Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 298 - 297: Kamel and Santis

As the final rune established a connection with the entire array, the rune trigger on the experiment table began to operate instantly.

Magic Power was injected into the trigger through the transmission devices on the experiment table. Those standard magic symbols, specially used for laboratory tests and fixed by clasps on the trigger, were lit up one by one. The magic power flowed orderly between the magic-conducting materials and was converted into a specific spell effect—a dim swirling cyan stream appeared above the trigger, forming a specific vortex shape under the guidance of the rune lines.

Of course, the pure air mass or stream itself is invisible. That dim cyan color was actually the "elemental brilliance" effect produced by the interaction of magic power with active elements in the air. Seeing that familiar elemental brilliance, Kamel knew his experiment had succeeded.

Jenni’s formula group and Ravencrest’s constant were still effective when processing the elf system’s magic symbols—the classic elf spell, Blessing of Wind, was perfectly controlled in a human laboratory.

Watching the spinning air mass, Kamel suddenly fell into contemplation.

"Spellcasting," this concept, when did it start to diverge from his perception?

Traditional mages take pride in their personal spellcasting ability. Only those who can use their hands and mental power to shape the spell effect are considered qualified spellcasters. However, the inherent limitation of "talent" bounds everyone’s highest spellcasting ability. A person with insufficient talent, regardless of their intelligence or hardworking nature, couldn’t cast spells. But then... what about these spell effects running on the experiment table, produced through calculations, tools, and materials? How should this type of spellcasting be defined?

In the traditional mage’s perspective, this was called "array spellcasting," still a mage’s patent because only those with spellcasting talent could depict an array by sensing the magic flow. The higher the spellcasting talent, the more complex the array could depict; hence, array spellcasting is essentially no different from personal spellcasting. However, the research array he saw before him... was actually produced by assistant researchers in the Rune Research Center.

They were a group of people with very low or even no magical talent.

Through paper and pen calculations, they designed all the rune structures, and Kamel merely guided them from the sidelines. Although "Blessing of Wind" was only the most basic element in the elf spell system, and from a human spell system perspective, it could be classified as one to two-level spells, reconstructing a usable array by a group of ordinary people alone challenges the traditional "spellcasting" concept.

A slightly excited voice interrupted Kamel’s thoughts from the side: "Master Kamel... We did it!"

"Yes, we did it!" "These elven runes indeed operate with the rune node-interference node structure!" "Success!!"

Assistant researchers gathered here, eagerly watching the stably operating array on the experiment table, could hardly contain their excitement. However, since Kamel was present, they didn’t dare shout loudly—the dignity of the Master Mage still deeply rooted in their minds.

Kamel raised his head, swept his gaze over these mage researchers dressed in short white robes. Those white short robes were the technical personnel’s exclusive clothing designed by the leader. Although these robe-like garments had no magic assistance effect, wearing such a white robe was the highest honor in the hearts of many mage technicians in the territory. He watched these researchers with faces full of excitement, momentarily feeling as if he saw those old friends who stood in the laboratory with him a thousand years ago...

In the next second, Kamel regained clarity, uttering a voice with a slight tremor: "Yes, it’s a success. Each one of you is outstanding—this deserves a celebration. I’ll propose to Director Jenni to hold a celebratory event in the institute tonight!"

The researchers left the laboratory, bringing the excitement of the experimental success and anticipation for the dinner gathering tonight, while Kamel returned to the experiment table, looking at several other drawings fixed on the rack beside it.

Those were the design drawings for accelerated rails, as well as some adjustment parameters sent by the leader a while back.

He didn’t know how the leader determined these adjustment parameters, but preliminary testing showed they were indeed quite effective. Now, the steps to add air boost on the projectile have been completed, and the next task is to manufacture the accelerated rails.

Kamel has already seen the dawn of success because all the theoretical parts of the drawings had been resolved, and in his deductions, these things should also be free of significant problems in actual testing. This newly named "Magic Crystal Railgun" weapon by the leader might soon transform from a drawing into a product, but compared to this solid cannon plan, his research on directed energy weapons encountered some trouble.

——He’s short of hands.

The Rune Research Center currently only has a dozen assistant researchers, and Jenni has already dispatched half of them to his team. The remaining researchers are following Jenni to study interference issues in intermediate rune systems, which obviously shouldn’t be interrupted.

The researchers under Kamel will next engage in research and testing on accelerated rails and projectile compounding, fusing, etc. While theoretical parameters were complete, transforming theoretical drawings into practical products wasn’t easy. It’s foreseeable that for a long time in the future, there won’t be extra manpower at the institute to help him solve the directed energy weapon issues—Kamel’s energy is sufficient, but lacking assistants, his efficiency wouldn’t be high.

Lack of assistants has been troubling Kamel not for the first time. He felt he must address this issue; otherwise, even if he completes this subject, he’d still struggle with manpower issues in the future.

This ancient Mage couldn’t help but think about the new facilities ordered by the leader to establish, the comprehensive research center called Magic Guide Technology Research Institute. He knew that institute was more inclined towards practical areas, housing large laboratories and skilled technicians adept at handling practical problems. Strictly speaking, the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute might be more suitable for handling his weapon development projects, but it’s only recently starting construction, probably not dependable in the short term.

Moreover, even once the facilities were completed, the technicians inside would have a plethora of projects lined up for execution: all those technicians’ work tasks were likely already fully scheduled.

So where can one find a batch of assistants?

The entire territory probably doesn’t have enough intellectuals to train into magic technology personnel... unless we can find a way to introduce another batch of talents.

While pondering, Kamel suddenly recalled a name he heard during a casual chat with Jenni not long ago.

He left the research institute and headed straight to the Cecil General Academy located south of the institute.

Santis had just finished his afternoon class. After assigning the children to copy and memorize basic magic symbols, he packed up his teaching materials and prepared to return to his dormitory to rest.

This young Arcanist had become accustomed to life in the Cecil territory.

Every day, preparing lessons, teaching, explaining the mysteries of the magical world to the children, checking the students’ learning progress and homework, then finishing work, returning to the dormitory, preparing for the next day’s lesson, having meals at the canteen with the academy’s teachers, discussing the students’ progress together. Occasionally, he would feel helpless because of students with poor performance, but more often, he was delighted by their progress. Sometimes, students would even bring gifts, mostly homemade pastries or beautiful stones picked from the riverbank. The latter happened more frequently.

Initially, he was at a loss, but now those beautiful stones filled the windowsill of his dormitory.

Santis enjoyed life in the Cecil territory.

No more political scheming of the royal capital, no suffocating atmosphere of the Mage towers, no cold ridicule and exclusion from the higher aristocrats and powerful Mages. This was a place where he could feel comfortable. Despite being on the frontier, despite being considered a "wasteland only fools would go to" by the aristocrats of the royal capital, Santis felt no place could make him feel more comfortable than here.

Let the aristocrats of the royal capital continue their narrow-mindedness, it’s better if they don’t come.

Santis tucked his teaching aids under his arm—a set of drawing tools, a textbook, a lesson plan, and a box of wooden runic "blocks" for demonstrations. Besides the textbook, everything was made by himself. As he walked out of the main teaching building, he admired the scenery within the academy.

The snow from a few days ago had already been cleared by the students and staff. In this coldest season of winter, Cecil Academy was not deserted: Santis saw the residents heading to night classes in groups of three or five. They were workers who had just finished their shifts. Ever since more factories in the territory began treating "literacy and numeracy" as the standard for advanced workers, more people voluntarily attended night school.

After all, only with literacy and numeracy could they easily learn how to operate the factory machines and understand the complex instructions given by the foreman. Machine operators... earned nearly double the income of illiterate laborers who could only carry bags and move bricks.

A burst of radiant arcane light suddenly appeared in his field of vision, causing Santis to stop involuntarily.

It was Kamel—the most powerful Spellcaster on the territory, a Master Mage from the ancient Gondor Empire.

As a level-two Arcanist, and one who grew up in the Mage circles of the royal capital, Santis instinctively felt a bit nervous.

After confirming that the ancient Master Mage was indeed floating towards him, Santis quickly took a deep breath to calm himself and greeted him proactively: "Good afternoon, Master Kamel."

"Mr. Santis, we’ve met before, when the leader took me to tour the academy," Kamel stopped in front of Santis and got straight to the point. "I want to discuss something with you."

"You want to discuss something with me?" Santis was momentarily stunned, then hurriedly nodded, "Of course, of course, no problem, please go ahead."

"I need some assistants to help me complete a very important magical project."

"Ah... ah?" Santis was at a loss for a moment, then became even more bewildered, "You need assistants... so they must be at least middle-ranked, or even powerful Mages to qualify as your apprentices, right..."

"From what I know, most Mages of this era are morons. Once their thinking becomes set, both middle-ranked and powerful are equally useless to me," Kamel commented bluntly. "I wanted to ask if you know any friends like you in your royal capital Mage circles?"

(Went out for a while, just got home...)