Chapter 309 — The Rail Accelerator Cannon
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Gao Yang always had a habit of blurting out baffling phrases and words. Sometimes even expressions that made sense to everyone else would, in his mouth, be mashed into combinations no one could comprehend. Amber had long since grown used to this, and her method for dealing with these obscure sentences was simple: give up thinking.
"Just tell me what this is," Amber said, rolling her eyes. "A new magical device? An alchemical contraption? Or that weapon you mentioned last time?"
"Magical devices and alchemical contraptions don't carry the insignia of the Military-Industrial Machinery Institute on their reports," Gao Yang said, pointing at the header of the document before rising to his feet. "Come on, let's go take a look at this brand-new weapon."
On the weapons testing ground south of the Whitewater River, all the relevant preparations had long since been completed.
What was delivered to Gao Yang was a report stating that the finished product had been fully assembled and awaited the lord's inspection. At the same time the report arrived, Hetty had already ordered the personnel of the Machinery Research Institute and the weapons testing ground to prepare for the first trial. By the time Gao Yang and Amber reached the testing site, the area had been cordoned off by soldiers of the Cecil Combat Corps, and the residents of the city's northeastern district had been notified in advance about the weapons test. New equipment in the Cecil Territory was frequently accompanied by tremendous explosions, so under normal circumstances, advance notice was quite necessary.
This was a weapon Gao Yang had placed high hopes on, and moreover an "urgent, weighted project" that had been pushed onto the agenda after the Second Cecil Defensive Battle. Naturally, it drew considerable attention. Practically everyone who had participated in the development or was qualified to observe had hurried to the site—including the two knights, Byron and Philip, and technical leads like Jenny, Camille, and Nicholas Egg. Hetty and Rebecca were of course present as well.
That was just how it was in the early stages of a startup: the top-level team was only a handful of people, and because of the shortage of hands, everyone often had to pitch in across disciplines—so that whenever any major result emerged, the whole lot of them would turn up to gawk at it.
The moment Gao Yang appeared, Rebecca came running up to him joyfully. "Ancestor! Ancestor! The 'art launcher' you asked for is done!"
Last time, while chatting idly with the silly doe, Gao Yang hadn't been able to resist mentioning once again that "explosions are art"—and the girl had promptly been led astray...
Gao Yang patted Rebecca on the head, his gaze falling on the war machine that had just rolled off the mechanical assembly platform.
It was large, with an acceleration rail three meters long and a total height of nearly two meters. Its form closely resembled the theoretical model Gao Yang had constructed earlier in the "simulation testing ground," though the details differed considerably.
It had four parallel metal rails, still fixed to the base in a cruciform structure: two acceleration rails and two directional rails used to constrain the projectile's path, stabilize its trajectory, and reduce friction. But unlike the rails simulated in Gao Yang's virtual environment, the entire acceleration-and-guidance structure before him had been additionally reinforced. Three "retaining rings" made of sturdy steel plate bound the four rails firmly together, and judging by the magical runes blazing on those rings, they likely also served to help the rails discharge waste energy and reduce magical interference.