North Tarak [foot of the Torrent mountain range], local time [1793.11.24]
Unfortunately, Zeph wasn’t able to do much the previous day. P’pfel was adamant about showing him in detail how a true enchanting workshop should be set up and operated. Even if it was very interesting and useful, Zeph was impatient. Only Gremling’s threats stopped him from deserting the lesson. He still wanted to learn under the professor, after all.
Aisha disappeared after they unloaded the delivery wagon, leaving them to their own devices. When he checked on her this morning, she was still or already absent.
P’pfel wanted to continue yesterday’s lesson, but Zeph already remembered the basics and managed to convince him it was time for his own experimentation. Most of the work in the workshop pertained to the production of caustic chemicals, anyway. Zeph had enough experience in laboratory work to quickly adapt to the new equipment and methods. Now he just needed to practice with the new formulae.
After a quick breakfast, Zeph prepared his own reagents and materials on the side in their room, while the professor mass-produced substances for future use.
During their travel, he was able to train Material Enchanting on soft materials, like leather, but doing anything more demanding was a challenge. It was possible to construct a Spell within the Mana-L bubble when moving if one was quick enough or use instant cast from EE, but everything that required time was being destabilized by the moving air and ambient Mana. He also had very limited time when they were camping. As so, he had yet to receive any General Skills from the System. At least, he managed to finish preliminary experiments for his prototype.
After hearing from P’pfel about Material Enchanting, the idea of modifiable enchantment formed instantly in his head. He already had the necessary prerequisites in the form of Primitive Enchanting and Mana-L Enchanting, he just had to use them all together.
His unique understanding of Spells’ structure was the key.
Zeph took out his pen, crayons, and an empty book he bought yesterday in a nearby shop and started to write in English. He was going to do this properly.
Firstly, he had to describe the model he created for Spells.
Tier zero Spells were structurally similar to proteins – the whole construct’s function was to create certain conditions in the ‘active site’, resulting in Mana reactions producing Magicules. Makani called it ‘simulating the environment of Magicule origin’ which actually fit with Zeph’s interpretation, but left out important details of the process.
Under a short description, he drew the slightly simplified construct of the ‘Air bubble’ cantrip, noting the similarities to the homology model of a protein by describing each discernable subpart:
[https://i.imgur.com/SMmKXdI.png]
He also drew the Heat cantrip, detailing the ‘active site’ of the construct. A place where Mana finally formed into Magicules:
[https://i.imgur.com/t9wq5G1.png]
Certain simplifications of the subparts’ shapes decreased the efficiency of the Spell, but it would work as intended for the most part. He noted what he could remember from his early experiments on the topic.
After a moment of deliberation, he added a note about the restrictions of the model. In the first place, the scales were wrong. Proteins belonged to the world of molecules whereas the Spells were macroscopic in scale. Additionally, what decided the outcome of a Spell was the Mana flow, instead of a stable physical structure. The proteins were almost mechanical in their function. Most probably, analog electrical systems would be a better parallel, but not only he didn’t have the necessary knowledge to test such a thesis, he also doubted a human being could calculate anything meaningful using them as a model.
It would be just ridiculous with such complexity. Maybe Tesla would be up to the challenge, Zeph wouldn’t know.
Tier one and two constructs were responsible for macroscopic effects, like condensing water into droplets by concentrating water molecules in the spiraling Water-Mana current, but the constructs were similar to protein super-structures.
After the second hour of drawing, he was becoming irritated. He had already spent too much time on it, but he needed to be meticulous. His later procedures would depend on those introductory notes.
Some of the super-structures were quite easy to make and just needed cantrip modules powering them. The Magicules these modules provided had to be moved in a shape of a simple, stationary construct. The best example was the ‘Condense water’ Spell:
[https://i.imgur.com/lt4foBB.png]
Some Spells could be used to shape the flow of external Magicules, like the ‘Space lens’ Spell’s basic structure that could be arranged into a tube or work like propulsion/condensation cylinders:
[https://i.imgur.com/N1iACyO.png]
Some chained the same structure, again and again, to create an area of effect, like the ‘Air sphere’ did:
[https://i.imgur.com/fgI1AOP.png]
Then, there were those that mixed many Magicules to achieve the desired effect in… unpredictable ways. Most of the Tier 1 Spells he modified worked that way, like the Self-sustaining ‘Lesser Life ward’:
[https://i.imgur.com/6X34VRb.png]
Yes, it was a mess. But it worked. His methods of improving and creating Spells weren’t producing… pretty outcomes. Interestingly, the Matrices he unlocked didn’t present him with nicer versions.
Finally, there were the fucking mightily incomprehensible ones, like the ‘Mana highlight’:
[https://i.imgur.com/PcdPggz.png]
The fuck did I just draw? Zeph thought, looking at his final artistic masterpiece critically. Is that… a cannon? An illegitimate child of a portal gun and electric cannon, maybe?...
He shook his head. He had to concentrate, and it wasn’t important if the drawing was readable.
He started describing the process of modifying and combining Spells and their components. He left out a lot because he didn’t have time, but at least a list of topics had to be created.
The testing process for the subparts, cross-breeding selected structures, experimenting with the structural orientation like with conformational isomerism or protein folding mechanism, ‘mutating’ the micro-parts and repeating the process again.
Finally, he noted the influence of the macroscopic shape of the construct on the results, like in his telekinetic anti-arrow shields.
It sounded difficult but wasn’t at all. He wasn’t the first one with an idea of mixing Spell structures, he was sure of it. He just did it procedurally instead of randomly. The knowledge of optimizing algorithms and biological mechanisms that modified similar frameworks was the only difference between him and the locals - both were building from Lego blocks, he just did it methodically.
His methods worked good enough, so he would revise the model only when a need arises.
Anyway, Zeph was able to categorize basic shapes that made up Spell structures and find the angular restrictions of Mana flow in them. He described what he found out about it in detail.
Only then, he started to write about the prototype. He started with the history and evolution of the idea.
His first idea of creating physical modules enchanted classically with basic parts of Spells, to be used like building blocks for Spell structure, was noted but as a pointless endeavor. He would have to plan around flexible connections, stretchable materials, and geometrical viability. Not to mention the parts would be too small to be used by hand.
His second idea of placing maximally simplified shapes in geometrically matching modules, to just have a framework of a Spell for further Primitive Enchanting, was noted and marked as a waste of money and materials. It would speed up the process tremendously, because he could easily move his Mana through the enchanted tracks and only then start pushing it into the material itself to form the full Spell structure, but the costs of materials and time of preparation would be too much.
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His third idea of flattening the three-dimensional structures as much as possible, to work with plates instead of 3D blocks, was noted and marked as already existing. P’pfel informed him the almost-flat enchanting was called Engraved Enchanting, for some reason, and that a craft-table tool for assembling their diagrams from parts was widely used. Engraved enchantments were at least four times less efficient and couldn’t be used for detection Spells because of the Mana noise.
A note about Holographic Enchanting was also made. Though, when Gremling showed him an example it looked more like layered magic circles. It had truly horrible efficiency and adaptability.
He stretched; it was high time for experiments. The last five hours he spent just writing and drawing. It would have taken much longer if his mind wasn’t working three times faster than on Earth.
“A break?” the professor asked, seeing as he relaxed somewhat.
Zeph looked at him and noticed the trolley. “Hmmm, why not? The next part will take even longer,” he decided, standing up.
“I can’t understand why you need all those notes beforehand,” said the Gremling before packing his mouth full.
“It’s to… Um, make sure I don’t forget what were the basics of the experiments,” he said, eating slowly. After gulping another spoonful, he continued. “It would be easy to unconsciously twist the information to my advantage after learning more. Besides, those are just important parts. I will have to write down the details later for future peruse.”
That reminds me, I should ask about that Library Goddess. Maybe she has a shrine or something in the town…
“If you say so…” Professor evidently wasn’t convinced.
They didn’t speak more as the blissfully delicious meal took all their attention.
Zeph decided to collect his entree immediately after. Not waiting for the Gremling to finish, he walked to the terrarium room, as he called it.
Sadly, Library Goddess didn’t have any presence in the town. The attendant was kind enough to explain that her libraries were placed only in major cities. She was much more active on higher strata because higher-leveled people were more liable to produce new knowledge.
He was disappointed slightly, but the feeling was quickly replaced by eagerness. It was time to confirm his initial experimentation and build the prototype.
He hurriedly returned to their room and stood before the prepared materials, his book to the side. He lamented the lack of protective equipment, especially gloves, but he had enough faith in Gru, his enhanced body, and the ability to regenerate to not be bothered overmuch.
Experiment 1 part 1, behavior of mercury directly subjected to Mana flow, without Mana-L stabilization, he wrote quickly.
He poured pure mercury into a small glass platter, enough to cover the bottom, and sprinkled it with red powder. Then, he manipulated his Mana to flow in a circle just at the surface. He could feel as most of his Mana transformed into Mana-O at the contact, but his Metal-Mana stayed mostly intact. The red powder on the surface started to move in a circular pattern, but the rotational movement of mercury was impeding his manipulation, bending it out of shape. A vortex was slowly forming on the surface.
He noted the conclusions. He successfully manipulated the liquid metal thanks to the semi-compatible Metal-Mana-Z. The process was additionally hampering Mana manipulation because the atoms moved around. Constructing Spells inside fluid of this density seemed impossible, either way. Mana was transforming into Mana-O too quickly.
Experiment 1 part 2, behavior of mercury directly subjected to Mana flow, with Mana-L stabilization.
Next, he imbued the mercury with Mana-L. The process was much quicker than with Metal beads. When he was sure that no more Mana-L was being absorbed, he slightly tilted the platter. Mercury was now flowing sluggishly, almost like honey. He placed it straight and started to manipulate his Mana again.
For Mana-L to stabilize a Spell in the air, it had to be moved in the triple-spiral pattern around Mana flow before it coalesced around it and kept the structure intact.
For Mana-L to stabilize a Spell in the solids, the material had to be imbued with Mana-L after Primitive Enchanting formed temporary pathways. The Mana flow had to be sustained during that time.
And now, in liquids. In the beginning, nothing happened. His Mana was flowing freely through Mana-L, avoiding the atoms almost completely. But slowly, mercury started to move along with the Mana flow. Similarly to the previous part, a vortex started forming, powered by the circle of movement. But as the flow in the circle sped up, suddenly the friction disappeared. He could feel a slight change in Mana-L around the flow, it became denser.
Yes! he thought giddily. He stopped manipulating his Mana to move in a circle and waited for a moment until the red powder stopped moving. Then he just pushed Mana into the circle from one point.
He could feel as it flowed through, like in an enchanted pathway, slowly speeding up mercury atoms again but only in the circle. He smiled widely, making notes. Mana-L in liquids showed mixed properties, it could coalesce around Mana flow and ‘remember’ the shape in the same way as in gasses. It also helped with moving his Mana through the liquid like in the solid matter.
Experiment 1 part 3, viability of forming Spell structure inside mercury.
He poured the mercury into a glass cylinder and added more. When he was sure the volume was enough to contain the Spell, he capped the cylinder, imbued the metal with Mana-L, and constructed a reversed Light Spell inside of it.
It was a failure, as expected. The stream of mercury wasn’t speeding up enough because of the dead ends of the construct – it just flowed back into the volume of the liquid.
As so, he used the modified Spell he had prepared for the occasion during the travel, patting himself on the back for thinking ahead.
But it was another failure. The new pathways he prepared were too close to the overall structure in some places, causing swirls in the liquid that destabilized the shape.
He frowned in displeasure.
Zeph spent the next half an hour modifying the Spell, trying to redirect all dead ends back to the starting point without compromising the Spell’s functionality. It was harder than he had thought.
He had to cut off the Self-sustaining part to simplify the problem. In the end, the Spell wasn’t even 10% as efficient, but it was enough for test purposes.
He noted the requirement of adapting the Spells and the details of what he did, before trying again.
After a moment the air around the cylinder started to glow. The Magicules ‘transforming’ Mana-O into light could freely travel through Mana-L from the inside of the cylinder.
It was a success.
He tested the durability of the construct by hanging the cylinder on a pendulum and noting how long the Spell managed to function. He made it oscillate in line, in a circle, and with different amplitudes. Next, he changed the line for a spring and tested it under vertical and spinning movements.
He would be able to calculate the forces later, but it was evident he had to further stabilize the liquid.
Now he theoretically had a primitive external Matrix just for his own Spells. Or rather, a way to quickly make a temporary enchantment. In other words, almost absolutely useless gadget.
People didn’t use such things for a reason. He wasn’t deluding himself he was the first to make those tests.
But that wasn’t the end. Zeph secured the cylinder and cracked his knuckles. It was time for the more interesting part.
Experiment 2 part 1, viability of forming artificial Mana-L.
He started to prepare enchanting reagents. The first one was a sulfuric acid mixed with a black powder and some strange sap. Zeph wasn’t sure what he was working with, he just proceeded according to the formula, adding the unknown ingredients like an obedient apprentice.
The powder didn’t react with the acid, but the sap did, drastically increasing its viscosity. He poured the mix into another small platter, making sure it was filled to the marked height.
Next, he took out a black, metal grate. After carefully placing three droplets of thick substance on it, he put a disk made from pelvis bone of an unknown origin on it, gluing them together.
After securing the grate on the glassware, he was ready for the first step.
Normally, an enchanter had to use a Spell to imbue the caustic mix with compatible Magicules, but all of Zeph’s contaminations were compatible with it. Metal-Mana with the black powder, Space/life-Mana with the sap, and Will-Mana supporting them. He easily started manipulating the fluid.
P’pfel was complaining about his enchanting because he was using Will instead of Willpower. He couldn’t cause enough pressure to efficiently ‘drill’ his way in metal, which resulted in too wide canals. Thankfully, it was not a problem with bones.
Inside of the bone, he was ‘carving’ the same lattice pattern his Stabilize spell was using on his bones to produce Mana-L. The only difference was, Zeph looped it to channel the Mana in a circle around the disk. There was no exit from the loop besides the entrance slit – only after the Mana was transformed into Mana-L would it be able to seep through the bone itself. Well, non-Magicule Mana-O would be seeping out regardless because of the pressure, but Mana-L would be escaping from the center only. Because it was much more viscous than a Magicule had any right to, it would drastically slow down after forming thus being less affected by the centrifugal force. It would then travel to the place with lower Mana pressure and would slowly drop out from the center of the disk. He already tested it with his Mana and Mana-L by manipulating them inside a bone and this experiment should confirm his thesis.
He was creating a tool for transforming and filtering Mana, basically.
The process was slow and complicated because he had to keep absolute control of the fluid inside at all times and make sure it was flowing two-directionally through the created vent, to exchange the substance at the forefront of the excavation for the fresh one.
He felt exhausted when he finished but was very happy with the results.
No mistakes, he thought proudly, looking closely at the disk. The bone is barely holding itself together, though… Definitely not something I can do in the field.
The next part was easy in comparison. He took the pre-prepared standard mercury mix to fill the holes and added a copious amount of bone powder to it. The layout for the filling procedure was similar, he just needed to relocate the grate and secure the remainder of the caustic mix.
The filler would crystallize after being exposed to Mana of high density, allowing Mana almost free pass. Again, Zeph had no idea what mercury compound was created or how they even managed to produce such a thing. It was probably a reaction with a high energy threshold, but P’pfel wasn’t knowledgeable about the details. Chemistry wasn’t developed enough in this world – people here didn’t even knew their periodic table.
He quickly filled the ‘mold’ of the enchantment and used his Willpower to compress Mana inside while still keeping the fluid in the shape with his Will.
After making sure everything was solid, he broke off the bone disk from the grate and cut off the protruding fragment of the filler.
Now, the moment of truth! he thought, straightening up.
“Grrrruuuu!” it excitedly vibrated as they moved to the prepared station.
A thin funnel was hanging above a glass flask, beside it a laboratory timer was lying. It was actually an enchanted item – he never saw anyone using clocks, so he suspected it was a quite rare gadget.
He poured a measured amount of mercury into the funnel, noting how long it took the liquid to go through. He did that a second time, after imbuing the mercury with his Mana-L. He also noted an estimated amount of Mana he spent on imbuement.
Then, he poured the same measure of mercury onto another platter and covered it with a metal plate with a hole in the center, which he covered with the bone disk. The hole had one-tenth of the diameter of the disk, enough for Mana-L to seep through.
He took a deep breath and started to fuel the disk with his Mana, making sure to leave a part of the slit unoccupied for the Mana to decompress. He even used his manipulation to hasten the circulation.
After a minute, he noted the Mana used, removed the plate with the bone disk on it, and quickly poured the mercury into the funnel, starting the timer.
He watched closely as the liquid slowly flowed down into the flask, his expectation raising by the second.
After the last drop of mercury hit the silver surface, he checked the time.
He wasn’t able to keep himself from shouting in ecstasy. “It’s alive!!! Fuck yea!”
“Grrraaaaa!!!” Gru echoed.
“Shut up!” Gremling shrieked.