Novel Full 397 397 Helping Hands
The first order of business was for the Mayor to lead them to the Generator, a large unit built into one of the standardized shipping containers, like the one that they would be filling with food and receiving their outside orders in.
It was currently filled with Diesel fuel, and they were avoiding running it too much, but Wolfe could see that the magical power infrastructure was still not all that well developed before the humans arrived.
This must have been one of the villages that preferred a more rustic way of life if they hadn’t even put in wiring for a magical generator and town lights, but that was a moot point now, as the humans had done all that for them.
That made things really easy for Wolfe. It was very large, easy to access, and it even had a large distribution panel where it could send power through individual breakers to multiple locations, perfect for use as a residential system without a secondary outside distribution box.
The generator itself had a nice flat end plate covering the main shaft’s bearings, and that was where Wolfe would put his Inscription. Done there, he could connect it to the generator’s output connections, and the entire system would be able to operate with its existing equipment, regardless of whether the Inscription or the Diesel engine was doing the work.
In fact, if they really wanted to go all out, they could operate it with both and get twice the output from the system. It seemed like the perfect solution, as far as Wolfe could tell.
“Gather around, fellow Magic Users, and let me show you the wonder of the [Lightning Array] as used to power a generator. Now, I am going to need a small donation from the Witches present. I need you to grow a mana crystal around the shell of the Generator or attach it to the unit somewhere that it won’t come loose.
If you don’t do that, you’ll need to feed it power constantly instead of running off stored energy all day. Ella, would you do the honours? Right there on the roof looks like a good spot where it wouldn’t affect anything.” Wolfe announced after he had finished his inspection.
“Why does it feel like we’re a travelling circus, and I’m the Illusionist’s assistant?” Ella laughed as she walked up and looked at the spot Wolfe had picked.
There was a row of support bars under the roof line that the crystals could be attached to, and they were close to the generator box so that Wolfe could link directly to them from the unit itself. Keeping everything close was key to a well-functioning Inscription, and stretching the distance between the power source and the output would increase the chances that something would interfere in the process.
Ella formed the crystals around the support bars while the others watched in awe. The speed at which a Rank Two Witch could create Mana Crystals was unlike anything that they had seen before. For a witch who had failed out of the First Year at the Academy, to make them took the better part of an hour for every handful. But Ella could make enough to cover a large portion of the roof in under a minute.
“There you go. That should be enough to power the village for a few days if they’re kept full, so you can start your Inscription now.” Ella told Wolfe as she stepped away from the generator.
“You have no sense of pizazz. It needs flair, showmanship, and excitement. How are we supposed to expect these people to remember us if we don’t put on a show?” Wolfe joked.
“Oh, I think there is no danger of you being forgotten. Trust me on that one.” Christa laughed.
Even Grok was backing her up, pointing up at his witch and nodding his agreement.
“Fine, this is the basic [Lightning Inscription]. I’m sure you recognize that, as it’s the base for the Lightning Barriers that the arrays used by the army are based off of. Then we modify it like this to give a less intense but more constant output.
After that, we match it to the current output from the Generator, using the current flow in the lines as a guide.
After that, we link the power source inscriptions to the Mana Crystals with these secondary inscriptions and the output connectors to the trigger inscription. Now, be sure not to put it on the lines, or the power will still be active even if you disconnect the generator.
Finally, we add the upper layer to link all of those inscriptions together in an Array.
Now that the Array is complete, we let the Lightning Magic inscribe the Inscriptions on their targets, and we have a functional Magical Generator overlay.
Miss Mayor, if you would like to add some mana to the Crystals here, we can allow the Colonel to shut off the Diesel Motor and switch the city over to magical power.”
The Mayor focused and filled the first few percent of the storage over the next minute before nodding in satisfaction.
“There, that should be enough to keep it going until we can get more Witches here to finish the job.” She announced.
Wolfe smiled at her. “Yes, that is more than enough.”
The Colonel crossed his fingers, and with the flip of a switch, the generator fell silent.
But the lights in town all stayed on. The breakers didn’t flip, and the power display on the output showed an even 240 volts to all of the output lines.
“Perfection. It’s running exactly as intended. Now, let me top that off before we move on to the gardens.”
Wolfe pulled all that he could on his own and then added a quarter of one Mana Core to completely fill the mana crystals in ten seconds, leaving the crystals glowing happily with purple-blue lightning energy and the Mayor staring at him in shock.
“Now, should we go see the fields?”