[Book 1 Completed] Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World [Kingdom Building LitRPG]
B2 | Chapter 38 – New Projects

Theodore had always believed that the most beautiful thing in the world was watching steam rise from a cauldron full of your own liquefied body parts.

This was probably not a normal thought.

Actually, Theodore was reasonably certain this was not a normal thought. Most people didn't have body parts they could liquefy on command. Most people also didn't find the sight aesthetically pleasing in a way that made them want to compose poetry about vapor.

To be fair, however, he wasn’t talking about human parts, but rather, slime itself.

But regardless of that, here he was, mesmerized by the way each wisp curled upward in perfect little spirals, like tiny tornadoes made of his own essence.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Roland asked from somewhere behind him.

"Yes. Do you doubt me, Roland?"

"Um."

That was it. That was Roland's entire contribution to the conversation. A single word of unadulterated, focused skepticism.

Theodore heard the telltale scrape of boots against stone that meant Roland was backing toward the door and possibly preparing to run for his life. Smart man. Theodore respected that kind of self-preservation instinct, even as he completely ignored its wisdom.

Because Theodore was cooking.

Not just any cooking either; this was special cooking. Revolutionary cooking. The type of cooking that could either make a huge difference in the world or necessitate extensive property repairs.

He was cooking himself into a mana potion.

He had been absently reforming his left pinky after training when the thought had suddenly come to him like a heavenly inspiration.

If he could turn into a blue mana slime, and blue mana slimes were essentially concentrated mana in semi-solid form, then logically he should be able to brew himself into a proper potion.

It was brilliant. It was innovative. It was probably going to explode.

Theodore was oddly okay with that last part.

There was a menacing bubble in the cauldron, followed by another.

He had been receiving a steady flow of magical information from his [Arcane Awareness] for minutes, which was like trying to drink from a waterfall while someone read tax law straight into his head.

The mana readings coming from his liquefied self were... unprecedented. And possibly illegal to ingest in one potion. So he was trying to create something actually worthwhile.

The problem—and Theodore was just now realizing this might be a problem—was that he'd never actually made a mana potion before, even though he'd learned up on the theory thanks to Derrick.

He'd been operating under the assumption that potion brewing was like making soup.

Assumptions, as it turned out, were dangerous things when combined with experimental self-cannibalization.

The cauldron made a sound.

"Theodore," Roland said carefully, "maybe you should step away from—"

There wasn't much of an explosion. Not quite a genuine explosion, more of an excited splort. However, the spray radius was amazing. A magnificent arc of blue slime poured out of the cauldron, covering the walls, the ceiling, and—most importantly—Theodore himself with a thick layer of his own liquid slime.

"Eughh."

He was getting a sense of déjà vu.

Slime trickled out of his hair.

Roland snickered.

Theodore looked at Roland through his coating of blue goo.

Roland looked back at Theodore through his tears of mirth.

The moment stretched between them like a rubber band about to snap.

"You wouldn't," Roland said somberly.

Theodore reached up, scraped a generous handful of blue slime from his shoulder, drew his arm back with the precision of a trained soldier and the malicious glee of a child with unlimited ammunition, and launched the handful of slime at Roland.

"This is betrayal!" Roland cursed.

Where Roland's head had been a moment before, the projectile splattered against the wall, leaving a glowing blue stain in its wake.

"Betrayal?" Theodore called out, scooping more slime. "I prefer to think of it as creative problem-solving. Also, technically, I'm sharing myself with you. That's friendship!"

"There's nothing friendly about flinging your bodily fluids at people!"

"I disagree. This is probably the most literal example of giving someone a piece of your mind. Very generous of me, really."

Roland's horrified groan was music to Theodore's ears.

"Okay, okay, calm down, I won't throw it."

Theodore rolled his eyes and sat down on the floor to examine his destroyed experiment. The cauldron looked like it had been through a war. The magical readings were still chaotic.

His slime hadn't just failed to become a proper potion. It had actively rejected the transformation and decided to redecorate instead.

The magic was gone, leaving behind only the lingering smell of burnt slime and mana.

"Hmm. Gotta try again."

"Again?" Roland asked.

Theodore considered this very seriously. The first attempt had taught him valuable lessons about pressure buildup, temperature control, etc.

All useful data for future experiments.

"Obviously. Science is iterative, Roland. You can't expect to achieve perfection on the first try. That would be unrealistic and frankly boring."

"Science? This isn't science! This is... this is madness!"

"Madness would be giving up after one little explosion. Besides, I think I know what went wrong this time. I let the pressure build too much. Furthermore, I failed to consider my slime's inherent resistance to transformation. It's like trying to convince water to become ice while it's actively boiling. The slime was probably offended by the suggestion."

"Tell me you're not actually planning to—"

"I need a bigger cauldron," Theodore stood up. Blue slime dripped from his clothes. "And definitely some protective barriers. Maybe a helmet. Possibly full body armor. Actually, I could've just used [Mana Shield]. What a dumb oversight."

***

Theodore, unfortunately, didn't succeed in making a mana potion just yet. So he settled in his workshop that night and decided to work on his other ideas a bit.

A half eaten apple was on a plate on the table as Theodore stared at the ceiling leaning back in his chair, pondering.

Food spoilage was one of those problems that everyone just accepted as part of life in this world.

The slime experiments back in Westford had taught him something important about mana regulation and mana control, and now his brain kept circling back to applications he hadn't considered before.

If he could use runic inscription to regulate the mana inside a slime's body, why couldn't he use similar principles to regulate the temperature inside a container designed specifically for food storage?

The concept wasn't exactly revolutionary but the execution could be completely different.

Theodore began to draw rough diagrams on a piece of paper.

The core concept was rather straightforward: design a container that could maintain a steady frigid temperature independent of the outside environment. Not so cold that it would freeze everything solid and destroy the texture, but cold enough to slow down the natural processes that caused food to deteriorate.

It was basically a refrigerator, but given that Theodore knew nothing about how those worked, he was working with what he knew best at the moment: magic and runes.

The design of the runic array would be the trick, as the temperature control system was far more intricate than the straightforward mana regulation system he had created for the slimes.

He'd need runes that could both absorb and dissipate heat in controlled amounts.

Which he had, sure, but making something out of them was something else entirely.

So for now, Theodore absentmindedly sketched out a rectangular container, roughly the size of a large chest, with thick walls that could accommodate the runic inscriptions he had in mind.

While the interior would need to be sufficiently sealed to keep cold air in and warm air out, the exterior would need to be strong enough to withstand the thermal stress of frequent temperature changes.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he got about the possibilities.

Not only could this extend the life of food, but it had the potential to completely transform the way people prepared and stored food.

Dairy products that didn't go bad as soon as the weather warmed up, meat that remained fresh for days, and fresh vegetables in the middle of winter.

Everybody who ate food, which was essentially the entire population, was the potential market. The applications were virtually limitless.

The runic array that would actually make the whole thing function was the first technical detail he needed to work out.

Theodore's slime experiments had taught him that careful consideration of power sources, control mechanisms, and fail-safe systems that would avert catastrophic failures were necessary for effective runic inscription.

All of those components, plus extra complexity to manage the active manipulation of thermal energy, would be required for a temperature control system.

The power source was probably the most straightforward part of the problem, because he'd already worked out mana battery systems that could store and regulate magical energy for extended periods.

Determining how much mana the system would need to sustain a frigid temperature over time and building the battery to support that load without needing frequent recharge would be the difficult part.

Based on reasonable usage and adequate insulation, Theodore calculated that a well-designed system should last at least a month between charges.

Since it would require several interconnected runes to monitor temperature, modify thermal energy flow, and maintain constant conditions inside the container, the regulation mechanism would be more complicated than anything he had tried before.

Theodore sketched out a preliminary design that included temperature sensing runes positioned throughout the interior, thermal manipulation runes embedded in the walls, and a central control system that could coordinate all the different components.

Because even slight temperature variations could have an impact on food quality, the entire setup would need to function flawlessly.

Given that no one wanted their food storage device to malfunction and either freeze everything solid or allow everything to rot, fail-safes were essential. or worse, it could theoretically do harm to the customer.

The last thing he needed was for one of these devices to explode in someone's kitchen because of a runic inscription error.

While drawing, Theodore took a moment to think about how these devices might be built and distributed in practice.

If he figured everything out, he could probably make this accessible to the broader public.

The luxury market would be a good place for him to start.

In any case, that was a good place to start because luxury markets were typically the best places to test new "luxury" items before bringing them down to a more accessible level for the average consumer.

As he continued to sketch, Theodore came to the conclusion that there was no reason to confine himself to cold storage alone.

The same runic principles that could remove heat from a container could also add heat, which opened up possibilities for cooking applications as well.

For baking and roasting, a magical oven that could hold exact temperatures for extended periods of time would be extremely helpful, especially for recipes that called for constant heat for extended periods of time.

In a new sketch, Theodore drew a cooking appliance that produced and maintained precise temperatures using heat runes.

Though the runic array was set up to generate heat rather than remove it, its design was similar to that of the cooling container. Since producing heat needed more active energy input than just removing it, the power needs would likely be greater for heating applications; nonetheless, the fundamental ideas remained the same, and the difference was little.

Theodore set aside his sketches of heating devices and focused on refining the cooling container design instead, because that seemed like the most practical starting point for his experiments.

The insulation system would be critical to the overall efficiency of the device, because poor insulation would require the runic array to work much harder to maintain the desired temperature.

Yellow slime insulation would work just fine.

In order to provide an insulated space between the container's inner and outer surfaces, Theodore drew up a double-wall design.

Thermal manipulation runes could be engraved on the walls to actively maintain the temperature differential, and insulation could be placed inside the cavity.

Passive insulation and active temperature control should work together to maximize efficiency and reduce power consumption.

Various food types had different storage needs, so the interior design would also need to be carefully considered.

Dairy products needed different temperatures than dry goods, vegetables needed different humidity levels than meat, and certain foods needed to be stored separately to avoid flavor cross-contamination or spoiling.

Theodore outlined a modular interior system with movable sections that could be set up for various storage requirements.

Actually, after giving it some consideration, he realized that for the best food preservation, humidity control would be just as crucial as temperature control. While too little moisture might cause meals to dry out and lose their texture, too much moisture could encourage the development of mold and germs. Theodore added humidity regulation—water—runes to his design, creating a more complex but also more effective storage system.

There would have to be a control interface that was easy enough for the average person to use because there was no use in making a device so complex that no one could use it.

Theodore created a simple runic interface that would let people change the humidity and temperature without requiring them to comprehend the underlying magical concepts.

The controls would be easy to use, most likely using basic phrases or symbols that everyone might understand.

The people would have to learn how to use it, though.

But given how useful this would be to literally everyone, Theodore was confident people would learn.

Because no one wanted to deal with a food storage device that needed continual monitoring or regular recharging, power management would be essential for effective deployment.

According to Theodore's calculations, a well-designed mana battery system should be able to power the gadget for a minimum of one month under typical use circumstances.

If customers want longer operating durations, they may pay to add more battery units to prolong that timeframe.

This had the potential to actually increase food security for entire communities, not just wealthy households.

Reduced spoilage meant less waste, which meant more food available for consumption. Better preservation methods could enable more efficient food distribution, allowing communities to take advantage of seasonal abundance and regional specialties.

The economic impact could be substantial, especially in areas where food scarcity was a regular concern.

However, the technical task of actually creating a functional prototype and demonstrating the viability of the idea remained the immediate problem.

Theodore was starting to think he was going too ambitious with the first prototype, as well, so maybe he'd just make a base version that cooled things.

Theodore's earlier experiments had shown him that bringing theoretical plans to life often resulted in unanticipated issues.

Therefore, it would probably be best to start modestly.

In any case, he needed strong political support before he could really release this into the market.

All he could really do was sell it at the neighborhood markets, but the issue was scalability. Thus, in his perspective, the tournment was becoming even more significant.

He could likely begin working on a basic prototype by the end of the week, but he would need to put in more effort. In any case, Theodore was eager to see what he might do and thought it would be a fascinating experiment regardless of success or failure.

***

The law required Patreon plug:

Patreon - /itsnectar