Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 262 - 261: The Illuminated Radiance of Magic Power

Aunt Heidi’s explanation was unclear at first, yet from her fragmented words, Gawain quickly deduced the function of the device in front of him. He stood there, stunned, his mind brimming with endless questions. But before these questions overwhelmed him, Kamel’s voice brought his attention back.

This ancient Master Mage was indeed calmer than Aunt Heidi. Seeing Gawain remain silent, he took the initiative to ask, "Leader, do you have any questions about this device?"

"How did you achieve the breakthrough?" Gawain looked at Aunt Heidi. "I remember you and Rebecca studied it for a long time but couldn’t find a way to stabilize the dispersal effect of the Holme Crystal’s magic power—because you couldn’t stably measure any parameters, your research was stalled for a long time."

"It was an accident, ancestor. We should thank Master Kamel’s arrival. Without him, we’d probably be stuck at this bottleneck for much longer," Aunt Heidi managed to suppress her excitement and said, smiling, "Rebecca and I caught Master Kamel’s attention while testing how to trigger the magical power field more efficiently. His unique form of life is very... sensitive to magical reactions."

"Indeed, very... sensitive," Kamel buzzed, "I can sense precise magical power field changes and ’see’ the reaction of this crystal when stimulated by magic power, especially after learning about its magical properties. I developed a great interest in it..."

Gawain quickly understood how Kamel, by a twist of fate, became involved in Aunt Heidi’s experiment, and how they worked together to overcome the challenge of precise control over the crystal. All of this made Gawain reflect: bringing Kamel out of the Defied Fortress was definitely one of the wisest decisions of his life.

"I used the rune design concepts from Gondor’s time—of course, these Arrays were greatly altered. Thanks to Miss Jenni and Rebecca’s help, without them, rearranging these runes with traditional methods would be an unimaginably massive project," Kamel pointed at the runes and engravings on the metal structure of the ancient magical device and sighed sincerely, "I also have to thank this mutant body of mine for allowing me to intervene in the flow of magic power in ways I never thought possible. The device in front of you is already a mature sample. My preliminary tests show it can operate stably and controllably for extended periods."

Gawain cut straight to the point: "Demonstrate it."

"With pleasure," Kamel said, then floated to the ancient magical device, injecting his magic power into its base—since it wasn’t yet connected to the feudal lord’s mansion’s Magic Web, Kamel served as the power source.

Once the magic power was injected, Gawain witnessed an unforgettable scene—

The ancient magical device emitted a slight hum, its crystal structure quickly lighting up, and numerous blue glowing patterns appeared on the crystal’s surface, pulsating like a breath. The metal base and top cover also began to tremble slightly, and with a "click," the clamps securing various parts of the device automatically released. Subsequently, the top cover and the Holme Crystal serving as the main body separated from the base under the influence of magic power and began to float gently!

The entire device, initially connected, eventually became three independent parts: the base remained firmly on the ground, while the main crystal and the upper cover floated in mid-air, emitting a captivating pale blue glow as the magic power flowed.

A stable and continuous magical power field then quickly spread from this device to the surrounding space.

Before Gawain could speak, Aunt Heidi had already picked up another device from the table: it was a simple metal tray with a thumb-sized Holme Crystal fixed in its center, and a depleted storage crystal was secured in a slot beside the tray.

As the Holme Crystal on the tray emitted synchronous light with the ancient magical device in the study center, Gawain saw that the surface of the storage crystal also began to glow slightly with a pale blue halo, brightening at a visible rate.

This was a Receiver Device, and it was charging the crystal!

Gawain suppressed his inner excitement and quickly asked, "What is its effective range?"

"This experimental device can cover a whole street with its magical power field—in fact, its coverage area could be even larger, but beyond 300 meters, the intensity of the magical field rapidly declines, rendering it nearly ineffective for magical power output."

"And what about capacity? If a large number of magic-conducting machinery operates simultaneously within this range, can this crystal hold up? If not, what safety measures are in place to prevent accidents?"

"I’ve considered this issue. This experimental crystal theoretically supports several hundred of the largest current Magic-Powered Engines running simultaneously. With later technological improvements, this value will surely increase. However, if the magical power consumption rate within the range truly exceeds the crystal’s limit, then this restriction mechanism floating above will come into play—the floating effect relies on a floating Array inscribed on the black stone substrate. If an excessive magical surge occurs within the range, the fragile black stone would instantly shatter. The restriction mechanism would fall onto the crystal, forming a circuit like a Rune Trigger on contact, altering the connection of these runes on the crystal surface to forcibly lower its output power. If this still doesn’t relieve the pressure on the crystal, the second restriction mechanism on the base will self-destruct, causing the crystal to fall back into the base, severing external output entirely. But this would ruin the base completely, requiring full replacement to be used again...it’s better than losing the main crystal or triggering a waste energy explosion."

Gawain looked at the small metal structure floating above the crystal, suddenly understanding: "So this is the first-level restriction mechanism... did you use black stone in it? Is this the ’insurance medium’ idea from the Magic Web?"

"Yes, I referenced the ’insurance’ device you designed in the Magic Web," Kamel admitted somewhat bashfully, then sighed, "It’s a truly inspiring and educational concept—the poor-quality material has its uses, and when used properly, its fragility becomes a value..."

"From what I know, during Gondor’s time, safety mechanisms in magical facilities usually involved embedding a saturated Charged Crystal at a circuit point to destroy out-of-control Array units... this ’fusing’ idea is similar, though the costs differ vastly."

Kamel sighed, "After all, in those days, Magic Power was cheap, and Charged Crystals were everywhere."

Gawain also felt a pang of emotion, but aside from that, he was more delighted to look at the Crystal Device that was still operating. Since Kamel had not stopped supplying it with energy, the device continued to float steadily in mid-air, continuously releasing energy outward.

A problem that the Magic Web had always faced was finally resolved.

That was the issue of energy transmission, or what one might call the "wiring" problem.

Magic Power is a very special form of energy. Although it is becoming the foundation of the Cecil Clan’s industrialization, it has a nature completely different from the "electricity" that serves as the industrial backbone on planet Earth: this energy cannot be transmitted via "wires."

Magic Power can only be transferred through magic symbols, conducted through interconnected rune arrays. The traditional so-called "magic-conducting materials" were merely fashioned as a unit within a magic circle, enabling them to conduct Magic Power. There was no method to form magic-conducting materials into fine wires to transmit Magic Power over long distances—before Aunt Heidi and Kamel’s device appeared, the only way to transmit Magic Power to distant places was to lay down Magic Web Units in a straightforward manner.

What does this mean? It means that if you want to conduct Magic Power to every corner of a place, you have to cover every corner with the Magic Web! At least, you must ensure there is at least "one row" of Magic Web Units in the places where Magic Power is transmitted.

No matter how low the cost of each "hive unit," this still requires a staggering amount of resources, far more expensive than pulling the same metal into thin wires to make cables by arranging block upon block of rune trigger.

What’s more, with increasingly more high-rise buildings appearing on the territory, the supply of Magic Power encounters the issue of elevation differences, making it impractical to simply lay down Magic Web to transmit Magic Power—not only having to pave the ground with magic circles but also having to plaster the walls with them, even if Gawain were to turn around and dig up the grave of Charlie the First, it would be untenable!

Gawain had indeed told Rebecca to spread the Magic Web all over the world, but he didn’t mean to do it like this...

Of course, due to the dissipative nature of Magic Power, even without direct physical contact, the Magic Web Unit could provide energy to items within a certain range, but the distance was actually pitifully small: a single Magic Web Unit could only disperse Magic Power a few centimeters, and even a factory-level Magic Web could only have a "leeching" distance of a few meters around it...completely impractical.

But with this device in front of him, the bottleneck of Magic Power transmission was finally broken.

Cheap, convenient technology that could transmit Magic Power without paving the Magic Web all the way was right before Gawain’s eyes.

After a long time, he withdrew his gaze and looked at Aunt Heidi and Kamel standing next to him, "What is this device called?"

"It hasn’t been named yet," Aunt Heidi shook her head slightly, "This test device was just created by Kamel—I only knew about it when I returned to the laboratory, and I immediately brought it to show you."

At this point, she lowered her head somewhat sheepishly, "I know it’s not very rigorous...this stuff should undergo more testing, and after obtaining more detailed data, report it to you. But I couldn’t help wanting to share this good news with you, wanting to...show it off a bit."

"It’s okay, I understand your excitement," Gawain waved his hand with a smile. Aunt Heidi looked like a mature and steady person, but in front of Gawain, she occasionally inadvertently revealed this child-like side, which could be considered her personal trait, "Since it doesn’t have a name yet, let’s call it...Magic Obelisk, an obelisk that transmits magical energy, simple and easy to understand. How about that?"

"Ah, it’s a good name," Kamel appreciated the name, brightening up significantly. He then gradually ceased the energy injection into the Magic Obelisk, letting the components of the device descend and reassemble, "I’ll complete the remaining testing projects as soon as I get back, and submit the information to the mechanical research station for Nicholas Egg to arrange production."

"Very good," Gawain nodded approvingly, pleased to see Kamel had quickly adapted to the rules of the territory, and seemingly had a pleasant relationship with Nicholas Egg as well. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "But amidst the joy, let’s not forget to ponder some questions as well."

Aunt Heidi was a bit puzzled, "Ponder some questions?"

"Ask a few more whys," Gawain said slowly, looking at the Magic Obelisk that had stopped operating, "Have you ever thought about why Magic Power can be remotely and stably transmitted without rune contact? Why does it not work with the leaked power from the Magic Web? Why is Magic Power everywhere in the natural environment, but only after being extracted through the Magic Web and released via the Magic Obelisk can it be utilized? Extending from these questions, what is the essence of Magic Power? What change occurs to Magic Power from the natural world when it enters the Magic Web? These are all questions."

Seeing the bewildered expressions on both Kamel and Heidi’s faces, Gawain paused and continued, "Apart from these long-term questions, we can also think about—this Magic Power that can be transmitted remotely, aside from transmitting energy, what else can it be used for?"