Chapter 940 940 Show and Tell
Lecturer Thorin, who Wolfe strongly suspected was a part Dwarven Armourer, took out a number of items from his backpack.
“These are the pieces to a simple magical item set. All the basic runes are created, as some of you can see, and all that is left is just to link them.” He explained.
Then, after Wolfe finished copying the first page of notes, he wiped the board clean with a wave of his hand and replaced it with a diagram of how those runes would be used to link the pieces of the armour set.
That was totally different from how Wolfe did it. He just cast the spell over the whole set as one, and he didn’t inscribe them individually with matching spells. It wasn’t necessary, and the magic would affect it all just fine from a single array.
But that wasn’t how the Crystal formations seemed to work. They were isolated, and had to be linked to each other and the main spells on the set of armour, which in this case was just a cuirass, long faulds with a mail loincloth attached, a gorget and pauldrons with mail upper sleeves. It would cover everything from the neck and shoulders to below the waist in solid metal, and protect the upper legs with the hanging mail, to slow arrows and prevent deflections into less armoured flexible joints.
It was simple chest armour, and would be worth with more pieces, but it was sufficient for the demonstration, and beautifully made.
“As you can see, each of these pieces has a crystal array to help gather mana, and a defensive spell set inside the crystal formation. That is the basic self-supporting armour setup, and as long as the formation isn’t damaged, it will remain active indefinitely.
However, if you want to have a full suit of integrated armour, you need to link them.”
Wolfe examined the setup, and a brilliant idea came to mind. He could use shaped mana crystals for this purpose, and not only would the mana gathering of their vehicles be more efficient, he could link all the systems together without the need for a complex array that only a Magi could effectively use.
The Witches could duplicate it if he made a copy for them, but they had been creating the systems individually and mechanically linking them for simplicity. If they were introduced to this method, they could create a redundant magical link, so even if the mechanical linkages took damage, inputs from the controls would still provide the desired results.
While they used it entirely for war, Wolfe saw many more possibilities for the technology, and Thorin noticed his intrigued look right away.
Once he finished explaining the basics to the room, who all at least vaguely understood the process, if not all the details about how and why, that the Armourer was describing, Thorin turned to Wolfe.
“I am told that you come from another world. How would you use something like this there, or do you already have it?” He asked.
“This is different, but the function is similar to a much more complex magic we use. You can use it to link systems in a complex device, for example the ones that control propulsion and the ones that control direction. It might be easier for me to make something to show you.” Wolfe offered.
That got everyone’s interest.
“I will start with the most basic of daily essentials.” Wolfe created a small stand with an arm off the side and a large flat plate facing downward at the end.
“This is the crystal formation for creating water, as I have seen it in the hotel. You really do need to start spreading that to every home, by the way. It’s a blessing to sensitive noses. This is the inscription for heating an object, and these are the runes for motion, the same that you use on weapons to increase impact.
Now, if you put the water spell here, at the base of the stand, pointed up the tube, and then the runes for motion, water will flow down the whole length and out the perforated plate. Once you add the spell for heat, you now have a hot shower.
Using the runic method here, they will be linked like this, and for the total cost of under two kilos of copper and five small mana crystal shards, you have a portable hot water shower.”
The room looked at him like he was crazy, wasting magic on making a portable shower, but Thorin burst into laughter as he examined the device.
“I see that it breaks down into four parts so that it can easily be transported, and stuck into any bit of soft ground you find while setting camp. The bottom spike protects the crystal formation, and the rest is lightweight tubing.
This is brilliant. We have been using hot water bags for the military showers.”
Wolfe knew the ones, you hung them from a tree, and the water was heated by a spell. Effective, but not as fancy as these, and they didn’t create their own water. The mages had to do that, or fill them from the river.
One of the men gestured to Wolfe’s portable shower.
“But can you drink that water?” He asked.
“Of course, it’s just normal magical water, so as long as you keep the inside of the tubes clean, there is no harm in drinking it. But I still think that public shower and bath houses would be a welcome addition to local infrastructure.”
Thorin laughed. “Are you here to learn Artificing or give lectures on public infrastructure?”
Wolfe shrugged. “They go hand in hand, really. Think of how envious everyone would be if every commoner in your district could bathe and wash clothes whenever they wanted? You would have the cleanest and most presentable commoners in the entire world.
I could even show you a good recipe for laundry soap that’s all natural and easy to make. No urine or ash lye involved, plus it smells incredible and doesn’t scare off the animals.”
That caught the attention of some of the Nobles. Cheap and improvised laundry methods were abundant, and while they got the dirt and stains out, they often smelled worse than regular body odour and nobody wanted to live near the laundress.
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