Chapter 383 The dream of conquering the sky
"Hurry! Put everything on the car! There are also assembly tools!"
With the prince's permission, Alberto immediately called on several craftsmen's apprentices in the store, and together they loaded the goods tightly wrapped in thick canvas onto the pack truck parked at the entrance of the store.
Afterwards, he respectfully invited Luo Yan and his party to his carriage, which was simple in appearance but sturdy and spacious enough.
The convoy left the bustling Artisan Street, passed through the not-so-high city gate, and drove slowly toward the endless snowfield outside the city.
The convoy finally stopped in an empty snowfield.
The afternoon sun shone on the white snow, and the towering Tower of the Great Sage in the distance was like a silent giant, quietly overlooking the land.
"We're here!"
Alberto rubbed his hands excitedly, jumped out of the carriage first, and signaled the pack-carriage team following the carriage to stop.
Under his command, a group of young men worked together to open the huge canvas bag, revealing the huge spherical airbag inside, which was made of tanned leather and thick canvas.
They carefully spread it out completely on the snow, and the scene was quite spectacular.
But the most eye-catching thing is not the leather airbag spread out on the snow, but a metal machine standing next to the airbag.
"Your Highness...please look! This is the core component we made according to your drawings!"
Alberto introduced this brass machine, which was about half a man's height, to the prince in front of him like a treasure.
The structure of the whole device seems rough, but when you get closer, you can see its exquisite structure.
Not only that, the inside is even more densely engraved with runes, using the rune technology of the enchantment school to the extreme!
This is another enchantment system that is completely different from the Hades in the Necropolis. Luo Yan looked at it with an expression of interest on his face.
"I named it "Heart of the Gale"! Just activate this place..."
Alberto did not explain much and directly inserted a fist-sized piece of magic crystal ore into the groove of the device.
With a violent roar, the heater was successfully started, and streams of hot air flowed out from the nozzle visibly to the naked eye, pouring continuously into the air bags laid flat on the ground.
The leather and canvas made an overwhelmed "squeaking" sound as the heat filled them.
Immediately afterwards, the shriveled sphere began to gradually bulge, and then gradually expanded its folds, and finally expanded completely, turning into a huge sphere that shocked the eyes!
Hunted by several thick ropes, it swayed its clumsy body, escaped the gravity of the earth, and rose slowly from the golden snowfield like the sunrise!
When she saw the hot air pouring into the air bag, Tuff, who was squatting in Sarah's arms, opened her mouth in surprise, but not long after, the mouth closed again and turned into a thick expression of disdain.
"Tch, I thought it was something interesting. Isn't it just a hot air balloon? At most, the burning coal was replaced by a magic device..."
At the same time as she finished speaking, a strong wind from nowhere suddenly blew across the snowfield without warning.
The huge hot air balloon that had just risen was swaying violently in the strong wind. A young apprentice exclaimed and almost lost his grip on the rope!
The apprentice standing in the pod under the hot air balloon was even more unlucky, and was almost thrown out by this moderate bump.
"Damn it! The wind is too strong up there!"
"I'm holding on tighter!"
"Hurry! Throw down the anchor chain!"
Alberto's face changed drastically, and he and his apprentices rushed forward in a hurry, working together to pull the rope that was almost out of control.
The group of people was dragged by this "monster" and staggered in the snow. They were also thrown over by the swaying cable. The scene was both funny and embarrassing.
Looking at a group of natives being confused by the hot air balloon, Tuff could no longer hide the ridicule on her face, and made a "puff, puff, puff" sound in her mouth.
Luo Yan noticed this kid who was enjoying himself and said with a smile.
"Don't underestimate this thing. Although it is not as high-tech as your starship, it can carry things that starships cannot carry."
"Oh?"
Tuff was immediately unhappy when she heard this. She raised her small head and said in a provocative tone.
"I can't pretend I didn't hear this, but tell me, what can't be carried by the Zeta Empire's starship?"
Looking at Tafu who looked unconvinced, the corners of Luo Yan's mouth slightly raised, and he looked past the swaying hot air balloon and looked at the boundless blue sky behind it.
"For example——"
"All ordinary creatures on this planet have dreams of conquering the sky."
Tuff was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then the unique laughter of "Puff" came out of his mouth again.
I have to say that she is indeed first-rate in attracting hatred, and the most valuable thing is her "perseverance".
"Dream? This height that can't even touch the clouds is worthy of talking about dreams? Have you never seen how broad our star field is!"
After a pause, this kid who never loses quickly added another sentence.
"Also - let me make this clear! I will never ride on this thing when I leave the school! Don't even think about getting me up there!"
Based on her knowledge of this hairless monkey, she has already guessed what this guy wants to do with this hot air balloon... It's just to make big news in front of the natives in the Mage Tower.
But she won't make fun of her own life. What if this thing falls from the sky?
She can’t fly yet!
Faced with Tafena's confident speech, Luo Yan just smiled without commenting. After all, whether you take a plane or a high-speed train, is it your pet who has the final say?
He only answered the first half of her sentence.
"Don't be excited, you were young too."
Although he had not admired the starships of the Zeta Empire, the magicians of Xuebang had obviously seen them from behind the virtual realm.
However, no magician could truly understand its principles and could not imagine its use. In the end, it was only recorded disdainfully in the research report as a large "toy" with a sophisticated structure but flashy appearance.
In fact, what they described is correct.
No matter how many galaxies the Zetas of another universe conquered with their technology, it would be meaningless to the people of this world.
That is a legend from another world after all.
For the people of the Os Empire, a hot-air balloon that they made with their own hands and could understand its principles was far more meaningful than a "miracle" from another world.
Just at this moment when one person and one dragon were bickering, Beifeng, who was just a little naughty before, suddenly became violent.
The howling cold wind rolled up the snow on the ground, forming a "white disaster" that blocked the sky and the sun in the open snowfield, violently beating the huge hot air balloon that had just taken off.
The crowd was like sailors struggling in the huge waves, and "Captain" Alberto's roar was torn to pieces by the wind and snow.
"Hold on! I'm holding on tight——!"
The huge hot air balloon turned into an uncontrollable giant sail in the strong wind, violently pulling on several iron chains tied to the ground, emitting a heart-wrenching metal scream.
They had already turned off the magic heater, but the huge air bag was now filled with wind and snow, like a huge struggling kite that could break free at any time and be swept into the high altitude out of control.
Several young apprentices clung to the ropes in their hands, but they were still dragged along the snow by the terrifying force. They looked extremely embarrassed and screamed one after another.
Just when everyone was on the verge of despair, Prince Colin, who was watching all this, took action.
He gently waved the wand in his hand.
No spells, no dazzling light.
An almost completely transparent barrier instantly unfolded in front of him, and squeezed together with the wind and snow on one side of the hot air balloon, forming a white wall spanning hundreds of meters!
The unstoppable howling cold wind hit this seemingly fragile barrier, and was perfectly blocked and diverted as if it hit a mountain.
The world inside the barrier was instantly calm.
The huge hot air balloon swayed slightly, like a sailboat sailing into safe waters, before falling back onto the snow safely.
Alberto and his apprentices finally let go of their hands, and collapsed on the snow exhausted one by one.
They felt both shock and awe, as well as gratitude for the rest of their lives, as they looked at the tall and gentle figure in the wind and snow.
"Saved..." A frightened young man held up the hat on his head, but soon a trace of shame appeared on his face.
They succeeded.
But obviously, he also failed...
Just when he was in a low mood, his master, Mr. Alberto, walked up to His Highness Colin in a state of despair.
He knelt down on one knee, his weather-beaten face full of frustration and shame, and there was no longer half of the excitement and pride he had before.
log through through through in ″ His lips trembled , and finally he lowered his head heavily , speaking in an almost pleading tone .
"Please forgive my incompetence! I messed up. I am willing to refund the balance of the seven gold coins you just paid. I just ask you to give me another chance! I...I cannot accept that your genius design has been tarnished because of my mistake!"
Although he has invested a lot of materials and energy in this order, returning the balance will make him lose everything, but what he is more afraid of at the moment is offending the highness in front of him.
He has already learned from familiar magic apprentices that this His Highness is no ordinary prince. The territory he rules in the distant world is not even inferior to that of the Duke who rules the northern territory of the Kingdom of Rhodes.
Looking at Alberto who looked anxious, Luo Yan just smiled and shook his head, and did not pick up the trembling money bag.
On the contrary, he took another heavier money bag from Sarah and put it in Alberto's hand with a "ding" sound.
"Mr. Alberto, I'm impressed by your superb skills. You don't feel guilty about it... Besides, it's not your fault at all."
In Alberto's extremely shocked eyes, Luo Yan continued in a gentle tone.
"On the contrary, you restored my design perfectly, and because of this, you exposed the problems in my design."
"The gold coins in this purse will be regarded as my additional investment, and together with the gold coins I paid you before, they will be used as a deposit for the "Heart of the Gale II". I hope you will improve my design so that it can truly fly into the clouds and come and go freely on the clouds..."
"This, how can this be..." Alberto tried to push the gold coins back in fear, but saw His Highness Colin shaking his head.
"Take it, rather than this insignificant amount of gold, I would rather see an epoch-making work... I hope you can complete it."
Hearing these heart-warming words, Alberto's eyes instantly turned red. He held the heavy bag of gold coins tightly, his voice trembling slightly with gratitude.
"Thank you for your generosity, Your Highness! I...I am willing to do my best for you!"
As if just thanking him was not enough to express his emotions, he paused for a moment and continued in a voice so excited that he was incoherent.
"Your Highness, I must say that you are really different from other professors in the college! They mess up things and will try every means to pass the responsibility to the people below. Only you are willing to admit... Of course, I am not saying that you are wrong, I just want to express..."
Looking at Alberto who was hesitating and not knowing how to express it, Luo Yan waved his hand with a smile and skipped the topic.
His eyes turned back to the deflated hot air balloon, his eyes of approval as if appreciating a work of art.
“Perhaps, we should consider adding a ‘rudder’ and a ‘sail’ that can control the direction of it, so that we can control it like a sailboat.”
After a pause, he said again.
"Also, I can also try to add some structures similar to flying fish fins to counteract the unstable airflow at high altitudes."
"Rudder, sail, fins..." Alberto's eyes suddenly lit up, and his instinct as a craftsman made him immediately get out of his depressed mood.
His brain started to work rapidly, and then His Highness the Prince came up with further ideas——
His "Your Highness, this is a great idea! Please allow me to be foolish, we can still be in the airbag Design more partitions and use canvas to divide it into several independent cavities! This is equivalent to stringing together several small airbags, which not only greatly increases its stability, but also avoids the risk of a single airbag being accidentally damaged and causing the entire aircraft to fall!"
Luo Yan smiled and nodded.
"This is a genius idea, I'll leave it to you to complete it!"
Alberto said excitedly, slapping his chest.
"Leave it to me, Your Highness! I would like to swear to Saint Sith, I will never let your generous investment go to waste!"
At this moment, he felt a surge of inspiration in his mind, and he could not wait to return to his workshop immediately to present the ideas that he and His Highness Colin discussed on the drawings.
“Go.”
Alberto nodded excitedly.
At this time, he suddenly thought of something again, with an embarrassed expression on his face, scratched the back of his head and said.
"By the way, Your Highness, there is a question I've been wanting to ask. Can you tell me how you came up with the idea of using heat to inflate the airbag? I don't mean to pry into your secrets, I'm just curious...how is this done?"
Hand not surprised by Alberto's question, Luo Yan smiled and said in a gentle tone.
“It’s not how I thought of it, but because this is the principle of science.”
“Co., the principle of science?” Alberto looked confused.
Him He actually found out that His Highness Colin seemed to have established a school called science, but he didn't know how the theory was different from ordinary magic.
Luo Yan nodded slightly and continued in a casual tone.
"That's right, the so-called principles of science are the general laws of nature, just like objects thrown into the sky will eventually fall. It has nothing to do with extraordinary power. What it explores is how everything in the world will behave without the interference of spiritual power."
Alberto nodded as if he understood.
Although the mystery cannot be explained clearly in a few words, these words reminded him of an old friend.
That person was none other than the mentor he once served, James Walli.
While he was inquiring about the background of His Highness Colin, out of curiosity, he also asked old acquaintances about his mentor's current situation.
That gentleman left the academy many years ago due to disagreements with his ideas and went to the Kingdom of Rhodes. Now he seems to be working as a tutor and court mage in a noble territory.
This is the way out for many mentors who have no hope of promotion.
When the mage tower no longer has their place, most people will choose to try their luck in the nobles' territories, exchanging extraordinary power for worldly money.
This is more reliable than venturing into the maze.
Alberto has always respected his mentor, who not only taught him everything academically, but also gave him a lot of help in his career after leaving the Mage Tower.
· Thinking that Prince Colin seemed to be very interested in tinkering with these strange machines, Alberto's heart suddenly became hot.
Perhaps——
This is an opportunity to repay his mentor's kindness!
"By the way, Your Highness, those exquisite structures you mentioned just now remind me of a person! It's my former mentor, Mr. James Walli!"
Suppressing the excitement in his voice, Alberto continued with an eager face.
"He also told us similar things, but the other tutors and professors in the college ignored him, and later even squeezed him away from the Mage Tower. But I think... you may be interested in his research. Moreover, he is the best at designing the things you mentioned!"
Luo Yan looked at Alberto in surprise.
"Oh? Can you contact him?"
I didn't expect that I was just here to inspect and accept a hot air balloon, but I could get such an unexpected gain.
"Of course!" Seeing that His Highness Colin seemed interested, Alberto nodded quickly and said in a positive tone, "I have already found out where he is now. It is not too far from the border between Xuebang and the Kingdom of Rhodes. The letter takes the border trade route, and it is estimated that it will be delivered to him in a week or two!"
Seeing that Alberto didn't seem to be joking, Luo Yan immediately made a decision and said with a smile.
"That's great! Please write a letter to Mr. James for me and tell him that the prince of the empire and the tutor of the Source Law School, Roxsay Colin, is very interested in his technology!"
"If he still has a little thought about academics and is unwilling to sink into the market, he can come to me at the Tower of the Great Sage. I would like to hire him as my laboratory assistant on a personal basis..."
"Before I leave this snowfield."
Looking at Mr. Alberto who took out his notebook and took notes seriously, Luo Yan suddenly thought of something, so he took out a blank note paper.
His wand waved lightly in the air, and a quill was pulled by the invisible magic power, and he wrote a line of beautiful and complex formulas on the paper like a flowing stream -
This was the prototype of the mathematical expression of the principle of minimum action that Ilana had deduced under his guidance.
For the vast majority of people in this world, this line of calculation is no different from heavenly scripture. But Luo Yan believes that for a scholar who has spent his whole life pursuing the mathematical explanation of magic, this is undoubtedly the most fatal temptation...
Even this Mr. James may not be able to fully understand the true mystery of this line of formula.
He waved his magic wand, causing the note with "Heavenly Book" written on it to fall gently into Alberto's hands.
「替我把这张纸条一起转交给他。」
「告诉他，如果他对纸条上的这行『公式』感兴趣，请务必来大贤者之塔找我。」
……
北国的夜晚来的总是比别处要早，中午方才过去没多久，黄昏便紧随其后降临。
Although he failed to successfully harvest a "hot air balloon" that could set off immediately, James Walli's unexpected clue was a blessing from heaven.
Seeing that it was already getting late, Luo Yan simply decided to take Sarah and Tafu to stroll around Artisan Street and have dinner on the way.
Relying on Taph's extremely sensitive sense of smell for food, they quickly found a restaurant that was very popular among apprentices at the end of an alley.
The restaurant's signature is a roasted pig's trotters, focusing on the local flavor of the Kingdom of Rhodes.
As soon as he opened the door, a rich aroma of barbecued meat, spices and rich dark beer hit his face, arousing the greed in the belly of a certain little female dragon.
Hearing that inappropriate sound, she hid her head a little shyly.
Luo Yan found a secluded corner and sat down. Just as he was about to ask the waiter to order, the low-pitched whispers of several young girls at the next table floated over.
Although their voices were very low, for Luo Yan, who had platinum level strength, if he wanted to, even the sound of a mosquito flapping its wings in the corner of the restaurant could not escape his mental tentacles.
"That Ilana is so arrogant. She spends all day with His Highness Colin just because of her beauty." A girl with short brown hair said sourly.
"That's right! I don't think that Prince Colin is a good person. He always looks at me with leering eyes..." Another fat girl immediately agreed, but before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by a cold gaze from her deskmate.
"You are not allowed to slander His Highness!" A girl with a ponytail scolded coldly. The two ponytails hanging down on her shoulders were like drill bits.
"Yes, I'm sorry...Miss Rustina." The girl immediately lowered her head like a frightened rabbit and apologized in a low voice, trembling.
In a place like Xuebang, where many kings are born, even in an extremely small circle, the hierarchy is orderly and hierarchical.
The blonde girl named Rustina didn't bully her, she just gave her a little lesson and looked away like an insect.
A pair of green eyes slightly narrowed, and she continued in an unfriendly tone: "A mere preparatory student is so arrogant, it seems that we need to find an opportunity to show her some color..."
"How about doing it in the maze trial? 'Accidents' happen there every year." Someone immediately suggested it with understanding.
"But...she is a preparatory student, and according to the regulations, she cannot participate in the maze trial, right?" The fat girl whispered, with a hint of fear in her voice.
The corners of Rastina's lips raised into an elegant sneer, and she spoke slowly.
"I have inquired, and the rules only prohibit preparatory students from signing up alone, but if you really want to go, as long as a senior magician is willing to take you."
A pair of eyes brightened, and they seemed to have reached some kind of consensus.
Sara looked at them twice because she heard the familiar names.
They were wearing blue monk robes and seemed to be senior apprentices. They were sitting together at the moment, with expressions on their faces distorted by jealousy.
“I didn’t expect you to be quite popular.” Tafu noticed that someone was jealous of Luo Yan. After listening to the whole story, Tafu smiled mischievously and joked.
"Did you just find out?" Luo Yan replied slowly, while giving Sarah a meaningful look behind him.
Sarah understood instantly.
A cold murderous aura flashed from her body, so fast that the chattering mages at the next table did not notice it.
Her hand hidden under the cloak had quietly grasped the cold handle of the dagger.
In her view, any ant that dares to hinder the Demon King's plan must be quietly wiped out in the night.
No matter who it is!
Feeling the murderous aura spreading silently, Luo Yan quickly glared at the crazy cat and stopped her impulse with his eyes.
Sarah was stunned for a moment, and then realized that she had misunderstood. Her pair of furry cat ears twitched uncomfortably, and a faint blush appeared on her fair cheeks, and she whispered "Sorry."
The murderous aura faded away quietly, and the girls sitting not far away did not realize that they had already wandered around the door of hell.
Luo Yan knew that he had to speak more clearly to Sarah.
He coughed slightly, took a sip of the dark beer on the table, and said pointedly.
"It is best for the apprentices to resolve matters among themselves. We are not suitable to participate. Speaking of which, Ilana has helped Miss Castellon so much, and it is the latter's turn to reciprocate." Ophia "accidentally" knew about this. "
That Miss Rustina should be a noble from the Kingdom of Rhodes, but in front of a real behemoth like the Castellion family, she is just an insignificant role.
A revolutionary friendship that explores the boundaries of science is not enough. It is time to add a little "fetter" between the two.
After this experience, Miss Ophia should not be able to leave the school with confidence and follow her to the Principality of Campbell.
Thinking of this, a pleasant smile appeared on Luo Yan's face. This feeling of playing with chess pieces in the palm of your hand is always so fascinating.
This time, Sarah finally fully understood the Demon King’s intention.
It turned out to be to establish a good relationship between the chess pieces.
She accepted the order respectfully, hiding her edge quietly in the shadows.
(End of this chapter)