Abel and Zeno talking about Yuan and divination (or whatever)
"So are you going to Yuan?"
As Abel lies in his bed, slowly getting accustomed to his new blood coursing through him, Zeno sits by his bedside, a bowl of grapes to snack on in between pauses of chatting.
"Jup. Mind you I still have
so much planning to do, but that's the plan. Can I expect to travel with you then little bro?" A smirk frames Zenos healed face. The light shining through the window framing his angular features.
"I guess I can help protect you. Want to make sure you don't get into trouble." Abel's smirk matches Zenos. The family resemblance has never been more clear. Small gusts of wind from the open window make the dream catcher wave in the wind.
Zeno rebukes that particular statement quickly."Ha. Ha. very funny." A grape falling off of Abel's face undercutting the wholesome moment.
"Honestly not sure what to do in Yuan. For Qigang I had a plan even if it didn't work out. Yuan is all about hunting powerful spirit beasts right?"
"I guess, yeah. It's mostly created treasures and quickly ascended beasts, which are supposed to give you unlimited power and all that, but who knows what we'll find. It's a secret realm after all." Zeno shrugs, the wooden chair not even creaking, thanks to powerful array work carved into every part of the manor.
"I guess quickly ascended means that the beasts are easier to take down then their power implies. They aren't used to being powerful and are getting used to their new abilities."
"Not exactly in my experience. Even if they have less experience, they tend to make up for it with natural instinct. That's at least what I learned from beasts ascending outside of the secret realms. Generally the assumption that everything will be harder to kill in there than out here should fare you well." Another grape vanishes between Zenos' teeth.
Natural instinct. I knew that qi responses to intentions, but that implies that it works the other way around even in an intelligent way.
"Is there a spirit beast beasttuary for things appearing in Yuan?"
"Hm....good question." Zenos posture shows his focus at this moment. "If there is one, it's probably incomplete though, considering the sheer danger
and vastness of the secret realm." his face lights up with understanding.
"I have an idea how you can at least avoid walking the most dangerous routes!" Zeno calls Appendix, who promptly arrives with see through bones, settling on his left shoulder, intent on listening.
"These ones should do the trick! Come on, feel them!" Zeno offers Abel the bones for his right hand. "Do you feel the qi signature? How they shift between phases?" His eager expression quite apparent.
The bone feels like an extension of my arm. A bit like my hand cannon or an array I have drawn. It is smooth, no rough. Actually it doesn't actually seem to have a fixed set of properties, but paying attention I can feel a cycle.
"That's good! Like most things of the liminal, the properties are defined by the most powerful entity around them, their core identity an exception of course. In this case I anchored their properties in my last big liminal walk before the trials to predict the route where danger comes from. An easy working, considering rabbits mostly survive on avoiding the danger, rather than fighting it head on like many other beasts. What do you think, neat, huh?
"So I should avoid going to low points in the cycle? We could really use better vocabulary. I feel like I am talking nonsense." That statement makes Zeno chuckle.
"Yeah, but still you understand it! That, combined with our agility and the qi sense you showed just now are the combined reasons why we are divinators by trade. Do you understand?" his hands splayed wide, as if to accentuate a grand statement.
"Does it still apply if I am traveling with you? A low point for me seems likely to be full for you. Our family jargon is weird." A bark of laughter by Zeno follows.
"You can say that again! As if any outsider would understand what a Medicum Aes or a Hoplite would even be without the obvious effects it has on their ability to live!
"But seriously, don't worry about it. You trained much like mother and I to sense the slightest of qi differences. If anyone has stolen that object from you and would be in a position to use it against you, you will notice. It is keyed to you after all." Noticing Abel's confusion he elaborates in between bites.
"On the matter of danger, we will only travel together until we reach the Secret Realm, if my current understanding holds true, we will travel through very different entrances anyway. Either way we'll see once we go there." Zenos' last grapeseed falling into the bowl.
Taking the initiative Abel says. "Changing the topic. I have made some progress on my latest invention. Thanks to ball bearings I can at least turn the handlebars without friction. Unfortunately I only have been able to make lead ball bearings. Not sure how well they will handle the stresses long term, but prototype."
With a raised right eyebrow Zeno asks. "Ok, You are talking about that wagon on two wheels, right?" He gestures for Abel to elaborate, clearing some space on the table nearby, by handing the bowl to the attending maid Mia. The ornate door closes behind her, her footsteps barely heard over the conversation.
"Yes that. Should make travel over flat surfaces way faster. Especially for the Golden Devils. It directly translates strength and stamina into more speed. Real problem right now is the back wheel. I need for the bicycle to be able to maintain momentum even when the rider isn't pedaling. The pedals should turn the back wheel. but not the other way around. I can't fix that there is a lot of wasted energy and the bike is no fun to ride."
Zeno thinks out loud. "Hmm…the problem is wasted momentum, which means gaining speed isn't the problem. Could you chain the momentum of the two wheels together somehow? I don't know a simple steel chain and some interlinking stuff like in your clocks?"
Abels explanation pours out of him like a flowing river."The pedals are already chained to the back wheel. The front wheel will move on it's own so long as the bike is moving. It's just for stability and steering anyway. The problem is that I can't figure out how to make it so when the rider stops pedaling and the bike is still moving the pedals don't have to keep moving so the rider can rest every now and then and just move forward on momentum." He makes rolling motions with his hands.
"Ok, that's tricky. Most cultivators would just slap a qi sensor array on it with the condition that it should stop working when the owner isn't nearby, but that won't work for you, huh." A small grin appears on Zenos face.
"At this rate I might now use an array to connect and disconnect the bike chain depending on if the rider is pedaling, but that is just such a sloppy solution when I know there is a qi free engineering fix. I can see the vision of the right design so clearly. I don't don't know how to get to it." Abel holds his hands up as though reaching for something.
"Then how about a second chain system entirely dedicated to letting the wheels rotate freely? I mean you could probably use the wasted energy to make switching between these modes a breeze, somehow. Technical stuff is your zone, not mine." Zeno suggests with a shrug.
Abel spends a moment trying to imagine what Zeno is talking about then gives up. "I think I have a clue. I know the finished model isn't able to pedal backwards and I think that is related to why the pedals move the back wheel, but not the reverse."
Zeno whips out a half finished talisman and the "pen" he got from Abel from his sleeves. He gestures with both hand gestures towards him. "Go on, write it down."
Abel thinks about all the cases he can remember of things that turn one way, but not the other. Spring loaded on way exits on parking lots, ratchets.
"So say this is a full cog. With teeth all the way around." Zeno nods beside him, both brothers now sitting at the table, the sunlight their only illumination. "Does it already have the chain?" Without prompt Zeno hands Abel another piece of paper to continue his meticulous drawing.
"Ah your chain system, I take it?" A nod by Abel confirms it.
"The chain moves the outer circle. When it moves the right way that pushes the inner circle. However if the other circle doesn't move then it moves out of the way of the movement of the inner circle. Sure that there is more to it than that. Maybe right shaped triangles rather than spring on lines, but I think I have the basic idea now."
"It definitely looks like it. I don't think that triangle shape..eh...thingies in there are the best way to go though. This thing needs to be reliable above all else. Few people will have the patience or ressources to properly repair it on a road trip and triangle steel stuff, like a spear, tends to wear down fast."
Abel blinks "Triangles are the strongest shape." He makes one with his hands.
Zeno rebukes with a raised right finger. "Not when the heat of the desert constantly heats up the metal, making it constantly change due to heat differences, I think. Mind you I read about that stuff decades ago out of idle interest. That's not even accounting for qi fluctuations making small changes on the metal. There is a reason we have legions constantly maintaining the arrays and the wall work and most of that isn't regular
mortal steel. Maybe incorporate some protection arrays or a special coating?"
"Considering what I hope the final cost of these bikes to be, a protection array is likely to cost more than the rest of a normal bike put together. Once I have the basic idea down I will make an expensive cultivator version. Sand traveling tires, qi fluctuation protection, all the parts made out of spirit beast to be able to handle a 2 ton rider or a thousand foot fall, the works." Plenty of cultivators with the blood of bronze are really heavy.
"Fair enough. Cultivators won't be your biggest market anyway."
"Well they are until I can train up some mortals to be able to make these themselves. I like to think of my time as valuable." Zeno nods in response.
"But if this does work out the scorpion road might be up for a rename." Abel smiles.
"Maybe." Zeno smiles back.
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Collab with
@Juugo.
@Alectai,
@TehChron,
@Humbaba,
@ReaderOfFate,
@Kaboomatic Sign me up for going to Yuan.
