1.1.16 – Better Call Garrick

I could feel the cold coming through the sole window in the room. Though it was staved off by the water heaters that I had installed recently. Charging them every night was a small price to pay for everyone’s comfort, and also reduced the likelihood of someone falling sick from the cold.

I had spent the last few weeks taking notes on how the enchantment runes translate to voltage readings that I was familiar with. Most of the time had been spent on the actual hammering of runes, as well as taking breaks when my hands and arms got sore from the repeated movements.

I had not been completely idle either with my spell progression during that time. I had not necessarily created a new spell but I had cleaned up my entries in my Lightning Brain mutation and added a new functionality.

I had cleaned up the list of evasive maneuvers that propelled me in different directions into a consolidated summary of movements so that my mutation window did not look like a street fighter combo list. The shortened list made it a lot cleaner for when I needed to add new commands in the future.

I had also taken the time to work on my defibrillator spell during the downtime, specifically when I ran out of plates and Branwen had not returned the previous batch I had sent to her for recycling.

Calling it a “spell” was being generous, as it was simply a different application of the Lightning Infusion spell. I tested the first version by configuring it to give me a jolt when I was deemed “asleep” and it sort of worked. The first night I tested it I ended up shouting out aloud, waking everyone in the orphanage. I nearly gave Marta a heart attack as she thought something had happened to me.

Once I confirmed that it worked, I then tweaked the condition of being “asleep” to being “unconscious”. I also added a second component to the instruction to trigger a stronger discharge for when my heart stopped, actually acting like a defibrillator.

I actually had no way to test it after the modification and hoped that I would never need to find out. I briefly contemplated knocking myself unconscious by throwing a huge rock into the air but I was afraid I might actually give myself more than just a light concussion.

The real reason for not performing what would have looked like a Looney Tunes skit was primarily to avoid Marta’s wrath. As they said, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And I did promise her not to take any unnecessary risk.

The next part of solving the energy discharge problem of a railgun involved building capacitor banks. While I could release the electricity myself through lightning spells, my control was not refined enough to release it in the voltage required and in the speed that I needed. It was better to use lightning infusion to charge a capacitor before releasing the electricity using them.

I had also decided that for my first version, I would create a coil gun or what some would know as a Gauss rifle instead of an actual railgun. A railgun would need an extremely high current and supremely high structural integrity, both of which I had no way of accessing.

While a Gauss rifle also needed quick energy release and strong enough materials, the requirements were much lower and were instead made up for using precision timing. Something I could potentially solve using my Lightning Brain mutation.

To create a Gauss rifle, I needed to make a solenoid, which was created by winding wires into a cylindrical shape. Which would also mean I needed wires, something that used to be available in a hardware store was non-existent in this world. I had seen thin wires before, but they were mostly used in jewelry, made from more precious metal. I would need to get my hands on the wire drawing plate and craft them out of copper rods myself.

Regardless of which version I went with first, I needed more coin, something I should stop troubling Marta for. It was about time I paid old Garrick a visit.

Garrick POV

Things were rough for everyone since the war with Ironhold intensified three years ago, especially for Marta and the kids at the orphanage. Garrick had tried to do what he could. He had intentionally sold supplies to Marta at slightly below market prices. Garrick needed to make his own living too. He also made delivery runs to the orphanage when no other merchant would do the trip, considering the meagre purchases that Marta could make with her ever reducing stipend.

However, things started turning around since the beginning of this year. For some reason, hunters passing by would donate an entire boar carcass to the orphanage every few days. Maybe the poor kids who were all skin and bones had elicited some kindness from deep down in their hearts. But a full boar would have lasted them weeks, if they had rationed it properly. Especially after the tusks and hide were sold.

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They were also all in such good condition. He had never seen pelts like that in all his years as a merchant. At least those he had come across as a merchant of his caliber. Most pelts would suffer some damage from the spells unleashed by the hunters or adventurers. Even if the hunter had used magic that enhanced their ability to wield an axe or a sword, there would usually be some cuts on the body.

The only way was if some powerful mage or adventurer had hunted the boar themselves. That could explain the clean kill for someone of that caliber. But then again, if someone like that had taken pity on the orphanage, a single gold coin that was worth nothing to them would have been worth more than the entire boar. Why go through all that trouble of hunting the boar and donating it to them?

And it was not a single boar, there were more than a total of ten pelts that he had helped Marta sell. He even sold some excess meat that they could not preserve or eat themselves towards the end. Then it suddenly stopped when Marta brought that boy to town with her.

Ash was it? He recalled Marta calling him that. He had a feeling the boars had something to do with that boy who was unusually tall for his age but he just could not put a finger on it. And those piercing blue eyes, as if he could look through your soul.

He seemed to always be calculating and thinking behind those blue eyes of his. Ash had always unnerved him whenever he visited and caught the boy looking. He was not sure when but sometime in the last few years, he started getting chills whenever he delivered supplies to Marta.

And every single time he had a chill, he would find the boy looking at him from afar. Could the boy have awakened a core with a rare affinity and started killing the boars? But that also did not make any sense as he was barely eight at the beginning of the year. The earliest someone could awaken their core was as early as nine and those were rare. Most kids took the full twelve years before they awakened.

Could the transfer papers have been wrong and the boy was older than recorded? That could also explain his height. Either way it was not for old Garrick to worry about. Garrick had more than recovered the coin from the discounts he had provided to Marta from his cut of the pelts he sold. It did not make him a rich man but it was enough to buy some comforts for this winter.

“Hello there” a young boyish voice called while Garrick was tending to Old Betty.

HOLY MOTHER OF VESPERIA! Garrick turned around and saw the very blue eyed boy he was thinking about looking at him with a smile.

“You should not sneak up like that on an old man, boy! You nearly made my heart jump out!” old Garrick yelled.