Chapter 40：Fighting against time (1/2)
Mack seated in front of the cube and started to read rune after rune.
He knew some concepts were too advanced for him but he hoped to be able to learn something from the cube.
For a complete newbie in runes, any progress was a tremendous progress.
The advantage now was that his eyes could read the meaning behind each rune.
The problem was that to be able to produce any result using a single rune was impossible. He needed to create a circuit.
And Mack had no idea how the circuits worked.
He needed to guess all by finding patterns and trying to replicate them or simulate them only using his mind.
Mack chose to start with the smaller circuits. That way, he could slowly advance.
Mack was now looking at the circuit responsible for compressing Essence. The one he knew what the use was for. But that circuit alone had dozens of runes and was a circuit composed of several smaller circuits.
Mack found one of these smaller circuits that were part of that big circuit and saw it was quite isolated from the rest. This circuit only had one rune connecting with other circuit. He would start from there.
(Para - For)
(Tik - Each)
(Avac - Anis)
”Arcane, what is Anis?”
[Is the most common measure of time used with runes, it's the equivalent of 3.14 seconds from Earth]
”The Pi number? What are the odds.... I guess not everything on Earth is just a coincidence.”
Mack refocused his gaze on the cube. He had not time to lose pondering over the Pi being used on Earth. Or why a rune equaled to 3.14 seconds from Earth.
Mack kept reading the rest of the runes and got the idea that this circuit tracked the time. Like a clock. It would fire the next circuit at a fixed interval of 3.14 seconds.
That's why this circuit was so isolated from the rest and so simple. It had a really basic function.
”So this circuit is responsible for activating the circuit connected to him at a fixed interval of 3.14 seconds”
Mack had one doubt. Who would activate this circuit? It had to be activated first..... Because it was isolated. It did not have any other circuit connected to it apart from the one that would be triggered.
Mack looked at the circuit again....
Runes for tracking the time.
Runes responsible for activating the connected circuit.
And the runes that dictated the power source.
Runes could influence the surrounding Essence but they had to have a 'source' or 'origin', in other words, you needed to move Essence thru the runes for it to 'be changed'. Otherwise, the runes would keep affecting the same essence around them in an eternal loop and causing not a single change.
That's why cubes were cubes. They had a grand reserve of compressed Essence inside them and runes were draw over its surface. Then the rune specialist could specify that a circuit would use the Essence below the carved runes as fuel. In this case, the Essence inside of the cube.
Then Mack thought of something.....
'Just like runes can say where the essence used is coming from..... must be possible to say where it will go too.'
'Maybe there is a circuit somewhere on the cube that acts like a switch but location-based.'
'....Activating all those smaller isolated circuits based on the place they are on the cube.'
[You guessed right. Circuits can be activated based on their locations. That's a very advanced technique used by cube makers and mages. Most mage towers, like the one you saw, use this technique too. But instead of activating a rune based on the fixed location of that rune. They attack enemies in fixed locations around the tower]