When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#194 - Your gears lack energy, but the ether makes up for it.

Watching the motionless gear, Horn climbed onto the stage, reached out, and touched it, trying to turn it.

But no matter how hard Horn tried, the gear remained motionless, as if it wasn't the same gear that had been unmoving under the crank's rotation.

"Truly amazing."

No matter how unbelievable Horn found it, the phenomenon was right in front of him; no matter how unreasonable, it was part of how this world worked.

But he still believed that matter was conserved, and that there must be something he didn't understand about this star-forged gear.

At this point, seeing Horn standing in front of the gear deep in thought, Sylph gradually understood.

Her original attitude of showing off a toy gradually subsided, and she began to introduce it to Horn in a serious manner.

"Don't think of it as spinning out of nowhere; it can spin because I'm turning the crank," Sylph said, wheeling her chair over. "When I turn the crank, you can think of the star-forged gear as a small gear that weighs only one-tenth of its original weight, or even almost nothing.

For other gears that come into contact with the star-forged gear, the star-forged gear is still that fast and heavy gear."

This made Horn even more puzzled. The problem was that the energy at the input end was smaller than the output end. Who was going to make up for the missing energy?

"You have such a high-speed gear driving the machinery, but the energy at your input end is only enough to turn a small gear, like putting a drop of water into a pool and getting a basinful out..." Horn suddenly stopped talking.

If a drop of water was put into a pool and a basinful came out, then in that case, either there was another inlet, or there was already water in the pool.

When using the orichalcum rod, he had encountered a similar question, and Horn's diagnosis was, "The orichalcum's potential energy is greatly lacking, but the user's mana compensates for this part."

Could the star-forged gear have the same properties?

But when he turned the crank just now, he didn't feel any mana being lost.

"Let me ask you, does the operation of this gear consume mana?"

"Yes, and no," Sylph continued to explain, covering her long wolf tail on her lap.

This kind of star-forged gear was a major alchemical invention of Sylph's foster mother, originally intended to be used as a water pump to help drain the swamp, but for some reason, it was not implemented.

According to Sylph, the alchemical reaction of the star-forged gear as an alchemical product takes place during rotation.

Although the mana required is only slightly higher than that of fluorite, it is indeed needed. In other words, an ordinary person would not be able to turn this crank at all.

"But our mana is far from enough to turn it, right?"

"Let me give you an analogy: the mana you provide is just a spark, but what really makes the fire burn is the firewood underneath."

"Are you saying that the gear itself stores energy?"

"Correct," Sylph's tail wagged. "That so-called firewood, that water in the pool, is called aether."

"Aether?!" Patrick's suppressed exclamation came from behind.

Horn quickly glanced back. "Crispa, do you know what aether is?"

Horn still called Patrick Crispa because he wouldn't respond if you called him by his real name, as if his identity hadn't been exposed.

"Aether is a hypothesis proposed by the Scalebearer Hermetics, but..."

Seeing Patrick's hesitant expression, Horn didn't continue to ask, preparing to ask him privately later, since the most important thing at the moment was the problem of the star-forged gear.

"Then where does the aether come from? And how does it enter the star-forged gear?"

"Aether comes from the Astral Plane. Our material world is in the Astral Plane. We are constantly being pierced by the aether flow, but the time, location, and conditions for extracting and refining it are very harsh.

If you want to know the details, we can hold a tea party, and then we can chat slowly."

Turning the handwheel, Sylph slowly drove towards the door. "As for how it is stored in the star-forged gear, what do you think that spire outside is for?"

………………

After confirming that A'Fu was okay, Sylph brought Horn and the others to the front of the spire's gate.

At this moment, there were many marks of knives and axes on the gate, but no matter how they attacked, or even used clockwork guns, they could not break through this iron gate.

But what was strange was that, apart from the gargoyle relief in the middle of the door, there were no keyholes or mechanisms.

So how do you open the door? Horn looked down at Sylph's raised wolf ears.

"Horn, push me to the door."

Pushing the wheelchair to the door, Sylph nonchalantly put her hand into the gargoyle's mouth.

In the deep stone mouth, Horn vaguely saw a cold light flash, and after Sylph retracted her hand, red spots of blood appeared on the pad of her index finger.

Holding the gargoyle's chin, Sylph gently pushed, and the heavy, tall iron door slowly rose as the chain turned.

It was as easy as pushing a roller shutter door.

Sticking out her slender tongue, she licked off the blood spots, and the tiny cut on her fingertip quickly healed. "Only my mom and I can open this door. Hmm, how did those demon hunters open it back then? Maybe they used Mom's blood?"

Before Sylph took Horn in, a group of soldiers entered first, thoroughly searching inside and out.

But this time, Victor didn't dare to guarantee it. If a vampire popped out halfway, then he could say goodbye to the position of legion commander.

He still wanted to make progress.

After confirming that the first floor was safe, Horn and his party walked into the slender, tall spire.

The entire spire seemed to be built of marble. The first floor was about a hundred square meters, but it didn't seem small because there was no public space.

In the center of the black, red, and white granite floor was a pool about two meters in radius.

Since there were no windows on the first floor, everything was shrouded in misty darkness. The only light was the vertical beam of light that shone in from the small hole in the ceiling.

Located in the center of the floor, the slender beam of light seemed to support the entire floor.

The pool water reflected shimmering waves, rolling on the arched structure of the walls, tapestries, and Gothic columns.

But Horn and the others did not stay long, but pushed Sylph up to the second floor from the spiral ramp.

The second floor no longer had ornately decorated walls, only a circle of curved bookshelves arranged along the walls. There were few books in the bookshelves, and some even had signs of fire damage.

"Those demon hunters did it," Sylph said coldly, straightening her tail and letting it hang down. "I've memorized all those books. If there wasn't a lack of paper, the bookshelves here could be filled at least halfway."

Pushing Sylph up to the third floor, unlike the dim light beams of the first and second floors, there were no other floors between the third floor and the top of the tower.

Although it was daytime outside, pale light still fell from the top of the tower and the high windows on the side.

Horn estimated the distance. It was estimated to be fifty or sixty meters from the third floor to the top floor. There seemed to be an observatory made of brass and iron supports and transparent glass leading to the highest floor.

From the third floor to the top floor, there was a circle of fluorite, arranged spirally downwards. In the middle of the third floor, there was a black but non-iron, non-wood base.

"There used to be an obsidian obelisk here, but the demon hunters moved it away."

Holding the handwheel and pushing hard, Sylph came to the vicinity of the obelisk base.

She looked up, and the sunlight, filtered by the gray clouds, turned into a transparent white light and shone on her face.

"When I was little, I saw them refining aether to forge star-forged gears.

But since the obelisk was moved away and the ritual data was cleared and burned, how to cast this gear has become a mystery forever. I have not been able to reproduce it to this day."

Walking around the entire room, Horn's fingers brushed across the smooth wall, which had mottled scorch marks. Rather than traces of fire, they looked like laser burns.

"How is aether infused into this star-forged gear?"

"Hmm..." Sylph lowered her head and pointed to the observatory above. "You need to first calculate the time and position of the stars' alignment, and then place the telescope in the appropriate position.

If the starlight can normally pass through the telescope and shine on the obelisk, then perform the alchemical ritual of the [Aether Pump], then the aether of the Astral Plane will enter the material world through the starlight as a channel.

The aether passes through the obsidian obelisk—this base now works too—and enters the moon pool on the bottom floor. The star-forged gear placed in the moon pool will gradually absorb the invisible aether."

Aether, how wonderful.

Horn, stroking the obelisk base, suddenly felt a little regretful. If star-forged gears could be mass-produced, that would be great.

Sticking her head to the top of the base, Jaina turned her head and looked up: "Then can the star-forged gear be used like this forever?"

"Of course not," Sylph stroked the wolf tail on her thigh. "This aether will run out every once in a while, so the star-forged gear must be recharged in the moon spring every once in a while.

The next alignment of the stars is in ten days. I'll demonstrate it to you then."