Chapter 509 — Gao Song's Alternative Approach

"Don't get too excited—I can't be sure exactly how effective it will be," Gao Yang said, calming the somewhat agitated Hetty. "First, try adding an 'education' program group to the magic net broadcasts, livestreaming the lessons of the general schools. Then organize another group of people—you can draw them from the general schools—to compile the basic, essential knowledge of social studies and the like, record it on memory crystals, and broadcast it on a regular rotating schedule. As for publications, we should compile books of this kind as well, focusing on how to farm, how to build houses, how to use arcanotech machines, and then publish them territory-wide."

At present the overall literacy rate of the Southern Frontier might not yet be high enough for people to study these books on their own, and most ordinary folk lacked the initiative to learn. But once next year's grain harvest came in, and those who had actively studied new knowledge and responded to the Civil Administration's calls reaped real benefits, the "model effect" would reveal its power, and the common people's motivation to learn new things would rise enormously. But by then it would be too late to hurriedly compile the relevant teaching materials—at least a year of "golden time" would inevitably be lost. So Gao Yu had to prepare in advance.

"Yes," Hetty said at once with a nod. "I'll have Mr. Godwin and Mr. Santis organize the people for this."

A clatter of mechanical noise came from nearby, and the conversation between Gao Yang and Hetty came to a halt.

After the frantic adjustments of a whole crowd of technicians and Rebecca's simple tests, that arcanotech vehicle which had just broken down started up once more and came to a steady stop near Gao Yang.

"Ancestor! Look! It's running again!!" Rebecca sat in the crude driver's seat of the arcanotech vehicle, one hand on the steering wheel and the other gripping some control lever, greeting Gao Yang cheerfully. "And look—just now I had Mr. Egg add a bell to it, one that can warn other vehicles and pedestrians..."

As she spoke, Rebecca gave a hard yank on a lever beside the steering wheel, and at once a drum-shaped device on the side of the vehicle began to spin, emitting a loud and clamorous clanging of steel plates.

That clanging of steel plates was far more grating than the noise of the vehicle itself. Hetty clapped her hands over her ears at once. "Turn that thing off this instant—did you install that on the vehicle specifically to torture people's ears?"

Yet the viscountess was clearly most satisfied with her own inventive powers. "But this way, whoever drives it won't have to rely on shouting to make pedestrians get out of the way, the way coachmen do on the road!"

"I think the racket your vehicle makes when it starts moving is quite enough to let everyone know where it is," Hetty grumbled, vigorously rubbing her ears, still aching from the din. "My goodness... it took you only a few dozen minutes to dream up a new little machine for tormenting people..."

"Is it really that noisy?" Rebecca scratched the back of her head. "I actually think the thing works quite well—much more compact than the ones in mechanical clocks..."

Gao Yang watched the exchange between Hetty and Rebecca, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. To be honest, it had never once occurred to him that the prototype arcanotech vehicle had no horn—had it not been for Rebecca's flash of inspiration, the world's first motor vehicle would have had to rely on the driver shouting to warn pedestrians and other vehicles to keep clear. On the other hand, he did sincerely feel that this "warning bell" Rebecca had invented was simply too noisy...

"The device is genuinely useful, but next time you'd best find a way to refine the sound it makes. If nothing else, connect an air sac to a copper pipe and make a steam whistle—even that would sound better than stuffing a pile of steel plates and a striker into a drum," Gao Yang said, looking at Rebecca with a smile. "Come down for now. There's something I want to tell you."

"Oh," Rebecca said, immediately hopping down from the vehicle. "What is it?"

"We're going to teach the fundamentals of arcanotech machines to ordinary people," Gao Dai said. "The absolute basics—including what a repulsion mechanism is, what a mana engine is, how a mana furnace works, and so on and so forth."

Rebecca blinked. "Oh, I know about that! The General Academy has courses on it—I've even gone to teach them!"

Hetty stepped forward and smoothed the girl's messy hair. "But now we need to teach this to a great many more people... so go wash your hair first!"

(Recommending a book again! Supernatural genre, title *Drinking This Bowl of Mengpo Soup*—I recommended it once before, and astonishingly it's survived to this day, and lately it even looks like it might get a contract. After much deliberation... I'll recommend it once more. The ones that can't be killed off in one push usually have something to them afterward, and this is a niche supernatural story too—worth looking forward to, hahahaha.)

:.: