After leaving Shorin to his business I returned to mine, heading home. I'd never moved from that first place I'd bought, though I had gone about purchasing some of the houses around as my money flow came back, and making a few... improvements. No longer was it a single small dwelling, but now a complex to rival even Shorin's, with a few buildings around a larger courtyard.
Chien left me, when we returned, heading off to one of his work-spaces, something I'd added. He needed places to practice what I was teaching him if he was to teach others, particularly as things got more and more complicated. For that reason I'd set up a few small shop rooms with basic equipment for him. Kid was still a magnificent worker, and more than once I'd considered teaching him more about magic. That however I held back on, understanding some of the principles that I did could make you far more powerful.
While he did that I turned to a rather smooth looking portion of wall, and reached out to it with my magic. The operation was delicate, and had to be done manually, but soon enough a door formed and I descended into the real heart of my home. If Shorin had ever been down here he would have lost his mind, because the things above ground were valuable to others, while the things down here were valuable to me.
A series of oil lamps, something the elves already had a proto-version of, lit the space shining light upon my real work. There was more than copper or iron here, I had samples of everything from aluminum to tungsten, painstakingly isolated and purified from every sample I could get my hands on. Most of them were useless for now, but I needed some for very specific applications, and making them was fun.
My real project though, sat on a massive stone table. It was a mixture of what I'd seen, and what I thought must be possible from this world. This would one day be a wonderful addition to what we all could do, if I could get it to work.
People in this world had tattoos, magical inks that somehow interfaced with them, boosting their abilities slightly. These were a go-to for certain professions who needed small boosts if one didn't have that particular magic, and they proved a point. Magic could interface with people who weren't casters like myself. Anyone, with a bit of power and some training could focus it into an area, and it would respond.
That sounded to me like an input, a very basic one, but an input. In my former life I'd been researching computers, and in this life I might just make something better than I'd ever imagined. I was going to create a magical computer, something that could catapult this society straight into the information age. Well, if I could ever figure it out that is.
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Before me sat a basic counting machine, one that didn't work. It wasn't supposed to do much, just keep a number and add one to it repeatedly, a simple process really, something that could be built at home on Earth. I'd even made one myself out of available materials here that worked on electricity, though I had to manually power it. The theory was solid, but still it wouldn't function.
The issue was the materials, that much I was sure of. Magic wasn't electricity, and though it did respond similarly in some situations, they were profoundly different forces. The many materials I'd tested all seemed to dislike conducting it in the way I wanted. I'd even played with a lot of the bases to the magical tattoos, once even putting a basic circuit onto a small captured rodent. None of them worked, and the mouse only sort of glowed, not the action I was looking for.
With a sigh pulled out a bit of charcoal before I reached out with my mind, and began reforming the paths in a new material. A pulse of will freed the carbon, and left all the impurities behind, then began reforming it again.
Magic flowed like an extension of myself, pouring out and over my spell. I didn't need to imagine every single atom and where it would go, only the structure, only what I wanted it to do. It was like being the conductor of an orchestra, I didn't need to manage every note, only the song. I could even feel it as the power responded, unseen energy flowing in just the way I wanted. Truly that sensation was one I'd never get tired of.
Sweat began to bloom on my brow as one by one a spiraling series of woven carbon nanotubes connected the points in my computer, replacing the wires and other bits one by one. An hour passed, then another, intense concentration never faltering, never wavering as it all came together. The structure was not hard, no, it was weaving it where it needed to go without breaking it that caused problems.
When it was all done I was drenched in sweat, but smiled down at my creation. The internals were all purest black, and nearly invisible, as small and fragile as they were.
“Come now my sweet, let's see what you can do,” I said as I pushed the smallest amount of magic into my computer.
There was a tiny flash, and I watched in horror as my work disintegrated before my eyes. It was hard to determine the exact problem, but whatever it was cascaded through the whole thing like falling dominoes, leaving nothing behind but a sooty residue.
With a wave I gathered up the now useless carbon. “How's it go? Now I know a thousand ways that don't work?” I mused as I told the carbon to make a diamond.
The little crystal formed in my hand without any real effort. It was a repeating structure with no changes needed, no angles or turns, I didn't even care the shape it came out as. That made it all the easier to make, as it seemed repeating structures loved to form.
“Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way? Perhaps magical materials are needed, not more mundane ones?”
As I thought out loud I began to make cuts in my newly formed stone, trying to make it look like the advertisements I'd seen or images from Earth. It wouldn't be a good one, and in point of fact would probably horrify anyone who worked in such fields, but not like anyone cared here. This little trinket wouldn't even be leaving my lab anytime soon.
“Shame diamond doesn't work, pretty though,” I said to myself, it had been one of my earlier tests. “Well counting machine, let's try again later.”
There was still so much on my plate. I needed to go check on the metal Chien had told me was now on it's way to me, and begin making it into products. There was a waiting list for those things a mile long already, everyone who was anyone wanting something of the metal. The highest calls were for simple tools like blades and hammers, some of which could be made in bulk and at speed.
Musing done I tossed the little diamond in a drawer and left my lab. There was always more to do, always so much more. Perhaps one day I'd be able to take a vacation.