CHAPTER 5 - BLUEPRINTS & HEX CRYSTALS

"How did you know that the material inside was magical?" Li Lin felt somewhat puzzled.

Clearly, Jayce didn't know that the energy in the crystals was magic. Did I remember it wrong?

In Li Lin's memory, the crystals Jayce initially researched were not artificial, but rather, they were the primal crystals of the Shuriman Brackern discovered by the Kiramman expedition near the sands of Shurima.

However, the reality was that Jayce's first research involved artificial tech crystals, and he even discovered magical elements within them, which was quite different from the background story Li Lin was aware of.

It seemed that background stories were ultimately just words and couldn't completely align with the real world.

Li Lin kept a vigilant attitude, reminding himself not to be overconfident just because he knew the background story.

"This is a long story, dating back to my childhood," Jayce began.

He subconsciously touched the bracelet with a dim blue crystal embedded on his wrist.

"My mother and I once encountered a snowstorm in a desolate area near Mount Targon. Because of exhaustion, my mother fell into the snow. Just when I was desperate, a mage wearing a robe and carrying a staff appeared before us.

"He cast a magical spell, and many mysterious and obscure symbols appeared around us. Those symbols surrounded me and my mother, and after a moment of blurred consciousness, we were teleported to the coastal town of Kalamanda in the northwest corner of the Conqueror's Sea near Shurima."

Jayce stared intently at the bracelet on his wrist, his face showing a nostalgic expression.

"Later, I found records about those magical symbols in the library's books. They're called runes, a type of runic magic, also known as arcane magic.

"Unlike the usual elemental magic, arcane magic is quite rare and pure, capable of releasing tremendous energy in an instant. It's similar to Hextech tech crystals, and I saw similar runes within the crystals."

After listening to Jayce's story, Li Lin's expression changed several times.

Runes and arcane magic – when he heard these words, Li Lin immediately thought of the Rune Mage Ryze and Xerath, who was an arcane energy being.

He knew that Hextech tech crystals, developed based on the primal crystals of the Brackern, were a fusion of magic and technology. But he hadn't expected that it was a form of arcane magic.

Li Lin fell silent for a while. "So, what do you want me to do for you?"

"I'm looking for a way to control magic with science," Jayce said excitedly. "If we succeed, we won't just stabilize Hextech tech crystals; we can apply them in various fields, even potentially dominate nature entirely."

The more Jayce spoke, the more excited he became, while Li Lin grew increasingly concerned.

My goodness, to dominate nature...Lissandra, the Ice Witch, would call you an expert in her field if she heard this!

And if Volibear, the demi-god of Freljord, found out, he might just summon thunder and lightning to Skin you alive in Piltover...

Young man, your ideas are quite dangerous!

Li Lin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead discreetly. "So, you want me to help you with research?"

"That's right!" Jayce suddenly stood up, startling Li Lin. "With your help, I believe we'll make groundbreaking progress soon!"

"Well, um... I need to think about it," Li Lin said, rubbing his chin in contemplation.

In truth, he didn't want to get involved in this mess, but his original plan had always included getting in touch with and researching Hextech crystals as soon as possible. After all, as a mechanist with the Kiramman family's sponsorship, resources were not an issue.

However, being a mechanic, he couldn't match warriors in terms of physical strength, and he also lacked the magical power of mages. This meant he needed a set of powered armor, similar to Iron Man's, for self-defense.

Since it was powered armor, it needed a powerful energy source to operate.

Li Lin wasn't sure if he could create controlled nuclear fusion through the system in the future, as it was a technology that had not yet been achieved in reality. Moreover, controlled nuclear fusion alone wouldn't be enough. To reach the level of Iron Man's Arc Reactor, he would need even more advanced cold fusion technology. But these were just daydreams for now.

In terms of Piltover's current technology, they were still several centuries away from developing nuclear energy. However, using Hextech crystals as a power source was indeed a good choice.

After careful consideration, Li Lin looked at Jayce and asked, "How far have you progressed in your research on the crystal?"

"Because the crystal is incomplete, my progress is not substantial at the moment," Jayce replied hesitantly.

However, after various tests and analyzing the crystal's composition, I've roughly reverse-engineered its conceptual blueprint and even recorded the inscribed runes," he added.

"You've recorded the runes?" Upon hearing this, Li Lin's eyes brightened, and a daring idea came to his mind.

Perhaps his "Data Mind" ability could comprehend arcane magic through these runes.

If this were successful, he could truly master Hex Technology!

"Where are your research results? Show me. If I can grasp something from it, I might be able to help you," Li Lin said.

"Of course!" Excited that Li Lin agreed to help, Jayce eagerly headed towards the door. "Come on, it's in my workshop."

...

...

A few minutes later, in the innermost room of Jayce's workshop.

Li Lin looked at the Hextech resonator with crystal fragments placed on the table, feeling the absurdity of it all.

"You've placed such an important item out in the open? Your confidence is quite something," he couldn't help but comment.

"Cough, besides Lady Cassandra and Mr. Tobias, no one else has a key to my workshop. Besides, they hardly come here, so there's no need to worry."

"I... never mind, let's not dwell on that." Li Lin wore a helpless expression on his face. "Let me see your achievements."

"Here." Jayce handed him a design sketch. "This is the crystal concept I drew based on this fragment."

Jayce's sketch was different from the general design blueprints Li Lin was familiar with. It was more structurally sound, but many parts were merely labeled without detailed concepts and principles, not meeting Piltover's standard blueprint requirements.

For most craftsmen, if they were given this design, they wouldn't understand what it was about.

But for Li Lin, these were minor issues.

He took the sketch and pretended to carefully examine it, activating his "Data Mind" skill, and a progress bar appeared before his eyes.

This skill consumed 1 mana point per second. After spending over ten mana points, the progress bar finally reached 100%.

[Error! Invalid design sketch.]

"You've drawn this concept incorrectly. In fact, this crystal has a greater proportion of technology than magic, contrary to what you imagine," Li Lin said, placing the blueprint back on the table.

"After all, Hex crystals are artificially created by machines... But you've done well to reverse-engineer it to this extent."

"You can understand this?" Jayce was surprised and also felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

Finally, someone could directly understand my blueprints.

"If you could make the details more intricate, maybe I could understand it even better," Li Lin said, pulling a small notebook from Jayce.

He casually opened the page, and what caught his eye was an extremely peculiar yet familiar symbol.

Li Lin squinted and carefully examined it for a long time, feeling a bit astonished.

Wasn't this the symbol made up of those icons from the pre-game rune page?

Precision, Domination, Sorcery, Resolve, and Inspiration—symbols representing the five types of world runes were disassembled, combined, and rearranged to form new magical symbols.

"What's wrong? Did you see something?" Jayce noticed the change in Li Lin's expression and hurriedly asked.

"No, not for the moment."

Rune magic, originating from the world runes, was quite reasonable...

Li Lin shook his head, temporarily putting aside the distractions in his mind, and once again activated his "Data Mind."

As his mana rapidly depleted, the progress bar moved very slowly.

Time passed by, and Li Lin paused the skill multiple times to wait for mana to recover, while Jayce patiently waited by the side.

Until his mind felt heavy, and he thought his mental strength was about to be drained, the progress bar finally reached the end.

[Rune (Incomplete): Primordial crystal from the Brackern.]

[Congratulations! You have comprehended part of the secrets of the Brackern crystal.]

[Reward: Hextech Gemstone Blueprint (Advanced Version)]

[Hextech Gemstone: A stable core energy device, a small crystal containing immense power.]

[Attributes (for machines): 500 health, 500 energy]

[Ability Effects]

[Passive · Energy Core: When used as a core energy supply device, the energy crystal provides an additional 1000 energy boost to mechanical creations.]

[Passive · Charge: The energy crystal can absorb magical elements from the air for self-recharge, recovering 3% of the maximum energy per second.]

[Active · Overload: By overloading the energy crystal, temporarily grant an additional 500 health and energy to mechanical creations. The maximum energy recovery per second is increased to 10% (The energy crystal will be scrapped after 3 uses).]

Li Lin: ???