Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 146: Application of Steam Turbines

Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Application of Steam Turbines

Perfikot did not concern herself with how the White Bear Knight Order executed her orders; she merely returned to her laboratory during the time the Knight Order was gathering.

"Professor Archibald, how is the development of the new steam turbine progressing? If I need to use it now, can you provide me with a prototype?" Perfikot asked bluntly, inquiring directly to Professor Archibald, who was in charge of the steam turbine project.

Professor Archibald was taken aback for a moment, but quickly responded, "If you require it, my Lord Count, I can provide a prototype for you now. However, due to material issues, the prototype’s output power is not as expected; the one currently being trialed is only about 50 horsepower."

The main issue lies in metal processing; the performance of the chrome alloy material is quite good. If the material can undergo heat treatment, the rotational speed should be able to increase, bringing the output power to around 120 to 200 horsepower."

"If we enhance the material with alchemy, can it reach 100 horsepower?" Perfikot asked directly, focusing on the issue she was most concerned about.

According to her estimation, the steam turbine needed to provide at least one hundred horsepower to be sufficient. Although in the original world, the first multi-stage reaction steam turbine’s output power was only ten horsepower.

But such a level of steam turbine is clearly not sufficient for her needs, similar to the steam cores she used in the maid automaton and steam knights.

One hundred horsepower is roughly equivalent to the output of a 5-8 ton medium-sized excavator from her original world, and only at this level could it barely suffice for what she planned to do next.

Hearing Perfikot’s request, Professor Archibald contemplated for a moment and said, "It should be achievable, but this will require your personal involvement. Others do not have the level of alchemy to support such a workload."

At this point, Professor Archibald made a slightly envious joke: "Of course, if you allow them at least a month to complete the work, you could delegate this matter to Professor Leonard. With him and his students cooperating with me, we could probably produce a steam turbine of about one hundred horsepower within a month."

Professor Leonard is the alchemist assisting Professor Archibald in researching the steam turbine; he naturally has achieved the level of a royal chartered alchemist but has more accomplishments in academic research, and his actual capabilities naturally cannot be compared to Perfikot, who possesses the Philosopher’s Stone.

Perfikot nodded and then said, "I understand. Please prepare the prototype; I need to make a trip to the fjord, and when I return, I hope to see it ready."

"Understood, I will prepare the prototype with Professor Leonard." Professor Archibald did not know what Perfikot intended to do but knew what he should do.

However, before Perfikot left, Professor Archibald still asked a question, "May I ask, my Lord Count, where do you intend to apply the steam turbine? Mining coal? Or clearing snow?"

To this question, Perfikot merely raised her eyebrow and then answered, "Why can’t it be both?"

After speaking, she left the laboratory, leaving Professor Archibald full of curiosity.

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The forty knights assembled quickly followed Perfikot aboard the Flying Airship, heading towards the fjord camp.

After arriving at the fjord, the situation here was evidently worse than at the Eagle’s Beak Cliff base.

Looking down from the Flying Airship, it was clearly visible that the original site of the camp had been completely buried by snow, turning into a vast expanse of white.

The warehoused area, in slightly better condition, still mostly consisted of a few snow drifts on the snow, as the warehouses were also semi-submerged. When the snow depth exceeded a meter, even the warehouses were almost covered, leaving only the orderly clusters of snow piles visible on the ground.

Evidently, however, the camp had not been entirely buried, as the soldiers within it were likely still alive.

When the Flying Airship lowered its altitude and swept over the camp, Perfikot could clearly see that some roads had been cleared within the camp, with people walking through them, and white mist was still visible rising from the snow drifts by the warehouses.

Perfikot quickly ordered the Flying Airship to prepare for landing. Although nearly everywhere was covered in snow, appearing flat, it was not a suitable landing ground for the Flying Airship.

At least for Perfikot, it was evidently impossible to alight from the Flying Airship on snow that was a meter deep.

"Under these circumstances, we probably cannot land," the Flying Airship’s captain reported to Perfikot.

The Flying Airship was a new technology, and the captain did not possess extensive piloting experience, having transitioned from the navy because both involved ships.

Facing such uncertain ground conditions, he did not dare to land rashly but attempted to lower the altitude and find a suitable landing site.

However, at least a meter of snow on the ground made it impossible for anyone to determine the conditions beneath it. Even Perfikot could only roughly guess what might lie beneath the snow based on the terrain and location.

She ordered the captain to steer the Flying Airship over the ice near the fjord camp. Although the ice was also covered with a thick layer of snow, it was at least frozen seawater below, eliminating concerns about what might lie underneath the snow that could damage the Flying Airship.

Even so, trying to land the Flying Airship was no easy task.

The captain attempted to bring the Flying Airship down, but its weight prevented it from staying on the snow surface, and it quickly sank into the snow due to its own weight.

Seeing this, the captain could only raise the Flying Airship’s altitude again and said to Perfikot, "I’m afraid we need to send a few people down on ropes first; otherwise, landing is difficult."

The idea was to have people go down first to check the ground conditions and then land the Flying Airship, as safe an approach as he could think of.

Perfikot hesitated briefly and, after consulting the knights’ opinions, agreed to this plan.

A few daring knights, highly skilled, attempted to jump down from the lowered Flying Airship using ropes. As soon as they landed, they sank into the snow due to their weight, with only their heads barely above the surface.

This immediately made Perfikot anxious, fearing these courageous knights might encounter danger.

Fortunately, they were unharmed and quickly dug themselves out of the snow with their superhuman physique, clearing an area on the ground for the Flying Airship to finally have a place to land.