The technology of this world was medieval and although there were magical artifacts capable of impressive feats, they were rare and expensive. All magical artifacts were powered by a crystalized form of mana that could only be produced by mages. Since humans blessed with the talent necessary to use magic were few and amongst the most powerful members of society, artifacts were too expensive to for the common man, especially in a small town like Mill Valley.
I looked at Earth’s history. At first I thought about making cars, they revolutionized transportation and brought a level of independence previously unheard of, but I quickly cast that idea aside. I’d need gasoline, rubber, steel, and probably a hundred other intermediate components that weren’t available.
Several more inventions came to mind, but they were similarly dismissed and at the end of the day, I put such thoughts away and returned to my typical evening activity, reading. I felt that greater knowledge of this world would be useful and what better way to learn than from books. Unfortunately, there were no libraries in Mill Valley, but I managed to work out a deal with Minash Gerard, a local book enthusiast, he let me borrow a book or two at a time in exchange for a small fee.
After each day in the mine or the forge, I spent a few hours at night with my books, learning all about Xebrya and their neighbors. While Xebrya was a relatively small nation consisting only of what on Earth would be California and Northern Mexico. To the west, in the Rocky Mountains lied the nation of Iachus. The country was inhabited by subterranean dwarves that largely kept to themselves, dedicating their existences to their crafting pursuits.
To the South were the dark elves of Drulor. The dark elves were a cruel race that practiced the dark arts of necromancy, reshaping the forces of nature for their own purposes. The Drulorians were constantly invading the southern edge of Xebrya to acquire fresh corpses for their magic.
Their antitheses were the high elves of Gudria living in the Southern United States. In contrast to the dark elves, these people were great lovers of nature who relied on powerful magic to enhance growth and heal the sick.
Finally, to the North lied the Othal Confederation, a loose conglomeration of city-states inhabited by men who could take the form of a beast, a beastman. The type of beast varied from one beastman to the next but they could each only take a single animal form. While beastmen and humans were historically on good terms, lately several reports of beastmen raiding parties striking frontier villages put everyone near the border on high alert. This was why I had been accused of being a beastman spy when I first arrived in Mill Valley.
As for other nations in lands further away, I had no idea. Anything I read was riddled in myth and legend. Everything else was just too far away for this technological backwater to have use for.
That night, I started reading a new book, one on various origin myths. I didn’t have much hope of finding a use for such knowledge but figured after a long day I could use a good story.
Long ago Tautellus was born from a great fire. Over time, that fire burned itself out leaving the land a giant ball of magma. It was from this burning hell the first race was born, the Daemons. The Daemons were masters of magic, able to bend the world to their every whim, but there was one effect beyond their control. Over the millennia, Tautellus was cooling. Daemon physiology was ill adapted to the cold so as the surface cooled, the Daemons retreated deeper and deeper underground were it was still warm….
‘Urhh…. Damn candle light keeps flickering. There it stopped…’
During this age humans, dwarves, elves, and all the other races of Tautellus sprung up on the cool surface. The races clashed frequently each staking out their own portion. Until one day, the Daemon’s returned. Driven by a desire to reclaim the surface they had lost, the Daemons invaded all the nations of Tautellus. With their incredible powers, the Daemons tore apart nation after nation.
In light of a greater adversary, the different races gave up their personal squabbles and banded together. Ultimately they defeated the Daemons sending them all back to hell.
‘Damn it it’s doing it again.’
The candle entered one of its bouts of heavy flickering that was impossible to get used to. It was perhaps what I missed most about Earth, being able to curl up at night and read a good book in peace. But here, whenever I was just getting into the flow of the text, the candles would go into one of their sputters disrupting all train of thought.
‘I’m not the only one who has this problem,’ I realized.
Lighting was the primary reason nearly all businesses opened at sunrise and closed at sunset. Magical artifacts were too expensive so almost everyone relied on traditional means for lighting: candles and torches. Entire industries were devoted to it. The collecting of animal fat, the rendering of it into tallow, and the reshaping of that tallow, all to make a single defective product, the candle. The idea hit me. I had the all-consuming product I had been searching for.
‘I’m going to reinvent the lightbulb. Edison, eat your heart out.’
Chapter 9: Re-Innovate
I spent the next few days as an obsessed hermit, shutting myself in my room and skipping meals as I pieced together a prototype.
The device had three parts. The first was a simple incandescent bulb. The second was a hand-crank generator. This converted the mechanical energy from turning the crank into electricity to run the lightbulb. Finally, between the first two, I placed a parallel plate capacitor. This served as a rudimentary battery.
For the outer bulb, I used an empty potion vial. The filament was the hard part. Ordinary wire was too conductive to easily heat up and glow. After some trial and error, I ended up using a rock normally discarded by the miners. The rock bore an extraordinary resemblance to coal but wasn’t capable of being burned. I assumed it was graphite but had no means to be certain.
A spinning magnet generates electricity. So for the generator, I slapped the magnet I liberated from my laptop lid onto the end of a crank and wrapped it in a coil of wire made from copper I’d pounded and cut into long thin strips. The magnet was an object from Earth, but I was only making a prototype that night. In the future, I would use the electricity generated to make a powerful electromagnet that could magnetize other pieces of iron. I then placed the whole thing in a wooden box so that only the lightbulb and hand crank stuck out.
‘All that’s left is to try it out.’ I turned the crank, my nervousness growing as my eyes stared at the unlit bulb. Ten of the longest seconds in my life passed. I was just about to turn around and give up when out of the corner of my eye I noticed the black filament take on an orange hue. I cranked harder, straining my muscles to their limit, and sure enough, the bulb brightened into a glorious pure light.
‘It actually worked.’ My heart filled to the brim and my mind swirled, briefly reliving all the dreams of my glorious mercantile empire. It all suddenly seemed inevitable. With a big toothy grin and a madly restrained giggle, I jumped up and down. ‘Hehehe, I have to show someone.’
I ran downstairs looking for Rowley but instead caught Lilith Kamikira coming in. She was the only other guest staying at the inn for the winter. Rowley had mentioned she was a student from a magical academy looking for some ancient ruin. I had passed her several times before, but our conversations never went much beyond hellos.
That day, Lilith returned from another one of her many wilderness excursions and I couldn’t help but stare widely for far too long. She was beautiful. Her hair was dark, solid black that flowed down the sides of her face in waves, contrasting pale porcelain skin. Her lips always seemed to be tilted into a mildly bemused smile and her eyes were a bright sky-blue that seemed to pierce your soul.
As she came in, Lilith wiped the bottom of her knee high hiking boots and brushed a bit of snow from her shoulders.
“Hey, Lilith, I've got to show you this. It’ll just take a second,” I said in an overly enthusiastic voice as I pulled out my lightbox for her to see.
“Hmm.” She turned and gave me a curio
us smile. “Isaac, right? How can I help you?”
“I just… uhh.” Boy did that smile throw me off. I fumbled around for words for a few more embarrassing seconds before I was saved.
“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Rowley came out from the back after hearing the commotion. Thank god.
“Isaac was just going to show me his thing.” Lilith pointed down at the light box I was holding over my lap and winked at me.
“Yeah.” I held out my light box for Lilith and Rowley to see.
“What is it?” Rowley asked.
“It’s from my world. It replaces candles,” I said.
“How does it work?” said Lilith.
“You turn the crank for a little while and…. There you see it the wire starts to glow.” I turned the crank more rapidly, making the light brighter. Even after it brightened to the maximum, I continued working the crank for a minute to charge the capacitor.
“Even after I stop the light can keep going. And unlike candles the light is steady and there is no smoke.”
“How long does it last?” Rowley asked.
“The light will continue for up to half an hour. Then all you have to do is crank it up again,” I said.
“It can be reused indefinitely?” Lilith asked. This was the greatest advantage of the bulb. A great deal of resources was spent manufacturing candles that would melt and be constantly remade.
“It can be reused hundreds of times but everything breaks down eventually,” I said.
“So it’s a basic light magic that everyone can use,” said Rowley.
“No it’s not magic. It’s science,” I said.
“What’s the difference?” Rowley asked.
This time Lilith cut in.
“Magic and science are opposite ends of the spectrum. Science constructs a situation where the laws of nature naturally produce a desired result. Magic bends the laws of nature for a desired result to be produced. For example, you can start a fire by rubbing sticks together. The rubbing produces heat and eventually it gets hot enough that the wood ignites. That’s science. On the other hand, a magician starts a fire by reducing the temperature required to make a piece of wood ignite until it is below the wood’s current temperature. Then poof, fire.”
“As expected of a student of Crystalpeak Magic Academy,” said Rowley.
Lilith looked at my hand-powered lightbulb, picked it up and turned it around to see it from all angles. “What I’m wondering about though is just how this works? I don’t sense any mana but I’ve never seen a scientific device capable of producing anything like this.”
“Oh it’s scientific,” I assured her.
“How did humans come up with such a device?” Lilith asked. “Humans on your world.”
“How?” I shrugged. “I guess when you don’t have magic you find other means to get results. Our science is centuries ahead of anything I’ve seen here.”
“A world without magic,” said Lilith. “Must be an interesting place. Why’d you build it?”
“To sell of course. Think there will be any buyers?” I said.
“Definitely,” said Rowley. “When they’re ready I’ll take a few.”
“You think you could use them?” I asked.
“Sure I would,” said Rowley. “You couldn’t believe how difficult it is keeping this big place lighted. Well, during the busy season.”
With winter set in, almost all travelers were gone and the inn was mostly dark, with personal candles and the hearth as the only sources of light.
“Now, I got to clear out the pantry. Best of luck.” Rowley left the room leaving me alone with Lilith.
“Isaac,” Lilith took me aside. “You have to show me how this thing works?”
“W-Why?” I asked. I didn’t want to say anything. If anyone could make it, I’d be out of business.
“I am a student remember,” Lilith pouted. “You won’t deprive a cute student the opportunity to study the technology of another world, would you?” Lilith inched a bit closer.
“Ahhh, Maybe another time,” I said. “I still need to make some adjustments.” It was true. Even though the device worked, I had built it using a number of Earth components, so I still needed to make substitutes from this world.
“Oh fine then. We’ll have to talk about it another time,” Lilith said before scampering off back to her room.
‘Whew...’ I was tired. I hadn’t done anything but work the last few days and I still had a long ways to go. I followed Lilith back upstairs, collapsed into bed, and got some well-deserved rest.
Lilith walked upstairs, with each step the old rickety staircase groaned in a 50 kHz squeal that made her cringe. She entered the room she’d been staying in the last couple of months and viewed the straw bed and fog covered windows with disdain. She was sick of this grungy hovel. She missed home, the ashen scent of the air, the absence of weather, all of it. She missed going on swims in the lava streams or viewing an epic fight in the leviathan pits. But she was stuck here and one way or another she would remain until her mission was completed. Lilith closed the door behind her, making sure no one was watching.
“Utinos suirucsbo ecibo,” Lilith chanted rhythmically three times, erecting a barrier around the room that blocked all sound from exiting. She needed to be sure that no one would hear. Lilith brought out a pitch-black cube the size of her fist and placed it on the ground at her feet.
“Cube, open a channel back to command,” Lilith said.
A dim light from within the cube flickered to life. Lilith waited patiently for the cube to boot up and the call to go through. After a few moments, the flickering stabilized and the cube shot a beam of light straight up. The beam widened, morphing into a man in a large dark cloak and hood that concealed virtually all body and facial features.
Lilith cleared her throat and spoke up. “Lancepesade Lilith Demogorgon of the 16th Reconnaissance Division reporting in for my weekly status check.”
“We are ready for your report, Lancepesade,” the cloaked man replied.
“I have finished searching grid 827, nothing of interest to report. No ruins. No artifacts,” said Lilith lazily. All of her reports so far had been pretty much the same. She really wasn’t having any fun on this job. She didn’t understand why command had sent her all the way out here on a wild goose chase. But orders were orders.
“Understood, Lancepesade, proceed to grid 828 and carry on the search,” the man said as he moved to end the transmission but Lilith signaled him to wait.
“Anything else to report?” he asked.
Lilith thought back to the conversation she’d just had downstairs. “One of the Earthmen recreated a device from his world.”
“A weapon?” the man asked.
“No, just a light source. We were asked to keep an eye for any technological developments,” said Lilith.
“That’s fine,” the man answered. “Continue observation. We are mostly concerned with advanced weapon technologies they could introduce. Let us know if you see the Earthman working on sophisticated weapons.”
“Understood,” said Lilith.
“Report back in another week with the results of grid 828.” The man dimmed and the cube shut itself off, returning it to its original state. Lilith packed the cube away, released the security barrier, and went to bed. Tomorrow would be another long day.
“Hello everyone. Can I have your attention please?” I yelled as I strode down Main Street with a large cart in tow. The cart held my first 40 light boxes. It had taken me 2 weeks to build them but I was finally ready to put them on the market. I brought the cart to a stop in the middle of Main Street. Above the cart, I hung a great big sign: †Stein’s Amazing Lightning Lamp†. I’d taken the † symbol from the game menus and engraved each of the lightboxes with it as a form of branding. The lightbulb was just the first of many products I intended to produce.
It was mid-afternoon. I had timed the big release for when the market was the busiest to draw as much attention as possible
, hoping word of mouth would spread and I wouldn’t need further advertisement.
“Come see this modern marvel. I bring you my electric lamp. It provides light in a completely new and unique way, without any magic or fire. No longer do you have to fear accidently burning down your house at night. No longer do you have to deal with the nasty smell of smoke constantly permeating everything you own. No longer will you have to deal with the fickleness of flame. This light is nice and steady,” I said.
I stared out into the crowd, a number of their faces expressed interest, but little did they know I was just getting started.
“Additionally, this light is completely reusable and can last for years,” I continued. “Say goodbye to buying scores of candles each year and say hello to Stein’s Amazing Lightning Lamp.”
A crowd steadily built up as people all across the marketplace approached to see the lamp.
“Impossible,” said one elderly bystander.
“It’s not that amazing. The Artificer Guild has tons of those sorts of things,” said another person in the crowd.
“Yeah it must run on magic.”
“But isn’t mana too expensive. It’s just another thing too pricy for the average guy to afford.”
Various bits of chatter ran through the crowd, many of them doubting the utility of my creation.
“Best of all, this lamp works entirely without magic,” I said. The look of interest suddenly switched to disbelief. A couple of people’s jaws dropped. Many others started chatting with their neighbors.
“A fireless light,” said one man in the front of the crowd.
“One that doesn’t need magic,” I overheard the woman next to him say.
“That’s preposterous,” exclaimed a withered old man from the back. The man wore a full-bodied dark blue cloak. The cloak’s hood was up concealing the man’s face but I instantly recognized him. It was Phineas Plat the only fully qualified mage in Mill Valley. Typically, Mill Valley was too much of a backwater to attract a fully qualified mage but Phineas was the type of man who relished at being the big fish in a small pond. He always had to be the smartest man in the room and he refused to believe he was anything less than best at everything.
Arrival Page 9