Chapter 228: Flight (part 3)

“At least we managed to get it off the ground,” Wu Qingsong said awkwardly to everyone.

“Yeah, yeah!” Liuli was the first to step forward. “Wu and Ling are the best and most amazing!”

But this didn’t cheer Wu Qingsong up. “It must be the materials. Let me think about it some more.”

The crashed aircraft had been entirely retrieved by another giant undead octopus. After instructing the undead sea creatures to tow the Black Pearl back from the distant reef and putting Eddie in charge of repairs, Wu Qingsong began a serious study.

The main problem with control was in the transmission mechanism, but the island had hardly any metal items. The few metal tools available were from the Black Pearl. He had to make do with wood, fish bones, and ropes for construction, which made the transmission mechanism problematic.

The material strength was also an issue.

The two types of trees available on the island weren’t particularly strong. They might be sufficient for takeoff and flight, but they couldn’t withstand the enormous impact of landing.

After using the best materials he had and experiencing another crash upon landing, Wu Qingsong had to reluctantly admit that his idea of building a plane here was completely unrealistic.

He could attempt the same idea again, but definitely not here and not now.

“Wu, don’t worry, I’ll keep practicing!” Ling whispered to him, noticing his disappointment.

 Maybe, in her mind, if her abilities were strong enough to create enough material, all the problems would be solved.

“Hey, Ling, don’t put so much pressure on yourself,” Wu Qingsong quickly said. “This was just a spur-of-the-moment idea, nothing important.”

Ling was undoubtedly the most hardworking person he had ever met.

As long as she had time and space, she was either practicing her skills or training her reflexes and physical strength.

Compared to Liuli, who spent most of her time playing or eating, Ling was like an ascetic. Many times, Wu Qingsong had to force her to stop practicing, to take her out with Liuli for some fun and relaxation.

But every time they returned, she would find ways to make up for the “wasted” time.

If it weren’t for this, her ability to summon objects wouldn’t have grown from creating thumb-sized beads in a few short years to producing spheres nearly half a meter in diameter.

A rough estimate suggested the volume had increased by tens of thousands of times.

But Ling just nodded, and Wu Qingsong knew she hadn’t really taken his words to heart.

‘Oh, you…’

Wu Qingsong shook his head helplessly. At that moment, Liuli, sitting in a wooden bucket being carried by several harpies, flew past them, yelling and cheering.

If only they could make a hot air balloon.

Wu Qingsong couldn’t help but think.

Of course, if they could build an airship, that would be even better.

Imagine flying a massive airship, the size of a small island, approaching Padamia. With a single command, the crew would quickly open the hatches, revealing dozens of cannons. Once the smoke cleared, the floating islands representing the decayed rule of the elves would shatter, and the elves would flee in panic.

That scene… it was truly exhilarating and inspiring.

But he knew this was just a wild fantasy.

Setting aside the enormous amounts of lightweight materials needed to build an airship, finding the buoyant gas to fill the massive balloon was out of his reach.

Helium was out of the question. He had no idea how to produce it or where to find it.

Even the highly explosive hydrogen gas was beyond his capability to produce in large quantities.

High school chemistry taught him that electrolysis of water could produce oxygen and hydrogen, but who knew how to generate electricity and separate the gases? Using zinc and dilute sulfuric acid to produce hydrogen? The effort required to develop a chemical industry would be better spent elsewhere, yielding ten or even a hundred times the benefits.

Moreover, flying such a large airship toward Padamia would make it an easy target for enemy magic. It would be shot down before getting close.

Wait a minute…

Something seemed to flash through his mind amidst these wild thoughts: airships, hydrogen, helium, buoyancy…

If hydrogen and helium could be used to fill balloons because of their low density and light weight, then what if there was no weight at all?

His heart suddenly began to race as he felt he had stumbled upon something monumental.

The substance Ling created still baffled him, but its hardness and flexibility were impressive. It was lightweight and could be moved freely within a three-meter radius around her by her willpower.

However, using it to bear weight required Ling to expend extra mental energy, making it inefficient.

But what if they used it to create a vacuum space?

Wasn’t a vacuum lighter than hydrogen or helium? After all, it had no weight at all.

In the modern world, creating such an airship was impossible because they couldn’t find a material that was light enough, thin enough, and could maintain a vacuum while withstanding external atmospheric pressure.

But this was a world with magic, and he had Ling by his side.

“Ling!” he called out immediately.

“Wu? What’s up?”

“Can you try creating a hollow sphere?” Wu Qingsong said excitedly.

“A sphere?” Ling was a bit puzzled.

“Yes. The bigger, the better, and the thinner the walls, the better. Start with a solid sphere and gradually expand it to see how big a sphere you can make.”

Ling couldn’t understand what he wanted, but she nodded and began to follow his instructions.

The sphere gradually grew larger. At first, there wasn’t much change, but as its size became bigger than a house, it suddenly started floating upward on its own.

“Sorry,” Ling said, looking a bit flustered as she struggled to pull it back into place.

“Wait a minute, have you been trying to hold it down the whole time?” Wu Qingsong asked, surprised.

Ling nodded. “From the beginning, it kept trying to rise on its own. It’s really strange…”

Wu Qingsong couldn’t help but grab her face and plant a firm kiss on her forehead. 

“I knew it! I was right! This means…”

Ling, flustered by his affectionate gesture, felt her mind go fuzzy, and her face instantly turned red. She momentarily forgot to control the sphere.

It immediately began accelerating upward, quickly escaping her control range.

Under Wu Qingsong’s astonished gaze, it soared to about thirty meters above the ground before suddenly vanishing without a trace, as if it had never existed in this world.