After the conversation with her father had ended, Morena made her way back to her own study. Standing near the window, overlooking the yard below as the night slowly took over the sky, the faint flicker of candlelight in the glass’s reflection.
She placed a hand on the window, not pressing, just allowing her thoughts to flow.
She thought back to the conversation and what he had said. Coin was good, but strength was required to truly provide safety. She had the information from Corin, but she hadn’t been able to put it to use yet; there were too many factors that made it troublesome.
’So be it, might as well take a small risk.’
"AI."
[Listening.]
"Initiate continuous simulations. I want you to try to make a stable low-density energy model that does not require a core or matrix. Build off the existing information and the letters carved into my body. If we could find a way to simulate mana, or something close to it, that would be great."
She paused for a second, then added a part she almost forgot to mention.
"Adapt existing tricks to that flow while you’re at it. Run continuously with all existing information in the database, don’t report until you’ve run every possible outcome, take as long as needed. Report only on completion and critical failure."
[Acknowledged. Continuous background simulation initiated. Silent mode engaged.]
She closed her eyes and nodded as the AI responded and began its calculations, the details slowly fading out of focus.
After that the day blurred into a working mess; in fact the next few days were the same.
She wasn’t allowed a single moment of rest as she had a lot of work to do. The most pressing matter she handled as quickly as possible was the contract with Ella.
The next morning, the Brenle house had sent over the paperwork drafted by their steward about all the details they required, and what they were offering in turn.
She made sure to check it herself, reading through it carefully and ensuring that all the details were the same as they had discussed. Beyond that she also had Adolf go over it.
The man had more experience than her, and with his help double-checking the details and running checks to make sure they could actually accomplish what they were promising, they were able to come to an agreement.
Some minor changes were required, but it wasn’t anything that would break the deal. Within two days the paperwork was completed and Morena used the house stamp to seal the deal, sending over a copy of the finished product.
After that her days only got worse; now she also had to deal with the patrols, go over reports, and solve issues throughout the city.
Her desk was filled with books all over, some open, others half thrown aside. Each one filled with pages upon pages of notes and numbers: how many people were patrolling at a time, what wagon arrived at what time, even criminal reports from the city.
The pen had replaced her spear, and now she was no longer hunting wolves but hunting errors.
It wasn’t as if her days were completely bland though. When the pen cramped her hand from working too much, she would get a little break.
During this time she trained her usual method of energy condensing, because while she waited for the AI to finish, it would be a waste not to progress. She hadn’t even reached the growth limit the AI had projected yet; how could she rest?
But it wasn’t all work or training; she spent time with her sister, took walks in the city, and had moments of leisure. One thing she had come to enjoy was reading—not just using the AI to store information, but actually visiting the public library in the city and reading the tales meant for folk.
It was something the people of the city used as a means to pass the time. Without the entertainments of her past life, the people of this world had very limited choices.
Most of them spent their days working, eating, drinking, and then eventually dying when they grew old. It was a sad way to look at life, but to Morena, it just was.
That was beside the point though; days blended into each other, and nothing that stood out really happened, at least until around a week later.
After about a week of endless working, she was alone in her study going over some paperwork from the day before; that was when the AI rang out with a notification.
[Processing completed.]
"Finally, report what you’ve done." Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novｅlfire.net
[103,102,000 simulations completed... Derived a pseudo-refinement protocol using focused data from Corin, archived wizard texts, and anatomical mapping of your carved letters. Summary follows...]
She did not need the summary to be spelled out. She could feel the information from the simulation settling at the edges of her thoughts; not in clear detail, but if she focused she could tell what it was.
She closed the book she was dealing with and focused on the panel before her as the AI displayed and went over the information it had determined.
[Three primary nodes identified: left shoulder, sternum, lower diaphragm.
Based on these three locations as the basis and working from there, a breathing method has been devised that could enhance the total flow of energy. This method is focused on optimizing the compression of energy rather than the amount.
Effect: Increased efficiency in elemental energy and the capabilities of using energy to fuel the ’tricks’. Furthermore, after optimizing, the energy simulations have noted an increase in physical capability due to increased energy density.
Drawbacks: Decrease in overall energy over time, mental instability if energy isn’t properly regulated. Projected physical harm due to prolonged mana density in the long run.]
She let the AI finish explaining the details as she read through them. It wasn’t bad; the AI had managed to create a method that, while harmful in the long run, was still one she could use in the moment.
And while the future was a problem, it wasn’t a problem she had to focus on now. Her current issue was getting strong enough to ensure her family could survive under the pressure of the church.
Plus she could use the strength from this method to work toward gaining more knowledge, and one day walk the path of a proper wizard.
Yes, she could leave the Kingdom and move to the Empire, but that would mean leaving her family behind, leaving everything she had here behind; all for a dream that wasn’t confirmed.
At the very least, before she left, she wanted to set her family up in a good position and have the strength to survive while roaming the land.
As for leaving?
It was a thought that crossed her mind, but not one she wished to pursue right now. Maybe in the future she would leave to pursue further knowledge, but it wasn’t in the cards now.
She went over the details of the method the AI had created, each movement, breathing pattern, everything it had devised. It wasn’t complicated, but it wasn’t easy either.
The main issue was one of the key parts required: poison.
The method required her to microdose herself using a specific type of poison drafted by the AI; this way her body would be in a state of need—weakened, and craving to heal.
With her body in this state, her elemental energy would go into overdrive in order to try and mitigate the issue; much like how her father was currently fighting the poison in him using his energy.
The difference was, instead of just fighting the poison, she would use it to refine her energy further; making her body into something akin to a ’gu jar’.
It was dangerous but, in turn for that danger, it offered her the quickest path to gaining what she wanted.
Should she take it? Of course she would.
There weren’t any immediate risks in doing the method as long as she followed the details given by the AI as closely as possible; the worst she would face would be the pain from the poison.
But that was temporary; the growth would be worth such pain.
There was no hesitation in her choice. Once she had confirmed with the AI that the method wouldn’t kill her, once she knew for certain that she could do this with the things she currently had access to, she decided to go for it.
She just needed to make the poison, but she didn’t need to do that herself. She could supply Marta with the materials needed and write down the detailed formula for it. After all, Marta was much more skilled at such things than she was.
And she trusted Marta enough not to spread such information around; Marta hadn’t done anything to break that trust yet.
"Show me the exact formula details for the poison required."