Chapter 722 — The Dragoon Mark I

In the early stages, certain simple mechanisms might still be pieced together from the miscellany in his head, but an aircraft was a far too specialized thing; the crude sketches Gao Yu could recall would likely only mislead the technicians under him. And he had to face another fact besides: because of this world's unique elemental magic, its technological foundation in aerodynamics was a total blank—yet here there already existed a ready-made anti-gravity technological path.

Rather than drawing a heap of error-riddled sketches himself and setting the technicians to lighting up a whole tech tree from zero on that basis, it was better to let them derive and transform upon the technology this world already possessed. After all, this world already had flying units like griffin riders and giant-eagle riders, and powerful mages who could soar through the air directly; mortals were not utterly blank in the domain of the sky. Given that premise, even if he spent years building a primitive aircraft based on aerodynamics, it likely still could not contend with the aerial units this world already fielded. Better to make a bold attempt—let Rebecca and her technical team have free rein, and challenge the mature anti-gravity aerial-combat platform head-on.

The fruit of that bold attempt was the bizarre-looking, yet absolutely superior-to-Earth's-early-aircraft "Dragoon" before him.

It took off and landed vertically by anti-gravity, was highly agile and maneuverable, capable of engaging trained griffin riders in aerial combat and suppressing them; it used dragon-wing runes for "magic-wave propulsion," its top speed exceeding the elven race's giant eagles; and at the same time, the wind-whisper runes covering the cone's shell and the rune arrays of the dragon wings themselves solved the wind-resistance problems its strange shape created. Add advanced thaumaturgical armaments and communication devices, and it would undoubtedly become the most advanced and most powerful aerial force of this age.

Of course, it surely still had many flaws. As a brand-new product—and the most complex, most advanced technological product to date—it had many more tests to undergo, and a good while yet before mass production. But no matter what, this path had at last been proven viable.

This aircraft's architecture would become the cornerstone of a whole series of future Cecil flight technologies; the experience accumulated here might well benefit a hundred years to come...

"Yes, this is the aircraft we built..." Rebecca tilted her head back, a proud smile on her face. "It took a lot of work!"

And then she went on: "Zuyanren, would you like to give it a proper name? After all, 'Dragoon' is only a code name..."

"Then let the proper name be Dragoon too—I think the code name itself is vivid and pleasant enough," Gao Rong rose to his feet. "Taking the Warhammer tank as our reference, this model of anti-gravity craft shall be designated Dragoon Type I."

At that point his heart suddenly stirred, and he could not help turning to look at Maggie, who stood quietly nearby.

"Speaking of which—as one of the dragon race, what do you think of the name 'Dragoon'?"

Maggie pondered it, somewhat puzzled, then shook her head: "I have no particular thoughts... Why do you ask, Your Majesty?"

"I was only worried the name might displease the dragons," Gao Yang said with a rather awkward laugh. "When we settled on the code name earlier I didn't give it much thought, nor did I ask your opinion—and now it suddenly strikes me as a bit improper. Would your people take the word as an offense? It carries the implication, after all, of using dragons as mounts..."

Maggie was taken aback for a moment, and only after a pause did she smile faintly.

"Your Majesty, I do not know how the dragons of Tarond would take it, but from what I know, humans on this continent have been casting dragons as prominent figures in their epics and tales of gods and monsters for centuries or longer—and in most cases those prominent figures are none too noble: dragons robbing castles, abducting princesses, seizing treasure, threatening kingdoms; brave adventurers and knights driving off the wicked dragons, plundering dragon lairs, and even turning dragons into mounts. All these years gone by—have you ever seen Tarond or the Holy Dragon Duchy send anyone to hunt down the bards and novelists who invented such stories?"

"...I suppose I really haven't..."

"Dragons do not care about human stories, for no matter how long a human tale circulates, it will soon scatter on the wind; even those comparatively short-lived 'degenerate dragonborn' of the Holy Dragon Duchy have ample leisure to watch the most stirring legends of humankind settle into dust," Maggie said with a faint smile, but promptly added, "Of course, a 'protagonist' like you, stepping back onto the stage of history—to dragons, that is probably something of an accident..."

Gao Yang: "..."

It truly was rather an accident. Those fellows in the Mithril Vault who had made their fortunes by embezzling consigned goods had been thrown into quite a frenzy over a client like him, returned from the dead; word had it that within a single month they had dug up over a thousand graves and, while they were at it, summoned souls several hundred times...

Maggie seemed to feel the topic had grown rather eerie as well, and steered back with some stiffness: "So on the whole, where such 'trifling offenses' are concerned, the dragons' attitude will be far more relaxed than you imagine. Of course, I speak only from my own understanding; as for how the 'orthodox' dragons of Tarond will truly react upon seeing the 'Dragoon'... I fear only that 'senior agent' who is so well acquainted with you can supply the answer."

Gao Yang's mind could not help conjuring the image of my little pony.

He wondered what that blue dragon from the dragon realm would think upon learning that humans had mimicked the principles of dragon wings to build a flying craft called the "Dragoon."

Still less did he know how Mei Heng would respond if he asked her whether dragons would consent to bear riders—would she fly into a rage, or would she deliver a long lecture?

Gao Yang thought it over carefully for a long while, and suddenly felt the answer was probably something like: "Seven for the base fare, five hundred for the day, tolls for bridges, extra for the night shift..."