Vigdis took a few seconds to study the drawings, more general design sketches than blueprints of specific parts. It reminded her of the first semester at university where they were required to draw by hand before moving to CAD software the next semester. God, how she hated that, trying to erase one wrong line and taking two more with it and smudging the paper. [color=00AEFF]”Off the top of my head, I could show you a more complex cog shape that makes the mechanism run more smoothly and increases the contact area, thus reducing the strain on them without changing the size or material of the gears. I could also show you a type of gearbox that can merge two inputs into one output or do the opposite, though at the cost of being more complex.”[/color] Helical or herringbone gears and planetary gearboxes, the former harder to manufacture, the latter to assemble and maintain, but both with significant advantages going forward. Not only would it slightly improve Kareet's machines, it would future-proof the way machines were designed for when the time came to take full advantage of them. [color=00AEFF]”I could also explain a metalworking technique that hardens the surface of a steel piece, making it more resistant against wear while leaving the core soft and tough to make sure it won't snap under stress. You may even be doing this already without knowing it. It requires precise temperature control, but that shouldn't be a problem for a heat mage.”[/color] She continued, glancing at J'eon as this was up his alley as a blacksmith. Carbonizing worked best in an airtight furnace filled with carbon-rich gas or liquid, but charcoal could also be used and if they could make charcoal, they could get a vessel to be airtight [i]enough[/i].

[color=00AEFF]”Of course since we have no mages, I also know at least three ways to make these work without the involvement of any mage, beast or manual labor at all.”[/color] Steam, combustion or electric engines. Maybe they shouldn't tell the locals about fossil fuels and then start buying K-A oil at cheap prices. Planet definitely had trees, had been here long enough to develop sapient life, so definitely long enough to form oil and coal and if the local life wasn't carbon-based, they would have known by now. [color=00AEFF]”We’ve also figured out a less cumbersome alternative to paddle wheels, especially better suited for rough waters.”[/color] A propeller was a lot less likely to come out of the water when the waves were high.

Shrink then came by, dropping off a piece of the sea monster they caught with Ixtaro. Vigdis briefly pondered how weird it was that a treant was preparing meat before she remembered some plants on Earth were carnivorous. Now she had to get the mental image of Shirik discussing the culinary arts with a Venus Fly Trap out of her head. [color=00AEFF]”I've just had breakfast before coming out here, I'll save it for lunch, thank you.”[/color] It wasn't a lie, but it did provide a neat way of not being rude, yet waiting for the lab to say it was safe. Another whiff under a lifted up mask made Vigdis want it to be safe even more than before.