Chapter 153: Combat Backpack and Modular Design

Amber was a wild, perennial half-elf with a personality that shied away from light and favored darkness. She had a habit of stealing, was omnivorous with a hearty appetite, loved to play around—and when her playfulness reached a certain point, she’d slip into a kind of delirium, only to end up being chased and beaten.

Like right now.

The moment the words “Old Zongzi” slipped out, Gawain hadn’t even processed what was happening when Hetty already reacted first. The chief steward of the Cecil territory glared fiercely and swung her staff, releasing a palpable aura of deadly intent.

Amber jolted awake at once but, after shooting Hetty a defiant glance, stubbornly held her ground. “Who are you trying to scare? If you’ve got the guts, cast a frostbolt right in my face…”

Before she could finish, Hetty swung her staff in a wide arc, sending Amber flying seven or eight meters away with a solid thwack.

Who said mages only knew how to cast frostbolts and fireballs? Every mage from the Cecil family was trained in the thirty-six styles of the Anxi staff technique. Amber just hadn’t dealt with the Cecils enough to know that if she’d realized Hetty and Rebecca’s staffs had blood grooves carved into them, she wouldn’t have dared to jump around like that…

“You insult my magic, and you insult my ancestors!” Hetty’s eyes blazed with urgency as she swung her staff with fierce momentum. Since her brother’s passing, she’d had to step up as the elder to help the scatterbrained Rebecca manage the family affairs, and she rarely let loose like this anymore. But anyone familiar with the Cecil family’s traditions knew that when refined Lady Hetty was pushed to the edge, she could wield her staff like a war hammer. “Don’t think that just because your magic can’t hit me, I’m helpless. Watch this…”

Amber yelped and scrambled away, chased and beaten, but luckily Gawain had finally caught on and rushed over to break up the farce. “Stop, stop—calm down, calm down! Hetty, you know this one can’t hold her tongue. Amber, you too—when you’re getting hit, take off the thermal ray gun first! What if you break the sample we worked so hard to make?”

Amber was speechless.

Hetty shot Amber a sharp look, then lowered her gaze to Gawain. “Ancestor, you really should discipline this one properly. She’s showing you no respect at all.”

Gawain sighed. “I never should have taught you all to call her ‘Old Zongzi’ in the first place.” He turned his attention to the armguard Amber was wearing. “Let’s check this out first. Why did it suddenly stop working?”

Amber fiddled with the thermal ray gun on her arm, aimed at a distant target, and pulled the trigger again. This time, a scorching beam shot out from the armguard, striking the target dead center.

Amber frowned. “Looks like it’s working again?”

But after a few more shots, the beam failed again on the third attempt.

“I think I understand what’s going on,” Gawain nodded and called over the massive silver-white automaton standing at the edge of the training ground. “Nicholas Egg, come help me open this part of the casing.”

The cause was quickly identified.

The magic capacitor’s recharge rate couldn’t keep up with the energy drain from continuous firing—the mana stored in the crystal was depleted.

Gawain’s “magic capacitor” was essentially a self-recharging energy device with a steady but slow recharge speed and a fixed capacity. It allowed the otherwise low-output hive magic network unit to temporarily store mana in the crystal, powering high-energy magic arrays. But as long as these high-energy arrays kept running, their consumption would inevitably outpace the crystal’s recharge.

After continuous firing, the thermal ray gun’s capacitor would be drained and require a slow recharge before it could be used again.

“So that’s how it is,” Hetty nodded, eyeing the now grayish-white mana crystal in the capacitor slot. “Makes sense. Traditional magic items work like that—limited continuous use, and once the mana’s gone, you have to wait for it to replenish. Looks like the thermal ray gun is no different.”

“But that’s absolutely unacceptable!” Gawain shook his head seriously.

Rebecca looked puzzled. “Why not? Aren’t all magic items like that?”

“Those are traditional magic items—rings that can only cast six fireballs a day, shields that can only be used three times daily. But I say those things need to be phased out,” Gawain said, shaking his head. “On the battlefield, whoever’s weapon breaks first dies. The thermal ray gun’s mana reserve is no different. We have to find a way to keep them fighting longer without interruption.”

Byron, the knight who had come over to check the situation, nodded in agreement. “The enemy on the battlefield won’t give you hours to slowly recharge your magic capacitor.”

“We’ve found the first point to improve,” Gawain’s mind clicked into gear, falling into a familiar rhythm. He looked at Hetty, Rebecca, and Jenny standing behind them. “Do you know the biggest difference between this new ‘magical armament’ and traditional magic items?”

Jenny guessed, “Cheaper?”

Hetty said, “More convenient to use?”

Rebecca chimed in, “Cooler name?”

“The difference is that once a traditional magic item runs out of mana, you either wait for it to recharge on its own or find a mage to recharge it. But what we’ve made…” Gawain casually pulled the depleted crystal from the capacitor slot and tried to insert another crystal he usually fiddled with like a worry bead. “In emergencies, you can swap out the casting charges anytime… Hey, why won’t this fit?”

Rebecca explained seriously, “Ancestor, you never said the crystals in the magic capacitor were replaceable, so when Egg assembled them, he made the slot one-time use. When you pulled the crystal out just now, you deformed the base.”

Hetty quickly added, “Of course, the slot can be redesigned. That’s a minor issue. Your idea is the important part!”

Gawain was speechless.

He could barely remember the last time he’d successfully shown off.

But he quickly brushed off the awkwardness and got back on track. “Hetty, note this down: the magic capacitor slot should have an easily accessible opening so soldiers can quickly swap out depleted crystals on the battlefield. That way, in low-intensity or short fights, the thermal ray gun’s built-in capacitor can handle the job, but in emergencies, external power sources can keep it running.”

Hetty jotted it down, then frowned. “Ancestor, you designed the magic capacitor to solve two problems at once: the low output of the magic network unit and the short storage time of low-quality crystals. But if soldiers are swapping crystals on the battlefield, how do they maintain the mana in their ‘spare crystals’? Are we going to make them carry expensive, high-quality mana crystals as backups?”

“That would be counterproductive,” Gawain smiled and shook his head. “Mass-produced, low-quality mana crystals are the real treasure for an armed force. You mentioned that low-quality crystals lose energy during transport. Then we just design a way to carry them that prevents energy leakage.”

Gawain’s hint sparked Rebecca’s mind into rapid motion. After a few seconds, she had an idea with a “ding!” “We could design a large ‘capacitor’ similar to the magic capacitor—like a box made of many magic network units. Its job would be to store crystals and slowly recharge them. We could fit ten or eight spare crystals inside. If we make the circuit boards thinner, the weight won’t exceed what soldiers usually carry in spare swords. They’d just have to carry one less sword or two to make room for this storage box.”

Byron, who hadn’t been too interested in the thermal ray gun before, was drawn in by the discussion and expanded on Rebecca’s idea. “That way, the mana crystals soldiers carry won’t slowly leak energy but will actually be recharged continuously. When they swap out a depleted crystal, they can put it back in the container, and maybe it’ll be fully recharged by the next fight. In longer battles, that extra charged crystal could save their lives!”

“A combat backpack to go with the thermal ray gun…” Gawain smiled and looked at Rebecca. “The principle is simple, but making the magic network units lightweight while maintaining charging efficiency—that design is yours.”

Rebecca slammed her staff on the ground proudly, tilting her head back. “Don’t worry, Ancestor! I’m great at this! I’ll have it done in a few days!”

She looked like she was ready to charge out of the city swinging a giant hammer, smashing through seven enemies and coming back victorious…

“Besides that, we need to improve the thermal ray gun’s ‘versatility’ and ‘expandability,’” Gawain nodded, signaling Hetty to keep taking notes, and also speaking to Nicholas Egg. “Have the mechanical workshop break the thermal ray gun down into components suitable for mass production. My requirement is that most parts should be easy to disassemble and replace, with low manufacturing difficulty and high durability—especially the circuit board for the scorching beam. If possible, we should design the circuit board and the magic-conducting materials connected to it as a standardized, modular structure. That means future thermal ray guns could swap in scorching beam arrays or other universal circuit boards, turning them into different weapons, or even into armor and tools. I call this modularization.”

Hetty’s pen paused involuntarily. She’d heard the word “modularization” from Gawain more than once, but only now did she seem to truly grasp what it could achieve.

As the ideas for the thermal ray gun and combat backpack took shape, far to the west of the New Cecil territory, a stranger set foot on this land.

He was a strikingly robust man.

His short light brown hair was unkempt and messy atop his head. Though he’d shaved, it was done carelessly, leaving uneven stubble on his chin. His weathered face had lost its youthful glow but bore a look of steadfast determination. Deep-set eyes shone with a light uncommon among common folk of this era.

More noticeable than his appearance was his condition and attire.

Dust-covered but alert, he wore the vestments of a priest of the Holy Light Church. Yet the once-luxurious robes were threadbare and worn. A Bible hung at his waist, and a holy emblem adorned his chest. He looked every bit a cleric—but his tall, muscular build was more like that of a warrior.

This sturdy Holy Light priest, who looked capable of punching cultists to death, walked along the gravel road of the Cecil territory. His shoes were worn to tatters from the long journey. Wiping sweat from his brow, he glanced down at the opened document in his hand:

“Hereby commissioned, the Lord’s faithful servant, Holy Light priest Light Aveken, is sent to the southern lands to spread the Lord’s teachings and proclaim the path of the Holy Light.”

(End of chapter)