After delegating various tasks on hand, Perfikot finally had a little personal time.
However, this so-called "personal time" doesn’t mean she can relax or do nothing productive.
This time is simply that she has relatively fewer tasks to handle and can carve out some free time to complete some personal matters.
For instance, the development of the Flying Stone, which had been postponed for several months, is of utmost importance to Perfikot, especially concerning the unlocking of the Jade Record.
Previously, the various affairs of the Northern Territory piled up, forcing Perfikot to prioritize handling these tasks and delay the development of the Flying Stone.
Now, with the administrative officials and Pioneer Knights she appointed managing the specific affairs of the Northern Territory, and important research projects assigned to respective teams,
the overall situation is steadily progressing, allowing Perfikot to refocus her energy and attention on the Flying Stone project.
The characteristics of the Flying Stone itself are quite clear; once activated, it creates an Anti-Gravity Field centered on it, causing people or objects within the field to become weightless and, with external force, achieve floating or even flying effects.
Based on this characteristic, Perfikot can create many things. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ Nove1Fire.net
For example, by installing the Flying Stone onto the Steam Knight’s armor and adding thrusters, it transforms from a ground-walking Knight into a flying Knight, a powerful air combat weapon.
It is known that Perfikot has completed the design and manufacture of a handheld recoilless cannon and a series of powerful automatic weapons like the rapid-fire cannon. Combined with the Steam Knight’s defenses, the flying Knight’s power will definitely rival that of World War II propeller aircraft once manufactured.
In World War II, aircraft as a weapon played a significant role by leveraging air superiority to attack ground targets.
As for air-to-air combat, typically only machine guns or cannons were used.
In the history of warfare on Earth, it wasn’t until after World War II that rockets were mounted on aircraft as another aerial attack weapon.
Therefore, if Perfikot can create a suitable engine, even in the context of World War II, the combat power of flying Knights would certainly overpower those famous World War II aircraft.
After all, what aircraft could withstand a heavily armored tank jumping on its body and tearing off its wings?
Or withstand a 75mm high-explosive shell in the sky? Or a barrage from a 12.7mm heavy machine gun?
An important factor limiting the aerial combat power of flying units is ammunition capacity. Given the engine output and the already heavy body, plus fuel and pilot, there’s only so much load left for ammunition.
Coupled with the limited space inside the aircraft body, the amount of ammunition a plane can carry is finite.
But flying Knights are different in this regard, thanks to the Flying Stone.
This special device, capable of unfolding an Anti-Gravity Field, is enough to make a half-ton Steam Knight armor as light as a feather. Perfikot could lift it with one hand, so imagine what a flying Knight equipped with it can carry.
This results in a terrifying impact, meaning flying Knights don’t need to worry about payloads.
As long as the Anti-Gravity Field can cover it, Perfikot could even turn a modern warship weighing tens of thousands of tons into a space battleship and make it fly.
For flying Knights, the amount of ammo they can carry only depends on the design space allocated for it, not the weight they have to bear.
With this design approach, Perfikot could even create a flying Gundam if she wanted.
Of course, the practical effectiveness of large humanoid machines like Gundams is debatable, and Perfikot doesn’t plan to waste resources on creating such a superfluous combat weapon.
With the resources to make a Gundam, Perfikot could create a battalion of Steam Knights.
Ultimately, Perfikot only installed the Flying Stone onto a set of Steam Knight armor and made some adjustments, adding a flight pack with two 220-horsepower steam turbines.
The Steam Knight’s armor can only accommodate one steam turbine, a 120-horsepower low-power model, which is already an exaggerated power output. But compared to the flight pack with two 220-horsepower steam turbines created by Perfikot at any cost using the Philosopher’s Stone, it’s simply far behind.
The flight pack Perfikot developed is already comparable in power to some WWII aircraft.
After all, the famous Zero Fighter in WWII had a maximum take-off power of only 780 horsepower. The flying Knight’s flight pack has 440 horsepower, and counting the 120 horsepower of the flying Knight itself, it totals 560 horsepower, comparable to some early WWII planes.
The frightening part is that the flying Knight’s 440 horsepower can be entirely used for propulsion without considering take-off weight.
Even in the era of jet aircraft, this would be considered extraordinary, let alone in a time when nothing but Flying Airships occupies the sky.
Among the mages of various countries, there are indeed some who can fly, but limited by the magical environment, they can only fly a little.
They must consider their magic power’s endurance for travel, let alone combat.
So in many respects, flying Knights are truly invincible.
Of course, Perfikot must also consider the fuel issues for the flying Knights. Currently, Steam Knight armors still run on steam engines, burning coal, and the endurance is rather awkward.
Ground combat is fine, as they can always add water and coal, and for this era’s army, Steam Knights are dominant with no issue having a dedicated logistics team supporting them.
But in aerial combat, this becomes a critical concern.
Flying Knights cannot just land to refuel and reload coal after a short flight; although they don’t need to sustain long-term aerial combat, they should hold out longer.
Although Perfikot can increase the fuel tank size to improve the flying Knight’s endurance, from any angle, it still feels quite peculiar to her.