Fighting against time

Mack seated in front of the cube and started to read rune after rune.

He knew some concepts were too advanced for him but he hoped to be able to learn something from the cube.

For a complete newbie in runes, any progress was a tremendous progress.

The advantage now was that his eyes could read the meaning behind each rune.

The problem was that to be able to produce any result using a single rune was impossible. He needed to create a circuit.

And Mack had no idea how the circuits worked.

He needed to guess all by finding patterns and trying to replicate them or simulate them only using his mind.

Mack chose to start with the smaller circuits. That way, he could slowly advance.

Mack was now looking at the circuit responsible for compressing Essence. The one he knew what the use was for. But that circuit alone had dozens of runes and was a circuit composed of several smaller circuits.

Mack found one of these smaller circuits that were part of that big circuit and saw it was quite isolated from the rest. This circuit only had one rune connecting with other circuit. He would start from there.

(Para - For)

(Tik - Each)

(Avac - Anis)

"Arcane, what is Anis?"

[Is the most common measure of time used with runes, it's the equivalent of 3.14 seconds from Earth]

"The Pi number? What are the odds.... I guess not everything on Earth is just a coincidence."

Mack refocused his gaze on the cube. He had not time to lose pondering over the Pi being used on Earth. Or why a rune equaled to 3.14 seconds from Earth.

Mack kept reading the rest of the runes and got the idea that this circuit tracked the time. Like a clock. It would fire the next circuit at a fixed interval of 3.14 seconds.

That's why this circuit was so isolated from the rest and so simple. It had a really basic function.

"So this circuit is responsible for activating the circuit connected to him at a fixed interval of 3.14 seconds"

Mack had one doubt. Who would activate this circuit? It had to be activated first..... Because it was isolated. It did not have any other circuit connected to it apart from the one that would be triggered.

Mack looked at the circuit again....

Runes for tracking the time.

Runes responsible for activating the connected circuit.

And the runes that dictated the power source.

Runes could influence the surrounding Essence but they had to have a 'source' or 'origin', in other words, you needed to move Essence thru the runes for it to 'be changed'. Otherwise, the runes would keep affecting the same essence around them in an eternal loop and causing not a single change.

That's why cubes were cubes. They had a grand reserve of compressed Essence inside them and runes were draw over its surface. Then the rune specialist could specify that a circuit would use the Essence below the carved runes as fuel. In this case, the Essence inside of the cube.

Then Mack thought of something.....

'Just like runes can say where the essence used is coming from..... must be possible to say where it will go too.'

'Maybe there is a circuit somewhere on the cube that acts like a switch but location-based.'

'....Activating all those smaller isolated circuits based on the place they are on the cube.'

[You guessed right. Circuits can be activated based on their locations. That's a very advanced technique used by cube makers and mages. Most mage towers, like the one you saw, use this technique too. But instead of activating a rune based on the fixed location of that rune. They attack enemies in fixed locations around the tower]

" I see. That's why no one came close to those mage towers. If I was to compare it with Earth, then they act like a base for launching missiles. Or like a grenade launcher."

[Correct. But that is only one of the simple defensive mechanisms of a mage tower. Each mage tower, just like the cubes, can have completely different functions on them]

"Thanks for the explanation"

Mack looked at the circuit connecting the one he just figured out.

It was a bigger one and had three other circuits connecting to it.

~sigh~

"Let's find another smaller one."

While reading the runes Mack tried to engrave in his mind how they connected each other and the meaning of them.

'But before finding another one.....'

Mack took his dagger and removed a large patch of grass from the ground.

He cleaned the spot and stomped a bit to make it flatter and then drew the same circuit that kept track of time on the ground. Just to keep a record of what he was learning and also to practice drawing the circuits.

He felt was the right thing to do at the moment.

Learn and practice.

Even if he could not activate the runes because his will was not strong enough to pass the Essence density of his body, he felt it was worth practicing runes on the ground without activating them.

Mack did not know how 'will' worked exactly, but he guessed that if Essence was like some invisible water permeating everything, 'will' was like a fish, the only problem was that the essence inside Mack instead of looking like water was more like snow.

One needed to make do with what he had instead of lamenting his misfortunes, and Mack chose to use runes.

Mack's stopped thinking about useless stuff and his gaze changed to the cube again.

Time waits for no one.

And just like that, twenty days went by.

Mack's daily routine changed from one of sword practice to one of rune practice.

During those twenty days, he would come back to one of the warlock camps from time to time to eat and clean himself. And also to check on the battle progression.

The battle was on a stalemate these twenty days. Even so, the warlocks were retreating the front line day by day. Mack guessed that if things continued like this in 5 more days, the warlock backline where the camps were situated would need to retreat to the initial position.

The advantage that Mack unintentionally created would be lost on that day.

In those twenty days, Mack progressed a lot. His rune knowledge was solidifying day by day as he learned more.

The problem was that the cube was not an attacking device. So Mack didn't see a single attack circuit.

Unknown to him. This practice of him learning from a cube was several times more important in the long run than learning a single powerful circuit.

Because this process was solidifying his base knowledge of runes in several aspects. And each cube was created by a specialist in runes. So Mack was indirectly learning from the bests.

Mack didn't know but even the most simple cube created by Cube Inc was created focusing to be the most optimal and have the best performance possible.

Mack was not only learning the basics of runesmithing. But also indirectly learning the same 'thinking process' behind each circuit created by those specialists.

After all, there were several ways of doing something. Even if the result was the same. The process may be completely different. Just like any kind of job on Earth.

This day, after twenty days of learning, Mack finally felt confident enough to carve the first circuit on his body.

And the chosen circuit was...