Evolving Power [Research/Crafting/Oxford]

[Verin]

 Robert Blust once hypothesized that mana ment a powerful force of nature such as thunder and storm winds. It was this that lead Verin to St. Pancras Station, it was perhaps the best place to craft with all the crafter that come to the place. Verin was here to research and make new items revolving around mana. Verin found a clean spot and got ready to read a few books he got that talked about mana. Verin knew the basic on how mana was your magic points and that was you psyche, so he skipped the first few chapters and then stopped and read about the current uses of mana alchemists have. Right now there were only a handful or two item alchemist could create, all using mana in one way or step of the creation. Verin had once looked up mana and saw what Blust had said and then just a little while ago it clicked in his head. "I should try to create a mana product following that definition," and that was what lead him here.

 Verin had a basic plan, he would first make explosives using mana. His basic thought was to create mana crystals by fusing three mana fragments with one mana core. After that he would fuse three mana crystals together and the power should be enough to be a grenade. He then could fuse the mana grenade together with with others to make actual mana TNT. He also had an idea that he could create a mana timer by adding mana fragments and then without that the explosion would happen. It was simple but tricky also, he would start with mana crystal in a little bit after he finished his book.

[287]

[Deleted]

Words: 589

Oxford shuffled his pile of notes he made, looking for his to-do list as he walked into the station. Until his guild got a laboratory installed, he was forced to come here to use the large workspace that his tiny guild room severely lacked. Piles of papers and documents from his previous subclass life as a Scribe cluttered the room, everything but the bed covered in parchment. Should probably clean that up sometime. Might be considered a legitimate fire hazard if I leave it like that… Pulling out his quill pen, he jotted down another note to himself to remind him later, for now was the time to commit himself fully to the vast and wide world of glorious magical science. As he walked into the section reserved for alchemists, he saw that he wasn’t alone. A youth, (supposedly a youth, you can never tell a person’s real gender and age in this world) was already working at one of the benches. If Oxford was a normal, sociable type of person, he probably would’ve gone ahead and greeted him. But no, in a world filled with gamers, about 80% of the people here had some kind of social anxiety (including Oxford). Instead, he opted to occupy one of the other workstations a safer distance away, taking out a satchel containing nothing but Mana Fragments. That was a long and painful day for Ox, hopefully one that he’ll never have to repeat. Not having any willing donors to contribute their MP to discovery forced the guardian to use his own instead. Plus, the fact that fragments are generally unstable and have a tendency of being absorbed by the nearest adventurer (which was Oxford, in this case) caused the guardian more grief. It was around the fourth time that he realized that the only way they could be transported was by carrying them via indirect means (bottles, rucksack, gloves…pretty much anything as long as it didn’t come within physical contact of the holder). The concept of purifying them to get a more powerful, more stable magic charge out of them was the area of concern for the guardian on this day. Fragments were generally by-products of magical energy condensed into a solid form. Another interesting fact was that mana was generated by the psyche of the player. This raised another question: what exactly is considered by the game world to be the player’s psyche? Their soul? Their mind? Their fighting spirit? At this point Oxford noticed that the other adventurer was working on apparently a large area-of-effect mana device. Explosive? Incendiary? Flare? He stood there for a while, watching the other alchemist work his craft before he realized that the other adventurer didn’t have a converter of any kind. To the best of the guardian’s observations, most uses of magic by magic users involved a form of concentration to convert the required magical energy into the destructive/healing/buffing force they unleash on their targets. Ox cleared his throat before offering up his observation. “If you don’t have any way of channeling your mana into another form, all your device will do is replenish MP to anyone in its blast radius. But then again, I turn out to be wrong a lot. Just something to consider.” Oxford turned back to his own work, wondering if the other adventurer would rebuke his advice, offer a counter-measure, or just ignore him completely. Either way, Ox turned back to his research, donning a pair of leather gloves as he reached into his small cache of fragments.

template coded by oxford of ET

[Verin]

 Verin was thrown off by the unexpected comment causing his head to snap upwards to see a tall man that was already walking away. Verin jumped up and then grabbed the man's arm, "What do you mean something to channel my mana?" Verin had realized that and was now drawing at straws in his head to figure out how he could solve the problem. This was definitely going to be hard now that a new, unseen, component was added which Verin hadn't expected for. Verin grabbed the man's arm and started him dragging him back to Verin's working spot and sat the man down. "I'm sorry for dragging you, but you say something like that and I'll get you to explain, so please do explain to me what you mean and what I should do first." With this smiled, "Oh I forgot to mention that I'm Verin, what's your's mister."

[150]

[Deleted]

Words: 883

The small amount of fragments Oxford had just drawn from his bag clattered to the surface of his workstation when the other alchemist grabbed his arm. A couple of them disintegrated on contact, the flow of mana entering the guardian’s body. The other adventurer (who he learned goes by the name of Verin) was clearly enthusiastic to learn from him. Ox was then dragged over to Verin’s table, holding on to a fragment that he managed to keep a grip on as the younger player asked him to further explain his idea of a ‘converter’. The guardian took a look at the adventurer’s work-in-progress, missing the question from the other adventurer as to what his name was. Oxford closed his eyes as he composed his thoughts before explaining his observations he gathered from previous quests. “Before I explain how to make a converter, it’s good to make you have a solid understanding of how magic works in this world. From the data I’ve gathered, mana works in a process that I like to call the ‘3 Point Flow of Casting’”. Pulling out his quill pen and a spare piece of parchment, Ox drew a quick diagram to help illustrate his point. Once he was done, he began to explain the diagram in more specific detail, but hopefully keeping it simple enough for the fellow alchemist to understand. “For us adventurers, our mana is contained within our psyche, which acts as our energy source. Whenever it’s not holding the maximum amount of MP, it’s absorbing it from other sources. Use too much of it, and you start to feel drained. Kinda similar to how you feel after you take a big test or exam. Your brain feels tired and mushy, and you just want to unwind. When your mind unwinds, that’s your psyche refilling your container of MP in this world.” Ox proceeded to point to the second part of the diagram. “Now, when you have enough MP to perform an action, you have to take that input and form it into the desired output. It’s similar to crafting. The MP would be the crafting ingredients, and your mind would be the tools needed to turn those mats into the item you want. For our crafting/casting comparison, the tool is the channel that converts the mats into the item. Without a channel to put your MP through, the flow is broken and the mana remains inside its container.” Finally, the third and last point of this process. Ox looked in Verin’s direction to see how he was faring in processing this information. He might have known this stuff already, but it’s always good to go over the basics from time to time. He pulled out a small container of water, taking a quick swig before diving into the last part of his lecture. “The third part’s pretty self-explanatory. Simply put, your MP is now in the state you want it to be, allowing you to unleash your destructive/buffing/healing arts on the world.” Ox exhaled loudly, signaling that he was done with the [Basics of Magic 101] course. He pulled out another piece of parchment, scribbling something on it before looking at Verin. “Any questions before I wrap up this rather lengthy discussion?” Should any questions have been asked or not, Ox answered them to the best of his knowledge. After the Q&A was done, the guardian help up the other piece of parchment as he showed the Verin the recipe he came up with to act as a converter. Item Name: Casting Stone Materials: 2 Memory Cores, 1 Stable Mana Fragment Posts Required: 2 Description: A magic shard with looks similar to a Memory Core, only larger. Emulates a spell caster’s psyche as if it were casting a spell. However, without a stable reservoir of MP, this shard is useless. Specifically designed with non-magic casters in mind. Its only drawback is that it requires more MP from non-magic users than it does from regular casters. “This is the kind of research you would need to do for a basic converter mechanism. You’d probably need to make sure that the trigger can utilize it in some way in order for the mechanism to work. But, before you can make it, here’s the two items of research I hope to accomplish in order to make this sort of item possible to craft.” He scribbled down two more recipes before sliding it over for the sorcerer to see: Item Name: Mana Shard Materials Needed: 2 Stable Mana Fragments Posts Required: 2 Description: A mana shard completely free of any unstable impurities, allowing it to be carried by anyone without fear of it dissolving. Even though they are stable, their structure is still easy enough to shatter. By breaking a Mana Core, it releases a large amount of MP. This item is a must-have for MP-heavy classes, as emergency stores of MP can be released by shattering it. If shattered while in the presence of a party, the MP is divided evenly across the players. Item Name: Memory Core Materials Needed: 1 Mana Shard Posts Required: 1 Description: A magical shard capable of holding a single thought for a person by copying the current form of the user’s psyche. By holding it to one’s forehead, a copy of the user’s current thought is copied into its crystalline matrix. Often used in decorations by absent-minded people who keep forgetting things. After giving him time to look them over, he pulled off one of his leather gloves and placed the mana fragment he held in his other on his naked palm. The effect was almost instantaneous as the fragment destabilized into his hand. Ox could feel the surge of MP go through his mind, easing his brain from all the talking and teaching he had just performed. “Phew…I hope I didn’t confuse you too much…to be honest, I don’t know if I could take re-explaining the concepts all over again. I feel like that sapped quite a bit of my MP.” The tired Oxford made his way back to his workstation, making sure all his spare fragments were in place as he began to work towards his Mana Shard research. “Should you need any more help, just let me know. I’ll probably be here a while messin’ around with these little chunks of mana.” Heh, Mana Chunks. That’s an interesting name. Sounds like a breakfast cereal eaten by magic casters. It was then that the guardian realized that he had never graced the sorcerer’s question as to his name with an answer. Really, this guardian must be cheap because he can't even afford to pay attention. “Oh, and my name is Oxford. Nice to meet you.”

template coded by oxford of ET

[Verin]

 Verin was taken aback this person, who called himself Oxford, had just shortened Verin's work by quite a lot and the way Oxford had explained it, Verin was able to understand it all. With Oxford going back to his spot Verin quickly did some mental math and figured that he should start off with 10 Memory Cores as a good start and he had a nice sum of money to use with this project and time was usually never a problem here in this world, so in reality Verin could literally work forever until they got out of this world, but that wouldn't be any fun just sitting around forever. Though he'll probably come out of this world with more knowledge than Albert Einstein. Right now explosives was going to be his main project, but his long term goal was to create a way for when they get to the real world he could use modern science and make the same things he is right now in the game. If he couldn't get it to work with modern technology he would make it to the shortest amount of time it took for modern technology to catch up.

 Right now though he had work to do, he quickly bought 4 Mana Shards and then hand fused them into 2 Stable Mana Fragments. He now was in unexplored territory, Verin decided the best way to do this was like he was making a Stable Mana Fragment. Verin slowly breathed in and out, calming himself and bringing the Stable Mana Fragments together and making the focus point and began combining the two together. Verin imagined a fragment that was blue and it didn't dissolve and about 45 seconds later, a true Mana Shard. Studying it Verin found that it was a rather good make, "Wow, this is awesome."

[305]

@0x1dea

[Deleted]

Words: 369
Tags: Verin

Glad to see that Verin had been able to digest so much information in such little time, Ox gave a reaffirming nod, heading back to his desk as he shifted through his ‘request’ papers. Most of these ‘requests’ were simply slips of paper stuffed underneath his door back at his guild office. Apparently, the word of him switching from Scribe to Alchemist had been going around (why anyone would care over such a trivial detail was beyond him), and as a result, guild members began to ‘file’ their requests with his wonderful secretary, the doorjamb. As he flipped through the requests, one of them in particular stood out from the others: magic grenades. Well, whaddya know…I think I know just the guy for the task, he thought to himself with a grin. Ox read over the request after pulling it out of his small stack of paper slips, glad to see that it wasn’t overburdened with details. Sounded like all the requestee needed was a simple area-of-effect grenade to deal some damage. Nothing nuke-level, just enough to level a small hill or something. Walking over to Verin’s table, he set the small piece of parchment to the side of the crafting counter, hoping that he’d notice it. “Figured this would be right up your alley. Not only do you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor, but also get to make a little bit of cash upon completion as well,” he said to the Sorcerer. After explaining all the finer details about the request, Ox went back to his table and collected his things, tucking all his necessary tools and equipment back into his inventory. Pulling up his in-game menu, the Guardian took a quick look at the clock, let out a tch sound, and grabbed whatever else needed to be taken with him as he began to make his way out. “Sorry I’m leaving on such short notice, but I’ve got some other pressing errands to attend to. Nice to meet you, Verin!” he said with a wave as he began to walk away. “Send me a message if you ever need help with anything!” he yelled behind him as his pace quickened into a light jog. (OOC Notes: Probably my last post for the thread, as I've run out of ideas for stuff to research. ^^; Thanks for inviting me, though!)

template coded by oxford of ET