Chapter 212 — The Alchemy Factory
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
As ever more basic rune arrays were decoded and simplified into universal rune substrates, the equipment of Cecil's soldiers would inevitably see a new generation of upgrades. In Gao Song's vision, a complete set of Cecil infantry gear ought to comprise a system like this:
An energy system—a combat backpack fitted with a high-efficiency hive mana-net and mana capacitors, capable of charging large quantities of mana crystals at once while still having surplus mana to drive the various energy-consuming units on a soldier's body. A protection system—taking machine-stamped steel armor as its carrier, with all manner of defensive arrays and auxiliary arrays inscribed within the armor, thereby achieving comprehensive protection against foreign magic, poison gas, and physical attack. Traditional enchanted armor was exorbitantly priced, but using universal arrays to approximate enchanted effects could greatly reduce costs; at the same time, the force-field shield built into the armguard was also part of the protection system. A weapon system—chiefly the thermal ray gun mounted in the armguard and the blade in the soldier's hand. The former had already entered mass production, while for the latter there was for the moment no clear idea for improvement. In Gao Song's conception, even if cold-steel melee combat remained part of a soldier's training, the blades of Cecil's combat troops would have to undergo modernization; traditional steel weapons appeared far too feeble against foes like mutants and superhumans, and various enchantment effects were indispensable.
But exactly how to improve the traditional blade still required careful thought.
Beyond all this, what Gao Yang wished for even more was real-time communication on the battlefield.
The importance of communications technology went without saying: letting every soldier receive orders from the rear in real time, letting every commander grasp the shifts in the battle instantly—the combat power a force equipped with modern communications could unleash was beyond anything a traditional noble army could imagine. So adding a communications system to the "Cecil Combat Suit" was of paramount importance—though regrettably, there was for now no progress on it.
Messaging spells did exist, and the Mithril Vault had even produced communication devices like the Mithril Ring, but in Gao Song's view this particular spell was a kind of "technical black box": its magical principles had yet to be clearly decoded, and the runic composition of its arrays completely defied the laws of conventional arrays. Jenny's runic logic was not yet refined enough to simplify and analyze a magic whose principles were so unclear, and this meant the cost of messaging-type magical implements could not yet be brought down—and if the cost could not be brought down, that meant they could not be used on soldiers…
The combat armguard fitted with a force-field shield module looked unchanged from the outside. Gao Yang closed the armguard's shell back up, and when that crisp click rang out, he turned to Rebecca beside him. "The armguard can integrate more modules, more interchangeable components. Right now it has both offense and defense, so we can consider the auxiliary side—say, a first-tier 'Lesser Clarity,' or the illumination cantrip 'Mage Light.' These are spells with extremely low energy cost, yet they can be of great use…"
Rebecca and Jenny had at some point produced little notebooks and were scribbling notes furiously as they listened. Halfway through her notes, Jenny could not resist looking up to ask, "But my lord… with so many functions added, is this armguard still a 'thermal ray gun'?"