Steel and Mana

Chapter 31 – Experimenting

Back home, the construction was still going on, entering the phase when people were building the outer city where most future residents would find a home for themselves. These houses were less spacious and not meant for those who had been there since the first day. Still, they were leagues better than what most people were used to, and the moment they were finished, we could begin erecting the first wall around the city. That... will be an actual undertaking.

As groups were emerging, with enough experience to take over in delegating the work and showing the newcomers how it was done, I was free to start studying my newest resource. My first problem showed itself when we were still returning with Sasha, and I tried breaking one of them apart. It just didn't work.

Even if I beat it against a slab of stone, it remained whole, without scratches or dents. Then I tried cutting it. Nothing. Smashing with a hammer? No results. I threw it into a kiln. Of course, it withstood it without a problem. It didn't even get hot! Is this the most resilient piece of ore in the world, or what?

"Well, this is a problem!" I shrugged, visiting Sasha, who was in the middle of designing the interior of the palace, and she was wholly immersed in how it should look, working on it with none other than little Merlin.

"What problem?" They asked, turning towards me.

"I am running out of ideas on what to do with these CCs and how to split them apart!"

"How are they mined?" Merlin asked, quickly narrowing it down to the question also floating within my head.

"It is a good question!" I shrugged, rubbing his head, "But I can't really go to the Empire, ask them, hey so... these strategic resources that only you can access... so, how are they mined? Why? Oh, I'm just curious, that's all!"

"I see." He nodded, thinking, "You are right, My Lord! And magic won't be of use as they react to it then... hm... Why not hit one with another?"

"Fuck." I stopped as I exclaimed, wanting to hit myself instead, "That's it!"

"Leon! Not before the child!" Sasha grumbled, but Merlin just looked up at her with an innocent smile.

"I heard worse! I know that coarse people use it to express intense feelings when they can't do it otherwise!"

"You little shit!" I grinned, pulling on his face, stretching it, "Are ya callin' ya daddy here uncultured?!"

"No, My Lord!" He giggled, answering without complaining.

"Tsk! You win this round, kiddo!"

I don't know why I never thought about that; it is evident in hindsight. I started out small, beating two at each other, and the moment the impact happened, both shattered into a dozen pieces. Okay, so this needs to be refined, or I will destroy my stash. For the second try, I picked out basically the same-sized CCs, and this time, I put one on a table and hit it with the second one.

"Success!" I exclaimed when only one was smashed apart like a glass. "How quaint!" I couldn't help but wonder about the properties of CC. What happened right now partially ignored a fundamental natural law in my previous life... so I had to develop some tools to help me study it. This led me down a road that kickstarted some extra development I didn't expect.

First, I needed a universal weight system as I couldn't go on with my feelings alone. I could have used what was present in the Empire's books, but they were using past emperors' body parts as a base. Screw that. So.... How did I decide about what was a kilogram? Easy. Thanks to my memory, I could quickly determine how long a meter, centimeter, etc., was, and I had already used it while building the city. It was normal for me to draw the plans with those included, and Merlin had already taught it to the masses.

The little genius didn't even question it, accepting it at face value and deriving the rules of the decimal system, correctly guessing all the exchanges. I was still somewhat doubtful he was not a reincarnated person... oh well! Less work for me!

Going by the same method, I grabbed a bucket and drew the scales on it after recalling a simple image within my brainbox. When it was done, I filled it up with water... and there. One liter of water equals one kilogram. Of course, I knew it would be off because of the weight of the bucket, but... oh well, I am creating it now! In this world, 1 kilogram will be this from now on, and if one of my old teachers pops up here, he can suck it!

Now, it was time to make my weights, and as they were nothing but lumps of iron, it was easy to make. The best thing to train my future blacksmiths on! I quickly gathered individuals who either showed interest or even had some background in making horseshoes, fixing tools, and the like. After reworking Sasha's formation inside the blacksmith's workshop, it was burning with less intensity, making it bearable for us, mere mortals, to exist. For what I needed now, this was enough!

I began introducing them to my new invention as I was explaining it. It was less challenging than I expected, and I saw Merlin lingering close by, watching intently, nodding his little head occasionally. After a few tries, the first, ideally 1-kilogram plates, were made. I left a set for them to replicate and gave them my first scale to measure the completed pieces. I was glad to see that Merlin jumped at the occasion that there was something new to learn and teach, and by the time I left, he was explaining to the others again why it was crucial to develop a new, unified system.

"Now... where was I?" I murmured, snapping my fingers as I remembered. Yes, I wanted to weigh the CC fragments!

After a week's worth of detour, I was back at my initial experiment, putting them on my new scale with the correct weights, and there it was. No matter what I did, they all had the same weight, 1.5 kilograms. The one that was as big as a ring? 1.5. The one that was the size of a head? 1.5.

"Magic..." I murmured as it was inconceivable yet real. Even if I broke one apart, the two new sides were identical. "One. Point. Five."

The other weird thing was that when breaking them up, the stationary was the one that always broke apart when hitting them against each other. Even if I smashed a smaller CC against a much bigger one. Was this a perfectly elastic collision? Where did the kinetic energy go? What the hell was happening? I didn't know... What I did know was that they acted like nothing I had knowledge about. I was never a scientist, only an engineer, so it baffled me, but it was not enough to make me stuck.

So what if their weight remained the same? What if they don't indeed follow the laws of energy transfer? These were fucking magic crystals! Hehe... After developing a more sophisticated version of breaking them apart, I could start determining their efficiency. Are the big ones better? Or could the smaller ones do the same?

That experiment happened once again at the abandoned mine. Oleg made sure to surround the area with his men, keeping everyone from coming close to sabotage us while doing the tests. I brought Merlin along this time, and he was so excited I barely recognized him. I had never seen him chatting and babbling so rapidly, asking a hundred questions about CC and magic, to which I had no real answers.

"Merlin, we are here to explore what they can do! So, if you want answers, you must also start experimenting with them! Okay?"

"Yes, My Lord!" He nodded while jumping up and down in place, saluting towards me.

"Calm down for now! This can be dangerous; last time, Sasha shot a fireball at me!"

"It was an accident!" She shouted back, hearing me despite being almost a hundred meters away.

"Understood!" He grinned, hiding behind me.

"You little... heh! Okay!" I shrugged, waving at Sasha, "Do it!"

She was standing with a lump of CC in hand, almost as big as Merlin's little head. After focusing her thoughts and mana, a formation appeared right behind her once again before a fireball flew out, hitting the water in the flooded quarry this time.

"Woah!" Both of us exclaimed as Merlin's eyes were shining brightly.

Of course, Sasha was not finished, as she was switching to a smaller piece about the size of an almond. The fireball came out once again, but as I had expected, it was weaker. Noticeably weaker.

"It broke!" Shouted Sasha, and after turning off her magic, she rushed to us, showing the tiny CC continuing to crumble until it turned to dust.

"So there is a size that makes them into a one-use item!" I nodded, "Maybe the big ones are also eroding? Would using them multiple times end in them breaking apart? Hmmm... this will have to be tested!"

"I will do it!" Merlin yelled, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"You just want to play with them, no?"

"Yes!"

"Honest boy!" I grinned, ruffling his hair and nodding.

"Leon... is... is this? You know..." Sasha murmured, feeling shy, but he may be too young to feel that way when holding it. So far, he didn't mention anything weird when standing close to CC.

"Ah!"

Well... Right until Sasha gave him the big one. The moment it landed in his hands, he dropped it, falling to his knees, his face turning bright red, and it was the first time I saw him close to crying.

"I peed..." He sniffled, looking up at us, panic-stricken.

"He's yours!" I shrugged, and to my surprise, Sasha, like a good mother, quickly ensured Merlin was cleaned up and changed without any awkwardness.

On the second try, he was now much more collected, expecting something strange, and with a serious face, he resisted, nodding his little head.

"I withstood it! You are both meanies... You didn't tell me about it makes you pee..."

"Err..." Holding my laugh, I chortled, unable to fully keep it under wraps, "We thought it would not affect you as you are still too young!"

"Um... now I should... do... magic stuff, yes?" He asked, quickly forgiving us as he was keen on learning something new and exciting.

"Yes and-" But it was too late. A massive, blue formation appeared right under our feet, spinning way faster than Sasha's. "Look at that..." I murmured, memorizing the symbols as fast as I could.

"Leon!" Cried Sasha, and I watched her panic as a red formation materialized behind her, responding not to her mana but resonating directly with Merlin's! A new fireball was forming in the hand of Sasha as she began sweating and breathing heavily. I could not feel any heat coming from it, which just made it more dangerous.

"Lord!" I heard Oleg's shout, already rushing in, but that would be useless anyway.

"Aim towards the sky!" I said, holding Sasha, helping her aim. When Merlin managed to snap back to reality, he quickly began reigning in his powers, trying to turn them off.

The moment his formation disappeared, Sasha's spell blasted off, throwing all of us to the ground. Looking up towards the sky, I watched a bright sphere soar higher and higher, just like a rocket launch. It had to be a few kilometers high when it finally exploded. The sound reached us a second later, and it was like a dragon's roar, echoing through the whole region.

"Holy... shit!" I gasped, sitting up, "That was fucking awesome!" The ball of fire was still flickering and glowing in the sky, dying off very slowly.

"Lord!" I arrived at Oleg with another shout, inspecting me first like I just survived an assassination attempt.

"We are fine, fine!" I waved my hand, checking on the two mages, and Merlin was at the edge of tears again, feeling he had done something terrible. "Chin up, kiddo!" I grinned, patting his face, "This is what experiments are about! This is progress!"

"If this is progress..." Sasha moaned, unable to move, "I want to rest before we make another advancement... I feel numb..."

"Like when we-"

"Shut up..." She groaned, turning red as a tomato, "Not before Merlin..."

"What is it?" He asked sheepishly, returning to a good mood after my encouragement, and I couldn't help but tease them a little more.

"Nothing Merlin~! Sasha here just peed herself the same!"

"I DID NOT!"

"But you usually do when-"

"NOOOO, DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!"

This time, I didn't hold back any laughs as I was not just happy but excited... Magic. Damn... I need to harvest its forms! If I can manage it... I will have rockets that can escape the pull of gravity before I invent any type of combustion engine!

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