Simple formation

"While it is possible to use different materials for a formation, the energy circuits have to be the same. Of course, I only drew them glowing to help you learn them. Usually, we would draw them invisible so anyone who goes against the formation wouldn't be able to easily understand it.", she continued to explain after she had finished drawing the energy circuits.

"Finally we use the activation phrase to activate the formation. I'll speak it out loud but normally you should only say it out in your mind, which is enough to activate the formation while hiding important information about it."

"Krz'ds ter nam", she then spoke out clearly in a language that they hadn't heard before and which didn't seem to be easy to pronounce.

As soon as she had finished that short sentence, the outer circle of the energy circuits lit up and a thin membrane appeared about it, which then closed at the top, forming a perfect half-sphere.

Mrs. Mertinez knocked lightly against it. "This is a simple formation, which is called 'Simple Defense Shield Formation'. It uses the energy stored inside the gems to make this barrier. While activated it will constantly consume energy and if stressed it will consume an amount depending on the stress it experiences. As such it is a simple yet effective defense, with power that only depends on the energy available."

She looked at the students who were intensely studying the formation in front of her.

"This is something you will have to always do when using formation. Find out their weak points, because if you aren't aware of them, then you might not even know how you died.", she warned them. Everyone nodded. It wasn't something new to them. Skills to had weak points and only by knowing them themselves were they able to compensate for them and thus reduce the risk of using them.

"Alright, then can anyone tell me the weak points of this formation?", she asked her students.

A few students raised their hands, with Irena a part of them. Ivan had some guesses as well, but he hesitated to raise his hand.

She looked at those who had raised their hands and then selected one of them.

"The shield should fail, if its energy is depleted, so by attacking it repeatedly it should be possible to exhaust the energy stored in the gems."

"Correct. This is the most obvious method of breaking this formation and it is something that works with just about any formation. If they are exhausted they will stop working.", Mrs. Mertinez praised the student who had answered. "Then let's first hear some other weaknesses you can guess before we talk about how to fix these flaws."

The number of hands in the air had been reduced after the student answered since it was an answer many had guessed. Of course, there were also some who had just put up their hands, like Ivan.

"Ivan, what's your guess?"

"The barrier should break if it is attacked by a powerful enough attack, that is above the capacity of the gems to provide energy to the formation. I just can't guess if it will break permanently or restore itself.", Ivan voiced out his guess.

"Good. For simple formations, such as this one, they will permanently break if the maximum energy has been exceeded. Better formations may be able to repair themselves.", the teacher explained. "Of course this requires them to shut down before the drain can destroy the gems."

"So the better the gems, the better the defense?", one of the students asked.

"Generally yes. But there are some differences in gems. Some of them have higher energy storage, while others have a better capability to transfer energy. So it is important to choose the right gems since those that have both are always much more expensive and rare than those that have only one of those attributes."

"Then can't we just combine them?"

"A good idea and something that is usually done. But for many formations, it leads to problems if some of the materials are of higher quality then others."

"Oh", the student who had asked the question looked disappointed.

"Then would it be possible to use gems with a high transfer rate for the formation and some with high energy storage as a battery?", someone else asked.

"You mean something similar to how smartphones work?", another student asked.

The formerly orderly class had started to become a discussion round, as it often did.

"Yeah. After all, they too have a battery that powers the other components. So shouldn't it work with formations as well?"

It should, but the question is how the energy transfer would be done."

"Well I would propose a mixture of PCC and runes.", another student suggested.

"That should work. Does anyone know how it works in a smartphone?"

Mrs. Mertinez looked proudly at her students who were busy discussing how to improve the gems. Being able to teach them to try to solve the problem together made her feel like she had been successful.

While other teachers might focus only on the grades of their students, she wanted them to be able to think independently and solve problems they stumble upon, without anyone's help. And seeing them work like this could thus fill her with pride in her work as well as pride in her students themselves.

"Hey, you aren't supposed to build a new node design.", she still interrupted them after a while. "But you had some good ideas, which have been implemented as well."

She then took out something. "This is a node, that is sold and that implements a few of your ideas."

The node was in the form of a pyramid and looked like it was made out of glass with a spherical ruby in the center. If one took a close look one could see some fine circuits in the glass-like substance.

"Teacher, why are you calling this node?"

"Didn't I explain that?", she thought she had mentioned it before. "It's called node since it is used as a central point of a formation. It can replace the gems that I used before."

She then explained the features of the node. It was a combination of a high transfer capacity gem together with a battery system as well as some security measures.

"Then why would anyone use gems if nodes like this exist?", one of the students asked confused.

"Well, these nodes are more expensive and often the improvement they provide isn't really needed. And in many formations, they are less efficient than other materials."

"Alright, that's it for the theoretical part. Now go and practice.", she ordered. She then put a box on the table. "In here are some cheap crystals. They are enough to make the 'Simple Defense Shield Formation'. Although it won't have much of an effect, it is enough to check if you have learned it."

Everyone grabbed the required number of crystals and then started to try to make the formation.

It was surprisingly difficult to draw the magic circuits. It had looked so easy when Mrs. Mertinez had done it, but when they had to try it, they understood how hard it was to make it exact enough. Even a single millimeter discrepancy was enough to make the formation fail.

So after positioning the gems, they carefully started to draw the magic circuits until they failed to be exact enough. Then the drawn circuits would vanish with a puff.

While Ivan was completely immersed in carefully drawing a sudden explosion beside him shocked him and made him draw wrongly.

Snapping around his head to look at Greg who was working beside him, he was surprised to see a perfectly round hole in his desk.

"What the hell did you do?", he asked stunned.

"Um, after finishing the circle, I must have messed up something in the inner part."

"Messed up? More like created an explosive formation.", Irena commented.

"So? You haven't even finished the circle.", Greg shot back at her.

"That's because I'm careful so that something like what you did doesn't happen."

"That's enough", Mrs. Mertinez stopped their bickering, before it could escalate. "Greg go and get a new desk.", she then ordered. "And don't be disheartened by your failure. It's normal to fail a few times and think about it this way. What if you can replicate this failure? Wouldn't you have a powerful offensive formation then?"

Greg nodded and then went to the storage room to get a new desk.

Mrs. Mertinez smiled as she watched him leave. "Each year there are a few who explode their formations and in the end, they are often the ones who become the best at making them.", she then told Irena.

Irena nodded. To her and Greg it was just their usual bickering, which was a sign of their friendship, so neither would take the comments to heart. Usually, they would keep themselves in check during class, but this opportunity was just too good to miss it.