Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 567 - 566: Warhammer

Just as sharpened sticks and struck stones replaced claws and teeth, primitive swords and personal martial skills will inevitably be replaced by guns and cannons forged of steel. In this unstable world, war is ever-present, and for survival, inefficient personal force must inevitably yield to efficient war machines—this is the objective law of development.

Gawain does not know if every world follows this objective law, but at the very least, he can be certain that this world does.

No matter if this world possesses extraordinary powers or if its transcendents wield the power to move mountains and fill seas, this principle does not change—a transcendent capable of moving mountains or filling seas is destined to be replaced by machines that can do so more efficiently. This was decided the day the first hunting stick was sharpened.

He looked in admiration at the tank before him, as if seeing another era continuously unfolding ahead of its tracks.

Rebecca, Aunt Heidi, Sir Philip, and Nicholas Egg were with him, and everyone (and the sphere) focused their attention equally on that tank.

Rebecca finally realized her idea after the introduction of the magic-guided vehicle—mounting a cannon on the vehicle—and it not only had a cannon but also armor plates and a barrier generator.

This vehicle, barely qualifying as a "tank," was quite different from Gawain’s original design and any tank he understood. It had no sloped armor, and the entire body of the vehicle was a nearly rectangular iron box, pieced together with numerous rivets and welds; each armor plate was merely a thin steel sheet. The tracks of the vehicle were somewhat reminiscent of Gawain’s impression, yet more rugged, and every track link bore deep magic symbol engravings—the Earth Elemental Runes could reduce wear between the metal plates and the ground and slightly enhance the tracks’ resistance to elemental attacks, as suggested by a rune craftsman from the Hosman Region. Its turret was equally impressive, a trapezoidal iron cover, narrower at the top and wider at the bottom, open at the front, with two parallel metal rails extending straight out from the opening. A simple optical aiming device was installed parallel to the metal rails at the bottom part of the iron cover.

Limited by current technology, the main gun installed was the smallest "Persuader" light rail cannon, and it was further modified for reduced weight to fit the tank, resulting in a certain reduction in power. Nevertheless, for the battlefield of this era, this was already a mobile crusher.

In appearance, it was rugged like a punk creation, and it didn’t conform at all to tank design concepts on planet Earth.

Almost none of its armor had angles or curves; its armor was thin, and at some riveted seams, it was clear its side armor was just thin steel plates. Lastly, it had a higher-than-expected body and a prominent large turret in Gawain’s view.

These designs significantly lowered the manufacturing difficulty of this tank (one of the reasons it could be made so quickly), reduced the tank’s cost, greatly decreased its weight, and increased its payload and interior space. However, all of this brought an obvious drawback: its physical defense seemed reduced.

In Gawain’s original design documents, the concept of sloped armor and a low body height was there, but in the final product, these concepts were abandoned.

Initially, he had specifically discussed these modifications with Rebecca and Kamel and even debated them, but eventually, he relented because he later realized such seemingly reduced defensive design was actually the most reasonable.

At the start, following habitual thinking, he endowed the tank with strong physical defense, intending to make future tanks resistant to shells and reduce their hit rate by increasing armor inclination and lowering body height. Yet, he overlooked one point—the most powerful and the only form of attack threatening the tank in this world was magic.

The tank didn’t need to face shells, nor should it overly consider even projectiles. On the battlefield, it would mostly confront lower-power projectile weapons and higher-power magic attacks. Lower-power projectile weapons like crossbows and stone bullets posed no threat to the thin steel plate-made armor, while high-power magic attacks were ineffectively countered by sloped or curved armor.

Powerful spells such as Lightning Spell, Flame Burst, and Ice Whip would not "ricochet," and some spells with guiding effects wouldn’t miss their target due to a low tank body. Defending against powerful magic attacks required not tampering with the armor but adding a set of barrier generators inside the tank body.

Moreover, with a magic shield, even if the tank faced strong kinetic attacks—for instance, shelling from another battle tank of the same class—it had some defensive capacity without compressing the tank’s precious interior space for kinetic defense.

Following this thought process, the technicians at Cecil Mechanical Manufacturing Facility and the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute discarded operations like sloped armor that "seemed to have no purpose," instead designing the tank as this boxy, human-height iron box, filling the increased internal space with two sets of magic shield devices. Finally, they produced the object before Gawain.

"We’ve tested it, and both its weapon and shield systems work fine," Rebecca said enthusiastically by his side, her face full of pride. "I told you, putting two sets of shields inside the hull is much more effective than hanging a bunch of sloped steel plates, plus it’s cheaper and reduces weight... Your previous idea was only about looks, not practical at all..."

Gawain, having his notions overturned by this world’s objective laws, had no academic grounds to refute Rebecca’s words, but he could knock his granddaughter’s head as an ancestor. Thus, he casually knocked Rebecca’s head: "My previous idea wasn’t right, but who said my previous plan was because of looks?"

"Oh!" Rebecca yelped from the knock but then immediately gushed with joy, "So, you mean the tank we made now looks great?"

Completely unaware of how her thinking leaped to this point.

Gawain didn’t respond to the self-satisfied Rebecca, instead raising his head to look at the "magic-powered tank" with its full punk style, casually asking, "Is the final plan still using a rail cannon?"

Nicholas Egg floated over, buzzing, "The smallest Rainbow Cannon could barely fit on the turret, but it would ’consume’ over half of the power spine’s energy. Sustained firing would require stopping in place, and short bursts would severely affect engine stability. Additionally, the heat from the Rainbow Cannon is enormous, exceeding thirty seconds of continuous firing would make the turret unbearably hot, and even Frost Runes couldn’t suppress it, making it intolerable for the crew—therefore, we ultimately opted for a kinetic projectile cannon. It requires carrying shells, but this is the only viable solution for now."

Gawain nodded and looked toward the production line behind the tank: "How long until mass production?"

Nicholas Egg pondered for a moment, buzzing, "In fact, mass production could be achieved in about half a month."

Gawain looked surprised: "So fast?!"

"Because it’s completely cobbled together from existing technologies, and the production line was directly modified from the agricultural machinery production line," Nicholas Egg explained. "The chassis is directly using the Universal-II agricultural machine chassis. The armor is basically just an iron box pieced together with rivets and welds, and the existing welding platform can be slightly modified and used. The main cannon has already achieved mass production on the military factory production line. As for the other internal devices... the technical content is not high."

Gawain slowly nodded, what the metal-ball alien said was indeed reasonable.

He had been eager to build a tank, initially thinking it was an unattainable goal. But as the Magic-guided Vehicle was created, the light rail cannon came into being, and various agricultural machinery was successfully developed, the basics for a tank had unknowingly come together.

Even in the history of planet Earth, the first tank seemed to have been something put together with existing technology, hammered and assembled hastily.

The rough prototype vehicle in front of him might one day develop into something sophisticated, but right now, it’s really just a tractor chassis wrapped in an iron shell, with a cannon mounted—it’s that simple...

Such a simple thing is already enough to deal with the challenges Cecil is about to face, and outside of Cecil... it is also "sophisticated" enough.

"After completing the final tests, start mass production as soon as possible. By next summer, produce as many as possible," Gawain said to Nicholas Egg, then turned to Sir Philip. "Select soldiers with a high aptitude in magic-conducting machinery and driving, the task of training the first batch of tank soldiers is entrusted to you."

After Nicholas Egg and Sir Philip each accepted their orders, Gawain looked at Aunt Heidi: "You’re in charge of approving the budget."

Aunt Heidi: "...Yes."

Cecil’s Great Steward felt like crying without tears—turns out she was dragged here early in the morning to see "agricultural machinery" just to approve the budget.

But after her brief moment of wanting to cry without tears, Aunt Heidi still sensed a touch of urgency and deep meaning from Gawain’s attitude: "Ancestor, do you think the crisis... will erupt within a year?"

"This is the worst-case scenario," Gawain nodded. "It’s already summer—by the dispositions of the aristocrats of the royal capital, they probably are done with their bickering."

Aunt Heidi looked at Gawain’s eyes and slowly nodded.

According to the ancestor’s initial estimate, at the latest by this summer, the nobility of Anzu would have reached a consensus on repairing the great walls. This isn’t because their efficiency can be precisely calculated, but because the situation dictates it.

They must complete all their bickering and discussions in the first half of the summer to ensure that in the autumn they can organize a sufficient workforce and resources, select suitable representatives, and head to the vicinity of the great barrier to start the repair work. If delayed too long, the weather will turn cold, and the departure of the team will require higher costs. In the cold winter, all projects become difficult, and if the team near the harsh environment of the great walls fails to establish a safe shelter camp in time due to construction difficulties, the potential losses and the cost of engineering failure would be something no family could endure.

"Whether or not they will ultimately allow this ’old man’ to represent Anzu in repairing the barrier, the Anzu civil war will temporarily cease during the repair period, but they won’t stop for long—the repair and reinforcement of the barrier will take about one to three years, and once this problem is resolved, all the worries will be gone, and the civil war will restart immediately. Furthermore... it will be even more fierce, with all the underlying issues and facades torn apart. By then, Cecil trying to remain out of it and focus on development while profiting from both sides... I’m afraid it won’t be that easy."

Pausing here, Gawain continued, "So we must be ready as soon as possible. Counting the time for the engineering team to travel, the barrier could be repaired by the next autumn season at the earliest, and our ’safety margin’ will not extend beyond next summer—weapon and equipment need time to be produced and adapted."

Listening to Gawain’s almost precisely calculated plan for every step, Aunt Heidi couldn’t help but bite her lip: "Will the situation really develop as you anticipate?"

"Plans are often inaccurate, and reality always exceeds your expectations, just like on the battlefield—it’s very likely that you have dozens of plans, but when the war truly breaks out, it’s up to the commanders’ on-the-spot performance, it’s personal bravery," Gawain laughed, looking at Aunt Heidi, "But excellent decision-makers still make plans. At least, when we have a plan, there’s something we can do, right?"

Gawain himself knew that his analysis of the situation was just "analysis"—even with Gawain Cecil’s experience, the knowledge of the satellite spirit, or his experience from a past life, he couldn’t guarantee that his analysis was accurate. But, as he had told Aunt Heidi, at least... we must have a plan.

Aunt Heidi lowered her head, her tone solemn: "Yes, I understand."

Gawain nodded, then he turned to the prototype tank, his tone lifting, feeling quite pleased as he said, "Alright, now let’s come up with a name for this cold, hard and bulky fellow—"

Every pair of eyes looked at him with anticipation, and he sized up the steel-built tank.

Square armor, hard lines, a simple and steady shape, a straight-extended rail cannon...

To be honest, it really does look like a hammer.

"Let’s call it Warhammer, the Warhammer I Main Battle Tank."