Steel and Mana

Chapter 227 – A New Discovery

It was an early summer evening, and Edmund, a somewhat eccentric teenager, found himself alone in his school's small workshop. It was time for a summer break, and the teachers no longer held classes, leaving the school empty for a few months. However, Edmund, as always, liked to be at school rather than at home. Not because it was bad; his parents loved him very much, but he just couldn't help himself, wanting to learn more about the world. And to stop setting his room on fire or causing his younger sister to get scared if something goes wrong with his experiments.

With permission from the teachers, he was allowed to come and go as he pleased during the summer break, so he spent his days learning, getting himself ahead of the others, and preparing for his last year in school. He was sad that it would come to an end by next year, but then again, there were rumors that a second school would open up soon—one that would be even better only for those who graduated with the best possible grades! He just couldn't wait. The moment it happens, he will be amongst the first to apply!

"Well... As for today!" He sighed, stretching after arriving at the room on the third floor.

The dim light from the setting sun filtered through the clean windows and the shades hanging from above, casting long shadows across the cluttered workbench he had been using for the past four days. Edmund had always been fascinated by one of his favorite subjects, chemistry. He often mixed substances he found at home, the kitchen, or wherever he could scavenge them. He even asked his dad to bring home drinks from the bar, coal from work, or anything he found interesting so he could test them by boiling, cooling, or mixing them with other substances.

His latest obsession was with a strange, grayish rock his dad brought home, who recently got a new assignment, yet no matter how they asked, he simply couldn't speak about it. He was only allowed to tell them that it was ordained by the Ministry, and he was forbidden from talking about it. This meant it had to be something extraordinary, and Edmund knew better than to keep asking about it. It was after he started working that one day, his father brought home an exciting find that was not a simple rock, not something that would be found anywhere else, but neither of them knew that at the time. What he knew was that it had to be something unique and rare because his dad had told him how it came to be. He vaguely explained that rocks fell down at work while mixing with the coal they fed to a new steam engine that he was operating... When they stopped, beginning to clean it after realizing what had happened, they found that it was filled with these strange, unknown rocks.

For weeks, Edmund had been puzzling over these peculiar ones, bringing one of the palm-sized ones to school, intending to experiment with it. It looked unremarkable, but when he struck the largest one he got with a hammer, it gave off a faint, acrid smell that intrigued him. He never had a smelly rock before... So, driven by his insatiable hunger for knowledge, he was determined to unlock its secrets tonight. Nobody would disturb him here at this time, so he brought it to school. The only logical solution. He wanted to understand more about it. Why was it smelly? What made it? It came from coal and rocks falling into a furnace... Did the coal melt together with the rock? Was the rock burnt by fire changed in a way nobody expected? He didn't know, but he wanted to know, and with the instruments he was now very familiar with, he had the confidence to unravel its secrets.

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First, to not waste it all at once, he took a chisel and hammer, splitting it, once again feeling that weird smell in the air escaping from the rock. Was it trapped inside? Stinky air? Did the rock just farted?

"Focus, Edmund, this is no time for jokes!" He mumbled, shaking his head.

He placed the now smaller chunk of the rock in an old mortar, then stared at it, contemplating his next move... His teachers had always warned him about mixing things recklessly. When you don't know what they are made of, it could result in an explosion, similar to the Dragonfire Cannons! It was a scary thought... but they were not here, and Edmund's curiosity had always been stronger than his sense of caution.

"I wonder what'll happen if I add a bit of water... Yeah, start with something that is abundant and harmless! Rocks get wet when it rains... That shouldn't have done anything to it, or the whole mountain range would have exploded by now! Heh, yeah!" He murmured to himself, hyping himself up and reaching for the jug that sat on the workbench. It was mainly there for if he accidentally set something on fire. "Water is not fire... um. If I set the school on fire with water, maybe they won't punish me... Maybe?" He chuckled as he poured a few drops into the mortar and leaned closer to observe, not wanting to miss any possible reactions. At first, nothing happened...

"Well... That was... Underwhelming." He frowned in disappointment, ready to dismiss the rock as another dead-end experiment. "It was water, Edmund. What did you expect?" He chastised himself, but then, suddenly, the rock began to hiss with a soft, eerie sound that filled the quiet room. If it had been done at home or on a day when the streets were busy, he could have missed it. But now, close to night, the sound was as loud as his teachers giving a lesson in his empty school!

His eyes immediately widened as a small plume of gas started to rise from the rock where the water hit it. This time, he recognized the smell he felt when breaking the previous chunks with a hammer—it was a type of gas unlike anything he had encountered before. "Water! Water did this?!" His heart pounded with excitement, especially since his very first idea already produced results. This was not an ordinary rock; indeed, it wasn't! "What is this...?" he whispered, grabbing the firemaker tools from a nearby box. "If water had that reaction, what does fire do to it?"

He hurriedly prepared everything and struck the flints with trembling hands beside the fireplace. When orange flames roared to life, he hastily grabbed a candle and lit it up; its light reflected in his black eyes, burning bright just like his drive to experiment. With a wipe of his sweaty forehead, he walked back to the rock, adding a bit of water first, waiting for the hissing sound and the smelly gas to appear before he held the candle cautiously near the mortar. For a moment, there was nothing, but this time, he knew he just had to wait a bit more. Then, with a bright flash, the gas ignited, producing a small but intensely bright flame. Edmund stumbled back the moment it happened, nearly knocking over a stack of books he brought with himself in his amazement. If not for his balance, he would have dropped the candle and caused a fire for real... But that didn't matter now.

The flame inside the mortar flickered steadily, brighter than any lamp or candle he had ever seen. It was beautiful, mesmerizing, and unlike anything he had imagined. He carefully approached the flame again, noting how it burned clean and bright without the smoke and soot that usually accompanied the type of fire he was familiar with.

"This... this is new... A new type of... flames? Maybe it is a... new coal?" Edmund whispered, his mind racing. He quickly began sketching out ideas in the notebook he always kept in his pocket, trying to capture the moment before it slipped away. But, after the initial experiment, he couldn't think about anything else.

Over the next few weeks, Edmund did everything to refine his discovery. He built a small device using bits of metal and copper tubing he spent all of his allowance on, and he also begged his parents to buy him a pair of glass lenses. While studying the rock, asking his dad to bring home more, to which his dad only answered that it was not an accident he was keen on repeating. Saddened by the news, because he had already had an idea of what he could do with his discovery, Edmund knew he couldn't mess this up. He was going to build a new lamp, and he would do it on the first try! The device he constructed, constantly changing and refining it as he made it, allowed him to control the flow of water onto the new type of rock, creating a steady stream of gas that he could ignite at will. He even fashioned a simple reflector to focus the light, making it more practical for use and to shine it wherever he wanted. It was like a portable little sun right in his palms. At least, that was the plan.

One hot evening, after days of perfecting his invention, Edmund stood outside with his family, right before their house, proud to show them his newest invention. His first working creation, in fact. The sun had long since set, and the street was shrouded in darkness. His parents and younger sister gathered around him, curious about the cube-like contraption with a sturdy handle that he held in his hands. They never once doubted that he had created something. He always did, but all the previous ones ended up... well, broken. Yet, this one looked something like that indeed was complete this time.

"Watch this!" Edmund declared, his voice brimming with pride and excitement. He turned the small valve on his device, allowing a few drops of water to fall onto the rocks he put inside, broken into small pieces. A soft hissing sound filled the air, followed by a burst of bright, white light as he struck a sparkler, two tiny flints within, and lit the gas.

His parents gasped, their faces illuminated by the brilliant flame lighting up the little group. It was as if a piece of the sunlight had been captured in Edmund's hands, and now it obeyed his wishes. The light cut through the darkness, casting long shadows across the stone pavement, revealing details that would have otherwise been lost in the night.

"What is it?" his father asked, his voice filled with awe.

"It's a new kind of lamp!" Edmund replied, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm calling it... Well... I don't know what to call it. I want to show it to the Sovereign! He will know better!"

His mother gasped at hearing it while his father clapped him on the back, pride and astonishment mingling in his expression. "You've done something incredible, son! We must take this to the Ministry!"

"Yeah!" His sister agreed, mesmerized by the bright box in his brother's hands. "Before anyone steals the idea! Um-um!"