Chapter 1693: Simple and Easy to Fly, Niya Takes the Controls

Looking up, through the gaps in the gas bags, Xia Duo could vaguely make out the complex mechanical connections behind these control levers, and even the "Endless Gas Bottle" Stern had mentioned could be faintly seen.

It was an open-mouthed bottle about the size of a circumference, with the bottle mouth connected to the gas bag via a mechanical device, but Xia Duo could clearly hear the sound of gas whistling through it.

Moreover, the mechanical device had multiple pipes branching out toward various directions of the gas bag; combined with some phenomena observed on the platform just now, Xia Duo could basically confirm that this airship used a movement method similar to a hovercraft.

Horizontal movement was achieved by spraying gas in various directions, while vertical movement could be achieved by injecting or discharging gas into the airship's gas bags.

Seeing Xia Duo observing the pipe layout in the gas bag above, Stern introduced it at the right moment, "This is the airship power system created by inviting Gnomes from the Yellow Maple Hills and Dwarf craftsmen from Danzo to build it together; of course, human craftsmen could also build it, just a bit slower."

Xia Duo nodded, walked around the central console, and asked Stern, "What is the approximate top speed of this airship?"

"Unloaded, it can fly 100 Daxia New Li per hour; fully loaded, it can also fly 7 or 8 New Li per hour, but it is not conducive to deceleration and requires starting to decelerate from a much greater distance."

"If you use Flight, you don't need to decelerate in advance; why not use Flight?"

As soon as he asked this, Xia Duo immediately realized he had asked a stupid question; if Flight could be used, there would be no need for such large gas bags.

In fact, as long as Magic is not used, one will always face the problem of inertia.

Regarding this question, Stern answered quite cleverly, "When we first handed the Endless Gas Bottle to the craftsmen, we didn't mention the issue of forward propulsion; this was something they thought of themselves."

"The Wisdom of ordinary people should not be underestimated either!"

Xia Duo sighed, and this topic was considered passed, "By the way, can I operate this airship?"

"Of course, this airship is already yours, Lord Xia Duo; you may operate it as you wish."

After speaking, Stern called out to the operator nearby, "Danni, give up your seat and tell Lord Xia Duo how to operate the airship."

"Yes."

This young operator named Danni immediately shifted his body to the side, and once Xia Duo gripped the controls with both hands, he began to explain:

"Respected Lord Xia Duo, the two control levers you are holding now—the left one turns left when rotated left, turns right when rotated right, pulls down to accelerate, releases for no power, and pushes up to decelerate. The one on the right has no rotation operation, only up and down; pulling down exhausts gas to descend, releasing stops exhausting, and pushing up inflates to ascend."

"Quite simple!"

The most critical thing was that these operations were quite consistent with the usage logic of an ordinary person; Xia Duo remembered them almost as soon as he heard them, but seeing two more control levers on the opposite side of the console, he asked again:

"Then what are those two on the opposite side for?"

"They are the same as these, just with the directions exactly reversed."

It wasn't Danni who said this, but Stern who answered first, "The airship is different from ships on the Surface; there is no distinction between front and back. Whichever person is in main control flies it in that direction, and the other person assists."

"Then what if I want to fly sideways?"

With a hovercraft-like movement method, it should theoretically be possible to fly sideways; Xia Duo did not believe they could build an airship but not make it fly sideways.

Although flying sideways has high resistance, sometimes it might just be necessary to fly like that; if it couldn't, wouldn't that be a disaster?

Stern hadn't expected Xia Duo to ask such a question, and he himself hadn't happened to learn about it, so he ordered someone else, "Mate! You answer Lord Xia Duo's question."

"Yes. Respected Lord Xia Duo, if you want the airship to fly sideways, two people can rotate the left-hand control levers to the left or right at the same time; rotating left flies sideways to the left of your direction, and rotating right flies sideways to the right."

"Understood."

Xia Duo nodded repeatedly at this design; originally, if two people rotated left at the same time, the operations would conflict, but the ingenuity of the craftsmen turned this conflict into another type of operation.

However, having said that, if designed this way, this airship was not as Stern said without a distinction between front and back; it was obvious that the direction he was currently facing was the bow, and the two control levers he was holding were the main control levers.

"Next, let's take it for a test flight!"

Xia Duo first released the No. 1 Spire's traction lock near the platform, then gripped the control lever with his right hand and pushed it up gently; the mechanical device connected to the Endless Gas Bottle above immediately emitted a dull *Crack! * sound.

Immediately after, the sound of air whistling through some of the pipes above suddenly became quieter, while other pipes seemed to emit sound.

Following this, the hull beneath the airship vibrated gently, and the field of vision of everyone on the ship began to rise slowly.

Xia Duo controlled the force and pushed the right-hand control lever to the limit, pulling the inflation speed to the max; the airship rose rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"What a long-lost sense of weightlessness!" Xia Duo sighed in his heart.

The power of this airship was much greater than he had expected; the No. 1 Spire was over a hundred meters high, already the tallest existence in the vicinity, but after floating for only a moment, Xia Duo began to pull down the left control lever.

The airship then began to move slowly in the direction he was facing; of course, in reality, it was flying south, and while moving forward, he didn't forget to continue rising.

As the speed and altitude gradually increased, the wind on the ship also began to become textured; fortunately, it was summer, and if it were winter, operating in the open like this would be somewhat inconvenient.

And for Xia Duo, this airship undoubtedly greatly satisfied his regret of not being able to drive an excavator on Earth; after operating it vigorously for a while, he noticed Niya's eager eyes and asked:

"Niya, want to try?"

"Yes!"

Niya pushed Xia Duo aside without hesitation, gripped the control levers with both hands, and twisted them down with great force; she twisted a second time, a third time, and the scene was once very awkward.

Xia Duo also almost forgot that while he could operate it easily when he started, in reality, for an ordinary person, these two control levers still had quite a bit of resistance.

—【Iron Body】

A Transmutation Spell from the Fielder Spellbook was cast by Xia Duo on Niya; this spell could not turn the human body into iron, but it possessed the characteristics of iron and allowed for free movement.

Under the blessing of Iron Body, Niya instantly transformed into Iron Man, and the mere two control levers were no longer her match.

It was just that compared to Xia Duo, who still had the influence of traffic rules in his Subconscious and operated relatively gently, never really thinking about intentionally doing any flashy maneuvers.

But Niya had absolutely no concept of this; since it was a "test drive," she operated it almost as she pleased. There were not only three Spellcasters on this airship, but also three ordinary people, including two operators and Lord Leisen.