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Chapter 189 : Chapter 189
Chapter 189. Project Wyvern
After the meeting ended, everyone dispersed with their own thoughts weighing on their minds.
Following its brief halt, the enormous machine that was the Northern Territory began roaring back to life at full speed.
Only, over the past few days, a rather peculiar sight had appeared inside City Hall.
Behind the broad desk that had originally belonged to the governor no longer sat the silver-haired, ice-cold female governor, but the chief advisor who was usually known for slacking off instead.
Logaris West.
“Approve this budget proposal for the spring irrigation repairs. Have Iowen keep an eye on it, and do not let him slack off.”
“The City Defense Army’s expansion plan is approved as well, but what I want are technical troops proficient in operating Magitech firearms, not cannon fodder gathered just to pad the numbers.”
Logaris signed documents at astonishing speed as he issued order after order without even looking up.
Beside him sat a specially elevated child’s chair.
On it knelt a delicate silver-haired little girl in a miniature court dress, her tiny hands clutching the edge of the desk as she stretched her neck with all her might, trying to see the contents of the documents.
“Logaris! I want to see that proposal about the commercial tax adjustment!”
Sylvia shouted in a soft, childish voice. Though she was trying her hardest to keep a stern expression and look imposing, that sweet little voice had absolutely no killing power. If anything, it sounded more like sulking.
“What is a child looking at tax law for? You will get wrinkles.”
Logaris casually picked up a document and dropped it over her head, pressing the little face that had just poked out back down. “Go play somewhere else.”
“You—!”
Sylvia’s cheeks puffed up with anger as she yanked the document off her head. “I am the governor! This is my territory! This is overstepping your authority! This is a seizure of power!”
“Yes, yes, of course, my governor.”
Logaris nodded perfunctorily. His left hand continued writing while his right snapped its fingers.
Hum.
Space rippled faintly.
Sylvia had just raised her hand to slam the desk in protest when she discovered that a brightly colored lollipop had suddenly appeared in her grasp.
“Have some candy. Be good.”
“Who wants something like this?! I am not actually seven years old!”
Sylvia was overwhelmed with shame and fury. Just as she was about to throw the candy away, she found that her body had been restrained by some invisible force. It was Logaris’s Spatial Restraint. The strength of it was not particularly high, but it was more than enough to deal with her current state.
A moment later, that hateful hand reached over and began ruffling the silky silver hair atop her head with shameless abandon until the carefully arranged hairstyle had been turned into a complete bird’s nest.
“Feels pretty nice.” Logaris withdrew his hand in satisfaction and even offered a comment on it.
“Logaris!!”
The humiliated roar of the child-version governor echoed through the corridors of City Hall.
Outside the door, the clerks and guards looked at one another, then lowered their heads in perfect unspoken agreement and pretended they had heard absolutely nothing.
…
Of course, Logaris was not really spending his days just babysitting.
As a research fanatic with a pathological fear of insufficient firepower, the moment he witnessed Alectos’s dragon form the previous night, a mad idea had immediately sprung into his mind.
Late at night, Laboratory One of the Magitech Academy was still brilliantly lit.
“Professor, here are the sketches you asked for.”
Aaron, sporting two enormous dark circles under his eyes, spread a thick stack of blueprints across the table.
Logaris pushed up the new pair of glasses on his nose, his gaze sweeping feverishly across the lines on the drawings.
What they depicted was the concept design of a massive streamlined flying machine.
“If Alectos can take off with nothing but his flesh and blood and even breathe dragon fire, then why can we not build a mechanical version?”
Logaris pointed at the core section of the blueprint. “Change this area into an oversized mana internal combustion engine. Use high-purity mana crystals directly as the power source. Model the outer shell on the structure of dragon scales and make it into multilayer composite armor. As for the weapons system…”
He paused, then wrote a heavy line of text across the bottom of the drawing:
【Project Wyvern: An Integrated System Linking Airborne Carriers and Small Aircraft】
Aaron stared at that monstrous creation. At this moment, the top student who had majored in Magitech machinery at the Academy and also possessed exceptional mastery over wind-element spellcraft displayed a level of calm that was almost startling.
He drew a drafting pencil from his pocket and frowned slightly.
“This structural configuration would reduce drag, but at this estimated weight, it would be difficult for a mana internal combustion engine alone to generate enough thrust for short-distance takeoff.”
As he spoke, Aaron rapidly sketched a series of complex spell nodes onto the wing sections of the blueprint and continued his analysis with cool precision. “However, if we install three sets of ‘Breath of the Wind God’ vector nozzles on the belly and side wings, and combine them with the ‘low-altitude shear utilization’ spellwork I have been researching recently, we should be able to provide additional lift compensation during takeoff.”
He paused, ran some calculations, and nodded. “Structural strength is still a problem, but the aerodynamic layout and propulsion system… in theory, they are feasible. In fact, if we can solve the heat dissipation issue in the mana circuits, I can also place controllable wind-current spellwork along the leading edges of the wings and use that to manage lift.”
“On top of that, we still need to account for all kinds of high-altitude weather phenomena. There are many areas that still need improvement.”
There was not the slightest trace of doubt in him—only a purely rational construction of possibilities grounded in expertise.
“Good.” Seeing his student enter the zone, Logaris snapped his fingers in satisfaction. “Money is not a problem. Sylvia will foot the bill. As for the structural materials you are worried about…”
Logaris waved his hand dismissively. “Is Alectos not here? Have him contribute a few scales and several vials of blood every day for research. Dragons recover quickly. He will not die.”
Alectos, who was in the middle of training elsewhere, suddenly shivered for no reason at all and inexplicably felt a chill run down his back.
“And that as well.” Logaris pointed toward the sealed chamber on the other side of the laboratory.
Stored there were several tubes of dark red blood.
Lilith’s blood.
“How are the analysis results?”
“Simply unbelievable.” At the mention of it, the rational light in Aaron’s eyes grew even brighter. “Miss Lilith’s blood contains a special inert factor. It is not ‘erasing’ magic—it is ‘reverting’ it. It can forcibly revert active magical elements into the most primitive, purest form of attribute-less Aether!”
“At present, the research staff are focusing heavily on that inert factor, attempting to analyze its composition and determine whether it can be reproduced through alchemical means.”
Logaris nodded.
If that factor could be mass-produced and applied as a coating to armor surfaces, or made into some form of field generator…
Then in the future, when facing forbidden-spell bombardment, Northern soldiers would not merely have no need to dodge. They could treat the enemy’s attacks like portable chargers—the more they were hit, the more their energy reserves would fill.
Logaris made the decision on the spot, his voice carrying an unquestionable finality. “Classify this project as top-secret, S-rank. If you lack personnel, recruit them. If you lack equipment, buy it. If you lack money… go cry poverty to Grayson at the Treasury Department. And if that still does not work, tell him it is my order.”
“Yes, sir!” Aaron saluted, then suddenly remembered something else. “By the way, Professor, the Magitech Armor units Judge Cicero ordered have already been completed. Do they still need final calibration?”
“No calibration. Upgrade them directly.”
Logaris casually sketched a few lines on a scrap of paper. “Change the entire paint job to black and gold, then engrave some decorative patterns on them. Install a few amplification arrays. Put some outrageously flashy golden tassel ornaments on the shoulders. And add two red strobe lights.”
Aaron looked at the gaudy design details, baffled. “This… What tactical significance do these additions have? They will increase the drag coefficient.”
“That is called intimidation, understand?”
Logaris looked at his student with the expression of a man deeply disappointed in an unteachable fool. “Cicero is going there to enforce the law, not to wage war. That thing needs to stand there with every inch of it screaming the words ‘the majesty of the law’! The moment those bumpkin nobles lay eyes on it, they should immediately think it looks expensive, powerful, and absolutely untouchable!”
“That is the importance of skins. Learn something from this.”