Chapter 196: The Young Researcher [3]

Ilya’s work at SkyRune Lab was progressing rather well.

The mana regulator project had produced several encouraging results, and after another round of experiments, the workshop had managed to eliminate most of the instability caused by the auxiliary channel.

The modified apparatus could now maintain a steady output for several minutes under varying loads, although its efficiency remained slightly below what the researchers had originally hoped to achieve.

Professor Antoine was satisfied with the outcome.

Further improvements would require more precise components and a considerable amount of testing, so he assigned the remaining work to the senior students while allowing Ilya to pursue the research topic they had discussed previously.

It concerned an ancient mana distribution component recovered from the western provinces.

The artifact itself was relatively unremarkable in appearance. It resembled a circular metal disc covered in inscriptions, with several channels connecting its outer rim to a central formation. However, the surviving records suggested that it had once belonged to a much larger machine capable of distributing magical energy between multiple independent mechanisms.

Modern Rune Tech could accomplish something similar, but the process usually required several separate control formations.

The ancient component appeared to have performed those functions simultaneously.

That alone made it worth studying.

Unfortunately, nobody had managed to determine how the original construction worked.

For the past few days, Ilya had been comparing its surviving inscriptions with contemporary spell formations, searching for recognizable patterns. Most of the work involved examining the relationship between the channels rather than deciphering individual runes, since many of the inscriptions had deteriorated beyond recognition.

His initial suspicion was that the artifact used some form of internal feedback to regulate mana distribution.

The difficulty was proving it.

Several channels appeared to carry mana toward the central formation, while others directed it outward. Their arrangements suggested that the device could recover unused energy from its connected mechanisms, but the existing diagrams offered no reliable way to determine whether that interpretation was correct.

After another afternoon of unsuccessful calculations, Ilya decided to approach the problem differently.

Instead of attempting to reconstruct the entire artifact, he isolated the smallest surviving section whose purpose could be reasonably inferred.

Three channels.

One receiving mana, one distributing it, and a third connecting the two through an unfamiliar control inscription.

If he could reproduce that arrangement using modern formations, he might at least determine what the third channel was supposed to accomplish.

The construction was simple enough to assemble with the workshop’s ordinary equipment, although its operation would still require supervision.

When Ilya presented the proposal, Antoine examined the diagrams and approved a limited experiment.

"Keep the input low and use the containment table. If the formation behaves unexpectedly, shut it down. We have no reason to sacrifice perfectly good equipment over an incomplete inscription."

Ilya readily agreed.

He had already witnessed enough magical accidents to know that underestimating an unfamiliar formation was an excellent way to end up in the academy infirmary.

With the assistance of two older students, he assembled the experimental circuit using ordinary conducting plates and three separate measuring instruments.

The first attempt produced nothing particularly interesting.

Mana entered the formation, circulated briefly, and dissipated through the discharge channel.

The second attempt behaved similarly, although adjusting the control inscription increased the amount of energy retained within the circuit.

By the fourth, however, something unexpected occurred.

Rather than allowing the mana to dissipate, the secondary channel began drawing energy back toward the input formation.

The instruments recorded a small but consistent reverse flow.

At first, Ilya assumed the result was caused by a mistake in their construction. One of the students inspected the inscriptions while another recalibrated the measuring instruments, but neither discovered anything unusual.

They repeated the experiment.

The reverse flow appeared again.

That was interesting.

Under ordinary circumstances, mana circulation followed the path established by the spell construction. Reversing its direction required a corresponding change in the controlling formation, yet their experimental circuit had remained unchanged.

The only difference was the distribution of energy between its channels.

Ilya reviewed the measurements and gradually began to understand what was happening.

The third channel was responding to the imbalance between the input and output sections.

When the output retained more mana than it could immediately use, the auxiliary channel redirected a portion of that energy toward the input.

The mechanism was surprisingly elegant.

A modern regulator would usually discharge excess energy or store it temporarily before returning it through another control formation. The ancient construction appeared capable of performing that correction automatically through the interaction between its connected channels.

Of course, their simplified experiment had demonstrated only a fraction of the original design’s potential.

Nevertheless, it established that Ilya’s earlier interpretation was at least plausible.

More importantly, it suggested a practical application for their mana regulator project.

If the auxiliary channel could return excess energy without requiring an additional control formation, the apparatus might become substantially more efficient.

Ilya immediately brought the results to Antoine.

The professor spent several minutes examining their measurements before requesting another demonstration. This time, he deliberately altered the energy distribution to determine whether the reverse flow responded consistently.

It did.

The effect was weak, and the improvised formation lost much of the recovered mana before it could return to circulation, but the underlying behavior remained consistent throughout the tests.

Antoine appeared genuinely pleased.

"Well done, Belozersky. You’ve managed to reproduce one of the artifact’s functions."

"Only one, Professor. I’m still not certain how the original construction coordinated the other channels."

"Then you’ve found your next problem."

That was fair enough.

However, the professor also pointed out something Ilya had overlooked. The ancient artifact’s surviving inscriptions suggested that its channels could respond to one another without relying on a conventional controlling formation.

If true, the original device had achieved a degree of automatic regulation that modern researchers were still struggling to reproduce.

Understanding that principle could benefit far more than their current project.

For the remainder of the afternoon, Antoine supervised several additional experiments while the older students prepared a more accurate reproduction of the mechanism.

Their results were encouraging, although the construction became unstable whenever the difference between the input and output exceeded a certain threshold.

Ilya suggested reducing the rate at which energy returned through the secondary channel, but doing so also reduced the efficiency of the process.

Another student proposed introducing a temporary storage mechanism.

That improved stability at the cost of additional complexity.

By the time the workshop concluded, they had produced three viable configurations, each with different advantages and limitations.

None was ready for practical use.

Still, the progress was substantial enough that Antoine instructed the group to preserve their experimental records for further investigation.

Ilya found himself enjoying the work more than he had expected.

There was something satisfying about gradually uncovering the principles behind an ancient mechanism, especially when those discoveries could be applied to modern technology.

It also reminded him of the lessons Hakon had recently been teaching him.

His combat training had always emphasized the importance of understanding how force interacted with movement. A powerful attack was useless if the energy behind it was directed poorly, while a comparatively weak force could become devastating when applied at precisely the right moment.

Magic followed similar principles.

The difference was that magical formations could manipulate those interactions in ways an ordinary human body could never reproduce.

And unlike the sword techniques he had spent years mastering, many of those possibilities remained unexplored.

It was an appealing thought.

After the workshop ended, Ilya remained behind to organize the diagrams and return the measuring instruments to their storage cabinets.

Antoine was still reviewing the experimental records when he mentioned that the reconstructed formation might eventually become the subject of a formal research paper.

If their results proved reproducible, SkyRune could potentially develop a new type of mana regulator based on the ancient mechanism.

Ilya was naturally interested, although he had no illusions about the amount of work involved.

The professor also reminded him that any publication would require proper attribution to everyone who contributed to the project.

That included the older students who had assembled the experimental apparatus, corrected its calculations, and developed several of the improvements.

Ilya agreed without objection.

Research was evidently a collaborative undertaking, and he had learned enough during the past week to recognize how much he still depended on the experience of others.

Nevertheless, Antoine seemed satisfied with his contributions.

"You’re adapting well, Belozersky. Most students take quite a while to become comfortable questioning established constructions."

"I’ve had some experience discovering that the conventional approach doesn’t always work for me."

"Yes, I imagine you have."

The professor knew enough about Ilya’s circumstances to understand the reference.

For much of his childhood, Ilya had trained as a swordsman despite his inability to use Aura. Becoming a wizard had forced him to reconsider nearly everything he once believed about his future.

Antoine appeared to find that background particularly interesting.

"There’s a certain advantage to approaching a field without spending your entire life accepting its assumptions. Of course, that advantage disappears rather quickly if you neglect to learn why those assumptions exist in the first place."

Ilya understood.

Questioning established methods could lead to useful discoveries, but blindly rejecting conventional knowledge was simply another form of ignorance.

Fortunately, the professor had no intention of allowing him to make that mistake.

Before leaving, Antoine handed him a list of additional references concerning ancient energy circulation systems.

Several were written in terminology Ilya barely recognized.

Apparently, his reward for making progress was another week of studying.

Still, he accepted the documents.

At least the subject interested him.

By the time Ilya finally left the workshop, most of the afternoon had passed. He still had ordinary coursework to finish, along with the exercises Hakon had assigned during their previous training session.

His schedule was becoming rather crowded.

Nevertheless, there was one practical application of the day’s research that he wanted to investigate further.

The ancient formation’s ability to redirect energy according to the conditions within its connected circuits had given him an idea.

Whenever he used Niflheim’s Blizzard to accelerate, he relied on external forces to alter his momentum. The process worked well enough, but abrupt changes in direction placed tremendous strain on his body.

What if he could distribute part of that force more efficiently?

He doubted the ancient mechanism could simply be adapted into a combat spell, and attempting to reproduce its effects through Niflheim would require considerable experimentation.

Still, the underlying principle was worth considering.

Rather than increasing the force behind his movements, he might be able to improve how that force was applied.

It was something Hakon would probably find interesting.

Ilya made a brief note to discuss the idea during their next training session before continuing toward the academy’s main building.

For now, he still had several assignments waiting.

And unlike ancient magical machinery, those were unlikely to become any easier simply because he understood them better.