They arrived in front of the rather imposing stone walls. They rose a good 30 or so meters into the sky, large enough that even trolls would not be able to grab at the guardsmen that patrolled along the top of the massive structure.

The gate they stood in front of was actually 3 separate gates. The first being extremely thick and sturdy looking, the second even more so, and the third was more artistic than practical from what Johan could see in the design, more of a portcullis if anything, though that meant nothing to him compared to the immense amount of magic he felt on the gates. The stones on the wall itself were all made to hold mana and power a ward to help keep monsters away, but the gates were entirely different.

Compared to the wall, the gates were blinding in his mana space. each of the 5 meter tall, blackened, metal structures were bathed in a multitude of enchantments. He could tell that there were many different kinds of protections, from various elemental protections to kinetic protections. It was genuinely awe inspiring to Johan that such a thing existed. Even more so when he noticed that it drew in little mana. It seemed to be built with charging rather than drawing circuits. This meant that instead of a constant draw it would instead pull in mana at certain intervals and then store said mana elsewhere. If Johan had to guess, based on what he had found about mana storage, it was likely that the mage, or more likely *mages*, who created the gates variety of enchantments also left behind pure mana crystals to help act as batteries.

"The walls are as impressive as ever." was all Markus had to say. "Why do you look so impressed?" He asked Johan.

"Well, unlike you, I can see all the magic that is on the gates. It's insane how precise the mages that did this got. Moreover I haven't ever seen, or even read about, a battery circuit before. I wasn't even too sure how well it would work to be perfectly honest, but these gates all have their enchantments powered by mana batteries..." Johan said still unable to pull himself entirely away even as he spoke to Markus, this meant his ideas for the mana powered gun would work well enough, if he could figure out how this worked that is.

"Hoh. You know your stuff kid." one of the guards said as the group was still gawking at the structure. "My father was a guardsman, and was only 22 when these walls were built. That was back before things were anywhere close to this bad. Back then there were a total of 28 magi who worked on making these gates and walls. Hell, the way my father said it, there was an archmagi too. Apparently he was the one who made the battery circuit that keeps the enchantment on these gates going. Problem is, we haven't had a mage who knows how to use crystallization out here in a while. The batteries need to be seen to, badly at that. I heard that some cracks are forming, not surprising given that it's been a century. Anyhow," the man cleared his throat, "What business do you folk have in Hammer?"

"We're headed to Karshlan. two of these kids are going to stay with relatives, while the other two are going to become more educated. I'm just the chaperone." Markus answered.

"Oof, that's rough. I hear the border path from here got closed down. Only way there is now though Menstra itself. Though, I hear that even the capital is going through it. Hammer is relatively safe though since we are a good distance from both borders, though the military has been buying more and more weapons on credit. Several smiths already went out. It's a lot colder here now..." The old guardsman seemed to have a habit of going on tangents. "I digress! You folk seem to be alright, so I'll let you all go on in. Oh! That's right, boy, are you a mage?" He directed his eyes at Johan.

"Yes. I am at the 1st Construct, nearing my Second." Johan answered.

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"Do you happen to know anything about how to crystalize mana?"

"I just so happen to, yes." Johan could feel the pain in the ass coming from a mile away.

"Would you be willing to look at the mana batteries? I'm willing to pay you out of my own pocket if need be. They are vital to preventing the stronger monsters from getting in through the gates." The man asked for help in a pleading voice.

"Hah... I suppose I could, but if I'm able to fix them you'll have to pay for my stay at a decent inn. Show me to them. I'm tired, but I'd rather get it out of the way first."

"Oh! Thank you!" The man thanked him profusely, and the other few guards gave thankful smiles. It seemed that though they were not as vocal about it, that they were also somewhat stressed about the batteries.

"I'll meet up with you guys later. Markus, do you know where we'll be staying?" Johan asked.

"Well if it's still running I'd like to stay at The Bronze Furnace." Markus said, looking around at the guards.

"Oh, yeah, it's still around. Though only the rough and tumble types stay there nowadays." One of the younger ones said.

"Sounds like my type of crowd!" Markus said with a grin.

"Right, well, I'll find you guys later then." Johan said

"Yep. Good luck kiddo."

With that Johan split off from the rest and was led into the inner mechanisms of the gates.

The proximity of the gates in relation to each other made for a both simple, and also complex system of pulleys. It was designed similar to older ship anchors. guards at the top of the wall would turn 3 wheels that corresponded to the gates below. Normally it would be impossible for them to do this, but, like how anchors worked, there was a small notch that would be pushed down by the chain links that held up the gates and then spring back up behind them. this resulted in the task being far more accomplishable. Rather than needing to do it all at once it could instead be done in intervals, and even by different people if needed. From what was further explained to him, it seemed that when it was time to close the gates, they simply pulled it up slightly and someone would hold a small lever that was connected to the latch to hold it down, and they would simply release and let the gate fall to the bottom. This was mostly because if they absolutely needed to, they could instantly close the gates.

Of course, there were many issues with this, mostly being that it likely had injured personnel many times over the last century, and that it was definitely requiring a small piece of metal heavily enchanted to prevent damage from kinetic forces. But on the other hand, compared to he, who had come from what he considered to be a slightly more technologically advanced place... He respected how they managed to come up with such a simple, yet effective system.

Johan enjoyed seeing all the internals of the gate, and he also got a real good look at the last gate, seeing the nicely, and meticulously manufactured hammer insignia that took up most of the middle of the gate. It spoke volumes of their past wealth, as well as how far they had fallen.

Finally after almost 15 minutes of the older guard talking his ear off while they walked, they arrived in the battery room. Johan instantly recognized that several of the batteries had various fissures and cracks forming in them. Luckily it seemed to just be cracks. Unluckily, it would take him most of the week to repair all 56 of them, maybe longer. That was because of how little mental pressure he could endure. He could not fix all of them at once even if he wanted to due to the effect of what he referred to as spell fatigue. That was when he could no longer cast specific spells even if he had mana.

"So, I can do it. It's just going to take a few days to get through all of them, maybe over a week if they are worse than I think." Johan explained.

"That's fine. so long as it does get repaired, you have my word that you will not have to pay any money for room and board while you stay here." The man said, with an understanding nod.

"I appreciate it. Now if you would leave me to it, I'll get to work." Johan said.

"If you don't mind, I want to see you start it. As much as I appreciate you doing all this, I need to verify you don't do anything to harm the batteries."

"That's fair. Well, watch all you want then, but I need you to be silent. It takes a lot of concentration to crystalize mana. Especially when you are at my level."

"Understood..." The man did not continue. With a slight nod, Johan began.