Zaka arrives tomorrow, and we've been hard at work. Although the crystal isn't quite to the maximum capacity of the current apparatus it's in, I think it's large enough to move into an even larger apparatus if I want to make one. The current artificial crystal is a little less than twice the size of the largest natural crystal I've found. From top to bottom its about a foot tall.
To get to this point, we've used lots of small crystals. We've also have a working hypothesis for the re-use of melted crystal material. Some of the material becomes unusable after each melt, although this isn't actually a very large amount. I'm assuming that there is some degree of reaction with whatever small amount of air is left in the container or with the container itself, which is causing some material to be unusable for growing the crystals. The bigger half of the hypothesis is that the higher the concentration of mystery gas in the growth chamber, the more readily the crystal grows during each pour cycle.
We figured this out through multiple trials and testing of adding more crystal melt in, and cycling through the re-use of material. This hypothesis that we've been working with has greatly increased the amount of crystal growth per day in the last few days, but unfortunately, it also means we're storing a lot of the melted crystal material that we've only used once. It seems like a bit of a waste, but for now, we have plenty of excess. Since we frequently are waiting for crystal melt to cool before application, I've used that time to make a small offshoot room where we now store the spent containers of crystal melt. As of right now, there are eight containers full of the stuff in there.
Not that each container is particularly large. The internal volume is only about a third of a cubic foot. However, because the inside is likely under some degree of vacuum, it has walls that are a few inches thick. The container itself is a rounded cylinder that is a foot and a half tall, and about a foot wide. Seeing multiple of them lined up on the shelf in the room reminds me somewhat of industrial byproducts from Earth. While it is possible for us to use these containers of material to grow crystals, right now, it's not worth our time. When and if crystals become scarce, then we might need to come back to use it. Should that happen, I think I'll be glad that I've stored it in this ready to use form.
Now comes an initial test of the artificial crystal. I need to make sure that it can still hold mana like the regular crystals. One of the properties that I noticed in natural crystals was their ability to store higher amounts of mana based on their size, and their ability to tolerate being closer to the surface. Now, I don't want to destroy this crystal before Zaka arrives, but I do want to at least charge it. So I'm going to store it with the other crystals in the charging room overnight. After Zaka leaves we can do some more dangerous tests with this crystal.
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Zaka arrives with just one other goblin in the afternoon. Thankfully, there is no news of any goblins dying to any events. He brings us even more lizard meat again as well, which is actually why he brought the extra goblin with him, to help carrying the extra meat up. I'm thankful for the free food, and for the laborer who will bring back some lightstone bricks back to the village with Zaka.
Without too much delay, I want to show Zaka the artificial crystal. I take him down to the crystal recharging room, and retrieve the artificially grown crystal. Since it is quite a bit bigger than the other crystals and special, I stored it in its own special storage spot. To me, it seems like it's fully charged, glowing a bit brighter than any of the other crystals.
When I show him the crystal, he seems intrigued, and makes a statement, and Zeb begins translating for us.
"I'd like to try to use this for a test." Zaka says.
I'm hesitant, depending on what kind of test he wants to try, but I'll at least hear out what he has in mind. "What kind of test?" I ask.
"I want to see just how long this can power my magic." He says.
Stolen story; please report.
Well, that should be fine. It's a natural question honestly, "Sure, how do you want to try it?" I ask. I'm a little nervous he might decide he wants to summon imps repeatedly, which would lead to cleanup needing done.
He doesn't say anything, but points his arm towards an empty section of wall, and shoots a fireball off, and then looks to me for approval.
I suppose that works. I give him a nod of approval, and hold the crystal out for him. What follows is a rapid fire of fireballs shooting towards the same section of wall. I'm sure I missed a few because he was firing them off pretty rapidly, but by the end, I count 33 fireballs. The wall where he was shooting is giving off some impressive heat as well. He seems impressed, and turns to give us his feedback.
"It let me use about triple what I could normally." He says, and pauses for a moment, "It also made my hand that was touching it feel warm."
Well, I guess that gives me some insight, not into the crystal, but Zaka. I have no idea what the mana cost of a fireball is, but at the very least, I know he can fire around ten in rapid succession with his mana pool. A slightly terrifying thought. Once it charges again, I should be able to use my own mana until emptying the crystal, and get a sense for what the value of his mana pool and cost of his fireball is. I'll also need to look into what he means by his hand feeling warm. I recall sleeping on piles of the crystals back when I was an imp, and that feeling warm, maybe he means akin to that? I guess I'll see.
Zaka makes one final comment, "Keep up the good work, I'll be looking forward to my next visit." Before heading back up out of the cave.
Normally, he stays the night, but apparently, he's eager to head back to the village because he's going on another hunt for lizards tomorrow. I suppose he's really on the warpath after the last few years of the lizards wiping out goblins. I send him and the other goblin off with some lightstone for the village. I have Zaka wait for a few minutes, and I fashion him a lightstone tipped spear for him to use as well. For the remainder of the day, Zeb and I take care of some of the neglected tasks outside, like building more of the stairs, since the weather is nice, and we were in such a rush to get this crystal grown before Zaka returned.
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Today, I'm going to to figure out what the mana storage of this crystal is. My status hasn't actually grown all that much recently, despite the amount of time it has been, and the handful of trees I've cut down. As always, it seems each prestige gets harder to gain levels.
Level: 7
HP: 1079/1079
MP: 501/501
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation, Improved Dexterity
Magic: Improved Stone Shaping, Tectonic Sense, Earth Spike
Okay, so my mana pool is a little over 500. I could go about this slowly, using stone shaping to go through my mana, but I think instead, I'll use the majority of the mana by using Earth Spike, similar to how Zaka used his Fireball. I use the first Earth Spike, draining 200 mana in a near instant while I touch the crystal.
His hand felt warm my ass. While not burning, this is hot. Not so hot as to cause damage, but it is severely uncomfortable. Before I notice, my mana was refilled though. Crap, I was distracted and didn't quite get the chance to actually see how fast it refilled my mana. I cast earth spike again while focusing on my mana pool. Okay, well, it refills the missing mana in about a second and a half.
I decide on a new test now. I let go of the crystal, and use two earth spikes, depleting my mana pool even more before putting my palm against the crystal. The temperature doesn't increase, but the duration of the heat lasts nearly three seconds, making me even more uncomfortable than before. I'm also now about 800 mana in, and the crystal has lost quite a bit of its glow. I'm not sure how many more tests I'm going to get out of the crystal's mana, so I decide that I should make them count.
I have two in mind. First test, a single earth spike, and then I touch the crystal with two hands rather than one. Each hand heats up, but the duration is less than a second this time before I'm full of mana again. Next test, I earth spike, and then touch the crystal with just a finger. The finger feels the heat for almost fifteen seconds before I'm full. Which was very uncomfortable. I'd much rather have the brief heat than that very long duration heat. I decide that I want to try a third test, using my upper arm as the conduit for the crystal as well.
This time however, when I go to recharge after using earth spike, I only get a brief jolt of heat before it dissipates, and I'm not fully recharged. I only recharged 57 mana this time, and the crystal looks completely depleted. Darn. That brings the total mana in the crystal to approximately 1257 mana. Then Zaka's mana pool is probably around 600, and it would be about 55 mana per fireball. That isn't accounting for the fact that I'm pretty sure I miscounted while he was shooting, so it could be anywhere from 50 to 60 mana. That also assumes that he was pretty close with his triple estimate. Either way, this has left me with a lot to think about.