The kids didn't go to the shadow plane or the training room today, they took the entire day off. They spent the entire day either watching cartoons or playing in the cat trees. It is nice to see them playing like they used to and acting their age for a little bit.

Them being serious when needed is a good thing, but I don't want them to grow up too fast. After dinner, the kids go back to playing, Lin goes to read, and I go back to experimenting. I have already found a couple of recipes that will work, but I am not done yet.

I want to get as many inks as I can and then I will choose the best one to use. Besides, I am having fun experimenting, and these experiments aren't dangerous. Also, it is a good way to keep myself busy while I am waiting for my mana to recover.

However, I soon get distracted by a strange reaction created by one of the failures. Luckily, I was keeping track of what mixtures I was using so I know what ingredients I used. After a bit of experimenting I find the right set of materials to recreate the reaction.

The reason I spend the extra time to recreate the reaction is that I thought I saw it do something unique. Originally it was weak and only lasted a few seconds, but the second time it lasts a lot longer and I am able to verify it. As the materials merge together to form something new, they emit mana.

The first time, there were extra ingredients, so it became an unrecognizable mess. This time, it turns from a mixture of materials into some kind of crystal. That alone is amazing enough considering the materials are a couple of metals, a wood, and a liquid.

Now that I have the right materials, I quickly mix a larger amount together. Then I carefully watch the reaction to try and figure out how it works. With the bigger amount, the reaction is stronger and it emits a lot more mana.

It creates a crystal about the size of a fist, but what's strange is the crystal is shaped. It looks like a cut gem and its color keeps changing as I watch it, going through the colors of the rainbow. Each color lasts for about thirty seconds, but that isn't what has me the most puzzled.

When the crystal is a color, it is releasing mana that matches that color. When it is red, it emits fire mana, when it is blue it emits water mana. It is a really strange effect, but after a few minutes the crystal turns clear and stops producing mana.

It seemed like the crystal emitted more mana than was contained in the original materials. The creation of energy from nothing isn't possible, so something else would have to be going on. To test a theory I create another crystal, but first I weigh all of the materials.

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However, when I weigh the crystal that is created, it actually weighs more. How can the process of becoming a crystal both release energy and increase the mass? That's against the laws of physics, or at least I think it is, I can't really be sure.

I never really studied physics, the closest I got was watching Big Bang Theory. Whatever, I will just assume it is magic breaking the rules and continue experimenting. I want to make a bigger crystal so I use twice the amount of materials, but it doesn't work.

Instead of making a bigger crystal, it makes two crystals of the same size. Meaning, the size of a fist is as big as it can get, but I have no idea why that would be the case. There is so much that I don't understand about these crystals that it is really frustrating.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like something I can figure out using just my senses. I would probably need to make a bunch of scientific equipment designed to study mana. However, researching and building that kind of equipment would take me months.

Even with the time dilation, I don't have that kind of time, so I will just have to suffer. However, there are still some experiments that I can do that might give me a few answers. Before I can start the next experiment, Lin comes down to inform me she is ready for bed.

Of course, I put the experiment on hold and follow her up to the bedroom. As promised, I limit myself to just two rounds, enough to satisfy her without exhausting her. Once she falls asleep, with a smile on her face, I head back to my workshop.

For a while I have been having this odd sense of familiarity with the used crystals. I can't place it, but I feel like I have seen them somewhere before and it is bugging me. So, instead of making more, I spend some time examining the used crystals.

It isn't until I discover the crystal's massive storage capacity that I realize what it is. A long, long time ago Yui let me use a similar crystal, I think she called it a void crystal. It can contain a truly massive amount of mana, enough to level a city.

With my mana pool, it would take me weeks to fill one and that is without enchanting it. Since I wouldn't be able to work on my core during that time, it isn't very useful. Out of curiosity, I break one of the crystals to see if it retains the storage capacity in smaller pieces.

The capacity does drop, but the smaller pieces still have a capacity that would be useful. As I am testing it, I find something else interesting, when mana is added the crystal reshapes itself. Instead of looking broken, it just looks like a smaller crystal with no sign of the damage.

Of course, once I see that I just have to keep breaking it to see how far it can go. Only when it is broken down to the size of a grain of rice does it lose the ability to reshape. At that size it also loses the ability to store mana, meaning I can't add it to the ink.

However, I can still think of plenty of uses for such strong mana batteries. The only problem is how to charge them, maybe I should ask Lin to help me. Even with her mana pool it isn't something that will be filled quickly.

Having that much mana stored could come in handy, especially if we need to cast a big spell. So, I will put the ink on hold until I am done experimenting with the crystals. The first thing I want to test is whether or not they can be enchanted and have runes carved into them.

Athena says "Master, I'm sorry to bother you."

"No problem, Athena. What's going on?"

Athena says "I want permission to change our course and move away from the coast."