Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 236: Transmuting the airship

We began planning out the airframe, designing the exterior and the interior. This was essential for constructing it with alchemy. A magic formula would be used for the transmutation of materials, but the rate of success hinges on how clear the image in the mind is when the items combine.

The airframe structure will be a semi-monocoque[1] design that will consist of mithril alloy and carbon fiber. A blueprint would be necessary in order to create it with a strong image in mind.

The interior and control system will not be touched until the space inside has been expanded, so the airship’s body and rudders, elevator, landing gear, and air brakes have to be built in one go.

「Okay, what do we do about the weapons?」

For starters, I was thinking of placing two Mana Gatling Guns in the front.

A Mana Gatling Gun is a magic weapon that fires consecutive Null attribute magic. The reason I made it with Null attribute rather than with an attributed one was so that it would deal a constant damage against any monster.

「Takumi-sama, the procurement of mithril is in perfect order.」

「Good work.」

Laeva came back then.

「Oh, weapons. Fumufumu………… invoking Null attribute Mana Bullets in quick succession, I see.」

「Yeah, I think this will be fine even against things like Wyverns.」

「Then it would be equipped with an even more powerful attribute magic, wouldn’t it?」

「Yep, if it had to be with or without it, then I’d say with.」

I had thought about including it, but if we had to fight against dragon-types, those wouldn’t be beaten by the Mana Gatling Gun. A way to deal high powered attacks was necessary.

「Wind magic is a no go, right?」

「That is so. A flying dragon would have resistance to the Wind attribute. It is the same reason that the Fire attribute is ineffective with a Fire Drake.」

「Ice, Lightning, or Light maybe?」

An application of the Water Magic, Ice Magic.

An application of Wind Magic, Lightning Magic.

Highly effective against the Dark attribute and the Undead, Light attribute.

「Wouldn’t it be more preferable to mix them?」

「Ohh, that might be good.」

Fire and Lightning. Ice and Wind. Light, Lightning, Fire, and Ice. Yep, those might be great ideas.

「It’s a magic device, so it’s possible to mix more than two attributes. What we would need to be careful with is tuning the speed of the magic. If that happens, Light and Lightning would probably go great.」

After much deliberation with Laeva, we decided to equip the aircraft with a main weapon that utilizes the strongest Light attribute attack spell 『Holy』 and the Lightning spell 『Thunderbolt』 as the combined magic 『Holy Bolt』.

The mouth of the barrel of the magic guns would be in front of the fuselage. The Valley of the Wind’s Gunship[2] has two barrels on top of the other though. The size of the wings was half in comparison to the Gunship. Since there will be a float-like propulsion apparatus installed on both sides of the wings, and because of the main part of the airframe, it no longer had vestiges of the Gunship, but I suppose only the feel it had remained the same.

Now that the specifications of the weapons were settled, we quickly began designing the Mana Gatling Gun and the Holy Bolt Cannon.

The two Mana Gatling Guns and the Holy Bolt Cannon were detachable, so they’ll be made separately from the main airframe.

It was then, I remembered a matter that seemed like it would turn into an issue.

「What to do with the material for the canopy?」

What was used on the ship’s stern tower were the windows made of wings of Large Armored Dragonfly in place of windowpanes. This was further applied with Physical Resistance and Magic Resistance enchantments. However, the canopy of an airship flying in the sky at high speeds leaves me anxious.

I had asked Dwarf Doganbo-san, but he had never gotten a request like that until now, so he said he didn’t know. I then asked Undine and the Great Spirits if they knew an adequate material.

「Takumi, you’re underestimating the Spirit Tree.」

I heard an answer from Dryas. Apparently the Spirit Tree’s sap turns acrylic-like with a high degree of clarity, firmness, and viscosity when a certain temperature is applied. Who knew?

「Then would it be fine if I make a mold and pour it in?」

「That is how it is. I will make a request with the Spirit Tree.」

「Thank you, Dryas.」

Since we have a possible solution for the canopy materials, I made a mockup based on the original blueprint.

I molded clay with Earth Magic ahead of time.

What I will do with the completed mockup is a wind tunnel experiment.

The fundamental goal is to fly without hindrance with 『Float』 magic and Wind magic, but if aerodynamics is neglected, air resistance and disturbances in atmospheric currents would make it difficult to control the aircraft.

With repeated wind tunnel experiments and revisions, the design of the airframe developed.

After that, mithril ores, coal, the Spirit Tree’s sap, and more were brought into the shipbuilding dock.

I immersed myself in drawing transmutation magic circles for producing refined metals and carbon fiber.

Laeva and I checked all the materials and the magic circle, then spread the blueprint and the complete diagram beside the transmutation magic circle.

Concentrating, I made a mental image of the completed airship as clear as I could. I coalesced magic power and let it flow into the magic circle.

The magic circle shined and swallowed the materials in light.

The magic circle that emerged from the palms of my hands expanded.

「Transmute!」

The light took shape, that shine soon faded. After that, a mithril alloy airframe painted in sky blue had appeared.

***

Footnotes:

1. Semi-monocoque refers to a stressed shell structure that is similar to a true monocoque(an aircraft or vehicle structure in which the chassis is integral with the body), but which derives at least some of its strength from conventional reinforcement. -Wikipedia.

2. Same reference as before. Kaze no Tani no Naushika / Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind has a gunship that looks like this.