![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
This day was going to be a boring one. Desmond didn't have any hunting planned, and all of his research was at a low for the recent past few days. He could have gone out to another land to explore and find the wildlife living there, but his soon-to-be-wife asked him to stay at home with her for the day, since recently - in her words - he has been overworking himself. So, today was going to be extremely boring. That is, until he heard a knock at the door.
Remembering the recent events on the 31st of October, the hunter made sure to check the peephole in the door, and there he saw some person with a relatively large package. Desmond opened the door, and the delivery man quickly held out the package to him, being sure not to hit it on anything.
"This is a package from Leona Jarnefeldt, please handle with extreme care."
Nodding his head with a quick "thanks," Desmond grabbed the package with very large, bold letters saying "HANDLE WITH CARE" on it. He then took the package to his living room, and set it on the small coffee table, to open. Once the hunter got the package open, he almost immediately raised an eyebrow. Within it was a leather bound book, that seemed to be a journal of sorts. There was a ton of packaging around it, which displayed the whole handle with care thing, and along with the book was a note from the guildmaster.
After reading the note, Desmond crumpled it up and threw it backwards, unknowingly hitting his fiancee as she was entering the room.
"Hm? What's this?"
"Oh, sorry Ophelia. Just work. I have to translate this text or whatever, and of course it's down to me. First the sword, then that book, and now another book. I hunt, and build, I'm not a translator..."
The man shook his head, his rather lazy nature poking through again, but he honestly didn't care about what he had to do today. It was going to be boring anyways, so at least it could be boring with something to do. Ophelia then sat down next to him and reached for the book. Desmond was about to stop her, until he just decided "screw it" and allowed her to untie the journal.
"Make sure you 'handle that with care.' It's apparently very fragile."
"Well, it does seem to be a journal. I can see dates..."
Desmond took a glance over, and sure enough she was right. There were plenty of dates on each page. They were some sort of documentation.
"4/1/XXXX at 19:24.... 4/1/XXXX at 20:36, 4/1/XXXX at 23:10, what is this? I can't read the rest of it, but it does seem to be some sort of journal for an experiment of sorts? Maybe they're observing something...."
"That is very much a possibility."
Desmond tapped a button on his ring, and then his helmet appeared on his head. Nothing else, since he didn't need to use the entire suit, but he did need to scan the text. Perhaps he could get a read on the type of language that was used, then he could translate using that. So, he took a glance at a page, then the helmet's eyes began glowing green, as the entire page was scanned. It took almost a whole minute, but eventually they returned to its normal colour.
"It's some sort of ancient version of Bosconian. So, I see then. Well, all we need to do is just go to Bosco and find someone to translate, and then we'll be fine."
"N-Now!?"
"Better now than never. It'll take a couple of days but we can get there. Unless you don't want to come with me, I'll go off alone, no problem."
"No, I'll go. I've always wanted to explore the world."
Desmond nodded, then stood up to return to their room. He packed about 3 days worth of clothing, and told his fiancee to do the same. Once they did, he went downstairs, locked up the house, and went to the train station.
It took an entire day by train, but the two did reach Bosco relatively fast - compared to Desmond's normal method of just walking everywhere. So, once there, the two of them had to take the book to a library. Desmond marveled over the boom of technology that was this country, and even more so when he found that the library had entire translators that worked similar to how his suit worked, in that it just scanned an entire page of the book and then showed you a copy in a language of your choice on the screen. This was very convenient for the pair, as they could now quickly get this translation done.
"Honey, please copy down everything I say, exactly, into my journal. Skip a line when I say skip a line, and go to the next page when I say go to the next page."
Desmond handed her his journal, opening to a fresh page with consecutive blank pages. There, he began to read off what was chilling to his bones.
4/1/XXXX at 19:24
Experiment started. Using Subject 13's mana resolves, we are beginning to fuel simple technology. Light bulbs, things of that sort.
4/1/XXXX at 20:36
So far, we are confident that using mana as a source of renewable energy is more sufficient than taking from natural resources. Subject 13 seems to be in a bit of pain from forceful mana extraction, but once we get him to willingly spare his magic, this will be so much more valuable to begin a power plant.
4/1/XXXX at 23:10
The subject seems to have run out of mana from the forceful extraction. We are now feeding him and helping him replenish the source of energy, but this will be very inefficient in the near future. Paralysis and sudden stunting of the mana flow would cause shut downs all over. We need more subjects, and more that would be willing to actually participate in this experiment.
4/2/XXXX at 12:18
We have begun testing the mana power on larger machines. It costs more from the subject and definitely drains them faster, but it is definitely possible.
This went on for the entire journal, until suddenly the pages just stopped writing altogether. This experiment seemed to be similar to how Desmond's magic is used. Using mana sources from a person to power something else, even though Desmond's is much more willing than these experiments. It shows that the combination of magic and technology was definitely possible, but not en masse like this scientist wants. The scientist, in later entries, revealed he wanted an entire power plant that fed fuel to all of Bosco, the technology supergiant, at the cost of as many people as possible. From the sudden ending of the journal, it seemed to fail, but each entry until the last few just described the horrific experiments that he was performing on various subjects to power things against their wills. Sort of like human batteries. However, the last few pages seemed to suggest a sort of defiance against the scientist.
7/23/XXXX at 9:03
This morning, Subjects 16, 17, and 18 who were all sharing a cell all flailed about while being taken to the extraction room. They seemed to have some sort of mutual understanding of one another, as they actually tried to weaponize their magic against me. Gladly, they don't understand fully how to use the power of magic to their disposal, but if this continues then I might need to neutralize these subjects.
7/23/XXXX at 12:45
The subjects 13, 14, and 15 all performed the same general actions as the group from before. This time, subject 14 actually managed to create a small orb of weaponized mana, and wound me with it. I was quickly tended to, but this mistake can not be forgiven. I am off to neutralize subject 14.
After that, they just seem to stop. Desmond wondered about that, and seemed to be obviously deep in thought as his fiancee asked him what was wrong.
"Well, all of this, obviously. This journal is sickening. Although it does bridge the gap between magic and technology, this sort of selfish method for doing so sickens me. But this journal is obviously from the early time of Bosco. See, Bosco has been a technological supergiant for centuries, well above everyone else in the world. So, while the people around them might be cavemen, these people are heavily advanced. So, that begs the question: How did my guild get ahold of this journal, and what ever happened to this facility? As far as I know, Bosco doesn't use hidden people to power their city, and with the sudden stop in journal entries, this implies that the scientist was somehow taken out by the subjects. So where is this facility? It has to be somewhere in Bosco of course, but I don't know where."
Desmond shook off this chilling thought, and asked for Ophelia to return his journal to him. He took the old journal of the scientist, paired it with his own, and then they began the journey back home. While Ophelia went straight home, Desmond made a stop by his guild hall to drop off his findings.
Remembering the recent events on the 31st of October, the hunter made sure to check the peephole in the door, and there he saw some person with a relatively large package. Desmond opened the door, and the delivery man quickly held out the package to him, being sure not to hit it on anything.
"This is a package from Leona Jarnefeldt, please handle with extreme care."
Nodding his head with a quick "thanks," Desmond grabbed the package with very large, bold letters saying "HANDLE WITH CARE" on it. He then took the package to his living room, and set it on the small coffee table, to open. Once the hunter got the package open, he almost immediately raised an eyebrow. Within it was a leather bound book, that seemed to be a journal of sorts. There was a ton of packaging around it, which displayed the whole handle with care thing, and along with the book was a note from the guildmaster.
Desmond, you are tasked with deciphering this ancient text. Report your findings back to the guild.
-Leona
-Leona
After reading the note, Desmond crumpled it up and threw it backwards, unknowingly hitting his fiancee as she was entering the room.
"Hm? What's this?"
"Oh, sorry Ophelia. Just work. I have to translate this text or whatever, and of course it's down to me. First the sword, then that book, and now another book. I hunt, and build, I'm not a translator..."
The man shook his head, his rather lazy nature poking through again, but he honestly didn't care about what he had to do today. It was going to be boring anyways, so at least it could be boring with something to do. Ophelia then sat down next to him and reached for the book. Desmond was about to stop her, until he just decided "screw it" and allowed her to untie the journal.
"Make sure you 'handle that with care.' It's apparently very fragile."
"Well, it does seem to be a journal. I can see dates..."
Desmond took a glance over, and sure enough she was right. There were plenty of dates on each page. They were some sort of documentation.
"4/1/XXXX at 19:24.... 4/1/XXXX at 20:36, 4/1/XXXX at 23:10, what is this? I can't read the rest of it, but it does seem to be some sort of journal for an experiment of sorts? Maybe they're observing something...."
"That is very much a possibility."
Desmond tapped a button on his ring, and then his helmet appeared on his head. Nothing else, since he didn't need to use the entire suit, but he did need to scan the text. Perhaps he could get a read on the type of language that was used, then he could translate using that. So, he took a glance at a page, then the helmet's eyes began glowing green, as the entire page was scanned. It took almost a whole minute, but eventually they returned to its normal colour.
"It's some sort of ancient version of Bosconian. So, I see then. Well, all we need to do is just go to Bosco and find someone to translate, and then we'll be fine."
"N-Now!?"
"Better now than never. It'll take a couple of days but we can get there. Unless you don't want to come with me, I'll go off alone, no problem."
"No, I'll go. I've always wanted to explore the world."
Desmond nodded, then stood up to return to their room. He packed about 3 days worth of clothing, and told his fiancee to do the same. Once they did, he went downstairs, locked up the house, and went to the train station.
It took an entire day by train, but the two did reach Bosco relatively fast - compared to Desmond's normal method of just walking everywhere. So, once there, the two of them had to take the book to a library. Desmond marveled over the boom of technology that was this country, and even more so when he found that the library had entire translators that worked similar to how his suit worked, in that it just scanned an entire page of the book and then showed you a copy in a language of your choice on the screen. This was very convenient for the pair, as they could now quickly get this translation done.
"Honey, please copy down everything I say, exactly, into my journal. Skip a line when I say skip a line, and go to the next page when I say go to the next page."
Desmond handed her his journal, opening to a fresh page with consecutive blank pages. There, he began to read off what was chilling to his bones.
4/1/XXXX at 19:24
Experiment started. Using Subject 13's mana resolves, we are beginning to fuel simple technology. Light bulbs, things of that sort.
4/1/XXXX at 20:36
So far, we are confident that using mana as a source of renewable energy is more sufficient than taking from natural resources. Subject 13 seems to be in a bit of pain from forceful mana extraction, but once we get him to willingly spare his magic, this will be so much more valuable to begin a power plant.
4/1/XXXX at 23:10
The subject seems to have run out of mana from the forceful extraction. We are now feeding him and helping him replenish the source of energy, but this will be very inefficient in the near future. Paralysis and sudden stunting of the mana flow would cause shut downs all over. We need more subjects, and more that would be willing to actually participate in this experiment.
4/2/XXXX at 12:18
We have begun testing the mana power on larger machines. It costs more from the subject and definitely drains them faster, but it is definitely possible.
This went on for the entire journal, until suddenly the pages just stopped writing altogether. This experiment seemed to be similar to how Desmond's magic is used. Using mana sources from a person to power something else, even though Desmond's is much more willing than these experiments. It shows that the combination of magic and technology was definitely possible, but not en masse like this scientist wants. The scientist, in later entries, revealed he wanted an entire power plant that fed fuel to all of Bosco, the technology supergiant, at the cost of as many people as possible. From the sudden ending of the journal, it seemed to fail, but each entry until the last few just described the horrific experiments that he was performing on various subjects to power things against their wills. Sort of like human batteries. However, the last few pages seemed to suggest a sort of defiance against the scientist.
7/23/XXXX at 9:03
This morning, Subjects 16, 17, and 18 who were all sharing a cell all flailed about while being taken to the extraction room. They seemed to have some sort of mutual understanding of one another, as they actually tried to weaponize their magic against me. Gladly, they don't understand fully how to use the power of magic to their disposal, but if this continues then I might need to neutralize these subjects.
7/23/XXXX at 12:45
The subjects 13, 14, and 15 all performed the same general actions as the group from before. This time, subject 14 actually managed to create a small orb of weaponized mana, and wound me with it. I was quickly tended to, but this mistake can not be forgiven. I am off to neutralize subject 14.
After that, they just seem to stop. Desmond wondered about that, and seemed to be obviously deep in thought as his fiancee asked him what was wrong.
"Well, all of this, obviously. This journal is sickening. Although it does bridge the gap between magic and technology, this sort of selfish method for doing so sickens me. But this journal is obviously from the early time of Bosco. See, Bosco has been a technological supergiant for centuries, well above everyone else in the world. So, while the people around them might be cavemen, these people are heavily advanced. So, that begs the question: How did my guild get ahold of this journal, and what ever happened to this facility? As far as I know, Bosco doesn't use hidden people to power their city, and with the sudden stop in journal entries, this implies that the scientist was somehow taken out by the subjects. So where is this facility? It has to be somewhere in Bosco of course, but I don't know where."
Desmond shook off this chilling thought, and asked for Ophelia to return his journal to him. He took the old journal of the scientist, paired it with his own, and then they began the journey back home. While Ophelia went straight home, Desmond made a stop by his guild hall to drop off his findings.
