Chapter 14: Electric Beginnings (Part 3)
[Clock - 10:00 | 10:00 AM]
[Calendar - 20/01/2003]
[Location - Cart 9, Foundation Station - Old Gotham, Gotham City, New Jersey]
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It was morning once more, but Atlas didn't know that. He had spent the entire night (and the past three days) reading and experimenting with two different ways of making magical items, two methods that granted different results but methods he wanted to incorporate within his arsenal of abilities! His fingers moved with slow and careful movements as he ever so slowly drew out a few runes with this sharpened blade across the flat surface of the wooden small chest. In one hand there was the long and meticulous use of runes and hard work to enchant an item with magic, slowly, over time making the item absorb the magic and make it part of itself, not only making a magic item but also making reality accept that item as something extraordinary! And then there was the Transmutation spell [Create Magic Item], this spell actually used the item you wanted to embed with magic as a component to the spell itself, turning the normal item into a wondrous and magical item. Atlas was pretty excited to know that he could use magic to make magic items and not have to do the boring process of meticulously make them, however, when he casted the spell, he failed.
Why? Well, he used his [Q&A] questions to get an answer, and this was the answer:
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Q&A
Q: Hey, so, magical library that lives rent free inside my head, can you tell me why my whimsical magic spell that would've let me make magic items failed?
A: The spell [Create Magic Item] accesses the weave of magic to automatically find the blueprint of the item you request and imbue the material component with the required enchantment, if the necessary material components are provided. The reason this spell has failed its because you lack the connection to the Weave. The Dungeons and Dragons Multiverse equivalent of a deep well, where magic originates from. Without a connection to the weave, you cannot access the saved "blueprints" of magical items for the spell [Create Magic Item] to work, and thus, it has failed.
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See this shit? Do you know what this means? It means he has to slowly carve out rune after rune, word of power after word of power, and then imbue spells into items by himself! Thankfully, he found a way to "cheat" the system a little bit- well, it wasn't really cheating, it was more of an acceleration of something that should happen anyway. "And... done." With a sigh of relief, Atlas closed the lid of the small chest- his other items were simple little things that he wouldn't consider more than sticks that can shoot out sparks (he made a few [Prestidigitation] wands), but this item might be somethimg good... "And for the last touch-" he casted [Make Magic Item] on the chest and automatically casted the spell he wanted to imbue the item with. The runes on the chest were of the Conjuration School of Magic, he was trying to make a very small chest as a gift for Miss Girl Lady Woman, his rat familiar. "-fuck-" He quickly grabbed the box when he felt the magic within it go haywire as the runes he made on the box were not as they should have been! "-[Shield]!" His best friend, his most fabulous spell, came to his saving once more! An ethereal thin veil of energy appeared between him and the cracking box as it simply popped into hundreds of splinters that flew everywhere in the room. Thankfully, the [Shield] spell also prevented any damage, even from small splinters. "Fuck... and here I go again." He could feel the headache coming from a mile away! He has been trying this the entire night, and there is always something wrong with the way he carved the runes, the spell he tried to use didn't match the words of power called to make the item into a magical item... Maybe he should look at this from another angle? The cantrip wands were way too easy to make, seeing as all he had to do was carve the equivalent of the cantrip's name and push the magical energy he normally uses to cast spells into the wand, which instantly became magical.
"Maybe..." Maybe he shouldn't be trying to accelerate the process of adding magic to a mundane item to make it extraordinary? "...fuck." But considering how long it'd take tk make even an interesting one, he has the urge to try and find a way to either cheese it or accelerate the process. Making magic items is like building something- you start with the foundation, then comes the bricks, you get the cement to glue it all together, and at one point you have a house, right? The same way, the runes and words of power, the rituals, the material components, these are the building blocks that the magic requires to safely settle within an item. "Okay, I guess I'll try the traditional way..." He was about to pick up (he still wants to try and somehow incorporate the [Make Magic Item] spell into his process, somehow- he was really tempted to use one of his Q&A's of the day to ask why these things are exploding, but he wants the challenge... he kinda likes it?) the makeshift chisel he had created, when a knocking sound stopped him. "...yes?" He called out, waiting for a few seconds before he remembered- Ah, right, he has to open the door himself! With a wave of his hand, the door came open as walking in were the two new soldier recruits.
Two of the young teens- Age 15 and 16, respectively -were named Kay and Jamon.
Kay was on the shorter end of the spectrum, being about 5'3 feet tall. He, like his fellow friend, was thin and kinda malnourished, but his body carried a hidden strength within like the bodies of all others in Gotham- with the exception of Atlas, because fuck him am I right? He hates being unable to even lift 5 kilograms without any help. Disheveled and unkept brown hair hid a bit of the kid's eyes, but even so it could not hide the authentic curiosity that emanated from the like waves in an ocean. Beside him, a similar emotion alongside weariness followed as Atlas focused a little more on the other older kid- he was taller than Kay, being about 5'7 or so, with a thin scar across his nose, and face, missing his left eye by a single only inch. Jamon as was his name, took the job as an older brother serious, even though he wasn't the oldest of the group of six that arrived three days ago as their oldest was a kid name Vin, his age being 18.
(He was also the one Baytor mentioned having killed someone before)
"Sir, Patron Baytor has returned with the requested items." Kay made a military salute for some reason, making his brother raise an eyebrow before he did the same, adding on to the conversation: "Also... Uhm, we have new residents?" Kay looked a little nervous about what he had to say, and Atlas was even more curious about it: "Ergh, fuck how do I say this... one of them doesn't have a bagde from King Croc."
Atlas frowned a little- he had sent Baytor to the surface two days ago to gather a few things for him so he might be a be to finally fix the train. In fact, he has completely fixed the important parts for the train to move, it just doesn't because it doesn't have enough power. And how does the train gwt power? Well, power is supplied to moving trains with a (nearly) continuous conductor running along the track that usually takes one of two forms: an overhead line, suspended from poles or towers along the track or from structure or tunnel ceilings, or a third rail mounted at track level and contacted by a sliding "pickup shoe". This subway station used the third rail, because of course it did. The problem here is that the Direct Current needed to feed the third rail has been cut off for years now, and it has no electric energy to it anymore. Third rails can kill people, which is why Atlas has been trying so hard to figure out how to enchant items with magic, because like that he can make a battery that can last for longer and that can supply energy to the train directly!
Also, magic train.
He already has a few ideas for concepts and words of power to add to the items, but he needs to figure out how to make them in the first place.
Back at the matter at hand! "One of them has gotten to our safe haven uninvited? No matter, if they are a homeless person, they're welcomed to stay!" Smiling happily (or as happily as he could), Atlas twisted his head to the side to look at the large mess he had made- splinters everywhere, pieces of metal, glass, and even ash on the ground: "...Well, I have some time to acertain the situation-"
[<Mumbled sounds of a heated discussion>]
"-huh." Mumbled sounds? He wasn't able to fully hear it, but it did sound like a bunch of people having a rather heated argument. Rolling forward (both teens got out of his way), he looked at the direction which the screams had come from- his wheelchair was pushed quickly, and he went from cart to cart until he reached the end of the train and got to look at the outside. Their small group of 10 (now 13 homeless people) was gathered around the newcomers, looking at them with narrowed eyes and distrustful looks: "Oh, welcome!" His voice immediately made everyone look at him: "It's nice to see new faces, even more so now that I'll be finally finishing the repairs on Foundation Station's single train - the Movable Storage Wagon! Guests are welcome to watch you know?" The trio of men- older men by their looks, they looked like thugs, but who is Atlas to judge? -all looked at him with a few degrees of surprise and surprisingly, respect? Except one of them, who clearly looked not amused nor looked at him like he was worth his effort. "Ah, Baytor, be a dear and bring them to the front will you?" From the small crowd, Baytor rushed out, holding this big bag with his arms as he floated. Atlas looked at the kid- Jamon -that was holding his wheelchair and gestured to push him to the front of the train.
Once there, Atlas (with some help) was able to undo the locks of the door from the outside and opened it to enter his own room. There, he was able to easily find the "heart" of the train, and with a few cables connected here and there and with the magic of having been abusing his [Act Like you Know It, Learn as you Do] perk to learn as much about engineering as he possibly could, he was able to find the main system. The computers of this train had long ago been destroyed beyond repair, so he had to make do without the controls! It was very easy to find the parts that needed energy, and with both his [Control Electricity] cantrip and about 85 DC volts from 6 Lex Luthor branded car batteries (didn't know he dabbled in that, huh), which was not even the least needed for it to properly function! 'Damm, this is reallt fucked.' Trains normally use about 750 DC volts of electricity, so he would need to somehow multiply the energy he has by 9. "Ah, right." Lifting his hands, Atlas approached his fingers to the battery before he closed his eyes and casted [Shocking Grasp] to channel electric energy through his hands to the battery to recharge it! It was like a small taser gun, and he knows for a fact that taser guns have 50,000 volts of electricity. He simply let the system channel the magical lightning as he softly whispered the names of the words of power like the book [How to Enchant: Enchantment is Simple, How to Make your First Magic Item, how to enchant everything! By Karthus] or whatever was his name- regardless, the runes he carved on the entirety of the train's structure will act as cables for the magic, while his chanting will serve as the conduit for the spells he wants to echant the vehicle with- let's just say, he is trying to ease in the magic first, to make sure the train doesn't explode!
He kept doing that while also connecting the train to a few things- because he wanted to see if the train would move, but he didn't want to be inside in case it did and exploded. So he began to tweak with the controls of the train first, fixing it up a bit and finding the wireless connector that he could use to make the train move... Don't ask him how, but with the best idea ever, he attached the control (of simply move forwards and backwards) to two joy stick-like levers on this arcade prize looking toy. It was more than enough for a simple movement test! He kept channeling magic through the train and didn't realize, however, how the train started glowing a soft yellow light as the metallic exterior was surrounded by a constant magical electric current- he didn't notice, until of course, there was the scream of a child.
He stopped what he was doing as the smell of burnt meat filled his lungs, when the sound of a bone breaking echoed in his mind, and whwn a child started crying.
"...fuck me."
-Author-
So yeah, please ignore the bullshiting about trains and electricity. Just had to put this here to justify what he does with the train later- you know Harry Potter? Well, like that, but a train instead of a car... spoilers?