Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 509 - 508: Start the Engine

Hearing Aunt Heidi’s words, Gawain’s expression immediately froze — slime creatures’ excrement?!

Meanwhile, Rebecca was still nodding excitedly: "Yep, yep — we have a big pond of them in the backyard of the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute! One of those slime creatures was even caught by me personally..."

Gawain finally understood what Aunt Heidi meant when she reported that Rebecca was raising slime creatures...

"I can’t believe you came up with that!" Aunt Heidi’s expression was as weird as it could get, "I’m curious how you even connected these two things..."

Gawain couldn’t help but cover his forehead: "Why do I feel a bit disgusted?"

"Not disgusting at all," Rebecca immediately said, "Though it’s slime creatures’ excrement, slime creatures are pretty much a kind of elemental creature, and what they excrete is more like alchemy-produced fused slag, clean and neat. Aunt, weren’t you the one who said that mages in the Violet Kingdom even use slime creatures’ excrement as a facial mask to improve their skin?"

Aunt Heidi couldn’t help but cover her face: "... But that was an insult..."

Rebecca scratched her head: "Huh? Is that so?"

Listening to Rebecca and Aunt Heidi’s conversation, Gawain quickly accepted the material source for these "tires".

He knew about slime creatures — a kind of magical creature that was weak but very resilient, usually living near magic focal points, a product of the combination of earth elements and biomass. Wild slime creatures themselves weren’t very aggressive, but because their habitat is near magic focal points, stronger monsters often appear nearby, making them difficult to capture — but since they aren’t very useful, except for a few mages looking for specific materials, most people aren’t interested in these low-level elemental creatures.

As an elemental creature, slime creatures leave behind all sorts of gelatinous products after consuming soil and decaying plants, and that’s their "excrement." But just like Rebecca said — once you adjust your mindset, it’s nothing more than a byproduct of a magic reaction...

But regardless of how you look at it, finding inspiration from slime creatures’ excrement and even thinking about using it to make tires... That truly is a fresh and unconventional idea.

With a peculiar expression, Aunt Heidi continued poking at the greyish-white, slightly elastic "tire" with her finger, curiously asking: "You’ve processed this, right? Normal slime creature secretions should be softer, and have a stronger smell..."

"We mixed it with very fine quartz sand, and used giantwood sap to remove the odor. The effect is decent, but I think there’s still room for improvement," Rebecca said, nodding as she spoke, "Also, to make the slime creatures’ excretions more to our liking, we’ve tested many different ’feeds.’ The current feeding formula is definitely not the best yet..."

Slime creatures are peculiar elemental creatures that eat everything, then process what they consume with a complex magical reaction, extracting energy in the process. Their physiological process is like a continually ongoing alchemy reaction, which means that different input results in different excretions — although generally in various viscosities and hardnesses of gel products.

Looking at the greyish-white "tire," Gawain nodded slightly.

This world probably doesn’t have natural rubber, and humans might never manufacture petroleum-based synthetic rubber, but alternative solutions have emerged.

A low-level, primitive magical creature has actually solved a major problem in the magical industry. Regardless of how Rebecca thought of this plan, the mere fact gives Gawain enough confidence in the future.

"Can it run now?" Gawain asked with full anticipation, pointing at the prototype magic car on the mechanical platform.

"Of course~~" Rebecca replied happily, "Before you came, we already ran it once in suspension and adjusted many small issues. It can definitely run now. Although it hasn’t been tried, I think it could even drive outside the workshop."

Gawain wasted no words: "Demonstrate it."

"Alright~~" Rebecca had been waiting for this from her ancestor and immediately agreed while walking towards the mechanical platform — she was clearly eager to personally demonstrate this miracle of magical industry to everyone.

Gawain watched as Rebecca got on the platform, then climbed onto that mechanical beast made of steel, watched as she sat in that simple seat directly welded onto the frame, then started pulling levers and wrenches in front of the operating seat. Gradually, magic symbols on the prototype magic car’s chassis lit up, a low hum arose from the connection of the power spine and the Magic-Powered Engine, countless gears and levers began to vibrate slightly, brewing powerful energy —

Listening to the noise coming from inside the machine structure, watching Rebecca play with the levers with an excited expression, Aunt Heidi couldn’t help but feel worried: "Ancestor, is this thing really okay?"

"You have to believe in her," Gawain said softly, "And also believe in the efforts of so many technical personnel over this long period."

Aunt Heidi opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but all her words were swallowed back as she witnessed the scene before her —

That heavy beast of industrial machinery made from black steel, with countless exposed mechanical structures, let out a deep roar as the rotor-type Magic-Powered Engine drove all the mechanical parts into motion, and with the accompanying vibration and sounds, its four wheels began to rotate slowly.

"Look, Ancestor! It’s moving!!"

Rebecca shouted joyfully, simultaneously pulling another lever to her left. With a series of clicking sounds from the repositioning of gears, the speed of the wheel rotation increased — amidst a cacophony of noise and vibrations, this colossal machine rolled off the platform, reminiscent of a human baby’s first loud cry upon entering the world, noisy and booming.

The Mechanical Scholars and Mage Technicians surrounding the platform cheered and applauded vigorously.

Gawain knew Nicholas Egg’s machining precision could reach high levels, but that was with an already perfected blueprint. During the manufacturing of a prototype machine, for the sake of verifying the blueprint and improving the success rate, and to leave sufficient safety margins in every mechanical structure for the mechanics to confirm structure wear ratios and make easy modifications, these initial machines would leave acceptable excess in components, causing noise and vibrations during the prototype magic car’s operation — they sounded noisy and chaotic, yet to the Mechanical Scholars, these sounds were familiar and dear.

It signifies the birth of a new mechanical creation, the clash and friction of gears and levers are the loud proclamation made by the new mechanical spirit upon entering this world.

Rebecca drove the crude prototype vehicle off the platform, then maneuvered it around the workshop’s spacious open ground, round after round. This young lady, who should be wearing a luxurious aristocratic gown, sipping tea, and enjoying flowers on a terrace adorned with blooms and gold, was now dressed in a dirty researcher’s coat, sitting among iron frames and parts, shouting louder than the machinery beneath her—

"Look, Ancestor! Look, Aunt! It’s really moving! It can still run!!"

She smiled like a child.

Amid Rebecca’s cheerful laughter, the lever of the Magic-guided Vehicle was pushed into a higher gear. Within the limits allowed by the workshop space, this complex machine once again increased in speed, emitting a loud roar as the Magic-Powered Engine drove the gear set, propelling the entire vehicle swiftly towards the workshop’s exit: clearly, Rebecca intended to drive the vehicle outside.

Aunt Heidi showed a tinge of worry on her face, but Gawain gently pressed her shoulder.

Aunt Heidi took a light breath, finally putting aside unnecessary worries: with a legendary powerhouse watching over, neither Rebecca nor the "machine friend" she created should encounter any major trouble.

However, just as she had exhaled, the machine vehicle that had reached the workshop door suddenly emitted a strange creaking sound. Accompanied by continuous noise akin to metal clashing, the vehicle slowly came to a stop amidst a series of violent shudders, and the magic symbols on the power spine extinguished one by one.

Gawain and Aunt Heidi exchanged glances, and then a large group of people quickly rushed to the spot where the vehicle had stalled.

Rebecca tugged at the lever beside the seat and stomped on the pedal beneath, and after finding that nothing could restart the vehicle, she had no choice but to stand up from the seat, jumping to the ground with a face full of dejection.

"It’s broken."

She said to Gawain with a mournful expression.

Yet just as Gawain was about to comfort the girl, Rebecca had already turned her head, pulling a wrench and screwdriver from her pocket, and began dismantling the cover between the Magic-Powered Engine and the machinery cabin.

A bunch of technical personnel immediately clustered around, while Nicholas Egg floated above the vehicle, beginning to help Rebecca extract the stuck or even bent out of shape gears from the transmission and differential.

Before Gawain and Aunt Heidi, the Mechanical Scholars and Mage Technicians began their discussion:

"The shifting mechanism seems to be jammed..."

"The differential seems fine... It was damaged after suddenly jamming because of inertia in the transmission."

"How could it jam... it was fine during individual tests?"

"Could it be that the lubricating grease became ineffective after heating from friction?"

"Definitely not, the same alchemical grease is used in the magic artificial intelligence, and the temperature at the power core is much higher than gear friction..."

"Hey hey, look at this connecting rod—it seems like it got stuck! It fell off during the vibration! There’s an issue with the connectivity at this place!"

Just as Gawain hesitated on whether to check out the situation, the technical team seemed to have reached a conclusion in their discussion.

Rebecca squeezed out from the crowd, with a few more oily marks on her face and hands, but the eyes that had been very frustrated just now were shining brightly again: "Ancestor, we figured out the problem! There’s an issue with the connection of a rod..."

"This is our oversight," a Mechanical Scholar in blue overalls stepped forward, whom Gawain recognized as one of Hummel’s apprentices, "We didn’t account for the effects of vibration adequately."

"It’s okay, issues with the prototype are normal." Gawain, far from blaming anyone, did not have his joyful mood dampened even a bit by this small mechanical failure.

Even though there was a mechanical failure, this was just an unavoidable minor episode in the development process—Rebecca had driven the prototype Magic-guided Vehicle off the platform, and this was the true meaning of today’s test.

This indicated that, at least overall, the design of the Magic-guided Vehicle was successful.

He raised his head, looking toward the mechanical platform in the center of the workshop, then withdrew his sight, gazing at the prototype vehicle parked quietly at the workshop door.

From getting off the mechanical platform, testing within the workshop, to driving to the workshop exit, the first magic-guided vehicle should have traveled only four to five hundred meters.

Indeed, a full four to five hundred meters.