In Gawain's view, the "arcane transfer cylinder" made by Rebecca and Nicholas Egg is such a key technical difficulty - it seems to be just the core component of a printing press, but what it solves behind it is a key step in transforming traditional illusion magic into industrial printing products.

As long as this crucial step goes out, then various printing technologies based on the principle of "arcane transfer" will develop logically.

The only thing that surprised Gawain was Rebecca's keen ability to "detect new things" and her unrestrained thinking.

When he told Rebecca about fax and networked printing, the girl was so happy that she crackled about her ideas and plans for improvement, and finally ran to Gawain's desk, grabbed a pen and paper, and drew a lot of sketches - to build her imaginary magic web fax workflow, and to match it, a miniaturized printing device with communication functions. In fact, Gawain thinks that this kind of equipment should be called a "printer...... But in the face of the strange workings of the Arcane Transfer Device, he decided not to dwell on this conceptual problem.

"Ancestor, Ancestor, Ancestor, do you think this is feasible?" Rebecca grabbed the sketch she had just drawn and happily ran to Gawain, because she was so anxious to draw that the girl's face and hands were stained with ink, "I think that in addition to machines that can print newspapers in large quantities, places like the government hall also need small printing machines to print documents or something, and these machines can all be connected together......"

Gawain looked at Rebecca, looked at the ink on her face, looked at her happily dancing, and couldn't help but think of what Hetty once said-

Although the Cecil family did not have close contacts with other nobles, the comparison between nobles has always prevailed, and in the circle of Miss Southern nobles, Rebecca has always been known for her "clumsiness", her clumsiness in etiquette classes is regarded as a typical example of "natural dullness", and her enthusiasm for "exploring" in the castle and studying machinery always makes herself appear dirty in front of everyone, which especially adds to the negative impression of her as the "last descendant of the Cecil family......

The corners of Gawain's mouth curled up - how could those noble ladies who could only drink tea and raise flowers in the castle slowly, and even touch the scissors in eight steps, be smarter than his roe deer?

"Ancestor, what are you laughing at?" Rebecca asked curiously, "Is there a problem with this process I designed?" ”

"No problem, I believe that this set of things will play a big role in the operation of the government affairs hall," Gao Wen smiled and waved his hand, "but we still have to take it step by step, first make the prototype of the large printing press, and solve the bottleneck of newspaper and book printing." ”

At present, the territory has been implementing general education for more than a year, and the effect is certainly obvious, but with the rapid increase in population and the rapid expansion of the territory, the existing general education model will also face challenges, and one of the most important challenges is textbooks.

Gawain needed a large number of cheap, uniformly standard textbooks, and only by allowing these textbooks to cover the entire southern border along with general education could he successfully sweep away the obscurantist haze that hung over the people.

At present, the textbooks used by Cecil General Purpose College still rely on traditional techniques to print "emergency products" in small batches, and the current teaching scale is already stretched to meet the needs of millions or even tens of millions of people in the entire southern border...... Without industrial presses, it would be an impossible task.

That's why Gawain attaches so much importance to the printing press project led by Rebecca.

He turned to Nicholas?? Mr. Egg: "Nicholas, how long does it take to build a prototype?" ”

The silvery-white ball floating next to it said confidently: "A day and a half at most – counting the time for debugging and designing the exploded view of the pipeline." I'm 90% sure that I can get it right the first time—because the most critical arcane cartridge is already in place, and the rest of the structure is no more difficult for me than pinching a few gears. ”

"Very good, let's build a prototype first, the sooner the better."

The silver-white ball floated up and down slightly: "You'll see it soon." ”

After discussing the work of the Magic Technique Research Institute and finalizing the reward scheme for the outstanding contributions of the research team, Rebecca left Gawain's study with the sketch she had just drawn.

Humming a casual ditty and taking a brisk step, the heir of the Cecil family made his way through the corridors - neither the act of humming while walking nor the slightest dignified way of walking did not look like the work of an orthodox aristocratic lady, but everyone in the mansion had long been familiar with this style of painting, and even the always strict Hetty had given up correcting Rebecca's mannerism.

As she walked around the corner of the hallway, Rebecca suddenly stopped—she saw the door not far ahead, slightly open, and a light leaking out of it.

She recognized Betty's room and walked briskly over to see what Betty was up to.

When the door opened, she saw that the little maid who had fled from the old territory with everyone in a daze, and who had followed her to this day, was sitting at the small desk beside the bed, looking at something intently with her head down.

The furnishings in the room are very simple, except for the necessary beds, tables and chairs, there is only a small wardrobe and two small boxes in the corner.

A slightly old pan looked odd hanging on the wall next to the bed, but it was Betty's treasure - now Betty was no longer the lowest kitchen maid, so she hung her most precious pan in her room and no one was allowed to touch it.

Rebecca knocked lightly on the door next to her, and the little maid was startled by the sudden sound, who looked up and quickly stood up when she saw Rebecca, but before she could bow, Rebecca interrupted her: "I'm fine—I'm just here to see what you're doing." ”

With that trademark stunned expression, Betty raised her hand and pointed to the small desk next to her: "...... Reading. ”

Rebecca curiously leaned over to take a look, and saw a copy of "The Wizard and the Potions Vial" spread out on the desk, this is a very easy to understand book, although the title of the book has the word "wizard", but the actual content is basically a simple story, she remembers that she also had such a book when she was young, which is one of the earliest enlightenment books that the children of the wealthy class in this era came into contact with.

The book is old, and it has obviously been read many, many times, the handwriting is slightly blurred in some places, and the edges of the paper are badly worn, but it is still evident that it has been carefully treated and preserved to this day.

"It's ...... Mr. Santis lent it to me," Betty explained, explaining the origin of the book, "I'm almost done, and I'm going to return it when I'm done." ”

Rebecca glanced at Betty with some surprise, and at this moment, a thought suddenly popped up in her mind, which was often in a state of freedom:

Betty was only two years younger than her.

However, this girl, who was only two years younger than her, had only just learned the basic words, and had just been able to understand an enlightenment book that she had been tired of reading when she was seven years old, and she had read it with relish.

And if it weren't for the insistence of her ancestors on promoting liberal education, this little maid would probably never have had the opportunity to touch this book in her life.

Rebecca blinked, she had never treated Betty as an "inferior", she got along with everyone in the castle like family, even the lowliest handyman who shoveled horse manure and kitchen maids like Betty, and at a very young age, she even dragged Betty and a few other little maids of the same age to organize a small castle adventure, and they played like sisters.

But why didn't she ever notice...... Betty didn't even have a book.

Rebecca was a little confused, she couldn't understand why she hadn't noticed this kind of thing in her previous ten years of life, but she felt that the reason why she noticed it today was because the success of the "Arcane Press" was in sight.

Our ancestors once said that when the printing press became popular, the age of printing would come, and the monopoly of a few people on knowledge and the means of disseminating knowledge would be completely broken, and at that time, even the most ordinary and poor people should have a few books of their own at home.

Industrial printing was an indispensable part of extending Cecil's "general education" to the entire south.

"Betty, do you want a book? Your own book. ”

Betty was a little confused, but she thought about it seriously for a moment and nodded vigorously: "Hmm." ”

Rebecca laughed, "Then I'll give you a few books in a while!" ”

In fact, she could give Betty a lot of books right now, whether they were simple enlightenment books or real magic books, but she felt that none of those books met her requirements - she wanted to wait for the printing press to be practical, and the first batch of books made in industrial mass production would be printed, and then choose the right ones from them to give Betty, so that it would make sense.

Betty was confused for a long time after hearing Rebecca's words, and then said in a daze: "But books are very valuable......"

"No, books won't be so valuable anymore, my ancestors once said that knowledge can be precious, but it shouldn't be noble, and it shouldn't be expensive," Rebecca shook her head, and she laughed after noticing Betty's confused eyes, "It's okay, it's okay if you don't understand, soon you'll see it with your own eyes - from now on, every ordinary person in this land can not only be literate, not only can read newspapers, but also have their own books!" Many, many books! ”

Betty opened her eyes wide, and looked at the "Viscount Miss" in front of her, who could almost be said to have grown up with her, and only after a long time did she say: "Miss...... This way of speaking is a bit like the old man. ”

Rebecca scratched her hair, "Hey, yes, I think so." ”

……

The first usable industrial press was completed a little earlier than Gawain had anticipated.

In the afternoon of the second day, he saw this machine made by Nicholas on the "mechanical round table" of the Institute of Mechanics. Mr. Egg personally processed, assembled, and commissioned the completed large machine.

Together with Gawain who came to the Mechanical Research Institute to accept the equipment, there were Hetty and Rebecca, who was the general leader of the project, and Godwin, the president of the Cecil newspaper and the head of the press and publication department. Orlando.

The new press resembled a steel monster crouching on the ground, with long metal grooves extending out of the front and back, which were supposed to transport the paper, and in the center of the machine was the all-important "Arcane Transfer Cylinder", which was held in place by a movable bracket above a flat plate in the center of the machine, and the outline of the gears and connecting rods was faintly visible on the inside of the bracket.

Underneath the transfer unit is a guide slot for the paper to pass through, and an ink plate at the bottom.

In addition to these main structures, there is also an "accessory structure" on the side of the press that seems to be a separate machine, and at the top of the square, half-human-high metal box, Gawain sees the "large color palette (keyboard)" that Rebecca has mentioned, and the "editing mechanism" used to control the projection crystal inside the arcane transfer cylinder, a dizzying array of dozens of keys arranged in a fan, mounted on an inclined metal panel, and on top of the metal panel, a small projection crystal can be seen.

That projection crystal is supposed to be used to provide "previews".

From the outside, the device was far more complex than any other magic machine ever built in the territory before.

If you don't know Nicholas?? Gawain would not believe that this thing was made in one day anyway.

"Look, I'll say it—you'll see it soon!" Nicholas?? Mr. Egg floated beside the new machine, and said with a deep pride in his tone.

Gawain looked at the industrial printing press in front of him in amazement, but it was Nicholas who was even more surprised?? The shape of the egg, which was originally a spherical silver-white metal ball, now looks a little square.

Although it is not to the point of being angular, it is indeed a bit square.

"How do you ...... The shape becomes like this? ”

"Oh, I've been tossing this printing press for a while, I'm tired - it's okay, just go back and sleep."

Gawain: "......"

What's wrong with this ball?