Chapter 543 — Each in Their Own Mire

"But burning through eight amplifiers and two large-scale magic engines in six days is a different matter..." Rebecca was still wearing a woebegone expression. She lifted her head to look at the great "laboratory" thrown up temporarily from steel supports and prefabricated panels, and felt a faint ache in her skull.

This was the new laboratory built on the instructions of the Xuanmai Sect, situated on the outskirts of the city, far from the residential districts, operated under a safety-isolation regime and new procedures. Facts had proven that such arrangements greatly raised the safety factor of the experiments—but the success rate of the experiments... seemed not to have changed in the slightest.

"Why is it, exactly," Rebecca murmured to herself, "that we always get stuck on overload and interference..."

A senior arcane technician looked at the data recorded over the recent period and spoke up: "According to the tests, densely packing the net units and layering them in multiple tiers does greatly increase output, and the size can be fitted into the front of a vehicle—but what comes with it is that the amplifier banks and the repulsion mechanisms frequently overload and interfere with one another. The magic output by a multi-layered net leaves much to be desired in stability and purity."

"It seems that if we want multi-layered magic webs to be practical, the first thing we must do is find a way to eliminate the interference between the layers," Kamael continued. "There is also the problem of excessive starting pressure on the power mechanism. We need to redesign the transmission and gear-shifting mechanisms to lower the starting speed while reducing the instantaneous pressure on the mana engines—the previous two mana engines were destroyed precisely because the instantaneous pressure was too great."

"It looks like mechanical transmission is simply unsuited to a behemoth like the 'mana train'—the gear-shifting device cannot withstand that kind of shock at all," Rebecca said, shaking her head. "If we really have no other choice... we could try the 'hydraulic transmission' that the Zuyan people mentioned once."

Even as she spoke, however, her brow furrowed, for another problem had occurred to her. "But just reducing the instantaneous pressure on the mana engines is not enough... We can reduce the mechanical pressure, but the magical pressure on the amplifiers and the magic webs still cannot be solved."

"The magical power output of a rune array is fixed... It really is difficult to handle," Kamael buzzed. "Even if we reduce the load when the mana engine starts, sustaining its operation remains no small challenge for the amplifiers."

This was a problem common to most arcanomechanical devices: no matter how precise an arcanomechanical device might be, no matter how complex its functions, at its core it was still nothing but a collection of "magic circles."

And since they were "magic circles," the mana consumed each time a magic circle was activated was fixed. The "potency" of a spell might be affected by the materials used in casting and by the environment, but the mana it consumed was a fixed value.

Even if the starting pressure of the mana engine were reduced to the minimum, the mana required for its operation would still be reflected one hundred percent, without the slightest discount, in the amplifiers and magic web units that supplied it with power. However many repulsion runes there were, that was how much mana would be consumed.

The result was that the mechanical structure of the mana engine might hold up, but the runes in the power-supply section would still burn out exactly as they were meant to—just as they had today.

Problems came one after another; before a single one could be solved, a whole string of new difficulties seemed to spring up—mechanical structure, material strength, magical interference, the load on each device... All the obstacles had piled up together, and there was almost no way to sort them out.

It was a veritable quagmire.

Looking at the arcane master before her, Rebecca suddenly could not help asking, "Master Kamael, what were the transportation methods of the Gondor Empire back in the day? By any reasonable reckoning... an empire that vast must have needed large-scale transport like the mana train, surely?"

At Rebecca's question, a look of reminiscence came over Kamael's face. "In those days... in those days we did not use mechanical magical transport at all. Instead, we borrowed the power of great elemental summons to transport goods—summoning hurricane envoys and wave envoys, whose power was great enough to move mountains and shift seas..."

Rebecca was dumbstruck. "You... you could summon and control elementals of such high rank? How did you get them to help you?"

"Very simple. One summoning contract, and you give them half a ton of deep-blue magic crystals..."

"All right, you don't need to say any more."

Deep-blue magic crystals! Half a ton!! Never mind a hurricane envoy—a wind elemental lord would probably kneel down and deliver goods for the Gondorians for that!

Rebecca marveled at the lavish ways of the old Gondor Empire, but very quickly the various problems besetting the mana train project at hand once again filled her mind.

The marchioness's daughter clutched her forehead. "My head hurts..."

Looking at this girl of outstanding talent who was still somewhat unpolished, Kamael could not help wanting to offer some comfort, but before he could open his mouth, Rebecca suddenly raised her head. "Actually, I think... is our current approach maybe a little wrong? Or... could we try a different direction?"

"You mean..."

"Concentrating all the power in the locomotive looks simple and crude, but it is far too difficult to realize. Cramming all these high-power components together is inherently very unstable," Rebecca said as she spoke, her wondrous mind racing. "Master Kamael, do you remember we had another plan back then? If a high-power locomotive could not be built, then we would distribute several lower-power mana engines across several carriages of the train, making them power carriages..."

"I remember that plan ran into the problem of synchronizing and coordinating the various power carriages," Kamael said as he spoke. "You think... synchronization and coordination will be simpler than the problems we are facing with the locomotive now?"

"What if it is?" Rebecca said. "We have plans drawn up for both approaches anyway, and right now the key components of the locomotive's apparatus have burned out and must be rebuilt from scratch. So why not simply set up an additional experimental platform and try out the distributed-power plan as well? Of course, we won't abandon the centralized-power plan for the locomotive—we can keep working on it. Who knows, maybe the two approaches will complement each other, and we'll find our breakthrough!"

As she spoke, the girl fell to thinking again. "Also... lately I have been wondering whether we could use a continuously running weight-reduction array to lighten the load on the whole train... But the weight-reduction spell works over an area, so we would have to think carefully about how to control its effective zone and prevent the train from losing balance when it turns... Still, I think these might all be directions worth exploring."

What optimistic thinking.

Yet looking at Rebecca's passionate eyes, Kamael found himself infected by it too—perhaps there was something to it?

"Very well," said the ancient arcane master with a nod. "Tonight we will finish the proposal, and tomorrow we will go together to apply to Lady Hedy for funding."

"...Eh? Aren't you going?"

"We'll go together," Kamael buzzed. "You are the head of the entire Department of Mana Technology. When a project undergoes a major change, you must go in person."

The archmage's words were well reasoned and delivered with righteous conviction.

Rebecca had no choice but to believe him.