A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 575 The Purpose of Metalworking Practice

As we approach the end of February, there should be signs of spring.

But the chill persisted, and while the Empire and Valois remained undecided, the Salvation Alliance slowly developed.

Because the command center in Bohemia was not yet fully established, the Bain New Legion operated cautiously within the borders, resisting several probing attacks by the Imperial Army.

In other regions, those who supported the Empire and the Alliance, those who supported the war and those who opposed it, were in complete disarray. On the vast territory of the former Empire, there was an opposition between the East and the West, and the border areas were like ulcers, with unrest occurring from time to time.

From January onwards, news from the palace became increasingly scarce, and Wilhelm II became increasingly secluded, summoning his ministers with extreme caution.

Meanwhile, at the space center, the construction of the starship was nearing completion. This was an extremely rapid pace; within a few months, almost every talented person in the world who could contribute to the project had been gathered here, creating a miracle together with the most advanced industrial system on the continent.

As it neared completion, many engineers and workers did not get the rest they were entitled to, as they were given new tasks.

The task has been broken down into many small projects, and each group is like the blind men and the elephant, unable to discern or imagine the usefulness of their current work.

A group of Byron soldiers who had been evacuated from Bohemia also joined in, and their orderly procession in and out of the space center intensified the mysterious atmosphere.

Of course, even the soldiers themselves were not clear about the significance of their duties.

For example, Tanya, the leader of the second regiment of the Sky Knights, was required to learn a new skill.

The air knights, relieved from the front lines, were required to practice riveting, welding, and other tasks, and were also given some instruction in mechanical mechanics. It was essentially a metalworking internship.

Today is the third day of training, and it's the welders' turn. The new instructor is timing them with a stopwatch, giving them a time limit of thirty seconds to use two pieces of iron.

The welding torch is connected to a magic source. When activated, the tip emits tiny heat rays, and the high temperature welds the welding rod and the components on both sides together.

"19.8.7."

Don't rush, be steady. The welding rod is getting shorter, so the speed of feeding the welding rod needs to be increased. Tanya silently repeated the experience taught by her master.

With five seconds left in the countdown, Tanya finished welding. She didn't immediately remove her protective mask, even though it was very hot and blocked out the light.

"Stop, everyone, take off your masks. I'm here to check." The welding master, who was temporarily assigned as an instructor, finished counting down and went over the training results in front of each of the knights.

He used a small round hammer to knock off the solder on the surface and then tapped the welding marks.

After inspecting Tanya's work, the foreman nodded slowly, picked up her piece, looked at it, and held it up: "This is well welded! You're a meticulous young lady. Some of you eat so much more and are so tall, yet you're still not very efficient at your work."

"Reporting, Lady Tanya is our commander!"

After someone finished speaking, cheerful laughter immediately filled the training field.

"Quiet!" Tanya suppressed her embarrassment and shouted fiercely, instantly silencing the entire room.

"Sorry, I didn't know the situation." The master had been communicating with several team leaders in the group. He thought the team leader wouldn't participate in the training, but he didn't expect it to be the short girl following behind the third team.

After a group of people were selected through practical training, they were required to wear motorized gear and complete what they had learned five meters above the ground.

Suddenly, what was originally a simple task became difficult.

At first, it was iron sheets suspended in the air by ropes, but later the objects being welded gradually changed from iron sheets to curved iron pipes.

Finally, they were carried high into the sky by an airship. A mage cast a spell on the strange structures to lighten their weight.

Several other airships strung up iron cables, forming a polygonal shape that resembled a circular ring.

As instructed, every two air knights carried a component and attached it to the iron chain.

The iron chains were taut, more and more components were being hung on them, the wind howled through the high altitude, and all the airship and motor vehicle pilots were struggling to adjust their attitudes.

In an instant, the wind suddenly stopped, and the airship began to make final adjustments. As the polygon approached its perfect shape, a broadcast call came from the airship's flagship:

"Begin assembly, three minutes."

The ring-shaped component has two pipes, one side facing the metal plate inside the ring, and a support consisting of several steel bars.

They first riveted the support components together, and after the components were basically aligned, they welded the pipes and metal surfaces together.

The ring, approximately 20 meters in diameter, was suspended in the air by eight airships. Beams of light extended from the airships to the steel cables, which then stopped swaying, as if they had temporarily gained structural rigidity.

The wind has returned, and the homework is finished.

The monk and the welding instructor each made their rounds and inspections, finding several defective sections that were not up to standard. The first drill then came to an end.

"Damn, this is incredibly tense!" All the team members returned to the airship pod, drenched in sweat. Time, precision—all the demands pushed their nerves to the limit.

Even so, three people's assignments were still unsatisfactory.

「正北3/4号段，西北1/2号段，东南4/5号段。负责以上工段衔接的三位出列。」教官面色阴沉地叫走了三人，显然他们在第一次演练中没有达到要求。

Tanya breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that something was wrong with one of her group members, so she followed him.

The next exercise involved a disassembly phase, where each person carried a cutting machine to destroy rivets, cut open steel pipes and metal surfaces.

When the air knights cut into the metal surface, they were surprised to find that the surface facing the inside of the ring was engraved with intricate magical circuits.

"Tch. You only have two minutes." As if knowing the cutters were hesitating, the broadcast gave the order again.

For the next ten days, they had to go through three disassembly and reassembly cycles every day, training from morning to night.

The shape of the circular component kept changing until it stabilized on the seventh day, after which there were no more major adjustments.

The training was intense, but fortunately there was plenty of time between assembly and disassembly. All the airship windows where they rested were covered, so the air knights didn't know what to do during the intervals between assembly and disassembly.

The more they were prevented from seeing, the more curious they became. Fortunately, the secrecy surrounding the participants didn't last long. After a sorcerer had each person sign a contract, they were allowed to participate in the entire process and witness the purpose of the giant iron ring they had assembled in the air.

"Installation begins." "Installation complete. Check for defects and adjust posture." "Check wiring. Begin charging." "Charging complete."

The airship positioned due east was the flagship, and its broadcast issued the command: "The first full-process experiment begins."

Energy surged from the bellies of the eight airships, filling the entire circular portal along the pipes on the iron chains, and a "membrane" that divided space and connected thousands of miles away gradually closed.

Its energy is extremely high; the moment it becomes complete, the surrounding space is distorted.

The air knights witnessed the entire event through the porthole.

In the second, a high-speed, airborne aircraft appeared out of thin air from the center of the portal, soaring into the sky, leaving the shattered portal as part of its trail.

(End of this chapter)