Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1793.12.24]
~~~PS part STARTS~~~
While the Blacksmith made final calculations, Zeph relaxed on a near bench, slightly exhausted mentally.
“Done!” Ghrughah announced jovially after a few minutes. “We have all necessary data.”
Zeph stood up with a weary sigh and stepped next to him. “Time to hear it out, then.”
“Adatium-BX276. Material compatibility between your Alloy contamination’s Magicules and the Adatium is at 30.5%. Material compatibility with your Space contamination at 5.2%, and with Life energy at 12.5%.”
Zeph nodded. Almost no chance of fusing resulting contamination with any secondary that I already have, and a very limited implant usability, he concluded, writing in his Notebook.
“Known properties are as follows. When saturated with proper Magicules, its physical durability exceeds the threshold of standardized second-stratum steel and sits at 23/10. Without saturation, it stands at a respectful 11/10, still exceeding first stratum steel. It has flexibility of around 9/10, so a good pairing. Mana-resistance relative to your old armor at only 4/10, sadly.”
It really sounds like an adamantium, or something, Zeph nodded thoughtfully.
From P’pfel’s explanations on materials, Zeph knew that there was only one difference between higher and lower stratum material – internal structure. To be more exact, the only difference between steel and S1 steel was that the second one was produced in the presence of many more naturally-forming Steel-Magicules because of the higher ambient Mana pressure in the higher region. That influenced how atoms organized during cooling, making the S1 steel much more reactive to the presence of compatible Magicules. Its Magicule capacity was higher, too, but all that at the price of physical integrity. Certain materials, though, could become physically more durable because of this change. In extreme cases, the structural change would influence the Magicule types forming inside of the material, thus changing their properties and becoming a new material altogether.
Zeph imagined that atoms were organizing in more symmetrical patterns, leaving some space for additional Magicules but also becoming more durable thanks to a crystalline-like internal framework. It was his own theory, but the fact that higher strata versions of the same material were known to be slightly lighter made it more believable in his mind.
What Ghrughah called ‘standardized second stratum steel’ was represented by a score of 20. It was an S2 steel with partial, natural saturation on stratum-two. The real difference in the properties of material was hard to tell but Earth’s parameters wouldn’t tell him much either way, so Zeph just used common sense, assuming the steel strength kept up with Levels appropriate to the stratum. The value of 10 was an interpretation of S1 steel, naturally saturated on stratum-one. The value of zero represented the natural saturation at the surface of the planet, so, technically, on stratum-zero.
On the other hand, fully saturating normal steel with compatible Magicules would strengthen it, but changing its properties only by a few points. For any mundane material, the score almost never changed by more than 5 points after saturation. That is why Adatium could be considered at least a first-stratum material. Its extreme reaction to Mana saturation was telling, but Zeph wasn’t sure if the Blacksmith used Mana compression room to produce it, or if it was just in the nature of alloy itself.
All of the scores, of course, were values of natural saturation on stratum-zero. If not indicated otherwise. Only Mana-resistance was presented in relation to his old armor’s alloy which, by the way, sucked hard with durability of 2/10 and flexibility of 3/10.
“It’s perfect for teeth implant or for skin-melding, but I never recommend the second option, so it’s a little limited in that regard. You would definitely need to search for complementary implants at the Exchange, I am afraid. The resulting contamination should be compatible with Makrun in at least 40%, so the chances of fusing their contamination equivalents are above 70%. For the resulting Advanced contamination, those are known limits for matter compatibility,” he said handing him a sheet of paper. Zeph scanned the list, writing everything down in his Notebook.
All high-density metals. No symmetry restrictions. Grain of less than… what is this unit? he scratched his head, seeing a strange symbol. He was almost sure it was a unit of length for microscopic scales but had no idea how much it was.
“Can you explain this part?” he asked, leaning to the side and pointing at the line with his finger.
“Hmm? Eh, if you don’t know, then don’t worry about it. It’s a variable unit used in metallurgy. In this case, it means the grains have to be relatively small and their microstructure regular. Give me that for a moment, I will write it down,” he said, taking the page and scribing quickly before returning it. He did the same for the pages of other alloys, while Zeph was finishing reading the first one.
“Threshold temperature of 523 mei…” Thankfully, I already know this one. It should start somewhere around mercury’s freezing point, so minus 39 Celsius, and it should be roughly 1,5 Celsius per mei… Well, leaving aside Mana fucking up the results, it should be around 750 Celsius… Isn’t that a bit low? he noticed after a quick mental calculation. “What are the alchemical properties of the alloy?”
“Melting point at around 1700 mei. Non-reactive with acids and alkalis. I should have the paper somewhere.” He started shuffling through the file of sheets in his hands.
“Leave it for later. I am just surprised the Advanced Magicule will stop operating at such low relative temperature…”
The giant stopped and looked back at him, surprised a little by his ignorance. “That just means the Magicule will be very sensitive to the internal structure, in this case – the grain. As so, you can forget about liquifying any compatible material for manual manipulation purposes.”
Zeph frowned, adding the information to his notes. It seemed he would have to ask some more questions later; this information was quite important.
“Next is Ferrum Obsidian XEF5511-256,” Ghrughah nodded at the black plate and purple-specked sludge, looking up from the papers he was reading from. “Compatibility with your Alloy contamination is at the modulation’s lower limit, 29.1%. Space contamination compatibility at 72.4%; Life energy at 41.3%. Known properties,” he continued without a pause, “Magicule saturation greatly enhances reshaping capabilities without compromising material’s strength during the process. Physical durability at 15/10, but flexibility only at 2/10. It’s very brittle but has a good payoff in my opinion – if you master manual matter manipulation, you can easily repair it in real-time. Relative Mana-resistance at 28/10, which is the highest I have seen for non-specialized materials on this stratum, truth to be told. Perfect material for obscure implants, like eyes, ear bones, nails, and hair. Maybe even some cartilage. Not recommended for any of the internal organs or bones, though, and you will have to pay for implementation at System’s Shrine. Our implant renditions are quite primitive, so assuming your scope of entries at the Exchange is as vast as you had clued,”—he gave Zeph a curious look—“you may even find more options.”
Which he promptly ignored. Even if the Blacksmith and Kwan had their suspicions, he never confirmed that he was a Terrien, and didn’t plan to do so. They already knew too much and had their guesses, which already was hazardous for his well-being.
Shrugging, the Blacksmith handed him another sheet of paper. “Compatibility with Makrun unknown. Here, the Advanced contamination properties.”
Zeph quickly read the limits of the potential Magicules. Any amorphous material, but also supports liquid crystal states and powdered crystals… It’s somehow vague, but I guess it makes sense. The matter cannot be fully organized, though. It may be a problem. Or not? It should work with non-Newtonian fluids, I think. THAT would be an upgrade to the armor’s strength… The maximum size of any organized structures inside is also determined by the internal disorder, so it would require intensive material testing… Hmmm, the temperature doesn’t matter here, too.
It had alchemical properties similar to Adatium, but its melting point sat at around 900 mei.
“That’s kind of impressive. If I wouldn’t be at risk of having shattered parts of the armor piercing my body, that is…”
Ghrughah shrugged. “I tested that. The structure of your old armor and the Phleya inside will not allow for that to just happen casually. If my tests are any indicator, the armor as a whole will be quite flexible and robust, I would even give it a score of 11/10 for flexibility if it was just an alloy. Yes, you would lose a lot of material in every battle, as the outer layer will break off, but it would be mitigated by the speed of the armor’s regeneration. Not only can you mitigate the loss with manual matter manipulation; Phleya would have a very easy time reshaping it back and finding basic components. Well… except for the Alloy clusters – you will have to regularly resupply that material. The remains of your armor should suffice for some time, especially if I smelt it whole into ready-to-use Ferrum Obsidian ingots. As the material surrounding those metal clusters has sky-high Mana-resistance, the decay of that instable molecule would be minimal. Not to mention, after working with it for so long, I actually managed to invent a method of extracting and securing this molecule. It’s at the beginning stages, but I plan to develop it either way.”
It’s an element, not a molecule, my friend, Zeph thought idly, but his focus was somewhere else. That alloy presented him more possibilities than any they tested before. But it was also a high-risk high-gain type. It wasn’t really compatible with metals. After he sorted the new information in his head, he wrote everything down in his Interface. The giant waited patiently.
“That was a lot of information…” Zeph murmured after finishing. “Okay, the last one?”
“The last one is… a little problematic, even if powerful. There is much to it,” the Blacksmith said, putting the papers down to stroke his beard. “It’s called Planaria Ferrium Fullerene CON8795-XA65. It’s made in great part from biological matter, which complicates things a lot. A big part of the production process requires advanced alchemy. Making more of it is a pain in the butt… but theoretically, it doesn’t need the molecule from the alloy of your armor. It can be replaced by almost any metal, it all depends on where you want to direct your contamination in the future. We had to start with the alloy’s one to modulate your existing contamination, but later on, you can easily transform that contamination to something else. For the same reason, it has quite a potential to work with the Makrun,” he started explaining.
“Did you check the parameters of other possible contaminations it could give me after fusion?” Zeph asked curiously.
“No. You will have a lot of time, later on, to ponder the problem. We have to wait for the modulation to finish, first.” Zeph nodded, gesturing for him to continue. “Because the amount of the molecule from your alloy is modifiable, I have set the concentration to the highest possible value for modulation, so it’s compatible with your contamination in 32.9%. It’s compatible with your… esoteric contamination…” the Blacksmith paused there for a second, glancing at Zeph, who just shook his head.
This secret won’t be slipping from his mouth. Ever. Ghrughah grunted in displeasure before continuing.
“It sits at 20.1%. On the average. Some parts display more than 80% compatibility, while most of its mass has below 2%.” That shocked Zeph a little. It would be the first material truly compatible with Will-Mana. He couldn’t fathom what that even meant for the material. Did it have the potential to produce Will by itself? Could it start thinking? Processing data? It didn’t make any sense. But one thing was definitely worrying.
“If it’s above 80%... That would mean the symmetry group is the same, right?” he asked with dread.
“Yes. And indeed, it has the potential to transform your strange contamination into its own type,” Ghrughah admitted. “We don’t know if other requirements for transformation are fulfilled, though. You would need a small implant to test it – if your Interface won’t give you a warning after two days, we should be safe.”
That made him breathe out with relief. Changing his contamination could have even deadly consequences because of his Willforce Morphon full-body enhancement. But if it could be tested this fast, he didn’t have anything to worry about.
“Continuing. Life energy compatibility at a staggering 91.8%. It’s high, even for biological material. You can use it for manual manipulation early on, although it won’t be as good without a proper material-selective Magicule. It will cause some internal damage for sure. It would do in a crisis, though, and the damage can be mended by Phleya. Physical durability at 16/10 for forces perpendicular to its planar surfaces, and 3/10 for other directions. Flexibility at 17/10, the highest of the lot. Relative Mana-resistance at 15/10 raises to 23/10 when saturated with life energy, which comes with the type of material. Now, the fun part,” he said, crossing his arms and looking at Zeph seriously.
“It can be used to enhance almost every part of your body, assuming you don’t overdo it. Similar to previous samples, I tested it on some animals with Pavail. She was diagnosing them for me but… I think she also tried some strange healing because the results weren’t exactly repeatable…” he said thoughtfully, scratching his bald head. “Well, whatever. We have found out that the material works best as a small enhancement to the neural and cardiovascular systems, by wrapping the nerves and veins with a mesh-like enclosing. It could also work as additional struts or ridges inside your bones… Umm, placing them on the surface of bones was a sight to behold,” he said grimly, “I have never thought bones can shatter so explosively…”
“Okay, okay, you can stop,” Zeph intervened. “I am sure I will hear all about it from Pavail, but spare me the details for now.”
“Right… where was I? Ah, yes. Sadly, except for bone implants, you would have to pay at the Shrine for the implementation. And you should check if other implants aren’t available there, too.”
Zeph’s eyebrow raised. “So… All of them require implementation by the System? Well, I mean the better options, at least. You are counting a little too much on my entries in the Exchange, I think.”
“Well, we didn’t check, but I can tell from experience that our experiments on animals should count as a full-fledged prototype. It should be enough for the entries to unlock. You just need to learn the details from us. But those experiments are also proof that we won’t be able to implement them properly, even if we know what we want to achieve. Although, the results would probably be quite hilarious if you allowed us to try, HA!” The big palm of the giant almost left Zeph breathless after he slapped his back.
“The material is also quite weak against strong acids and alkalis. It shouldn’t give immediately, but its properties will deteriorate fast. Also, it melts at around 500 mei, but it can be mitigated by its thermal conductivity – with Phleya, it will be out of the charts. As for the properties of future Advanced contamination…” he continued, handing him another piece of paper. “The limits are somewhat vague.”
They are, indeed, Zeph thought, reading the short note. Crystal compatibility, with unknown restrictions. Unknown metal compatibility, but guaranteed. Enhanced interactions with ‘life energy’ and biological matter… Nothing useful, information-wise. It should be the most universal from the lot, though.
“We really need to talk about the specifics of each one…”
“Don’t forget that our contract covers only one of the materials,” Ghrughah grumbled. “I am trying to minimize the information I am giving, you know? It’s all my work. Buy it or leave it. You have to choose one before I can talk further.”
“I meant it more in the context of general knowledge, old man,” Zeph waved him off. “I don’t think I understand all possible consequences yet…”
~~~PS part ENDS~~~
For the next few hours, Zeph continued asking questions to get a better grip on what was to come. Sadly, crafting three armors at once was out of the question.
Firstly, his Alloy contamination was barely above 5%. They could modulate from it only one other contamination to above the threshold of 2%. This meant the special properties of the second armor would be wasted. Of course, those were first-class materials, but they were prepared specifically for modulation of his contamination. Better and cheaper alternatives existed if he just wanted a second good armor, although the logistics of bringing it into the wilderness, just in case he would need it, would be a headache, to put it mildly.
The second reason was the price itself. Even one suit of armor with a set of implants would make him indebted to Ghrughah for a year or two, even including the knowledge exchange as a payment method. That was because monetary costs couldn’t just be ignored altogether. He theoretically still had a quarter of a million gold – actually a lot less now – but most of that would go into his laboratory and other important expenses. Until the first of his projects starts to pay off, he was grounded in that regard. Even if his deal with Kwan would guarantee him an income in the future, the coming Duel frenzy took most of their attention. He didn’t have time for research, while Kwan had limited room for production and commence.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Guild or not, they were keeping the trade fair between departments. Zeph was proud.
Of course, Ghrughah would make sure additional padding, framework, or plating – made from suitable materials – would be added to an armor as needed. Multilayered material would have its own weaknesses and be impractical both on-field and for repairs. But thanks to the level of complexity of the armor’s structure, certain parts and sections could be replaced by something more fitting.
Soon enough, he finished making a summary in his Interface. He looked at it critically, once more evaluating the three.
Adatium-BX276
Ferrum Obsidian XEF5511-256
Planaria Ferrium Fullerene CON8795-XA65
Material compatibility with Magicules.
Material compatibility with primary contamination (Iron Isotope Alloy type: ZW1):
30.5%
29.1% [MIN]
32.9% [MAX]
Effect – speed of modulation:
medium
slowest possible
fastest possible
Material compatibility with secondary contamination:
Space type: B5001
5.2%
Makrun
> 40%
Space type: B5001
72.4%
Makrun
< 2%
Will type: H1
20.1% average
[~2% to > 80%]
Makrun
??%
Effect – contamination fusing prospects:
lower medium
high
high
Mana-L (life energy) compatibility:
12.5%
41.3%
91.8%
Effect – implant usability:
low
[Requires Exchange purchase]
higher medium
unlimited
Possible implants:
[‘Ex’ – Implementable only by the System]
Teeth;
Purchased [Ex];
Eyes [Ex];
Ear bones;
Nails;
Hair [Ex];
Cartilage [Ex];
Purchased [Ex];
BEST:
Neural system [Ex];
Cardiovascular system [Ex];
Bone internal structure;
Effect – UP cost:
sky-high
medium to high
low to high
Physical properties
Durability:
[vs 10 of a higher (first) stratum steel]
11 (23)
15
perpendicular 16
others 3
Flexibility:
[vs 10 of a higher (first) stratum steel]
9
2 (11)
17
Mana-resistance:
[vs 10 of his old armor’s]
4
28
15 (23)
On-field restoration:
medium
critically high
Low [?]
Resulting contamination saturation effect:
Durability: 11 -> 23
Reshaping greatly enhanced.
Unknown, but life energy saturation: Mana-resistance 16 -> 23 and reshaping highly enhanced;
Description:
Easy to produce and repair. Component materials hard to find and replace by Phleya.
Very brittle, but armor’s structure and the easiness of mending and repairing compensates (effective flexibility 2 -> 11). Component materials easy to find and even easier to replace by Phleya.
Requires alchemy to produce. The instable Iron isotope inside can be replaced, easily [transforming] the resulting contamination. Unknown effects of resulting contamination. Unknown compatibility with Makrun.
Alchemical properties
Acid resistance:
invulnerable
very high
lower high
Alkali resistance:
invulnerable
invulnerable
high
Melting point:
1700 mei (~2600°C)
900 mei (~1400°C)
500 mei (800°C)
Description:
Impossible to liquify for manual matter manipulation purposes.
Manual matter manipulation greatly enhanced.
Thermal conductivity very high (synergy with Phleya).
Advanced contamination theoretical Material compatibility.
Materials:
1) high-density metals
1) amorphous materials
2) liquid crystal
3) non-Newtonian fluids (?)
1) crystal
2) metal
3) biological matter
Limiting factors:
1) medium
1) small
2) high
3) unknown
1) unknown
2) unknown
3) unknown
Final conclusions
Strengths:
Best for physical armor.
Makrun compatibility.
Best for magical armor.
Highest versatility of material properties.
Best for implants.
Potential Makrun compatibility.
Highest versatility of material types.
Weaknesses:
Restricted versatility.
High maintenance cost.
Many unknowns
Requires additional plating.
He grimaced. Those two options are too good... Shit, now I want more Alloy contamination! He slumped a little, knowing didn’t have that option.