Chapter 464 464 Human Gear Is Good Too
Chapter 464 464 Human Gear Is Good Too
Janet got very excited at that mention and began to flip through the pages of the repair manual that the Technician had brought along.
“Wolfe, Wolfe, look at this. It’s a turbine drive. It burns fuel here and just needs the turbines to be moving to keep operating. If you put a small fire or air inscription here, it would do the exact same thing. Once the air in the chamber expands, the rotors will pull more air through, increasing the compression and producing thrust.
Of course, here we’re not trying for forward thrust, just enough to turn the shaft, but it’s functionally very similar to the jet planes I was trying to build.
What I’m saying is that I know the Arrays that you need to turn this into a magical vehicle without making a single change to the vehicle itself. See, they’re right here in my notes from when we first met.”
The fact that she still had those in her backpack of random plans and details was impressive, and although she couldn’t actually use the Array necessary, she had worked out the theory for the combination of Air and Fire Magic that would do the job.
Both the mechanic and the pilot looked very dubious at her claims, but as Wolfe looked through the diagram, he could see that she had even made notes to link the intensity of the spell to the throttle linkage so that you could properly control speed.
Wolfe had thought they would need to do a full conversion, but it looked like converting a turbine-powered vehicle would be much easier than expected.
“Alright, I think that I can do that. I might have to tweak the spell to adjust the power flow, but other than that, I think we’re good. Can we test the power flow without having the helicopter in the air?” Wolfe agreed.
“Indeed we can. As long as the gearbox is in neutral, the turbine will spin up without the blades spinning. It’s normal to warm the motor up and do your pre-trip checks that way, as I understand it.” Janet agreed, looking to the Pilot for confirmation.
“That’s right. Don’t worry. I know these things well enough that I can tell by turbine speed on the indicator whether the power level is right for the throttle position.” She agreed.
Janet plotted out the Arrays as she understood them, then Wolfe modified them so that they would actually work and began to layer them on the turbine under the protective panel that the technician had raised during his inspection of the vehicle.
“There we go. It should be working now. I haven’t swapped in any mana crystals for the supply yet, so it is running straight off of my mana feed, but feel free to power it up, and I will decide how much it needs for storage.” Wolfe explained.
The helicopter was going to be way more power-hungry than the small aircraft were, there was no doubt about that, but just how much wasn’t a question that Wolfe knew the answer to.
The starter button was now linked to an air spell that got the turbines spinning and started the process, which should bring the helicopter to life with a loud whirring noise.
“These things are so antiquated that I’m surprised any are still in service, but one thing about them, they’re indestructible. They were designed to drop troops and gear in high mana density zones for the war if that gives you some idea of how long this design has been in use.” The Pilot explained.
Wolfe was tempted to ask what her parents had been thinking to name her Darius, but it was possible that it was a shortened nickname for something much worse. If that was the case, he didn’t want to bring it up while they were working and make things awkward.
“Well, it should be running again, and it will become a high-density mana zone of its own in a few minutes if the inscriptions work.” Wolfe laughed.
Darius hopped into the cockpit and started flipping switches in preparation to start the helicopter, then crossed her fingers for luck and hit the starter button.
The anticipated noise whistled in their ears, and the Pilot smiled as the instruments came to life on the dash. She slowly flipped switches, turned dials and checked off items on a laminated checklist that was attached to the console.
Once that was done, she carefully depressed the safety latch and pushed the throttles forward, turning the droning hum to a high-pitched whistle as the turbines spun up.
She throttled them back and shook her head.
“We’re hitting full rotation at one-third throttle. You need to back the power down. The bearings aren’t intended to spin any faster than that.” The Pilot explained.
Wolfe adjusted the spell without disabling the main mana feed and gestured for her to try again.
“That’s close. We’re coming in at ninety percent of maximum power at full throttle. Given how worn out this old bird is, that might actually be all she’s capable of anymore.” The Pilot laughed.
“If you want to take her up for a short flight, you’re welcome to. The mountain should shield you from anything that might see you, but don’t wander far, just in case you upset a flying monster.” Wolfe suggested.
The mechanic hopped in with her, and the rotors began to slowly spin as she adjusted the settings, engaging the main drive.
The rhythmic thumping turned to a steady noise as the rotor picked up speed and the blades straightened from their drooping neutral state. The oversized cargo craft slowly lifted off the ground and lifted away as Wolfe belatedly remembered to cast armour spells on the two occupants.
Just in case things weren’t all good, they would at least be somewhat protected from a crash that way.
The helicopter made a series of complex turns and rotations on the spot, like it was positioning for a container placement, and then returned to the landing pad and powered down.
“I think that is everything. The helicopter is performing flawlessly, but it will need much more power with a load on. Can you estimate how much mana flow it will need from that?” She asked Wolfe.
“No problem. I will assume it either doubles or triples with a load on and go from there. I should be able to get it going. We just need to drain the fuel tanks completely so I can fill them with mana crystals and get everything set up for regular use.
It’s only a few days until the villages out east will be expecting us to make good on our offer to supply them weapons to deal with the Grand Dutchies. They have no problems falling in line under the most powerful, but they do have expectations that we will look out for them.” Wolfe replied with a wink for the amused werewolf and his bride.
“Now, I suppose that we should get started on an underground bunker here to bring supplies up to the airstrip. How about having the entrance over there by the containers and then a second entrance at the river, where that vertical cliff is?
The witches can hide it with an illusion, and then the riverboats can come straight in to drop off their gear?” Wolfe suggested, using a stick to draw his plan in the dirt.