Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 858: Rune Inscription Drone Project II

CH858 Runic Inscription Drone Project II

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‘Okay, let’s go over my objective.’ Alex decided to go over things step by step. ‘My objective is to design a drone model, or model line, that can be deployed in as many scenarios as possible to inscribe previously designed runic formations programmed into it on any—or most—surfaces.

‘The drone model should possess features that facilitate all types of inscriptions while ensuring maximum energy efficiency as much as possible. But at the same time, since it will be deployed in public areas, the drones must either be aesthetically pleasing to the general public or be able to go unnoticed by them.’

He paused, then mused.

‘The drones will be inscribing Runes all across the domain, possibly on a number of public structures. I doubt they’ll be able to go unnoticed most of the time. Let’s focus on making them aesthetically pleasing instead.’

He nodded to himself as he felt this first set of guiding parameters was satisfactory.

Orion mentally brought up a chart showing the scientific classification of the animal kingdom based on Alex’s admittedly vague recollection of the subject from his previous life.

When Alex focused on a subject on the classification, as a visual cue, the chart would expand as Orion brought up the data it had on the subject.

Currently, based on Alex’s thoughts, Orion brought up data on the Arthropoda phylum, more specifically the Arachnida class, as Alex’s thoughts narrowed on the subject.

He continued his internal monologue. ‘Since I want to make the drone as aesthetically pleasing to as many people as possible, then using a spider form as its base is out.’

His first thought had been to use a spider form because the eight-legged design of an arachnid made them naturally proficient at traversing most terrain. Their pointed limbs also made for ideal inscription tools with a bit of modification.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of people who found them visually repulsive. At the very least, far more people found them repulsive than found them pleasing to the eye.

He also looked at the scorpion family under the Arachnida class, but shook away the idea as well for the same reason he had rejected the spider.

‘In fact, based on that factor, I guess I should also disqualify the other arthropods. While there are a number of them, especially amongst insects, that would be functionally ideal as the base for the drone, arthropods generally put many people off aesthetically.’ Alex shook his head slightly, finding it a bit of a pity.

Orion pulled back the image of the arthropods and quickly zoomed to the Chordata phylum as Alex’s thoughts shifted elsewhere.

‘Aesthetically, I would find most of the ideal base forms within mammalian creatures. However, most mammalian forms I can think of off the top of my head aren’t functionally ideal for my needs.’

Once again, while Alex pondered over this, Orion quickly parsed through its database to provide Alex with an ideal candidate within the Mammalia class.

However, Alex’s primary human mind was fickle. It had already moved on from the Mammalia class.

Still within Chordata, Alex’s attention passed over the reptiles, fish, and amphibians, and was instead drawn to the Avian class.

‘Hmm… birds. That could work,’ he thought.

Orion narrowed its data search to the Avian class. It quickly filtered out any medium-to-large birds, as their larger forms would consume more energy than necessary.

A list of smaller bird families was presented within Alex’s mind.

‘People are more readily going to accept something they are familiar with,’ Alex thought.

As soon as he had this thought, Orion instantly removed any families of exotic birds from the list, leaving only those that would be familiar to most people in most places.

Mentally running through the list, Alex came across some familiar names that drew a nod of approval.

After a few moments of hesitation, Alex narrowed down his preferred candidates.

Yes, candidates… as in plural.

‘Woodpecker and hummingbird,’ Alex thought, rubbing his chin.

The images of a woodpecker and hummingbird extended out from his mind to present themselves before his eyes on the projected holoscreen.

‘For an inscription platform, the woodpecker immediately draws my fancy,’ Alex thought. ‘However, a woodpecker as a base form has its limitations. Woodpeckers need to grip a surface with their feet to transfer the resultant force from their powerful pecking away from their bodies and into the surface they’re gripping.

‘This isn’t exactly ideal since I want the drone to also have the ability to hover in place while pecking—I mean, inscribing on a surface. The hummingbird can comes in as a solution here.

“The flight method of the hummingbird allows it to hover in place while in flight, after all.’

Alex smiled. He dragged images of the two birds together.

Understanding his intentions, Orion generated a new form—a hybrid form sporting both hummingbird and woodpecker qualities.

The new image on the screen seemed to possess the head, neck, legs, and talons of a woodpecker. Meanwhile, its torso and wings followed a hummingbird theme.

‘In theory, this hybrid should give me the best of both worlds. The peck—or rather, inscription ability of a woodpecker, as well as the hovering and flight capabilities of a hummingbird.’

However, Alex didn’t stop there.

‘Just having the wings or flight characteristics of the hummingbird isn’t enough to neutralise the resultant force on the drone while it is inscribing. In fact, the counterforce is more likely to disrupt its hovering ability.’

Orion updated the drone design in real time in line with Alex’s thoughts.

The drone now had two pairs of wings, forming an almost X shape behind its body—the primary upper pair of wings handled the high-frequency, hummingbird-style lift and hovering, while the secondary lower pair of wings acted as stabilisers.

The image zoomed in on the secondary pair of wings as Alex focused his attention on them.

This pair of wings gained rear-facing energy vents capable of releasing micro-bursts of kinetic force.

With this design, Alex hoped that when the drone approached its target inscription surface, if it couldn’t grip the surface with its legs—depending on the nature of the inscription surface—the drone could hover in place thanks to its primary pair of wings.

Then, as the drone’s beak struck, drew, or inscribed against the inscription surface, the rear-facing energy vents on the secondary pair of wings would pulse with micro-bursts of kinetic force, effectively neutralising or cancelling out the recoil force on the drone.

With this system in place, Alex then proceeded to have Orion simulate and crunch the numbers, allowing it to implement structural reinforcements to the drone, all without increasing its size beyond that of an average woodpecker—about 50 centimetres long.

One of the advantages of a drone was that Runes could be embedded into its body, like subdermal Rune Tattoos, to improve its physical parameters as needed with little effort.

The end product was something that looked like a phantasmal cross between a woodpecker and a hummingbird.

With the basic form of the drone completed, Alex looked into what else he could add to make the drone even more visually appealing than it already was—admittedly fearing a little that the drone could be mistaken for a mutated, deranged Berserk Beast.

Recalling the image of a Kingfisher he had just seen on the list of birds brought up by Orion, Alex also threw in an iridescent plumage colour scheme inspired by the Kingfisher, enhanced with subtle luminous Runes that would leave a beautiful trail of sparkling light whenever the drone moved.

The end product Alex found himself with was as much a work of art as it was an engineering project.

‘Okay, now that the appearance is settled. Let’s work out the actual operating method of the drone.’

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