RNP Chapter 141 Rune Compression and Badge Rebirth
Chapter 141 Rune Compression and Badge Rebirth
Chapter 141 Rune Compression and Badge Rebirth
In the following days, Karen practiced what she had learned while preparing for a new idea of her own.
In the alchemy workshop that day, Karen did not immediately continue the high-intensity magic compression exercises or the complex material mixing. In front of him was Lucian Sinclair's experimental journal, and next to him were several sketches he had drawn of his concept for a new generation of protective badges.
Nicole sat opposite him, sipping a cup of vanilla tea, relaxed, but her eyes remained fixed on Karen's thought process.
"Professor Nico," Karen pointed to a page in the journal filled with distorted, writhing rune sketches, "Professor Lucian attempted to design the 'Energy Drain-Diversion' rune set here. His intention was to construct something that could actively absorb external magic to strengthen his 'Active Vision' magic circle, but it failed, triggering a violent magic siphon explosion. But..."
Karen picked up his sketch, which depicted a simpler, more stable three-layered concentric circle structure. The core was an energy storage crystal, the middle layer was an energy channeling and conversion layer, and the outer layer was a shield generation layer. He circled a spot in the middle layer: "You see, his failure stemmed from an overly aggressive rune combination, pursuing quantity over stability and control. What if we take his core intention of 'actively channeling and absorbing environmental magic,' but drastically simplify the rune structure, retaining only the most basic and stable 'Following (Fehu)' and 'Containment (Othila)' runes, and combine that with the 'frequency filtering' concept gleaned from the 'Touch of Hermes' absorption mechanism, absorbing only free-floating magic within specific frequency bands?"
Nico put down his teacup, his eyes gleaming with interest. "A very insightful distillation, Karen. Extracting valuable core ideas from failure and giving them new, safer applications. Lucian would be pleased if he knew his failure provided inspiration for a protective gadget. Go on."
Encouraged, Karen's thinking flowed more smoothly: "Then it's about the shield itself. The current single-sided shield has a limited defensive range, making it difficult to withstand attacks from multiple directions or areas. I want to try building a more comprehensive energy field." He drew an elliptical outline that would cover his entire body on the outer layer of the sketch, "But directly generating a spherical shield consumes too much energy, and the energy storage can't support it. So my idea is not to generate a single surface,
Instead, it guides energy to form a "repulsive force field," deflecting and dispersing the impact of an attack along the tangent of this field. This can be achieved using a variant of the rune "Algiz." This way, with the same energy consumption, the protective coverage area can be larger, transforming a single-sided field into one that nearly envelops the entire body. While its absolute strength may not be as high as a focused single-sided shield, its overall protective effectiveness and ability to handle complex situations will be enhanced.
"A very apt analogy," Nico praised. "Algiz's defensive philosophy is based on 'divine protection' and 'deflection guidance.'"
Applying this to an energy shield is a feasible idea. But how do we power this more complex structure? The energy density and output efficiency of the energy storage core are key. This brings us back to your earlier concept—magic compression.
Karen nodded vigorously, pointing to the core of the sketch: "Yes! This is where we need to combine Professor Castor's techniques. If we can optimize and compress the injected energy inside the energy storage crystal through willpower guidance and the assistance of the 'Condensation' and 'Structure' runes—not pursuing the ultimate compression point, but making the stored energy denser and more 'orderly' while ensuring the crystal's stability—then the same crystal volume can store more energy, and when an instantaneous burst of output is needed to support the shield, the energy flow can be released more smoothly and concentratedly, reducing losses and increasing the shield's strength!"
He pushed the sketch in front of Nico, which already outlined the basic rune combination: the core energy storage area was optimized and compressed, the middle layer enhanced its channeling, absorption, and energy conversion capabilities, and the outer layer used the Algiz force field to guide the generation of the shield. "I want to try this integrated solution: compressing the energy storage to improve energy reserves and release quality, optimizing the rune channeling to passively absorb environmental magic to extend endurance, and changing the shield shape to a more comprehensive deflection force field."
Nico carefully examined the sketches, her fingers lightly tapping the table. Instead of immediately evaluating the plan's merits, she asked, "So, Karen, how do you verify the feasibility of each step of the design? The effect of the rune combinations? The burden of compression on the energy storage crystals? The energy consumption and actual defensive strength of the new shield form?"
Karen was prepared. He held out several pieces of prepared materials: "Let's start with small-scale testing. First, I need to test the absorption efficiency of the simplified 'Fehu' + 'Othila' rune set for mild free magic. I'll use these few crystal chips with only basic runes engraved on them, place them at different magic concentrations in the workshop, and record their data." He pointed to several inconspicuous transparent crystals next to him.
"Next, test the effect of optimized compression on the basic energy storage crystal." He picked up a finger-sized, ordinary-quality citrine. "Using the basic methods taught by Professor Castor, try to simultaneously guide your will and assist with basic runes while injecting standard magic power into it. The goal is to increase the density of its stored energy by five to ten percent. Compare its charging speed, maximum storage capacity, stability of energy release, and—whether the structure is damaged—before and after compression."
"Finally, we need to simulate the new shield field." He pointed to the sketch. "I need a miniature rune emitter that can generate only the smallest unit of the Algiz deflection field, and then test its defensive effectiveness and energy consumption with standard magic shocks of different intensities, comparing it with the existing Ironclad Charm single-sided shield model."
Nico smiled with satisfaction: "Clear thinking, well-defined steps. That's the charm of alchemy—from theoretical conception to decomposition and verification, and finally integration. Theory without practice is meaningless; only practice can verify the correctness of your plan and is the fastest way to discover new problems. Very good, Karen, begin your verification. I will supervise to ensure safety."
In the days that followed, the workshop became Karen's laboratory.
He set up the monitoring crystal, recorded the absorption data of different rune combinations under different environments, and selected the most efficient and stable simplified combination. This process was tedious but necessary, and he failed several times before finding the optimal balance between rune etching depth, magic conductivity, and absorption efficiency.
In the corner where Nico had set up a powerful protective magic array, Karen began his compression experiment on the energy storage crystal. He sat cross-legged behind a thick protective crystal plate, carefully guiding his magic power into the ordinary citrine used as the experimental subject. At the same time, his willpower was highly concentrated, striving to construct faint but continuous "sa" and "lngwaz" runes in the core area inside the crystal. This was even more difficult than compressing his own magic flow! The crystal's structure itself resisted changes from external forces; even a slight instability or excessive strength in the willpower field would cause tiny cracks to appear inside the crystal, or even cause it to shatter completely.
Aside from the failed attempts, the mental strain was immense. But Karen didn't give up. With each failure, the Eye of Truth faithfully recorded the changes and points of collapse in the crystal's internal energy structure, allowing him to make more precise adjustments in his next attempt. Finally, in a state of intense mental concentration, he successfully compressed the injected magic power by approximately eight percent in the crystal's core area! Although the area was small,
It only occupies about one-fifth of the entire crystal energy storage space, but the energy luster in this area is significantly more concentrated, and monitoring instruments show that its energy density has indeed increased! Moreover, there are no cracks in the crystal itself!
"It's a success!" Karen exclaimed excitedly, his tired face beaming with joy. Although it was still far from a 10% overall improvement, this crucial step proved that his idea was feasible!
Finally, there was the shield field test. He used alchemy to create a palm-sized miniature rune substrate, on which miniature Algiz variant rune sets were etched. A standardized flow of magic was input through a thin magic conduit, forming a deflection field in front of the substrate that was barely visible to the naked eye, but appeared as faint ripples under the Eye of Truth.
Nico personally controlled an alchemical pen capable of firing magical shock beams of varying intensities. "Level 1 Impact, prepare." A faint red light shot towards the center of the force field. The force field rippled slightly, and the red light, as if striking a smooth curved surface, was refracted at a small angle and flew aside.
"Level Two Impact." The red light intensified. The force field fluctuations increased, but it was still successfully deflected.
"Level 3 impact!" The red light became blinding. This time, the force field twisted violently. Although most of the impact was deflected in the end, the residual energy passed through the force field, leaving a scorch mark behind the substrate.
"Record: Under a level 3 impact, the deflection efficiency is approximately 85%, and energy penetration exists. Energy consumption is about 30% higher than a standard single-sided shield." Karen quickly recorded the data, her brow slightly furrowed. The high energy consumption was a problem.
He adjusted the magical conductivity of several nodes on the rune base plate, optimized the energy flow path, and tested it again. This time, facing a level three impact, although the force field still fluctuated violently, the energy that penetrated was significantly reduced, and the energy consumption also decreased by ten percent.
"See that?" Nico pointed to the data. "Every adjustment is progress. The energy consumption problem can be solved by optimizing rune efficiency and improving the subsequent energy storage core. The concept of deflecting force fields has been initially proven effective."
Looking at the detailed data recorded on the experimental table, the citrine whose core had been successfully partially compressed, and the shield substrate that had undergone preliminary optimization, Karen felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction. The blueprint for the new generation of protective badges was no longer just theoretical; through these solid, step-by-step experiments, it was gradually becoming clear and feasible in his hands.