned at this moment, saying with a little bit of dissatisfaction.

"I just remembered His Majesty, he would say similar things," Norris panted, and said slowly in a low voice, "I was suddenly a little curious, do people like you who have lived for a long time like to use age and seniority to judge people? joke……"

"We are just stating the facts, but the fact itself sounds like a joke," Bertila said casually, "Compared to this, why don't you think about your own affairs—how, do you want to accept my proposal? ?Although aging is one of the most irreversible laws of life, we still have a way. I can improve the method I have used to make it less harmful. Among your young descendants, I believe there are more than one People will be willing to give you a small part..."

"Ms. Belterra, I know you mean well," Norris interrupted, "but you know my answer.

"Prolonging my own life at the expense of others' health is unacceptable to me.

"Although I know that this is the result of improving the forbidden technique as much as possible, we all know that this level of improvement still does not comply with the laws of the empire... even if there are volunteers.

"The law and order of the empire...we paid a lot of money for it, I don't want it to be damaged, especially I don't want to set this precedent from me.

"Because... I love it all."

Chapter 0863 On the way forward

The fire moon is coming, and the huge sun is flying in the sky.

Even in this country located in the northern part of the mainland, some areas have begun to feel "hot summer".

Gao Wen turned the information in front of him to the last page, and the charts and data on the information slowly settled in his mind. After a few seconds of thinking, he raised his head and looked at Rebecca and Maggie in front of him: "So The last few attempts to break the 'missile limit' have failed?"

"...Yes, they all failed," Rebecca said with her head down, extremely frustrated, "Whether it is to increase the thrust of the driving array or change the layout of the wind force field, all methods are useless. Every failure I have sorted out the detailed records, which are the ones you just saw."

"Hmm...I saw it," Gao Wen frowned, and glanced at the stack of documents that he had placed on the table. A long-lost sense of unknown and contradiction was seeping out from the lines in the document, stirring His high-speed mind, "And all the tests encountered similar problems in the final stage of acceleration... The magic field that maintains the acceleration was suddenly greatly disturbed, the output dropped sharply, and the aircraft slowed down..."

"It feels like suddenly crashing into a chaotic and extremely powerful 'magic quagmire'," Maggie, who personally carried out most of the flight test missions, immediately reported her feelings at the time, "No matter how big the previous maintenance No effort will be quickly disintegrated by the quagmire, and the speed will not increase."

Gao Wen was silent for a short while, thinking in silence.

Missile limit, the speed limit that all physical flying objects will face. After approaching this limit, the flying object will be captured by an invisible but powerful "mire". If it is a flying device driven by magic power, it will appear as the magic power to maintain thrust If it is a bird or beast that does not rely on magic to fly in nature... the reason is not clear, but they cannot break through this "barrier" without exception.

This is a very familiar phenomenon, so familiar that Gao Wen couldn't help but think of the difficulties that high-speed aircraft on Earth once faced: the sound barrier, but...

He sighed softly, raised his head, and said as if talking to himself: "The currently known speed of sound in the atmosphere is..."

"According to the data measured by the scholars in the north, the speed of sound in the atmosphere is 322 meters per second near sea level and around freezing point." Rebecca said immediately.

The northern border was the magical holy land of Anzu in the past. Due to the influence of the Wilder family, a large number of outstanding mages and scholars gathered in that cold place. In order to explore the mysteries of various magical phenomena, even the mages of the old era would I will do a series of research on nature, so concepts such as the speed of sound in the atmosphere, air pressure, and the melting and boiling points of various substances have always existed among upper-level intellectuals, and the data are still very accurate.

At this moment, a certain precise number...is provoking Gawain's nerves like a nasty little devil.

In this world, the speed of sound in the atmosphere at standard pressure and freezing temperature is 322 meters per second—two-thirds of the missile limit.

The speed barrier that Rebecca's aircraft encountered was not a sound barrier, but another completely unknown thing.

In fact, the "sound barrier" that has plagued scientists on Earth for a long time is not a big problem in this world at all, and has even been solved without knowing it-although the existing "Dragoon" aircraft is still It cannot exceed the speed of sound, but some accelerated flight devices manufactured by Rebecca in the laboratory environment have successfully broken through this barrier several times.

Laboratory data showed that the wind force field spells originated from the elves can almost perfectly solve a series of problems caused by atmospheric resistance—even though the "Dragon Cavalry" and some other flying machines have no concept of aerodynamics at all in Gawain's eyes , but the parts visible to the naked eye of the aircraft are not their real "aerodynamic shell" when they fly. What really deals with the atmospheric environment is a layer of force field surrounding the aircraft, and that layer of force field has perfect aerodynamics It can even eliminate the shock waves and other problems faced during supersonic flight. Coupled with the powerful power brought by the dragon language propulsion array, it is infinitely easier for aircraft in this world to break through the sound barrier than Gao Wen once imagined.

Of course, this does not mean that the technology to break through the sound barrier is simple—the elves’ wind element force field spells have a history of thousands of years, and have gone through a long and arduous research and development process. There are unexpected functions in the system, but the technology itself didn't just fall from the sky.

In any case, the speed of sound is not the real difficulty in front of Cecil's aircraft technology, the real difficulty...is the mysterious missile limit after breaking through the speed of sound, or in the terms of the elves, it is called the "entity flight speed barrier".

And Gawain knew nothing about it.

He can only judge from intuition and existing experimental phenomena that the speed barrier has a great probability to be independent of air resistance, air shock waves and other factors. It may involve some characteristics of the magical environment of this world, and may even involve some more fundamental issues.

"Currently, the tests we have done in the origin laboratory have seriously deviated from the experimental results in the real world," Rebecca said boldly, seeing that Gao Wen remained silent for a long time, "in short... ...real-world missile limits are beyond what Origins Labs can 'understand'. So I plan to focus my next experiments on high-speed aircraft on the real world."

"Correct judgment," Gao Wen nodded lightly, "Then do you have any ideas for the next step?"

Rebecca looked at Maggie next to her, and then at Gawain cautiously. After obvious hesitation, she boldly took a step forward: "I want to test the speed limit with cannonballs..."

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "Cannonball?"

"It's not a real shell either, but the principle is the same," Rebecca waved her hand. "Now all our tests are to put the propulsion device on the aircraft, and the results are also obvious. When the speed is close to the limit of the missile, those The propulsion device is almost useless, so I'm going to change my mind and use a fixed propulsion device to launch an unpowered entity and see what happens...

"In this way, the propulsion device itself does not involve the speed limit, and theoretically it will not be affected by the 'magic quagmire', it should be able to continue working until the end, accelerating the flying entity to the limit that the device can withstand.

"Of course, there are many birds and beasts in nature that don't have magic power, and their speed can't break through the limit of missiles, but I think this is just because their flesh and blood have limits-if a solid shell is made of steel, the situation It will definitely be different."

Gao Wen's originally slightly frowned brows gradually relaxed as Rebecca's narration, and he listened to the other party's thoughts with great interest: "Then what exactly are you going to do?"

"I want to build a bigger acceleration track, use more and more powerful repulsion devices, use more powerful overloaders, and if necessary, this track can even be a one-off - I want to use it Let’s launch a cannonball, this cannonball itself does not carry any magical effect except the wind rune, I want to see if it can break through the missile limit.”

Gao Wen rubbed his chin with his fingers, and began to help Rebecca improve his ideas: "Then have you considered that the wind runes on the shells will also be affected when the missile limit is approaching, causing the shells to be 'trapped' by the magic quagmire? "

"So the acceleration trajectory must be long, and the power of the runes must be high. Even if the wind rune on the shell disintegrates, the acceleration trajectory must continue to push the shell forward," Rebecca said immediately, "If it is not possible, we will Build a vacuum pipe to accommodate the entire device, so that the wind runes can be removed altogether, and the cannonball can be simplified into an iron lump, and coupled with the vacuum environment, it may be able to get better acceleration effects..."

Unsurprisingly, the iron-headed girl came up with a very powerful idea of ​​miracles.

But Gao Wen had to admit that Rebecca's idea of ​​"working hard to create miracles" is really reasonable, and it is the best idea at this stage. Even if he makes some suggestions and optimizations, he can only do it based on this idea Some tinkering.

However, after thinking about it briefly, he still seemed to mention it casually: "There is just one problem. The cost of doing this may not be low. Have you told Hetty?"

"Not yet," Rebecca rubbed her head immediately, her voice lowered by [-]%, "Such a large set of acceleration orbits, coupled with supporting energy supply, observation, safety facilities, and may have to build a vacuum shell , after the cost is calculated, there is a high probability that my aunt will chase and beat you... That's why I came to you first, thinking..."

Her voice became smaller and smaller, and in the end it simply turned into a whisper of a person.

Gawain couldn't help laughing suddenly, looking at Rebecca, who was trembling with the conspiracy exposed, and nodded under the surprised gaze of the other party: "I have already approved this project, Chartered."

"Really...Really?" Rebecca stared as if she still couldn't believe it, "Is that what you agreed to?"

"This project is very important, and the results produced in the later stage may exceed everyone's expectations. I think it is necessary to increase investment," Gao Wen said with a smile, "But I also have some suggestions. We can ignore the vacuum shell for now. By optimizing the shape of the 'cannonball' itself, we..."

A gust of invisible wind suddenly blew into the study, and a familiar aura appeared beside the desk. Gawain immediately stopped and looked at the seemingly empty side: "What's the matter? Come here in such a panic."

Seeing Gawain's reaction, Rebecca and Maggie had already guessed who was coming, and the figure of Amber emerged from the air the next moment. He bent down and whispered a few words.

Rebecca watched as her always dignified and dependable ancestor visibly stiffened for the next few seconds.

In the next second, Gao Wen stood up abruptly, with a terrifyingly solemn expression.

"Rebecca, I've approved the project, you can start preparing your accelerator," Gao Wen said quickly, and then looked at Maggie, "Maggie, I need your help."

Maggie immediately lowered her head: "Of course, just follow your orders."

"We are going to the Plain of the Holy Spirit immediately, Fort Solin."

Rebecca faintly sensed something from Gawain's attitude, and immediately asked, "My lord ancestor, what happened?!"

Gawain glanced at Rebecca quietly, took a breath slowly, and let it out slowly.

"Norris is dying," he said slowly.

"Norris?" Rebecca's eyes widened instantly. At first, she seemed to have not understood the meaning of her ancestor's words. It took two seconds for her to realize that she took a step forward subconsciously, "I want to... "

Gawain looked at Rebecca, and saw the stubbornness that suddenly appeared in the other's eyes - this child usually has some problems with her personality, but she rarely showed such stubbornness when facing Gawain or Hetty Attitude.

He recalled that Norris was from Old Cecil, and was one of the eight hundred people Rebecca had saved with all her might.

The fact that Norris, who was born as a farmer, eventually became the Minister of Agriculture of the empire was also inseparable from the recommendation of Hetty and Rebecca.

After a moment of silence, Gawain nodded: "Yes."

Rebecca showed an expression of relief, and immediately smiled to express her gratitude to her ancestors, but soon her smile disappeared again, and a sad and worried expression spread across her face.

Gawain's brows gradually frowned. He recalled the news from Solinburg in the recent period, thinking about some things mentioned by the other party when he spoke with Bertila last time, and gradually fell into deep thought.

After a while, he nodded slightly to Amber beside him: "You go to the north bank..."

It is said that returning from the dead is a miracle.

Gao Wen felt that he had achieved this miracle.

So... maybe it's time for him to perform another miracle.

Chapter 0864 An Endpoint

When the first rest day of summer came, it rained overnight in the Sorin area, and the continuous haze continued until the next day.

The towering Sorin giant tree stood proudly on this revived land, and its majestic fortress-like canopy stretched out to cover the sky, covering one-third of Sorin Castle and the large plain outside the castle. The giant tree blocked the rain all night, but several streams formed after the rain flowed from the area outside the giant tree cover, winding along the low-lying areas between various scientific research, storage, and industrial facility areas. They converged next to the newly built Druid Research Institute in the base area of ​​the tree trunk, where they converged into a small pond, and finally flowed into the pores formed by nearby tree roots leading to the depths of the ground, becoming part of the underground river .

A series of connected street lamps stand on both sides of the road, and a large number of high-power lighting equipment are hung on the bottom of the giant tree canopy. These artificial lights dispel the large area of ​​"night" caused by this huge plant.Margarita came to this area sheltered by the tree canopy from the sunny plain outside. She saw soldiers guarding under the street lamps, and many people looked out from the paths between the houses.

Margarita ignored them. She walked through the sentry post, passed the guards who saluted her, and came near the root of the giant tree - where a large number of intertwined vines and wooden structures branched from the trunk cleverly "grow" It became a hut, and the flower vines connected to the roof squirmed slightly in the air like blood vessels. Two tall tree figures with green eyes stood in front of the hut. Their height was almost higher than the spire of the house. In the thick and powerful palms, the team's orbital accelerator gun called "Gorgon Cannon" is tightly held, and the torso covered with thick bark and wooden knots is fixed with long steel nails to power the gun. magic net device.

——This small railgun named after the empire's most important life river "Gorgon River" is a variant of the Persuader railgun. It is usually used on light mobile vehicles, but it can be used for arming with a little improvement Large-scale summoned creatures with great strength, this kind of modification is only used in a small range at present. One day, if technical experts solve the problem of the spell model of summoned creatures, this kind of armament must be very useful.

The tree people didn't react much to Margarita's appearance, they just moved a small step to the side slightly, and there was a sound of wood and leaves rubbing on their bodies, Margarita jumped over their thick legs and feet, And the door of the cabin in front of her opened before she approached.

A group of wriggling flower vines "walked" out of it, and Bertila appeared in front of Margarita.

"How is Minister Norris?" the young female knight immediately stepped forward and asked.

"I was in a coma for a while, but now I just woke up, but it won't be long," Bertila said calmly, "...just today, Miss Margarita."