It was deep in the early morning; insomnia had taken him once more. Yet, it was all he could do not to yell and shout his victory! He had finally finished his calculator.

To look at it, it appeared as little more than a glass plane with gold traces and small fragments of mana crystals randomly placed around it. Though, if you looked long enough, small pockets of order would be evident. In the traces first then the crystal groups. At the opposite edges were two clips to hold two mana stones, a “hot” and glowing fire mana stone, and a “cold” and also glowing dark fire mana stone. The two stones acted as power for the various discrete logic units on the board. In total, there was just shy of 200 logic units on it, probably comparable to something from the late 1960s, before integrated circuits became a thing.

Integrated mana circuits, now that was a neat idea! An idea that he knew would have to wait for some time. He wasn’t even sure his current process could be shrunk that far. In some of his experiments, he found that braking mana stones and gems down far enough, and they'd begin to stop working. It was like there was some lower threshold, and it seemed different for every crystal, and every stone. A few answers, and a lot more questions.

Thinking about plans, now that he had a fully working calculator circuit, it would become the first and main part of what was known as an Arithmetic Logic Unit. In many ways was the heart of a Central Processing Unit or CPU. Itself, a key part of a computer. In this case, a computer based completely on magic and mana. It was a delightfully whimsical idea of his, maybe one day it would have a practical purpose. Reese already had some ideas for it, but he'd need to build it first to be sure.

He wished Emilie was around to see it. He wanted to think she’d have been as excited as he was. He'd like to think she would have been amazed to see mana stones and gold actually do math. Even if she was never that interested in his inventions or ideas, this was just cool. At least a very small part of him was looking forward to challenging her preconceived notions, rubbing her face in it as it were.

A bitter sigh escaped him, as he violently shook his head. No, that was wrong. She was his friend, and that wasn’t the right way to treat friends. At least, he didn’t think it was. It had been so long since he had any it was hard to tell. Maybe that’s why he still felt alone, even here. Even he knew his personality could be a bit much at times.

Perhaps, one day he’d be able to show her and then apologize for, yelling? It was such a stupid argument and he couldn't even remember why. But, it was enough for her to not even write to him. Letters weren't cheap, but even Gezal wrote a few to his parents mentioning him. Emilie hadn't written one back to him, not even in response to the two he had sent. Her parents got a few letters, so he knew she was ok, but she hadn’t even mentioned anything about him in them. Maybe their friendship had just been one sided? He had done that before, leaned on people who he thought cared about him only to be disappointed in the end.

The more he thought about it, he hoped there even was a future where he’d have a chance to apologize.

Shaking his head again, he tried to rid the unpleasant thoughts from his mind and went back to his notebook. This project was a success, and he took time to study the rest of the pathways that were laid out in this particular book. Next, he’d probably build on some of the logic control and register units, probably make that it's own circuit. Maybe an instruction decoder after that? He’d need them all regardless, and many more.

His pathway was a near duplicate of something very old, a processor design from the 1970s. Or, at least what he could remember about it. His old electrical engineering courses were coming in handy for this. Before his passing in the old world he had been more of a researcher focused on quantum algorithms and systems. It seemed like an area ripe to explode and maybe he could have gotten a few papers out of it.

Aside from his graduate thesis, there weren't any to his name. But that life was over though, best to keep focused on the hear, and now. The point was, he had a plan knew what he was doing! Sort of…

One of the big takeaways of this project was isolating what he thought was the cause for inconsistent mana flow. As a stone or jewel depleted its stored mana, the amount that would follow from it would be stable at first, but at some point, would start to drop, like a decay curve. The tools and measurements weren’t the most precise, but they drew out something that looked like an elongated ‘S’, a so-called sigmoid curve in his old world. The result was comforting, that the rules of math seemed consistent between the worlds at least. Some buffer circuits handled the curve quite well. It was amusing that even with how different the forces were showing themselves to be, magic and electric circuits still held quite a few similarities, and proved a strong foundation to build off of.

Though research wise, this was the limit of what he could do for now though. He'd need more equipment, and possibly bigger lab space. No, not just bigger, but an actual lab. He had a few guesses about the mana blocking glass, but that would require chemistry. Which meant glassware, furnaces, open ventilated spaces, and potentially dangerous materials that he couldn't keep here. His chemistry knowledge wasn't the strongest, but he had a foundation to work with at least.

A while back he had talked to the blacksmith about borrowing his forge for some of it, he was even willing to pay. But the man was less than willing. In fact, the blacksmith seemed downright insulted and hostile when he had discussed it.

"I don't take apprentices, and a person like you shouldn't apprentice in more than one field. It's insulting to that mut of a master you currently have." The man had slammed his hammer on his anvil before literally pushing Reese out of the workshop.

Ever since then, Reese could swear he was adding extra mossies and silvers to his requests. Either that or the price of metals nearly doubled since then. Which could have been possible, he supposed. Fortus was talking about new bandit border raids along Thrus and Vortania. In fact, he had just gotten back from the more southern state, which was unusual. The kingdoms didn't share troops for the most part, barring an emergency or declaration of war anyway.

As he scratched out a few more notes he became increasingly aware of the brightening purple and blue sky outside. Annoying mostly because it meant it was time for him to leave. School would be in session soon and he had to stoke the fire of the stove in school house and ready the space for teaching.

Before he left, Reese decided to take the book Charston had given him. It was unreadable, the script just didn't make any sense. It wasn't like it was encoded with a cypher or anything clandestine like that. It was just a language which didn't seem to exist anywhere else. But, perhaps Fense had some idea? It did look strikingly close to anthroscript.

The wolf looked over the text with a puzzled expression. “No, I don’t think I’ve seen this before…” It was clear there was something that looked familiar though, “But I agree, it does look like anthroscript. Almost, looks like phonetic shorthand.”

“Phonetic shorthand?” Perhaps that was something to look into, Reese made a mental note.

“Yeah, anthro is more of a pictographic language. But there’s two alphabets it uses, ok technically three but the third isn’t used much. Anyway, there’s the standard textual script, which has the complex characters, but there’s a shorter and simpler set of about forty characters that’s used for phonetic pronunciations, like names.” He pointed to one set of symbols, “Like this one, it kind of looks like ‘Zai’ and these two kind of look like ‘el’, so ‘Zaielel which isn’t a word. At least not one that I know. The rest, I don’t know, they’re not even the proper phonetic characters.”

Fense continued to page through it for a bit, looking for something that he could anchor off of. Suddenly he stopped, near the very end. On a single page he tapped at an image. This wasn’t a circuit though, it was a small map. “This looks like ‘Fottashuscha.”

“Fottashuscha?”

“Yes. It’s a very old city, an almost mythical city, it doesn’t exist anymore.” Fense closed the book, lost in thought. “Almost seven thousand years ago, it was supposedly a major center for the Anthroworld, around the end of the second empire. This city diagram was a kind of seal for products from it. Anyway most historians don’t even think it existed but people have occasionally found items with this seal… That's a different conversation. This book or at least the information in it is either very old or a fake.” He handed the book back to Reese. “Sorry I can’t be more help. Maybe if there was a library in this town.”

“No! You were a lot of help. Thank you Fense.”

Reese made two notes in his book, ‘Find information on Anthro phonetic short hand’ and ‘Find information on Fottashuscha.'

Even if Fense couldn't read it, he was still of immense help. At least Reese knew something about where the text originated from. The fact that it was likely old gave him hope that it wasn't just nonsense, even if Fense did say it could be fake. But if it was, why would anyone protect it, if it wasn't useful somehow?

The diagrams strewn throughout were still potentially useful if he could decipher them without the accompanying text. One in particular stood out. It showed a fairly complex mana circuit, not too indifferent from the one he had already drawn up, but in addition it had what looked like a rather large mana stone or gem integrated into it. Inside of all that was a subcircuit that looked like what he had considered before but couldn't quite work out the details on. A sort of unstable resonator circuit. He couldn't be completely sure that's what it was, but it was so close to his concept he had to try replicating it.

With some scrap material he would spend the rest of the night building, testing, tearing apart and rebuilding this same circuit. Over and over, it was like a delightfully masochistic madness that had overtaken him. Something deep within told him this was the right path, that subtle voice of his own that spoke in the language of machines that liked to push him and punish him.

Daybreak would come soon, but that didn't matter, he was possessed and almost finished… until.

"Done!" He shouted to the dying embers of the night.

This one would work, he could just barely feel it in each iteration. It was a bit different from the drawings, it had to be, the mana forces and theory were different. There were only a handful of mana stones he could use, and he didn't want to use the very expensive gem shards he had, at least not yet. A small subtly glowing firestone caught his eye. It had been helping keep his bench just a little bit warmer, but maybe, it would be better as a test piece. Afterall, what was the worst that could happen if he push flame mana into himself? His sleepless addled state certainly saw no problems.

There was no control circuit on this one, just the stone shard, and circuity. The scrap metal was in worse condition than the plate he would eventually use, but for this that was perfect. Instead of a leather strap, he grabbed as some nearby rope and tied it around the sheet, pressing it into the flesh of the back of his left hand.

At first it wasn't much, like a quick jolt of static. The kind you might get on a cold day after walking about in sneakers. There was something there though! Tiny, and not quite warm but growing. A short laugh as he felt it flowing. Deep with in his thoughts, he tried to juggle different spells, something simple he could try casting. But his mind grew troubled as the sensation grew more intense. Tingling turned to warmth, to heat, to fire. His joy quickly changed into pain as he felt his hand begin to burn.

"Fuck!" with a shout as he ripped the surprisingly effective junk off his hand. Across the top, it was red, and glazed slightly, no welt or blisters at least. Just maybe a minor 1st degree burn.

"A minor burn." He began to laugh; it was almost uncontrollable. The mixture of brain chemicals endorphins, dopamine, adrenalin, and adenosine all made him shake and giddy. He had done something incredibly stupid and seemingly impossible. Reese had hurt himself, purely with magic. This wasn't like with the dragon, no, this was the mana itself.

It was a start; all be it a painful one.

The growing light in the sky meant that he wouldn’t be getting any sleep today. But that was ok, because he had something better than sleep, progress! It was just a shame Fense didn’t understand that.

“Reese, I want you to get a full night's sleep before you come in. I know you’re excited about your experiments but your students will depend on you being well rested and functioning." The words were admonishing but not harsh, not like when he was a traditional student.

It was clear to Reese that his mentor was right, still, it was hard not to pursue what was right in front of him. That was the was the same mentality that led him to the dark place he found himself in last time.

Stolen story; please report.

What was he supposed to do though?

Not make the same bad choices, would be an obvious answer. But was it really that simple? This whole life never felt quite real, so the choices he made never felt real. Those bad choices were what he was, both used to be and, in many ways, still is. This was supposed to be the simple part, a laugh and nodded that Fense was right or a laugh and shake to ignore him. Maybe it was just the sleeplessness that caused it to weigh on him. But then there was his discussion with his father after the goblins, that entered his mind.

Perhaps there just was no good answer?

Without even thinking about it, he had written these questions in his notebook. This was something he had never really done in his previous life, journal his own life. Sure he had files with experimental data, and 'papers' that never went anywhere, and weren't published. This was something different, perhaps, a hint at his own progress.

His eyes burned, and he rubbed the dryness from them. His work bench was almost as much of a mess as his head. He had to finish this though.

The smell of smoke, metal, and a cooking stew downstairs filled his room. Food, he could use that right now. Being sleep deprived builds up your appetite. But again, he had to finish this. The vague sounds of someone calling him to eat echoed up the stairs but he couldn’t focus on that right now.

With a glow and a burst of yet more smoke to the room, the stone and gold circuits were fused on top the final metal plate. Across the surface, a faint glint could be seen from the mana stone fragments and golden traces. This plate was the sum total of everything he had learned and discovered about enchanting so far. Even more than the calculator was. This would connect with his body when he put it on, channeling small amounts of mana through him, like the fire stone from this past morning. However, unlike that one this might actually be useful.

It wouldn’t be like having a gate. Not even close, but it would make his whole body just a bit quicker, not just his arm. The stone in the center was the power cell for the whole thing. A sonic mana stone, it was absolute junk quality, but still cost him more coins than he wanted to spend. If this failed, it would hurt him more than just physically.

He tapped the side stones. With very small amounts of mana he could activate some of the fragments, which would change how mana flowed around the plate. Small twinkles of light emanated from each element as mana flowed through the circuits, and he could feel it already. The pulsation of mana.

It was a very simple form of control. Just increasing or decreasing the strength of the enchantment, like a throttle. That part of the circuit was simple, it was the connection to his body that proved hard.

For the finishing touches, he wrapped the leather bands around the holes in the outside and fit it over the back of his hand. He could feel it. It was weak, very weak. But he could still feel it, along with a growing warmth that begun to feel uncomfortable after a short while.

Thanks to the book Charston gave him, he was able to draft this circuit in the first place. The whole book seemed odd thought, ideas that were just too advanced compared to what was available here and now. Even this circuit showed the same conundrum. It was far rougher than what was described in the book, and still required tools that just didn’t seem available like his microscope. At least he hadn't seen them in WollSeeth.

Then there was the book’s construction, even the pages themselves were strange. Maybe the fibers that were too close together, to fine. Maybe it was the color that seemed off, or maybe it was the ink that seemed far too consistent to be handwritten. As if it was published from a press of some kind. The stitching that held the pages in place at least seemed normal for this era though but it didn’t match rest of the it. He suspected the book had been rebounded, possibly a few times. Lending further credence to its age.

It wasn't like the old screen fragment he had, but it was still proof that this world was once more advanced.

“Reese! Stop being useless and come eat.” The grating sounds of his older sister carried upstairs. Today was Nemi’s turn to cook. Since she turned 14 their parents made it a point to give her more complex chores. They were pushing her to find a job or apprenticeship too. Her food was… edible, at least. It was hard to mess up a stew, though her bread left something to be desired.

For as hungry as he was, it was hard to eat and stay awake. All the adrenaline and endorphins had worn off, in their place was a rather significant accumulation of adenosine, the sleep hormone. Thinking about it, he began to wonder if there was something in this world that had caffeine in it. There were teas, but they all seemed to be variants of herbs, and thus were likely sans caffeine. He really missed coffee though.

"Reese, I don't want you awake all night again. It's not healthy." Lilith berated him, and the lack of a smile or smirk indicated she wasn't having fun or joking about.

"Your mom is right. I've seen how sleeplessness effects my men, it dangerous if you don't need to do it."

Hearing his father speak of soldiers made the neurons in Reese's sleep addled mind click together. "Oh! That reminds me. Dad, I want to try sparing with you again. I have something new I made; I want to try it on someone with skill.”

Fortus glared at him, remembering the last few times. Each time Reese came home, he was bloody, and Lilith threatened to make Fortus bloody in exchange. In fact, Lilith was shaking her head at the thought. “Reese, you can’t keep up with your father. You’re going to get hurt.”

“Lilith is right son. You should keep sparring with Mabel instead. She's getting better."

From across the table the small child smiled and blushed at what felt like rare complements.

"She is, but I want to try this with an expert swordsman. I know the risks. I just, want to try one more thing.”

His parents looked at each other before agreeing, “Don’t cry if you get hurt.”

With his belly full, and his mind finally somewhat empty, sleep came easy tonight. Though, getting up was not quite as easy. One of the problems with sleep deprivation was the sleep debt, and without a clock it was hard. That would have to be a future project.

It was nearly the end of the week with only a few more days before class would break for the New Year. Things felt like they were winding down, and keeping the classes' attention was proving more difficult as the week moved on. It was one of the major challenges a teacher might face the days before a break. Fense had some methods to deal with it all, mostly lessons that were more whimsical.

Once the school day ended, Reese found himself waking up again. His father would be doing late afternoon training with his guard today. If he was quick about it, he’d catch him before he called an end to it.

With the device quite literally in hand, Reese made his way to the training field behind the house.

Soldiers and knights chuckled as he came out.

“Look, the punching bag is back in town.”

It was strange for them though, Reese didn’t appear to be dressed any different than normal, just some weird half glove on his hand.

“No enchanted sword or boots? What about a shirt?” A few of them mocked.

Fortus took in his son, not noticing anything beyond the thing on the back of his hand. “Is that all you have?”

“It’s all I’ll need.” The cocky smirk leaked over his words.

Fortus didn’t want to do this, but he also wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. Though, he had serious doubts about his son’s capabilities. “Well, I’ll say it again, you don’t need to do this.”

“I do need to do this.” Reese tapped the highest crystal on the plate. He could feel it. By the gods he could actually feel mana around him, it felt… like ants. Electric ants. It was not comfortable, but it wasn't painful either, and it was a clear sign that it was working.

Taking a quick moment to process. Things already seemed slower. Not massively, but enough. That’s how speed spells worked. Your perceptions would get twice as fast, while your body would get five times faster still. You had to plan your attack before you made it, and so that’s what he did.

His father would wait for him to move first, and always favored swinging at his right side when sparring. Perhaps an intentional handicap. Reese would go for a faint in that direction, before parrying quickly into Fortus’ side. He knew it would be quick, but this was even faster than even he anticipated.

In a flash, Reese pushed forward. Joins and tendons pulling hard and quick, but the speed spell took care of it. The sound mana coursed through him speeding his body, but without the stress it would otherwise feel. Forces that should have ripped tendons and broken bone felt normal.

For a moment, a barely perceptible slice of time. Fortes almost lost track of his son. Almost.

Crack, Smack.

Two quick strikes, neither able to full block the other as they each impacted. A tie.

“1-1” Fortus whispered. The man was actually shocked to see his son jump like that, flash step. A slight smile spread on his face, as the rest of the guard grew quite. “Ok, let’s do this.”

Crack. Smack. Smack. The swords hit each other, faster than before. Reese couldn’t keep track of it. But that was the point, you didn’t. You had to know what you wanted to do before you did. Parry the slice that was coming.

Smack.

Repose into the next move. He began to notice a deeply uncomfortable feeling on his hand. "Ignore it" he whispered to himself.

Smack.

Be careful not to fall for that faine to his left side.

Crack.

Smack.

His basic swordsmanship was strong. The years of training under his father and Gezal gave him skills he couldn't otherwise use, till now.

Reese was going to do a series of rapid thrust next. A technique called “Chain Pushing.” It was hard, but the pain in his hand grew worse. It was like it was like a burning sensation now. He needed to try and end this.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

Reese was losing tempo, and footing. Even with the enchantment he just wasn’t fast enough.

CRACK.

Into his right side the sword went and cracked, not quite in two.

“2-1”

He failed, again.

“Reese, that was –“

He didn’t want to hear the next part from anyone else. He would own his failure, because in his mind, that would make it easier. “I know. I’m still not good enough.” Undoing the plate, he looked at the newly forming welt on his left hand. The stone had been burning him, but that shouldn't have been possible.

“Look. I’m probably too hard on you. You did well, very well. There aren’t many that can keep up with me. Even with enchantments, and even if it was for just a bit… You did it.”

Reese wasn't used to hearing his father praise him so earnestly. It felt strange but good.

“Yeah kid. That wasn’t half bad.”

“Can I get one those glove things?”

As he walked off the field, he didn’t understand. Why did the enchantment get so hot? Looking at the stone, there were clear signs of thermal damage. Like the sound mana had become engulfed flame mana heating it up. But how? That shouldn't have been possible.

The stone is what burned him this time, not the mana.

Standing to the side, Mabel considered the wooden swords. Seeing the small bit of praise Fortus had given her brother, made her envious of him. "Reese, could I try that glove?"

"It doesn't work right; it burned the back of my hand… and I think the stone is dead too."

The child's head dropped as she sighed.

"You don't need it, Mabel. You have a normal gate, unlike me. If you keep training, you'll get better. Honestly, you'll probably pass me sooner than you think."

That answer didn't seem to satisfy the hopeful swordsman, who still looked down with sad eyes.

Reese wanted to get back to his room, to tear apart the device and hopefully figure out what went wrong. But, he couldn't leave his half sister like this. "Would it help if we sparred a bit?"

"Maybe…" despite the melancholy sound of her voice, the small smile said it was and acceptable offer.

Her sword play was still weak, but for a five-year-old, it wasn't bad. Probably, no, certainly better than he was at the same age. For a single flash, it seemed as though she moved faster than he did. But that was probably just him imagining it all.

A few more days would pass. School would be at en end for the year, taking the last few days as a break for reflection and celebration. Fense was impressed with Reese's gradebook. Certainly, he didn't fully agree, and had more than a few points. Still, at least Reese seemed to be going in the right direction.

Charston reopened his shop before the last day of the year. His nephew had gone back to that city he had mentioned, and in his place, was a rather rude and obnoxious girl maybe a few years younger than Arvvest. She kept insisting he buy something, until Charston quite literally kicked her out of the store.

"Books on Fottashuscha? Hmm, no I don't think I've come across any to be honest. Short excerpts maybe, here and there." Charston truly looked puzzled, and slightly annoying as he waved away the question. "There was this historian about eighty years ago who might have written on it, Barixx I think was his name. Start there. If I come across any books, I'll let you know, but it's not a common topic."

At least Reese had a new thread to pull at, Barixx. That wasn't a name he had heard before.

With all that, the year would finally come to an end. This would be the end of the 319th year of Ast-Astrix or the end of the 53rd year of King Roth Astrix, depending on which measure you wanted to use. Every year, the town would have a small festival for the end of the year, a time for shops to close or at least change their fair, and for feasts to be had. Every other year would be a leap year, celebrated with an extra day of the winter ice fair, this year was sadly not one of those years.

It was a shame Emilie wasn’t around, it would have made it all feel less lonely. Memories of the first Ice Celebration ran through his head. The year they had met was a leap year, it had been fun having that extra day to run around the frozen town. In fact, it was probably the first time he could remember actually enjoying the new year. That was also the first year the town had used a mana canon instead of mages for the fire displays, it was supposedly like a light canon. Which he still needed to get a closer look at. But the mages in charge of it were less than willing to give him an interview.

But all that aside, he did have someone to at least watch over now. While it wasn't the same as having a friend or two, it was something.

“Reese! Brot has candied apples! Can you buy us one? Please?” Mabel grabbed at his pant leg, and behind her was an odd sight as Meerlet followed behind.

“Oh? I don’t know if I have enough coins…” He jested.

“Don’t be stingy, aren't you making more than at the book store?”

“Wow, you’re a checky one.” Of course, as he said that he could see his sister begin to pout a bit, and behind her, a wide eyed Meerlet sparked back at him in the hopes of sweets.

As much as he knew he shouldn’t reward such behavior, he had a hard time saying no.

“Ok, but you’re both doing the dishes for the next few nights. Deal?”

“Yes!” Mabel agreed and Meerlet nodded in agreement.

As the three snacked on the sweetened apples, likely to be the last until till next fall, Reese couldn’t help but enjoy it all. He still missed his friends, both Emilie and Gezal, but he’d be lying if he pretended to dislike the company of his sisters. Well, at least the younger ones he corrected himself once he spied Nemi marching over. She wanted to yell at him about getting sweets for the girls, because of course she did.

After all these years, he still couldn’t understand her dislike of him. It seemed almost primal. Which was a shame, since again he had always wanted a big happy family. Well, he had two sisters that liked him.

In the distance, the first streams of mana shot up into the sky, blossoming into fire spells, water spells, and lightning spells. The sky cracked with celebration, breaking the old year apart, so a new one could form.

As he ignored his older sister's berating, Reese stared at the sky in awe. They weren't fireworks like on Earth, these were different, and resonated on level Earth couldn't hope to duplicate. Even a drone display had nothing on the cracks in the sky and the falling snow.

In truth, he was happy right now. Things were far from perfect, but he was sincerely happy.

Happiness’ is a fleeting emotion though, and whether by chance, fate or will of the gods, things would change as he spent his last months in Wollseeth.