Chapter 117 — The Cecil Mechanical Works
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
True enough, the iron-sphere alien's ability to reshape metal at extraordinary speed had left Gao Yang deeply impressed, and at first he had indeed marveled at the creature's efficiency in machining metal parts—but very quickly he realized that precision, even more than speed, was likely the greater treasure here.
Speed was nothing, and Gao Yang knew it well. Nikkhsi Dan's machining speed might scare every man present to death, but Gao Yang understood perfectly that under any true industrial production model, an individual's speed—no matter how astonishing—meant nothing. Turning out a hundred parts in a few minutes, was that fast? Certainly faster than a blacksmith's hammer, but in an industrial age, throw a few production lines together and that speed would be blown clean out of the water, beaten so badly its own mother wouldn't recognize it!
He could not casually throw production lines together just yet, but the prototype of the magic-energy engine already existed, and he believed that one day he would have his moment of waving a hand and bringing a production line into being. Sooner or later, as more and more machines entered production, Nikkhsi Dan's advantage in efficiency would fade into the common run of things—and yet its other advantage would not be so easily replaced by machines. At least, compared with its efficiency, this advantage would be replaced far more slowly.
Its precision.
The parts he had "kneaded" out of scrap were not made at random; Gao Cen's sharp eyes had seen at once that they were in fact reduced versions of certain exposed components on the magic-engine prototype, and that every one of them was finished with a refinement far beyond anything those blacksmiths could produce by hand—and as for those metal sculptures, they even had strands of hair worked into them... That was just monstrous, wasn't it!
"Precision?" Nikkhsi Dan seemed to grasp something as well. It thought seriously for a moment, then answered with considerable confidence, "That depends on how many things are being machined at once. A hundred at a time, and there will certainly be a good deal of error. But if I only machine single-digit parts at a time, and am allowed to take my time... the error would probably be dozens of times finer than one of your hairs. The exact speed depends on the complexity and volume of the part, of course, but as far as I can see, the most complex parts in this machine you've built are still quite simple."
Gao Yang: "?!"
The metal sphere, hearing no response from Gao Yang for a long while, could not help drifting over and nudging the latter's arm: "Hey, hey, why aren't you saying anything?"
"The first generation of industrial machine tools is yours!"
"Huh?"
Gao Yang did not explain much more to it, for his heart was now utterly filled with exultation, leaving him scarcely any energy for anything else.
Yes—the first generation of industrial machine tools, the so-called "mother machines," the foundation of everything, the single most important link that would make the whole chain of industrialization possible. Rather than setting Nikkhsi Dan to mass-producing those量产 parts in bulk and repetition, he ought to let it bring its advantages in precision and efficiency fully to bear, manufacturing in the shortest possible time the machine tools that could be used to produce other machine components—whether the various machine tools for machining parts, or the "rune drafting machines" for engraving simple runes in batches. Only by building these things could he bind his enterprise to the surging power provided by the magic-energy engine, and gather the confidence to stake everything on one throw before that rather flimsy wall on the far side of the mountain gave way!
At this moment he even felt a touch of regret—why had he not recognized this metal sphere's talents sooner? Had he brought it directly into the development of the magic-engine prototype, this day might have come earlier.