A heavy rain came unexpectedly, and the rainwater formed a white curtain, and the rainforest in the distance seemed to be covered with a hazy mist.

Water flows continuously on the deck, and as the ship rolls across, layers of water patterns form. The water overflows the steps, but in the air window and the hatch door seem to be blocked by an invisible force, which is the waterproof array behind it.

Such showers are very common in Nognes. Although they are already at the end of the rainy season, they can be seen basically once or twice a day.

Fang Zhu looked at the pouring rain outside in the alchemy workshop on the boat, while gently shaking the magic solution in his hand to make it appear a dark purple color.

He stood in front of his workbench, put the purple solution test tube back on the shelf, then picked up the quill and wrote a number on the paper, cut it down and pasted it. This is the No. 9 solution, and it takes a total of seventeen solutions to prepare soil source crystals, and this is just one of them.

The earth source crystal cannot be used directly by taking it. The ultimate purpose is to make it a base carrying the "Stars-Alchemy Array". Putting it into the magic suspension to precipitate impurities is just the first step - it is called purification.

One of the major disadvantages of closed-circuit devices is that they are too large, and the fundamental reason is that the materials that form the base of the alchemy array - mostly composed of cheap copper and magic silver - are too low in operation.

For a single closed-circuit device, this is actually not a defect, but an advantage. It is understandable to use low-quality materials to control costs. The cost is an important factor that alchemists need to consider when designing a magic weapon.

However, on the superimposed "Stars" device, bloating and bulking have become a significant problem that must be considered first. Since the mastery of "Stars-Alchemy Array" is still very low, it is difficult for Fang Zhu to find a way from the alchemy formula itself, so it became a simple and direct way to replace the materials on the base of the alchemy array.

In short, it is to solve the problem by spending money.

Due to its excellent elemental affinity and etheric conductivity, the source crystal base is generally less than one percent thick in copper or magic silver bases. And this is limited to craftsmanship. It is said that in some alchemy laboratories in the Empire Workshop, craftsmen can even make the source crystal bases to one thousandth of the thickness of the copper base.

Further up, only Misilan and Dragon Soul Crystal can further improve the conduction efficiency. However, Misilan is already a sky-high price, and Dragon Soul Crystal is something that Fang Rong dared not even think about.

In fact, all source crystals can be used to make alchemy array bases. Earth source crystals are not even the best ones. The performance of wind source crystals and water source crystals is much better. What is even better is the rarer alien attribute thunder source crystal - a variant of wind-type crystals.

However, the earth source crystal is cheaper. Compared with other source crystals, the earth source crystal has the thick and solid properties of earth elements, which is more convenient to process, making it more suitable for entry-level crystal craftsmen like square plucks who are not new and new.

In the final analysis, it is both poor and vegetarian.

Of course, Fang Ling would never admit it. The Qihai Brigade has some savings, but money has to be saved. Frugality is a virtue. As for food, isn’t it still a low level?

With the earth source crystal, the improved version of the "Star Device" was put on the agenda. Fang Yu planned to use this device in the Lancer Plan. Although the Lancer he imagined was not the same as the Dragon Hunter, it did not mean that the two should be used separately, but should cooperate with each other in a battle.

However, he and the Dragon Hunter are still in the running-in period, and this flexible configuration with outstanding performance has also had an amazing demand for computing power. Controlling four Dragon Hunters is almost his limit. As for Miss Tata, with the blessing of the Fairy Heart, although there is still a large balance of computing power, Fang Zhuo has another plan in his mind and does not intend to use it on the Dragoon plan.

Therefore, for the Dragoon plan, how to occupy as little computing power as possible has become a necessary hard indicator in the design.

The method that Fang Ling thought of was naturally to use the "Star Device"-

If the "Star Device" makes the Dragoon develop a certain degree of self-action ability, thus greatly reducing the calculation pressure between him and Miss Tata, and even if he can achieve a certain degree of independent combat, it will be close to perfection.

It's just simple, but it's not easy to implement.

First of all, melee combat must be ruled out. The internal motion structure of melee-fighting flexible configuration is too complex and requires too many manipulation instructions to achieve. Moreover, there are too many dependent variables in melee combat. If all this is taken into account, I don’t know how complicated the control law is. Even if there is a soil source crystal base, the volume of the ‘Star Device’ is difficult to control.

In the long-range, Fang Yu first considered live ammunition. Because live ammunition consumes low energy, although there are a series of problems with loading and carrying capacity, the fixed action of loading is not complicated to write into the "Star Device", and the carrying capacity is often not a big problem for medium or above constructions.

But in the end, he ruled out this plan, mainly because of the difficulty in solving a series of problems such as live ammunition aiming, recoil response and maintaining balance in the air. Just how two arms with guns operated like dragon hunters made the square leopard head as big as a fight.

Yes, since the dragon hunter does not have the ability to fly, Fang Zhu likes to fight in the sky and sea. At least he needs a flexible configuration that can fly and fight and attack it. This is how the Ranger's name comes from it.

Of course, he had not considered the form of not having arms. He directly installed the magic gun on the arms of the structural body and solved it by using a link or a drum to supply the bullet, but the recoil and balance problems are still very difficult.

In the end, Fang Zhu chose the magic construction form.

But it is not a complete magic structure. A complete magic structure must consider a series of issues such as energy supply, overload, combination of spells and internal heat dissipation balance, and the demand for computing power is even greater than that of ordinary structures.

He finally chose a flight method similar to the "Annihilation" - that is, using the Guy crystal to provide lift, and then using other means to achieve the flight ability of front, back, left, right, up and down.

Of course, the Annihilist design cannot be used directly, because the Annihilist miniature Guy generator is too small and cannot bear the weight of the flexible configuration of the Ranger as he imagined.

Finally, after searching the design drawings that may be easier for me to obtain, Fang Yu was a little surprised to find that there was a type of construction design that fully meets his needs.

That thing is called the 'porter'.

Although the name is a bit shabby, it is actually a type of flexible structure used in large ports, which is not combat-type. Its main purpose is to transport goods, and it belongs to a special structure.

This flexible configuration also uses a Guy generator as thrust, but the Guy generator used is two models larger than the Annihilist, and can carry nearly half a ton of weight, which is exactly in line with his needs.

More importantly, this Guy generator has ready-made drawings, and the patent was from more than 40 years ago, and it had already expired. He didn't even have to buy it in cities with craftsmen associations, just download it directly from the community.

He planned to use the carrier's chassis directly and then improve its propulsion method. After all, the carrier relies on two propellers to propel it. This method is more than enough to carry goods in the port, but it is almost the same as a target in combat.

The upper body can be used by the shield guard's upper body. Although it is heavy and inefficient, it is at least highly defensive. He does not expect this thing to fight in close combat, but provides defenses close to level 20 with the material requirements of the fifteenth-level construct, which can reduce the production cost by a large margin.

Moreover, the internal space of the Shield Guardian is large enough to accommodate the large core crystals required for the magical structure and a large number of crystal arrays. Except for the part that charges and dissipates heat, these arrays are almost all the only armed forces of this structure.

That is a silver spear.

It can fire a beam of yang flame ray through the tip of the gun. In Aitalia, the yang flame ray is a fire-type six-ring spell. It causes 125-167 fire damage without strengthening, which is roughly equivalent to the normal level of the level 25 component.

After charging the crystal array, it can fire two rounds, but the recharging and heat dissipation are very slow. Basically, you can only shoot two rounds within one minute, that is, four rounds.

However, since the light effect of this thing is very cool when shooting, Fang Zhu gave it a loud name called the Speedo Light Spear.

The upper part of the Lancers is plus the total weight of this spear 250 kilograms, and the weight of the lower body chassis, the Guy generator is more than enough to carry it. Therefore, Fang Yu simply added a large shield and a shield generator to make use of the magic capacity of the magical structured large core crystal.

But even so, adding these two things alone is not enough, because generally speaking, the magical structure has more than one magic attack method to match its large-capacity crystal.

But the Rangers have their own "national conditions". Since they should try to simplify the control burden of the "Star Device", it is not suitable for a variety of attack methods.

Since demand and restrictions are contradictory, this thing has no solution for the time being, so Fang Yu had to leave it alone first - just waste the magic capacity. Anyway, the Rangers can fly longer without having to return to the Qihai Traveler every moment to replenish their magic power. At least they will not be called the airport defender.

Finally, there is the problem of the control law of the "Star Device".

Since this thing cannot be controlled at all times, the square leopard must first make it automatically cruise in the air according to a certain route - this is simple.

The Rangers chose the air curtain propulsion method - in short, it is a bit similar to the principle of how the octopus squid flow is carried under the water, which is to install a few wind element nozzles on the back and legs of the component.

This thing can usually consume magic power to absorb wind elements and then fire it out in the form of airflow. In fact, it is the thing installed on the maid's arm armor. Fang Zhu himself also used this device on the rocket flying fist. He has been familiar with its use for a long time, and can be said to have rich experience in using it and maintenance.

Of course, the device installed behind the Rangers must be much larger, but the principle is the same, it is nothing more than how much magic is consumed, and magic is not a problem for the Rangers at this moment.

Therefore, to enable Rangers to achieve automatic cruise, they only need to design their rough route and then change the direction of the airflow nozzle. Although it involves a series of internal instructions, for the "Star Device" of the soil source crystal base, recording this instruction is nothing at all.

Fang Zhu designed three automatic cruise routes for the Rangers - flying around 360 degrees with the goal as the center, divided into two versions: a distance of 100 meters and a distance of 250 meters, corresponding to the maximum distance and effective distance of the Yangyan ray.

The last cruise route is the evasion route of the Z-shaped route, and multiple changing versions of the above three automatic cruise routes. All these commands are completed with only one fist-sized "Star Device".

If placed on the closed circulation device in the past, it is estimated that the total weight of the closed circulation device at this time will be equal to the Ranger itself.

Then there are automated instructions for taking off, landing and charging, aiming and avoiding flights within a small range, etc. These instructions are not complicated in a single manner, but they are more combined. The square leopard almost used thousands of magic arrays to record and complete it.

However, the earth source crystal base showed power to the improvement of the star device. When all the instructions were put together, the size of the closed circulation device used in the end was not more than the volume of a football.

After the control law was written, Fang Zhu put the closed circulation device that recorded it in the Ranger's head, connected it with the visual crystal, and coupled it with the protective armor and heat dissipation array. From the appearance, it seemed to be the helmet of a knight with a feathered ornament.

From the front, the armor on both sides of the narrow crystal pupil has a certain inclination, which looks like inclined armor. The part of the breastplate also follows the same principle. From the front, it is a triangle top edge, which is painted silver, holding a spear in the right hand and a shield in the left hand, majestic.

Although the lower half is the chassis of the porter, it has also undergone a certain battlefield transformation. On the one hand, the baffle and skirt are added to protect the Guy generator; on the other hand, unlike the porters who use machinery in ports, although the Rangers are equipped with air combat structures, they also need to land after all, so they are equipped with a two-legged walking device.

However, after all, it is not the main land warfare configuration, so the two-leg walking device is very simple, just a pair of triangle brackets, with a row of air element nozzles installed from top to bottom behind.

Overall, when the Ranger stands, he looks like a silver knight holding a large shield and a spear; and when he flies, his center of gravity will lean forward slightly, making it look more streamlined, as if the knight is attacking.

However, the big shield is basically a decoration on one side. The star device cannot truly be self-aware. The operator still needs to issue orders to the Ranger to switch from one ‘state’ to another.

For example, cruise, return, maneuvering evasion, or even fire and shield opening are completely unavailable. It is just that in this process, the manipulator's commands are greatly simplified and no longer need to consume computing power to operate in detail.

Because he could not provide independent feedback on changes on the battlefield, Fang Yu thought for a long time but couldn't figure out how the big shield should work. Finally, he thought about it and hung it on it as a protective method that would be better than anything else.

What if it happens to block the attack from the front?

It is equivalent to a piece of plug-in armor, the difference is that it can be thrown away at any time.

Moreover, even after all the components are installed, the Ranger's weight is only more than 300 kilograms, and it is still a considerable distance from half a ton.

This is actually far from being well-established.

The actual design and production of square pilograms did not take much time - most of the drawings were ready-made, and the transformations he made could only be said to be rough - basically it is to combine the shield guards and porters hard together, and add a speed spear.

The magic array stacked in the spear to realize the sun flame ray can be regarded as the only design of Fang Zhu, but it cannot even be said to be a unique innovation, because the magic device itself exists to achieve various magic effects.

As for the internal energy supply and heat dissipation arrays, the core crystal is also ready-made drawings. It is a magical structure that can be used to attack sunlight rays without any special crystal configuration.

However, this also meets Fang Zhu's expectations for the "Ranker".

It itself is a structure that cooperates with the Dragon Hunter's combat, and the Dragon Hunter is his only core structure at present. If the Dragon Hunter is regarded as his personal guard on the battlefield, the definition of the Ranger just fits its name.

They are just light cavalry attacking upstream of the battlefield.

Rely on low computing power consumption, clusters and quantity to win.

But this does not mean that Rangers are cheap

In fact, this is the problem that the leopard has troubled. He tried his best to use crude manufacturing methods for the rest of the Rangers, saving as much as possible. For example, the porter's chassis and the upper body of the level 15-level structural shield guard are all too cheap for them now.

But the problem is that the core of the Rangers is actually the closed-circulation device that controls their "self-action" - or the star device. This thing must be built on the base of the source crystal. Even if it is the cheapest earth source crystal, the price is still expensive.

What's more, the earth source crystal must be processed before it can be used. Whether it is as many as seventeen magic solutions used during purification, or the waste rate problem during the slicing and etching process, it will further increase the cost.

For example, the skills and knowledge he has mastered now cannot use a more efficient solution No. 21, which means that he needs to use No. 4 and No. 7 and the No. 9 solution in his hand to achieve the same effect.

The extra solution costs are also sky-high.

Although Fang Yu knew that alchemy was just a burning money, after reaching level 22, his understanding of this was further deepened.

So knowledge is power, and skill level is money.

He listened to the pouring rain outside and looked at the purple solution placed on the shelf as he was a little helpless, and he was confident that he could not further reduce the cost.

But it was at this moment that he suddenly heard a light sound coming from behind. Looking back, he unexpectedly found that it was not Silmide, but an intruder he had not expected.

The girl named Betchi accidentally encountered a crystal sample he placed next to the cabinet, and the crystal rolled to another corner of the wall. The latter raised his head and looked at him with a breath, looking at him, looking a little uneasy.
Chapter completed!