Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 392 Ship Girl Upgrading

"Teleport to the women's bathhouse? Dream on! Have you even been inside the women's bathhouse? You can't teleport to a place you've never been before, you know that?"

"What kind of Midas touch? If such a thing were true, who would use gold coins? The price you pay for that would be more expensive than gold itself!"

After a bunch of rambling and nonsense, the mage finally arrived inside the main building. Before he even reached the second floor, he met Nancy at the top of the stairs.

"You've been gone for so long, just for that thing called Turbo Chicken? Is it done yet? If not, can't you just hire a more powerful one?"

Faced with the female thief's ignorance, Master Zhang could only offer a pitying look of sympathy for an illiterate woman, and then gently explained:
"You don't know anything! Just come and watch, and you'll understand."

After saying that, he ignored the other person's clenched fists, didn't even go back to the dormitory, and turned around and walked towards the carriage parked outside the door.

I should head over to the shipyard and take a look. Although the female thief's report suggests that Lars's renovation project is progressing smoothly, there's just...

He didn't doubt the female thief's honesty, but what about her level of knowledge?

Haha, I'm afraid it won't stand up to scrutiny.

As they rode in the carriage towards the shipyard in the dock area, Nancy, though fuming and unwilling to accept the mage's questioning glances, still led her nemesis to the vicinity of Auerbach's dry dock.

"You can think of a turbine engine as a special kind of self-operating propeller. All you need to know is that it nearly doubles the speed of a ship."

Regardless of Nancy's skeptical expression, Zhang Yuan's first sight upon entering the dock was the Auerbach, which was placed in a drained dock. The ship's bottom rested steadily on the keel block, unmoved by any wind.

Walking closer to examine it, I saw that the bottom of the boat had been clearly cleaned, and the tung oil that had been applied not long ago still had a shiny sheen and emitted a peculiar but not unpleasant smell.

This was clearly an opportunity for Lars and his crew to take advantage of the dry dock treatment and give their ship a thorough makeover.

It should be understood that dry docks are not as worthless as ordinary berths. A large shipyard has a limited number of dry docks. If it weren't for the Grand Duke's convenience, Lars' Auerbach would never have had the chance to take advantage of this.

It was a good opportunity to give my little one a full-body treatment. Since the cost was reimbursed by the company and paid through official channels, he felt perfectly justified in taking this perk.

The progress of the renovation is acceptable; at least the planned reinforcement and strengthening work has been completed as expected.

"You need not worry, Your Excellency. Not only have the preliminary preparations been completed, but we have also given this fine lady a makeover. We will trouble Your Excellency to make the necessary modifications."

Lars and the others, having figured things out, were quite eager. The mage, noncommittal, strolled to the stern of the ship, where the main event was about to begin.

The area where the tail rudder used to be has now been transformed into an open compartment, practically untouched.

This is why the Auerbach's refit had to be carried out in a dry dock; otherwise, let alone installing equipment, it would probably sink to the bottom as soon as construction began.

"Now can we start installing my turbine thrusters? I can't wait."

"Let them see the power of technology, the quality of Keane, as solid as a rock!" The tinkerer and the old clockwork jumped out one after the other, scrutinizing the stern compartment that had been cleared out and reserved for the engine room.

This single criticism revealed a whole host of flaws. The two master craftsmen shook their heads and pointed, leaving the self-satisfied Lars and the shipwright beside him speechless.

This is quite normal. Given their standards and vision, it would be strange if the shipyard met the requirements. Fortunately, both of them looked relaxed and picked up the various tools provided by the mage, starting to adjust and modify the shipyard.

"It looks like it on the surface, but in reality, neither the strength nor the precision is satisfactory. It needs to be properly corrected."

Despite the many opinions, judging from Old Tinker's relaxed expression, the problem probably wasn't too serious.

After a while of hammering and tinkering, the two master craftsmen completed the adjustment and calibration of the engine room in just a few hours of afternoon time.

"Hehehe, Chanem, show them what real treasures are."

The tinker chuckled and gestured for the mage to take out the turbine thruster. The mage circled the cabin twice, found a suitable angle, and then revealed his "big treasure."

This is no small thing; a turbine propulsion system generally consists of three parts: an energy storage tank, an engine, and turbine blades.

The engine and propellers, needless to say, are the foundation of the power system, and are no different from the power principles of modern ships.

However, a problem arises: how to solve the problem of power source, or energy resources?

Given Faerûn's actual situation, fuel oil was out of the question, but even high-quality coal would be extremely difficult to obtain, let alone the size and weight of a coal-fired steam turbine. Unless it was an ironclad warship, it would be simply insufficient to support such a massive size.

As for the conventional crystal energy in Kaguya's world?
Sorry, this stuff isn't produced in Faerûn. In the same category, it would be a high-end resource like a magic gem or an elemental core, which are quite expensive.

Unless they possess the Miser Core, what power has the audacity to squander diamonds like burning charcoal?
Fortunately, magic can solve problems. Alchemical arrays used for heating or providing energy are practically ubiquitous in the dazzling array of spell arrays. Master Zhang, who is also quite skilled in transformation magic, would not be stumped by such a thing.

After careful consideration and comparison, the mage abandoned the steam turbine model that relied on drawing energy from the fire elemental plane to power the boiling of water, and went straight to the point of implementing a fully electric drive system.

A precisely designed electric arc array, coupled with a current stabilizer crafted by a tinkerer, injects abundant and continuous energy into the engine to drive the rotor. This energy is then channeled into the propeller blades via a tightly fitted gear and lever module. The high-speed rotating blades generate powerful vortices, and the irresistible power is enough to create a flying boat on the sea.

Magical and electrical abilities.

This propulsion system is a product of the collision and convergence of knowledge systems from several worlds.

While it can hardly be called a masterpiece, it is quite practical, as experienced craftsmen have taken into full consideration reliability, stability, and ease of maintenance.

Furthermore, since its energy mainly comes from drawing current from the gas element realm, the gas element crystal nuclei consumed are only used as key catalysts, and its consumption is far lower than that of laser cannons used as ammunition charging, reducing costs to a completely acceptable level.

Thank you to Taiyang and Yuezhimin for their monthly tickets, and thank you to our loyal reader Angel for your generous donation. Thank you all!

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(End of this chapter)