Fall, age 7.

I'm at Alfred's shop today.

My dad took me along for Emelias treatment, but he finished a while ago and left to go treat another patient living outside the village. Alfred let me use his spot to imbue, but he left on an errant some time ago, I think he said he went to buy crystals. Apparently, some rare creature showed up some ways from town, and it was loaded with mana crystals so he had to acquire as many as he could without having to pay a middleman.

Which is fine, because I'm trying out a new design. Ever since I made that heat crystal that glows when it's low on power, I've been trying out some different designs trying to make some basic stuff like a directional light or a flashing light, without much success. I have been trying to make an oscillator with electric circuits, but that's a complete dead end so far. I also tried changing the shape of the crystal, which Alfred showed me how to do, but that didn't make the light mono directional. I have a feeling that to make these things, I have to imagine finished components to make it do these things, but I have no idea how they would look.

But I managed with the transistor, so I should be able to manage with this. It's just gonna take a while..

Wait.

What if I'm overthinking this?

I tried imagining the transistor as a semiconductor with an n-p junction, but that took a few tries. After that, I just recalled that it was a semiconductor, and the crystal accepted it a lot faster.

What if I just have to imagine what it does to the flow of mana? There should still be some restrictions, but if I'm right, it should work..

I'll try imagining a component that allows mana to flow through a main mana stream a set period before it cuts off the flow for another set period, as long as the component is power by an alternate flow. Maybe the flow can even branch off to power it by itself, that seemed to work with the first design..

Alright. Time for a test..

I shift around in my seat to get comfortable and ready myself before I put my hands o-

``Tony was right, you do start mumbling to yourself when you focus. It's almost like you're narrating yourself.'' [Emelia]

I turn around and see Emelia standing behind me with an entertained smirk on her face.

``That is so not true.'' [Nathan]

She laughs loudly with a huge grin.

``It so is! You were all like, ``I shift around in my seat to get comfortable and ready myself''. `` [Emelia]

.. She either just read my mind or I actually do have such a weird habit..

``When did he say that?'' [Nathan]

``Oh he's been saying it for years, I think it started around the time you all got chased by a boar.'' [Emelia]

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I never heard about such a weird habit in my old life, so it must have been something I picked up here. Might have been a weird after-effect of that whole color realm I was stuck in for who knows how long, that really fucked my brain up. I can't even remember my ``old'' parents names anymore.. In fact, I can hardly remember any details from my old life, and the only person I can really remember is John.

``Yeah that was a crazy night I would have rather have been without.'' [Nathan]

``.. Don't say that.. Experiences like those should be treasured. Even if they are painful..'' [Emelia]

Emelia says with a glum look on her face.

``Hmph... You are right, the sunset was quite spectacular, and it was the first time I really saw manaflies up close.'' [Nathan]

``See, you have to treasure memories like that..'' [Emelia]

She has quite a sorrowful expression right now..

``Did my father not tell you that you were getting better? I have seen you on your feet several times this last year, could you not go see these things yourself if you want to?'' [Nathan]

``No, no.. I don't really need to, and I'm not well enough to go out at all.. It's fine, I don't really want to..'' [Emelia]

``Emelia, that's not true. I can see how much you want to go.'' [Nathan]

``.. Well it doesn't matter, I can't go. I can't walk for long, and I definitely can't climb trees, so I'll never see a view like that..'' [Emelia]

``.. Emelia, you are fourteen years old, now is the time you should experience these things. The longer you wait, the more you will regret it. All of a sudden, life will have passed you by, and there is no way to regain it.'' [Nathan]

``... You're a weird kid Nathan. You're still just seven years old, but sometimes you say... Some things can't be done, and some dreams are just dreams..'' [Emelia]

``Some things can be done if you give it thought and find a way. And you never know which it is before you try.'' [Nathan]

``Nathan, I can hardly walk around the house, can we stop talking about this already..'' [Emelia]

She's very crestfallen now..

``.. I am sorry.'' [Nathan]

``.. It's fine.. I'm very tired, so I should go back to my room.. See you next time..'' [Emelia]

She turns around and starts dragging herself to her room.

``Yeah, see you..'' [Nathan]

Sigh..

Poor girl.

I return to my project.

If I'm right, I should be able to make something like a while loop that swaps between two states at a set interval. Let's give it a shot..

Let's do this.

I gather my composure and start imprinting the crystal. It takes a few tries, a lot of tries actually, but eventually it accepts my design. I tried making it swap between on and off every one thousand, something.

I wish I had any idea what something. I hope it's not years, but I figured that even if it's second's, it's only about twenty minutes. I'll use that as a baseline.

The pattern appears in my mind.

It looks deceptively like the one for a simple glow crystal, but there is a small difference. It's not much, but I hope it's enough.

Imbuing it is simple, and I have gotten a lot faster.

Now let's see what happens when I power it up.

Done.

I put the imbued crystal in my hand and power it up.

Dammit.. It's glowing like usual, with that soft glow just too bright to be comfortable to look straight a-

Wait a second. It's not as bright as it used to be. Not at all..

It's- It's pulse width modulation.. It worked!

This means the period of the mana pulses is at least in the microseconds, maybe even the nano seconds.

This is good. This is really really good.

I hear the door opening and look up.

``Oh hello Nathan, is Alfred around?'' [Graham]

``Not right now, no, are you here on business?'' [Nathan]

``No, Caitlyn set up a play-date between Sam and Sarah at our place, I'm here to pick her up.'' [Graham]

``Oh Sam got a playmate? Good for her.'' [Nathan]

``Too bad Sarah's big sister can't come too, the girls would love someone a bit older than them to play with. A shame she can't walk much.'' [Graham]

``Yeah, it is...'' [Nathan]

...

Wait..

What if..

``Hey, Graham, being a lumberjack, do you happen to be good with wood?'' [Nathan]