There is a magical technique that can make the recipient float for a short time, several meters high, hence the name levitation. However, its magic has not yet developed to the point of truly freeing people from the earth's constraints; it is more like an enhanced version of "high jump."
The hot air balloon Mariana and Nathan were in today must have ascended to a height of at least 700 or 800 meters.
They took a ride in the hot air balloon, and when they landed, they were still immersed in the excitement of being in the sky for the first time in their lives. Looking down at the world from high above, the scenery below was scattered like stars, with forests, lakes, villages and towns all in sight. This novel experience was something they had never had before in their lives.
As they descended from the basket, Mariana praised the hot air balloon, while Nathan, though unable to hide his excitement, also felt a sense of unease.
He used to be proud of magic because it could do things that mortals could never do, but today's journey through the sky has greatly impacted the beliefs he has always held.
How do spellcasters understand magic? Throughout history, wizards have summarized some "rules," namely those difficult-to-pronounce musical notes, intricate patterns, or gestures, through which wizards project mysterious power from the spiritual world into reality.
However, these "rules" cannot be linked to the effects of magic through known logic in reality, or rather, they cannot be deduced step by step.
Just like the sun rises after a rooster crows.
Over time, the Spellcasters have had to face reality: magic is a mysterious existence that is not bound by the logic of reality and whose origins cannot be explored.
While in the air, Nathan listened again to the experimenter Aubrey's explanation of the principles of hot air balloons. Aubrey explained that matter is composed of basic particles invisible to the naked eye, and he talked about thermal expansion and contraction, as well as the formula for buoyancy.
Nathan could understand some of it, and some he couldn't, but judging from Aubrey's relaxed and composed expression, it was clear that this hot air balloon did not involve any mysterious or unfathomable factors; its flight principle relied entirely on the laws of nature.
Humans have accomplished what magic cannot.
Nathan might have felt better if the hot air balloon had been invented by one or a group of spellcasters, but it was truly a miracle created entirely by human hands and the laws of nature.
After Mariana and Nathan finished their aerial adventure, Catherine also insisted on taking a ride.
Seeing how brave a girl could be, Paul, as a man, had to go even if he didn't want to, for the sake of his pride. He overcame his fear of heights and stepped into the railing with somewhat stiff legs.
Mariana also requested to accompany them again for their safety, as she still had doubts about the reliability of the hot air balloon.
The hot air balloon took a while to take off for the third time because it needed to be refueled. Paul had his guards buy some wool from the surrounding villages and towns as fuel, enough to support it to take off again.
After takeoff, Catherine stood there stiffly, her hands gripping the cable tightly, her tightly closed red lips revealing her inner tension. The impact of the high altitude had clearly exceeded her prior mental preparation.
In her past life, the princess had also climbed high mountains. She had looked down into the abyss from the cliffs. She thought she was not afraid of heights, but she overlooked the fact that even when standing on the cliffs, she was still on solid ground, not like now, with nothing to hold onto in all directions.
The thought that there was only a thin wooden plank beneath her feet and hundreds of meters of air below filled Catherine with an indescribable fear.
What's puzzling is that when a woman becomes timid, especially a beautiful woman, the men around her automatically become bolder. When Paul saw Catherine like this, he took a deep breath and pulled her into his arms. The discomfort he had felt from his fear of heights vanished, replaced by a comfortable feeling of warmth and softness.
"Have faith in our technology team!"
His relaxed and confident tone put Catherine at ease. Although she was still nervous, she gradually got used to it.
Once freed from her fear, Catherine turned her attention to the hot air balloon itself. Just as she had expected, the view below was unobstructed. Catherine imagined herself on a battlefield, where the enemy's troop deployments and movements would be completely transparent to her. She might even be able to detect enemy reinforcements approaching from afar before the opposing commander.
The research on hot air balloons had a very real need for Alda's army.
Paul's vision for the war against the orcs was not limited to the territory of Aldor. After driving the orcs out of the country, Aldor was determined to completely eliminate the threat to its north. The vast grasslands and desolate deserts could become the battlegrounds for the Ausser Army to fight against the orcs.
In open terrain, having a high vantage point is extremely advantageous for assessing the battlefield situation. Especially against the fast-moving and unpredictable Orc Cavalry, hot air balloons, in conjunction with binoculars and flag signals, can serve as excellent early warning systems.
The thrilling high-altitude adventure was over, but it was an unexpected interlude. The next day, as planned, Paul invited Catherine and a group of Royal Army generals to visit the cannon foundry.
Alda's cannon casting technology has just been upgraded, the most significant change being the introduction of boring technology, or boring machines.
On Earth, John Wilkinson invented the boring machine in 1774, originally intended to manufacture more precise cannons, but it unexpectedly played a key role in the manufacture of steam engines.
However, the application of boring machines in this world has undergone a reverse process.
Not a single mistake, not a single song, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single 6-9 book, not a single bar, take a look!
Inspired by Paul, Burns had been studying steam engines. His biggest challenge was that the rough, uneven inner walls of the hand-cast cylinders caused excessive gaps between the piston and the cylinder, resulting in serious steam leakage and low thermal efficiency.
Therefore, he needed a machining tool that could machine the inner wall of the cylinder to a very smooth and precise finish, in order to greatly reduce steam leakage. After painstaking research and long-term experimentation, the boring machine of this world was born.
Under Paul's leadership, Alda's various manufacturing departments regularly held technology exchange meetings, and the boring machine was also introduced to the heads of other departments by Burns.
The military industry immediately realized that this tool could revolutionize the production of Cannon.
The traditional hand-cast Cannon faced the same problems as Burns when researching cylinders: the inner wall was rough and uneven, resulting in serious gas leakage when the gunpowder burned, which led to low initial velocity and short range of the projectile, and the uneven stress on the inner wall could easily cause the barrel to explode.
Despite the artisans' relentless pursuit of perfection under strict requirements, there are ultimately limits to the precision achievable by hand.
The advent of the boring machine changed this situation. It was quickly introduced into the cannon casting process, and this served as an opportunity to significantly upgrade the entire cannon casting process.
Sorry, I went back to my hometown yesterday and had a lot of things to do, so I went to bed early last night and this chapter is a bit late.