NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter-102 Tigog Acrix
Two days after the meet, inside his experiment room.
The sheer rarity of the mystic-element materials, as he had witnessed in the hub and the trade meet, forced Ewan to reconsider his options for Varos, his physical defense. He was still going to wait for one year before making his final decision, but he had to choose an alternative in the meantime. The white sand he traded from Trask was a potential pick.
So far, the material showed no special features or changes under some basic tests he did. Its structure matched the common silica sand, and it behaved like it as well. Tigog Acrix—earthen glass or glass of earth, Ewan named it because of its apparent relation to both.
Before moving on to more extensive experiments, Ewan bought several batches of normal silica sand to act as control and the benchmark and note the differences.
The first test was of low temperature. He had Frost participate in the experiment and also used Sindra—Ice Favored. Both employed the basic feature of Ice-Anima and dropped the temperature around the targets organized on the table.
The normal silica sand showed no change apart from the chilled and frosted granules, but Tigog Acrix finally moved. The grains shook, and they danced with the Ice-Anima. The more Ewan lowered the temperature, the more the grains vibrated. After a certain degree, which he named the critical temperature for the earthen glass, the trembling grains floated high and stormed in the glass container, scratching and scraping its insides.
Ewan penned down everything in his diary, marking the temperature, while wondering about its weird behavior. The material was of the earth element—he couldn’t confirm it without the earth rune or an affinity towards the earth element, but others had, and he had little reason to doubt them. So why did it react like such with the Ice-Anima? Was it not reacting with the Ice-Anima and was just showing its natural behavior at low temperatures? Ewan wrote down his doubts. He needed to perform more tests to answer his questions.
But for now, he moved on with the experiments and proceeded to the next—high temperature. Orange accompanied him through these tests, and though his affinity for the fire element couldn’t allow Ewan to control its Anima like Frost, he was able to make do with some adjustments. A few casts of fire spells at the apt positions soared the heat to the level he desired. The apparatus from the hub assisted his endeavors too. The jets of flame hissed. The walls baked and the room turned into an oven. Yet, the sand remained cool to the touch.
Ewan wiped his sweat and rubbed his forehead with a troubled sigh, laced with a deep hint of elation. The sand’s resistance to higher temperatures would have him write praises about it in his diary, but the same also gave him a headache, for the next tests of structural integrity needed it to melt. He had to up the heat by several notches if he were to succeed, so much so that even the walls would glow hot red.
Today, all his hair might singe and curl.
….
Ewan tested the material with all the conventional methods, performed all the traditional experiments, then continued with whatever he could think of. In the end, the amount of data he had on this white sand occupied half his diary. Most were random useless details, but some were important for its usage in Varos. After trimming and organizing his findings, Ewan had a good understanding of Tigog Acrix.
“Violent behavior at and below its critical temperature—resistant to higher temperatures and an extremely high melting point—highly resistant to corrosion—basic structure after a simple blend vulnerable against blunt and sharp forces—vulnerable against resonance—immune to all types of contamination spread—highly toxic to undead creatures [bane of spectral-type creatures]—strong memory of its molecular structure [returns to its initial state with little energy consumption]—highly resistant against pressure changes [can retain its structure under heavy load].”
The material’s weakness against blunt and sharp forces worried him, as did its fragility against resonance. This was a fatal flaw, for it would be the last line of defense for Ewan. Regardless of its exceptional performance in other fields, if it couldn’t even protect against basic attacks, it would become a disastrous choice for Varos. If he could fix those problems though, the same would become his best option.
Its vulnerability lay in its loose molecular structure after solidifying from a molten state—it acted like common glass in a homogenous blend. If he could alter them and form a stronger bond, a flexible bond, he could solve the problem.
Ewan sat by the bench, leaning on the armrest of the comfy chair, and mulled on the issue. He could follow the path of tempered glass, fiberglass, etc. and achieve some results, but the resulting mediocrity from such wasn’t appealing to him. He needed a structure that could not only solve the problem but also turn its weakness into strength.
He took a deep breath and circled the topic in the diary. For the upcoming weeks, this would be his prime task. He would study all types of structures and find the one that would make the material fit his idea of Varos.
…..
The patterns took up his days, and soon he had scribbled away for a week. After all the studying and reading, one arrangement stood out among others—the decentralized hexagonal nodes structure of the saffron cage that pushed Obria into its despairing nightmare.
It was the most efficient structure he had encountered so far, and he already studied it enough to employ it as he wished. The weakness he discovered, the preventive measure he developed, the cost to performance ratio he researched—everything made this design his answer.
The path ahead was clear, so without further ado, Ewan proceeded with the final tests.
Trials after trials, the structure stood tall against all sorts of beatings and thrashings—he vented his all on it then Orange and Toast took over. He continued for days and when he finally saw the limit of the design, he ended the experiment with a tired but satisfied smile on his face. The material’s defense was still not its forte, but it wasn’t its weakness anymore either. It matched some of the other strong materials on the market in terms of physical resistance.
Ewan couldn’t rest yet though. Even though Varos would grow with him, he couldn’t miss an inherent flaw or unknown and uncontrollable elements. The Tigog Acrix’s violent behavior at below its critical temperature was a matter of concern. His control over the particles plunged when it stormed around at that temperature. If it happened after the white sand became his Varos, it would be the death of him.
And so, his next order of business became either changing this nature of the material or solidifying his control over it even in that chaotic state.
