After leaving the palace, I return to the mansion via flight so that I can survey the terrain I want to build rails through. Alara's hot spring valley is located just inside a western mountain range, and Avalon's western border has some minor forestland, but the land between is wide open plains. That makes my job a lot easier.
I'm standing at the eastern side of the hot spring valley, near a mountain pass that leads out into the plains. I think this is the best place to start the rails. I nod to myself – I think I know how I'm going to approach this.
When I will a thin layer of magic to repel any matter, I've taken to calling the resulting magic barrier a 'forcefield', which seems appropriate. I've noticed a few properties of these forcefields, some of which are going to be important for making the rails and running the railcars.
First, forcefields can remain fixed in relative position to some focal point when they are cast. I cast the magic barriers I use to protect camps with a particular area of land in mind, so they remain fixed around that area when I move. By contrast, I imagine my magic armor as a thin layer around my skin, so it moves with me, remaining relative to my skin.
Second, forcefields disperse physical force and momentum across the things they are relative to. Those cast relative to the earth seem to be able to reflect force without any effect on my body, while a forcefield around my skin disperses equally to all the molecules of my body at once. In the latter case, powerful hits would just send me flying instead of hurting my body, so long as the forcefield holds.
Third, forcefields seem to be frictionless surfaces. If I stand on a very slight hill and make a forcefield surfboard under my feet, I just start sliding. This was one of my coolest discoveries during my time spent researching magic with Alto, and it is very important for the railcar. It's also important for laying the rail.
I take up a surfing stance, facing towards the mountain pass, and I begin layering the multiple spells I'll need to make the railway. Essentially, I intend to use gravity, forcefield, and alchemy spells to surf along the ground, synthesizing rails behind me as I go.
First, behind me I focus on forming my magic into four I-beam cross sections for the rail synthesis. They are about two meters tall, 30 centimeters wide, and 10 centimeters thick, with rounded edges. They are divided into two railway pairs, with the outer beams being 7 meters apart and the inner beams 3 meters apart, and they are buried about 80% into the ground. I've decided on aluminum for the synthesis since it will be quickest, and it won't rust like iron would. It should still be strong enough for a train if the turns are gradual.
Next, I create a wind breaker forcefield ahead of me, a surfboard forcefield under me, and hold myself in place with a gravity spell. Then, I start the aluminum rail synthesis behind me, pulling matter from the earth on either side of the railway pairs to create border trenches. The cross sections are immediately filled in with shiny aluminum, so I begin moving forward with my gravity spell.
I start at a walking pace, watching the rail synthesis behind me, and it's going beautifully. I can see T-shaped rails being formed out of the ground. I gradually speed up as I make my way through the mountain pass towards Avalon, using magic sense targeted to Ilina as my guide.
Eventually, I reach a point where I'm going as fast as I can without risking the continuity of the aluminum synthesis – it's around 200 kph. It's way faster than I expected, and I think that's owed to the relative speed of synthesizing aluminum.
With my maximum pace determined, I focus on navigation. I'm still in the foothills, but the plains are in sight. I proceed along the path ahead, making sure to avoid any loose soil, uneven ground, or obstructions with help from magic sense. I remain wary of clearance above and beside the rails. After a few more minutes, I emerge into the plains – now it's just bodies of water and uneven ground I need to watch for.
Over the next few hours, I can feel my magic steadily draining. It's a sensation that is rare for me these days. If I had to guess, that magic drain is overwhelmingly from such large-scale alchemy. I think I'll still be able to make it to Avalon's border before I drain too much magic, but I'll be very tired when I arrive.
In the last leg of my journey, I slow down to navigate the forestland near Avalon. Thankfully, I'm able to find a winding path that doesn't come too close to any trees, pass over any fallen logs, or require too sharp of turns. Eventually, I see the western side of Avalon's defensive wall in the distance. At this point, the sun is low in the sky.
When I'm a couple of kilometers from the wall, I stop to rest and plan. From here on, I'll need an invisibility spell. Also, I want for these rails to be a continuous loop, so that if operators underestimate how long it takes to slow down, they don't hit a dead end and kill everyone. In that case, I'll keep synthesizing only one of the rail lines, then make a big loop back to the other rail line to connect them.
Comfortable with my plan, I rise to my feet and continue my synthesis of one of the rails, making sure to cast the invisibility spell first. I start with the southern rail, and make a very gradual turn to the right, then eventually start turning back left in a large loop. As I circle back towards where I left the northern rail, I start trying to align the two rails.
When I'm a few meters from connecting them, I slow down to a crawl, and slowly complete the connection. I stop my spells and walk around the connection point to inspect it. It looks slightly misaligned, so I use my alchemy and forcefield spells to smoothen the connection.
Once I'm satisfied that the railway turn is completed to my standards, I teleport back to the hot spring valley where I started the rails. There, I make a similar loop just inside the eastern edge of the valley to complete the full railway system. Now it's time for the first railcar.
I use an alchemy spell to synthesize a huge mass of aluminum from the surrounding earth in the likeness of a bullet train's lead railcar – the sloped nose, rounded body, and flat bottom. I make the body of the railcar about two centimeters thick, thirteen meters long, two meters wide at its base, and two meters high. I sigh deeply.
"Jeez…now for the hard part." (Mizuki)
I slowly levitate the railcar onto the southern railway, facing eastward, and proceed to align its bottom on the rails as best I can. Then, I synthesize four aluminum "clasps" that are about ten centimeters thick and fit loosely around the tops of the I-beams, with a several centimeter air gap between the I-beam and clasp on all sides.
I separate and align the clasps on the railway, then adhere railcar to the clasps. The result is a railcar loosely clasped to the railway at points about two meters from the railcar's front and back ends. Now, time for the more aesthetic touches.
I make a doorway in the right side of the railcar, just behind the nose, by using my alchemy spell to convert a door-shaped part of the aluminum body into oxygen. Then, I make long windows half a meter high down each side of the body of the railcar. Finally, I go to the nose of the railcar and create a small meter-high window that wraps in a 120-degree arc – a front view for the operator.
I climb inside the railcar and add a thin aluminum wall just beside the door to separate the operator's cabin from the passenger cabin, then I create a small doorway in the center of it for passage. Inside the operator's cabin, I make a basic aluminum chair and a seated podium in front of it, then connect both to the floor.
I use my alchemy spell to carve four square slots into the aluminum podium, then etch four pictures into the slots – a check mark, an up arrow, a down arrow, and a small sun. These will be where I place the enchanted items for adding forcefields, acceleration, deceleration or reversing, and headlights, respectively. I also etch the number '1' into the center of the podium. That's the railcar number.
I return to the passenger cabin and begin making basic aluminum chairs attached to the floor – two rows of twelve, with an aisle in the middle. I give a satisfied sigh out loud.
"Man, this is really coming together! All this grey is really tacky, though, we'll have to decorate it later." (Mizuki)
I move back to the operator's cabin and take a seat, then begin synthesizing four copper plates to go in the podium's square slots. I etch a matching '1' onto each one, then flip them and etch the matching symbols for the podium. Time to start with the enchanting.
I grab the forcefield plate and use the incantation I heard from Percivil to prime it, then place it back in its slot. I channel my magic through it and form a forcefield a few centimeters thick around the railcar and clasps like a skin. I feel the railcar lift and start sliding slowly. Perfect – the forcefield is causing a frictionless effect on the railway, and it's covering the windows and door, so they're sealed at high speed.
After the forcefield enchantment is done, I grab the acceleration plate and prime it, then focus my magic through it to cast a gravity spell that pushes the railcar and its contents towards the direction its nose faces. Since the forcefield isn't active, I hear a horrible screeching sound as the railcar lurches forward.
I stop once the enchantment is set, then I repeat the process with the reverse/deceleration plate. I focus on both enchantments having the property that magic input determines the force of the gravity spells.
Finally, I prime the headlights plate, then focus two of my white light ball spells through it. I conjure them just outside the railcar, above the viewing window in front of me. The sun is mostly set now, so I see the white glow from the spell ahead of me. An excited grin spreads across my face.
"Time to test this baby out!" (Mizuki)
I flow magic into the forcefield plate and feel the railcar lift, then I place my other hand on the acceleration plate and start flowing magic into it. The railcar starts moving forward along the track. I keep pouring more magic into it until I'm doing about 50 kph, then I let the railcar cruise for a few minutes. It's a smooth experience so far. I pour more magic into the railcar, and it gets up to around 300 kph.
At this speed, there's a slight humming in the railcar, but the ride is still comfortable. I wait another ten minutes at this speed, and I notice no issues.
"Okay, I think that's as good of a pilot run as I could hope for!" (Mizuki)
I make my way back to the hot spring valley in reverse, then park the railcar at the end of the loop. I pull the copper plates from the podium and toss them in my item box. As I'm gloating to myself over this solid day's work, I feel a message come through from Nina.
[Mizuki! Alto and I are ready to be picked up from the inn!] (Nina)
[Alright Nina, I'm on my way!] (Mizuki)
I can't wait to blow their minds with this tomorrow.