The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (english readers txt) 📗

how to do that, she was hoping that Violet would be able to provide another perspective – and she was not disappointed.  “I…think I see the problem here.  Whereas our bodies have natural limiters on the amount of elemental energy we can absorb, enchantments do not.  That is why knowing exactly how much energy to pump into a new enchantment is vital, otherwise you risk overloading what it can handle; if that happens, it could do something innocuous like unravel with a few sparks, all the way up to a deadly explosion.  It’s also why small infusions to an enchantment are possible – like how the Warmasters operate their War Machines – but anything larger isn’t recommended to even try, as it might cause the runes to break and explode, especially if they’re worn.

“However…there might be a way to limit the amount of energy being siphoned off of the Energy Orb, allowing just a certain amount to be transferred over to the original enchantment to ‘recharge’ it without damaging it in any way. Since the enchantment on the Orb is self-sustaining, repairing itself in the process of converting what you call Mana into energy, then I don’t see why the same couldn’t be applied to this situation.”

That actually made sense, and it had been sort of what Sandra had been thinking of, but she couldn’t really figure out the process needed to get there.  Now that Violet had worked it out in her head the basis of what they needed to do, the Dungeon Core had an epiphany – and it was one that would change the way she looked at enchantments from then on.

* That’s it!  If we construct the Stasis Field with an additional inverted Strengthen rune, then it will use the energy it has inside of the enchantment to constantly repair itself, just as it does with the Energy Orbs!  Of course, doing so would eat up the energy at a greater rate – which is where the Energy Orb comes in; it could easily replenish any of the energy that is used to maintain the enchantment rune structure. 

 

* …But then we still have the problem with transferring too much energy to the enchantment.  While it would repair itself using some of that incoming power, eventually it would become so bloated that it would explode in spectacular fashion – with potentially catastrophic effect due to it being a stronger enchantment. *

Sandra thought that they had solved the problem, but it turned out that they had only switched it for another, worse problem.  Violet looked stumped, and Felbar appeared to finally understand what the issue was; he wasn’t ignorant – far from it – but he also wasn’t brought up as an Enchanter, either.

“What if there was some sort of actual manipulable ‘limiter’ to how much energy is transferred?  It sounds as if you solved the problem of recharging the enchantment, but now you need some way to ‘control the flow’, I guess you could say,” Felbar asked when no one said anything.

But Violet was already shaking her head.  “I don’t think I’ve heard of anything like that; I may not know how to create a lot of enchantments yet as an Apprentice Enchanter, but I’m sure I would’ve at least heard of something along those lines,” she said sadly.

Something about what Felbar said tickled a memory in Sandra’s mind, however.  Blocking out all external stimuli – going so far as to even halt progress on the AMANS and room excavation – she delved into her memories, trying to figure out what exactly had occurred to her.  After almost a minute of searching, she very nearly gave up…when she finally remembered.

She was young – only about 14 at the time – but she was already well on her way, learning about as much Enchanting as she could; given that many crafters didn’t like to talk to children or even young teenagers, she considered that an accomplishment in and of itself.  One stubborn woman, however, refused to teach her how she created a Limiter enchantment rune, which she had made a fortune with by applying it to thin sticks of finely crafted wood she called “wands” for some reason.

They were popular in the Hero community, though, because they helped those who could manipulate their elemental energy much in the same way the Elves did; because there were many Heroes that were not quite as efficient at “casting spells”, the Limiter Wands would help regulate the amount that was needed for a particular spell.  They were all custom made to a particular spell, because the actual Limiter enchanting rune could be altered minutely during its creation to suit whatever it was being used for.

For instance, if a Hero liked to manipulate their Fire elemental energy to throw out fireballs towards monsters, the Limiter Wand would help ensure that a precise amount was used with each cast; that way, every fireball they sent out could be the size of their head, or the size of an apple, or even the size of a house if they wanted – but they’d of course need to have the capability of doing that in the first place.

The beauty of it was that it required the person casting the spell to send the elemental energy through the Limiter rune, and there was no backlash if too much was provided in the first place – which was perfect for their situation.  If they were somehow able to integrate the versatile rune into the enchantment rune sequence, then the Energy Orbs could be used to recharge and essentially power…any enchantment.

Of course, there was a catch; because the woman who made the Limiter enchantments wanted nothing to do with Sandra, her young self had needed to sneak into her workshop and observe in secret.  She felt bad about doing it now, but at the time she had been so obsessed with learning