Date: October 27, 2011
Location: The Menagerie (Foreman's Office), Long Island City
Alchemy was a jealous mistress as she demanded precision, patience, and usually, a sacrifice of blood or dignity.
Lloyd Nipple sat hunched over the metal desk in his makeshift laboratory, the glass walls of the foreman's office were now covered in sheets of butcher paper, shielding his work from the prying eyes of seagulls and satellites.
The room was illuminated only by the erratic flickering of a Bunsen burner he had scavenged from a high school dumpster.
"Silver," Lloyd muttered, holding a pair of iron tongs. "The most noble of the conductive metals. Gold is for vanity; silver is for flow."
In the crucible before him, the grey sludge he had harvested from the Sector 7 sewers was bubbling.
It was a filthy, toxic slurry, to a muggle chemist, it was hazardous waste but to Lloyd, it was full of unknown potential.
He raised his Raven Staff, the obsidian skull seemed to drink the shadows of the room.
"Purificus Totalum."
He didn't cast the spell once but held it. He poured a steady stream of mana into the crucible, forcing the impurities to separate from the metal.
The reaction was violent, black smoke, the essence of rot and sewage hissed upwards, vanishing into a ventilation hood Lloyd had transfigured from a dryer vent.
The sludge in the crucible swirled, the heavy contaminants sinking, the pure silver rising to the top like cream.
"Skim it, 42," Lloyd ordered.
Subject 42, standing on the desk wearing a pair of welding goggles that were far too big for his head, leaned forward with a tiny ladle. With the precision of a master chef, the Niffler scooped up the molten silver and poured it into a thin, spiral mold Lloyd had carved into a block of graphite.
They worked in silence for an hour.
Pour.....cool and extract.
By midnight, Lloyd had a coil.
It wasn't a crude wire rather was a perfect, continuous spiral of pure, magically refined silver. It shimmered with an inner light that no factory-produced wire could possess.
"Well that's done." Lloyd groaned, stretching his back, his vertebrae popped like firecrackers.
He looked at the blueprints spread out on the desk.
"Vanko whoever he was designed this to hold excited electrons," Lloyd mused, tracing the geometry. "I have redesigning it to hold ambient mana."
He picked up the Star Sapphire, the gem was the size of a goose egg. It was heavy, cold, and perfect. The star asterism in the center of the stone shifted as he turned it, a trapped gleam of light.
"Let's do the next part." Lloyd whispered.
This was the dangerous part. If he cracked the sapphire, he lost six hundred thousand dollars. If he misaligned the runes, the reactor would explode and likely vaporize the entire borough of Queens.
He reached for a small, lead-lined jar and Inside was the chip of Frozen Albino Slime Acid he had harvested.
He picked up a needle made of pure glass and dipped the tip into the melting acid, a single drop clung to the needle, hissing softly.
Lloyd put the jeweler's loupe to his eye. He stopped breathing and touched the needle to the sapphire.
Tssssssssssssssss....
Smoke curled up as the acid ate into the corundum lattice of the gem, carving a microscopic channel.
Lloyd moved his hand with the steady rhythm of a surgeon.
Fehu for wealth and accumulation.
Uruz for strength and endurance.
Kenaz for controlled fire.
He etched the runes in a circle around the equator of the stone. He wasn't just writing letters; he was programming reality, he was telling the universe to pull energy here, store it here and do not let it escape.
One slip, and the acid would mar the surface, ruining the geometrical perfection required for the mana flow.
Subject 42 watched from the corner of the desk, holding his breath. Even Gibraltar, sleeping on the floor below, seemed to sense the tension; his snoring stopped.
Thirty minutes later, Lloyd pulled the needle away.
"Done," he exhaled, his hand trembling slightly.
The sapphire now had a belt of silver-white runes etched into its deep blue surface. They pulsed faintly, already reacting to the ambient magic in the room.
"Assembly," Lloyd announced.
He took the silver coil and wrapped it around the sapphire, seating the wire into the etched channels.
The metal fit perfectly, snapping into place with a satisfying click.
He placed the assembly into the modified housing, the cleaned-up shell of the Stark battery casing he had repaired days ago.
It was ugly and looked like a piece of jewelry trapped inside a car part.
"The aesthetics need work," Lloyd admitted. "But let us see if it has a heartbeat."
He didn't have a switch as magical devices responded to intent so he placed his hand over the reactor.
"Awaken....."
He pushed a spark, just 1% Mana into the device to jumpstart the cycle.
Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
The sound started as a low hum, barely audible but then it rose in pitch.
The runes on the sapphire flared.
Flash.......
A pulse of light exploded from the desk. It wasn't the cold, electric blue of the Arc Reactor Lloyd had seen at the Expo.
It was a deep, royal violet, the light didn't stop at the casing as it washed over the room.
Lloyd felt it instantly, the air in the office grew heavy and rich. It was like stepping into the Restricted Section of the library, or standing near a ley line intersection.
The reactor wasn't generating electricity, it was acting as a magnet and was sucking in the wasted energy of the city, the radio waves, the heat, the loose emotions and churning out pure, breathable mana.
The lights in the warehouse below didn't just turn on, they flared white-hot.
The rusty ventilation fans kicked on, spinning at double speed.
Down at the entrance, the Gamma-Snare roared. Bathed in the sudden surge of energy, the plant doubled in size instantly, its vines cracking the concrete as they thickened.
Lloyd looked at the System window floating in front of him.
> [Crafting Success: Legendary]
>Item Created: The Void-Star Reactor (Mark I)
> Output: 500 Mana/Hour (Ambient)
> Storage: 50,000/50,000 Mana
> Effect: Creates a [High-Magic Zone] within a 100-meter radius
> Note: Do not lick the core
"It works," Lloyd laughed, the sound manic and exhausted. "It actually works."
He grabbed the reactor, it wasn't hot but was cool to the touch. It hummed against his palm like a purring cat.
He walked out onto the catwalk, holding the reactor high like a lantern, the violet light illuminated the vast, empty factory.
"Gibraltar!" Lloyd shouted.
The gargoyle was already awake and was staring up at Lloyd, his yellow eyes wide. The creature could feel it, the density of the magic in the air was delicious to him and it felt like home, like Asgard.
Gibraltar let out a happy, rocky howl.
"We have power!" Lloyd proclaimed.
"We have a heartbeat!"
He walked back into the office and slammed the reactor into a docking port he had wired into the building's main breaker box.
Thunk....
The violet light stabilized and the hum settled into a background thrum.
Lloyd collapsed into his chair, he was completely drained, but the room was filling with energy as his mana bar began to refill rapidly.
"Infinite mana," Lloyd whispered, closing his eyes. "I can cast all day. I can ward this place until it is impenetrable."
But every light casts a shadow.
Lloyd didn't know it, but lighting a beacon of pure magical energy in the middle of a mundane city was like setting off a flare in a dark forest.
Location: The Sanctum Sanctorum, Bleecker Street, Manhattan
Time: 12:45 AM
The Sanctum was a place of silence and dust.
In the meditation chamber, the Librarian, Wong, was shelving a book on dimensional parasites.
Suddenly, the large, golden orb in the center of the room, the Agamotto's Globe, which monitored magical threats to Earth chimed.
It wasn't a warning of an invasion, it was a ping..... A location marker.
Wong frowned as he walked over to the globe.
A bright, violet dot had appeared on the map of New York City, specifically, in Queens.
"Master?" Wong called out.
The Ancient One did not turn around from the window where she was watching the rain. Her bald head reflected the streetlights.
"I feel it, Wong," she said softly, her voice was calm, but carried the weight of centuries.
"Is it a dimensional breach?" Wong asked, his hand drifting to his relic. "A demon?"
"No," The Ancient One turned. Her expression was amused. "It feels..... crafted, Structured, feels like a Wizard."
"A wizard?" Wong scoffed. "The hedge-witches of New York can barely light a candle without selling their souls."
"This is different," she said. "It is dense, efficient and it is incredibly loud."
She looked at the violet dot pulsing on the globe.
" Someone has built a well in the desert, Wong and they are drinking deep."
"Shall I investigate?"
The Ancient One paused and peered into the future, checking the timelines. She saw a thousand possibilities. In some, the violet light consumed the city while in others, it saved it.
"Not yet," she decided. "Let us see what this new player builds. If he is a threat, the Mordo will find him soon enough. If he is a potential ally... he will need room to grow."
She turned back to the window.
"But keep an eye on Queens, the Spider is not the only thing spinning webs tonight."
Location: The Menagerie
Time: 1:00 AM
Lloyd Nipple was unaware of the sorcerers watching him as he was currently busy trying to stop Subject 42 from trying to steal the reactor out of the wall.
"Bad Niffler!" Lloyd scolded, spraying the creature with a water bottle. "That is the load-bearing power source! If you eat that, the lights go out and the plant eats us!"
Subject 42 hissed, wet and indignant, and retreated to his hammock.
Lloyd sighed and looked at his new base. It was lit and was powered.
He looked at the empty factory floor.
"I need creatures," he muttered. "Not just rats and pigeons. I need beasts that people will pay to see, we need exoticism."
He walked to the computer and the System interface flickered.
> [New Quest Available]
> Mission: The First Attraction
> Objective: Capture a "Cryptid" of local legend
> Target: The Mothman (Reports of sightings in New Jersey Pine Barrens)
> Reward: 500 XP, [Habitat: Aviary]
Lloyd stared at the screen.
"Mothman," he read. "A localized variant of a Lethifold? Or perhaps a giant insect?"
He grinned..... New Jersey.
"Pack your bags, boys," Lloyd said, grabbing a map off the wall. "We are going camping."
The sanctuary was open for business and now, it just needed its monsters.
Authors Note:-
Well that's was a long ass chapter.....
What do you guys think.... Isn't this a nice fun read.... Different than the other ones ...
It still not getting the traction it deserves.🥺.
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