The first week of classes began.
The Academy curriculum was divided into four main disciplines: Elemental Magic, Alchemy, Beast Taming, and History.
Arthur found them all lacking.
"It is all intuition," Arthur complained to Zack as they walked to the Training Hall. "The professors say, 'Feel the mana.'" They don't say, "Compress the mana to 50 PSI."
Zack hurried to keep up. "Arthur, please don't correct Professor Silverwind today. She gave me a detention just for sitting next to you."
They entered the training hall. It was a massive stone arena lined with target dummies.
Professor Silverwind, a High Elf who looked like she hadn't aged in four hundred years, stood in the center. She held a clear quartz crystal.
"Today," Silverwind announced, her voice melodic but stern, "We will learn Mana Storage." A mage's internal pool is limited. To cast great spells, we must learn to pour our energy into gemstones, creating a reserve."
She held up the quartz. It glowed faintly.
"Focus," she instructed. "Pour your will into the stone. Imagine filling a cup."
The class of thirty students closed their eyes, straining. Some crystals flickered. Most remained dull.
Arthur held his crystal. He looked at it with his [Engineer's Eye].
[Object: Low-Grade Quartz.] [Structure: Micro-fractures detected.] [Efficiency: 30%. Leakage: High.]
"Inefficient," Arthur muttered.
He raised his hand. "Professor?"
Silverwind sighed. "Yes, Mr. Pendelton?"
"This storage medium is flawed," Arthur stated. "The crystalline lattice has impurities. We are losing 70% of the energy to heat dissipation. It's like trying to carry water in a sieve."
The other students giggled. Julian van Thorne, standing in the front row, sneered. "Making excuses because you have low mana, Pendelton?"
"No," Arthur ignored him. "I am saying there is a better way. We don't need a rock. We need a capacitor."
"A... what?" Silverwind asked.
Arthur reached into his bag. He didn't pull out a gem. He pulled out a glass jar.
It was lined with copper foil on the inside and outside. A metal rod stuck out through the rubber stopper in the lid. It was a Leyden Jar—the first primitive battery.
"This," Arthur placed it on the table. "It is a Mana Battery. It stores energy not in the material, but in the potential difference between the inner and outer foil."
"It's a pickle jar," Julian laughed.
"Observe," Arthur said.
He placed his hand on the metal rod. He didn't "pour" mana gently. He pushed it.
Hummmm.
The jar didn't glow like a pretty gem. It began to crackle. Blue sparks danced along the glass surface. The hair on everyone's arms stood up due to the static charge.
"It's full," Arthur announced. "Charge time: 3 seconds."
"Impossible." Silverwind walked over, her eyes wide. She could feel the density of the mana inside. It was volatile. "That much energy in a glass jar? It should shatter!"
"Dielectric strength," Arthur said simply. "Glass is an excellent insulator."
He pointed the rod at a target dummy twenty feet away.
"Discharge test."
He flipped a small copper switch on the lid, bridging the circuit.
CRACK-BOOM!
A bolt of concentrated blue lightning—pure, raw, unshaped mana—exploded from the rod. It struck the wooden dummy.
The dummy didn't just catch fire. It shattered. Splinters flew everywhere. The sound was deafening, like a thunderclap in a closed room.
The students screamed. Julian ducked.
Professor Silverwind stood frozen, staring at the smoking remains of the dummy.
Arthur checked the jar. The copper foil was warm but intact.
"Discharge successful," Arthur noted, writing on his clipboard. "Though I need to add a resistor. That was... excessive."
He looked up at the stunned professor.
"Technology over Tradition, Professor. Would you like the schematic?"
End of Chapter 22