Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 561 - 560: The Plan

Inside the Cecil Castle’s feudal lord’s mansion, Gawain looked in surprise at Rebecca, who had burst in excitedly, bringing with her a heap of blueprints and messy draft plans: "Your... new train proposal?"

"Yes, yes!" Rebecca, bursting with excitement, placed the heap before her ancestor, "Look, look— the first simulation test has already succeeded! These are all the related materials!!"

Thanks to the implementation of the Immersion Capsule Technology, the human brain can now connect with the Magic Web Device. After experiments in the "Origin Laboratory," the related materials can be directly organized into data and printed out by a printer directly connected to the Immersion Capsule. So, Rebecca quickly organized all this data and revised it based on her own ideas before rushing to present it.

Gawain only glanced at the top blueprint of those materials and realized this was indeed an entirely new proposal.

The things depicted on it... aside from the carriages, he could hardly recognize the other structures.

There weren’t even any wheels...

"Is this... a repulsion structure?" Gawain was drawn in by the fascinating blueprint, immediately flipping to the detailed explanation below, becoming more amazed as he read, "You directly removed the engine...lifting the entire train above the tracks? Using adjustable repulsion generators to move forward and backward?! Energy... most of the energy is in the tracks?!"

"Yes," Rebecca said proudly, "The mechanical structure is unprecedentedly simple, with the load borne by the entire track system, ensuring high stability, and even if a single repulsion point is damaged, it won’t affect the train’s operation... Of course, this is just a preliminary proposal, and there will certainly be adjustments during actual application."

Rebecca listed each advantage of the new approach, while Gawain was completely engrossed in this plan, which surpassed his initial conception.

Rebecca and her technical team had indeed overturned the basic framework of the original Magic Train. They removed the engine, re-engineered the energy, transforming the train... into a hovering one.

She designed a track similar to a "V" shape, with a central depression, and a series of obtuse angle repulsion points on the inner sides. Meanwhile, the train chassis was made of neatly contiguous steel "force bearing surfaces," allowing the whole train to hover tens of centimeters above the track, with no need to contact it. The special V-shaped track ensures preliminary hover stability, preventing the carriage from tipping over during movement;

Besides, she set up a series of neatly arranged "relay poles" along the track sides, vertically fixed equilateral triangle-shaped metal or concrete pillars matching the height of the hovering carriages, with one edge facing the carriage direction. There were vertically installed repulsion generators on the carriage shell that could adjust angles. These correspond with the relay poles beside the tracks, accelerating the train when facing backward or slowing and even reversing it when facing forward;

The relay poles along the tracks not only propel the train forward, they also act as a secondary safeguard to prevent the train from going off track— the train receives opposite force from the relay poles on either side during forward or backward motion, increasing with proximity to a pole, preventing the hovering carriage from "flying" off track;

To adjust the hovering height of the train during operation, she equipped the train’s underside with additional repulsion units, individually controllable, balancing the load of each carriage. In case the overall load is too high, risking descent, or most repulsion points suddenly fail due to track system malfunction, the train can rely on its repulsion units to maintain hovering, or at least stably return to the track;

"...Quite unexpected..."

Gawain couldn’t help but whisper in praise.

This hover train plan reminded him of the "maglev" technology from his previous life, yet fundamentally different. Simultaneously, the propulsion in Rebecca’s new proposal brought to his mind the Magic Crystal Railgun— as rail cannons also use inclined repulsion magic symbols to accelerate projectiles. However, in Rebecca’s plan, the propulsion was no longer from the "track" but from repulsion units within the projectile (carriage) itself...

Seeing the satisfactory expression on her ancestor’s face, Rebecca couldn’t help but feel proud, "Since the thrust needed for hovering comes from the track, adding more carriages provides more thrust. As long as the output limit of a unit track isn’t exceeded, more carriages can stably float. Plus, with many repulsion points working simultaneously, even if some fail suddenly, the train will at most only reduce its height slightly or slow down, without direct contact or damage."

She paused briefly before continuing, "Based on the current Magic Web power and the interference threshold of repulsion units, I divided the track into ’segments,’ each approximately 1.32 kilometers long. Each segment has a complete repulsion array with independent energy supply, and one segment’s failure doesn’t affect others. Additionally, about thirty percent of each segment’s repulsion units are ’safety margins’...

"The train’s energy is divided into two parts, one for the track area to make the carriages hover, and one on the train for maintaining forward movement. Since the energy is split, and a more effortless power plan is used, the carriage itself is lighter, increasing the load capacity compared to the initial proposal..."

Gawain nodded slightly, attentively listening to each of Rebecca’s explanations, then reminded her, "Controlling a hovering carriage isn’t easy."

"Of course, the carriages must be quite cautious when turning and climbing in a hovering state," Rebecca nodded, clearly having considered this aspect, "Mr. Kamel often hovers, and he reminded me. Carriages in a hovering proposal must turn very smoothly to prevent inertia from causing contact with the track or crashing into relay poles, so the train route can’t have many sharp curves. Similarly, climbing requires limited slopes to prevent bottom contact. Speed reduction is necessary during turning and climbing, and the density of relay poles must be increased at these spots to provide enough thrust at lower speeds."

Gawain couldn’t think of any more issues for the moment and lowered his head again to carefully study this fascinating proposal.

A Magic Train hovering in mid-air... undeniably, it was bold.

But being bold doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unsafe. As long as the technical means are available, bold proposals can have high practicality— especially in a world with magical forces.

And calling it bold... that might just be his personal perception. The ordinary people of this world might not see a difference between a train on wheels running on a track and a magically hovering train— wizards can travel via levitation; flying with magic isn’t unusual, is it?

As he continued to read, Gawain suddenly realized this proposal’s feasibility depended on one critical factor: the Magic Web construction within the Cecil territory.

Compared with the initial engine trains, the hover train has a major feature that the energy to maintain its float comes from the tracks.

This requires uninterrupted Magic Web energy supply throughout the entire train route.

Engine-style trains have all their energy centralized on the train itself, so they can operate on tracks without Magic Web coverage, but hover trains have to move within the Magic Web range, or they can’t float— Precisely because the Cecil Principality has incessantly advanced Magic Web infrastructure, with connections among the major cities established, that Rebecca’s new proposal holds practical value.

Gawain couldn’t help but sigh softly, "Infrastructure indeed determines the limits of development..."

Rebecca immediately leaned forward, "Huh? Ancestor, what did you say?"

"Nothing, just talking to myself," Gawain pushed Rebecca back by her forehead, a bit curious, "But how did you suddenly come up with this plan? This plan... one could say it’s completely out of the previous framework, right?"

"Actually, it wasn’t my idea initially—I was inspired by Daniel."

Gawain was a bit surprised, he didn’t expect Daniel, who had just gotten in touch with the Cecil technology team and was just learning about the Magic Train project, to have such an impact: "Inspired by Daniel?"

Rebecca nodded repeatedly, then began to recount the entire process of how she was inspired by Daniel.

Someone who didn’t know what a Magic Train was found the key to breaking the deadlock from an angle no one had considered.

"Limited thinking, limited thinking," Gawain shook his head self-deprecatingly after listening to Rebecca, "I thought that by reflecting on myself every day, my mind would truly broaden..."

Then he looked at the schematic of the train tracks, his thoughts suddenly becoming active: "In your plan, the tracks themselves are fully charged along the entire route, correct?"

"Of course," Rebecca nodded, "Not only are they fully charged, but Master Kamel has also set up small Magic Web relay points in each section to monitor if any section suddenly goes offline—after all, the train runs at high speed, and a sudden derailment in the middle is too dangerous."

"Since they’re fully charged..." Gawain said, stroking his chin, "That means Barrier Generators can be installed along the entire track, right? Would that bring too much additional load?"

"Barrier Generators? That could work..." Rebecca was momentarily stunned, then realized, "Ah, you’re worried someone might steal the metal parts from the tracks?"

Before Gawain could respond, a voice suddenly emerged from the air beside him: "Who would be interested in that stuff? It’s heavy and hard to dismantle!"

... This goose has quite the job sensitivity.

"Nobody said it was you," Gawain said without turning his head, then looked at Rebecca, "Preventing someone from damaging the tracks is one thing, but on the other hand... it’s about defending against beasts, non-human monsters, and even aberrations. The wilderness isn’t safe, is it?"

"Understood," Rebecca blinked, her expression turning serious, "I’ll go verify this plan. Also, should we set some explosives near the tracks..."

Gawain immediately flew into a rage: "You keep that unreliable idea to yourself! Normally, no one in their right mind would blow up their own railway!!"

As he scolded, he was also a bit curious: Does this girl’s daily routine include getting scolded so often? How is there not a day she doesn’t court a beating...

Shortly after, having completed her daily task (1/1), Rebecca left the study, and for a moment, the large room only had Gawain and an invisible Amber.

With a ripple of shadows in the air, Amber’s figure gradually emerged. She walked towards the stack of documents on Gawain’s desk, with a tone full of admiration: "It’s really impressive... The initial proposal you came up with was entirely overturned. Don’t you feel regret?"

"I only feel grateful, thankful that someone could completely overthrow my plan, and thankful that Rebecca and the other technicians didn’t stick rigidly to the original plan just because it was my idea, running down a thankless path," Gawain shook his head, "This Daniel... is quite the talent."

"Indeed a talent, so I’m curious, how does such a talented person become wholeheartedly loyal to you?" Amber glanced at Gawain with utter puzzlement in her voice.

Gawain chuckled.

Initially, perhaps it was awe, and later... it was the power of knowledge.

He shook his head: "An old man’s secret."

Amber secretly rolled her eyes, thinking to herself that if he doesn’t want to say it, then don’t say it. An old man’s secret—stories of wooing over eighty princesses were even written into books; what other secrets could there be...

But considering her past experiences of being plastered on the wall several times, she didn’t dare voice her thoughts.

Gawain, unaware of how many such thoughts deserving to be plastered on the wall were running through Amber’s mind, merely tidied up the documents on the desk, then retrieved a small object from his belongings.

A silver-white ring.

Seeing the ring, Amber curiously asked, "Hmm? What are you going to do?"

Gawain rubbed the surface of the ring, speaking unhurriedly, "A secretive old man is about to meet another person who might also be hiding secrets..."