Translator: Cinder Translations
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There is a magical spell that allows the target to float briefly in the air, reaching heights of over ten meters. This spell is aptly named "Levitation," though its power has not yet advanced to the point of truly freeing someone from the constraints of gravity. It is more like an enhanced version of a high jump.
Today, Marianna and Nathan rode in a hot air balloon, which soared to a conservative estimate of seven to eight hundred meters in height. After a leisurely trip through the skies, they landed, still exhilarated by their first-ever experience of touching the heavens. From such a height, the world below appeared like a scattered mosaic of forests, lakes, villages, and towns—a novel experience unlike anything they had ever known.
As they stepped out of the basket, Marianna couldn't stop praising the hot air balloon. Nathan, though visibly excited, couldn't shake a growing unease within him. He had always taken pride in magic, believing it could accomplish feats beyond the reach of ordinary people. But today's journey into the sky had shaken his long-held beliefs.
How do spellcasters understand magic? Over the centuries, wizards have distilled certain "rules"—arcane incantations, intricate patterns, and gestures—that allow them to project mystical forces from the mental realm into reality. Yet, these "rules" cannot be logically connected to the effects of magic through any known principles of reality. They cannot be deduced step by step.
It's like how the rooster's crow heralds the sunrise.
Over time, spellcasters have had to accept a hard truth: magic is a mysterious force unbound by the logic of reality, and its origins remain unexplainable.
During their flight, Nathan listened once more to the experimenter Aubrey's explanation of the hot air balloon's principles. Aubrey spoke of matter being composed of invisible particles, of thermal expansion and contraction, and of the buoyancy formula. Some of it Nathan understood, and some he didn't. But from Aubrey's calm and confident demeanor, it was clear that the hot air balloon's flight relied entirely on natural principles, with no trace of the mysterious or unexplainable.
Ordinary people had achieved something magic could not.
If the hot air balloon had been invented by a spellcaster or a group of them, Nathan might have felt better. But the truth was that this miraculous creation was entirely the work of ordinary people, guided by the laws of nature.
After Marianna and Nathan's aerial adventure, Catherine insisted on taking a ride herself. Not wanting to lose face in front of a brave woman, Paul, despite his fear of heights, forced himself to step into the basket, his legs stiff with anxiety. Marianna, concerned for their safety, decided to accompany them, as she still had doubts about the balloon's reliability.
The third ascent took some time, as they needed to refuel. Paul had his guards purchase wool from nearby villages to use as fuel, ensuring the balloon could rise once more.
Once airborne, Catherine stood rigidly, her hands gripping the ropes tightly, her lips pressed together in silent tension. The shock of being so high up had clearly exceeded her mental preparation. In her past life, she had climbed mountains and stood on cliffs overlooking vast chasms, believing she wasn't afraid of heights. But she had overlooked one crucial difference: on those cliffs, her feet were firmly on the ground. Now, she was suspended in the air, with nothing but a thin wooden board beneath her and hundreds of meters of empty space below.
The thought of it filled her with an indescribable fear.
Strangely, when a woman—especially a beautiful one—becomes timid, the men around her tend to grow braver. Seeing Catherine's distress, Paul took a deep breath, wrapped his arms around her, and held her close. His earlier discomfort from the height vanished, replaced by the comforting warmth of her presence.
"Trust our technicians," he said with a relaxed and confident tone, soothing Catherine's nerves. Though still tense, she gradually began to adapt.
Once freed from her fear, Catherine turned her attention to the hot air balloon itself. As expected, the view below was breathtaking. She imagined herself on a battlefield, where the enemy's movements and deployments would be laid bare before her. Even approaching reinforcements from afar would be spotted sooner by her than by the enemy commander.
The research and development of hot air balloons held significant practical value for the Alden army.
Paul's vision for the war against the orcs extended beyond the borders of Aldor. Once the orcs were driven out, Aldor would need to eliminate the threat from the north entirely. The vast grasslands and desolate deserts would likely become the battlegrounds for Aldor's forces and the orcs. In such open terrain, having an elevated observation point would be invaluable for assessing the battlefield. Especially against the swift and unpredictable orc cavalry, the hot air balloon, combined with telescopes and signal flags, could serve as an excellent early warning system.
The thrilling aerial adventure came to an end, but it was merely an unexpected interlude. The next day, as planned, Paul invited Catherine and a group of military commanders to visit the cannon foundry.
Alden's cannon-casting technology had recently undergone a significant upgrade, primarily due to the introduction of boring technology, or the boring machine.
On Earth, John Wilkinson invented the boring machine in 1774, initially to produce more accurate cannons. However, it later played a crucial role in the development of steam engines.
In this world, however, the boring machine followed an opposite trajectory.
Inspired by Paul, Burns had been researching steam engines, facing the significant challenge of rough, uneven inner walls in hand-cast cylinders. This led to excessive gaps between the piston and cylinder, severe steam leakage, and low thermal efficiency.
Thus, he needed a tool capable of machining the cylinder's inner walls to a smooth and precise finish, drastically reducing steam leakage. After extensive research and experimentation, the boring machine was born in this world.
Under Paul's leadership, Alden's various production and manufacturing departments held regular technical exchange meetings. Burns introduced the boring machine to the heads of other departments, and the military sector immediately recognized its revolutionary potential for cannon production.
Traditional hand-cast cannons faced the same issues as Burns' steam engine cylinders: rough inner walls, severe gas leakage during gunpowder combustion, low projectile velocity, short range, and uneven internal stress that often led to barrel explosions.
Despite the craftsmen's relentless pursuit of perfection under strict standards, the precision achievable by hand had its limits.
The boring machine changed everything. It was quickly integrated into cannon production, leading to a comprehensive upgrade of the entire casting process.
(End of the Chapter)
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