The glowing substances in the dark cleared most of Gwen's drowsiness. He did not care that the grayish-black stuff would stain his clothes as he started digging in the big basket.
Soon, he found some fragments that were obviously different from the surrounding substances.
The inlaid light inside them was brighter, more concentrated, and more stable.
From the outside, these things still looked like black plates, but in the loose structure, there were many coarse crystal-like crystals no more than one millimeter in diameter. These crystals were the source of the light. Gwen crushed a board and carefully picked out a few crystals from it. He found that they were still glowing, and after losing the influence of the surrounding impurities, they were even brighter.
His intuition made him activate his ability to sense magic, and then some constant, shimmering clusters of mist appeared in his vision. These crystals did contain a certain amount of magic power.
Gwen pinched a crystal and slowly squeezed it with his fingers. The crystal finally broke. It was very hard, almost like a stone, but it was weaker than the natural crystals that mages used to process their staffs and store magic power. And when it was crushed, its light disappeared.
The Magic Power dissipated completely from it.
So, what was this thing?
Gwen frowned deeply. He wanted to take this thing to Heti immediately, but the latter was probably asleep at this time. Tonight's accident must have tired her, and she had to worry about the construction of the camp during the day. It was not easy for her to sleep well.
So, Gwen had to force himself to suppress his thoughts and was ready to go to Heti early the next morning.
Finally, there was no more disturbance in the second half of the night. The camp was surrounded by darkness and silence, as if the legendary kingdom of the Mistress of the Night had arrived.
Early the next morning, Gawain brought the tiny crystals that glowed in the dark to Heidi's tent. When he learned that Heidi had already gotten up and gone to the lab, he went to Heidi's magic lab again.
This "magic laboratory" was located in the southeast corner of the camp, near the Gloom Mountains. It was the only building in the whole camp that was built with stone and wood as the main material, and it covered a large area. Even if there were no superfluous decorations, it could be said to be a "mansion" here. It was not that Heti wanted to be special, but that the magic laboratory did have requirements for the environment. Many magic and alchemy experiments required a quiet and stable environment, and the stone walls were also used for the convenience of carving magic circles.
Mages were very practical creatures.
But in the eyes of laymen, this solid and magnificent building was full of mystery. Amber suspected all day long that Heti's work inside was like an old witch mixing potions and poisons, but she did not dare to go in and confirm it, for fear of being beaten.
When Gwen arrived, Heti was busy with a pile of crystals. She had placed her own console in the center of the laboratory. The unusually wide circular table was divided into three parts. One part was engraved with magic circles, and around the circles were various magic materials. Another part was filled with various bottles and alchemy tools, and the third part was only a set of equipment, which was the crystal resonator bought from Tanzania Town at a high price.
This was a device specially used to study all kinds of crystals and engrave magic circles inside the crystals. It was an outstanding creation of the mages of this world. Its precision and beautiful appearance were completely different from the crude and primitive tools Gwen saw in the civilian society of this era. It had a pedestal that served as its core. Three natural magic crystals of different sizes were fixed on the pedestal with brass mechanisms. Around the pedestal, there were several independent, adjustable, circular artificial crystal plates. Behind each crystal plate, there was a grayish-white vertical plate used for imaging.
This could be said to be the most expensive thing in the whole laboratory. Heti was very careful when using it, and even Rebecca, who was also a mage (although she only knew how to use fireballs), didn't let her touch it.
If Amber really dared to sneak in, she would really be beaten up.
Gwen saw Heti put a lavender crystal in the center of the crystal resonator. Through the stimulation of the three magic crystals around it, the target crystal resonated. This resonance produced detectable "ripples" in the ubiquitous magic environment. Through the artificial crystals around the resonator, these ripples formed an image that could be seen with the naked eye, and projected on the gray vertical plates.
On two of the vertical plates, the structure of the runes could be seen clearly, and on the draft paper at the corner of the table was a sketch drawn by Heti based on the projected structure.
It seemed that she was studying the ancient military crystals brought out from the mountain treasury.
Heti was a little surprised by Gwen's sudden visit, because usually Gwen would go back to check the progress of the project, or draw a pile of drawings in his tent. "Ancestor? Why are you here? "
"I want to show you something," Gwen said as he poured out the boards inlaid with fine crystal particles from the small sheepskin pouch. At the same time, he looked at Heti's "workbench". "You're studying the magic circle in the ancient crystals?"
"Yes," Heti nodded, and then there was a little apologetic on her face. "Unfortunately, the progress is not good."
As she said, she looked at the ugly pieces in Gwen's hand. "These are..."
"The 'waste' that Rebecca made last time, but I found something interesting in it," Gwen said as he rubbed the crystals inlaid in the waste. "These things have a magic reaction."
"Magic reaction?" Heti frowned, and then carefully sensed it. She was surprised. "There is?! What is this? "
"So, I want you to take a look." Gwen picked out one of the crystals that had fallen off. "Can your crystal resonator see its structure?"
Heti did not expect Rebecca to make such a strange thing. She felt that Rebecca was messing around in the shed all day long, even if it was arranged by Gwen. After all, Rebecca had a lot of creative ideas in the process, such as throwing grasshoppers into the furnace. Heti carefully picked up the crystal that Gwen handed to her and looked at it carefully.
"Is there no bigger one?" Heti frowned, a little troubled. "It's so small, it's hard to see."
Gwen had no choice. "This is the biggest piece, at least the size of a rice grain."
"Well, I'll try." Heti said as she took the ancient crystal in the center of the crystal resonator. Its rune arrangement had been recorded, and there was no need to continue the test.
After that, Heidi used a small pair of tweezers to carefully pick up the "crystal" that was only the size of a grain of rice. She placed it in the center of the resonator platform and activated the three magic crystals on the platform.
After a short wait, some vague lines appeared on the "screens" outside the resonator. They were not only very vague, but also thin as if they were transparent. If Heti had not extinguished the nearby magic crystal lamps in advance, perhaps Gwen would not have seen them at all.
After all, the crystal as the object of observation was too small.
"This structure... is indeed a kind of artificial crystal, and very regular." Heti carefully identified the shape of the lines and carefully infused the lowest level of magic into the platform. With the injection of magic, the lines on the projection gradually brightened and were dyed with a rainbow-like halo. "It can absorb the external magic and transform it into a stable form inside the crystal."
Heti withdrew her magic and observed the subsequent changes of the projection.
A few minutes later, the projection presented on the vertical board did not change at all, and the mechanism of the resonator itself, which had the ability to accurately sense the magic power, did not move at all.
"The magic power is stably stored?" Heti was more surprised at this time. "The leakage rate... is so low?"
Gawain stared at the pedestal in the center of the crystal resonator. On the pedestal, the "artificial crystal" the size of a grain of rice was emitting a white light visible to the naked eye. It seemed that the crystal's brightness was increasing as the magic power filled it.
He immediately realized why he did not find these things mixed in the waste when the tent was dark. These "artificial crystals" were empty when they were first refined. There was no magic power, so of course, they would not shine. But as time went by, they began to spontaneously absorb the wandering magic power in the atmosphere. This was a slow self-recharging process. After two days, it finally shone slightly at night and was finally discovered by Gwen.
Heidi was also attracted by the peculiar nature of the crystal. She continued to inject energy into the crystal with uncontrollable excitement. However, a crystal the size of a grain of rice could not hold much magic power, so she soon found that it had entered a state of "saturation".
The small crystal began to release a stable milky white shimmer, and there was no sign of self-disintegration due to saturation.
"So this is a kind of artificial crystal that can store magic power?" Gwen looked at Heti in surprise, feeling as if he had found a treasure. "How is its maximum capacity compared to natural crystals? How about its stability? I see that it has been shining all the time. How about its self-dissipation rate? "
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, I still have to... I still have to test it seriously." Heti's excitement was no less than Gwen's, but she still maintained the calmness that a mage should have. She picked up the small crystal and walked to the analysis magic circle next to her. "The self-dissipation should not be a problem. Although it is shining, it is mainly the wandering magic power in the air that resonates with the crystal. The magic power stored in the crystal is not too much loss, so it should be able to store magic power for a long time..."
As she said so, she put the crystal in a grooved "vessel" made of ruby and placed the vessel in the center of the magic circle, ready to try to guide the magic power stored in the crystal out.
The magic circle was activated.
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