Chapter 690: Chapter 572: Space Travel and Time Dilation Effect!
Upon hearing Vittorio’s explanation, Lynn’s expression immediately became very peculiar. Daring to use a divine body as a power source was indeed audacious!
Vittorio also sported a helpless expression. Previously, he had tried using high-purity magic crystals as energy, but calculations showed that even consuming a ton of magic crystal reserves wouldn’t be enough to move the spacecraft a single kilometer!
After all, the thing was just too vast; likening it to a fortress or even a small city wasn’t an exaggeration, and its mass was up to hundreds of thousands of tons, thanks to its peculiar materials. The energy required to drive it could only be described as terrifying!
The only thing that met the requirements was the moon soil they had previously excavated for research, which upon testing revealed an extremely high density of magic power, hundreds of times more than the highest purity magic stones!
At this point, Vittorio cautiously glanced at Lynn, somewhat worried that this might offend him, considering that the Wizard, now having breached into the God Realm, could see this act as blasphemy!
Lynn obviously didn’t mind this; to him, gods were just a higher dimensional form of life. They might be exceedingly powerful on a planet or even within a solar system, but in the vaster cosmic space, they hardly mattered.
The fall of the Moon Goddess Diana was a warning!
So although Lynn was shocked by Vittorio’s bold recklessness, he quickly started discussing the composition of the moon soil used to construct the divine body with him.
Similar to the moon of his previous world, the ten tons of moon soil they brought back were rich in silicon, aluminum, potassium, barium, lithium, helium-3, neon-2, neon-22, and other rare elements, the most important of course were the colossal amounts of magic power contained in these elements!
The ability of the moon’s rotation to trigger the magic tidal waves of the Eternal Star was proof enough.
“Have you already conducted experiments?” Lynn asked curiously, “With the curvature engine activated, how fast can it actually go?”
“The spacecraft has not yet undergone a test flight, but our experiments on the model have already succeeded!” Vittorio declared, as they had manufactured a smaller version of the spacecraft at a one-to-one scale and conducted preliminary experiments without any issues.
A model? That sounded rather unreliable… Lynn raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. With him present, no major accidents were likely to happen…
Turning around, Vittorio then addressed the assembly of grand wizards. “Everyone, get busy. Perform the final check-up, and then let’s launch this spacecraft!”
Rafael, Jeffrey, Alade, and others immediately engaged in the final inspection tasks.
For seven whole months, nearly half a year, everyone had been preparing for this moment, hoping that no minor oversight would render all their efforts in vain.
“Energy charging complete, all systems of the preliminary curvature drive are normal…”
“Electromagnetic field detector has been activated!”
“Path planning complete, all obstacles have been avoided…”
A series of reports followed one after another. Because of thorough preparations, this check was nothing more than a formality!
Harrov, Aurora, and Anthony had all arrived, no one wanting to miss this momentous occasion.
The spirited Vittorio stood on the alchemical apparatus in front of the control console, extending his domain to cover every aspect of the spacecraft.
This was the method he had developed to control the spacecraft, utilizing a wizard’s domain to directly manipulate every atom within the spacecraft!
The spacecraft’s doors rapidly closed, and the shell gradually tightened, leaving no gaps. Then, the disk-shaped spacecraft, weighing hundreds of thousands of tons, slowly lifted amidst intense vibrations!
This was the anti-gravity device embedded at the bottom of the spacecraft.
Vittorio then spoke again.
“Activate the nuclear propulsion drive!”
Dennis solemnly took out two transparent spheres about half a meter in diameter and placed them into the underbelly’s corridor.
Harrov and others’ eyelids twitched as they knew these spheres contained deuterium and tritium!
They all knew Vittorio was bold, and although they had participated in part of the propulsion device’s construction, they hadn’t expected him to use this massive weapon right off the bat.
Because this nuclear power wasn’t about converting nuclear energy to drive electricity, but rather using a nuclear explosion to generate thrust to propel the unimaginably heavy spaceship!
If they hadn’t discovered during their research of the spaceship’s weapon system that this special metal’s surface had a layer capable of withstanding terrifying temperatures and pressures, they wouldn’t have dared to attempt this.
For a moment, the whole spaceship seemed to shudder as the two hydrogen bombs deployed exploded!
Fierce fire and light burst in the combustion chamber of the spacecraft, the tremendous power alarming many grand wizards present, as they were only a few hundred meters away from the hydrogen explosion, and if the chamber couldn’t withstand the explosion’s terrible power, the energy wave from the hydrogen explosion could tear them apart in an instant!
Fortunately, the technology of the alien civilization was trustworthy, and a mere hydrogen explosion was not enough to breach it, especially since the combustion chamber was one of the strongest areas.
Rafael and others wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads, even Vittorio and Dennis, the developers, heaved a sigh of relief. Although they had conducted tests previously, they still hadn’t been completely sure!
“Quite creative…” Lynn, who had witnessed the entire startup process, was also somewhat surprised. He hadn’t expected Vittorio to choose to use the legendary spell “Doomsday – Atomic Breath” to generate a powerful thrust to propel the spacecraft forward…
After completing the most dangerous part, it signified that the spacecraft was officially underway. From specially reserved dual exhausts at the rear, columns of intensely hot energy burst forth, spanning kilometers!
As the spacecraft, weighing hundreds of thousands, rose swiftly into the sky under nuclear power, its massive mass combined with extreme speed caused a sonic boom. This instantly ravaged the ground below, which was already battered by nuclear and hydrogen explosions!
In merely a dozen or so seconds, the speed of the spacecraft had increased to more than five times the speed of sound and continued to soar unchecked… A strong sonic barrier appeared on the surface of the spacecraft, which seemed to be enveloped in a cloud of mist.
This devastation would have been several times worse had Vittorio and others not engraved Wind Protection magic on the outer shell!
A large screen quickly appeared in front of everyone, displaying the outside world. This was Aurora’s developed projection magic, which could replace display devices and allow seeing outside directly from within!
However, everything in their view was blocked by the sonic barrier, leaving only a vast expanse of white, which then turned pitch black. It meant the spacecraft had broken free from the planet’s atmosphere.
It all happened in just a minute or two!
For Rafael and others, this speed was unbelievably fast!
Yet, this was just the beginning. After completely leaving the planet’s atmosphere, Vittorio solemnly activated the Curvature Engine!
The moon regolith placed at the center of the alchemical formation peeled away layer by layer, being converted into vast amounts of Magic Power. In front of the spacecraft, space distorted like ripples, eventually forming a ring-shaped spatial depression…
The spacecraft continued to accelerate at a terrifying frequency.
Rafael and others inside could only see the moon regolith rapidly diminishing within the Formation but couldn’t truly perceive the increase in speed, as it was too smooth, so smooth that they felt no fluctuations at all.
“Are we really accelerating?” Alade asked, puzzled.
“Of course, just look there!” Aurora pointed at a spot on the screen.
They sped past the satellite at blistering speed. Alade watched in horror as the Moon, initially a barely discernible speck, grew into a colossal object, only to shrink rapidly within two seconds and disappear from their view.
How fast was that speed?!
The great wizards present were awe-struck, even with their formidable computing power, as they found no reliable reference point!
“You’ll see when we reach Brown Star,” Vittorio responded.
This was their destination, the planet farthest from the Sun in the stellar system… According to wizards who studied astronomy, the distance between these two planets on their current orbital path was roughly one billion kilometers!
Even at the speed of light, it would take 3,300 seconds!
That’s about an hour!
As the atomic clock ticked by every minute and second, everyone intently watched the screen above.
After a long journey through dark space, another massive planet appeared then vanished from their view. Rafael recognized it as the second-farthest planet from them, also conveniently on their planned trajectory.
This meant they weren’t far from Brown Star!
Just as Rafael had predicted, that huge brown planet was now within sight, and they were approaching it at an extremely fast pace.
“Time… Look at the time!” Vittorio exclaimed excitedly.
“It’s two hours, seven minutes, and thirty-six seconds!” Dennis exclaimed joyfully, his words filled with incredulity.
That meant the cruising speed of the spacecraft had reached half the speed of light!
Harrov, Aurora, and Anthony had looks of disbelief on their faces; they actually managed to increase the speed to such a terrifying extent.
Rafael and others were equally thrilled. Half the speed of light—150,000 kilometers per second, twice around the Eternal Star!
Lynn waited until everyone’s excitement had settled before speaking with a smile to correct them. “Looking at this clock is useless; we’ll have to wait till we’re back at the Eternal Star to see how fast we really were on their clocks!”
Based on the time dilation effect, their time measurement wasn’t accurate; however, by his estimates, their speed was definitely not slow!
This was only the first-generation engine of the spacecraft; there was still much room for optimization!
With Lynn’s reminder, the fifty-odd wizards present gradually calmed down. They recalled the time dilation effect mentioned in quantum theory. Although this Wizard of Magic had proven his theory was accurate, the disparity in time flow caused by speed still left many with doubts.
Could their time really be slowing down?