Re:Birth: A Slow Burn LitRPG Mage Regressor

Crafting magic wasn't dissimilar to cooking, Adom had always thought. It required precision, patience, and a willingness to burn your fingers at least twice before getting it right.

He arranged the components Cass had acquired in a semicircle on his workbench. Each piece had been chosen with methodical care: three brass rings of different diameters, carved with minute notches along their inner edges; a handful of silver pins no thicker than sewing needles; a small leather pouch containing scraps of rare metals; and most importantly, a jar of alchemical solution that had cost nearly as much as everything else combined.

The crystals he'd obtained from the merfolk sat in a shallow dish of purified water, their glow muted but constant. Even in this dormant state, they pulsed with potential.

"Step one," Adom muttered to himself, reaching for the smallest of the glowing stones.

He lifted it carefully, examining it against the light. A perfect specimen--no inclusions, no fractures, just pure crystalline potential waiting to be awakened. This was where most enchanters would immediately start carving runes, eager to impose their will on the raw material.

That was also where most enchanters failed.

Adom did the opposite. He closed his eyes and rested the crystal in his palm, feeling its natural resonance. Each Deepglow Crystal had its own signature frequency--a unique vibrational pattern that distinguished it from all others. Understanding that pattern was crucial; fighting against it was futile.

After several minutes of concentration, Adom opened his eyes and reached for his logbook. He recorded the crystal's resonance as a series of numerical values—a seven-digit sequence that represented its unique vibrational pattern.

"Frequency code 3-8-2-5-1-9-7," he muttered as he wrote. Each digit corresponded to a specific vibrational harmonic within the crystal's structure.

He then picked up a thin silver stylus and made a series of precise marks on the crystal's surface—not imposing arbitrary runes, but enhancing the natural flow lines in a pattern that encoded this numerical signature permanently into the stone's structure.

He set that crystal aside and repeated the process with a second one, this time feeling for a complementary frequency that would naturally harmonize with the first. When he found it, he recorded its unique seven-digit code: 4-2-7-6-3-5-8. Again, he marked the crystal with the same encoding pattern.

Now came the more technical phase. Adom mixed a paste from the alchemical solution, adding precise amounts of powdered silver and gold from the leather pouch. The mixture began to emit a faint humming sound as he stirred--a good sign.

One by one, he applied the paste to specific points on both crystals, creating a conductive network that followed their natural energy flows. As the mixture dried, it sank into the crystal structure, becoming part of it rather than merely sitting on the surface.

The real challenge came next: awakening the stones.

Adom placed both crystals in a small ceramic bowl and covered them with the remainder of the alchemical solution. Then he began a slow, steady infusion of mana--not forcing it in, but letting it seep gradually into the crystals' lattice structure.

For three minutes, he maintained perfect concentration, feeling the stones gradually accept his offering. Their glow intensified, shifting from blue-green to a deeper blue with pulsating undertones.

When the awakening was complete, he removed the crystals from the solution. They were transformed--no longer just pretty trinkets, but active conduits of magical energy. Even without further enchantment, they would now perpetually draw small amounts of ambient mana from their surroundings, self-sustaining their new awakened state.

Next came rune construction.

Adom pulled a small notebook from his pocket, flipping to a page of diagrams he'd sketched earlier. The rune sequences were his own design--a hybrid of classical patterns modified with innovations that wouldn't be discovered for decades.

He began carving the first crystal with a diamond-tipped etching tool, his movements precise and unhurried. These weren't just decorative markings--each line, curve, and intersection served a specific purpose in the magical circuit he was creating.

The primary rune cluster handled voice conversion--transforming sound vibrations into mana pulses that could be transmitted. A secondary array managed reception and reconversion. A third, more complex pattern--this one entirely his own invention--created what he mentally called a "frequency lock."

This was the real breakthrough: a runic sequence that permanently encoded the crystal's numerical frequency signature, allowing it to be "dialed" by another stone. Most modern mages would have used a binding spell for this purpose, but binding spells required maintenance. Adom's approach was structural--once established, it would work indefinitely without further magical input.

When both crystals were fully inscribed, he fitted them into the brass rings, which would serve as both protection and amplification chambers.

The smallest, innermost ring was positioned to directly contact the crystal.

The middle ring, slightly larger, contained the input runes.

The outermost ring housed the frequency controls—a series of precisely spaced notches marked with tiny numerical indicators from 0 to 9.

Users would align these numbers in sequence with a reference point on the casing to input the seven-digit code of any crystal they wished to contact.

He assembled the first device methodically, securing each component with the silver pins and sealing the junctions with drops of the remaining paste. When completed, it resembled a small brass compass with a glowing blue stone at its center, surrounded by numbered dials.

The second device he assembled with identical care, though the rune pattern was mirrored to complement rather than duplicate the first.

With both devices complete, Adom positioned them on opposite sides of his workbench. This was the moment of truth--either they would connect, or he'd wasted hours of preparation and a small fortune in materials.

He picked up the first device and rotated the outermost ring, carefully aligning the sequence 4-2-7-6-3-5-8—the unique frequency code of the second crystal. A tiny click confirmed the sequence had been fully entered, the mechanism locking into its final position.

"Testing," Adom said quietly, speaking directly into the crystal.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, from the second device across the workbench, his own voice emerged--clear as if he were standing next to it: "Testing."

A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Phase one, successful.

He repeated the test from different positions in the room, noting signal clarity and volume. The devices performed flawlessly regardless of distance or obstacles. Even when he placed one inside a metal box, the connection remained unbroken.