Moving a locomotive was a rather simple task, assuming one had a magical storage item big enough. The tracks were not near the university so we had to move the prototype for the test. The city did not have any room left so it was decided to construct the station at the edge of the city, at the mountain.

The station itself was just an empty building, so far. The tracks led to a newly constructed tunnel into the dwarven kingdom.

"The tracks should work." Hans said. "But the tunnel does not have any light. So far our prototypes have not made it very far…"

The dark was not really a problem for me. But we had humans among us. "Does the train have light? In the front?" I asked.

"Um… no." Hans admitted.

Adva scratched her head. "That would have been a good idea."

"I guess I can cast a light spell on the front of the train, for now." I mused.

"It's just going straight on the tracks anyway." Hans replied.

"True. But there could always be an obstruction on the tracks." I pointed out.

"Let's get this thing going!" Lucy suggested. She was back in her foxkin form and seemed rather excited. Maybe my tales of trains had intrigued her.

I retrieved our prototype and placed it on the tracks. So far so good, it was a perfect fit. Then again, it was not the first prototype. The engine was truly what needed testing.

"So, how did you do your other tests?" I asked.

"We, um, we had one person inside the cabin and put shield spells on them. Then we powered up the engine." Arianne explained.

"We should try to protect the mortals, I suppose." Kira mused. "I can offer a protection spell."

"Great! Let's do this!" I said and boarded the train. We could all be on it this time, with the additional protections.

Kira used her magic. Herbert and Arianne were still uneasy around her but accepted the buff. Adva and Hans seemed less concerned. Maybe the people living in the mountains were more familiar with dragons.

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Adva took her position at the controls and I joined her.

"This lever here powers up your engine. If the runes do what they should. This gauge shows how much magic is stored in the crystal. It can be recharged back there with spell slots." She pointed at the gauge then at a metal box. "And here are the brakes." She pointed at another lever.

"Since we are on tracks it's all fairly simple." Hans added.

I nodded. "Have you tested the brakes?"

"Well, they are a standard design…" Hans replied.

"I guess worst case we stop it ourselves." I mused. Then I stepped up the controls. I was feeling giddy. A big smile was on my face as I grabbed the lever and gently pushed.

I could hear the turbine spinning up and we launched forward. It was a bit abrupt and I quickly used one hand to grab Adva, otherwise she would have thrown backwards. Hans managed to grab onto something. I heard a yelp behind me but no screams so I figured it was fine.

"Chairs are definitely needed." I mused while putting Adva down.

It was hard to tell how fast the train was but we were definitely moving faster than a horse. Maybe the controls would need some tuning. I thought I had pushed the lever rather gently.

Once we were going Adva and Hans started checking the systems inside the wagon. The engine was not something they could approach during travel, it would be too dangerous. For them.

I climbed on top of the wagon with Kira following me. I was clueless when it came to engineering but I could check the runes. They seemed to be working fine.

The engine was not a real jet engine. It was a magical approximation. Still, a trail of hot air blasted out the back, a turbine was spinning inside and the outer casing was glowing with runes. It looked pretty impressive. It also looked like the metal was getting a bit hot.

"Maybe we need to add some cooling." I observed.

"Hm. This is mostly mithril. It can withstand a lot. And they used some strengthening runes as well. But it might be safer for mortals if it was not running too hot. Also would increase mana efficiency." Kira mused, standing beside me.

"Whoooo! Faster!" I heard Lucy shout. I looked over the edge of the roof and saw her head poking out of a window.

"Sure." I heard Adva's response.

The engine in front of us glowed even brighter and I felt the acceleration. Standing on the roof would have been really hazardous for a normal mortal. Being an archfey and a dragon, we were just fine.

"Definitely could use some cooling." Kira observed. "It will cook the wagon over time otherwise."

"Should be fine for a test drive though." I added. My hair was blowing in the wind. We were definitely fast now. It was hard to judge inside the tunnel though.

Suddenly the narrow tunnel opened up and we arrived at a larger cavern. I could see the beauty of the undermountain. Mushrooms and other plants were softly glowing in the dark. The cavern we were traversing had a small lake at the bottom.

The tracks were going straight through the middle of the cavern. They were mostly on a small rock bridge but I could see a dwarven made section linking the two sides of the cavern. We passed through rather quickly and entered a tunnel again.

"Faster!" I heard Lucy shout again.

"I don't think that is a good idea. If we go fast we might start flying." I shouted. The engine was a bit noisy.

"Flying?" Came the response from below.

I stayed on the roof but crouched near the ladder down and poked my head inside the cabin. "With enough thrust that might be a problem. Thankfully the tracks are even, if we were going up a small incline it might be bad. We might have to limit the engine output, or use magic to keep the train grounded." I mused. I had no idea how much downforce we had. At least the engine was not pointing upwards. At closer inspection, it even had a slight downward angle. Thankfully the carriage was constructed rather sturdily.

"The engine is running a little over half power." Adva replied.

It would be really interesting to know how fast we were going. It might have been something like 200km/h.

"Say, how long are those tracks?" Kira shouted from behind me.

That was a valid question, I suppose. "Maybe slow down a bit." I told Adva.

"Booo!" Lucy complained.

Adva pulled the lever to power down the engine. Nothing happened. Adva grew pale. "We have a problem…"

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