The early commute to the warehouse the next day was quiet. Merchants from the west were cut off with the closing of the great gate of the setting sun. The usual bustle of the city was gone. The barkers and produce sellers weren’t calling out for their morning customers. Instead, people whispered in small huddled groups.

When Tim arrived he was greeted by the two giddy goons. Goto and Makko proudly presented the earnings and all the warehouse stock the acquired. Tim smiled weakly as they went through the boxes of goods. Eventually, his sour mood started to wear on the two. After showing concern for their master Tim gave the criminal slaves a few silver each and sent them out to play.

With somber steps, Tim descended down to the secret research facility carved from the bedrock. It was good that he gave Goto and Makko some time to have fun before the war starts. Plus it got them out of his hair. It was always harder to work when those two were around. Every time Tim did something they would stare like dogs being taught astrophysics.

Seated at a large wooden table Tim laid out his notebook and a few slabs of copper. After last week’s trial and error, he was certain which sigils were responsible for drawing out mana. So he smoothed a plate and loaded it to capacity with sigils. Cautiously, he reached out a hand to touch it. A moment before his fingers grazed its surface Tim regretted sending Makko and Goto away. Those two knuckleheads would be perfect for tests like these.

With a resolved will Tim’s fingers wrapped around the edge of the plate. Nothing happened. Stupefied Tim turned the plate over in his hands. He had fully expected to have his mana sucked dry the second he touched it. Maybe he had gotten the sigils wrong? Tim tried pushing a little mana into the plate and felt the sigils grab hold. The magic patterns siphoned his energy at an alarming rate.

The copper plate shimmered and glowed blue as it drew in the energy. Tim was light headed and before he managed to drop it back to the table. By the time Tim had recovered enough to think clearly the plate had returned to normal.

Tim marked the success in his notebook and continued onto the second phase of testing. If his theory proved correct it would open up a massive renaissance in the production of magical tools. And he would be at the forefront. A vast wealth, to rival any master merchant would be his. From there he could pay for the acquisition of new and rare spells and hopefully, unlock the pathway home.

The sigils on the copper plate only took mana in and directed it through the spell. Under this hypothesis, other sigils were needed to choose the source of mana. Tim flipped through his big notebook full of spell designs copied from the guild library. With the pages opened to a control wind spell, he began the next test.

In the outer ring, besides the sigils for mana consumption, Tim etched air element sigils. The ones found in the inner network of the control wind spell. After the second set of elemental sigils, the copper plate began to grow hot. The wooden table it rested on began to scorch and smolder. Hotter and hotter the copper plate grew as it glowed brightly. Under the blinding glare of the incandescent copper, the table erupted in flames. Tim grabbed his notebook as he stumbled from his chair. He coughed and choked as smoke billowed through the confined room. Flooded with mana the copper plate consumed itself on the floor of bedrock while Tim struggled up the stairs.

Thick metallic smoke filled the warehouse and leaked out the upper windows. Tim covered his mouth and choked again. Though his watering eyes he could see the windows open, there was just no breeze to move the air. Hurriedly he used Form to create a gust of wind and quickly vented the building. Tim wiped the soot from his face and was glad no one from the fire department came by.

With a few temporary holes in the floor and a well-directed breeze, the secret basement laboratory was ready for more testing. Tim crafted a new table out of the bedrock and continued right where he had left off. After only a few hours he was on to the practical application and started an overhaul of the building’s facilities.

By the time Hoban arrived Tim was just finishing the last of the new warehouse ceiling fans. A thin copper wire connected them and ran down to a copper box on the wall next to the door. A simple, but elegant lever connected to the side. It was at this strange contraption that the elf stared dubiously.

“Well, Tim, what have you done now? And why does it smell like smoke in here?”

“Let me show you.” Tim pressed the lever and the fans above started to turn. A soft breeze mixed drifted down and tussled Hoban’s red hair. He looked like he was lost in a trance, mesmerized by the spinning blades.

“Amazing.”

“This is my new junction box,” Tim said drawing Hoban’s attention back. “In small cylinder up top is a monster core. In the back of the box are two plates, one with a mana siphon plate and a matching one with air element sigils. When you pull this lever it presses the two together and it starts to draw in mana from the atmosphere. Excess energy flows into the monster core. When the core grows too big it pushes the lever to disengage the air plate and gets drained directly. Eventually, it shrinks back down and the air plate gets re-engaged. “

“These ports on the bottom,” Tim pointed, “are for the attachment of wires. You can connect the wires to any number of magitech devices.

“Magitech?”

“Magical technology. Try and keep up. All magitech devices will have at least one control stack; a stack of metal spell plates that control its function. This fan, for example, has a control stack containing a mana siphon, move earth plate, and instruction plate. The mana siphon plate connects to the power line to draw in energy. The move earth plate provides the source of rotational energy. And the instruction plate tells it to rotate the metal shaft.”

“And this over here,” Tim pointed at the far wall, is going to be the automation area.” Piles of cables circled and flowed into tabled topped with metal. Nearby a strange device sat. It looked like a stumpy antenna with a large ball atop a short pole. At the base was a large glass cylinder with sturdy copper tubing along the sides.

“The tables are set up to help various process and the spell plates can be swapped out for different functions. This odd contraption here is, well, let me explain. The air siphon plates aren’t getting enough mana from the air inside so I made this mana pump. I’m going to attach it to the roof soon. Hopefully, it will be enough to power everything.”

“Amazing.”

“Think that’s cool? You should see the shower upstairs. It has the standard mana siphon, plus plates for creating water and creating heat. Separate knobs adjust the temperature and water flow.” Tim puffed up his chest in pride.

“A, a hot shower? Like in the Emperor’s castle?”

“Oh, they have them? Well, come check out this one.”

An hour later a very relaxed elf lounged on a sofa with a cup wine in his hand and a towel around his hair. “So this is your big plan hunh? Well at least we know it’s going to make you rich.”

“Make the business rich, not me. But you know, details. This is just the beginning though. We will have stoves and ovens. Tools to heat or cool the air. Lights of course. Plus there are agricultural and commercial applications. And of some ideas, I have for transportation. Speaking of, you wouldn’t happen to know of a tree that bleeds a sticky white sap, would you?

“What? Are you asking me just because I’m an elf?” Hoban sat up with a glare.

“Uhhh…”

“Ha, it’s the Sharinga Tree. They grow out to the southwest; some people use the sap for closing wounds. Why, are you going branch into apothecary?”

“No, just some side project I have in mind.” Tim didn’t want to say anymore and Hoban didn’t want to push the issue. For a bit, they lingered in uncomfortable silence.

“It sure is quiet out there.” Tim sighed as he looked out the window.

“Yeah in here too. Maybe we should go get your girlfriend? I bet she’d like to take a hot shower. With you.”

“Aerith isn’t my girlfriend.”

“Does she know that? Regardless, she seems to have had it pretty bad lately. I think she could use the relaxation.”

“You’re probably right. But last time we went somewhere a couple of idiots followed us. And until we are ready to open up the brand we need to keep this place secret. Even if that means she must suffer in the meantime.”

“With the money you make you couldn’t you just pay them off?”

“I don’t think so. Makko said that so long as they could collect anything they would keep at it. I think they only thing keeping them away from me my guild association. But if I hand them money, I open myself up to exploitation. They will use her to drain every penny I make. I think the only way out is death. Too bad there’s not a way to resurrect someone.”

“That’s seriously messed up, Tim.”

“There must be a way to get Aerith out of this mess.” Tim heaved another in a long line of sighs. “I guess I’ll just have to figure something out.”

“You’ll figure it out. You always do.” Hoban shook his empty cup. “I know it’s not our usual day, but let’s try to find her. It’s past lunch time and I’m nearly out of wine.”