Chapter 133: The City Lord's New Toy

  In the gondola of the airship in the sky, Mo Yan looked through the glass porthole at the corner ball being played below and the audience mostly looking up at the airship. His vanity was greatly satisfied. This airship, which had been designed a long time ago and completed during this rainy season, finally made its maiden voyage today.

  The entire airship is 130 meters long, powered by two steam engines specially made by the Grey Dwarves, with a theoretical maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour. The body of the airship is milky white, with the emblem of Thunder Cliff painted on both sides, and the envelope is made of special leather and other composite materials, having good sealing properties.

  To build this behemoth, Mo Yan couldn't help but worry less because of the world's own attribute problems. The conventional filling gas required by airships could not be manufactured. This technical problem had been stuck in Mo Yan's mind for a long time until Ritz arrived at Thunder Cliff and solved it. According to Mo Yan's requirements, Ritz listed several composite magic array systems and some simple but very useful magical principles that can play the role of filling gas, allowing airships to have buoyancy in the air.

  Moreover, the buoyancy provided by this magical system is enormous, allowing the airships of Thundercliff to use iron frames, which has greatly reduced the difficulty in terms of solidity and design. With Riesz's assistance, Moyan solved many technical problems and finally finalized the design drawings with the dwarves at the research center, beginning secret construction in District 51.

  Although the change in specific principles makes the design of airships more diverse, Mo Yan still made the airship a long cylindrical shape. According to Earth's psychology, this can be simply attributed to primitive reproductive worship, but it is clear that Mo Yan would not think he has such tendencies, he just thinks that if the airship is not a long cylindrical shape, it will feel very strange.

  As the first airship of the Thundercliff, it will serve as an airborne platform for the Birdmen, providing supplies to the Birdmen who are not strong in carrying heavy loads on the battlefield, which will greatly enhance the combat capability of the Birdmen. In the past, after the Birdmen dropped their bombs, they had to fly back to the distant Monster Legion's rear to replenish their supplies.

  However, with such a blimp platform, they can replenish at closer range to save energy. Moreover, having a blimp with a considerable payload, it can also directly bomb large targets when necessary. The blimp can stably fly over the enemy's city and drop large explosive bombs that the human-faced bird cannot carry, without being shot down by those large crossbows.

  In the future, some civilian airships will also be produced for transportation within Eland to recover the cost of building airships for the military. Although Mo Yan has also designed a steam train, Eland's mountainous terrain is not suitable for trains. If a railway were to be built, it would likely consume half of the wealth of Leiting Cliff, which is not as easy as using an airship.

  The entire Thundercliff soon learned about it. Their monster lord, who had no shortage of strange and eccentric ideas, had come up with a new flying contraption. Yearning to soar through the skies had always been a dream of humanity. Because of this dream, countless people from ancient times to the present had paid with their lives in order to fly into the sky. But it was also because of this that human mages had invented some spells for flight. And ordinary humans on the mainland had also found ways to train certain animals such as griffins to serve as mounts for flying.

  However, the use of magic is not perfect. The flying spell requires extremely high control from the wizard, and if the wizard's mind wanders even a little while flying, the spell will fail and they will fall to their death from the sky. And griffins are not something that just anyone can ride either - let alone getting the griffin eggs from steep cliffs, then raising them until they grow up which requires a lot of time and difficulty.

  Just one of the rituals that a lion griffin rider must undergo would stump most people. After a lion griffin raised from a young age reaches a certain age, those who want to become a lion griffin knight must cut off a sizable piece of flesh from their own leg and feed it to the blindfolded lion griffin in order for it to be willing to let them ride on its back.

  If an instrument that can fly in the sky without too high requirements appears, it will bring a great innovation. Countless people who want to experience flying in the sky once will not give up such a rare opportunity, even if the price of flying once is very expensive.

  The airship named Zeppelin No. 1, after showing off in Thundercliff, flew away from Thundercliff towards the 51st district of the city suburbs. Before a dedicated parking lot was built, the airship temporarily stayed at its production site, as the iron ore from Iron Furnace Fort had not been transported over yet, and Mo Yan did not have plans to build another one.

  Mo Yan's reason for going to Leifengya this time to test fly, apart from satisfying his own vanity, is also to advertise the airship. It is believed that in a short period of time, people from all walks of life in Ailan will come to Leifengya to inquire about the Zeppelin airship, laying a certain foundation for future civilian use and giving citizens sufficient time to digest and understand the emergence of this new thing.

  The professionals needed for the airship will be selected from among the Gray Dwarves and Salt People, and will undergo necessary training and mastery in specialized schools to lay the foundation for future civilian airship operations. In Mo Yan's conception, there are twenty essential crew members on an airship, plus a ten-man Wolf Team serving as guards, making a full complement of thirty people on an airship. This composition allows Mo Yan to have absolute control over the airship.

  As one of the most important secrets of Thunderhead, the design drawings of the airship will be divided into six parts and strictly protected, so as not to lose all the key technologies due to being invaded. Speaking of the last invasion, after the incident, the SS of Thunderhead launched a large-scale investigation.

  All the dwarves working in the gunpowder factory were questioned, and eventually the dwarf who had supplied the Dark Brotherhood with the explosives was caught. This enraged the leader of the Steel Brothers of Thunder Cliff and led to a period of introspection within the organization. Some initiatives that would have benefited the dwarves were put on hold as a result.

  Although the formula for black powder is a dwarven secret, it's clear that they wouldn't provide it to enemies who intend to destroy Thunderhold either; there would be no advantage in doing so.

  "The tail wing is a bit too big, and it's still shaking when flying." Mo Yan led Jones and others down from the airship and said to the gray dwarf who was waiting aside: "Remove all the seats installed for the next voyage, and convert them into empty warehouses suitable for replenishment and shelves suitable for placing bombs. Check some details again."

  "Yes, Lord City Master." The gray dwarf hastily nodded and said. In the eyes of these gray dwarves who worship technology, the monster city master who has invented many wonderful things is no longer a simple monster. These craftsmen who follow behind the Minotaur are almost entirely obedient to him.

  If the Minotaur says that design is unreasonable, these Dwarves will not have any rebuttal, not only because the Minotaur in front of them has always been autocratic, but also because countless confident Dwarf craftsmen, when they refused to admit defeat, were splashed with dog blood on their heads, only to discover that it was indeed their own mistake.

  "How was it?" The Minotaur asked Emily, who had followed him out, as they walked back. "You're the first Salter to ride a flying boat, after all - you have to write me a 3,000-word review afterwards, okay? Alright... I was just joking about that last sentence."

  "It's really interesting stuff." Emily smiled as she looked at the Minotaur in front of her, who she had been living with for almost half a year now. She was already very familiar with his personality. Emily had slowly begun to understand her own feelings, and she didn't dislike the Minotaur in front of her, who occasionally acted like a child. Or rather, if he hadn't had the appearance of a monster, she would have already devoted herself to him completely.

  What woman wouldn't like a man who is usually easy-going, has strength that can be counted as one of the top in all of Eran, and possesses exceptionally rich and even bizarre knowledge? It's always been the appearance of the Minotaur monster that's been holding her back, making her afraid and even disgusted with herself.

  The occasional loneliness and sorrow that slipped out of Niu Tou Ren made Emily feel heartache, she knew that in Lei Feng Ya he didn't have a real human friend. Even his brother who was considered familiar to him, deep down didn't consider him as a partner, but only someone you could still talk to.

  "It's just a bit of meaning." The bull-headed man stroked his chin, somewhat dissatisfied: "No matter what, it's something I put a lot of effort into making, how can it only get such a low evaluation? No matter what, I'm the one who brought you here and made you the first batch of Salter people to fly up to the sky, this is indeed a very memorable thing. At least come up with a phrase like 'One small step for me, one giant leap for the Salter people'."

  "Wow, this is really something great!" Emily said with a smile, exaggerating: "I'm so excited I'm about to faint."

  "Too fake, not good at acting." Mo Yan chuckled and shook his head, reenacting Emily's words with an extremely realistic expression of surprise. Then he said to Emily, "When you have time, come learn from me how to act. Only when you can achieve a real expression like mine will you be considered qualified."

  Following Mo Yan, Jones and Ali applauded vigorously for the performance of the Ox-Headed Man, while Emily just smiled silently. The group slowly left the 51st district, like a real family heading towards the White House.