Efficiency, Binding strength, and energy regulation were the primary factors affecting the throughput of primal energy in an arcane circuit. Before I could create more complex arcane circuits, I needed to create a system that could accurately define the transfer of primal energy. The first thing I had to define, with accuracy, was efficiency.
The Ocularum defined efficiency as the relationship between the maximum theoretical conversion rate of primal energy within an arcane load compared to the actual conversion rate.
What exactly determines this?
First was the arcane formulae: The accuracy of the runes creating the magical formulae had to be as accurate to the function of the circuit as possible.
Second, the Animus: How powerful was the individual's understanding of what was being done? And the clarity with which the Magus could project the effect that they wished to reproduce within their animus.
Third was the medium: Runes drawn into dirt were significantly less effective than runes carved into wood or iron. Runes created with negative space were less effective than runes drawn or runes that were carved and then filled in with new material.
Even more so if a rune was carved into iron, it would be most effective if it were filled in with either gold or silver. Carving or casting runes into a silver ring, then filling the negative space with gold, would be the highest level of material efficiency that could be produced with the materials I had. This holds for both the arcane source and load.
Next was binding strength.
What did this mean? The book's definition was: The regulation of the maximum potential throughput of the ethereal channel between source and load. This was rather unclear to me until I decided to imagine the binding as a tube where primal energy flows like water. The stronger the binding, the wider the tube. This brings about another question. Why does weakening the binding or decreasing the diameter of the tube decrease the amount of energy?
It took significant experimentation, involving well over a dozen different candle spells made from wood, bronze, and iron, drawn onto leather and paper, before I found the answer.
There was a maximum speed at which primal energy could move through the tube. A source would pull as much energy through this tube as possible. A smaller tube only serves to increase the speed at which the energy flows. However, make the tube small enough and it reaches its maximum speed, therefore decreasing how much energy the load draws.
This also means that so long as the primal energy is below its maximum speed, making the binding stronger or widening this tube does nothing.
Regulation worked as a bottleneck at the source, forcing a maximum throughput.
Therefore, it was entirely possible to create a circuit with the same throughput of primal energy by controlling the efficiency, binding strength, and regulation independently.
Then the final question: Why does the stone ignore all three? That was the most difficult to explain, but I managed to figure it out. If I imagined the primal energy as water and the tube width as the strength, and the water has a maximum speed, then how could I increase the flow rate beyond that? The answer was pressure.
The stone must produce a massive amount of pressure inside the source, forcing the primal energy through the binding faster than naturally. The pressure was so large that it overwrites both regulation, binding strength, and efficiency. Forcing the circuit to operate at its maximum potential throughput. Since no matter the medium, binding strength, or regulation, the circuit for dragon's breath always produced a 30-foot-long stream of fire, 40 if I used the condensed spiraling airstream.
My final unanswered question was: What in the hell was the stone?'
I sat on my bed, mind whirling with speculation as I stared into the slightly glowing pea-sized stone. Sighing, I placed it back into the silk pouch around my neck and moved on to my new project.
Sitting on a chair in front of my armoire was a crossbow. It was a simple light crossbow with a wooden frame, a metal brace, and a stirrup on one end. The bolts were made of wood with a sharp iron tip.
Knowing the danger of arrows, I resolved to create some kind of magical barrier, but most attempts ended in failure.
My water gathering circuit worked by simply pulling all the water in the air into a single point. So, why can't I do the opposite with metal instead of water? I could actually, but that caused even more problems. First, the massive energy cost, the fact that it affected every metal within the sphere of influence, including my dagger, buttons, buckles, earrings, and anything made of metal.
I stood in front of my hearth in the middle of my room and strengthened the binding carved into a simple square of wood. I could feel my dagger and earring being pushed away from it. Strengthening the binding until it could repel a crossbow bolt would result in injury.
So how do we solve this? That took hours before I stumbled upon my solution. What happens when two arcane loads intersect? It depends on what the arcane load is doing. Two loads, both designed to heat water with the same energy, would simply heat the water twice as fast. However, this is where my research into binding strength came in. What happens when two opposing forces occur within the sphere of influence? And had the exact same throughput of primal energy.
If I created two circuits, one to push the air through and another to pull the air, what happens to the air when the two circles intersect?
The answer was: Nothing.
The two forces canceled each other out. The same thing occurs with heating. If I remove heat and add at the same rate, the temperature remains constant.
Back to my arrow shield, what if I pulled and pushed the metal at the same time? I held two squares of wood in my hand and created a binding of the same strength; however, each circle was performing the opposite function. One pulled and another pushed the metal away from the center of the sphere of influence.
I grinned as I felt nothing. Even though both circuits were consuming energy.
My heart raced as I tested my final theory. What happens if I expand the pushing sphere of influence and leave the pulling constant? Not wanting to possibly injure myself with some strange interaction. I placed both squares of wood on my dining table and grabbed a silver coin. By my estimation, there should be roughly a foot-thick outer shell where the circuit would push metal away.
When it reached the point where the two circles intersected, the forces should cancel each other out. I held the silver coin and slowly brought it closer. As soon as it entered the pushing sphere of influence, I could feel it affecting the coin. But the energy flowing into the circuit wasn't enough to do anything. Then, as predicted, as soon as I moved it close enough to the two pieces of wood where the spheres of influence intersected, the pushing stopped, and I felt nothing. I started laughing, "I am a genius." I yelled at the ceiling.
Grinning, I strengthened the bindings tenfold and started again. I brought the coin closer, and as it entered the sphere of influence, it pushed the wood away.
"Right, every action has a reaction," I mumbled.
I stacked roughly ten books on top of both squares of wood and tried again. It was slightly harder to get the coin through, but still not nearly enough to stop a crossbow bolt. So I expanded the binding even further, pushing my strength to my limit.
"Ok! That's pretty good," I said. It took significant effort to get it through the reflective field. I grinned and aimed at the crossbow. Using the lever, I pulled back the string, loaded a bolt, and aimed at the sack of books.
'If I wore this around my neck, then my head would be right there.'
I pulled the trigger and loosed the bolt. My aim was slightly to the right, and the pushing force caused the bolt to ricochet, burying itself in a wall.
'Very nice,'
Depending on the situation, these barriers could save my life. I smiled, then went to the far corner of my room, moved the chill box, and pried a floorboard loose. Taking out Elis’s gold coin, I smiled. "I finally have a use for you."
Then I glanced back at the crossbow and an idea sparked.
~
It took several days to create every stamp needed to punch the runes into the ring of iron. The stamps were made of iron, each cast and hardened with water. Once a specific section of iron was heated, I could use said stamp to punch in the required rune. Then I could use another circuit to heat the silver and pour the iron into the negative space.
My first task was to create a circuit that could heat specific metals. To do this, I had to change the definition of the metal within the arcane formula. Iron was defined as Earth metal, simple enough, but what about gold, silver, platinum, copper, and tin? How would those be defined? The runes were not definite in their meaning. So an exhaustive search of runic combinations was the only way.
The rune 'Dartus' or metal had to be combined with another rune to define each metal. Iron was 'Gian Dartus', earth metal. Curiously enough, I discovered gold before silver. Gold was 'Ilos Dartus' or sun metal. Silver was Cael Dartus, "Sky metal,".
Creating all 256 runes with the aid of Neil and Jenna was an enormous task, but they were being paid well. Now was the task of casting a six-foot-wide, three-inch-thick, and one-inch-tall ring of iron. It should weigh less than 100 pounds with the legs.
The clay mold was large, almost seven feet across; creating the negative space for the iron was tricky, but we managed to figure something out with Steven, the cooper. He didn't care what I was using it for as long as I paid.
We needed much more energy to melt that much iron and more space than Neil's shop provided. So we were in the rear of my warehouse.
With my simple energy furnace, it would melt the iron quickly. On the bottom side of the large clay mold’s wooden frame was a circle created to heat iron specifically. Much more efficient than simply heating any metal. The cast would only create the circle required for the sphere of influence. The arcane formula would be stamped in by me.
I looked at Jenna and Neil, "Ready?" I asked.
They both nodded, and I activated the arcane circle underneath the clay mold. Nothing happened until they started placing pieces of iron inside the large ring mold, using long tongs. After a few seconds, the random ingots of iron heated to a bright yellow and melted. They quickly added more iron, careful not to crack the mold. And slowly, the negative space for the circle filled. It took nearly a quarter of an hour.
Neil kneeled, looking at the glowing ring of molten iron. "Looks good, clay's not crackin'."
"I think you can release it now," Jenna added.
I released the binding, allowing the metal to cool. Slowly, the six-foot-wide ring of molten iron cooled to a dull orange and finally turned black. Neil whistled. It seemed we were successful.
"That largest cast ever heard of." He said.
"Let's break it out!” Jenna said excitedly.
After we were sure it had cooled completely, we spent time carefully breaking away the dried clay from the metal ring.
Then we flipped it over and revealed the other side. Sporting the negative space for the circle.
"Excellent," I said, smiling.
"Now comes the worst part."
I opened my satchel and brought out a large sack.
"That's not what I think it is," Jenna asked.
"Aye, 120 silver eagles. Should be enough."
Jenna and Neil looked at me like I was mad. "Sera, that's...how much coin did your parents leave you?" Jenna asked.
"This is all of it. After this, I'm near broke. But I should get a windfall soon. So, how about we get stamping and filling in all the symbols with silver?"
They both held small metal rings, each 6 inches across. One was to heat iron, and another was for silver. I grabbed the first stamp from a large crate sitting near the yard.
"Let's get to work," I said, smiling.
~
It took another hour: Heat a specific section of iron; use a stamp to press in the rune; wait for it to cool; fill the negative space with molten silver. Over and over, we repeated the process for well over a hundred runes.
All three of us stood back appreciating the work.
"You have to show us," Jenna said.
I smiled, grabbing a small ingot of iron. I placed it inside a large ceramic crucible. Activating the arcane circuit carved into the crucible, the iron inside quickly heated to a bright yellow, turning liquid. Then I activated the Transformation of Form circuit. The superior medium for the runes and the increase in efficiency from the spiraling air gave me enough headroom to functionally use the circuit.
Jenna and Neil gasped as the molten iron rose out of the crucible. The glowing hot liquid metal rippled and swirled as I morphed it using my animus as a guide. Slowly, the amorphous mass of iron morphed itself into a flat three-inch-wide circle. Then the edges started to rise, and a handle formed. In the space of ten seconds, a simple iron tankard was created. I glanced over to the hearth, smiling as there wasn't any buildup of ice.
Then I released the heat metal circuit, and slowly the iron cooled until solid.
"That was the most amazin' thing I've ever seen. And all you made was a tankard?" Jenna asked.
I smiled slightly and picked up the simple tankard by the handle. Its surface was smooth without any blemish, almost too perfectly flat. In fact, with a bit of polishing, it would shine rather well.
"A simple tankard today, but so much more in the future."
I smiled and handed her the iron cup, "Here, a gift, very few people in Aniera can boast that they have a tankard made using magic."
She accepted the cup and held my eyes smiling, "I'll treasure it, Sera."
"Now, unto the energy furnace, I'm guessing you'll be using that to help make it?" Neil asked.
I focused on her eyes longer than I intended. I shook my head and refocused on Neil, "Aye, I will. That and other things. We can reuse the rings we use to stamp the metal to forge weld the section together, starting from the bottom. But for now, I think we should rest. This process will take time since I'll have to do a lot of stamping. I say enjoy the eight-day tomorrow."
"Are you busy then?" Jenna asked.
"Unfortunately, yes, remember I'm supposed to be running this section of Derek's territory. And I've been ignoring it for too long."
Their eyes became shadowed. "It's something I have to do. Either that or someone else comes along. The best I can offer you is that I'm not Vin and Mark. Though this city is cruel, and at times I will have to be cruel as well. "
Jenna walked over and took my hand, "You'll do your best. And we can help people accept you."
Squeezed Jenna's hand, "You've seen my home, there are many ways I can help people. Meeting the payments shouldn't be hard. If you two can speak to people, we can make this neighborhood quite prosperous. Can you imagine what a baker could do with a six-foot-tall oven? All that, I can make with this circle."
Jenna nodded enthusiastically.
"Ain’t the magisterium against such things?" Neils said
I nodded, "Aye, they are, but who will tell them? The guards? The Baroness? These people? No, we're fine. It's Derek and his men I have to worry about."
"What are ye plannin’ to do 'bout them?" Neil asked.
"Once I build the furnace, no one can threaten this neighborhood. And I'm recruiting, that's why I can’t join you tomorrow."
"You know who you're gettin'," Neil asked.
"Somewhat, but it remains to be seen. That's why tomorrow is so important.
I considered recruiting Jenna and immediately rejected it. She was too soft in the heart, and Neil would never agree.
I stared down at the ring, smiling.
'So much progress in a short amount of time. Once I have the forge, then I can push my experimentation even further. And I'll turn this entire street into a death trap for anyone who tries to cause me harm, including the magisterium.’
"You know," Jenna said, pulling me out of my thoughts of murder and mayhem; I met her brown eyes. "Sometimes you have a scary smile."
She said it as a joke, but what she didn't know was that the smile was as close to my true face as I would allow her to see. A sweet girl like her would flee in terror. Jenna held the cup tightly as she stared at me, a combination of desire and admiration. It was a look I had seen before; never pointed at me, but many times within the eyes of Beth and Darion. Suddenly, my mind went back to our interactions: her blushing, shyness, hesitation, and coquettishness.
‘It’s rather obvious now that I think about it. Very well then, that’s one way of binding her and her father to me...'
'Odd, since we had only known each other for a few weeks and even then only interacted a handful of times, outside of work. Was it normal for someone to develop affections so quickly?...'
'A bedding would be necessary, and I can admit I am rather curious..."
'Perhaps I should have taken Darla’s offer, since I have no experience in this particular field. Regardless, she's just a village peasant, bringing her under my thrall should be easy...'
'The more she adores me, the harder she will work for my success. And the harder Neil will, I have so many more projects in mind and they will be useful...’
My thoughts continued to whirl as I returned her smile. I had seen Beth gaze into Darion's eyes with love and adoration countless times. It was easy to replicate.