You can certainly use SCs to train on the Seventh Path without issue at all times except on seal infusion days, where things become more complicated. As for research and SSA…
First, an implicit assumption that we haven't ruled on but is required for answering any of these questions to make sense: can prep days be done off-site?
Answer: Yes, prep days can be done away from the site of infusion, despite the extensive use of sealing facilities and implied importance of precise astrological measurements. However, at least 'a few hours' of work on infusion day must be done on-site.
This works.
When Hazou makes his clone on the Human Path, he (and the clone) have memories of crafting both runes. It will take some time (maybe 'an hour' or 'a few hours') for them to unjumble their memories and recheck their preparation, but the bottom line is that they'll be able to do both infusions in one day with no penalty. Just don't expect to be able to cram anything else into the same day.
There's an asterisk here – the clone presumably could have used SSA extensively during their preparation and crafting of the rune blank, and the associated mental trauma should be hitting Hazou Prime at the intermediary phase when the clone pops. However, since Hazou has not yet derived any benefit from SSA, we're
tentatively ruling that we'll handwave the SSA Consequence until the actual infusion is done (so Hazou can do both infusions with no penalty, then will have two SSA consequences once the clone pops).
This works.
Hazou works on Rune A, clone preps Rune B. Hazou can craft and infuse Rune A normally, and the next day, will benefit from a +2 bonus to Rune B from the prep day.
This does not work.
On days 1-3, Hazou preps for the rune, reaching his maximum. On day 4, he does an extra, useless "prep day", then crafts the rune. On day 5, he cannot infuse the rune, since the infusion needs to be done on the same day as the research crafting.
There are two different times when a sealmaster would infuse a blank, runic or paper.
- When the blank is for a seal he has previously researched
- When he is in the process of researching it
If he has already learned the seal then he can make blanks and infuse them whenever he likes, even days or years later.
If he is doing research then the prep days, the crafting, and the infusion must be contiguous. That means:
- The normal scenario: Days 1-3 you do prep, day 4 you craft and infuse the blank. You get +6 on your crafting and infusion rolls.
- Days 1-3 you do prep, day 4 you take a day off, day 5 you craft and infuse the blank. This is fine, but you get no benefit from the prep.
- Days 1-3 you do prep, day 4 you craft the blank, day 5 you take off, day 6 you try to do the infusion but realize that you aren't 100% certain of the prep you did, plus the astrological influences have shifted slightly plus other handwavium has spoiled. That blank will 100% cause a failure if you infuse it, and you know it.
- Days 1-3 you do prep, day 4 you craft the blank, day 5 you try to do the infusion and realize that this case is no different from the one above and you will definitely fail the infusion.
- Days 1-2 you do prep, day 3 you take off, day 4 you do prep, day 5 you craft and infuse the blank. This is fine, but you only get the benefit of one prep day (+2).
This works.
The first instance of rune research will take ~12 hours. As the required work cannot be done on the Seventh Path, the second instance will take ~12 hours again. Both infusions will benefit from any prep days, and the second infusion will suffer from Hazou's SSA Consequence from the first infusion. We may levy a Mild Physical Consequence for overwork, but as you mentioned, due to SSA recovery, this is not very important.
Saying the above but in more detail:
- Day 1-3: Hazō does prep on the Light Blaster rune. One of Hazō's Shadow Clones does prep on the Conjure Ice Cream rune. All of this happens on the Seventh Path.
- Day 4:
- Hazō unsummons to the Human Path. He spends 12 hours researching the LB rune. This consists of "a few hours" crafting, an hour infusing the LB rune, and some extra time doing other research-related activities.
- This requires timeladdering up the crafting roll and therefore taking a -AB penalty on it.
- He spent the full time on the infusion roll so he still receives his normal total.
- He receives prep day bonuses on both rolls.
- After the rolls are finished, he takes an SSA Consequence.
- He returns to the Seventh Path, refills from Noburi, returns to the Human Path, and spends another 12 hours researching the CIC rune.
- This works exactly as described above except now he has an additional -½ AB on both the crafting and infusion rolls due to his SSA Consequence.
- After the rolls are finished, he acquires a second SSA Consequence.
This does not work.
It is a matter of GM taste to decide how much seal/rune research can be broken up without it becoming harmful to the sealing research. We're tentatively ruling that the break of "a few hours" is too much here. Also, recall that at least "a few hours" of the research work must be done on-site.
Neither 3 nor 5 worked, so neither will work when the runes become logistically more challenging. Of course, scenario 4 works with two large runes.
This does not work.
As mentioned in scenario 5, seal/rune research shouldn't be broken up too much, and the various preparatory steps plus the hour-long infusion will be unviable.
However, it does work for Hazou to craft a rune on the Human Path, go to the Seventh Path for a few seconds/minutes to refill, return to the Human Path to infuse, go to the Seventh Path to refill, return to the Human Path to craft again, go to the Seventh Path to refill, then finally return for a second infusion (analogous to scenario 4).
This does not work.
Clones pop when Prime crosses Paths.
