When Victoria returned to her room on the upper floor of Silver Castle, snowflakes were falling from the window.

Snow ...... this winter One after another, especially after the cold months of the month, the snow barely stopped.

Proper snowfall can bring a good harvest for the coming year, but it will also make the cold months even more difficult, and after this snowfall, I am afraid that many people will die in the villages and towns outside the royal capital......

The cold winds from the north swirled over the ancient royal capital, stirring the snowflakes falling from the sky into a hazy curtain, and the black-haired maid Maggie closed the wooden window panels on the inside of the window, insulating the cold and bleak scene outside, and the fireplace burned in a corner of the room, keeping the gorgeous room warm and cozy—the icy and snowy land outside the castle seemed to be another world.

"Your face isn't very good," Maggie asked softly as she looked at Victoria, who walked into the room, and stepped forward to help the duchess undo her cloak, "Today's meeting still didn't go well?" ”

"There are so many mediocre people sitting in those chairs—everyone is as short-sighted as a snow squirrel," Victoria shook her head, "and what's worse is that I can't get them out yet." ”

Maggie hung her cloak on the shelf next to her and whispered, "After all, the country still depends on them for its work." ”

Victoria glanced at the maid who was also a servant and friend, and she knew that Maggie, although nominally her maid, had great insight and transcendent strength, and that the "Butler of the North" was one of her most trusted people, and that most of the topics could be discussed when the two were alone.

"The state does not have to depend on the stale aristocracy to function," said the duchess calmly, "you have seen it with your own eyes. ”

Maggie raised her eyelids and glanced at Victoria, "Yes, but it comes at a great cost, and it's important to note that you're one of them, and one of them." ”

Victoria was silent for a moment.

yes, she can't go that way.

"Don't think about that anymore, there's something more important," Maggie's words woke Victoria from her momentary thoughts, and the black-haired maid picked up a fire-lacquered letterhead from a nearby table and handed it to the Duchess, "A letter to you, from the Archduke of the South, the White-Feathered Griffon." ”

Victoria's eyes widened in astonishment, and she took the letter box and said, "Duke Cecil? ”

She instinctively sniffed out the unsettling smell of the letter—not long after she had returned to the royal capital, the Duke of the South had hurriedly written a letter to herself, and it had been sent by a griffon messenger on this coldest of months.

She quickly opened the letterbox, took out the handwritten letter inside, and unfolded it, her brow furrowed when she saw its contents.

Maggie stood silently beside her, not asking about the contents of the letter: although she and Victoria were close, they were not enough to go beyond that.

"Maggie," Victoria asked, immediately after a quick reading of the letter, "when did the astrologers of the Mage's Guild report the shift of the red veins at the base of the sun?" ”

The black-haired maid recalled: "It should be the 10th of the cold month." ”

"The 10th of the cold month...... Same day......" Victoria lowered her head and looked at the contents of the letter, "It can't be a coincidence......"

Then she noticed Maggie's slightly curious gaze, so she took a slight breath and took the initiative to mention the contents of the letter: "Duke Cecil sent a warning, the magnificent wall has changed on the 10th of the cold month, and there was a large-scale overload, and the overload lasted for three whole days, and by the day the letter was sent, although the magnificent wall had returned to calm, Duke Cecil believed that the barrier had been permanently damaged in the process of overload......"

The black-haired maid's eyes slowly widened, and her astonishment was unreserved.

"It seems that I need to gather the royal mages and royal scholars," the duchess said in a deep voice, "and ...... There is also a new round of aristocratic councils. ”

When the word "noble council" was spoken, Victoria couldn't help but have a hint of tiredness in her tone.

However, she is familiar with the Ansu system and knows very well that no matter what she wants to do—even if she is the queen of Ansu—she can't avoid the nobles.

"What a quagmire."

……

Light blue rune brilliance flickered between the layers of overlapping rune substrates, surging arcane energy struck out a crackling arc of electricity, bursting out from between the energy contacts and gears, and on the laboratory bench built for testing large equipment, the heavy and complex power mechanism was slowly starting to operate under the impetus of magic, and the sound of steel meshing and turning was like a roar from weak to strong, making the entire experimental bench tremble slightly.

On the monitoring platform, which was more than twenty meters away from the experimental bench and separated by two layers of magic shields in between, Rebecca and Kamal were standing between the technicians, paying close attention to the operation of the machine in the distance and the various magical devices around the machine.

A dazzling spark suddenly appeared at the top of a tower-like device in the corner of the bench.

"Amplifier No. 1 is overloaded!!"

"The No. 2 and No. 3 amplifiers are out of balance - the protective tile may have melted down!"

"The core is heating up, and the amplifier groups are interfering with each other—"

"Stop now!" Rebecca's eyes widened, and she hurriedly shouted, "Shut down, shut down!!" ”

A magic technician quickly got up and pulled a lever located on the side of the console, but due to the violent movement, the lever got stuck in the middle of the gear between running and emergency stopping, and a strange humming sound came from under the console, and on the experimental bench more than twenty meters away, electric light condensed by arcane energy began to burst out from the surface of each rune device.

"Let me come!!" Rebecca shouted at this critical moment, and then casually picked up the iron staff that she never left her body, and smashed it on the console, she knew very well where to smash it at this time - although according to the normal process there should be no such thing as "smashing" - with a loud bang, a part of the console completely dented, and the magic connection below was immediately broken.

The arcane sparks that burst out of the bench quickly faded and vanished, and the entire crew gradually stopped after a sustained low hum, and in one corner of the bench, smoke billowed from the top of a two-meter-tall tower-like device - the entire unit was mostly preserved, and the rest was clearly badly damaged.

As soon as the device stopped, the staff who had been waiting for them rushed up, they rushed to the side of the tower-like device, and raised their arms to point to the alloy tower that was still emitting a rolling heat wave, and the engineering magic terminal immediately released a large area of weakened ice picks, and with the impact of ice and snow containing magic power, the temperature of the entire tower began to drop rapidly.

Rebecca craned her neck to watch the situation near the lab bench, and from behind her came Kamal's voice, "How's it going?" ”

"Don't think about it, just make a new one...... Rebecca said with a sad face, "Aunt Hetty is going to kill me...... The last time I reported the budget for the restoration lab to her, her eyes were red......"

“…… I'll report it," said Kamel after a brief pause, "Accidents and failures are inevitable circumstances that come with research. ”

"But burning eight amplifiers and two large magic engines in six days is different......" Rebecca still grimaced, looking up at the large makeshift "laboratory" made of steel brackets and prefabricated panels, feeling a dull pain in her skull.

This is a newly built laboratory according to the instructions of the ancestors, located on the outskirts of the city, far from the residential area, the implementation of the safety isolation system and new operating procedures, it has been proved that this arrangement has greatly improved the safety factor of the experiment, but the success rate of the experiment is ...... It doesn't seem to have changed at all.

"Why," Rebecca muttered to herself, "why do you always get stuck on overloads and interference......"

A senior magic guide technician looked at the data recorded in the recent period and said: "According to the test, the dense arrangement and overlapping of the magic net units can indeed greatly improve the output, and the volume can also be stuffed into the front of the car, but it also brings frequent overloading and mutual interference of the amplifier group and repulsion mechanism - the magic output of the multi-layer overlapping magic net is very problematic in terms of stability and purity. ”

"It seems that in order to make the multi-layer magic net practical, we must first find a way to solve the interference between each layer of the magic net," Carmel continued, "In addition, the pressure of the power train at the start was also a problem, and we had to find a way to redesign the transmission and transmission mechanism to reduce the starting speed and reduce the instantaneous pressure of the magic engine, which was caused by the instantaneous pressure of the previous two magic engines." ”

"It seems that mechanical transmission is not suitable for a behemoth like the 'magic train', and the transmission device can't withstand that much impact," Rebecca shook her head, "it really can't be...... We can try the 'hydraulic transmission' that our ancestors mentioned once. ”

As she spoke, her brow furrowed, as she thought of another question, "But it's not enough to reduce the instantaneous pressure of the magic engine...... The mechanical pressure can be reduced, but the magic pressure on the amplifier and the magic net still can't be solved. ”

"The mana power of the rune array is rigid...... It's really hard to do," Carmel hummed, "even if you reduce the load on the Magic Engine when it starts, it's a challenge for the Amplifier to keep it running. ”

This is a common problem faced by most magic machines: no matter how precise and complex the function of the magic guide machinery is, the essence of its core is still a "magic array".

Since it is a "magic array", the mana consumed by each magic array is fixed, and the "potency" of this spell may be affected by the casting material and the environment, but the mana it consumes is a fixed value.

Even if the starting pressure of the magic energy engine is reduced to a minimum, the mana required for its operation will be 100% faithfully reflected in the amplifier and magic net unit that power it is powered, and how many repulsive runes there will be will be how much mana will be consumed, without the slightest discount.

As a result, the mechanics of the Magic Engine may be able to resist, but the runes in the energized part should be burned out, just like today.

One problem after another, and before each problem can be solved, a new series of problems seem to emerge, such as mechanical structure, material strength, magic interference, and the load of each device...... All the obstacles are piled up, and it's almost impossible to figure out.

It's a quagmire.

Rebecca looked at the Arcane Master in front of her, and suddenly couldn't help but ask, "Master Carmel, what was the means of transportation in the Gondor Empire back then?" It stands to reason...... Such a huge empire must also need a large transportation similar to a magic energy train, right? ”

Hearing Rebecca's question, Carmel couldn't help but show the color of memory: "Back then...... Instead of using mechanical magic vehicles, we used the power of large elemental summons to transport goods, such as the Hurricane and the Wave Messenger, which were powerful enough to move mountains and seas......"

Rebecca was stunned when she heard this: "This ...... Can such a high-level elemental creature be summoned and controlled? How do you get them to help? ”

"It's very simple, conclude a summoning contract and give half a ton of dark blue magic crystal ......"

"Okay, you don't have to say anything."

Deep Blue Crystal! Half a ton!! Not to mention the hurricane bringer, I'm afraid that even a wind elemental lord can kneel and deliver goods to you Gondor, right?

Rebecca marvels at the local tyrants of the former Gondor Empire, but soon, the problems of the Magic Train project still fill her mind.

Miss Marquis covered her head: "The skull hurts ......"

Kamel looked at this talented but somewhat childish girl, and couldn't help but want to comfort her, but before he could speak, Rebecca suddenly raised her head: "Actually, I think so...... Isn't there something wrong with this line of thinking? Or...... Can I change directions? ”

"What do you mean......"

"Concentrating power on the front of the locomotive may seem simple and crude, but it's too difficult to implement, and it's inherently unstable to force these powerful things together," Rebecca said as she thought about it, her wonderful brain was running fast, "Master Carmel, do you remember that we had a plan at that time, which was to disperse several smaller power magic engines across the train to several carriages throughout the train to make a power car......"

"I remember that this plan had a problem with the synchronization of the various power cars," Kamel said as he thought about it, "what do you think...... Will synchronization coordination be simpler than the problems we have on the front of the car now? ”

"What if?" Rebecca said, "Anyway, we have planned both of them, and now that the key components of the front unit have burned and we have to rebuild, why not just build an experimental platform and try the power dispersion solution?" Of course, the power concentration scheme on the front side of the car will not give up, you can continue to work hard, maybe the two sets of plans can complement each other, and you will find a breakthrough! ”

As she spoke, the girl pondered again: "Besides...... Lately, I've been wondering if I can lighten the load on the entire train with a weight-reducing circle that runs continuously...... However, weight loss is a spell that takes effect in the range, and how to control its effective area and prevent imbalance when the train is turning has to be carefully considered...... But I think these may be the direction of breakthrough. ”

That's really an optimistic idea.

However, looking at Rebecca's passionate eyes, Carmel realizes that she is also infected - maybe there is some truth?

"Alright," the ancient arcane master nodded, "get the plan done tonight, and we'll go to Lady Hetty together tomorrow to apply for funding." ”

“…… Ay? Didn't you go? ”

"Let's go together," Carmel hummed, "you're the head of the entire Magic Technology Department, and you need to go there yourself if there is a major change in the project. ”

What the Grand Magus said is justified and righteous.

Rebecca didn't believe it, but she had to believe it.