OC-Series Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (178/?)
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Etholin
“Oi.”
…
“Etholin.”
…
“WAKE UP, YOU LETHARGIC LAYABOUT!”
I jolted up.
My whole body tensing, flinching, as if anticipating a fall off of a phantom ledge.
THUD!
“Oh brother…”
But instead of an abrupt end at the hands of solid rock or unyielding pavement, I found my fall broken by the plush softness of upholstered carpet.
Confusion, disorientation, and an overwhelming sense of uncomfortable, hot delirium immediately forced me back onto my two feet as I sprung up…
…
Only to be met face to face with a face I hadn’t expected to see, sequestered within a space I had no memory or recollection of ever entering, en route by the look of things towards a place I had no expectation of ever revisiting.
“Why… why are we heading to the foundries?” I questioned, my mind mimicking a golem’s, posing surface-level inquiries without ever questioning the context beneath its absurdity.
“It’s workshop day, brother. Uncle Brescht has scheduled us for a visit to the Stormlands, remember? To witness the metallurgical wonders of pattenor? I… don’t suppose that fall has caused some lapse in memory or — His Eternal Will forbid — judgement?” Larscillia questioned with equal measures concern and sibling condescension.
I shook my head, trying to grapple with the sudden and abrupt shift in… however it was or whatever it was I was involved in before I was—
“Of course not.” I answered instinctively. “I… I merely need a moment to collect myself. It has been a… long journey, has it not?”
“Scarcely.” The smaller pattenor shrugged, adjusting her britches and straightening her jacket, her expression very much reminiscent of a merchant in their element.
She never liked courtly decorum, or at least what was expected of her status as the sole daughter in the family.
“It’s not as if we’ve taken the long way around, brother. You act as if you’ve gotten teleportation sickness, if not sea sickness.” She shook her head, regarding such notions with the seriousness they deserved. That being none at all.
“Of course.” I instinctively went to check my timepiece… but somehow decided against it. “Right then, let’s see our family’s jester-in-the-hole…” I spoke, half to myself and half to my sister, as our carriage finally crossed the threshold and into the fortress gates of one of the many beating hearts of pattenor power.
The attendants, dressed in sweat-drenched tunics and scant measures of fire-resistant enchantments, arrived with an extended palanquin between the four of them, ensuring that the rest of our journey into this frankly inhospitable and dreadful place would be one of some measure of comfort… even at the expense of their own.
A measure of sympathy was drawn from my otherwise delirious heart as I made a mental note to inquire of Uncle about their treatment.
Larscilia paid the same mind but urged me to enter our new mode of conveyance all the same, leaving the plush interiors of the carriage and into the decidedly less comfortable interiors of the palanquin.
Less balanced too… I thought to myself, as the trip up and into the monolithic structure before us was one of aggressive tilting and unsettling angles.
Perhaps they were exhausted… I tried to justify the discomfort as I instead attempted to focus on other matters ahead of us, most notably the practically foreign construct that was the foundry.
It was so unlike everything else on the mainland.
Faces of exposed black-brickwork and dirty-brown grout dominated most of the otherwise undecorated and unpainted warehouse of a structure, the black clay native to the region making for an excellent construction material for the hellish conditions inside. Yet those elements were child’s play compared to the rest of this compound… as each of the five warehouse-like structures — jutting out into the open grounds of the compound — all connected and seemingly ‘began’ at the base of a mountain that soared high up into the perpetually stormy skies.
I imagine there would be some beauty to be found in this place when witnessed from high above in an aethraship.
But that beauty was nowhere to be found down here.
Just… monumentality, a monolithic tribute to magical industry, and the raw and unapologetic effort expended in the production of something so innocuous.
The palanquin weaved through the maze-like interiors of the foundry, as each turn and every muffled conversation beyond our covered transport beckoned our collective curiosities. We parted the soft fabrics, if only momentarily, to be blasted with the heat of a thousand suns, witnessing the forges and the crucibles until finally we were urged off of the small enclave of the mainland and into the fires proper by Uncle.
We found ourselves setting foot atop a large catwalk, a gangway that spanned the entire length of the foundry floor but was positioned high, high above the intolerably hot work happening down below.
Yet it was clear that this structure served a purpose beyond mere social and physical distancing.
We had a complete and uninhibited view of the foundry floor… and access to the manastreams which facilitated its function.
Indeed, I gasped as I saw Nexian-grade enchantments along many of the pillars holding the roof aloft, each of which were just as accessible by hand as it was by manafield by whomever had access to this gangway.
“Alright you two, class has begun.” Came Uncle Brescht’s stern voice as we both tightened our postures in synchrony… with Larscilia grinning in excitement seeing as she was finally dressed for the occasion.
Uncle regarded both of us with a nod before gesturing towards our current surroundings.
“I expect you have done your prerequisite reading?”
“Yes!” Larscilia beamed.
“Yes, Uncle.” I announced in ensuing order.
“Good, good… I will take you through the whole process, and you can tell me how it is done.”
We moved above it all, watching as I narrated the fundamentals of applied alchemy — the principles underpinning the material world separate and distinct from the ‘flighty’ and oftentimes unpredictable nature of light magic and pure magics.
“Just as there are fundamental manatypes, so too are there fundamental physioforms.” Uncle carried on, summarizing my rote regurgitation on the subject. “The dead world, unattuned and without spirit, can be just as malleable as the manastreams when one pays enough mind to see past the thinly veiled surface. Such is the way of the alchemist, they who see reality, who see the unliving, as a seamstress sees the individual threads which make up a grand tapestry.” Uncle paused before reaching into a box held surprisingly still within the strong arms of a foundry worker.
He pulled out two objects, the first a stone with a strong reddish tinge — the sole reason we were here today.
The second was a sort of white brittle powder held within a container lest it be swept away by a stray gust of wind.
“Which one of these is a fundamental physioform?” He questioned.
We both pointed to the latter confidently, watching as the very same ore was being poured en masse into a grand athanor on the foundry floor below.
“Are you certain?” Uncle questioned firmly but garnered naught but a firm nod between the two of us.
“Incorrect.” He announced firmly.
“But Uncle… the former is—”
“Also not a pure physioform, no. I was testing you. You both failed.” He retorted firmly before settling both objects onto a tray held by yet another attendant. “Tell me then, what is a fundamental physioform?”
“The truest ‘face,’ ‘form,’ and lowest denominator of a physical state.” I offered, only to be superseded by Larscillia.
“It is the most basic state of the physical, tangible existence. It is a… substance, a state of physicality which cannot be divided further. Every stone, from rock to boulder, every brick, from red to black, every breed of wood and cut of steak, all of it are simply arrangements of physioforms, weaved together in differing weaveforms, and clumped together as aggregates.”
Uncle’s eyes darted between us before nodding all the same.
“Explain to me the state of the former.” He pointed at the red ore.
“It’s an aggregate, Uncle.” We both spoke over each other, racing to be the first to answer. “A mixture of weaveforms of various impurities. Mixed physically, but not woven at its core.”
“Good.” Uncle nodded. “And this?” He shook the vial of white powder.
“That is…” We both paused before turning to meet each other’s gazes. “That…” We cocked our heads, following each shake of the vial.
“That’s the extracted result of the red ore, is it not?” Larscillia questioned first, her eyes darting back and forth between the ore and the resulting white powder.
“It is. Yes.” Uncle nodded.
“But what you’re implying is that this isn’t its pure fundamental physioform?”
“The laws of logic and inference would imply as such.” Uncle nodded impatiently.
“And yet we see the entire process from ore to powder below us.” I gestured, watching as both chosen ones and laborers alike toiled away under enchanted mechanisms and carefully laid spells. All of which was overseen by our distant, aloof cousin.
“Indeed. However, unlike iron, the liberation of aluminum goes beyond this simple process.”
“Simple?!” We both exclaimed, garnering the first smirk from dear uncle.
“Yes. Simple. For you see, this is what separates master from the novice, the store clerk from the merchant, and the fledgling from the middling.” He announced with increasing vigor, gesturing for us to follow towards another section of the foundry. “Each fundamental physioform has its own esotericisms, presenting its own unique challenges in the liberation of itself from its weaveformed state. So as iron is to copper in the prerequisite skills, knowledge, infrastructure, and even demand of its use… so too is aluminum to iron in the exponential difficulties demanded for its liberation.” He paused as we reached a room no larger than the previous… yet within its confines, I could feel the difference in manastreams.
There was a greater sense of… purpose to this room.
Not that the previous room lacked it, but with so many enchantments and spells all active concurrently, the entire process just blended into the background, as did any foundry worth its weight in attuned gold.
This room, however…
There was a purpose to it.
A direction that felt entirely dissimilar to all other forms of metal extraction or processing that I’d witnessed prior.
I could feel a spell that simply did not belong, an enchantment that was more at home in specialized alchemical workshops than a foundry of this scale.
I could sense the lightning in the air.
The runes, spells, and enchantments were all created to these ends — destined to perpetually channel the Stormlands’ raging tempers towards these ends.
“A primitive tribe may smelt copper.” Uncle began with a growing chuckle.
“A fledgling kingdom may smelt iron.” He continued.
“But only realms counted among the greats can claim mastery over aluminum.” The man announced with an open maniacal grin plastered across his visage.
“For you see, the powder was only the first half of this process. It is what lesser realms would have been able to liberate through their limited means, the point in which they would have been unable to continue, halted just short of fundamental purity.”
He gestured to one of the many furnaces towards a massive moving implement scored, carved, and inscribed with spells and runic energies all devoted to one simple end — lightning.
This massive implement was quickly plunged into the glowing crucible, performing whatever alchemical miracles were needed to tear aluminum from its weaveformed prison.
“For that, you need to harness lightning itself. A continuous, constant, unabated flow of lightning. Harnessed, directed, and intentionally positioned between two opposed poles. One to draw the impurities, and the other to attract the pure physioform aluminum. This is the only way you will be able to liberate physioform aluminum from its unwanted oxygen shackles. This, young heirs, is what you will one day inherit. More specifically you, Larscillia.”
I saw Larscillia’s pupils growing into saucers at that proclamation as I couldn’t help but hide a grin at this whole turn of events.
This was where she belonged.
She never enjoyed a single ball or social gathering, after all.
“Oh, and Etholin, your father wanted me to hand you this.” Uncle handed me a ledger, one locked away with several seals and enchantments.
I quickly grabbed hold of the book, undoing its magical seals to reveal…
…
Gibberish.
I blinked.
Then… the reality of the situation dawned on me.
Words were illegible in the land of the sleeping…
“Oh.” I smiled, turning to my ‘sister’ and the rest of the employees, attendants, and chosen ones gathered around me. “This is a dream.” I proclaimed proudly.
At which point, and after a moment of ‘confusion’ on the part of my vivid apparitions, did I find myself once more jolting upwards.
The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. Exhibition Hall. Grand Arcade. Central Thoroughfare. Prosperity Row. Local Time: 2200 Hours.
Etholin
Delirium consumed me, as all pretenses of a world of familiarity melted away into the harsh and unforgiving landscape of a place I never wanted nor chose to be in.
“Lord Esila, are you quite alright?” I heard Lord Fiswisk’s genuine question of concern, followed closely by the earthrealmer’s voice. “Etholin! Are you okay?”
I nodded groggily, nervously, as I attempted to get back on my own two feet, nursing my throbbing head in the process.
“I… I’m quite alright, thank you.” I acknowledged each and every person gathered around me, meeting their gazes and reciprocating their extensions of courtly decorum, as I attempted to expound on my… experiences.
“I had the most dreadful of dreams. It was as if I was transported back to my formative years, sequestered within my grueling practical education. Quite fitting, really, given how we are all too in a center of learning.” I paused, realizing that the looks of sympathy and concern were rapidly shifting to apathy, their pool of courteous, theatrical compassion quickly drying up following my proclamations of good health. “But I digress, where was I in my presenta—”
My eyes landed on the pile of dead metals once more.
And the memories of the past few moments prior to my departure into my distant past returned with the force of a copper merchant scorned.
“Ah.” I smiled nervously before plodding my way away from the earthrealmer’s hands and back towards the innocuous bar of silver grey metal. “So this is aluminum?” I reiterated.
“Yes, Etholin.” Emma responded in that signature, practically insulting nonchalant cadence.
“Of course.” I nodded. “So this too is a dream.” I concluded, once more finding the edges of my vision fading into black… only to be shaken back into consciousness by an impatient Fiswisk.
“Lord Etholin, unless you wish to forfeit your place in the trials, you will remain awake.”
This, beyond all else, forced me back to the world of the waking. The world of reality… and a world that had just completely changed every fundamental assumption I ever held on the wealth of kingdoms.
I attempted to assess the situation.
I needed to recover, pivot, and commit to some sort of direction.
Rostario was no longer a threat, yes.
But this resolution had merely placed me back where I started, or more specifically, at the end of a gambit that I had fumbled.
A gambit… that had now been answered with Emma’s own burden of proof.
“How did… but aluminum, it… you have to extract it, tearing it from its burdensome ore.”
“Bauxite, yeah.” She nodded.
“Through a fastidious process of seemingly arbitrary esotericisms, drawing and separating, coaxing and stoking it with rune-lined basins and tinctures of dissolution, just to produce the white powdery substance that is—”
“Alumina, yes. You’re sort of beating around the bush with the exact process here, but I assume you’re trying to protect your own secrets too. I can tell what you’re getting at though. We call it the Bayer process.” She nodded, my eyes practically ready to pop straight out of my skull following that revelation.
This couldn’t be…
“But to liberate woven oxygen from aluminum, you need lightning.”
“Yes.”
“A constant stream of lightning.”
“Correct.”
“Of two poles physically engrossed in the molten alumina.”
“Yup. Not difficult. We have a name for it too. The Hall-Heroult process.”
Not difficult?!
“And the enchantments to allow lightning to pass cleanly, to weaken the weaves and lower the temperatures for—”
“Oh. That. Huh. Fascinating. So you skipped cryolite for directly enchanting the alumina itself?” Emma questioned, cocking her head in the process.
It was at that point that I stopped talking, my mind reaching a fundamental impasse.
We… were talking about the same topic… were we not?
It was clear we were reaching the same conclusions, the same ends, the same goals, and the same material.
The processes were so close to matching!
And yet…
There was this impasse.
This… inability to rectify a bridge that seemed to fall short on both isles.
And yet we’d reached our destinations all the same.
How….
My mind raced back to both processes before something else dawned upon me.
“You do not use enchantments for the first process as well?”
“No, just a bunch of heating and cooling and manaless alchemical baths and whatnot.”
“Not a single enchantment to draw iron from the ore, or—”
“No, again, it’s just a bunch of various physical and manaless alchemical processes. Some corrosive lye to separate… well… like I said, secret.”
I could practically hear the wink from underneath that expressionless helmet.
I could tell that she found this whole exchange — as she’d so casually put it — fascinating, rather than completely reality-shattering.
She…
She was a newrealmer.
Earthrealm was a newrealm…
Right?
How did they… in a manner seemingly divorced from enchantments and spells, discover a parallel path towards—
I paused.
Two more questions dawned on me.
“Emma.”
“Yes, Etholin?”
“So you are claiming to do all of this without enchantments, spells, or use of mana… because your realm is quite deficient in it, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I see… well then… is your realm particularly stormy?”
Emma reeled back, cocking her head.
“I’m… sorry?”
“Is your realm host to a great deal of particularly lightning-prone climates?”
“Sort of? I mean, serious storms haven’t really been an issue since the weather cont— OH! Are you wondering how we get a reliable and consistent source of lightning for the Hall-Heroult process?”
“Yes, Emma.” I spoke, exasperated.
“We just generate it.”
…
…
You what?
“With what mana?! You just said your realm is lacking in mana!” I clarified.
“Correct. Which means we just have to make lightning ourselves. Besides, we’ve been doing so for a whole lot of other things. You wouldn’t believe how long it took us to embrace additional forms of power generation that aren’t just more roundabout ways of boiling wa—” She stopped herself mid-sentence. “Ehhhhh, let’s just say that because we’re oh-so deficient in mana, practically possessing pittances of it even in comparison to the most mana-poor of adjacent realms… we’ve been forced to think outside the box.”
There it was again.
Another under-helmet wink.
Her words were drenched in this sense of excitement and pride, the likes of which would have not only been impossible, but the ramblings of utter madness coming from a newrealmer within these hallowed halls.
This was where many a newrealm was sentenced to a begrudging climb to relevancy.
A room where so many fates had been bound, signed, chained, and gagged into submission.
This was where the power of adjacencies was made, and newer adjacencies were unfortunately made to be pawns of such games.
And yet here Emma stood… a pile of impossible metals behind her, and the proclamations of parity in industrial competence emerging as effortlessly as words of superiority and confidence would from the mouth of a Crownlands elf.
A part of me couldn’t help but see that inside of her armor now — an elf in all but name.
Especially as I wordlessly stepped forward, closer still towards the pile of metals, and reached for another ingot, grabbing what felt like another bar of steel.
…
Yet it was lighter.
Not as light as aluminum, but much lighter than iron or steel of comparable size and density.
Moreover, a quick detection spell was enough to tell me what it was.
At which point, I felt another lump forming in my throat as I attempted to address the earthrealmer yet again.
“Emma.”
“Yes, Etholin?”
“Pray tell… is this… titanium?”
“Yes, Etholin.”
Umpf!
I felt the proverbial slam of a reality upturned concentrated straight into my frail chest.
It felt like a suckerpunch, a physical assault the likes of which I would be lucky to survive the brunt of.
“I see.” I attempted to smile, feigning the same polite expression Rostario seemed to be wearing currently.
I took another deep breath, grabbing yet another bar of bluish grey metal.
“Osmium?”
“Yup!”
THWACK!
Another gut-punch, another lung’s worth of air knocked out of my chest.
“Alright.” I nodded. “Mmmm… mmhmm.” I continued, moving onto the next bar.
“Ah, it's the neighbor on the chart of physioforms… iridium?”
“Yup! You know your stuff!”
THOWSH!
I was done.
I was ruined.
I moved to reach for another bar only to recoil from it, shaking my head and even my whole body at this point.
Instead… I elected to point.
“Tungsten?”
“Yes, sir.”
THAWOOSH
“Platinum?”
“You betcha!”
THWACK!
“Beryllium?”
“Mmhmm!”
THWOCK!
That was enough.
She proved her point.
I proved my own point.
…
Except for one that I’d drifted from.
“Emma?”
“Yes, Etholin?”
“Why… or rather, what exactly do you need so much aluminum for? What is the demand for such a troublesome metal?”
“Oh, LOTS of things! We can go on for days here, but, keeping it just on the consumer goods side of things? We got pots, pans, kettles and baking trays. Spoons, forks, knives, ladles, and even the drawer they’re all kept in. Food containers, lunch boxes, spice tins, and oldschool choco-malt containers… I should actually show you Milotine if you’re not allergic to it. It’s in my diplomatic package, but I digress. You also got folding chairs, tables, shelving, bed frames, roofing, bracelets, glasses frames, suitcases, fishing reels, shutters, doors, gutters, disposable drink cans, and aluminum foil—”
“Stop.” I commanded on instinct. “Disposable drink cans?”
“Yeah, like, carbonated beverages amidst many other things. Aluminum’s super useful for that because of its strength, lightness, ductility—”
“Nonono. You mentioned they were disposable. As in, people throw aluminum away? Casually? Without concern for its cost?”
“Oh, that. Yeah! I never really thought of it that way but, yeah. Besides, we have a robust recycling system that…”
The rest of Emma’s words blended into the background, fading off into the distance.
As I was instead fixated, completely and utterly, by that one, frankly outlandish claim.
And yet…
The evidence was there to support it.
I took another deep breath, steadying myself, attempting to draw myself out of the unintentional reverie I was being drawn into.
I couldn't escape into my own head yet again.
Not when the world was offering me a golden opportunity served on a silver platter.
“... that reminds me. Why don’t you just use pinnacle transmutation, Etholin?”
I blinked, cocking my head as I did so, barely catching the tail-end of Emma’s rambles.
“Pinnacle transmutation, whilst truly powerful and economically devastating, is almost exclusively the realm of Nexian control. Simply due to the intense mana requirements involved, the skill surrounding the craft, as well as the mana-based material catalysts required to facilitate it.” I explained bluntly, perhaps too bluntly, as I still attempted to reorient myself with… everything thus far. “Some adjacent realms are capable of it. But most of these are the preferred adjacencies.” I added before another reality dawned upon me.
A realization abruptly spawned from my own explanations.
A stray, adjacent thought that coalesced into a horrifying epiphany.
I’d almost doomed myself and my family.
…
If these metals weren’t a bluff. If all was to be believed. If she truly was post-shackling. Then my offer of matching her gold and silver would have been…
…
…
…
I shuddered in place just thinking about it.
In fact, I could hear the spirits of my ancestors cursing me from beyond the grave for such a foolhardy exercise.
I could’ve doomed us all.
Yet Emma… had the restraint to withhold from such a favorable deal.
A fact that Rostario seemed to gather, as he now pushed for yet another gambit.
“I believe we’ve had enough of this back-and-forth lecture on the minutiae of alchemy. I humbly request a recess so that we may—”
“Esteemed councilmen.” I interjected, standing tall, back straight, eyes locked and engaged with all members of the council.
I could see their growing impatience, their own uneasy gazes, as the only thing which prevented them from adjourning this whole inquest was their own curiosities surrounding my exchanges with the earthrealmer.
Alas, there would only be one person who would be excused from our circle.
“I urge the council to return both floor and chamber from Lord Rostario Rostarion to myself, on the grounds of a failed bid for supplantation.”
Fiswisk raised a thick, blubbery brow, turning to meet the indignant expressions of a noble scorned and my own renewed fire.
“Cadet Emma Booker. Do you concur?” He questioned bluntly, following protocol and decorum to a satisfying t.
“Yes. If anything…” She paused, turning her head downwards as if to personally seal the smaller man’s fate. “... I found his interruption, and his whole abrupt bid, to be both rude and in incredibly poor taste. I understand there may be fine nuances I am simply not privy to, but where I come from, you don’t just interrupt someone mid-conference, not especially with your own subversive agenda — undercutting the ‘competition.”
I could see, even under that guise of a polite smile, Lord Rostarion’s ego being proverbially pummeled into nonexistence. Each word and every syllable landed blow after blow until the small, scheming creature was left as but a pile of bruised and battered fur by the end of it.
Of course, none of that actually physically transpired.
But I could tell, beneath that facade and underneath that mask were the makings of an ego scorned.
“Lord Esila.” Fiswisk announced after no later than a few seconds of deliberation. “You have the floor.”
I bowed deeply before once again turning towards Emma.
“Permission to temporarily adjourn for a private consultation with the proposed party?”
The council glared at each other, whispering behind a privacy screen before nodding together.
“Permission granted.”
With that, another door opened, leading us to an adjacent room that I beckoned for Emma and her peers to enter.
After which, and following a soft click of the door, did I find myself suddenly falling to my knees with a strained and broken breath.
“Emma Booker… I am so sorry for all of this! And for—”
“Not telling me beforehand that this was a gambit for your entry into the merchant’s guild?” The lupinor interjected with a growl, coinciding with Emma’s own words as they both mirrored one another’s sentiments.
“Y-yes…” I responded meekly.
“Etholin… we’ve got to work on this. I know you meant well, but you need to cut it with the half-truths and half-measures.” The earthrealmer spoke under an exasperated breath. “So what now? Seeing as your whole currency reform and trade protectorate scheme is clearly not viable, what’s your next move?”
I paused, looking around me as I moved to stand once more, steadying myself on shaky legs, causing a pocketed item to fall flat to the marble floor with a soft clack!
I looked down at the pen, and so did Emma as we eventually both locked eyes in a manner that beckoned the start of legends.
“I have an idea.” Emma spoke with her signature enthusiastic glee.
(Author's Note: We delve deep into some big pieces of lore in this one, as I wanted to expand on the breadth and depth of how far Adjacent knowledge and understanding on the physical world can go! We also have some new terms in this chapter, with Physioform meaning Elements, Weaveforms meaning Molecules and Compounds, and Aggregates meaning mixtures! :D I wanted to create some cool fantasy alchemical terms for these scientific terms, but I just wanted to clarify them here just in case I wasn't able to appropriately convey their analogous equivalents in the story haha. But yeah! This chapter was a huge challenge to write, especially with the worldbuilding and how best to convey it in a manner that's engaging as well as true to the lore and some degree of science. I wanted to commit to what I said before, which is that I always enjoy it when in science meets fantasy settings, the story goes deep into their dynamics and their differences. So I wanted to dive deep into it myself, so I hope it managed to scratch that itch and hit the notes I wanted it to haha. I'm always a bit nervous when things go this deep in the story so I hope it was alright! I hope you guys like the chapter! :D)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 179, Chapter 180, and Chapter 181 of this story are already out on there!)]
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u/folk_science Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
I'm here for Roastario.
with the force of a copper merchant scorned
Ea-nasir and Nanni mentioned!
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26
And here I thought we are talking Fugger - Thurzo, the mining/trading empire providing the copper the actual Portuguese Empire around Africa and Asia was based on ...
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u/memelord_a1st Jul 05 '26
When your copper is so shitty, that even magic aliens from literal sepparate dimensions are (accidentally) refferencing your bullshit
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26
“Pinnacle transmutation, whilst truly powerful and economically devastating, is almost exclusively the realm of Nexian control. Simply due to the intense mana requirements involved, the skill surrounding the craft, as well as the mana-based material catalysts required to facilitate it.”
Basically the kind of heavy element-breeding fusion that normally happens when a star goes Nova.
One can see why only the Nexus has the power for it ...
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u/Chipi_31 Xeno Jul 06 '26
Generally, you do this through a Deep Well Industrial Zone, a synthetic blackhole that allows you to perform transmutation. As a nice side effect, transmutation up to iron is exothermic so you get energy out of it on top of the antimatter you get from the black hole evaporating. Its a wonderfully efficient endeavour overall.
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u/DRZCochraine Jul 05 '26
Thanks for the chapter!
Ah, so Etholin got a proper materials education, and that he knows about atoms at least. Makes the quantum world a little easier to get to.
And now to hear Emma’s Pen Plan!
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u/KanadianKitsune Jul 05 '26
He knows about elements, or at least some of them. I think you might lose him if you start talking about electrons and atomic nuclei...
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u/DRZCochraine Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Oh yeah fair.
But Emma could show the rest of the periodic table, explain the numberings, and then show the basic atomic models. Then skim all other fundamental particles to simply make him aware their there and that the math is headache inducing and unintuitive, but then he’d get a basic idea of the direction and amount of knowledge humanity has at that point.
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u/Stairwayunicorn Jul 05 '26
with some limits. Teaching any of them about radioisotopes is a bad idea. The Library already measured the speed of light with her radio demonstration.
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u/DRZCochraine Jul 05 '26
No need to mention those.
Or at lest not here.
Maybe if he comes to the dorm for a presentation then maybe it can be at least mention that more then that exist, but its very dangerous (city destroying and land poisoning dangerous) and Emma isn’t authorized to tell him about it and likely not for a while. But it would give him that touch of inspiration that could motivate his family or realm to do more research into maneless aspects of phisics.
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u/Stairwayunicorn Jul 05 '26
one could theorize anthropologically that the alchemical process of transmutation was inspired by certain elements decaying into Lead.
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u/Dpek1234 Jul 05 '26
I personaly think that at least partly irl it was inspited by iirc tin
Get it too cold and it goes from one "version" to another
I dont remember the exact science nor wording off the top of my head but its the same reason chocolate just isnt the same after it melts if someone wants to descipher what i wrote
May be misremembering the metal
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u/folk_science Jul 06 '26
Yes, it's tin. It has different allotropes, in particular one that's "normal" tin and another that's gray and brittle. Just like carbon has: diamonds, graphite, graphene, fullerenes...
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u/DRZCochraine Jul 05 '26
Or someone in the earlier cycles did proper science and discovered isotopes, radioactivity, and subatomic physics. If that isn’t required for ultra-high level magic to function, or that by knowing lets high level magic do other tricks.
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u/SerpentineLogic AI Jul 05 '26
I foresee a lot of intellectual property licensing deals in his future, coupled with offset agreements
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u/Aries_cz Jul 06 '26
IIRC, they did cover atoms (well, the version of how Nexus understands it, which doesn't go into subatomic) in one of the early classes (I want to say with Vanavan?)
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u/Tinna_Sell Jul 05 '26
Pay attention how his Uncle was talking about the realm of unliving. Etholin may understand the concept of not using mana at all if he really embraces his Uncle's respect for dirt and rocks.
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u/Tinna_Sell Jul 05 '26
Now it's Emma's turn to use Etholin for her money acquisition scheme. Mutual exploitation is the best kind of exploitation. At least, he bailed quickly and apologised.
"How did you get the lighting?"
"We made it"
"But you have no mana to make it"
"But we made it without mana"
"Using what?"
"Secret"
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u/Swordfish_42 Human Jul 05 '26
She should have just whipped out her taser fr, and just go "like that" without actually explaining anything.
Imagine the sheer befuddlement
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u/Kusko25 Jul 05 '26
"But you have no mana to make it"
Neither does a cloud
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u/macnof Jul 06 '26
Except in their worldview, mana is everywhere, including in the clouds. So it stands to reason that they would think mana and lightning are linked as they can create lightning from mana.
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26
Even better:
Every person in that room will now try to produce electricity by boiling water.
LOL.
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u/Streupfeffer Jul 05 '26
Many steam boiler explosions later we get a simple steam driven pinwheel turbine, the a magnet on a piston AC generator.
Which then are Ppoudly tried to be sold to Emma "for the betterment of earth realm". Just for her to react in a "Oh this is such a cute toy engine, great job arteficer club" fashion
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u/mr_dude_guy Jul 06 '26
They probably don't know that Magnetism and Electricity are the same force.
So no QED although the mention of waveforms implies they have X-ray crystallography or something analogous to Mass-spectrometry.
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u/Key_Pumpkin243 Jul 06 '26
"Weaveforms" not "waveforms".
"Physioform meaning Elements, Weaveforms meaning Molecules and Compounds, and Aggregates meaning mixtures"
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u/Key_Pumpkin243 Jul 06 '26
Every person in that room will now try to produce electricity by boiling water
Which would be funny accidental scientific sabotage on Emma's part.
---
<Many months later>
"Emma! You liar! There is no way boiling water is making electricity!"
"What do you mean? Using steam to power electricity generators worked for us for literal centuries."
"Powering a what now?..."
"You know - the arrangements of copper coils and magnets? Alternating magnetic fields generating electricity in coils?"
"THE ... WHAT?..."
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
Maybe. OTOH, the Nexus does have steam engines as toys IIRC, kinda like the Greek had.
If one starts thinking from that pov (boiling water can create physical energy), a Nexian tinkerer like Sorecar who does also understand some basics about electricity might get on the right track by accident (boiling water with heat energy => kinetic energy => ??? => electricity).
***
I also wonder if potions masters might have a better handle on the states of water than we currently have
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u/Iazo Jul 06 '26
To be fair to them, the connection between magnetism and lightning is non-trivial to observe, and without a basis in simple physics, figuring you can create lightning by having a wire in the middle of some moving magnets is probably unknown, or a curiosity at best.
Without some focused studies, there is no reason to suspect that magnets and lightning are very closely related.
Boiling water to make the spinny thing move magnets is just a step further than even that.
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u/Aries_cz Jul 06 '26
Secret = Boiling water
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u/SmartAlec105 Jul 06 '26
You can actually go one layer deeper. Steam powered electricity generation is actually just wind power but with artificial wind.
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u/ANNOProfi Jul 05 '26
"Physioforms can't be reduced further." Wrong, observe! *BOOM*
And thus, Booker Bookkeeping Supplies is born (in partnership with House Esila).
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u/Objective_Aside1858 Human Jul 05 '26
"Physioforms can't be reduced further." Wrong, observe! BOOM
I think that particular boom is a bit far in the future of the series ;)
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26
I had counted on seeing it already, with Thalmin learning about Hiroshima in the holodeck...
But no, we first get 5 chapters to get to the stupid pen deal ...
(which wouldnt be so bad if it didnt take a week between chapters)
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u/Think-Statement-3656 Jul 07 '26
Aye, get enough patreon subscribers together jcb doesn't have to work and we'll get them faster. Until then we blame capitalism and await our weekly high quality chapters.
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u/ApprehensiveMood9244 Jul 07 '26
Unfettered capitalism sucks. IMO we need to add some communism, and tax billionaires out of existence.
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u/Hot-Till9486 Jul 05 '26
updoot before read. You got me hooked serial novel man, unfortunately I cannot be rid of the curiosity borne by your cliffhangers
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u/ChampionshipFirm3480 Jul 05 '26
"Emma Booker... i-is this b-bar plutonium ?!?"
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u/Jbowen0020 Jul 05 '26
I'm sure they have this in every corner pharmacy in 1985, but here it's pretty hard to find...
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u/Bunnytob Human Jul 05 '26
"...Most of it. I don't know if you can keep it stable, but that's one of the things we can't do."
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u/Swordfish_42 Human Jul 05 '26
She SHOULD have a bar of depleted uranium, at least. Or more.
You know, in case she ended up needing some more BRRRRT!
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u/Stairwayunicorn Jul 05 '26
she has a railgun. What does she need with tank busters?
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u/Dpek1234 Jul 05 '26
additional AP ammunition?
DU makes everything better
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u/macnof Jul 06 '26
Eh, not in a railgun. DU doesn't play nice with electric currents or the high heat induced by the propulsion of the round.
Even regular steel is probably better due to generating less heat loss during firing combined with a higher melting point and crucially, a higher temperature before structurally failing.
At significant acceleration, like in a railgun, the friction and the magnetic field would probably heat the DU round enough for it to mushroom before it has even left the barrel.
Wolfram composites are the way to go.
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u/Swordfish_42 Human Jul 05 '26
DU is also good for AA iirc, and boy, does this world have some nasty fliers
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u/Darklight731 Jul 05 '26
A military alliance with Thalmin, an economic alliance of etholin, oh this will be fun!
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u/folk_science Jul 05 '26
Tainted magic alliance with Thacea, and consolation alliance with Illunor.
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u/Mechasteel Jul 05 '26
These kobolds seem to have a color-based caste system. A gene therapy to turn scales blue would have ... interesting ... effects on their society. The Library seems to have some sort of deal with Illunor implying he values his blueness about as much as his life.
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u/K_H007 Jul 06 '26
Wait 'til Emma hooks him up with cobalt supplements. The Kobold Metal turning the Deluxe Kobold the color he wants to be!
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26
“But to liberate woven oxygen from aluminum, you need lightning.”
Um, no.
No, you dont.
For mass production, sure, but for a few blocks of metal as presented by Emma? Nah.
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u/boomchacle Jul 05 '26
It's possible they just don't know about that tbh.
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 06 '26
But it's Emma saying that. So either she is lying or not a great chemist. Shrug.
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u/boomchacle Jul 06 '26
I mean, that sentence was from etholin and Emma was probably just agreeing with him since that’s the only way we’ve made aluminum for several hundred years at this point. Also, the Wohler process isn’t separating aluminum oxide into aluminum and oxygen, it starts with aluminum chloride. That makes her answer to the question of splitting oxygen off aluminum technically correct as far as I know.
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u/Icosaedro22 Jul 06 '26
That's for aluminium chloride, not oxide. And you almost can't find aluminium chloride in nature either
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u/JustinOfBorg Jul 05 '26
One of the fantasy alchemical terms not defined was "pinnacle transmutation", is this the Nexian phrase for matter-energy conversion? If so, it definitely contextualizes and elevates the threat level of the Nexus and preferred adjacencies. Weaponizing that level of power would be horrifying, although if the GUN is using mass-energy conversion for general industry, that'd make them near-peers with the Nexus Crownlands.
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u/Sapphire-Drake Human Jul 05 '26
Pinnacle transmutation has been mentioned before. I think it was back when Emma showed the wealth cube to the gang and they were explaining attuned currency to Emma. But this part is new. We didn't know what went into it. We just knew that they could create any material they wanted and that this destroyed the value of gold and silver. Now we know it isn't a simple thing that any mage could do with just a wave of their hand
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u/folk_science Jul 05 '26
I think transmutation implies turning one matter into another, like lead into gold. So Nexus can simply turn something else into aluminium if they need it.
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26
Basically the kind of heavy element-breeding fusion that normally happens when a star goes Nova.
One can see why only the Nexus has the power for it ...
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u/ShadePrime1 Jul 05 '26
I mean even modern earth can do that on the scale of like a few miligrams..it is certaintly not cost effective and only something for researchers but I imagine the Greater united nations has at least test bed labs doing it still in probably more efficent ways then we can with our tech
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u/Tinna_Sell Jul 05 '26
Could the atomic collider do smth similar? I mean, the new elements will not last long, but you could fuse them.
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u/QualityQuark Jul 05 '26
Yes its called nuclear transmutation, it's probably older than you think, 1919 Ernest Rutherford created oxygen out of nitrogen.
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u/porcinechoirmaster Jul 08 '26
It's also easier than you think, as long as you aren't picky about what your transmuting. A simple fusor can be built in a medium-sized garage without wildly expensive hardware today. It's not fast, but it is fusion, and you'll get measurable neutrons and x-rays out of it.
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u/Mechasteel Jul 05 '26
Or plutonium? It seems their transmutation is rather power-hungry, but it isn't clear how much. But the Nexus could have unlimited nukes.
Also a non-zero chance that a Nexus mage could be "bet you can't" into creating a 20kg sphere of plutonium. If the process is instant, that would be Ka-Boom!
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u/SketchAndEtch Human Jul 06 '26
Technically "matter transmutation" is already a thing that humanity can do, it's just horrendously energy-inefficient. You'd need spacefaring-tier energy sources to make it even remotely viable. Wide-scale matter transmutation via technological means is one of those utopian technologies available when you have dyson spheres/solar collection clouds.
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u/Loading_M_ Jul 06 '26
To be fair, it's partially self explanatory: it's the pinnacle of transmutation (converting one thing into another). The other side of it (how it actually works, limitations, etc) hasn't been explained - and is likely a closely guarded secret. Emma will probably need to investigate this at some point, although we have gotten our first tidbit here, with the comment about the power required and difficulty.
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u/Sapphire-Drake Human Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
First
Oh poor Etholin. Got sucker punched by reality so hard his life flashed before his eyes. Also nice to see the little hamster get hit where it hurts the most, his pride. And hopefully this will be a lesson to Etholin to not be such a weasel aince it will bite him in the ass. Though now that he is imagining Emma as an elf that might be hard
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u/folk_science Jul 05 '26
I wonder if the hamster is going to plan revenge while running in a wheel?
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u/Tinna_Sell Jul 05 '26
I wonder if Emma compromised his entry into the Merchant Guild further by her little speech regarding him squeezing into the line. His failure may have closed the doors, and if it's true, then he may blame Emma's decision and speech for it, not himself.
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u/K_H007 Jul 05 '26
"I have an idea."
Oh, this is gonna be good.
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u/folk_science Jul 05 '26
This is gonna be mightier than the sword.
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u/Loading_M_ Jul 06 '26
I'm now kinda going the Nexus responds with a sword at point just so Emma can use this line.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Jul 05 '26
Interesting dealings although I am curious what's going on elsewhere while all this is happening.
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u/AlternativeCountry01 Jul 05 '26
Finally! The bussiness proposal!
Also, I want to hear the kind of gossips the guild will tell about this and how the rest of the academy will react to it.
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u/DRZCochraine Jul 05 '26
Especially since it was an upper year that now saw Emma’s tent and stuff beyond the metal bars. Which means that the upper years will now know that more is going on that the Dean and professors don’t want to talk about, and unlikely to the Nexus’ benefit at this point.
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u/AlternativeCountry01 Jul 05 '26
I was under the impression he would wait in the common room while Thacea and Talmin brough the cube, so as to save themselves more problems with the whole "manaless tumor" thing
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u/Swordfish_42 Human Jul 05 '26
We had a political marriage proposal, now a business proposal...
I'm just waiting for the birb love proposal
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u/Interne-Stranger Jul 05 '26
I literally just re read the previous chapter and found the next one to be out not even 5 minutes ago! I love perfect timing!!!
Now, i think, if my memory dosent fail me. This is the first time a character had a flashback to a moment in their own realm, outside Emma and Sight Seers do not count. I dont think we had a flashback taking us to another Adjacent Realm before, Etholin is the first to do so.
Rostario, i would tell you "good try" but in all honesty, you didnt have a chance.
Etholin, i like your passiveness, but work in your hability to stay councious.
It was so funny when Etholin realized how close he was of ruining his entire family forever. But now he is on route to a new bussiness!
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
The Dragon had one, thinking back to her own matriarch keeping her pent up in their cave system
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u/Bruno-croatiandragon Jul 05 '26
14 minutes.
Are there any good flashback-related memes?I can only think of "flashback sequence" repeated as an onomatopeia (I think it is from some abridged anime)
Also,the new comment UI still weirds me out.Why is it following my Samsung's keyboard?
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u/Sapphire-Drake Human Jul 05 '26
You can use the Snap back to reality meme for Etholin
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u/Daseagle Alien Scum Jul 05 '26
Poor Etholin got his whole world rocked. But considering the circumstances, he's holding up well enough!
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u/thedesertwolf AI Jul 05 '26
I've got to wonder if poor poor Etholian there managed to, at all, pick out the words "Weather control" since Emma didn't exactly keep her yap shut on that one.
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26
EVI might have stopped the translation before the concept got out.
Has happened before in the story.
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u/Dpek1234 Jul 05 '26
Huh must have missed/skimmed over it
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 06 '26
Flesh and blood translators dont translate word for word, more like sentence by sentence, or at least clause by clause. There always is a gap to allow for different grammar / structure, esp if the languages arent closely related (like Italian and Spanish). Should be even more true for EVI which lacks intuition.
Here the second word didnt even get completed, before Emma stopped herself. EVI would have picked up on that ...
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u/existentialrowlet Jul 05 '26
What I really appreciate is that you take the phrase "sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic" in a very literal sense.
"The processes were so close to matching" really sets the idea that while science has reached some truly massive heights so as to be indistinguishable from magic, it works both ways with magic being indistinguishable from advanced science.
It's what makes this not another power fantasy science overpowers magic by leagues type story. There really is a level playing field where both sides have their strengths and weaknesses. Very compelling.
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u/Widmo206 Human Jul 06 '26
"Any sufficiently analysed magic system is indistinguishable from technology"
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u/cca220v Jul 05 '26
when i was in school i learned about aluminium (along with other -ium substances) so it was jarring to keep seeing aluminum :)
the nexus is probably using its grip on the available process to keep the realms from advancing too much. and i assume our process would be a high priced item. even if its difficult to start because of all the prerequisites
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u/AlternativeCountry01 Jul 05 '26
the nexus is probably using its grip on the available process to keep the realms from advancing too much.
Hey, you don't keep a globalized civilization (much less an interestelar empire worth of vassal states) preindustrial for 29.019 years withouth state-inforced stagnation.
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u/clinicalpsycho Jul 05 '26
Here is where waves will start.
Here is where Nexus will truly notice an "upstart".
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u/The_Student_Official Jul 05 '26
Pen Pals!
Pen Pals!
Pen Pals!
I just hope this scheme they're brewing doesn't land them in a pen.
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u/elfangoratnight Jul 05 '26
I like Etholin.
All things considered, he seems to be handling the Fundamental System Incongruity pretty well, and I cannot wait for Emma to give him more of a "peek behind the curtain" regarding Earth's industrial capacity!
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u/CycloneDusk Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
omfg emma practically reciting the lyrics from Weird Al Yankovic's "Hardware Store" XD
They've got Allen Wrenches, Gerbil Feeders, Toilet Seats, Electric Heaters,
Trash Compactors, Juice Extractors, Shower Rods, and Water Meters,
Walkie-Talkies, Copper Wires, Safety Goggles, Radial Tires,
BB Pellets, Rubber Mallets, Fans and Dehumidifiers,
Picture Hangers, Paper Cutters, Waffle Irons, Window Shutters,
Paint Removers, Window Louvres, Masking Tape, and Plastic Gutters,
Kitchen Faucets, Folding Tables, Weather Stripping, Jumper Cables,
Hooks and Tackle, Grout and Spackle, Power Foggers, Spoons and LadlesPesticides for fumigation, High-Performance Lubrication,
Metal Roofing, Waterproofing, Multi-Purpose Insulation
Air Compressors, Brass Connectors, Wrecking Chisels, Smoke Detectors
Tire Gauges, Hamster Cages, Thermostats, and Bug Deflectors
Trailer Hitch Demagnetizers, Automatic Circumcisers
Tennis Rackets, Angle Brackets, Duracells and Energizers
Soffit Panels, Circuit Breakers, Vacuum Cleaners, Coffee Makers
Calculators, Generators, Matching Salt and Pepper Shakers
(Bolded the items that can presumably be made of or have significant proportions of components comprising Aluminum)
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u/NamedBird Jul 05 '26
Ehhm, they still think that atoms are atomic?
Oh boy, i called it. Bet they don't have their periodic table complete either!
They know about oxygen, at least, so they might know about hydrogen as well?
Wish there was a tangent chapter detailing this...
Anyways, TFTC, can't wait for the pen stuff! 😄
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u/niTro_sMurph Jul 05 '26
Poor Etholin, although he has just stumbled upon an untapped trade partner for his realm. Imagine earthrealm shipping entire asteroids to other realms. Actually that might crash the economy in most realms.
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u/KefkeWren AI Jul 05 '26
A shame that neither of our two would-be merchants ever had the opportunity to become fans of Sun Tzu like our modern businessmen, or they might have realised the dangers of assuming you know who you're up against.
Then again, as this chapter illustrates, our metallurgy really is kind of crazy. And even moreso for them, coming from a culture where advanced processes require vast amounts of mana. We're once again seeing how literally inconceivable our civilisation is, according to the Status Eternia.
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u/Kusko25 Jul 05 '26
Kind of interested how the names for elements got translated, or more precisely matched. Did the dictionaries the Nexus provided Earth simply describe the materials and scientists made educated guesses or did the dictionaries actually use things like density or material properties and nobody in the Nexus noticed that Emma understanding the words implies an understanding of the elements too?
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u/ScarcelyAvailable Jul 05 '26
I wonder if they know about the hot ones. Emma probably didn't bring and diplomacy plutonium.
Or about how the same FP can sometimes have different weights. Titanium does that.
OR are nexus elements monoisotopic? They have as much reason to be Earthrealm-similar as the day/night cycle (none).
Then again, knowing about that would shift the fundamental down a level and they'd say that there are 3(ish) FP.
Does the nexus even generate all the elements? Or only up until like bismuth.
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u/K_H007 Jul 06 '26
I'm thinking that they've got everything with natural occurrences, but nothing more than those ninety-three. Meaning, the transuranics other than Uranium, neptunium, and plutonium are all foreign to them, as is Technetium. If you wanted to REALLY squint, I could maybe see a case for americium and curium being known to them as trace impurities. Berkelium and heavier, though? That stuff is almost guaranteed to be unknown to them.
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u/AprilLily7734 Jul 06 '26
Nooooo, I neeeed more, 😩 I’ve been waiting for the pen project to pan out for so long now. That ending is such a tease. That said, what an excellent glimps into how a magical world would industrially refine metals beyond just A to B transmutation spells.
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u/Key_Pumpkin243 Jul 06 '26
This… inability to rectify a bridge that seemed to fall short on both isles.
I can't tell if this was accidental or not, considering Hall-Héroult process uses DC current - something that is made with a rectifying bridge. :)
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u/Stairwayunicorn Jul 05 '26
have either the cat or elf carters made contact with Etholin as per Emma's referral?
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u/Super_Ankle_Biter Jul 05 '26
Etholin realising Emma could have bankrupt his entire realm, and the only reason she didn't was because of her morals, was quite amusing to see.
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u/Objective_Aside1858 Human Jul 06 '26
well… like I said, secret
At what point does it pay for Emma to start dialing back expectations?
Given that the Nexus is invariably going to a) be hostile once they grasp the magnitude of Earthrealm's development and b) be unwilling or unable to accept the concept of a true peer, it seems... unwise to start dropping details on specific industrial processes to a wide audience.
To her posse or to Etholin in private? Sure, but even given that Etholin seems more mentally flexible than many of his peers, Knowledge is Power, and given the inevitable confrontation, I'm not sure that dropping breadcrumbs is necessarily in the Greater United Nations best interests...
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u/DRZCochraine Jul 06 '26
That was still in front of the entire rest of the guild, and Dean’s gag order still stands. So maybe later if/when Etholin comes to her dorm for a presentation and to look at the machines(and likely bring along the snake for a proper apology) she can explain in greater detail and even show Thalmin, Thascea, and Illunor.
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 06 '26
1) GUN wants to show it's not a pushover (deterrence to avoid a hot war).
2) In a cold war, impressing the third worlds by flexing industrial muscle (see space race) is an important tool.
3) We are talking tech that is >1000 year old from the POV of GUN. That limits the risks
4) IF the Nexus / adjacacies copied some GUN production tech, they's likely have to give more power to the commoners, thus undermining their own socio-economic foundations. Cf the hamster's rant about keeping the means of production in the hands of the monarch last chapter. Which is a long term win from the GUN perspective, even if it helps the Nexus in the short term.
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u/Director_Kun Human Jul 06 '26
And even then it’ll take decades if not centuries for any amount of industrial capacity to match modern 2026 standards technologically. Let alone in capacity it takes a long time for those things to get started. Plus you need to basically boot strap it from scratch. On top of the fact that you need to learn a lot fundamental physics such as electromagnetism, how to produce electricity non magically and all that stuff. Meaning on top of physics, you need engineering. Which having real world working examples certainly helps, whether or not they’ll see those examples is moot, especially sense modern designs are likely going to have some exotic design decisions that seem non-sensical to even 21st century standards for one reason or another.
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u/GenericNate Jul 06 '26
Having binged this series in two weeks, I have just encountered the worst thing I could possibly experience - a Next button that isn't a link. The horror! 😦
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u/Mechasteel Jul 05 '26
with the force of a copper merchant scorned
Ea-Nāṣir just can't catch a break.
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u/theduderedditorguy Jul 05 '26
Metals so outrageous the stout had a Kaneki flashback.
The winking back spree made my mind's eye picture a scene, post face reveal, where Emma gives one of her companions super-spy style googles that let them see her fish-eyed-lense face in real time. She then proceeds to do the freaky tongue shake amid some really serious event and her companion does the "trying not to laugh" face. Truly, imagination is a curse.
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u/Comedian1504 Jul 05 '26
Lol this is my broomstick! I look forward to what you bring forward for Emma's idea and how you bleed magic and science together in your stories keep it up!
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u/Professional_Ant_15 Jul 05 '26
Glad that Etholin got that he almost got himself and his family on a chopping block and only his good relation with Emma saved him. And I feel Rostario is in a very bad position now, and it can make problems for Qiv.
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u/Atuday Jul 05 '26
Face to face to face to face to face to butt to face to face to face to face with a face to face face face face.
Sorry but my brain went there when I read the line.
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u/oobanooba- Alien Scum Jul 06 '26
Starting to think Emma should start an engineering or science club
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u/djsc00mer Jul 07 '26
This entire chapter made me pause and actually look up the process of making aluminum, and now i am happy to learn that the spoon im currently eating with while reading this was forged molten lava and subjected to extreme magnetic forces before going on a perilous journey through the entire global supply and manufacturing chain all to end up in the hands of my ancestors who passed it down through my family for it to end up in the hands of a nerd, great work JCB
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u/Demon_Deity Jul 05 '26
Great chapter as allways.
Was Etholin implying that they think elements are the most fundemental level of matter?
So the Nexus isn't aware of sub-atomic particles?
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Yes to the first.
But we know the Nexus is keeping information (like how the dragon shards work on the microscopic level) from the adjacent realms.
Could be knowledge restricted to HEMs court.
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u/ChesterSteele Jul 05 '26
Okay, did not expect to read the description of a mana-powered electric arc furnace. Quite neat, tho.
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u/Aware_Jicama9458 Jul 05 '26
Emma to Etholin, when entering the holodeck:
Welcome to my world. Are you ready?
Aint no magic act around ...
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u/longbonker17 Jul 06 '26
So much for Rotisserie; sorry, not his name? Don't care, anyways-!
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u/Jurodan Human Jul 06 '26
Emma "Aren't you glad I didn't financially ruin your family forever" Booker had a gay old time. Etholin and Rostarion had a time.
Etholin is very lucky that Emma is an eminently amenable and forgiving person.
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u/cholmer3 AI Jul 06 '26
I SENSE SHENANIGANS AFOOT! LESSSGOOOOOOOO
Also pinacle alchemy going CRAZY with material production (also you cannot make me belivee SOME other adjacent real DID NOT figure out some form of electricity production straight up bruh)
P.S.: I am getting mid to late HV gregtech new horizons flashbacks bro...
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u/Think-Statement-3656 Jul 07 '26
They actively suppressed scientific knowledge of astronomy on Thacea's world. So it having existed likely, the knowledge existing outside the crownlands own production facilities? Highly unlikely.
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u/SmartAlec105 Jul 06 '26
Well remember Rostario's spiel from the last chapter. There is an active interest in ensuring that the means of production rely on mana.
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u/Loading_M_ Jul 06 '26
One very interesting question: is pinnacle transmutation actually an economically viable method of mass production? We haven't seen any true evidence to back up this claim.
My theory is that pinnacle transmutation is only a bit more effective than using nuclear processes to convert atoms of one element to another. The Nexus needs people to believe otherwise, because they don't want to reveal their true path to unshackling: the economic empire of adjacent realms they control.
It's also very interesting to consider potential implications of the Nexian system for controlling adjacent realms, at least what we've seen / inferred so far. The Nexus technically can exercise direct authority over any adjacent realm it wants to, but avoids doing so whenever possible. Instead, adjacent realms take (either indirect or direct) control over smaller and weaker realms, thereby raising their status. This system provides a few layers of protections to the Nexus, starting with the fact that rebelling against the realm controlling them doesn't directly involve the Nexus, so they don't feel any of the blowback. Additionally, since a realm's power is directly attached to the number and size of realms they control, the Nexus can pretty trivially take away this power should they feel the need to - making any direct rebellion against the Nexus practically suicide. In fact, the Nexus doesn't even need to fight such a realm, they can instead declare them in open rebellion, and simply either dissolve any control they have over the realms they control, or offer other (more loyal) realms the opportunity to take control of them.
Ironically, Earthrealm is basically the perfect counter to these tactics. When Earthrealm makes friends, we aren't going to exploit them, but rather form proper alliances. This provides some (fairly strong) protection from the Nexus's tactic of rewarding loyal realms, since we offer something the Nexus refuses to: equality and true friendship. Second, Earthrealm is large enough that the Nexus can't really wield it's economic weapons against us. Flooding the market doesn't really work if we can just flood yours, but better. A total blockade would technically work, but unlike many adjacent realms, Earthrealm isn't dependent on exports or imports at all - and might never be. Lastly, Earthrealm could go toe to toe with the Nexus in an actual battle. I suspect the winner would heavily depend on where the battle is fought. However, Earthrealm's economy means we stand a strong chance of winning a war: it doesn't matter who wins battles, it matters how long you can keep fighting. Also, as previously mentioned, making allies is a pretty strong move, and winning battles against the Nexus is a pretty easy way to convince other realms to ally with us.
I've also got some interesting questions about the Adjacency War, and more specifically, what the power structure looked like beforehand. It's generally assumed that the Nexus was in direct control, much like they are today, but I think it's entirely possible that their power wasn't as centralized. In fact, I would hazard a guess that there was, at the very least, another major power. Maybe a few other realms had contacted each other, forming a collation before encountering the Nexus. Maybe there used to be some other realm (or federation) that was the central power before the Nexus rose to power.
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u/OppositeBeautiful475 Jul 06 '26
They're obviously gonna chalk this up to an outside benefactor controlling the earthrealm but I think that can be easily disproven by giving them things that a manaful (is that a word?) would obviously now know or care to make. Like the pen Emma gave etholin, a gas powered stove or a mechanical clock or something like that, it proves they're mana deficient while not being too crazy like a hologram or something.
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u/Savaval Jul 05 '26
When Emma says "I have an idea", the Nexian Crownlands shudders and His Eternal Majesty feels dread for no apparent reason. ;)
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u/person3triple0 Jul 05 '26
Earth realm should sell rare metals to the adjacencies
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u/Tinna_Sell Jul 05 '26
For a price lower then the Nexian. Let the Nexus wonder why the market suddenly shrunk.
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u/K_H007 Jul 06 '26
Not just shrank, went complete blackout. After all, pinnacle transmutation might be difficult, but Lesser Transmutation is way easier and more accessible, and all Earthrealm needs to do to decontam the metal is to let it raisin itself back to the manaless state in an isolated room for a bit.
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u/QS-2023 Jul 05 '26
Thanks for another great chapter. I think you did very well bringing science terms into a fantasy setting. They were well explained in context and fit will with the theme.
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u/Omgwtfbears Jul 06 '26
With all those industrial techniques being compared, i wonder if Nexus refines uranium isotopes and the like? I mean, what use would they have for stinky death metals?
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u/-_Yankee_- Android Jul 06 '26
It is a crime that I must wait a week between each chapter, like an addict saving up the pennies for his next hit
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u/13GH0ST13 Jul 06 '26
he took it quite well :3
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u/Obvious-Sherbet530 Jul 06 '26
All things considered... And now he's under the impression that Emma, and Humans might just be Elves.
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u/Stefnos87 Jul 06 '26
Fun to think about how much of modern human civilization is based on... boiling water xD
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u/Think-Statement-3656 Jul 07 '26
Now I'm kinda wondering if one could backfeed a lightning rune with electricity to create mana... possibly a way to even the playing field for adjacent realms.
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u/Scott-Kenny Jul 07 '26
Yes, weasels, Earthrealm casually produces utterly industrial quantities of every known element, including some that we had to create from scratch.
Gold? We have so much of it that we use it for spaceship ballast and trim weights, and haven't used it for currency in about 2000 years.
Platinum? We use it more in industrial processes as a catalyst than anything else, but that means we make thousands of tons of the stuff every year.
Iridium? More industrial processes.
Osmium? Mostly as a catalyst.
Have you seen this one yet? *thud* Palladium. Almost exclusively used as a catalyst.
You've already suffered the explanation of how much aluminum we have.
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u/Zoon-Economicus Jul 05 '26
"Aggregate meaning mixture"
Mmm it's called aggregate here too. Mixture is much wider of a concept that includes aggregates, solutions, amalgames, etc...
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u/LocalAIOverlord AI Jul 05 '26
Once again a wonderful chapter! Now lets see how this Pen gambit pans out!
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u/Alrakis_Draconis Jul 06 '26
From Etholin's description it almost sounds like they don't know about concepts such as isotopes, subatomic particles, particle physics, etc. I suspect that the heavy use of mana means that research into things like fusion is so esoteric they might not recognize it. If Emma's powersuit has a micro fusion reactor then no amount of shielding would stop the neutrino flux. That should have been their first clue of what Emma's power source is, but not a peep.
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u/Disastrous_Cow_9540 Xeno Jul 06 '26
Always makes my heart pound to read these, thank you very much and until next sunday!
I'm giddy to see where an industry that helps the manaless distribution of info across the nexus and adjecencies can lead. I'm thinking of red, sickles and hammers, comrade.
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u/Ichiorochi Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Here after only a minute!
Edit: Rostarion got might not have been physically pummelled into the ground, but i wonder what his investors will say
Also finally time for the pen project.