novel bin Chapter 488 How am I supposed to inscribe an array on a metal surface?
Chapter 488 How am I supposed to inscribe an array on a metal surface?
Lin Mo followed him inside, his footsteps echoing crisply on the metal floor.
The interior space was much larger than he had imagined.
The dome is at least thirty meters high, and all four sides are silver-gray metal walls with neatly arranged welds, exuding an industrial feel.
Light cascades down from the ceiling light array, illuminating the entire space.
Several staff members were busy inside, moving equipment and debugging circuits, their steps hurried.
And directly opposite, in the distance, was another giant metal door.
This door is thicker than the outer one, with an extra sealing rubber strip around the door frame, and a locking mechanism can be seen at the door seam, clearly indicating an airtight design.
Lin Mo glanced back at the first door, and it was the same. He immediately understood.
This is a double-door structure.
Once the portal connects to the moon, the other side will be a vacuum.
These two doors are airlocks, ensuring that the vacuum state prevents air from flowing back into the underground city.
Secretary Li walked to a row of shelves next to him, where several sets of spacesuits resembling mecha stood.
He turned to Lin Mo and said:
"Commander Lin, the inside will be evacuated before the portal opens."
"You'll need to wear this spacesuit inside."
He paused for a moment, then added somewhat uncertainly:
"...I wonder if wearing this will affect your spellcasting?"
Lin Mo walked over and curiously looked at the uniquely designed spacesuit.
It's completely different from what I've seen in the news before; it looks a lot like Iron Man's armor from the movies.
The material was lighter than he had imagined, and there was a movable structure at the finger joints, unlike the previous puffy inflatable models.
He spoke frankly, saying, "I haven't tried it yet, but we'll find out when the time comes."
"But don't rush to put it on yet, the formation hasn't been inscribed."
"Wearing this while squatting on the ground to draw runes, I'm afraid it will be difficult to perform the task properly."
Secretary Li nodded:
"Let's carve the formation first."
He turned and gestured, and the airtight metal door on the inside slowly opened with a hydraulic sound.
Behind the door is another separate space.
It is about the same size as the outside one, and is also an all-metal structure.
The walls, floors, and dome were all made of silver-gray alloy plates with tight welds, without a single gap.
This is also a vacuum chamber.
Lin Mo stepped inside, his feet landing on the metal floor, and looked down at the ground.
Smooth, flat, and hard.
Good news, the area is large enough to easily carve a formation with a diameter of thirty meters.
Bad news—
"Is this floor all metal?"
Lin Mo squatted down and tapped his knuckles on the floor, making a dull "thump-thump" sound.
Normally, magic circles are carved into stone slabs or dirt surfaces, which can be done with a carving knife.
But with metal, given the efficiency of his carving knife... carving a formation with a diameter of thirty meters would probably take forever.
He looked up at Secretary Li:
"This... is a bit troublesome."
Secretary Li was also stunned:
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"The formation can't be inscribed." Lin Mo stood up.
"Metal is too hard, hand carving is too slow, and the precision is not enough."
Secretary Li's smile froze.
The site is built, the spacesuits are ready, but the array can't be drawn?
Lin Mo stroked his chin and paced back and forth a few steps on the metal floor.
It suddenly stopped.
Do you have a spray gun?
Secretary Li was taken aback:
"What?"
"An industrial spray gun, the kind used for cutting, that can melt metal."
Lin Mo squatted down and gestured on the floor with his finger.
"The lines of the formation don't need to be carved very deep, a few centimeters is enough."
"Use a spray gun to burn grooves into the metal, and then fill the grooves with array materials."
He patted the ground beside him:
"Energy crystals and spatial crystals have their own weight, so they won't move when placed on the node."
"The key is the powder material. It's easy to wipe off if you sprinkle it directly on a flat surface, but it's stable when you fill it into a groove."
Then he added:
"Once the portal is open, add a base to cover the formation, pave the top layer, and vehicles and equipment can pass directly over it."
Secretary Li's eyes lit up:
"That's a good idea!"
He immediately pulled out his walkie-talkie and started making arrangements.
In less than ten minutes, three tracked industrial robots drove in.
The little thing is a little over a meter tall, with two tracks on a square chassis, a mechanical arm extending from the top holding a spray gun, and two silver gas tanks on its back.
The tracks rolled over the metal ground, making a soft "click" sound, and obediently stopped in front of Lin Mo.
Lin Mo circled the robot once, then curiously tapped on the gas tank.
"How's the accuracy of this thing?"
Secretary Li said:
"The error is within one millimeter. You only need to input the pattern and dimensions of the array, and it will run automatically."
Lin Mo raised an eyebrow.
This is amazing! Technology is changing magic!
Secretary Li beckoned over the technicians next to him, and the group came to the control panel. Lin Mo began to verbally describe the layout of the magic circle.
The technician's hands flew across the keyboard, and on the CAD drawing software, a precise magic circle pattern gradually took shape.
Lin Mo leaned over to take a look, pointed to the two intersection nodes, corrected the angles, and adjusted the depth parameters of the three rune slots.
"Alright, that's settled."
Data is uploaded, and all three robots start simultaneously.
The robotic arm lifted up, and a blinding blue-white flame shot out from the nozzle of the spray gun, instantly raising the temperature to two thousand degrees.
The metal floor softened and dented rapidly under the flames.
The robot moved slowly along the preset trajectory, with the track rotation speed accurate to the millimeter, leaving behind grooves several centimeters deep and several centimeters wide behind it.
The smell of molten metal filled the air, carrying with it the scorching sensation unique to rust and high temperatures.
The edges of the grooves still retained a faint dark red hue, which cooled down as the robot moved forward, turning into neat silver-gray indentations. There was a device behind it responsible for polishing the surface.
Lin Mo stood to the side, arms crossed, watching with great interest.
The three robots have clearly defined roles: one runs the outer ring, one runs the middle ring, and one is responsible for the radial lines and nodes.
It's not fast, but it's steady.
Half an hour later.
The three robots stopped in sequence, and their robotic arms retracted.
A complete magic circle pattern with a diameter of thirty meters appeared on the metal floor.
The groove lines are straight and smooth, with rounded curves, and the pits at the nodes are of uniform size.
To be honest, it's even more precise than what Lin Mo carved by hand.
He crouched down to inspect several key points and nodded in satisfaction.
Now it was his turn.
Lin Mo took out the materials from his spatial ring.
Mithril powder, starstone powder, rune ink, and several other metallic powders native to Terra.
When these powders are mixed in a specific ratio, they become the "ink" of the magic circle.
In Terra, large-scale ground formations are usually drawn directly with powder.
The scroll-like array technique uses a brush dipped in ink to draw; the essential materials are the same, only the form is different.
However, there is a problem with ground formations: if the powder is sprinkled too thinly on a flat surface, it will be worn away by sun and rain or by people stepping on it.
Now that there are grooves, the powder is filled in, which is equivalent to embedding it in metal, making it much more stable.
Lin Mo picked up a handful of the prepared silver-gray powder and filled it into the groove little by little.
Filling the magic circle lines with powder wasn't enough.
The runes at the rune nodes need to be hand-drawn.
Lin Mo took out a calligraphy brush from his spatial ring and dipped the tip in special rune ink.
The ink is viscous and has a faint metallic sheen.
He half-squatted on the ground, carefully drawing incantations in the grooves of the nodes, and inputting magic power.
It's similar to a Taoist priest drawing talismans.