I wake the next morning fully refreshed. Ready to accomplish anything, the first thing coming to mind is building the internet. At first, it would not be anything quite as fancy, but I had to start somewhere, and even a simple radio would be light years ahead of anything we had at the moment.

With this mindset, I throw myself fully into the minutia of my goal. Hours go by as experimentation with simple tests reveals the true limits of these new runes. The old, the new, and how they interact.

I’m briefly interrupted by the delivery people bringing me two big copper plates, along with some copper sheets and strips. One of the mana batteries is already done and the other one will be for later. I set them aside to keep working and the hours go by as an effortless concentration takes me. I’m having too much fun working on this idea to take things slowly.

As my ideas on the common uses of these runes start to run out, I go back to the more promising candidates for my use case. It takes me the entire day and well into the night when I conclude this is not the way to go. I won’t be able to do anything approaching my vision without coming up with some runes, and that is exactly what I do.

I don’t want to wait for the book to give suitable runes to me, or trying to pry these from other sources in the system. There is a myriad of ways in which I could go about it, but I choose to be more specific. Trying to come up with a dozen runes that play well together would be a nightmare.

Not in the initial creation or even common use. But as we developed, making sure every single one of them still worked as intended would be crucial. People would start to jury-rigging them in places they had no business been in, better to try coming up with a singular approach.

I start to draw it, at first not even trying to impart any meaning too strongly, just lightly holding the thought of what I wanted to accomplish. And what I wanted was ambitious. Not only ambitious, but I wanted to leave room to make it greater, but for now I focused only on basic functionality. The hours go by and I don’t stop for a single moment. Thin streams of Aether, so little I would barely notice them if I wasn’t paying attention accompanied my creation.

What I end up with was like an electronic component in how it was applied. By itself, was like an amplifier chip in a radio. A simple IC may take dozens of sensitive components and make them into a single one, but without dozens of other components to filter, regulate and limit it, it was almost useless.

My intention in creating this rune is to connect two places. Almost like a quantum bridge. Except even more magical and without all the extraneous requirements. With the right accompanying engraving, you could slowly transmit information from one to the other, and maybe, one day, more than information. All that gets filed away for the future. Right now let’s focus on more immediate implications.

I draw on two pieces of paper a simple enchantment. The final result is fairly intricate, but this is just a simple test, we could work on making it simpler later if we wanted to use this specific configuration. I leave both pieces about a meter from each other and input a tread of mana in one of them so it will have some mana to receive the signal. After that, I send a pulse of mana through the other paper. What ends up happening, is both papers almost instantly starting to burn.

This was a recurring problem for almost everyone when they tried to put too much mana in enchantments made on paper. Only 0.1 mana to each paper was enough to do this. I enter my home and take the whole stack of papers. Now I can test a lot of hypotheses.

Producing a consistent and faster rune script is just a matter of practice, and there is plenty to go around. Soon I finish each one in about 4 minutes.

With a stack of paper in hand, I run through a few hypotheses. I repeat the first experiment, this time only sending about 0.02 mana in the second paper, and neither of them burns. After making sure there is no mana on either one, I repeat the process with increasing amounts of mana, then with greater and smaller distances and with having multiple papers charged at the same time.

What I found out, was interesting if not entirely unexpected. The receiving paper needs a minimum amount of mana to work independent of the distance, at least in this specific configuration.

The characteristics of the sending paper were more varied, and they determined some of what happened to the receiver. The sender needed to have an appropriate amount of mana to send anything. And the receiver was only affected if the sender had enough mana to overcome the distance.

I did not manage to pass 8 meters, as the sheer amount of mana made the paper burn before it could reach the receiver. It was only 0.3 mana to reach about 8 meters, but this was paper we were talking about. Around 1 meter I found the minimum amount of mana to establish a connection. Only 0.05 mana for the sender.

As the sun starts to peek I notice how long I have been working, but I ended up choosing to go for it as was my usual modus operandi.

I take a few tin copper sheets and try new experiments. This time, my focus is on consolidating all the aspects desired of my rune in mind as I cycle a minuscule but perceptible stream of Aether through me. I know exactly what is happening as I attempt this, but are two things I’m fairly sure about.

First, the rune is gaining power, what form it will take I don’t know yet, but it can only be good for its longevity and operation.

Second, I’m quickly gaining familiarity with it. Even this minuscule stream of Aether is increasing my familiarity with the rune I created a couple of times faster than before, and this is already considering my new base, very much increased given I unlocked and increased the soul stat so much.

I engrave a few plates with an admittedly inferior tool to the mithril-tipped chisel. As with the first battery, it is not too much trouble. Given how soft copper is, it just takes a little more time and effort. I make two pairs and a trio of copper plates at first, given that for now, the copper plates can only connect to the one they are tunned to while engraving.

Running through most of the tests again is a breeze. With the greater mana capacity of the copper, I can put a full point of mana on the receiver with no detrimental effects, and that is how I slowly test out the transmitter. At one meter I already notice quite a difference. Even the smallest amount of mana I can reliably send, around 0.02, is more than enough to light the center of the enchantment, in the receiver.

I slowly increase the mana as I move further and further away. Around 1 mana, the plate gets unreasonably hot, but I still manage to send a signal through. I don’t have a measuring tape, but the distance is around 110 meters.

It takes another few minutes of testing, but after careful observation, I notice another parameter affecting the receiver plate. How precisely the runes were drawn. This is not entirely unexpected, but the effects in other enchantments were significantly more understated in comparison. Here, even myself being the one to draw both of them, I notice as even a few very small differences in the lines can make about 10 percent variation in mana consumption. So, the plate that has two more slight mistakes can only transmit to about 100 meters. About 10 meters less for the same mana requirements.

I make one last test, cutting the small palm-sized plates in four and engraving smaller runes. Two of them at half the size and two at one-third the size. I have a little trouble engraving the smallest one, but all it takes is a little more patience.

After finishing, I test everything again. And this time the results do surprise me. At the closest ranges, mana consumption is quite similar to the other plates, but as you move further away the efficiency gets a lot worse. The small plates all have around 0.6 mana as their limit, and for the same amount of mana, the smallest one can only go a third the distance of the original engraving. And the plates at half the size reach almost exactly half the range. I wish for a moment I had a couple of larger copper sheets to find out how far we could push it. Would a 10-meter dish manage to push the range 100 times?

All that will be for later. I think about what to do for a moment, and although continuing sounds mighty interesting, I stop myself. Putting my experiments away I enter my house and finish filling the battery to the brim. There was a lot of experimentation, but most of it used only a fraction of a single mana point. Now with both plates full, I dig another hole and stick the second battery in tying the mana flow to the house and the first one.

In fifteen minutes, and spending the last vestiges of my mana I have a dried floor indistinguishable from the one before. Except now there is treasure hidden just under it. Almost 700 mana sitting there for the taking. After having dealt with all that, noon comes around and the messenger I was expecting arrives. He sees I’m not busy and approaches.

“So Nash, any messages to the village?”

“Yep,” I say as extending a pair of envelopes. “Here are them, one for Charlie and one for the group of mages I hired, if you don’t know who they are give it to the Scribe.”

“Sure thing, I know who they are.” He speaks in an efficient tone, as he puts both letters in a hidden compartment in his jacket. Given how officious it looks, probably standard fare for our messengers when they are on duty. When it is well secured he asks me: “Anything else?” At my head shake, he then starts running in the precise direction of the village.

His pace, if he maintains it, indicates he would be back almost as fast as me if I was on a 30-mile round trip. His endurance might even be better than mine. Someone decently specialized if my guess was not too off the mark.

Having dealt with the more immediate business, I lay on the ground and relax for a few moments. There was quite a lot I wanted to deal with before I dedicated some time to exploring my soul. There was also a lot left for later in the last couple of days given the importance of my next actions.

I finally sit up with a mix of somberness and giddiness for my next action. In only a few breaths I’m deep within myself.

Floating in this strange place, it takes me a little bit to get used to the feeling. I’m an avatar here, but that is par for the course. Without knowledge of how time works here, I don’t daudle. The last time I spend far too long, I need to be a little more efficient.

I start another line of experimentation. Following each end every hypothesis I can about how and why things are as they are. All to reach the small light ball about 2 meters from my hand. Everything else is dozens or hundreds of meters away, but this one is just within reach, even if I have to use some Aether.

At this thought, I release a stream of Aether within and around me. A very thin one that will increase my learning speed without wasting any of this precious resource. There is a lot to do, but this is the next step in my path.

---------------------------------------------

20 Miles away from Nash’s village, in the cover of night.

“Finally you guys get here. You take well over a week to meet me, and even show up late.” I speak to the representatives of Max’s village.

“Don’t take this tone with me, Brad, we have come to an arrangement, you are not our superior only a partner. Lord Max is the only one I will bow to.” After a brief awkward pause with neither of us budging, he continues: “We were following your recommendations on how to stay hidden. That map of yours is really annoying. Without quite a bit of proper planning, we will have no chance of moving undetected.”

“Look, don’t worry about it, as long as there are no regular routes, or large groups out in the open, they won’t notice a thing. So does that mean you are still interested in taking over the village?”

“We never lost interest.”

“So why didn’t you come right after the goblins attack?”

“We had a scout observing the whole thing, you mentioned the fire gauntlets and we were prepared for that. But there were quite a few more mages than expected.”

“No, it wasn't a couple dozen more mages, it was just a big mana battery. I couldn’t find out more, but it had at least 10000 mana. Earth-moving, shields, and water summoning was the work of five mages. The ones with the highest skill level and more practice.”

“Why didn’t you mentioned it on the drops? Just a few extra lines written. This is even worse than we imagined.”

“It’s not as bad as all that. I didn’t mention anything, on the off chance the letters were intercepted.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Next time just informs us of everything.”

At those words, I think to myself how bad an idea that would be. I needed to have a few cards up my sleeve. Leverage for when Lord Max did take over the village. This piece of information in specific and a lot more I would freely share, but I had to keep a few cards up my sleeve.

The personality of our village seemed to be of people that could lead, but almost none had the interest of doing so. They mostly preferred to turn off their brains when it came to that sort of thing and followed along. There would be resistance initially, but with my help and Lord’s Max military might, all the sheep would just follow along.

“Eighter way, you lost a good opportunity, Nash was out of touch for quite a few days. Now he is in constant communication with the village.”

“He is just a single person, and from what you have told us, it looks like he is not an avid hunter, so his level will be fairly low.”

“Man, underestimate him at your peril.”

“Find out where he has set up and we could send a team of a dozen people just before the attack.”

“Make that 50 men so he will have no way of escaping and you have a deal.”

“We already have a deal.” Says the main representative trying to sound ominous, and while I take the warning seriously, I don’t back down or feel any fear. After a moment he continues:

“Now, tell us what you have been keeping to yourself so we can properly plan for the next opportunity. We liked the idea of attacking just after a monster attack, but there are a few things we need to settle on. We need a better plan to avoid detection of their satellite view, that is the main concern. We can’t have another village reinforcing the defenses, even considering having modest help from the inside.”

I agree and we begin work, though my mind always comes back to the thought of ruling this village. Nipping that pesky problem called Nash in the bud is just the icing on the cake.