Gawain and Heidi looked at each other in bewilderment as the crystal in the ruby vessel shattered into a puddle.
After staring blankly for a long time, Gao Wencai's mouth twitched as he said, "You failed to evolve, right?"
Heti: "Huh?"
"Ahem, I mean, what's going on?" Gwen quickly coughed to cover up his subconscious words. "Is it because the magic circle used too much force when extracting the energy and directly turned into slag?"
Heti's eyes glowed with arcane light. She carefully observed the traces of magic left in the ruby vessel, and the excitement on her face slowly faded. "No … I'm afraid it's the congenital defect of this crystal …"
"Defect?" Gawain immediately frowned. He vaguely had a premonition that the flash of golden light was a guarantee. "Could it be a one-time use? Will it be destroyed when it's released after charging? "
If that was the case, the value of this' artificial crystal 'would undoubtedly be greatly reduced, but Gwen thought it was still acceptable. In this world, the crystal that could store magic was a very valuable material. Sorcerers divided this kind of crystal into two qualities. The high-quality crystal was pure and stable, and could be engraved with magic circles and run stably. Therefore, it was used as the core of various magic items, such as inlaying wands. The low-level crystal, due to its poor stability, could not be engraved with magic circles, but it could be used as a storage container of magic power, and was also regarded as an important strategic resource by spellcasters.
However, for a long time, energy storage crystals could only be obtained from nature, and artificial crystals could not replace them at all. This was because artificial crystals had a serious' natural dissipation 'problem. The magic power stored in the crystal would dissipate at an alarming rate, even in a few days. It was simply unusable. Therefore, artificial crystals had always been used as auxiliary materials for magic items, and even as decorations in the nobles' castles.
If the crystals that Rebecca made in a daze were only 'one-time' defective, in Gwen 'eyes, it was not a big problem at all. Heti had proved that these crystals were very stable, so they could be used to make one-time magic items. For Gwen who was used to the industrial age,' one-time 'did not mean low practical value. Instead, it was synonymous with cheap, fast, and mass-produced.
However, Heti shook her head. "It's not a one-time thing. It's just that the magic power stored in it can't be extracted at all."
This time, Gwen was completely dumbfounded. "How can this be?"
"The loss of magic power's' coordination 'probably happened at the moment of extraction. The originally orderly magic power became a disorderly' waste energy 'during the extraction process. The moment it was extracted, it would dissipate. Even if it was collected before it dissipated, it wouldn't be of any use. After all … it's' waste energy '."
Waste energy was a special word used by sorcerers. It was also known as disordered magic power. It was a kind of magic power that could not participate in any magic reaction, and could not be used to cast any spells. It was as worthless as a note that had lost its tune. Disordered magic power was a by-product of many spells. It was the 'residue' after a sorcerer cast a spell. As far as Gwen knew, the most significant incident of disordered magic power was the explosion of the Deep Blue Well a year before the fall of the Kingdom of Gondor. A large amount of disordered magic power appeared inside the Deep Blue, directly causing the Deep Blue Well to run at full power but could not output any energy. In the end, the core of the Deep Blue Well melted and exploded.
What was stored in the crystal was magic power, but when it was extracted, it would turn into residue. It was like some black-hearted games in his previous life. What was put in was equipment and gems, and what was taken out was slag and a taunting loudspeaker of the whole server.
The truth was very clear. Rebecca had made a small white crystal that could make the enhancement party explode on the spot (no mistake).
Looking at the powdered crystal dust in disappointment, Gwen shook his head. "Maybe Rebecca can make a usable energy storage crystal … Anyway, let's look forward to it. Let's not talk about this. I saw you playing with those antique crystals just now. What did you get? "
Heti cheered up, but her tone was rather apologetic. "I'm sorry, ancestor. Many of the magic circles and runes in the crystal have been lost today, and they are combined in an incomprehensible way. The precision of the crystal resonator today is limited. I can only distinguish a small part of it and restore it into a magic circle … Please come here."
Gawain followed her and saw Heidi taking out some neatly arranged blueprints of magic circles from her desk. Apart from various symbols and lines on the blueprints, there were also notes written in graceful handwriting. Those were the notes she had left behind.
While Gawain was looking at the drawing, Heidi shared her thoughts. "The magic system of the ancient Gondor Empire was very different from that of today. Their magic circles were 'layered'. Every layer was connected by key nodes. When the nodes were combined, they were also a kind of magic circle. It was like layers of nesting magic circles. With today's technology, it's impossible to build a magic circle with such a structure. I can't imagine how the ancient Gondor mages stuffed a whole set of complex runes into a small crystal … "
Gwen looked up and smiled. "First, they prepared a room with almost no dust and suspended particles. Then, they built a huge magic circle model in this room with magic-conducting materials. Next, they evacuated the air in the room. Finally, they used the powerful magic from the Deep Blue Well to illuminate the magic circle model. And at the 'focal point' of the illumination, there was a blank crystal to be processed. Through a special polarization technology, the magic would brand the layered magic circle layer by layer inside the crystal. Just like that, every time the magic illuminates, a set of magic circle would be branded in the crystal. Twenty-seven magic circles were created in a minute. "
A dipping pen in Heti's hand fell to the ground and broke into two pieces.
Oh my, the ancient people were so powerful?!
"So, this is the most different point of view between me and the people of this era. You think that many things are precious and rare, and it's natural for masters to create them and pass them down from generation to generation. But in my opinion, these things are cheap and mass-produced. It's a pity that you lost the Deep Blue Well, and the first generation died. It's inevitable that you would develop like this. "
Heti had a strange look on her face. She deeply felt that this unfilial descendant had disappointed the ancestor again.
At this moment, Gwen's eyes were suddenly attracted by a magic circle on one of the drawings. "Hmm?"
Heti quickly moved forward. After seeing where Gwen was looking, she explained, "That's the magic circle that controls the self-destruction of the crystal. You know, the last function of these standard crystals when they're on the verge of collapse is to self-destruct. So, this magic circle is branded in a position independent of the other runes. It's also very simple, so it's easier to restore. But I can't restore the part related to the self-destruct magic circle. I still haven't found which runes have achieved this incredible function. I'm really lacking in this aspect — "
"Wait, let's not talk about how the runes are done first." Gwen interrupted Heti's self-criticism. This eldest granddaughter was good in every way, but once she thought that the ancestor was unhappy, she would immediately fall into self-criticism and self-reflection. It was very troublesome. She was obviously a domineering queen, but in front of him, she was always bullied. "I saw the note you wrote here … You said that this magic circle is different from normal magic circles. It doesn't release the energy in the crystal to the outside world to create an explosion. Instead, it detonates the energy in the crystal itself as the explosive object?"
Heti was stunned for a moment. She nodded and said, "Yes. Ordinary magic circles will guide the energy from the energy storage crystal to create an effect in the outside world. But because the function of this magic circle is to self-destruct, it skips the guide step and directly detonates the energy in the energy storage crystal. The exploding crystal fragments will also be very lethal. To be honest, I've never seen this kind of magic circle before. Although it's not complicated, I'm afraid that no sane magician will use it. This thing will directly destroy the precious energy storage crystal completely … "
Heti stopped talking. Obviously, she was not stupid and had quickly realized the use of this thing.
She and Gwen looked at the ruby dish on the experiment table at the same time. The trace of crystal dust in the ruby dish seemed to be glowing again in their eyes.
It was the brilliance of art (they were sure).
"The magic power extracted from those crystals will instantly become useless, but it's stable when stored in the crystals …" Gawain said slowly. "Then we might as well not extract it. Wouldn't it be better to just detonate it in the crystals?"
Heti also said slowly, "Yes, anyway, this kind of 'crystal' is refined from stone and is not valuable …"
No sorcerer in their right mind would use an explosion magic circle that would blow up the energy storage crystal together with the explosion magic circle. That was because the energy storage crystal was too expensive. They only needed to add a structure to the explosion magic circle to release the explosion magic while keeping the crystal intact. Since the effect was exactly the same, why would they destroy a crystal?
But what if there was a kind of crystal, the magic power stored in it could not be extracted at all, and it was not valuable at all?
Then this thing was simply born to be self-detonated. Its nature was as straightforward and iron-headed as its inventor.
Countless exciting and bold ideas suddenly appeared in Gwen's mind. These ideas were accompanied by the bright fire and the shocking sound. They were the future, the hope, the sword and the shield to defend the people and the land, and the light to disperse the dark clouds caused by the failure of the trial of gunpowder …
It was art.
Art was not good enough. It was on the same level as the Louvre.
Gwen suppressed the exciting ideas and suddenly asked a very practical question with a strange face. "How do we engrave an explosion magic circle on a crystal that is only the size of a grain of rice?"
Heti also calmed down and thought about the question carefully. Then she said with uncertainty, "Maybe … it doesn't have to be engraved on the crystal, because this is an 'interference' magic circle."
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