The first layer I tried with the six layered magic crystal was a rendition of L1, but my ideas for how to do the logic runes weren't completely set yet, and I ended up messing up, only realizing my mistake when it was already too late to fix. "F*ck, damn, screwed that layer up. Uhh, what do I do now, there isn't a way to erase magic crystal layers is there?"
Nothing in the course material I'd gone through so far had indicated a way to erase rune carvings once drawn, but there had to be something out there, right?
I searched through the encyclopedia, and it didn't take me long to find what I wanted.
"'Methods to forcibly deactivate rune devices…physically damage rune carvings…shatter magic crystals', not what I want…ok, what about 'use rune erasing solution?' 'Rune erasing solution…an alchemical formula made from rare monster and plant materials…easy to acquire through the Mage Tower, though usually for registered rune masters…' Dammnit! That's not helpful either!."
I sighed and glanced over the rest of the entry. "The only other methods here are waiting for the self-healing properties of magic crystals to kick in, which seems to take years, or actively bathing it in mana, which is far more helpful than the other methods, but still takes several hours even with accelerated set ups, which I do not have."
"I guess it's really just a 'don't f***ing make mistakes kinda thing.'" I sighed again, staring at the wall for a moment. "Whatever it's not like I'm exactly short on crystals, and at least I can try my idea with the other layers in the crystal. As long as I save the interlacing and interlinking stuff for last, broken layers shouldn't interfere with the others."
"Maybe that's why the course suggests 20-30 crystals even though there's only ten tutorials in the intermediate course…"
"Ahhh, this would be so much easier with paper, though, I'm kicking myself for not thinking of that earlier."
Half an hour and one more screwed up layer later I was left with a more or less functional prototype of the Automatic Night Lamp.
"Haaa, I didn't expect the new interlinking to be that challenging to draw. If I hadn't screwed up on that L2 layer this would work totally fine, but now it occasionally leaks energy to the other layers. Not sure if that's a big problem or not, but probably not ideal."
"Whatever, I'll do it again in a new crystal and this time I'll have more space for battery layers, I still need to run tests to figure out how long each battery layer will last, so I can make sure I give 12 hour stones to Violet."
I started work on another magic crystal, though I was only half way through when I started to notice my heavy fatigue seeping through. "Damn, I'm this tired?" I yawned, blinking my heavy eyelids. "Guess I need to take a break from the game…" I shifted my eyes to the side. "Right after I finish this…" After another fifteen minutes I finished the new crystal, this time with only one failed layer, though annoyingly it was a batter layer which should have been the simplest to complete. "Alright, alright!" I yawned again, putting the crystal down on my desk. "I'm logging out!" I shooed the non-existent fatigue sprites away as I called out to the system to log me out.
Unexpectedly I'd played rather late into the night without realizing it, and missed dinner with my Mom. "Damn, really got into it, didn't I?" I rubbed my head where I'd just taken off the VR headset. "Haaa," I stretched, getting used to my real body again.
"Ok, food, then bed." I got up and found some leftovers in the fridge to heat up, watching numbly as it rotated dimly in the microwave in the darkened kitchen. "Haaa, so many runes, so little mastery…" I murmured to myself. "I really didn't expect this game's crafting system to be so complex. It's been two days now and despite making good progress I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface."
The microwave beeped and I pulled my food out and went to sit down on the couch. "And normally like, these things are so combat-oriented, but I haven't felt that way at all. Like maybe you could make an explosion crystal or something and treat it like a bomb, but the guides don't have anything like that, and it probably would barely compare to spirit sorcery and stuff…"
"Ha, ha," I exhaled sharply as the food I put in my mouth was too hot. "Hmm," I closed my eyes thinking over all the things I'd done that day. "How many devices could you interlink? Could you do something like immortal cultivation arrays, where you create a big formation to launch automatic defenses or put up shields or something?" I tried to think of what kind of device that would be.
"Maybe I should learn more alchemy? It seems like if I want to break free from rune device=magic crystal, I probably have to branch into that kinda stuff." I sighed getting back to my food. "I don't know, guess that just means there's a lot of game ahead of me…"
The door to my Mom's room suddenly cracked open and she came out in her pajamas. "You talking to yourself again?" She mused, coming over to the table.
"Oh sorry, am I being too loud? Were you sleeping?"
"No," She shook her head, amused. "Just reading before I was planning to turn in for the night, and I heard you'd come out from your game. Had fun today?"
"Yeah, I think so. Got really into which is good, but I'm starting to feel like this is a little more like work than I really like, which is giving me some pause. How about you, had a good day?"
"Eh, it was alright. Some work stuff was pretty annoying, but it was nothing really to write home about. Treated myself to some grocery store chicken, which you're getting the remnants of."
"Is grocery store chicken a treat now?" I chuckled.
She gleamed. "It is when you get potato wedges with it."
I froze. "Damn, you had potato wedges without me?"
She put up her hands. "What could I do, you were in your game…" She cackled.
I shook my head, returning to my chicken. "Ruthless…" I murmured, but I was grinning too.
"Ahh," She sighed. "I should probably get to bed now. Don't stay up too late now, alright?" She waved as she went back into her room.
"Alright," I shook my head as she left. "Getting potato wedges, and not even saving any for me…" I muttered to myself, stuffing more chicken in my mouth.