Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Practical Applications of Spatial Spell Sequences, Part Two

The four platinum discs in Patrick’s hands were each rich with the miraculous power infused by the Titans.

When he advanced to the seventh ring, the knowledge sealed within the first disc was fully awakened, and the memory fragments of Norgannon stored inside were also read. A vast body of lore was compiled by Patrick into an arcane tome in Thalassian and left in Sunlight Tower for future elven mages and scholars to consult. As for the core truths concerning the Titans, Patrick did not reveal them.

After preparing all the materials, he came to the sealed chamber and poured mana into the triangular pyramid models, activating the formations inscribed upon them. The eight pyramids slowly rose into the air, and the arcanite runes within them began to shimmer with a deep blue light.

The pyramids drifted closer together little by little. Arcane threads, cutting through the resistance of the air, drew them together and linked them into one another. In the end, the eight pyramids became the eight vertices of a blue cube, while arcane energy flowed slowly between the spell sequences.

Inside each individual pyramid, the four arcane crystals that served as vertices also emitted blue light. The magical arrays carved within the crystals hummed softly, and arcane energy flowed among the four crystals, guiding the power into the four arcanite runes at the center.

The eight pyramids together consisted of thirty-two arcane crystals and thirty-two arcanite runes. Each crystal was etched with an arcane formation; four crystals formed one pyramid, with four arcanite runes placed within it. The whole was one, yet each part also retained its own function. Once connected and unified, a blue cubic space took shape. The blue barrier on the outside isolated the space itself, while resisting both physical and magical damage to protect the cube’s interior.

Patrick spent several days completing the final steps. He had to stabilize the arcane flow within the cube and ensure its proper operation, which consumed a great deal of his mental strength.

As the connections between the spells were completed, the entire sealed chamber filled with arcane energy. The runic patterns laid across the pure white walls began to shine; the surrounding sigils and nodes were all activated. Earlier, Patrick had personally prepared the six major arcane formations on the walls: linking, shaping, stabilizing, buffering, sublimation, and circulation.

From the sea of consciousness, Patrick summoned the first platinum disc. The disc could expand or contract at will according to his thoughts, without any need to predesign its size. His spiritual power linked into the arcanite runes, lifting the spatial restraint from the runes and placing the silvery platinum disc at the center of the cube. The disc’s energy immediately interfaced with the energy matrix within the cube.

As soon as the disc was inserted, the cube, bathed in high-density arcane radiation, changed from blue to white. Energy began to overflow in great quantities, and the temperature of the arcane circuits throughout the formation rose higher and higher.

"Something is wrong. Stop supplying arcane energy to it at once."

Allen the Moon Saint’s voice reached him.

Patrick trusted Allen completely. In an instant, the platinum disc shot out and returned to his sea of consciousness. At the cube’s vertices, in one of the four arcane crystals that formed the pyramid structure, the crystal engraved with the transfer formation began to show cracks, then shattered into several pieces. The internal arcane circuits and nodes had blackened, clearly scorched by heat beyond what they could bear.

"Why would this happen? After it was finished, all the tests for magical conductivity and stability passed." Patrick frowned in confusion. Right after inscribing the formations, he had carried out experimental verification on the spot, and only after confirming everything was correct had he assembled them into the pyramid-shaped spatial spell sequence.

"It still needs verification. Try injecting arcane energy into the crystal fragments and check the energy flow through the circuits," Allen offered as an initial diagnostic.

High-level arcane constructs had to be one hundred percent stable; even a tenth of one percent of uncertainty had to be eliminated, especially for an arcane creation Patrick had specifically designed for future energy supply and city-building plans.

Arcane energy slowly poured into the crystal fragments, and his spiritual power burst forth to probe deeply into them.

The thorium powder laid into the arcane channels was slightly uneven, which would cause an imbalance in magical flow during conduction. Resistance within the circuits would also do work, and that was the root cause of the heating. But it was not the reason the arcane crystal had shattered.

He continued probing, and his spiritual power moved through the interior of the crystal. There he found signs of impact on the internal arcane nodes. It made no sense: when the platinum disc was inserted, the arcane energy had seemed stable to his senses, so how could there be traces of an arcane shock? He could not determine that point.

Patrick used his spiritual power to inspect each shattered crystal one by one, while Allen the Moon Saint helped search for the cause.

"Perhaps the problem lies with the disc. The nodes of the arcane crystals are within spec, but only in relation to the radiation of the Sunwell. The platinum disc left behind by Norgannon contains such vast power. Your thirty-two arcanite runes, which absorb and guide energy, can withstand the surge, but the external arcane crystals may not be able to. That may be why the crystal engraved with the transfer formation cracked," Allen the Moon Saint analyzed carefully, arriving at an initial conclusion.

Patrick’s face darkened. "That can’t be avoided. If I replace all the materials used to make the cube with arcanite ingots, the cost would be unbearable. One arcanite ingot is nearly three gold coins."

"Perhaps you should take a different approach to the design. The structure of that cubic space is composed of spatial arcane sequences. This pyramid-like arcane sequence is itself formed by four arcane crystals into a single unit, while the four arcanite runes in the middle are the core components of the cube-space. Those four arcane crystals, however, each carry separate formations. When arcane energy flows through them, large amounts of equally intense power must pass through all the crystals, and that is what causes them to exceed their load and fracture."

"If you enlarge the four independent engravings on each arcane crystal, for stability, transfer, shaping, and levitation, and let every eight crystals form a single formation, then have mana pass through the air to connect them to one another, the result will be a large-scale formation effect rather than one separate formation on each crystal. In that case, what were originally eight stability formations, eight transfer formations, and so on, would become only four large formations."

"Although this method would greatly increase the difficulty of construction, it would also allow the arcane energy to be diverted within the large formation, ensuring safety. If an accident occurs, part of the energy can be redirected and the spare crystals substituted. And the material cost would not increase."

Allen the Moon Saint’s answer made it worth a try. The material cost would not rise, and the core thirty-two arcanite runes had not been damaged, so they could continue to be used. Only the arcane crystals needed to be modified. Enlarging the patterns would also help improve the load-bearing capacity of the arcane formation. Compared with the other options, Patrick leaned toward this one as well.

Practice was the only standard by which truth could be tested.