Chapter 138 — The Power of Calculation

"Then the value of this honeycomb structure is lost," Gao Yang shook his head. "This honeycomb structure exists precisely so the magic net can expand without limit and be connected together."

Rebecca looked at Gao Yang curiously. "What do you have in mind, Ancestral Inkmaster?"

Gao Yang lowered his head and studied the magic net honeycomb unit on the table, then suddenly asked: "How are two such honeycomb units connected together?"

"Directly, of course," Rebecca nodded as if it were obvious. "Two rune-knots set side by side—that gives the highest transmission efficiency."

"Make the connection between them fragile," Gao Yang said. In this world's body of knowledge there seemed to be no suitable solution, so he could only draw on the thinking of his previous life. "We can add a partition... cheap blackstone connectors would do nicely. Blackstone conducts magic, but its tolerance is poor—when the magic fluctuates violently it simply shatters."

"You mean each honeycomb unit is kept slightly apart from the others, with blackstone 'buffer material' in between?" Rebecca scratched her hair. "But blackstone's conduction efficiency isn't high. That would probably drop the whole magic net's performance by more than a quarter..."

"But what we gain is safety. Even if several units run out of control, they'll only detach themselves from the main net, and won't endanger anything else," Gao Yang explained. "As for the loss of efficiency, once these basic units are connected in large numbers it will make up for the shortfall. And this is only a preliminary solution anyway—better methods will certainly be found in the future."

As he spoke, Gao Yang began to laugh. "The magic net today is still very primitive—even with this honeycomb structure added, it's still primitive. It draws energy straight from the environment, and magic-energy devices take energy straight off the net, with no safety buffer in between, no current regulation, no metering, not even 'conduits'—consuming devices simply plaster themselves onto the net. Don't you two think this way of connecting is very much in need of improvement?"

Rebecca nodded thoughtfully, while Jenny was still not quite used to this manner of communication—completely equal, each speaking their mind—and seemed a little constrained, but the flicker in her eyes was enough to show that she too was pondering Gao Yang's words.

"This is a newborn thing, and it has a long road of development ahead," Gao Yang said, not pressing the two girls to work out on the spot problems that might take a long time to solve. "Take it slowly, no rush. This time you've done great service—is there any reward you'd like?"

"I want a new crystal for my staff!" Rebecca was hardly going to stand on ceremony with her Great-Grandfather Ancestor, and at once joyfully brandished her iron staff. "Look, the crystal on my staff is already so old!"

Gao Yang glanced over and saw at once that the crystal set atop the iron staff was indeed worn—not only dull and lusterless, but chipped at several small corners, and the prongs holding it in place were visibly deformed...

You'd have to be using it as a war hammer to get it into that state!

Gao Yang's brow twitched. He was tempted to advise his little granddaughter to skip the crystal altogether and go to the machine shop to have Nikolai weld on a spiked triangular club instead—it would serve her better. But then he considered that the girl had, after all, rendered great service, and that the last shred of mage temperament about her whole person hung on that one crystal, so he sighed inwardly and said, "There's a fire-attribute elemental core in the treasury, brought out of the Gondor Empire back in the day. Take it, and have a rune craftsman work it up and fit it to your staff."

Then he looked at Jenny. "And you? What reward would you like?"

Jenny instantly shrank back. "I... I only did what I should... I wouldn't dare ask for a reward..."

"Still not used to this place?" Gao Yang laughed. "Here, all contributions are valued and rewarded, with no reckoning of your birth or station. I heard from Rebecca just now that the main calculations were yours."

"I..." Jenny hesitated a moment, then at last said, "I hope you can add Mr. Ravencrest's name to the list of contributors to the honeycomb magic net... because the most important formulas were all summarized by him."

"Of course."