“Calian ! CALIAN ! I’m a genius !!” exclaimed Melody, barging in Calian’s room and making him scramble awake. “I know exactly the solution to our problem !”, she almost screamed at him.
Calian, after being startled awake, simply stared at her, his brain needing time to process what just happened.
Seeing no will to respond coming from him yet, Melody continued, “Yesterday we brainstormed for nearly three hours. All the materials that can contain mana to an extent that you listed, we tried to see if they exist on earth. And then we looked up if they could be easily acquired or made on earth. But none of the candidates were really promising, right ?”
“Riiiight…” answered Calian unsure.
“But I found the flaw in our reasoning, Calian ! We tried to find materials you know of on earth, of course most materials you know of are magical and absent here, that makes sense !”, she made a pause, catching her breath and leaving Calian to process her reasoning. Finally, with a big grin she added, “But we never tried to look into the materials you don’t know about. And of course, I overlooked them, I see these things so often I completely overlooked them. Think about it, I’m pretty sure you’ve never encountered plastics, rare earths, fiberglass or optic fiber, silicon, magnets, or even liquid nitrogen !”
The look on Calian’s face when Melody finished explaining was priceless. His neutral expression decomposed to shock. He looked at her with round eyes and a slack jaw.
“That makes so much sense…” he said slowly, still processing the implications of her reasoning. Suddenly Calian stood up, and bolted towards the living room, dragging Melody behind him.
Scanning the room he grabbed object left and right, putting them on the table. Turning toward melody he explained, “I’ll need some time to see what the properties of the different materials are. Is that okay if I work with this stuff this morning ?” he asked, his eyes focused and devoid of any sleepiness.
“Sure, there’s nothing too expensive so go ahead. Just don’t make a mess,” she answered.
“Ah, don’t worry about that, I’m not going to use any destructive method. One of the best way to analyze something unknown but mundane is to flood it with mana normally. It’s completely harmless to the object except if you pump ridiculous amount of magic inside. But since I don’t have much mana to waste I’ll just use a tiny bit, and move it slowly throughout the structure. It’s just going to take time, nothing else.”
“Now I’m just gonna go green from envy, you basically have a science lab at the tip of your fingers !”, whined Melody.
“Ah, it’s not as precise as you’d think. I can basically know the weight, density, and overall composition of the material, as well as its magic properties but not much more,” said consolingly Calian, not willing to tell her that more complex diagnostic spells existed.
On that note Calian devoted himself fully to studying the new materials at his disposal, and Melody went to do some chores around the house.
///
“Hey boss, one of the maintenance guys has reported a faulty activation of teleport platform 2… I think he also said one of the trainee was teleported due to the error. What should I do ?”
“Shit… We both know he’s dead, nothing survives an unsecure teleport, so try to find where his remains are. That way the family gets some closure. And give the technician a day off so he can recover from the shock. Keep me posted if anything come up from this, okay ?
“Sure boss, one last thing, the technician says he’s never seen a faulty activation like that and wants to investigate further. What do I tell him ?”
“Heh, whatever, just tell him that as long as he meets his objectives, he can do whatever with his free time.”
“Roger that, thanks boss !”
///
“Melody, what are these things made of ?”, asked Calian with an indecipherable tone, holding a plastic bottle and a cup.
“Both are made of plastic, why ?”
“I’ve never seen anything like that, it doesn’t repel mana, it guides it and make it flow slowly just outside of it. It’s almost like it’s living !”, he explained, his right leg twitching, he could barely contain his excitement.
“Uh, ‘kay, but what does that mean ?”
“It means, Melody, that I’ve got our solution in my hands, I can make a mana greenhouse,” he said, his soft tone contradicting with his beaming smile.
“For real ?” she exclaimed, “But how ?”
“I don’t know actually, that makes no sense to me…”, he said, perplexed at his recent discovery, “How do you make that thing, plastic ? What ingredients ? Is it expensive ?”
“I don’t know how plastic is made exactly. That’s not my specialty, I’m a nuclear engineer and I mostly studied physics, but I know broadly how it’s made. Do you know about petrol perhaps ?”, she asked.
When Calian signaled he didn’t know she continued, “Petrol is the remnants of living organisms that existed millions of years ago. The carbon in these organisms slowly became crude oil. Crude oil is then distilled and refined, and after some more chemical reaction it is transformed into plastic.”
When she finished her explanation Calian’s face brightened, you could almost see the gears turning in his head. “So, you’re telling me that plastic is just the remains of some long dead creatures ? That someone transformed and altered to get plastic ?”
“That’s the gist of it, yeah. There’s a lot more details and intermediary steps I’m sure but yes plastics come from dead creatures,” she agreed.
“Then I know why it’s so good at guiding mana !” he explained excitedly. “All living things are inherently good at handling mana, but when living creatures die, their remains keep their affinity towards mana. Even the most basic of plant has some good affinity to mana. So if plastic is made from long dead things, it has kept the ability to handle and guide mana !” he told Melody.
Frowning, she grabbed a pencil on the nearby desk and handed it to Calian, “Analyze this, and only the black part in the center, not the wood on the outside. Does it have any similarities to plastic ?”
Calian grabbed the pencil and studied it, before going on and sending some mana inside it. He willed the tiny packet of mana to flow inside the black stuff at the core of the pencil and sure enough, he felt the same reaction as when he studied plastic. Curious, he looked at Melody and raised an eyebrow, “How did you know it’d react similarly to plastic ? It’s not the same material.”
“I didn’t know, but I had a hunch. I suppose you don’t know about atoms and molecules on your home planet ?”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“No, from what I’ve heard on TV and read it’s related to science, but the Empire’s mages have not yet discovered that,” he said, shaking his head.
“Physics is the reason I could guess why graphite, the stuff the pencil is made of, would react positively to your mana. I couldn’t make sense of dead things retaining an ability of living beings, like being attuned to mana and strange magic stuff. But then you said that even plants are good at handling mana, and that was the final piece I needed. Clearly there’s no link between mana affinity and consciousness because plants are unconscious, so it’s something else. That means that whether you’re alive or dead doesn’t directly affect your affinity with magic. I had my hypothesis to prove : ability of living things to handle mana comes from what they’re made of : carbon.” She held the pencil in front of her, showing Calian the graphite, “This stuff, graphite, is almost pure carbon, and it comes from ancient volcanic reactions, at no point was it ever a living being. Living beings are carbon based, plastic and oil are polymers, and polymers are chains of carbon atoms, from here I can conclude that carbon is a material with remarkable mana handling,” she explained, leaving Calian wide-eyed.
“That goes against everything the academy has ever taught mages, but your logic makes sense, and your proof is even more convincing,” he replied, pointing to the pencil.
He fell silent, musing on what she just demonstrated. Thinking back, Melody had been extremely helpful and friendly since he had met her, so much even, that Calian started growing a bit wary. She was extremely smart, but he knew from experience that smart people are also the most cunning. Eventually, he decided that the best way to go about it was to question her about her motives.
“Melody, there’s somethings that’s starting to really bother me. You’re nice, too nice even. And from what I’ve experienced, nobody is so nice without ulterior motives. Sorry about being so abrupt when you’ve just helped me, but I prefer being safe rather than sorry,” he said calmly, eyes focused and standing straight.
“Heh, I did guess that would come up eventually,” she sighed. “I don’t mean any harm, truly. But you’re right, I’m not that friendly most of the time, I’m not selfless. When we met it was genuine generosity when I fed you. But the moment you displayed magic so casually I was certain you’d help me one way or another, be it straight giving me magic, or making me rich with some incredible spell. From that moment, my generosity was an investment. And I still think of it this way, I just didn’t expect we’d get this far.”
She looked at the pencil before focusing on Calian once more, “Plus, I wasn’t completely cynical, I did warn that I expected you to teach me and explain what you’re doing. I’m comfortable the way we are, I provide necessities and resources that are reasonably priced, and you teach me magic. I’m all the more enthusiastic to provide you with whatever you need when I consider our recent progress on mana generation.”
After a moment Calian stared at her, stood up and extended his hand, “I like the way you think, straightforward and no hidden agenda, you know it’ll profit us both. We have a greenhouse to build, ready to get to work ?”, he asked.
All he got in response was a firm handshake and a grin.
///
“Ugh, I feel like dying,” muttered Calian while flopping on his bed. He groped around for a bit until he found his notebook. He let out a long sigh and started writing, clearly resisting the urge to sleep.
Calian’s notebook – Summary of events :
Since my last entry much has changed, but mostly for the better. I was stuck, unable to find a good enough mana insulator. Especially on this magic-barren planet, I hate it, I feel so powerless. But Melody’s insight allowed me to find a promising candidate amongst the materials exclusive to earth. In the same morning she also disproved one of the mages most well-known theory, but I couldn’t discuss this further with her due to both lack of knowledge and time.
After we identified transparent plastic as our choice building material we had to spend the afternoon making plans. She was shocked of the scale of the greenhouse we needed. She thought that a few flowerpots would produce enough mana to recharge me, but she had severely underestimated the quantity of mana a mage needs. Plus, if I want my special project to succeed I’ll definitely need a big starter greenhouse.
We decided to build a ten by seven meter (33 by 23 foot) greenhouse, separated in independent sections. It’d let us have five two by two meter (6.5 by 6.5 foot) sections on each side, two central walkways, and a long rectangular central section. Every part of the greenhouse would need to be plastic, and thanks the god, Melody assured me it’s a relatively inexpensive material.
Once our plans were complete and we had to find appropriate materials, that is cheap but resilient transparent plastic, some metal tubes to make a frame, and acrylic glue to hold the plastic. Melody assured me this was a glue that would hold mana like plastic.
When we had our material list and an estimated price of about 1500 Canadian dollars (1100 Euro / 1150 dollars), melody told that my project better be worth it. I didn’t quite understand but I guess it was due to the cost of the project. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar enough with earth’s currencies to really understand the cost. Anyway, as soon as I have my magic back I’m sure I’ll make that back in a minute, I have some lucrative ideas resting on my monopoly on magic.
Once the Weekend was finished melody explain that she had to go back to work, but that I was free to start assembling the components in the backyard. She had explained how I’m supposed to assemble the frame, glue the plastic and put everything together, so I was quite confident. I was wrong. It was hard as hell, even my first runic inscription class was easier ! Things fell apart, I hurt myself with a tool, it was too hot or too cold. A nightmare. But with a week of dedication and Melody’s help during the weekend I managed ! And today it’s done, we put the final screw, glued the final pieces of plastic and shoveled all the dirt we needed inside. It was magnificent.
It shone with majesty in the setting sun, a glorious building to my renewed hope ! Or maybe I was just proud of myself. Anyway, Melody and I agreed that we would both wait until tomorrow to infuse mana in our first plants. As of now I feel horrible, my muscles are aching and I have so many bruises and a bad back. But it was worth it, for tomorrow, I’ll have my magic again.
///
“Mel’ ! Mel’ ! Are you up yet ?” shouted Calian while knocking forcefully on her door. The sun had barely risen over the horizon, but he was wide awake, desperate to start working.
A stream of muffled curses was the only answer he got before the door opened and a grumpy, not-totally-awake Melody glared at him.
“Hello Mel’ ! Slept well ?” he asked, acting innocent and unphased by her display of animosity.
A resounding “No”, was the only sound Melody emitted, before she had a quick breakfast and a shower.
Enventually both met in the backyard, looking at the greenhouse. The plastic reflected the light of the morning, the soil was fresh and slightly damp, ready to receive plants. The potted plants on the side were covered in dew, seemingly healthy and vibrant. Calian was almost trembling.
After a while Melody broke the silence, “Let’s go ?”
“Let’s go,” he answered while putting on his gloves.
Three hours later rows and rows of plants were aligned in the greenhouse. Calian had chosen to plant a bit of everything, from flowers to fruit and vegetables and even some more mundane plants like ivy. But also some other species thriving in forests, lichen on old wood branches, mushrooms, some insects and dead vegetal matter.
Taking a step back and examining what they’d done Melody asked, “Want to eat something before the big experiment ?”
“Sure, I’m starving,” he answered, throwing his gloves and tools on a nearby rack.
While Calian was cooking Melody asked, “If that works, what do you plan on doing ? I mean, if you get your magic back and stuff like that”
“I have a plan, it’s not ironed out, I didn’t want to plan too far ahead in fear of being disappointed, but it’s hard not to. At the academy I was studying botany and dimensionalism, that means I learned how to take care of magical plants for potion makers to use. And I know how to operate teleporters, or even cast some space related spells, like expand the space inside a container or teleport small things. Plus, I have the basic mage training. That means I have all sorts of utilitarian spells under my belt.”
He shrugged and served both of them some mac and cheese, before continuing, “Since I’ll be the only one with magic here on earth I think I have some easy ways of making money. I could make some space expanded containers, or make some homemade potions to heal instantly small scratches. Hell if all else fail I can sell my garden cleaning services, a quick spell to cut the grass and a fireball to burn the wastes. A tree you need to trim ? No problem. I’m sure I’ll have no issues making money.”
“I think you’re right, just with the scratch healing potion you’d be a god amongst young kids parents,” she laughed. “But I meant in the long term, what are you going to do ? Will you keep living here or move out ? Do you plan on going back to your planet or want to stay on earth some more ?”
“For sure I want to go back home, but interplanetary teleportation isn’t that easy. I’d need huge ressources and the cooperation of at least two dozen persons. So it’s not going to be so soon,” he answered while serving himself a second time. “As for moving out that’s a given. If I want to experiment in peace I need a large chunk of space, and no neighbors. So I think I’ll have to go in a remote forest and build myself a little wooden cabin. With magic of course,” he added, a huge grin on his face.
Both finished their plates discussing merrily, and headed back outside, staring at the greenhouse, now filled with life.
“How do you feel ?” asked Melody, twisting repeatedly the fabric of her jeans.
“A lot of pressure to be honest. There’s no skill involved, I just have to dump my mana in the greenhouse, but I fear I’ll mess up somehow…” he sighed.
Finally, after taking a long breath his gaze firmed and he stepped forward.
“Let’s go, we have magic to do !”