A heavy rain came unexpectedly, and the rain formed a white curtain up and down, and a hazy mist seemed to be shrouded in the rainforest in the distance.

The water flows endlessly on the deck, forming layers of water ripples as the ship rolls along. The water overflowed the steps, but it seemed to be blocked by an invisible force at the air window and hatch, and it was the waterproof magic circle behind it that worked.

Such showers are common in Nognes, and although it is already the end of the rainy season, they are seen once or twice a day.

Fang Yu looked at the pouring rain outside in the alchemy workshop on the ship, and gently shook the magic solution in his hand to give it a dark purple color.

He stood in front of his workbench, put the purple solution test tube back on the shelf, then picked up a quill pen and wrote a number on the paper, cut it out and pasted it. This is the No. 9 solution, and a total of seventeen solutions are needed to prepare the earth-source crystal, and this is just one of them.

The Earth Source Crystal is not something that can be used directly, its ultimate purpose is to make it into a pedestal that carries the 'Stars-Alchemy Array', and placing it in the magic suspension to precipitate impurities is only the first step - it is called purification.

One of the major drawbacks of the closed-loop device is that it is too large, and the root cause is that the materials that make up the base of the alchemy array, which are mostly made of cheap copper and demonized silver, are too inefficient.

For a single closed-loop device, this is not a disadvantage in itself, but an advantage. There is nothing wrong with using cheap materials to control costs, and cost is also an important factor for alchemists to consider when designing a magic guide.

But when it comes to the superimposable 'stars' device, bloat and bulkiness become a significant knot that must be considered first. Due to the low level of mastery of the 'Stars-Alchemy Array', it was difficult for Fang Yu to think of a way from the alchemy formula itself, so replacing the materials of the alchemy array's base became a simple and direct way.

In short, it's about spending money to solve problems.

Due to its excellent elemental affinity and etheric conductivity, the source spar base is generally only less than one percent of the thickness of the copper or demonized silver base, and this is still limited to the process, it is said that in some alchemy laboratories of the Imperial Workshop, master craftsmen can even make the source spar base to the thickness of one thousandth of the copper base.

Further up, only Mithril and Dragon Soul Crystals can further improve the conduction efficiency. But Mithril is already sky-high, and the Dragon Soul Crystal is something that Fang Yu can't even think of.

In fact, all the source crystals can be used to make alchemy array bases, and the earth source crystals are not even the best of them, the performance of the wind source crystal and the water source crystal is much better, and even more is the rarer alien attribute thunder source crystal, a variant of the wind crystal.

However, the earth source crystal is cheaper, compared to other source crystals, and the earth source crystal has the heavy and strong attributes of the earth element, which is also more convenient to process, and is more suitable for entry-level crystal craftsmen like Fang Yuan.

In short, in the final analysis, it is poor and vegetable.

Of course, Fang Yu will never admit it, the Seven Seas Brigade has some savings, but the money must be spent, and thrift is a virtue. As for the dishes or something, isn't that a low grade?

With the Earth Source Crystal, the improved version of the 'Star Device' is also on the agenda, Fang Yu intends to use this set of devices in the Lancer project, although the Lancer he envisions is not the same as the Dragon Hunter, but it does not mean that the two should be used separately, but to cooperate with each other in a battle.

However, he and the Dragon Hunter are still in the run-in period, and the computing power required for this flexible construction with outstanding performance is also amazing, and controlling four Dragon Hunters is almost his limit. As for Miss Tata, with the blessing of the Fairy Heart, although she still has a large balance of calculation power, this part of the balance Fang Yu has another plan in her heart, and she does not plan to use it on the dragoon plan.

Therefore, for the Dragoon plan, how to occupy as little computing power as possible has become a hard indicator that must be in the design.

The way Fang Yu thought of was naturally to use the 'Star Device'-

If the 'Star Device' gives the dragoons a certain degree of self-mobility, which greatly reduces the calculation pressure on him and Miss Tata, and even if he can achieve a certain degree of autonomous combat, it will be close to perfection.

It's as simple as it sounds, but it's not easy to implement.

First of all, melee combat must be ruled out, the internal movement structure of the melee flexible structure is too complex, and it requires too many manipulation commands to achieve. Moreover, there are too many dependent variables in hand-to-hand combat, and if you take all of this into account, you don't know how complex the control law is, and even if there is an earth-origin crystal base, the volume of the 'Star Device' is difficult to control.

In the long range, Fang Yuan's first consideration is live ammunition, because the energy consumption of live ammunition is low, although there are a series of problems with reloading and carrying volume, but the fixed action of reloading is not complicated to write into the 'star device', and the carrying amount of ammunition is often not a big problem for medium-sized and above structures.

But in the end, he ruled out this plan, mainly because a series of problems such as the aiming of live ammunition, the response to recoil, and maintaining balance in the air were difficult to solve.

Yes, since dragon hunters are not capable of flying, the Owl likes to fight in the air and sea on its own, and at least has a flexible structure that can fly, and the Ranger gets its name from this.

Of course, he didn't think about the form of not having arms, and directly mounted the magic guide gun on the arms of the construct, and used a chain or drum to solve the problem, but the recoil and balance problems were still just as difficult.

In the end, Fang Yu still chose the form of magic guide construction.

However, it is not a complete magic construction, and a complete magic construction needs to consider a series of problems such as energy supply, overload, the combination of spells, and the internal heat dissipation balance, and the demand for computing power is more than that of ordinary construction.

In the end, he chose a flight method similar to that of the Annihilator - using Guy Crystals to provide lift, and then using other means to achieve the ability to fly backwards, backwards, lefts, lefts, and downs.

Of course, he couldn't use the Annihilator's design directly, because the Annihilator's miniature Guy generator was too small to carry the weight of the Ranger's size of a flexible build.

Finally, after searching for the design drawings that may be easier for him to get his hands on, Fang Yu was a little pleasantly surprised to find that there was a type of construction design that fully met his needs.

That thing is called a 'porter'.

Although the name is a bit shabby, because it is actually a type of non-combat flexible structure used in large ports, the main purpose is to transport goods, and it belongs to the category of special construction.

This flexible build-up also uses the Guy Generator as the thrust, but the Guy Generator used is two models larger than the Annihilator and can carry nearly half a ton, which is exactly what he wants.

What's more, there are ready-made drawings for this Guy generator, and the patent is more than forty years old, which is long expired. He doesn't even have to go to a city where there is an artisan guild to buy it, he just needs to download it directly from the community.

He plans to use the load-bearing chassis directly with the porter, and then improve its propulsion. After all, the porter relies on two propellers to propel, and this method is more than enough to carry goods in the port, but it is similar to a target in battle.

The upper body can be used with the upper body of the shield defender, which is bulky and inefficient, but at least has high defense. He didn't expect this thing to fight in close quarters either, but with the material requirements of the fifteenth level construct, providing a defense close to the twentieth level of the construct, which could reduce the production cost by a large margin.

Moreover, the internal space of the shield guardian is also large enough to accommodate the large core crystals required for the magic guide construction, and a large number of crystal arrays in it. And these arrays, except for the part that charges and dissipates heat, are almost all the only weapons that belong to this structure-

It was a silver spear.

It can fire a beam of flame rays through the tip of the spear, which is a fire-based six-ring spell in Aitalia, dealing 125-167 fire damage without enhancement, which is roughly equivalent to the normal level of a level 25 construct.

The crystal array can fire two rounds after charging, but the recharge and heat dissipation are very slow, basically only two rounds can be fired in a minute, that is, four rounds.

However, because the light effect of this thing is very cool when shooting, Fang Yuan gave it a resounding name-

Tachyon Light Spear.

The upper part of the lancer plus the total weight of this spear is two hundred and fifty kilograms, plus the weight of the lower body chassis, the bearing of the Guy generator is more than enough, so Fang Yu simply added a large shield to it, and a shield generator, so as to make use of the magic capacity of the magic guide to construct the big core crystal.

Even so, these two things alone are not enough, as generally speaking, a Wizard Construct has more than one magical attack to match its large crystals.

However, the Ranger has its own 'national conditions' here, and because it is necessary to simplify the control burden of the 'Star Device' as much as possible, it is not suitable for multiple attack methods.

Due to the contradiction between the needs and the limitations, this thing was temporarily unsolvable, and Fang Yu had to leave it alone for the time being - the mana capacity was wasted, anyway, the rangers could fly longer, and they didn't need to return to the Seven Seas Traveler every moment to replenish their mana, at least they wouldn't be called airport protectors.

Finally, there is the question of the control law of the 'star device'.

Since it can't control this thing all the time, the square plover first has to make it realize the problem of automatically cruising in the air according to a certain route - this is simple.

The Ranger opted for an air curtain propulsion method - in short, somewhat similar to how the Octopus Squid and the Others proceed underwater, by attaching a few Wind Elemental Spouts to the back and legs of the structure.

This thing can usually consume mana to absorb the wind element, and then launch it in the form of airflow, which is actually the thing on the gauntlet of the maid lady. And Fang Yu himself doesn't know how long he has used this device on the Rocket Flying Fist, and he has long been familiar with its use, so it can be said that he has rich experience in use and maintenance.

Of course, the device installed behind the Ranger must be a lot larger, but the principle is the same, it is nothing more than how much magic power is consumed, and magic power is not a problem for the Ranger at this moment.

So for the Ranger to cruise automatically, you only need to design its approximate course and then change the direction of the air flow nozzle. Although it involves a series of internal instructions, recording this command is nothing to the 'Star Device' of the Earth-Source Crystal Base.

Fang Plover designed three automatic cruising routes for the rangers - centered on the target, flying in a 360-degree orbit, divided into two versions, 100 meters and 250 meters, corresponding to the maximum distance and effective distance of the sun rays.

The last cruise route is an avoidance route of the zigzag route, as well as multiple variations of the above three automatic cruise routes. And all these orders were completed with just a fist-sized 'star device'.

If it is placed on the closed loop device in the past, it is estimated that the total weight of the closed loop device at this time is equal to the Ranger itself.

Then there are a series of automated instructions for take-off, landing and charging, as well as aiming and avoiding flight in a small area, etc., these instructions are not complicated individually, but they add up to many, and it took almost thousands of layers of magic circles to record it.

However, the Earth-Origin Crystal Base showed its power in improving the Star Device, and all the instructions taken together, the size of the closed-loop device used in the end did not exceed the size of a soccer ball.

After the control law was written, Fang Ou placed the closed-loop device that recorded it in the position of the Ranger's head, connected to the visual crystal, plus the protective armor and heat dissipation array, and from the outside, it looked like the helmet of a knight with a feathered ornament.

From the front, the armor on both sides of the narrow crystal pupil still has a certain inclination, which looks like beveled armor. The cuirass followed the same principle, with a triangular top from the front, painted silver throughout, with a spear in his right hand and a shield in his left.

Although the lower part is the chassis of the porter, it has also undergone a certain battlefield transformation, on the one hand, it is added with baffles and skirt blades to protect the Guy generator; On the other hand, unlike the porters of port machinery, although the Ranger is an air combat structure, it also has the need to land after all, so it is equipped with a bipedal walking device.

However, after all, it is not a construction of the main land battle, so the bipedal walking device is very simple, just a pair of triangular brackets, and a row of wind element vents are installed from top to bottom in the back.

Overall, the Ranger looks like a silver knight armed with a shield and spear when standing; Its center of gravity tilts slightly forward as it flies, giving it a more streamlined look, as if the knight is in the middle of a surprise attack.

However, the shield is basically a decoration, and the Star Device is not truly self-aware, and the manipulator still needs to give orders to the Ranger to switch from one 'state' to another.

For example, cruise, such as returning, such as maneuvering evasion, and even firing and opening shields, it is completely inautonomous. It's just that in this process, the manipulator's commands are greatly simplified, and there is no longer a need to consume computing power to perform fine operations.

Because he couldn't make an independent feedback ability to changes on the battlefield, Fang Yu couldn't figure out how the big shield should work after thinking about it for a long time, and finally thought about it for a while, as a means of protection.

What if you just block an attack from the front?

It's like an external piece of armor, the difference is that it can be thrown away at any time.

And even after installing all the parts, the weight of the ranger knight is only more than 300 kilograms, and there is still a considerable distance from half a ton.

In fact, this build is far from excellent.

It didn't take much effort to actually design and make it—most of the drawings were ready-made, and his modifications to it were crude—it was almost a stiff combination of a shield defender and a porter, plus a tachyon spear.

The magic circle stacked in the spear in order to realize the Yang Yan Ray was probably the only Fang Yuan's own design, but it was not even a unique innovation, because the magic guide itself existed to achieve various magical effects.

As for the internal energy supply and heat dissipation array, the core crystal is also a ready-made blueprint, and it is not necessary to make an ordinary magic guide structure that flies with a Guy generator and can attack with Yang Yan rays, and does not require any special crystal configuration.

However, this is also in line with Fang Yuan's expectations for the 'Rangers'.

It is itself a construct to cooperate with the Dragon Hunter, and the Dragon Hunter is the only core structure he has at the moment, and if the Dragon Hunter is his personal guard on the battlefield, the definition of Ranger is just right for its name.

They are just light cavalry on the battlefield.

Rely on low computing power consumption and rely on clusters and numbers to win.

But that doesn't mean the Rangers are cheap -

In fact, this is the problem that Fang Yu is troubled by, he tries to use shoddy manufacturing methods for the rest of the rangers, and he can save money. For example, the chassis of the porter, and the upper body of the fifteenth-level structural shield guard, are all too cheap for them now.

The problem is that the core of the Rangers is actually a closed-loop device that controls their 'self-movement' - or the Star Device, which must be built on a source crystal pedestal to be established. Even if it is the cheapest earth-source crystal, the price is also expensive.

What's more, the earth source crystal still needs to be processed before it can be used, whether it is as many as seventeen magic solutions used in purification, and the scrap rate in the slicing and etching process, which will further push up the cost.

For example, with the skills and knowledge he has now, he can't use a more efficient solution of 21, which means that he needs to use 4, 7 and the 9th solution in his hand to achieve the same effect.

The extra cost of the solution is also sky-high.

Although Fang Yu had long known that alchemy was to burn money, after reaching the twenty-second level, he couldn't help but go deeper into this cognition.

Therefore, knowledge is power, and skill level is money.

He listened to the pouring rain outside, and looked at the purple solution on the shelf, which was a little helpless, and he thought that he should not be able to further reduce the cost.

But it was at this time that he suddenly heard a soft sound coming from behind, and when he looked back, he was surprised to find that it was not Sylvid, but an intruder he hadn't expected.

The girl, named Bety, accidentally touched a crystal sample he had placed next to the cupboard, and the crystal bone rolled to the other corner of the wall. The latter looked up and looked at him with bated breath, looking a little uneasy.

……