It was already the middle of autumn. Our little twins were just as before, sleeping most of the day, waking up to cry for a clean change and then for more milk before returning to sleep. Just to keep us awake at night... Not that it was an issue for me; I liked being up, and after caring for them, managing to rock them back to sleep, I could go, take a walk, and let my thoughts flow freely while enjoying the view of the star-filled sky.
There was a lot to do, and I had to prioritize many things over others. Right now, Merlin was away, traveling with Pion, Polo, and a contingent of my soldiers and caravan, heading to Greyback, making the first delivery. I hoped that he would bring back good news as he was also going to test his new CC detector, and this time, he would let Elena Kustov observe it. I would invite her over in spring, let her visit Avalon, and finally meet with her personally. But before that, I wanted to install the CC detectors so she wouldn't be able to sneak anything in or out. For safety's sake.
When it was quiet like this, my thoughts usually returned to the Trojan spell we were still developing. When not dealing with constructing the first tractor prototypes, I was working on it with Sasha. I was happy to know that by now, my ministers were all independent enough to keep the city running and only bothered me when something important came up. Something they could not decide what to do with between themselves. It was exactly as I hoped for, giving me ample time to work on my own ideas.
As we stood at the moment, we managed to enhance the spell and execute it in the activation sequence of a Dragonfire Cannon. It made it fail to go off, but only if no additional CCs were used in it, as those managed to force the spell through by sheer energy output alone. The good news was that we also managed to derive a different version of it that could work the same way against the anti-gravity formation, turning it off and proving that the spell could be used universally; we just needed to change the core runes to match the element of the opposing spell.
Which was the biggest hurdle for everyone involved. The only one who may be able to do it live is Merlin. He could maybe, and I mean MAYBE, adapt to a seen spell and create the corresponding trojan formation on the spot to stop the spell from going off. Sasha couldn't do it like that. She only succeeded if it was an already learned fire spell. If that was the case, she managed to live-cast it, holding a CC in her hands; otherwise, it was always a failure.
I already had a talk with Mikan about it, informing her about our progress. She was surprisingly eager, wanting to do her own part and help, so when not conducting some ceremony or looking after our kids when we needed a helping hand, she was learning about the magic within her. I scoured my memories and pulled out all the books related to healing magic and her ancestors, sending them into print. She has been studying and trying to memorize magic formations and spells belonging to Elyzien. We will see how it goes, and she may trigger something within herself that will help us. It is worth a shot, and she looked determined to do so.
Now that the trojan was ready and we could use it, we had a weapon that could stop magic from activating. Theoretically, that is. So, I began moving on to the second phase, but only in my mind for now. If we can stop Mikki-2 from using her magic when taking off the bracelet from Mikki-1, she could still pose a threat. She is still there, and we don't know if she could influence Mikan in any additional way. So, I was trying to evolve the trojan so it does not simply stop the spell but injects a new code and instruction that makes it act according to our design.
Merlin had many concepts about this since he returned from his first trip, so I was hopeful that he would have even more this time. I have been consulting with him about them, sorting his writings out, and discarding half of them because they were too complicated. That is usually what makes things fail. Still, he did come up with the idea that he should create a spell that does it automatically. What he was thinking about was automating the process of selecting and injecting the correct runes and turning the trojan formation into an adaptive one, where no matter who used it, they could do it in a flash.
He based his idea on the fact that magic releases waves in the air when they are active, and he implemented his recording machine's principles into his plans. We could create one that would pick up on this... Depending on the waves' types and what kind of data they are transferring, the new formation could adapt, reproduce the needed runes, and activate without input from the mage. This was what I was thinking about in the past few weeks, trying to 'code it' in my head, but this spell was becoming way too complicated, way too fast.
And it was not even at a place where it would be ready to inject a new line of code into the hijacked spell. For example, if I wanted to take over an anti-gravity one and, instead of turning it off, flip it and make it so that the target object suddenly weighs triple its weight... Ugh. My head hurt thinking about that because I had to use so many runes; I don't know if I could fit all that into one formation. Even if it was only theory, it was already on the level of something I would deem a Master-type spell. It was even worse because I couldn't break it up into sub-sections yet as I didn't know which part goes where for it to even work...
If we ever manage to create it and it operates as designed, I want a Nobel Prize for myself. Well... this world doesn't have one, so would it be an Avalon Prize? I mean, we have that, and we have been giving it out every year for the most outstanding achievements within the city. Last year, it went to Marca for her achievement in developing multiple healing solutions. If she manages to create the perfect liquid for my hydraulics, I may have to award her again. She would become the first to earn it a second time~!
Speaking of hydraulics, if they ever get ready, I will have to implement them into my tractors and create some excavators or something similar. We visited the factory yesterday, and the very first prototype was in the phase of its wheels being installed. The steam engine was ready, had been tested, and was working as I had intended. It was cumbersome, slow, and had a long wind-up time to finally come alive, but it was fun to watch! I was surprised at how quickly my men built it while they were praising the fact that splitting them into groups of factory workers helped speed up their work. Certain people only focused on creating the wheels, the frame, or the engine's body; they were easily trained and set to work by the overseers and group leaders who had the bigger picture to worry about and connect them together. It was working better than I expected.
If everything goes right and the drivetrains hold out without issues, the first one will roll out in a week or so. Then comes the actual test. We will have to attach the different tools to the back of it and let it ride out to the fields to see if anything breaks or if it gets stuck. Still, I had a good feeling that it would work without issues, and I couldn't wait to see the other version with tracks instead of wheels. After both were in a position where I could proudly say they passed inspection and could be manufactured, I would contact Elliot immediately. I don't want to be overly optimistic, but I was hoping that by next year, multiple of them will be active in his territory, starting to bump up his food production. We will see...
"I wondered where you were!"
"Did they wake up again?" I asked, turning towards Sasha, who was walking up to me, hugging my side with a smile and shaking her head.
"They are sound asleep, the little devils. Thinking hard again?"
"Just organizing my thoughts. Winter is coming, and that usually means life slows down and hibernates under a blanket of snow. I will have time then to do nothing but think."
"Louise has already headed back to the castle. Will you go over there this winter, too?"
"For a few days, yes. Depends on what type of beasts come down this time. Kraus and two other teams have been working on creating more Dragonfire weapons, and also, we have been stocking up with CC... that behemoth last time was dangerous; we need to be ready for something worse."
"Worse? You don't think there would be..."
"We never know." I shrugged, "The other side looks crazy, and who knows what kind of abominations live there. I am more afraid that we will be visited by something that can fly. We are planting another batch of mines, but if such a monster comes through, we have little to nothing to stop it."
"Then don't jinx it!" She whispered, kissing my face, making me smile wryly.
"True enough. Let's go back; it is getting chilly. Let me snuggle up to you three~!"
...
....
......
"Incredible..." Elena whispered, standing next to Merlin, watching him activate the spell from a stone tablet, looking at the little CC stone in the middle of it blinking every fifteen seconds. "As far as I know, the Empire has no way of finding CC mines as they all had been discovered by accident."
"It still needs a bit of improvement because right now, we are standing right next to an operating mine. Survey teams could find CC under the mountain, but there won't be any reaction if it is hidden deeper than twenty meters or so."
"I don't know what a meter is, but it is still incredible! So it picks up the returning waves, huh? I guess you tuned it so the resonance passes through solid objects... Does it go through humans more easily? Are there any alloys that block it out completely?"
"There... isn't." He answered, lying a little because there was. They just had to be overlayed with different metals, rocks, and wool to dampen them enough that they wouldn't get picked up when rebounding. He was shocked that she extrapolated so much from so little, as Merlin didn't share much, only telling her that magic is like waves in the ocean.
"Interesting... Although I don't get the complexity of the runes because I am not a mage, the concept is easy enough to understand. If you produce strong enough waves, would they pass through the same way or start interfering with the objects? Maybe hurt living beings? So please, don't point at me when activating!" She joked, smiling while standing next to Merlin, about ten meters away from the joint guard forces theirs.
"You surprise me, Lady Elena."
"Good." She smiled amicably, her pink eyes glowing with satisfaction. "I am glad to hear."
"If you have ideas, I am keen to listen to them." Merlin continued, turning off the spell and glancing at Elena with curiosity dancing in his eyes. "What do you say? I would love to hear some of your ideas for some problems I solved in the past."
"I assume they won't be deep secrets, hm?" She smiled coyly, enjoying that she could finally tease him.
"No, they won't, but they will be fascinating~!"
"Hmm, why not? Let's go, Little Minister... I will let you test me!"
"It's Prime Minister." He grunted, following her, but Elena already knew what she could say and do to tease him without truly angering him.
"Yes, that's what I said."
"No, you did not!"
"You jest, Little Minister!" She laughed, covering her mouth while Merlin snorted once again.
"It's Prime Minister!"
"That's what I said."
"No, you did not!"
"You jest, Little Minister!"
"It's Prime Minister!"
"That's what I said."
"No, you did not!"
"Let's go..." Whispered Pion, listening to the same repeating conversation over and over again as neither of the two was willing to break it off, thinking that would be a loss on their part. Borbossa, who stood right next to him, couldn't help himself but shrug, silently agreeing, as the two groups of guards followed their arguing lords back to the castle.
It was already the middle of autumn. Our little twins were just as before, sleeping most of the day, waking up to cry for a clean change and then for more milk before returning to sleep. Just to keep us awake at night... Not that it was an issue for me; I liked being up, and after caring for them, managing to rock them back to sleep, I could go, take a walk, and let my thoughts flow freely while enjoying the view of the star-filled sky.
There was a lot to do, and I had to prioritize many things over others. Right now, Merlin was away, traveling with Pion, Polo, and a contingent of my soldiers and caravan, heading to Greyback, making the first delivery. I hoped that he would bring back good news as he was also going to test his new CC detector, and this time, he would let Elena Kustov observe it. I would invite her over in spring, let her visit Avalon, and finally meet with her personally. But before that, I wanted to install the CC detectors so she wouldn't be able to sneak anything in or out. For safety's sake.
When it was quiet like this, my thoughts usually returned to the Trojan spell we were still developing. When not dealing with constructing the first tractor prototypes, I was working on it with Sasha. I was happy to know that by now, my ministers were all independent enough to keep the city running and only bothered me when something important came up. Something they could not decide what to do with between themselves. It was exactly as I hoped for, giving me ample time to work on my own ideas.
As we stood at the moment, we managed to enhance the spell and execute it in the activation sequence of a Dragonfire Cannon. It made it fail to go off, but only if no additional CCs were used in it, as those managed to force the spell through by sheer energy output alone. The good news was that we also managed to derive a different version of it that could work the same way against the anti-gravity formation, turning it off and proving that the spell could be used universally; we just needed to change the core runes to match the element of the opposing spell.
Which was the biggest hurdle for everyone involved. The only one who may be able to do it live is Merlin. He could maybe, and I mean MAYBE, adapt to a seen spell and create the corresponding trojan formation on the spot to stop the spell from going off. Sasha couldn't do it like that. She only succeeded if it was an already learned fire spell. If that was the case, she managed to live-cast it, holding a CC in her hands; otherwise, it was always a failure.
I already had a talk with Mikan about it, informing her about our progress. She was surprisingly eager, wanting to do her own part and help, so when not conducting some ceremony or looking after our kids when we needed a helping hand, she was learning about the magic within her. I scoured my memories and pulled out all the books related to healing magic and her ancestors, sending them into print. She has been studying and trying to memorize magic formations and spells belonging to Elyzien. We will see how it goes, and she may trigger something within herself that will help us. It is worth a shot, and she looked determined to do so.
Now that the trojan was ready and we could use it, we had a weapon that could stop magic from activating. Theoretically, that is. So, I began moving on to the second phase, but only in my mind for now. If we can stop Mikki-2 from using her magic when taking off the bracelet from Mikki-1, she could still pose a threat. She is still there, and we don't know if she could influence Mikan in any additional way. So, I was trying to evolve the trojan so it does not simply stop the spell but injects a new code and instruction that makes it act according to our design.
Merlin had many concepts about this since he returned from his first trip, so I was hopeful that he would have even more this time. I have been consulting with him about them, sorting his writings out, and discarding half of them because they were too complicated. That is usually what makes things fail. Still, he did come up with the idea that he should create a spell that does it automatically. What he was thinking about was automating the process of selecting and injecting the correct runes and turning the trojan formation into an adaptive one, where no matter who used it, they could do it in a flash.
He based his idea on the fact that magic releases waves in the air when they are active, and he implemented his recording machine's principles into his plans. We could create one that would pick up on this... Depending on the waves' types and what kind of data they are transferring, the new formation could adapt, reproduce the needed runes, and activate without input from the mage. This was what I was thinking about in the past few weeks, trying to 'code it' in my head, but this spell was becoming way too complicated, way too fast.
And it was not even at a place where it would be ready to inject a new line of code into the hijacked spell. For example, if I wanted to take over an anti-gravity one and, instead of turning it off, flip it and make it so that the target object suddenly weighs triple its weight... Ugh. My head hurt thinking about that because I had to use so many runes; I don't know if I could fit all that into one formation. Even if it was only theory, it was already on the level of something I would deem a Master-type spell. It was even worse because I couldn't break it up into sub-sections yet as I didn't know which part goes where for it to even work...
If we ever manage to create it and it operates as designed, I want a Nobel Prize for myself. Well... this world doesn't have one, so would it be an Avalon Prize? I mean, we have that, and we have been giving it out every year for the most outstanding achievements within the city. Last year, it went to Marca for her achievement in developing multiple healing solutions. If she manages to create the perfect liquid for my hydraulics, I may have to award her again. She would become the first to earn it a second time~!
Speaking of hydraulics, if they ever get ready, I will have to implement them into my tractors and create some excavators or something similar. We visited the factory yesterday, and the very first prototype was in the phase of its wheels being installed. The steam engine was ready, had been tested, and was working as I had intended. It was cumbersome, slow, and had a long wind-up time to finally come alive, but it was fun to watch! I was surprised at how quickly my men built it while they were praising the fact that splitting them into groups of factory workers helped speed up their work. Certain people only focused on creating the wheels, the frame, or the engine's body; they were easily trained and set to work by the overseers and group leaders who had the bigger picture to worry about and connect them together. It was working better than I expected.
If everything goes right and the drivetrains hold out without issues, the first one will roll out in a week or so. Then comes the actual test. We will have to attach the different tools to the back of it and let it ride out to the fields to see if anything breaks or if it gets stuck. Still, I had a good feeling that it would work without issues, and I couldn't wait to see the other version with tracks instead of wheels. After both were in a position where I could proudly say they passed inspection and could be manufactured, I would contact Elliot immediately. I don't want to be overly optimistic, but I was hoping that by next year, multiple of them will be active in his territory, starting to bump up his food production. We will see...
"I wondered where you were!"
"Did they wake up again?" I asked, turning towards Sasha, who was walking up to me, hugging my side with a smile and shaking her head.
"They are sound asleep, the little devils. Thinking hard again?"
"Just organizing my thoughts. Winter is coming, and that usually means life slows down and hibernates under a blanket of snow. I will have time then to do nothing but think."
"Louise has already headed back to the castle. Will you go over there this winter, too?"
"For a few days, yes. Depends on what type of beasts come down this time. Kraus and two other teams have been working on creating more Dragonfire weapons, and also, we have been stocking up with CC... that behemoth last time was dangerous; we need to be ready for something worse."
"Worse? You don't think there would be..."
"We never know." I shrugged, "The other side looks crazy, and who knows what kind of abominations live there. I am more afraid that we will be visited by something that can fly. We are planting another batch of mines, but if such a monster comes through, we have little to nothing to stop it."
"Then don't jinx it!" She whispered, kissing my face, making me smile wryly.
"True enough. Let's go back; it is getting chilly. Let me snuggle up to you three~!"
...
....
......
"Incredible..." Elena whispered, standing next to Merlin, watching him activate the spell from a stone tablet, looking at the little CC stone in the middle of it blinking every fifteen seconds. "As far as I know, the Empire has no way of finding CC mines as they all had been discovered by accident."
"It still needs a bit of improvement because right now, we are standing right next to an operating mine. Survey teams could find CC under the mountain, but there won't be any reaction if it is hidden deeper than twenty meters or so."
"I don't know what a meter is, but it is still incredible! So it picks up the returning waves, huh? I guess you tuned it so the resonance passes through solid objects... Does it go through humans more easily? Are there any alloys that block it out completely?"
"There... isn't." He answered, lying a little because there was. They just had to be overlayed with different metals, rocks, and wool to dampen them enough that they wouldn't get picked up when rebounding. He was shocked that she extrapolated so much from so little, as Merlin didn't share much, only telling her that magic is like waves in the ocean.
"Interesting... Although I don't get the complexity of the runes because I am not a mage, the concept is easy enough to understand. If you produce strong enough waves, would they pass through the same way or start interfering with the objects? Maybe hurt living beings? So please, don't point at me when activating!" She joked, smiling while standing next to Merlin, about ten meters away from the joint guard forces theirs.
"You surprise me, Lady Elena."
"Good." She smiled amicably, her pink eyes glowing with satisfaction. "I am glad to hear."
"If you have ideas, I am keen to listen to them." Merlin continued, turning off the spell and glancing at Elena with curiosity dancing in his eyes. "What do you say? I would love to hear some of your ideas for some problems I solved in the past."
"I assume they won't be deep secrets, hm?" She smiled coyly, enjoying that she could finally tease him.
"No, they won't, but they will be fascinating~!"
"Hmm, why not? Let's go, Little Minister... I will let you test me!"
"It's Prime Minister." He grunted, following her, but Elena already knew what she could say and do to tease him without truly angering him.
"Yes, that's what I said."
"No, you did not!"
"You jest, Little Minister!" She laughed, covering her mouth while Merlin snorted once again.
"It's Prime Minister!"
"That's what I said."
"No, you did not!"
"You jest, Little Minister!"
"It's Prime Minister!"
"That's what I said."
"No, you did not!"
"Let's go..." Whispered Pion, listening to the same repeating conversation over and over again as neither of the two was willing to break it off, thinking that would be a loss on their part. Borbossa, who stood right next to him, couldn't help himself but shrug, silently agreeing, as the two groups of guards followed their arguing lords back to the castle.
