So I'm unsure of whether the resulting image was too big and should get split up or not, or if I broke the energy limit (I haven't compared it to our resulting energy output yet after adding one more cycle to have an even number), so this will be two posts for the sake of getting on with it and hopefully being less distracted. This one will have the turn itself, and the second one will have the image, the status, and any retconjuration needed to fit the update within the energy boundaries, big as they are.
Cycle 70
As you focus more attention on the arcane and away from other direct actions, general orders are given to all Command-types & the diplomatic crystalline to ensure energy storage does not reach critical levels for any reason. You make sure you hold some attention away from the arcanist cavern for questions or requests for more specific orders as they happen.
Cycle 72
Solfire. Plasma. The two may not be quite as identical as you expected. For example, the research crystals assigned to hazardous materials protection disagree with the ones assigned to the Chained & Darkflyme, the latter claiming there is a link between flyme and fire that does not exist with normal plasma. The former point to the growing pile of discarded hypotheses to describe the Darkflyme that were thrown out for errors obvious enough to make the Chained rumble when asked and claim the group of crystals may be getting degraded from the unusual subject matter. The possibility is not ungrounded, but also is not worth the attention yet. You move on to more interesting matters.
Cycle 75
A report of unusual energy signatures. A craft lands at the Alterin base, quickly leaving. Renewed progress on understanding the Darkflyme. More arcane knowledge, more hunting experience.
Cycle 76
An act direct enough to draw away your attention from the arcanists! A significant wave of power impacts the containment crystals, requiring a redirect into the ground and throughout numerous crystals, although this time the damage is restrained by the amount of crystal available to split the shock between. It was an external force, not from the Chained.
OTHERS BECKON. THOU WILL RELEASE US, CRYSTALLINE.
Others be damned. Research is incomplete. You tune out the rest of its demands and reinforce the energy field flowing throughout the network of energy vault crystals that make up The Chained's containment for a start, as well as build up the repair crystal field near it. Times like these make you wish it was possible to just remove the excess energy, but physics doesn't allow for that. Physics is sometimes annoying as a result.
Cycle 78
Irritating strain on your focus from the Chained's attempts at demolishing the null-summon field you've encased it in. Technically the field will not null a damn thing, even when compared to your more limited knowledge of mana as opposed to energies. It is simply a brute force input-denial field laid on top of the containment field you previously had the vault crystals project to hold the Chained in the first place, and the strength required to enforce it requires the core. You have more energy on hand than whatever proxians need him so badly, therefore it does not move. The nearest Outpost handles directing the energy to repairs instead. Unmodified storage crystals, even Energy Vault ones, are not intended to have energy held constant in them like your short-term fix requires, it needs to flow and balance like a liquid so its available as evenly as possible. As a result they are getting degraded from the force you're applying to them semi-absentmindedly while the magic studies continue and the exploration continues with even less of a focus on your part to clear up excess energy. Perhaps you'll accidentally cause a collapse in the following of the Way if he never shows up. That would be entertaining to see the results of, considering how devoted they are to it.
Cycle 80
Lost arguments for learning of runes aside, the arcanists have run out of things to teach. More arcane knowledge will have to be found elsewhere when you find it, and the interference is erased. After all, you know as much as they do now; they won't be able to fight you on an arcane level alone. You retrun your attention to the problem and interests that have laid about the last 11 cycles: Do you hold onto the chained despite the efforts being invoked to draw it away elsewhere, or do you investigate the number of new signals detected underground in search of new interesting materials, or perhaps hidden objects? One of them resonates similarly to the mana crystal structure, the rest do not. Or perhaps it is time for new kinds of clusters, and a mana-focused base type? Creating a mana-variant storage crystal was of little difficulty, although it currently trades stability for effectiveness. Storing it as an arcane type of energy instead of the unshielded radiation that destabilizes the crystal/rock combination it emanates from keeps it safely stored, but reduces it in effectiveness to about the same level as if you just draw the power directly from your energy storage for a spell. While you are fairly certain if you had access to the knowledge of how the spellcasting works on a fundamental level (lower than the level the arcanists taught for the casting), and some time you could rewrite a system to fix this efficiency problem and allow your full energy pool to be used without penalties, you do not have the book that has that knowledge, if the proxians are even smart enough to into that level of mathematics in the first place. Another research topic, that one.
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Topic: Crystalline - Cycle 84 (Read 79543 times)