As Maria worked on her magic, I started examining my own creation, hoping to find a way to replicate it. The only problem was that, I didn't have an idea where to start. "Do you mind helping me for a second," I asked.
"If you think it's more important than the contents of the satchel."
"Potentially, yes," I said. "I need your opinion on how the special effect works. Maybe we can replicate it."
"Fine," she said. "Give me a minute so I can stabilize the enchantment," she said, and suddenly, the mana web around the enchantment started rotating, giving me the impression of the world's most confusing puzzle.
I wasn't even sure whatever going on was limited to three dimensions. Just looking at it made me dizzy.
"Now, what's the problem?" she said once she put the satchel down.
"The recipe for the initial creation of items is obvious. The monster material gives us the main concept, while the dungeon crystal stabilizes the effect," I explained even as I slowly forged another piece of metal, though I used the shells in order not to waste my limited stock of materials.
"Most of it, I can't really understand. Whatever that's going inside is too complicated," she said. "Do you have a method to describe the process like you do with mana flow?" she asked.
"No," I said. "Unlike mana flows, there's too many changes going on with the metal, and I don't even know where to start."
"Can you at least repeat the process in the open, without the metal so I can watch it directly. That way, maybe I can see what's going on."
I paused, remembering my own attempts, which had ended pretty uselessly. A small corrosive field explosion, covering a space as much as my fist.
"Not very impressive, is it?" she said. I shrugged. "Do you think it can be weaponized?"
"Maybe," I admitted. "It's certainly something to work on, once we have a few weeks we can work on it leisurely. Having armor-destroying grenades might be useful. But, before finding new uses, let's focus on our current problem."
She nodded. I continued to repeat the effort, while she cast several spells around, some increasing the destabilization, while the others slowed it down. "It's too difficult," she admitted. "But, I feel it's more conceptual than structural."
"Meaning, we need Wisdom to deal with it?" I said, remembering her last explanation about Meditation.
"Probably. At least, I need a better framework to understand what's going on."
"But, you think it can be stabilized without the crystal?" She nodded. "And, would you work better if we work on something you're more familiar with?"
"You're talking about the claws," she said. "It'll be easier, that much is certain," she admitted. "Unfortunately, easier doesn't mean it can be achievable easily."
"No harm trying," I said.
"Even if it wastes material," she said.
"It's not like we have enough to be useful in any case," I said. "Trying to figure out how to forge without crystals is more valuable."
She paused for a moment before her eyes widened. "Because if the breach happens, we will have a supply of claws, but not the crystals," she said.
"Exactly," I said even as I raised one of the claws, and essentially repeated the forging process without any metal. Just like the corrosion effect, it flared, turning into a tiny fireball. She frowned, but her focus was too intense for me to interrupt.
For a minute, she said nothing before she raised her hand. "Repeat it," she said. I did so again and again, not saying anything even as we depleted all the crystal. Luckily, that still left some claws to work with. Once finished, she closed her eyes, no doubt going through calculations.
"Alright, I think I can stabilize it without a crystal," she said. "But, try to keep it not as intense."
It was a good thing that we had already worked on how to forge together. It meant that, it didn't take long for us to adapt the mana flow she had in mind into something workable. It was nothing compared to figuring out how to handle epic-grade forging.
Ten minutes later, I was looking at a plate with a warm center as my spell hit. "Failure?" I asked.
"No, it dispersed the effect, just not as strong," she commented. "Not as good as I had hoped…"
"Still good enough to make arrowheads," I said. "And, we can still improve it."
"Do you want to try again?" she said as she pointed at the last two claws.
"No, I want to work on it first. Do you mind writing the formula for how you stabilized it?"
"Like how I did for the dense mana?" she asked. I nodded. "My pleasure," she said, and quickly scribbled it. While she returned to work on the satchel, I started examining the formula, and comparing it with the generalized epic formula I had derived.
It was not easy, especially since the formulas I had been using were mostly random effects. On a theoretical level, math seemed to be absolute and consistent even when magic was factored in, proving its role as a universal constant for science.
Though, I had a feeling that I was already pushing the limits of basic Euclidian math. Just like how we had to leverage Riemann Geometry to solve general relativity problems, or Quantum theory required a completely novel approach, mana seemed to require its unique methodology to solve it.
And, that was not something that could be resolved easily. Luckily, for the problems I had been working on, the disgusting abomination of Euclidean geometry, mixed with various other methods worked well enough. It was not robust, but it was workable. Too bad the bastardized version was enough to annoy even an undergraduate student.
While Maria worked on her part, I worked mostly with pen and paper to model theoretically, occasionally switching the mana to see if I was on the right path. The pile of paper in front of me started to grow larger and larger as I did my best to put her observations about the flame-stabilizer structure — as I had decided to call them temporarily — together as I repeated the same method again and again.
The experiments would have been much easier if I had a large pile of claws, but even without it, I wasn't helpless.
I did my best to search for a more 'elegant' mathematical solution, the favorite pastime of theoretical physics that most other disciplines loved to tease them about.
But, now that I was facing a dearth of materials and a tight deadline, their method had benefits. I even took a few breaks, casting a few flame spells through a tight tube to watch the way the flame spells moved, the observation allowing me to catch some observations.
Turning these observations into generalized formulas like Maria did was not something I could do without Intelligence — or a computer — but validating the results was much simpler.
At least, while mana was complicated, and unruly, it seemed to follow its core principles perfectly. I leaned over the papers, trying to peel back the layers from the formula to develop a more coherent approach.
As I fell into the pattern of scribbling notes, experimenting, and refining the formulas, the dungeon gate started to show movement. The rest of the farmers, under the leadership of Harold, had arrived at the dungeon. Though, unlike the volunteers, they were moving to the outpost on the first floor.
Their orderly movement suggested that my presence was not necessary, so I happily continued to work on my problem, trying to come up with a more generalized differential equation for stabilizing spells.
However, as I worked, I was glad that I wasn't trying to find a perfect solution, but a good enough one, just enough to register with the Forge skill so it could handle the rest. "Maybe if I transform them into a smooth manifold —" I muttered, feeling that I was close.
Only to be interrupted by a cheer from Maria. "Finally," she called. I looked at her, amused by her cheer. "Well, the enchantment is finally dealt with," Maria called. "How about your side?"
"I have an idea, but I need your assistance. Do you mind if we try that before we open the satchel? I have a feeling that whatever is in it will distract us."
She nodded. Luckily, she was familiar with my notation enough that processing my conclusion only took a minute. She sent another line of mana as I forged, embedding the claw into another alloy sheet. One that managed to disperse my Fire Bolt almost perfectly.
"More than workable," I said as I caressed the metal, my heart beating as I realized what it could solve. It held answers to not just our current dungeon break, but all of them.
"This has potential," Maria said, smiling.
Unfortunately, the moment my gaze fell on the satchel, I felt my enthusiasm evaporate. "It would have been more exciting if we didn't just learn that at least some of the dungeon breaks are artificially induced," I said.
"True," she said while she reached for the satchel. There were multiple skill stones there, their glow showing that they were likely Epic. She put them to the side, which I didn't blame her for. They weren't that interesting, and neither was the money pouch or other sundry.
There were two things that caught our attention. One was a handwritten notebook, looking like personal notes.
The other was a leather book that she threw the moment her fingers touched it. Any other time, I would have gotten angry at the treatment of the books, but this one, I was willing to make an exception. Even from a distance, I could feel a subtle yet disgusting sensation radiating off of it.
One that reminded me of the same energy that was being used to destroy the dungeon gate…