Chapter 195: The Resonance Converter
I sat at the workbench, trying to assemble a resonant converter. Right now, from the outside, this thing looked more like a piece of scrap metal: a steel cube with thick copper wires jutting out in all directions, hastily soldered into rough bundles by yours truly.
Memories spun in my head of how Darwin and I had first put together a similar rig. Back then, we slapped it together literally out of whatever junk we found underfoot.
"Previously, Lumon fed the circuits with energy, smoothed out the amplitude, and made sure the coils inside the device didn't burn out from an overload," I said, exhaling.
And when will my energy channels finally recover? the thought flashed through my mind.
Since the delicate energy feed was no longer an option, I had to completely redesign the schematic for Chaos Ore. The crystal produced an unstable flow of energy. To keep the damn thing from blowing up right on the workbench, I placed the ore into an isolated Omega-alloy chamber. This protective contour acted as a rigid damper: it caught the chaotic energy spikes, neutralized their destructive force, and converted this chaos into a directed, high-frequency current. From there, this current flowed into the resonant circuit, forcing the copper coils inside the cube to emit a directed vibrational wave.
I tightened the last mounting screw on the steel cover, wiping the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve.
Dragging the iron cube outside while keeping my balance on my stilts turned out to be quite the task. I stopped near the massive pile of construction debris left over from the tower and exhaled heavily. Before my eyes lay a heaped mess of granite rubble, chunks of lime mortar, and bent rebar.
To fire this thing up, I needed precise data. I started rummaging through the pockets of my work jacket until I stumbled upon a crumpled, quarter-folded piece of paper. It was buried among small nuts and pocket lint. I unfolded it and quickly scanned the lines.
Having Lumon compile a catalog of resonant frequencies for basic materials ahead of time was definitely my best decision lately, I thought.
"Let's start with granite," I muttered, checking the notes.
The converter's casing featured an adjustment mechanism—sliding copper contacts that changed the working length of the internal inductor coils. By shifting them, I manually altered the parameters of the resonant circuit, tuning the device to the required frequency.
The core of the process was extremely grounded. Any physical body, whether a rock or a piece of steel, has its own vibrational frequency in its crystal lattice. If you blast it with a directed wave of that exact same frequency, the amplitude of the internal micro-vibrations starts to grow like an avalanche. As a result, the structure collapses from the inside out without any heat or kinetic impact.
I set the necessary parameters on the scale, aimed the bell of the cube at the bottom layer of the debris, and flicked the toggle switch.
The device let out an unpleasant squeal that quickly transitioned into a dull hum. The ground beneath my supports trembled slightly. The massive granite boulders were first covered in a network of fine white cracks, and then, with a quiet, dry rustle, they began to settle, crumbling into fine gravel.
I turned the device off, caught my breath, and nudged the regulator a couple of notches further, checking the sheet to retune the circuit for limestone. Another start. The white lime instantly crumbled to dust. In a final pass, I swept over the remains of the twisted metal. After half an hour of work, nothing remained of the mountain of construction junk except a flat area covered in a layer of powder and dust.
I switched off the converter and leaned on my crutches, catching my breath. The clearing part was done. All that was left was to get rid of the substrate itself.
"Elyria!" I called out quietly, looking toward the edge of the forest.
She materialized in the air almost instantly and hovered over the site, curiously inspecting the result of my work.
"Whoa. You actually cleared out this junk," she flew closer, tapping the tip of her little boot against the fine limestone powder. "And crushed it perfectly."
"You mentioned you'd find a use for this in the forest."
"You bet I will!" Elyria nodded in satisfaction. "I need the limestone for the hollow by the stream. And the fine gravel will go toward reinforcing the slopes."
She waved her hands, and thin green threads swirled around her palms. The dust and gravel from the site smoothly rose into the air, weaving into a cloud. Elyria gave a cheerful goodbye squeak and flew off into the forest, dragging all that construction debris behind her.
Leaning my back against a wooden post, I thoughtfully surveyed the cleared space. "I should probably finally build a fountain."
I chuckled and shook my head. No.
"I think it's better to reinforce the outer perimeter."
I adjusted my crutches and unhurriedly hobbled back to the workshop doors.