Chapter 144: Magic… Capacitor

When Melita left, she had also taken away the ring left behind by the evil cult follower. As a way to thank Gawain’s help in returning this ring on this transaction, Melita represented the Mithril Vault and gave a promise:

In the future, as long as there were any discovery of Eternal Stone Slate’s shards on the outside or any similar ‘inhuman artifacts’, they would prioritize informing Gawain.

To Gawain, this promise was far more valuable than the ring.

However, a certain half-elf didn’t seem to think the same way. Amber laid down on Gawain’s table, planting her face on the surface of the table, and flipped over like a salted fish while muttering, “A single glance and I know that thing is very expensive… And it is taken away just like that… Not even for a single copper coin… The people from the Mithril Vault are simply misers… Furthermore, they even had a meal before leaving…”

Gawain looked at Amber with slanted eyes and said, “Don’t you think it is more valuable for them to help in the collection of information regarding the Eternal Stone Slate and similar things?”

“Those things cannot be used as money to spend. Furthermore, that woman with the veil said it so easily, but who knows when they will be able to find a new shard? That is the Eternal Stone Slate, you know?! It is not some rock on the sidewalk.” Amber continued to lay down and said, “Ah, if they cannot find any after a century, are you going to wait another century?”

Gawain didn’t utter a word and allowed Amber to continue blabbing, “Ah, that’s right, you have a special skill right? If you aren’t patient enough to wait anymore, you can just die again. When the Mithril Vault finds the shards, you can just ask your descendants to burn the information at your grave before you crawl back out again…”

“Genuinely speaking, even if you are truly chosen by the Goddess of Shadow, it is truly a miracle that you are able to survive until now.” Gawain’s brows jolted before he looked at Amber and said, “Enough of your nonsense. Go and help me open up that chest. Take the bag at the top and bring it to me.”

Amber then crawled up from the table like salted fish and staggered towards the chest while nagging, “Isn’t Betty doing such things for you normally? Why is it my turn today…? Then again, where did that little maid go to? I didn’t see her all this time…”

“I gave her half a day off and asked her to bring along Pea to familiarize her with the place. Pea is afraid of strangers, and she cannot speak too. She is easily frightened by the people on the territory but is getting along with Betty surprisingly well. The two of them might become friends.”

When Amber brought that bag of things to Gawain, she was all smiles while she leaned over and said, “Let me tell you, I truly admire you now. In the beginning, I thought your amiable personality was a pretense, but it seems like it is actually real. Unless a person is genuine and actually cares, it is impossible to make such arrangements.”

“Then I have to thank you for your admiration.” As Gawain said so half-heartedly, he pulled Amber’s head to the side before pouring out the things inside the bag.

It was a pile of dull-looking crystals that were grayish. The average size of the crystals was only the size of a thumb, and the surface had a dense color. The crystals had a mysterious aura that magic-guided materials tended to have, but be it the condition or the quality, they didn’t look like high-grade things.

“What are these things?” Amber stayed quiet by the side for less than two seconds, and when she noticed that they should be able to fetch some money, she immediately leaned over and asked, “Crystals? But the quality seems very inferior…”

“These are magic storage crystals transported from Tanzan Town and should be considered the first batch of goods. Have you forgotten? I made a massive and long-term order with Viscount Andrew.”

“Magic storage crystals? These things?!” Amber looked at these grayish crystals for a moment before exclaiming, “That Viscount Andrew shouldn’t be scamming you like this, right?! We rescued his life, and he uses these things to fool us? If these crystals were placed beside slightly higher-grade ores, they would be treated as scrap ores and thrown away!”

Gawain was a little surprised to see this half-elf getting so angry as he never thought that the person who never put her heart into the territory previously would actually feel so angry because the territory suffered losses. But he merely laughed and said, “Don’t exaggerate so much. These things are relatively better than scrap ores. Furthermore, the Viscount didn’t defraud us. These crystals are sold to us at three cecil silver coins for one taka (weight unit). Where are you going to find such a price?”

“Three silver coins…” Amber quickly thought about the size of the newly forged cecil silver coins, and her expression turned better. “It is truly cheap… But why are you buying so many inferior magic-storage crystals for? Crystals of these conditions… are probably used by the most fundamental Mage apprentices to practice, right? Slightly wealthier Mage apprentices might not even be willing to use them.”

Gawain laughed and asked, “Do you know what is the greatest problem with such inferior magic storage crystals?”

“The magic-storage capability is only half of the same-sized superior crystals. Moreover, the energy dissipation is extremely severe. It is especially the second problem that cuts it off from normal usage.” Amber was obviously knowledgeable about such common sense questions. After all, it involved whether it could be sold or not. “Man-made magic-storage crystals aren’t popular mainly because of this reason.”

“That’s right. The magic-storage capability is just a small problem as you can solve it by using two crystals. The greatest problem is still the energy dissipation as the magic stored inside wouldn’t be completely dissipated after a short while. This is a fatal problem for crystals whose function is to ‘store’ magic. As such, these crystals had much lesser value. Even though it can store a huge amount of magic, it is difficult to put it to good use,” Gawain explained while opening a cabinet under the table. He took out a hexagon metallic plate and put it on the table. “If you change a manner of thinking, these crystals that cannot store energy can actually be of good use…”

Amber looked curiously at the metallic plate taken out by Gawain and recognized that Rebecca had delivered this thing over recently. It seemed to be a product of the machining factory. This metallic plate was only slightly larger than the palm, and it had a hexagon shape. Using the latest ‘press-molding technique’, the mold in the machine could press out the ‘industrial good’ instantly. On the surface of the metallic plate, one could see uniform grooves and also the magic-guided materials embedded in the grooves.

This was a piece of ‘interchangeable base plate’ that was carved with a magic circle. Amber felt that she had seen the rune arrangement somewhere.

After recollecting for a long time, she finally spoke, “Oh. Ohh. I know now. This is the thing that Rebecca and Jenni drew out previously!”

“Honeycomb Magic Web Unit. This is a fundamental unit and can operate by itself too. I carved it on an interchangeable base plate that could be shifted around. It is now a ‘component’ that can be used together with other things.” As Gawain spoke, he turned the base plate around and revealed the empty slots on the back of the base plate. “The slots are to connect with other things.”

“So this metallic plate is constantly gathering magic?” Amber looked at this entirely new item that was different from traditional magical tools. “Then what are you planning to use with the magic? It is such a small magic web unit and must have a limited capacity to gather magic, right?”

“It is indeed limited. Just based on the output of this magic web unit, it will be very difficult to even activate a Grade 1 spell. Therefore, we need to charge the energy into these crystals first.” Gawain pointed at the inferior magic storage crystals and said, “After completing a charging cycle, it will guide the magic out from the crystal. As the charging of energy is a constant process, the dissipation problem of the crystals would be negated. Look, inside this system, it will serve as a temporary storage tool, to store small amounts of magic generated by the magic web unit. If the crystals are arranged in an array and a sufficiently long charging cycle is supplemented, it is entirely possible for this fundamental unit to be able to release enough magic to activate high-grade spells.”

Amber eyes were wide open halfway through the explanation. After listening to the end, she looked at Gawain with strange eyes and said, “You… Do you really have the background of a knight?”

“Eh… Do you need to have such a huge reaction?”

“You are a knight. Where do all these magic theories come from?!” Amber opened her eyes wide and immediately looked at the magic-circle base plate and crystals with disbelief. These things weren’t assembled together yet, and it was still lacking a lot of crucial runs and control magic circles, but it was obviously not far from being completed. “This thing… Is it considered a magic device? But it still seems like a component…”

“That’s right. It is still a component. But a rather important component. With it, I will be able to complete the most important part of my plan. Without any supply from fixed magic webs, how are we going to solve the problem about portable energy sources.” Gawain smiled and said, “I plan to give it the name of ‘magic electric capacitor’. What do you think of the name?”

“Magic electric capacitor?” Amber blinked her eyes and asked, “How is this thing electric? Are you preparing to use it to release electric arrows?”

“Eh… Alright, I didn’t think of that.” Gawain thought carefully and changed the name. “I have decided to name it ‘magic capacitor’.”

Amber: “…Is it supposed to go like this?!”

Looking at Amber’s dumbstruck expression, Gawain felt a great satisfaction. He lowered his head with a good mood, and looked for the drafts he had yet to complete the calculations for, and prepared to continue calculating the honeycomb magic-web unit’s power output and efficiency. Soon after he started his work, there was a loud clamor from outside.

“I will go and take a look at what happened!”

After leaving behind this statement, Amber slipped out and vanished from Gawain’s vision. Whenever Gawain was writing something, she would definitely feel drowsy and couldn’t help but find a reason to slip out.

She had only ran out for a short moment and energetically scuttled back, shouting, “Gawain! Gawain! Sir Byron is back!”

“He’s back?” Gawain immediately put down his brush and said, “Hurry up and invite him inside!”

Sir Byron entered the tent. Consecutive days of exploration in the ancient fortress made him look rather tired. He had a travel-worn expression, but the knight’s face was obviously filled with excitement. He entered and gave a knight’s bow to Gawain before speaking with an emotional tone, “My lord! We have discovered a hidden area in the ancient fortress. It might be the secret testing ground of the Gondor Empire back then! There aren’t just plenty of completed equipment, installations, and supplies, but… but there are also some recognizable manuscripts and documents!”

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