Chapter 62 A Growing Spark (Patreon)

Stella was immediately engaged, coming over to study the machine in detail. After a minute, she looked perplexed. “Ok. What does this have to do with lightning?”

Nathan pointed to the two wires coming off of the brush. “When I spin this handle, those wires will get charged. Not strongly - you would need to touch them together for there to be a spark. But this device is a way to demonstrate the basic principles I was talking to you about.

Aarl complained from the side of the room. “She merits a warning. I understand the lay of the land. I just get shocked.”

Stella turned and stuck her tongue out at Aarl, but turned back quickly, studying the machines. She grabbed the two wires and gestured for Nathan to start turning the machine.

He leaned his back into it, spinning up the generator and keeping it moving fast. Stella started tapping the wires together, giggling as small sparks zapped. After a minute, he slowed down and the sparking stopped.

Stella stood up, excited. “Ok! Great. So, tell me how this works!”

Nathan grabbed a slate, and sat down. “Ok, so I told you before that when you have a moving magnetic field, that creates an electric field, right? That’s what’s going on here. It’s invisible, so you can’t see the field. But I can draw about what they would look like. Now, before we start looking at why that happens, we need to go over the basics of how electric and magnetic fields work.”

Nathan pulled out the two magnets and handed them to Stella. “Have you run across these before?”

Stella blinked, then took the magnets, sticking them together and then pulling them apart with a bit of effort. “Yeah, though they’re not used for much. Not magical, and they mess with some kinds of magic in weird ways. My dad has a couple of them, but more as curiosity pieces than anything else.”

Nathan pointed at the magnets fastened to the inside of the generator, almost touching the spinning coils of copper wire. “They’re sources of magnetic fields, but not simple ones. Here, let me draw what it looks like.”

Nathan started explaining the basics of magnetic fields, sprinkling some iron filings around the magnet on a table to demonstrate how the filings gathered on the magnet. He spent a few minutes spreading them out, showing how they followed the magnetic field.

Now we’re in the meat of it, but it’s still going to take a while.

{Low-tier Lecturing 9 achieved!}

—

Several days later Nathan was eating lunch with the rest of the Heirs. He had something to celebrate - he’d been running suicides the other day, really pushing the limit of what stamina and rage could do for his physical abilities.

{Mid-tier Sprinting 5 achieved!}

{Low-tier Tumbling 9 achieved!}

It had been a pleasant surprise, but Nathan supposed the training had been pretty intense.

He was still thinking about it, and considering if there were intensive training drills he could do for [Tumbling] when Simla approached. His team had just come back from their own surprise mission, and were basking in the praise of the other teams.

Simla stepped up and addressed Nathan. “No more monsters in our way before graduation, eh? You ready to swear the Adventurer’s Oath in a few weeks, Nathan?”

Nathan looked at Simla, and cocked his head. “What is the Adventurer’s Oath, Simla?”

Simla shrugged. “You’re not from Gemore, true enough. It’s the oath we swear at the end of training. It used to be sworn at the first Solstice after the blooding patrol, but I suppose that’s what this is now, hey?”

He ticked off on his fingers. “Around here the Guildmistress is the one to tell the Tale of Endings, and then we swear on the Endings to defend Gemore. Not too high a bar, is it?”

Nathan looked around at the other Heirs. Aarl shrugged expressively. Nobody seemed to know where Simla was going with this. Nathan looked around. A few people were paying attention, but not too many. If Simla was trying to make this a grand confrontation his stage presence needed work.

Nathan looked up at the gold-pupilled man. “I will swear that oath.”

Simla clapped him on the shoulder. “Good, I’ll see you there.”

I have the feeling I missed something.

Nathan turned to the other Heirs. “Anybody know what that was about? Is the Adventurer’s Oath a big deal?”

Khachi shrugged. “It is and it isn’t. The traditional Adventurers put great stock in dividing the Adventurers who have sworn and those who haven’t. That is how Sudraiel took over the guild, to raise the past to the present. The old guildmaster, may his name echo until Ending, was preventing people he didn’t like from swearing. It was getting nasty and causing a lot of duels.

“Hear me but it was a good thing when the rest of the council replaced him with Sudraiel. She made it into an application process. Anybody who has Adventured for Gemore and protected its interests can climb to the top of Gemore and swear upon the Seal at the solstice. And anybody who finishes the training process, of course.

Nathan raised his eyebrows. “What’s the Seal?”

Sarah answered. “It’s an enchanted stone disk at the top of Gemore. Looks like a big stone door set flat into the top of the mountain. Doesn’t do anything but light up on the solstice. I’d offer to show you, but it’s one hell of a climb and the guards would probably stop us. One of the duties of the Guard is to protect the Seal. Every day but the Solstice, that is.”

Stella chimed in. “I’d ask my parents to fly us up, but. Well.” She waved at Nathan, sighing dramatically. “Not something you can do. Maybe eventually I’ll be able to throw you that far.”

“Ha. Ha. Well, I’ll see at graduation.”

—

A few days later, Kadid was waiting for Nathan when the Heirs broke from their group practice.

The old man greeted Nathan by muttering something about not enjoying being an errand boy, but with a small grin that suggested he wasn’t mad. They warmly gripped each other's forearms and walked towards Beatred’s shop.

Kadid started probing. “Beatred and Herdin have been dangerously quiet about what they are working on. When you first mentioned it you said it would involve an Insight, I didn’t realize it would be this big. Something to bring Herdin out of retirement. I ask myself, what could have interested that old crone so?

“And I think, it couldn’t be a new weapon, no indeed. She’s worked on every weapon under the sky, and invented some more. My guess is a way to make alcohol from thin air. That woman is a demon with her infusions.”

Nathan shrugged. “I dunno, we’ve sworn to not talk about it. So I won’t say squat.”

Kadid laughed, then shook Nathan’s shoulder lightly. “And it seems you won’t. I wish you luck, whatever you’re doing. It seems you’re becoming a true friend of the Bhos. Most of us may not fly as high as the parents of your new friends, but we’re the blood of Gemore. Stay safe, Nathan Lark.”

With that, Nathan walked into Beatred’s shop, which was open and empty. Kadid closed and locked the door behind him as Nathan walked into the workshop.

Poppy, Herdin and Beatred were all sitting around a workbench towards the back, admiring the items on the table.

Nathan had only been here once since he’d picked up the generator from Beatred, and it had primarily been to learn more about curses from Herdin. She gave him more lessons on how enchantments worked. They weren’t a spell, and the mana flows in spells and enchantments weren’t even that alike. An enchantment guided mana so that the spell was cast, but it was like the difference between encoding a function into an operation on a chip and building the function from component parts of code.

{Mid-tier Spellsense 6 achieved!}

Then they had moved along to practical curse breaking. The old enchanter had brought along a dagger with a curse that made the handle stick to your hand. There was a mundane sharpness enchantment woven into the weapon, and the challenge was to break the curse while preserving the other enchantment.

Herdin had tried to teach Nathan how to crack open the hilt to get at the enchantments, but he’d just grabbed the hilt and felt out the magic with [Magic Absorption]. He’d tried to isolate the curse from the sharpness enchantments, but had ended up breaking both and leaving the weapon drained dry.

{Mid-tier Identify 3 achieved!}

Herdin had been surprised, to say the least. She’d given Nathan a few other cursed items she had laying around to practice with, then washed her hands of the whole affair.

Anyway! Nathan was here again, and was surprised to see this part of the room much cleaner. A lot of the prototypes had been cleared away. Sitting on the table were three guns, all beautifully crafted.

On the left side were a matched pair of revolvers, gleaming steel etched with flowing lines that glowed a delicate blue. The handles were made of a light wood that had been inlaid with dark metal to form magical symbols that reminded Nathan of nothing so much as lowercase greek letters. They were big weapons, more than a foot long. The barrel was wide and long, with a pair of stubby iron sights rising from the top. Next to the barrel lay a set of plain wooden speedloaders, little bullet holders that could be used to reload an entire cylinder at once.

On the right side of the table was the rifle. It wasn’t as decorated as the revolvers, though it shared the glowing blue tracery up the barrel, as well as the dark metal inlaid into the grip around the handle. The rifle looked longer and heavier than hunting rifles from Earth, but otherwise had about the same profile - no scope, though. Just another pair of iron sights.

In the middle of the table sat several wooden boxes of a few different sizes, marked with simple labels. Most of them were wide flat boxes labeled “normal revolver ammunition”. A few larger boxes said “normal rifle ammunition”. Then there was one smaller box each of “explosive” and “penetrating” ammunition for each of the revolvers and rifles.

Nathan paused to appreciate the sight. “That’s quite a display. Very nice.”

Herdin cackled, and clapped her hands together. “Indeed it is! A gift to the daughter of Stanel Crusens must be beautiful. And as the first example of a new weapon, it must set the tone! Now then. I will need to be present for the initial imprinting of these weapons, to activate the self-destruct. When is that going to happen?”

Nathan paused, thinking. “I need to set up a time - I’ll tell Kadid when I know. It might be as early as tomorrow night. Does that work for you all? It will almost certainly be at the Caxol mansion, where Kullal and Dalo live.”

Poppy and Beatred glanced at each other, before Beatred spoke. “Looking forward to it.”

They talked about some last minute details for a little bit, before Herdin started fishing for any more Insights that Nathan might be willing to share. Beatred had described the basics of the generator, and Herdin seemed very interested in the Insights behind it.

She took a polite refusal well enough, though Nathan had a second thought as he looked back to the guns.

I wonder if she can make a railgun. Or a coilgun. The problems with those on Earth were always sudden availability of a lot of current and materials issues. Having seen a good enchanter at work, I wonder if those issues are surmountable with magic. I would probably need to teach her a good deal of the same math I’m going through with Stella though. Hmm. Something to consider for the future.

Nathan asked for a brief rundown of the ammunition, curious. Beatred described the regular ammunition, pulling out a few cartridges. The revolver round was big, almost a half-inch across with a dome-shaped lead bullet capped by a steel ball.

The rifle round was enormous, almost as long as Nathan’s hand. The bullet was the same diameter but much longer, capped with another ball of steel. Herdin explained that she’d had to strengthen the chamber and barrel to prevent the charge of powder from cracking the barrel.

Then the older woman took over describing the enchanted bullets, opening up the smaller boxes. There were only a dozen of each enchanted rifle cartridge, with about twice that many revolver cartridges. The two different kinds looked identical in construction, more cylindrical than the normal bullets, though they each had a pointed lead front. The bullet was stamped with a small symbol to tell them apart.

Herdin was excited about these, holding up a penetrating revolver round. “I stacked up four enchanted disks for the revolver bullets, nine for the rifle. The revolver bullet went through four inches of steel and into the ground.”

Beatred held up a metal ingot, which had a notable bullet hole all the way through. Herdin kept talking.

“The enchantments are only one-use, but they should enhance one another. A muckgrabber can eat my foot if the rifle penetrator doesn’t go through a foot of steel. We haven’t tested it since somebody didn’t have a foot of steel lying around.”

Then she held up one of the explosive rounds. “These are based on a one-shot crossbow fireball enchantment. Supposed to stick into the target and then detonate - I had to shorten the time, but when we shot a wood block it blew it to splinters from the inside. Very exciting.”

Nathan praised Herdin, Poppy and Beatred for their work before heading back to the Adventurer’s guild. The crafters would bring the guns to the event Nathan had to set up.

—

That evening, Nathan schooled himself to patience until all the Heirs were back. Stella was the last one, staggered in and looking exhausted.

Nathan popped the question. “Hey Sarah. I think your new weapons are ready. They’re downright amazing. You ready to see them?”

Sarah twisted to look at him from where she was busy whittling another small wooden figurine. This one looked like a small Stalker. “Multiple? I thought you were making me one?”

Nathan shrugged. “Plans changed. Stella, do you think we can do it at your parent’s place? I mentioned before that I wanted privacy.”

The bedraggled mage looked over from where she had collapsed on a couch. “What? Oh. Sure. I’ll ask them tomorrow. So long as they don’t make me do channeling practice again. Got some more rank-ups though. Worth it.”

Sarah was excited. “I would prefer it to happen sooner than later. I want to experience weapons from another world.”

Nathan noticed Aarl frowning. He was bent over a slate, working on more math.

I really need to think if there’s something I can get him beyond maybe the cursed swords. Those aren’t a sure thing, so I don’t want to depend on that idea. He’s really the only one of the Heirs I don’t have a plan to power up in some way. I dunno, Katanas are cool, but he’s kind of a greatsword-guy. If you know what I mean.

Nathan blushed a bit at his own double-entendre.

I just can’t think of anything. Maybe I should talk to Herdin about that momentum enchantment. Aarl talked about the momentum of the swing during the therapy session after the Blooding Patrol. Maybe I can ask her to enchant a sword with that? If it’s an enchantment she has then she’s probably already figured out the best ways to use it. And if I understand her, she’ll be bored with something like that.

I’ll need to think about whether it's worth trading her an Insight on electricity in order to get her to make a momentum greatsword. Or maybe I can come up with something. Hmm. A monomolecular blade would be cool and all, but I have no idea how to make or maintain that kind of edge, and steel won’t cut it.

You know, I have no idea why I’m waiting on trying to disentangle the curse from the swords. Let’s give that a go.

Nathan stood up, crossing over to the cabinet that held various odds and ends. One of the items inside was a thick sack containing the cursed swords.

He pulled it out. “Hey Aarl, you got a moment? I want to try something, but if you’re busy it can wait.”

The [Master of Melee] let loose a frustrated sigh, setting aside his chalk-dusted slate. “Indeed I am pleased to have an excuse to put this aside. What are you thinking?”

He saw Nathan pulling out the bag containing the cursed swords and raised his eyebrows. “I was wondering what you were planning on doing with those. Only fair you take them as your claim of the loot, but I thought you couldn’t use magical items. Even if the curse on those won’t hurt you?”

Nathan set the bag carefully on the table. The generator setup had been moved to his room, so there was space. “I don’t think they’re for me. I cannot use magical items, and I don’t think I want to develop my Talent that way. But these swords look fancy. I want to try to break the curse, then give them to you.”

Aarl was visibly surprised by that, jerking to look at Nathan. He tried to refuse the offer. “They seem to be very fancy swords, but that is not necessary.” He paused. “I truly was joking yesterday about asking for something.”

Nathan carefully tugged the bag off from the swords, careful not to touch them as they clattered to the top of the table, still sheathed. He’d examined them a bit earlier without touching them, trying to get a sense of the enchantments inside. But he had to admit that they really were very fancy, looking like a pair of fine sabers, with impeccable craftsmanship that seemed a cut above everything else they’d salvaged from the Mage-Lord of Necromancy’s tomb. Shame about the curse.

Nathan looked up from inspecting the swords, meeting Aarl’s eyes. “No, you were right. This isn’t about balancing the scales. I have the capability to try and help you, so I will. Friends don’t count favors.”

Then Nathan grabbed the handles of the cursed swords.

{Mid-tier Earnestness 9 achieved!}

Overall Status:

{Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 6

Permanent Talent 2: High-tier Regeneration 6

Talent 3: None

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 52

Class skills:

Stamina: 620/620

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

High-tier Focused Mind 4

Mid-tier Earnestness 9

Mid-tier Sprinting 5

Mid-tier Spellsense 6

Mid-tier Notice 5

Mid-tier Identify 3

Mid-tier Dodging Footwork 3

Mid-tier Enhanced Memory 10

Low-tier Lecturing 9

Low-tier Tumbling 9}