A touch of Magic. [Research/Vayne]

[Vayne]

Death is only the beginning.

tagged / notes / 1216 words

HP:
100%

MP:
100%

SAIRRI of GS

A resounding *Slam* could be heard from inside a small study room in London. It was night, and the only light source was coming from a candle on a simple study table in the corner of the room. Another pounding noise filled the room as a man was repeatedly ramming his forehead on the study table. The man was barely visible as he was surrounded by piles of books and parchments, which contained foreign symbols, glyphs and languages that he could not make heads or tails of. The man sighed as he calmed down, the frustration and headaches that came with translating and studying for hours plaguing his nerves. Vayne was in the process of translating some of these textbooks and tomes, which were in a language similar to Latin. Vayne had been writing on parchments all night, translating basic formulas and symbols, hoping to get a better idea of how to make alchemy items.

"If I knew that Alchemy was this hard, I would have taken blacksmithing." Vayne sighed as he continued on with translating the books he was reading. It was earlier that day that he was just walking around St. Pancras station. He was looking for something interesting. He was getting a bit bored just aimlessly walking around London, or going out into the field to grind up his levels. It may sound weird but Vayne misses studying. He had been doing it his whole life, so it had become a part of him. He wanted to feel the frustration of reading through countless volumes of textbooks, or that sense of pressure to do something academically progressive.

It was about a little after 10 AM when a sign hanging over a little shop caught his eye. The shop said "Midas Inc., A Alchemy Research and Development Company". Vayne stood outside the shop and studied the display cases in the front window, showing a variety of magic utilizing gadgets, books, scrolls and even jewelry encrusted with glowing gems. "Hey, this place looks promising." Vayne said as he approached the shop doors. As he reached for the knob, the knob turned on it's own and the door swung wide open.

"Welcome Customer!" Someone exclaimed energetically from the back of the shop. Vayne peered inside as it was brightly lit by dozen mana lamps hanging from the ceiling. As Vayne entered the shop, he saw the shop was a lot bigger on the inside than it seemed to be outside. The shop was filled eccentrically decorated, as he noticed the ceiling that depicted a mural of the starry night sky, and the stars were actually twinkling. All around there were display cases and tables containing a variety of gems and gadgets that Vayne has never seen before, there was even a massive 8 foot black crystal obelisk in the middle of the room engraved with seemingly ancient symbols and pictographs. The thing that caught Vayne's eye was not the flashy decorations or the strange devices on display. It was the bookshelves. Vayne saw that the shop walls were lined with two dozen massive bookshelves filled to the brim with thick leather-bound books, rolled up scrolls and even stone tablets with Hieroglyphics. Vayne gulped at the sheer amount of written works that it seemed that the massive shelves were groaning at the weight of it all.

Vayne walked toward the back of the shop, his eyes staring hungrily like a starved dog at the books. Vayne was so engrossed with the voluminous amounts of books that he did not notice the man that suddenly loomed behind him.

"Hello young man!" said the figure as Vayne was caught by surprise, almost jumping out of his skin.

"Gyahh!" Vayne said as he turned around and jumped back, hitting his head on a solid steel globe hanging from the ceiling. Vayne's legs buckled from the pain, and he dropped onto the ground. Vayne sat up, rubbing the back of his head, as the other party leaned down beside him.

Vayne looked up to see that it was a pretty lady, with blonde hair and steel gray eyes. She was tall, a bit skinny, and looked like she was in her early thirties. The lady frowned as she knelt down beside him and took a look at the back of his head.

"Hey! Its pretty insulting for a lady if you scream like that." the lady complained as she helped Vayne up to his feet. "I might think you got frightened by my face."

She pouted at him, but later on gave him a big warm smile. "I'm kidding," she said as she looked him over, "I shouldn't have sneaked up on you. I wanted to call out to you, but you were just staring at the books with the blankest expression, I just couldn't help myself."

"Well anyway, Welcome to the Midas Alchemy workshop." She said proudly as she flourished her arms around as if she was a presentation girl on one of those home TV shopping channels.

"My name is Persephone," she said as she offered him a handshake. Vayne took it as he continued to massage the throbbing knot on the back of his head. "I am the store manager and resident Alchemist. If you are wondering, no I am not the true master alchemist, Gosh no I'm not that old to be a master." she said with a wink, and Vayne just cocked up his eyebrow at her. "The master alchemist for the company is my Father, but he is currently out of the city visiting our other shop."

Vayne's ears perked up as he heard the mention of "out of the city" and "other shop". Vayne was curious as to where exactly the other shop, and was about to ask her when the woman took him by the hand and dragged him to the counter. Vayne got dragged so forcefully that he banged his hip on the edge of the counter. The sharp pain running through his nerves pushed the curiosity out of his mind.

"So, Mr. Adventurer!" she said perkily, like a stereotypical drunk onee-san type you see in mangas and anime. "What be thy name and business?"

"Uhh Yeah." Vayne said as he worked through the pain on his head and his hip. "Name is Vayne, and I would like to ask if you are renting out your facilities for research purposes?"

Persephone frowned a bit as she realized that the man was not going to buy anything, but she did nod. "Yes we do, but I can't approve anything as I am just a stand in manager. My father is the one that deals with that sort of thing."

Vayne gave her a bit of a frown of her own. "Hey, come on. I won’t be asking to use the facilities for free, I would pay rent you know." Vayne said persuasively.

Persephone, rubbed her chin with her index finger as she was deep in thought. "Alright, Ill give you a deal. This place is hard to manage on my own. If you agree to help me out around here, you can use the research room in the basement whenever you want. Deal?" she said as she offered her hand again to shake on it.

"Sure." Vayne said as he accepted the offer.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS

[Vayne]

Death is only the beginning.

tagged / notes / 308 words

HP:
100%

MP:
100%

SAIRRI of GS

"Great! Free labor is always great!" Persephone cackled. Throughout the day, Vayne was ordered around to clean the shop, alphabetize the inventory, all the while, Persephone took a nap in a couch in the back room. Vayne mumbled as he studied a thin pamphlet he found regarding the basic process of alchemy. It was not in depth, but more like something a guidance counselor would give you for college preferential.

"... Well at least I have something to do." Vayne sighed under his breath. The day went by slowly, As Vayne worked the register as some adventurers and people of the land came to buy alchemy materials. However as 5 o' clock in the afternoon arrived, Persephone came out of the back room and announced that the they should close shop. Vayne gave a sigh of relief as he turned the sign on the door to say "CLOSED".

"Okay, well I am going out to grab a bite to eat." Persephone said as she opened the front door of the shop. "You can go ahead and use the basement research room. There is a trapdoor behind the counter leading down to it. Oh and remember, I enchanted the items in here. If you steal any of the money in the register, or leave the shop with any of our wares, you will die a slow and painful death. Do you understand?"

Vayne gave a salute as he found and opened the trapdoor. "Yes Ma'am!" he answered back before he went down the winding staircase to a large room full of books, beakers, stacks and stacks of papers, and a transmutation circle on the middle of the wide room. With that Vayne walked toward a bookshelf and took out a few books that were in English, sat down on the study table and started studying up on basic alchemy.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS

[Vayne]

Death is only the beginning.

tagged / Kaboom! / 512 words

HP:
100%

MP:
100%

SAIRRI of GS

"Ugghhh..." Vayne groaned as he dropped his quill and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he finally finished his translations. He closed the Latin to English Dictionary he was using to decipher the book in regards to his first project. The book was entitled "Simplex Transmutae Rector" or to loosely translate "Basic Transmutation Guide for Idiots". He had been working for hours translating the directions and formulas in the textbook. He was actually done a couple of hours ago if it was just translation, but Vayne checked over the transcriptions repeatedly, to make sure that he does things right. A certain miscalculation could end up disastrous.

"Alright, now lets see if I'm right." Vayne told himself as he stood up and moved to a the southern part of the room, where there was a small stone table. It was really small, the surface area itself was 2 feet x 2 feet. On the surface of the stone table, was a magic circle with a pentagram and some odd symbols engraved on the circle borders. According to the Idiot's Guide to Alchemy, this was a transmutation circle used to channel and stabilize mana energy inside objects.

"According to the notes, this thing is capable of harmonizing mana imbued objects, making the embedding of magical sources into items and gadgets possible." Vayne said to himself as he examined the circle. There were two smaller circles on the table, outside the transmutation area. One on the bottom left and one on the bottom right. "And these are where you place your hands to activate the transmutation process." he pondered as he read his notes, the smaller circles drain the appropriate mana from the user and that powers up the transmutation process.

"Well I'm happy that I found this place, usually alchemists needed to draw these things manually, I guess being an alchemy shop, that would be a waste of time." he said as he was thankful for his good fortune. Vayne had no talent whatsoever for drawing, and he might make a mistake and blow himself up.

Vayne then went over his notes. The notes were regarding mana fragments. These are objects of crystalline material that capture and contain mana, and these are one of the most valuable objects when alchemists are concerned. According to the textbook, Mana fragments are basically crystallized mana, that form together into a sort of rechargeable battery of sorts. These have a number of uses, such as powering things like mana lamps.

"The only problem with mana fragments is that they contain such a minute amount of mana." he muttered as he rummaged through his bag. From there, he took out two mana fragments. He looked at the small crystals, both of which were small enough to fit in the palm of his left hand.

"Lets see if this works." Vayne said as he placed the two fragments inside the transmutation circle. He then licked his lips as he placed his hands on the activation circles.

"Okay! Lets do this!" Vayne said excitedly as his body tensed up. "Transmute."

Suddenly the circular pads where he had his hands on started to glow. Vayne could feel the mana inside him being siphoned away by the marks, and the Transmutation circle glowed in a bright blue light. The room was flooded with the light, and Vayne had to close his eyes due to the glare. After a moment however, the light died and Vayne opened his eyes again. There in the middle of the circle, was a single shard of blue crystal. Vayne reached out and with a shaking hand, he picked it up. It was warm in his hands, and Vayne insepected it and it seemed that his first trial was a success.

"Alright! I'm so awe~" Vayne was suddenly cut off as the crystal suddenly changed from blue to a bright orange. It shook and vibrated in his hand, and spiderweb cracks started appearing all over the crystal. Vayne sensed danger, so he instinctively threw the crystal to the empty side of the room "What the..."

Vayne never got to finish his sentence as the crystal violently exploded. From 10 feet away, Vayne could feel the shockwave ripple through his body, but the explosion was not strong enough to make him move back. Vayne blinked and looked at the smoking pile of burnt crystal on the other side of the room. "Note to self, two fragments were not enough to stabilize the process, but the unstable crystal that resulted may be useful in the future."

With a sigh Vayne took a broom and swept the smoking pile, and went back to his study table. "Lets see where we went wrong." he said as he lowered his head to check on his calculations.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS

[Vayne]

Death is only the beginning.

tagged / kaboom part II / 336 words

HP:
100%

MP:
100%

SAIRRI of GS

Suddenly the circular pads where he had his hands on started to glow. Vayne could feel the mana inside him being siphoned away by the marks, and the Transmutation circle glowed in a bright blue light. The room was flooded with the light, and Vayne had to close his eyes due to the glare. After a moment however, the light died and Vayne opened his eyes again. There in the middle of the circle, was a single shard of blue crystal. Vayne reached out and with a shaking hand, he picked it up. It was warm in his hands, and Vayne insepected it and it seemed that his first trial was a success.

In his excitement, Vayne shook the crystal hard as he was gloating. "Alright! I'm so awe~" Vayne was suddenly cut off as the crystal suddenly changed from blue to a bright orange. It shook and vibrated in his hand, and spiderweb cracks started appearing all over the crystal. Vayne sensed danger, so he instinctively threw the crystal to the empty side of the room "What the..."

Vayne never got to finish his sentence as the crystal violently exploded. From 10 feet away, Vayne could feel the shockwave ripple through his body, but the explosion was not strong enough to make him move back. Vayne blinked and looked at the smoking pile of burnt crystal on the other side of the room. Vayne calmly walked toward the charred crystal shards and picked it up. The explosion wasn't really fatal, but it had the strength of a small firework. Vayne smiled as he thought that this may be a lucky accident. He then dropped the shard and took out a parchment and quill. He then started writing the recipe of the failure and the process in detail.

"Note to self, two fragments were not enough to stabilize the process, but the unstable crystal that resulted may be useful in the future."

With a sigh Vayne took a broom and swept the smoking pile, and went back to his study table. "Lets see where we went wrong." he said as he lowered his head to check on his calculations.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS

[Vayne]

Death is only the beginning.

tagged / fortunate accident / 394

HP:
100%

MP:
100%

SAIRRI of GS

Vayne continued on making adjustments for another few hours. He took out a another book from the shelf, as it discussed the basic composition of Mana Fragments. It dawned on him that the magical frequency that resonated from just two fragments would just oppose each other and instead of harmonizing, they would create an unstable frequency that would result in a chaotic mix of the mana inside the crystals. The magic source inside would expand against the crystal that contained them and would result in the same effect as dropping a mentos inside a soda bottle.

"So everything would go kablooey." Vayne sighed as he continued on with his calculations. Vayne was so engrossed with his work that he failed to notice that it was already 6 o' clock in the morning. The sun was up, and everyone in London was just about to get started for the day. Vayne, remained oblivious to the time as he scribbled new calculations to create a Mana crystal when suddenly there was a yell from behind him.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?" a woman's voice shouted behind him.

Vayne got startled so hard that he lost balance and fell from his chair. Vayne groaned as he fell and hit the back of his head. He cringed as he looked up to see Persephone standing there scowling at him.

"Did you even get some sleep?" She asked, but stopped Vayne as he was about to reply. "No I don't even want to know anymore."

"Its good that you are serious about your work, but you need some rest too." she said as she grabbed Vayne's arm and pulled him to his feet. "As punishment, you will clean up the shop before I send you home. You are not allowed to use the workshop until you get some sleep."

"BUT~" Vayne argued, but he was cut off by a punch to the gut. Vayne wheezed and coughed as he doubled over.

"No buts. Doing experiments with a tired mind and body tends to accidents and death. Go clean up the shop and go home."

Without another word Vayne did as he was told. It was disappointing that he could not finish what he started, but it wasn't a total loss. Vayne smiled a bit as he clutched a parchment, with directions on how to replicate his little exploding mistake.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS