Tests & Experiments

“You know, I kind of expected you to take a little bit longer with this.”

Inanna glances up from her cluttered workbench, staring over at the Drakling with a single thick eyebrow raised.

“Just yesterday you said that these ‘tests’ still need to be prepared a bit more before we can run them.” Krvavy elaborates with a shrug. “But here we are already.”

“Mm. None of these experiments required a particularly large amount of work to set up.” Inanna returns, grabbing a blank stone tablet and one of her ornate brass styluses. “Now, let us begin with the easiest of tests. Come over here, my Ushumgal.”

A smile plays at Krvavy’s lips as she recognizes the subtle signs of excitement in her normally neutral Dwarf. Without wasting any time, she does as the shortstack says and steps towards a mostly bare stone counter top with what appears to be a ruler on top.

“Place your hand here,” Inanna instructs, tapping the tip of her stylus into the center of a sizable square drawn beside the base of the ruler. “Use Sculpt Stone to raise the spots that I have marked out with charcoal. Make sure to stay within the lines so that each pillar is of equal width and thickness. And ensure that you spend the exact same amount of mana each time, though I will leave the initial amount for you to decide.”

“Got it.” The barbarian takes a deep breath and focuses. She normally uses Sculpt Stone to, well, sculpt the stone into specific sizes and shapes, not caring too much about exactly how much mana it costs. But now she’ll have to do the complete opposite, aiming to spend an exact amount of mana without caring too much about the size of what she is sculpting.

The counter top within the sketched square begins to stretch upwards, keeping a perfectly flat surface on top and on all four sides. For a brief moment, the stone forms a perfect cube, but it continues growing and ends up extending almost twice as high up as that.

“How much mana did that cost?”

“A single point.”

Both of Inanna’s thick eyebrows rise up slightly. “Mm... Your habit of carving bricks out of the walls has made me forget just how effective Sculpt Stone is at what it does.”

“Yeah... The description, which hasn’t changed by the way, says that it costs one-hundred points of mana for one cubic meter, so I figured that doing just one percent of that would be fine. I can spend less than a single point of mana at a time: I’ve used Sculpt Stone to make very small adjustments before.” Krvavy ends that explanation with a shrug, before abruptly frowning as something occurs to her. “But... you probably don’t know what a ‘meter’ is... And I don’t know how Not So Cunning Linguist would have even translated it...”

“Mm...” The Dwarf quickly scratches some angular lines onto her stone tablet. “I, indeed, have no idea what that measurement represents. Does this look like one one-hundredth of a cubic ‘meter’ to you?”

“It... is hard to say.” Krvavy bites the inside of her cheek and glares at the rectangular pillar. “I used to be pretty good at eyeballing measurements, but that was before I had this much bigger body... Oh!” She sharply exhales and straightens up. “When I designed this body, the system or whatever told me how tall it was. And while I don’t remember the exact number, I’m pretty sure it was about two-point-three meters.”

Inanna eyes the Drakling, critically looking the much taller woman up and down. She then turns her gaze towards the stone block, staring at it from a few different angles. “If I had to make a guess, I would say that this is more than one one-hundredth of a cubic ‘meter’. Would you agree?”

“Uhhh...” The barbarian tilts her head and thinks. “Yeah...? Volume is a bit harder to directly compare, but it feels kind of close to that just compared to my hand, which is bigger than what it was back when I would have normally made these kinds of comparisons...” Krvavy trails off into a mumble, confusing herself more with her own explanation.

Luckily, Inanna seems to have understood what Krvavy meant, as she simply nods her head and jots something down on her tablet. “If you would raise the next spot now.”

Krvavy nods and immediately focuses her magic back towards the task at hand. The surface within the next sizable sketched square begins rising up, making the gap between it and the first feel even more obvious as it reaches a similar but noticeably shorter height.

“Mmm... And now the next.”

One by one, blocky pillars of stone rise up out of the charcoal squares, each one shorter than the last.

Inanna slips her stylus behind her ear, nearly losing that brass rod in the mass of her hair, and places the tablet down on the counter. She then grabs another, smaller, measuring stick and meticulously measures the height of every single rectangular pillar.

“Interesting...” The Dwarf scratches numerous angular lines and wedged triangles into her tablet. “The efficiency of your magic, or at least of Sculpt Stone, decreases at a non-linear rate: the difference in height between the first and second points of data is greater than the difference in height between the sixth and ninth.” The studious shortstack nods to herself. “By my estimations, the original pre-trait efficiency likely lies between the fourth and fifth points.”

Krvavy looks over the physical bar graph that she has made, feeling a bit of pride over how much stone she created with less than ten points of mana.

“We can go over the fine details and exact numbers later, my Ushumgal, but for now let us move onto the next experiment.”

Sturdy fingers grab onto Krvavy’s wrist, gently but insistently dragging the Drakling across the room.

Two flat wooden planks rest side by side on the next counter, both covered in runic patterns. The left one more closely resembles a circuit board or an electrical diagram, with angular lines and jagged zigzags, while the right is a much softer and swirling version of the same patterns, with softly curved corners and meandering wiggles.

“Place your hand within the central circle on the leftmost board and feed it a small but steady amount of mana.” Inanna instructs, almost impatiently tapping her stylus against the stone tablet in her hand. “Mm...” She leans forwards as the etched lines begin to glow and the many small quartz shards embedded in the plank begin to light up like little stars.

The Dwarf idly bites the end of her stylus, her thick brow furrowing as her intense copper-orange eyes dart between various points on the board.

Krvavy forces her eyes shut so that the surprisingly cute sight doesn’t distract her.

After nearly a full minute, perhaps even a bit longer, Inanna hums out again. “Mm. Now do the exact same to the rightmost board, my Ushumgal.”

The barbarian takes a deep breath and does as her Dwarf asked. The lines and crystals on the second plank light up at her mana runs through the runic lines. Krvavy tilts her head slightly as she looks over the glowing, squiggly lines. To her untrained eyes, there isn’t really a difference between these two boards beyond their layout. The little quartz pieces are glowing just about as brightly on this board as they were on the previous one.

But Inanna seems to see things differently. An inquisitive expression fills her normally neutral face as she closely inspects the runic circuits. Her lips twitch with the faintest bit of annoyance as she meticulously jots down notes onto her stone tablet.

“Mm... That is enough.”

Krvavy stops the flow of mana and pulls her hand back. “What exactly was that test about?” She curiously asks.

The grey-skinned shortstack calmly places the mostly filled tablet down. “I wanted to see how your magic would interact with runes of different ‘natures’.”

“And?”

“I did not expect there to be a meaningful difference between the layouts, as the runic matrix itself carries the mana and should be exempt from your new trait.” A faint frown pulls at Inanna’s lips. “But that did not seem to be the case. The leftmost one, done in the typical Dwarven style, was marginally less efficient than the rightmost one, which was reminiscent of runes made by some of the more primitive races. But that change in efficiency only effected mana that was coming directly from you: the mana that was deposited and then withdrawn from a quartz crystal appeared to be exempt from that.”

“Huh. So are sharp angles unnatural then?” Krvavy asks, not being too serious with her question.

“According to ‘Touch of the Ancients’, yes.” The Dwarf softly shakes her head. “I suppose that the mana ‘wants’ to flow like water in a river, even though there should be no difference between these layouts. Provided that the materials have the same amount of resistance and the channels are of the same length, of course. And I ensured that was the case for this test.”

“If they’re supposed to function exactly the same, then why do your people prefer the more... mechanical layout over the other? Is it just the aesthetic?”

“I will not deny that the orderly aesthetic may play a role in our preference, but that is simply a side product of the actual reasons rather than a reason in and of itself.” The grey-skinned shortstack brushes her fingers across the angular lines etched into the leftmost board. “To put it simply, straight lines such as these are easier to carve into the tough materials – primarily stone and metals – that serve as the mediums in which we Dwarves primarily inscribe runes upon. There are other benefits of such a neat and compact style, but again those are more akin to byproducts than an intended goal.”

“Ahh, right... So this is really just a slight annoyance for you, huh?” An apologetic smile makes its way onto Krvavy’s face. “It shouldn’t really mess with your usual work, thankfully, but painting runes onto my body will now be a bit more of a pain.”

“Mm. This is, at most, a minor frustration. It is hardly an issue.” Inanna dismissively shrugs her shoulders, stepping away from the counter. “Now, let us move onto the next test, the results of which are less significant but will still serve to satisfy our shared curiosity.”

The barbarian raises an eyebrow as a crude piece of armour, which she had wrongly assumed was mere scrap, is picked up off a shelf and pushed into her hands. A single leather strap dangles down from an oval shaped copper plate which, much like the wooden boards, is covered in runic lines and quartz shards. Though these crystalline chunks are considerably larger than the tiny pieces used in the previous test...

“For the first stage, simply secure it to your arm and prepare to feed the device as much mana as it needs.”

Cool metal presses against Krvavy’s scales as she carefully places the coppery plate atop her wrist. It doesn’t even cover half of her forearm, but that is surely intentional, considering who made this thing. The leather strap digs into the Drakling’s arm as she pulls it taut, looping it into a simple but secure knot.

“Ready?” Inanna calmly asks, smiling faintly as the barbarian nods in confirmation. “Mm. Let it pull all of the mana that it needs from you.” She instructs, reaching out and pressing a finger into one of the crystals.

Immediately, the runic lines light up with a faint glow. Energy is pulled from the channel in Krvavy’s arm, flowing through the coppery plate and into the clustered quartz chunks. The many crystal shards begin to shine, glowing brighter and brighter and brighter over just a few short seconds. A couple of the smaller pieces crack and fizzle, but the larger ones still do as they are meant to.

An array of auroras beam out from each intact crystal, coalescing together into a single swirling point roughly a hands width above the plate. Without warning, the twirling halo of light flashes, spreading out into a thin disk which fades into nothingness at its edges.

Inanna grabs her stylus and gently taps its tip against the magically projected shield. The pointed metal pen collides with solid light, causing a rippling flicker to echo throughout the glowing disk. “Mm.” The Dwarf nods her head and moves the stylus further along, repeating the process onto a slightly thinner part directly above the Drakling’s uncovered arm. Another flicker.

Krvavy raises an eyebrow as she watches her shortstack lift that brass stylus up and unceremoniously swing it back down at a... rather glacial pace.

But, despite the fairly slow speed of that strike, the pointed metal spike penetrates cleanly through the magical barrier. Without even making the presumably fragile projection flicker at all. The stylus pokes into the black scales atop Krvavy’s arm, painlessly scraping across them as its tip trails down towards the coppery plate.

Tssssskksssskhhss!

A fizzling crackle hisses out of the many crude crystals in the exact moment that Inanna’s stylus taps into the crude bracer. The projected barrier flickers and shudders, straining against the rod penetrating through its surface.

The hissing sounds abruptly stop. “Curious.” Inanna idly states, dragging her brass spike off to the side, keeping its tip pressed into the Drakling’s scales as it effortlessly exits the glowing shield of light.

Krvavy sharply exhales as a growing discomfort seeps into her arm. A red heat is seeping from the quartz crystals, adding an orange glow to the white-blue of the projected mana.

The grey-skinned Dwarf slips her left hand between the barrier and the barbarian. The glowing disk flickers and shudders as the stylus presses into it, but that resistance immediately disappears when Inanna’s hand pulls away, allowing the brass rod to freely penetrate the protective magic.

“Alright.” Inanna quickly pulls her pointed stylus back. “I’m done.”

The quartz shards hiss as the energy being fed into them is abruptly cut off. One last flicker rolls through the glowing disk of light before it blips out of existence.

Krvavy hastily unties the strap and pulls the hot coppery plate away from her arm. The metal wasn’t painfully hot just yet, but it was getting close. She idly glances at her stat sheet and isn’t particularly surprised by what she sees.

This little experiment lasted less than a minute. Probably not even a full thirty seconds. But it still burned through a lot of mana.

Over four-hundred points of mana, in fact.

“And here, one last test.”

The barbarian barely has time to put the crude bracer down before being **** to quickly catch something thrown her way. Which turns out to be... her leather pants...?

An uncomfortable grimace briefly fills Inanna’s face, quickly fading back to her usual neutral expression. “Mm. It would seem that Touch of the Ancients also extends to enchanted items in your possession: I did not experience the same degree of discomfort scrying those pants just now as I did before they were in your grasp.”

“Oh, that’s annoying...”

“Mhm.” The busty Dwarf nods and grabs a second stone tablet, scratching notes into its surface. “Please place those pants down,” she requests without lifting her gaze. The sound of that piece of clothing dropping onto a stone counter top draws a “thank you” from her lips.

Krvavy gently bites the inside of her cheek and tilts her head to the side. With just a single thought, her Soulbound weapon manifests in her hands. “Doesn’t seem to have messed with my axe,” she idly mutters out, giving the large weapon a good look over. “Though, to be fair, it isn’t exactly enchanted...”

Inanna makes one last chiselled stroke with her stylus before turning her copper-orange eyes towards the discarded pants, focusing on the dark metal rings dangling from its belt loops. “Nnh...” She winces in pain, taking a moment to recover her composure. “Your new trait does not appear to have a lingering effect: the enchantments return to full strength shortly, or immediately, after they leave your direct possession.”

“That’s good, I guess.” The Drakling dismisses her axe with a shrug. “Being able to passive ‘corrode’ enchantments could have been useful, but it probably would have been more of a pain to work around...”

“Mm. Would you like to hear the results?”

“Yes, but,” Krvavy holds a finger up to stop the Dwarf from continuing. Not that she really needed to do that, as Inanna isn’t exactly a fast talker. “Before you melt my brain with all the details and numbers, I have a question or request. Which isn’t really about anything we just did.”

“Go ahead.” The busty shortstack expectantly stares up at Krvavy with her intense eyes.

“Would it be possible for you to build some sort of device that can lure slimes towards it?” The Drakling asks, drumming the fingers of one hand into the back of the other.

“Mmm...” Inanna’s thick eyebrows furrow in thought. “Potentially. Certain frequencies of vibrations and sounds could catch the ‘attention’ of such simple beings, but I can make no guarantees about its effectiveness.”

“That’s alright.” Krvavy warmly smiles down at her lovely Dwarf. “This is really just something to make it a little easier for me to level up again. A convenience, really. So it doesn’t really mater too much.”

“I would argue that a method to increase the rate in which you level up is quite important.” The Dwarf plainly states, collecting both of the note-filled tablets. “So I will see what I can do. Now, are you ready to learn the peculiarities of your new trait?”