Ch#82
Tie's eyes widened round.
“Battery?”
“That's right, battery!”
But no matter how she looked at it, the item Berugon held out was not a battery.
If it resembled a flat donut or the wrist guards athletes wore, maybe.
“Isn't this an Igo Donna?”
Berugon narrowed his brow.
“I don't know what an Igo Donna is, but look closely.”
Then he flipped the item over to show the small golden disc embedded in the center.
“This amulet here acts as the battery. This is the part that stores and absorbs mana. The surrounding ring is the circuit. See? The operating principle is just like a battery, right?”
Tie's eyes spun in circles.
What was an amulet, and what was a circuit?
Either way, it was clear Berugon had drawn a lot of inspiration from the battery.
‘How did the factory chief make something like this in just one day?’
As she secretly marveled to herself, Berugon spoke.
“And this item, well. It could be said to be extremely, very helpful equipment for mages. Know why?”
“……Um, why?”
“In theory, this item supplements the stability of persistent summons.”
Persistent summons.
That was the term Agavert members used when calling Kkamang-i.
As Tie looked puzzled, Berugon laughed heartily.
“I hear you fight mainly with summons too. Seemed like you summon all sorts since it's dark attribute.”
Tie thought of her bone friends, the wrecked ship, and her minions, then nodded.
“Yeees.”
Berugon beamed proudly, as if to say 'I knew it.'
“Then, have you succeeded in summoning a persistent summon as well? Your members said you carry something around.”
Persistent summon……?
The previous term came up again.
But Tie rolled her eyes without answering.
Honestly, she still didn't know exactly what it meant.
‘Summons are like pets. But what's persistent……?’
Anyway, Tie nodded.
She did have something she 'carried around.'
Namely, Lucarion and Ppuppu.
At that, Berugon's face lit up immediately.
“As I thought! So, how is it? Is it stabilized?”
‘Stabilized……?’
Tie's eyes spun again.
The more they talked, the more unfamiliar terms kept popping up.
Just then, a familiar voice came from the stairs on the right.
“He's asking how long your summons have been stably maintained, Leader.”
Turning her head, Agavert members were climbing the lodging stairs.
The bags they carried were full of new weapons and gear.
Shock spread across Tie's face.
“You all went shopping without Tie……?”
“Sorry. You were sleeping so soundly we couldn't wake you.”
Veil teased playfully and shook a bag in front of Tie.
“But I bought for you too, so don't worry. Here, poison needle rounds, and everything you wanted last time?”
Tie peeked into the bag, her face melting softly.
In the meantime, Basto asked Berugon.
“What brings you here, Factory Chief?”
“Ah, I came to give your leader a gift.”
Berugon held out the equipment he had just shown Tie.
“I got some inspiration and made equipment that supplements persistent summon stability.”
Everyone's eyes widened round.
“Equipment that supplements persistent summon stability? Is that possible with equipment?”
Berugon hummed and furrowed his brow.
Of course, from his perspective, he understood their surprise.
The summons mages could call today were largely divided into two types.
'Persistent summons' that lasted until the summoner's life ended once called.
And 'temporary summons' used only briefly in specific battles or operations.
But summoning magic was such a high-level art that even mages who could summon 'temporary summons' were rare—one in ten at best—on the continent.
‘In a way, that's why the Sovereign King is famous.’
The Sovereign King had summoned dark attribute skeleton summons so easily at the gates.
A feat other mages achieved only after vomiting blood and depleting their mana, demonstrated without any incantation.
‘But those were temporary summons.’
Berugon focused on 'persistent summons.'
“It was theoretically possible all along. We just didn't know how to implement it concretely, so there were no real results until now.”
Berugon showed the equipment in detail to the members.
Specifically, the amulet embedded in the center of the ring-shaped body.
“I just explained to the Sovereign King, but this stores the summoner's mana.”
Then he traced his finger around the surrounding ring.
“The key is this. A kind of circuit that rotates mana infinitely inside the equipment, minimizing leakage.”
Raoul, who knew a bit about magic tools, furrowed his brow.
And rightly so, Berugon's idea was extremely innovative.
Berugon added proudly with a grin.
“I even named it: Battery.”
To be precise, a rechargeable battery with built-in circuits.
Berugon continued to the members.
“You know Aleric, the empire's top mage right now, right?”
Basto narrowed his brow.
No one in Trebaga wouldn't know the mage Aleric.
“Even he can't handle persistent summons easily. He succeeded in summoning recently, but rumor has it the low stability keeps him in coma longer.”
Persistent summons were, as the name implied, ten or a hundred times harder to maintain than temporary ones.
Because they required constant mana inflow from the summoner indefinitely.
But an even bigger issue existed.
‘Mages are human too.’
When stamina or mental state faltered, mana control weakened.
Naturally, pre-summoned persistent summons would enter dormancy frequently.
In effect, 'persistent' summons sometimes lasted shorter than temporary ones.
“Think about it. Has anyone overcome these issues with persistent summons so far? No one. That's why mages become laughingstocks every time.”
Veil nodded unwittingly.
He knew well the mockery mages faced over persistent summons.
The public even had slang like 'Wall of Eternity' to judge mage prowess.
‘A genius unseen in centuries, they said. But this mage couldn't surpass the Wall of Eternity either.’
‘Hahaha! At this rate, we should scrap the term persistent summon altogether. There's a reason mages are perennial backline support.’
Of course, the other members knew this social phenomenon too.
The reason they hadn't mentioned it was…….
Veil's gaze turned to Tie, standing blankly.
‘They know the kid wouldn't even understand anyway?’
However, once the topic arose, doubts emerged.
Veil looked down at Tie and asked casually.
“Leader, your persistent summons are a bit unstable too, right?”
He suddenly recalled the black dragon Astie carried.
“Was its name Kkamang-i?”
That guy was so insolent, it was hard to believe it came from cute Astie.
“Come to think of it, I think I saw it just once on the way to the Weapon District and not since. It appears often, so it seems like a persistent summon.”
Meanwhile, Tie listening swallowed hard.
‘Emergency again……?’
And rightly so, Kkamang-i wasn't her summon to begin with.
It was a hidden spirit like Tie, concealing its identity.
