8th of Auv, 120 years since megados eruption
I still have no idea how the Esmos actually reproduce. I mean, I assume its asexually, considering they're all female, but that's too vague of an answer. Do they lay eggs? I've never seen any. Do they give live birth? That doesn't seen possible biologically.
What I'm saying is that I have no idea when, where, or how the 5 new Esmos came from. And yes, they're named Lesmo to Pesmo. Assume that future Esmos will be named in a similar pattern. Or at least until Zesmo. I don't know what's after that.
Good news, the new Esmos are mostly ordinary. As in, no weird mutation or powers or magic or anything. Bad news, they're growing too fast. They're consuming more blood than the tumor thing can produce. The easy solution is to make the tumor produce more blood.
Which is where the results of Aesmo's experiments with gold helps us tremendously.
When a dragon eats a lot of metal, they grow. For most metals, the growth is inconsequential and temporary. However, when a dragon eats an especially unreactive metal, like gold, then they grow a lot more and stay big. I assume its because the gold causes a sort of swelling effect, and because its fairly unreactive, its hard for the body to remove.
Now, Aesmo didn't know this before. They just decided to feed the tumor gold as part of a long list of experiments. And surprisingly, it also grew. Now, the mass didn't change much, but the amount it bleeds did increase. So that solves the blood supply issue.
Of course, this is a temporary solution. For a longer-term solution, maybe making new tumor clumps would work. So how do you duplicate a tumor? I'd ask a doctor, except I don't think there's any dragon doctors to ask. I wonder if any sapient tried something similar to what I'm doing. I'll have to check.
In other news, Gesmo made a gem containing lightning. No idea what to do with it, other than make an explosive, which we really don't need. That's what Jesmo's for. And don't ask where I got a second dragon liver.
I guess I'll have Aesmo see what they can come up with using a lightning gem. Maybe it'll be something useful. In the meantime, I'll be mining the gold off the top of the mountain. And also remake that second direct entrance I want. This was why I asked Aesmo to experiment with gold.
17th of Auv, 120 years since megados eruption
Magnets are weird. It's like gravity, except only with certain metals. At least, I thought it was only with certain metals. Turns out you can turn non-magnetic stuff magnetic. Such as gold. All you need is to basically run lightning through it. Yeah, I can see why no one discovered this earlier. (No one contained lightning before?)
I should probably explain. We took a small, thin plate of gold, rolled and stretched it into a thread, then attached one side to the lightning gem. The result is a magnetic gold string that shoots weak lightning out the empty end. It isn't even a strong magnet. Just barely enough to collect stray iron dust on the ground. Though the concept is still neat. (Maybe we can scale it up to make it stronger? Or use other metals?)
Interestingly enough, I can think of at least two uses for this. First is as a sorting tool. Using magnets to sort iron from non-iron is a bit messy. But with this temporary magnet, once the iron is collected, we can disconnect it from the gem and it's no longer magnetic, dropping the collected iron.
The second use is basically a cannon (what's a cannon?). See, magnets can repel as well as attract. If we can somehow control that, then we can make something that shoots out a projectile. Now, most people would ask why we would use such an inefficient weapon when magic exists. In which I point to the fact that I'm in the wastes. Using magic here is risky.
Well, this is all theoretical though. And also gold thread is too weak for a cannon. So Aesmo's next experiment is to find a way to make it stronger. (At this point I'll just delegate experimenting to someone else.)
28th of Auv, 120 years since megados eruption
Gesmo made a weird glowing gem. Except it only glows when lightning passes through it. Not really useful to use since we can all see in the dark, but a neat gem nonetheless. At least, I thought so initially.
Turns out it's reversible. As in when exposed to bright light, it releases lightning. What use does this have? I don't know yet, but it's something I'll keep in mind. (It makes stronger lightning if you focus light on it. We couldn't focus that much light though. I wonder what the limit is?)
In other news, Mesmo and Nesmo (designated experimenters) found how to make a stronger temporary magnet. You wrap the wire into a loop. That way, the inside has a stronger magnetic. And you can keep increasing the number of loops to make it stronger.
We are now using it to clean up the floor. Turns out we spilled quite a lot of iron dust over the past few years. Too bad we can't use it to find other metal dust. At least, not now. (Fine, I'll have them experiment for that.)
Next to write about, Desmo is on fire. Literally. I bet it was either Jesmo or Kesmo. Desmo isn't being hurt by it, but it will hurt anyone else who touches them. The easy solution is water. Too bad the Esmos can't swim. Maybe I can teach them. Nah, that's too much work for little use.
Anyways, that's why I went to the ocean. Once I dealt with Desmo's issue, I ate some sea shells and found a beached whale corpse. All the good bits were already taken, so I just took a bone home. Good for calcium. (We also came along to check it out. The ocean is boring. Saw nothing of note.)
Next, Cesmo talks to a fucking crab. I still think Cesmo is insane. The crab's name is David. It got eaten by a seagull a few minutes later. According to Cesmo, "The circle of life is a horrendously beautiful habit. To break the habit is to be free." They were talking to a piece of seaweed. I'm fairly certain dry seaweed is basically dead.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Finally, Iesmo made beds for everyone. They look quite comfortable. I may or may not have tried them without anyone noticing. (*Gasp*! How could you!) [You tried them as well.] Too bad Iesmo can't make too much silk per day. Otherwise we could have some fancy decorations.
12th of Ax, 120 years since megados eruption
Aesmo wants to buy some mirrors. Specifically to test what the maximum output of the light gem is. I'll buy them later, but only after I finish digging out the sky-light. I'm almost done, and it's begining to actually be useable.
Hesmo said they 'fixed' the blood lake. To be honest, I forgot about the blood lake. By 'fix', they actually made it clearer. It's still blood, a little murky-red. But a lot less like a lake of pure blood and more like there's a bleeding giant monster in the lake. I'm concerned as to why Hesmo felt this was a 'fix', nor why this was necessary. She isn't answering my questions, which basically means I can only ignore it until it results in anything.
Fesmo managed to manage the hydra tree without cutting its branches. I also forgot about the tree. I'm surprised it hasn't caused any problems. I wonder if Fesmo did anything to it. Oh well, not my problem.
Now what is my problem is Besmo's poison leeching into the ground. It's not dangerous or anything, just smells terrible. My original solution is using the smell of blood to mask it, but the smell of blood faded away, while the poison's smell only got worse.
My new solution is basically an over-glorified scented candle. I just need to find an elf and burn them. Got to be careful though; orange elves smell like sheep and green elves smell like dirt. I personally prefer red elves, but I'm fine if I can't find any.
Finally, Kesmo made a floating gem surrounded by rings of iron. It does absolutely nothing but look cool. I approve.
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Brildlid just wanted to take a rest. He was much too old to be ensnared in a political trap between two rival elven lords. He was also much too important for either lord to actually claim responsibility. The easy solution would be to forgive both, but doing so would give him nothing.
No, the better solution for most would be to punish both equally. Of course, the punishment for harming the king's secretary would be quite severe. Brildlid wouldn't use pain either. No, injuries can be fixed or ignored. But forcing them to donate to Throldhaven would bolster the city's economy. It'd also ease Brildlid's own burden.
Unfortunately, elves hold too much pride, so the two lords went ahead and started a civil war instead of taking responsibility. Brildlid wanted to say they were too old to be part of a war, but technically this wasn't his war. He could just leave, and let them hurt themselves. But doing so would sacrifice so many lives and so much money.
Brildlid's initial solution was to force the lords to duel before the war even began. The secondary solution would be to have them lead their own armies against each other, hopefully killing each other fast enough to cause the other soldiers to retreat or surrender.
The first plan failed, due to one lord falling ill. The second plan would also fail at this rate, as a sick lord wouldn't lead their army. Brildlid had to think of a third plan, with the deadline being a few hours.
Which is why he is on the battlefield. He gave one condition; if the participating lord dies, then the other lord will be punished instead. A risky condition, that relied on a few assumptions.
First, assuming that the side without the participating lord does not want to fight this war, and do not care for their own lord, will surrender immediately. This will cause their lord to be punished, while they will emerge unscathed.
Second, assuming that the side without the participating lord do want to emerge victorious, while not caring for their lord in particular, will target the participating lord. If the participating lord dies, then that side will likely surrender, as there will be no more reason to be fighting.
Third, assuming that the side with the participating lord does not want to fight, while not caring for their lord, they can easily leave the lord defenseless. This can have two outcomes; the side without the participating lord can either kill the lord, causing their lord to be punished, or they can force the lord to surrender.
Fourth, the worst case scenario; assuming that the side with the participating lord does want to fight, while caring for their lord, they will fight until the other side loses, or they are forced to lose, while protecting their own lord. In this scenario, assuming scenario 2 as well, both sides will have lots of casualties.
Brildlid could only hope that it would be one of the first three, or if the fourth were to happen, it would be with the first as well so things can end with the least pain.
Then the dragon came. A familiar dragon, small with dull scales and undamaged wings. The same fucking dragon. Brildlid thought himself cursed. Everyone else was panicking. They were not equipped to fight a dragon. Though the statement is misleading; almost no one is equipped to fight a dragon.
The dragon swooped down and grabbed the elven lord. It was as if there was no resistance from the many soldiers who grabbed hold on their lord, or flung weapons and arrows. The dragon simply carried the elf into the air, until no one could see them.
Brildlid had to admit that this made their own life a lot simpler. The war was called off, and the sick lord received a quite threatening letter explaining that they have been found guilty of obstructing the work of a king. Luckily, the punishment was quite simple; pay every coin they had to Throldhaven. Either that, or execution. Whichever was preferable to the lord.
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20th of Ax, 120 years since megados eruption
Fun fact. Burning red elf smells like sweet mint. A good smell to mask poison. Additional fact; an elf burned in a prepared anoxic container will last for about a month. Which means I'll need to find a way to deal with the smell before I run out of elf.
Anyways, I got the mirrors. They were the most expensive purchase I made in a while. The experiment's going to be done in the central chamber, because it's the biggest. Out of safety concern, the light gem is mostly isolated under nonconductive sand, with only a single thread from one end to show how much lightning is generated.
I think this will be the last major experiment I'll participate in before hibernation. I hope the results are interesting.
25th of Ax, 120 years since megados eruption
I'm glad we did the precautions. The sand couldn't contain the lightning completely. It turned into quite a cool looking glass structure. Imagine a crab made of glass and with way more legs, except the center is a gem. Yep, looks pretty cool.
That still doesn't exactly put into perspective how much lightning was produced. Imagine a normal lightning bolt from a storm. Now multiply that by 10. That's about how much lightning we got. I'm certain that much can hurt even a dragon.
Now, I have a theory as to why we got so much lightning. See, the thread that connected to it ended above the light gem. At some point, the produced lightning was bright enough to add a bit of light to the total focused into the gem. This makes more lightning to be generated, which makes it brighter. It only stopped because the thread melted.
There's a couple of obvious uses for this, such as a weapon, or to make a super strong temporary magnet. Because yes, more lightning does make the magnet stronger. Another use is as a way to refine ore faster. Of course, it's only theoretical, but if we can direct that lightning into metal ore to melt it, we won't need a furnace.
In other news, I found out how to deal with the poison smell. Ventilation. If I carve out a wind channel, then connect it to vent holes, it'll draw the bad air out of my home. With some magic circles, this system can work forever to clean out the air in every room. It's a bit cold, but that's quickly fixed by adding a reverse but with hot magic circles to heat the incoming air.
Since I only have a month left until hibernation, I'm going to mine out more rooms for the Esmos. I should be able to get at least 5 more done.
2nd of Az, 120 years since megados eruption
I finished digging out the rooms, and am also prepared for hibernation. Aesmo said they won't be leaving this time, which basically means whatever secret project they have planned can be done inside. I have to admit I'm excited. Hopefully it isn't dangerous.