AK – The Alchemy Kingdom

One week earlier…

“… But it would be even better with you could craft a tool to keep the bats restrained. A MQ wind crystal would sell for a good price, but an alive MT sound beast… I heard that it is worth at least eight times that.”

Instead of answering, Karl started to consider it carefully. The first idea that appeared in his mind was using the bubble element since it had the best properties to deal with blocking specific things. After discussing a few ideas with Master AI, he replied:

“I could try something, but it would take me at least a week to develop it… The problem isn’t containing itself, but are we ready to reveal and give them one of our tools?”

Lew frowned before becoming ashamed, he hadn’t considered how the Adventurers would transport the beasts back. Even if they could capture and restrain the bats, how would the other party carry them back?

“Forget it, I didn’t think about it thoughtfully…”

“Don’t be so hasty… Give me a week and let’s see what we can come up with. I said it before, there’s no impossible for Alchemy, only our limitations…”

With this, Karl and Reiner excused themselves and left for the Alchemy pavilion. In ten minutes, all of the students and disciples gathered in front of the stone wall used for planning their projects. Karl cleared his throat before speaking:

“Good afternoon, everyone. You all have your projects and duties, but I would ask for your undivided attention for a couple of hours… In a week, we have to deliver two tools for an important mission… First, there’s an unusual requirement for both tools, they need to be hidden from sight, so keep that in mind when giving your ideas… The first tool will be used to block sound attacks from a MT beast, sound is a variation of the wind element, the property is available in MQ crystals. Being hidden and blocking the sound attacks are the only requirements.”

Ten minutes after the explanation Karl started to collect ideas. Fortunately, the Alchemists had learned how to simplify their ideas and present them in groups, which also allowed for the participation of the students. Although few had worked out the courage to discuss ideas with the disciples, their contribution often helped improve the solutions.

Karl was also satisfied with the content of the proposals, most groups based their ideas on crafted tools, which would save time and resources. Four ideas regarded the use of the bubble barrier, which was also Karl’s approach, while the other ideas strained from their logical possibilities. However, two other ideas caught Karl’s attention, even though they were off the mark and not well designed. One proposed to use one of the absorption Arrays (Absorption or Signature Absorption) to absorb the sound and the other idea proposed to use a MQ wind crystal to neutralize the sound attacks with sound defenses.

From the ideas based on the bubble barrier, he chose the simplest and more effective, to use a protection barrier configured to block sounds. Although the idea of using a simple bubble barrier, like Karl used in the explosion, was less costly, it would also block the attacks aimed at the bats, so using a protection barrier was better. Karl was again proud when a level two disciple brought up a problem with the idea, if a bat passed through the barrier, what would prevent it from attacking from inside the barrier? The solution was as easy as the problem, just adjusting the barrier to also block MQ beasts.

As for the problem of being visible, the protection barrier Arrays could be crafted in the internal part of a coat. Last, came the problem of reach, how could they set the limits for the barrier without an external Array? The barrier erected around the camp used a big Array to mark the limits of the protective bubble, but in the case of a mobile barrier, how would they do it?

The easiest approach would be drawing it to cover a good but imprecise distance. For a personal barrier, this wouldn’t be a problem, but for a barrier that would cover a large group, which would be spread in a few meters, it be could a problem. Without an Array to guarantee the barrier form, it would probably decrease size when its power diminished, like when it’s attacked or when the energy crystal can’t supply enough energy.

Therefore, the only safe solution was to find a way to establish a mobile limit for the barrier. Unfortunately, this time, nobody was able to propose a plausible solution. So Karl had to give it himself, however, he would still use this situation to help them improve their abilities. Instead of one, he proposed three options and let them discuss which was more appropriate. To limit the barrier, they could set the Direction Array (triangle form) to use another object instead of an external Array. To locate the object, they just had to use its energy signature obtained by the Signature Extraction Array (pentagram form).

The three reference options proposed by Karl were the stone walls of the cave, the people or any object that could be carried by the user, each option had its merits and problems. For people, they could use general properties of blood to identify the people present and set the Direction Array to build the barrier after the last identifiable person. Using people as a reference would be ideal in terms of energy consumption and setting because the barrier would be limited to the necessary size to protect the group and the carrier wouldn’t need to do anything besides activating it. However, someone might notice the unusual control over the barrier size strange for the onlookers, after all, a bubble Mage wouldn’t be able to control the barrier to adapt itself to the others’ position.

The option of using the stone walls as a reference would also need to use the signature of the stone, but it would need for Lew to take a sample of the stone wall and place it in the Array. Besides that, the option also had the danger of forming a small barrier that wouldn’t cover all of them. In the end, the best choice was using an object to mark the limits of the barrier, Lew could carry it and throw the object in the ground to mark the size of the barrier. Of course, this solution also had problems, if he threw the object too far the magic energy might not be enough causing failure in forming the barrier. Likewise, if he threw it too close, the barrier wouldn’t be big enough.