It had been nearly a week since Albedo first assembled the parts of the crucible that were acquired from his trip to Canterlot. In that time, he had been making sure that all of the necessary precautions and safety measures had been taken to ensure the integrity and stability of the device, as well as the countermeasures he put in place. If something were to go wrong, the alchemist would want to make sure that they would be able to stop any experiments if necessary. After all, an accident was what brought him and Klee here in the first place, and they did not need to have any more happen unintentionally.
There was also the fact that today happened to bring along someone else to assist with his academic endeavours. Ocellus happened to have plans with the rest of her friends during Summer Vacation at the school of friendship, so Albedo had to rely on another creature to help him. Fortunately, one such creature happened to have her schedule rearranged and had gotten back to him just a few days ago. Now, today was the day when Moondancer would arrive in Ponyville so she could help the alchemist conduct the tests they needed to accomplish.
After her arrival at the Ponyville train station and a brief visit to Twilight’s castle, Albedo led Moondancer to where the crucible was set up inside the Castle of Two Sisters. The alicorn was kind enough to provide the alchemist some old monitoring equipment that she happened to have to conduct experiments during her first few months in Ponyville. Since they weren’t really getting used and gathering dust, it was more ideal to let Albedo use them for something more productive. Especially considering the kinds of tests that they were going to conduct today.
The goal for the tests today was rather simple, yet the most important going forward. While the design of Albedo’s creation was supposed to be split between two crucibles, they had to measure how much power one magical crucible can channel and store. That way, they can determine what would be a safe level of power for the crucible to conduct and also make sure that the safety precautions that were in place worked as they were supposed to. The outcome of these tests would then determine how the rest of the experiments would proceed.
“Alright, is everything ready?” Albedo asked as he looked towards the unicorn that stood by the machines.
“All good over here. Whenever you’re ready, we can begin testing,” Moondancer told him with a smile, eager to get started as she held a clipboard and quill within her levitation spell.
With that confirmation, Albedo began to channel some of his elemental power as it coursed through his hands and seeped into the crucible to kickstart the process. While everything seemed good to start, the alchemist had to be careful. If he were to give too much of his alchemy into the crucible too quickly, then they were going to have some problems and have to go back to the drawing board. A setback that he preferred to not have, especially after carefully putting many hours into the design of this crucible in the first place.
“Alright. I’m going to start out small. Tell me if you notice any changes,” he told her, before placing his left hand on his right arm to support himself.
As for Moondancer, her attention was on the readings that the constructs around her were beginning to register. From what she could tell, everything looked steady and there weren't any strange fluctuations that would cause much concern. Which seemed rather promising, yet this was only the beginning. There were still more tests to conduct, and it was unknown if what they were experiencing now would still be the same if Albedo did increase the amount of power he was channeling.
“Everything looks good right now,” the unicorn informed him, “You can increase the amount of energy whenever you’re ready.”
With that being said, Albedo took it upon himself to do so. While it was ideal for them to start small, they needed to gradually increase the amount of power in order to see if higher outputs caused any potential changes. Still, having the crucible take on too much power too quickly was one of the faults of Timaeus’ original design, and something that he wanted to avoid at all costs. Incremental increases were more than likely more efficient than just dumping everything he had and draining his energy in turn.
Now, the alchemist began to conjure some more elemental power as he felt some hot air coming from the vents on the contraption. Where the starting test would have the Crucible’s energy capacity be around five to ten percent of the way there, he was now increasing it to twenty percent. As Albedo was channeling, he felt a little bit of strain in his arms. Nothing too serious, but if he tried to push himself too far without taking a moment of respite, the consequences would’ve been far greater.
Once he had the Crucible reach twenty-five percent capacity, Albedo stopped channeling his alchemy, “How does everything look so far?” he asked.
“You… might want to come see this,” the unicorn told him.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“Not really, but there’s some kind of pattern emerging here that I think you would want to see for yourself.”
Now that surprised Albedo. Patterns when it came to alchemy weren’t exactly rare, but this was the first time that he observed said patterns through a construct instead of seeing it in person. Teyvat did not have the types of mechanical contraptions that Equestria had at all. So this was allowing him to see their progress from a completely different perspective. Almost like seeing the world through a new pair of eyes.
Such was the case once he was right next to the unicorn and looked at what was on the display of the construct that was there. The mass of energy inside the Crucible was both taking shape and breaking apart at the same time. Constantly changing and never staying dormant in any particular form. This was something that was miraculous and left him at a loss for words.
“Well, this is fascinating.”
“What is?” the unicorn asked. She was familiar with the contraptions that were being used to record findings like this. Though, she was a bit confused as to why Albedo seemed so intrigued by what they had so far.
“The energy that’s stored here is in a constant state of change. It seems to not always stay in one form, but parts of it are deconstructing and reconstructing itself,” He said, pointing to one mass of energy that had just broken down into much smaller pieces, “Though, whether or not the form it takes is the same or something different entirely remains to be seen.”
“Something that we find out with further research?” Moondancer asked.
“Perhaps. Though, there’s only one possibility that comes to mind,” the alchemist scratched his chin, “Back where I’m from, if two different elements happen to ‘collide’ with one another or were combined in some way, it will trigger elemental reactions. For example, if lightning were to hit a small pond, all the water in the pond would be electrified.”
“What does that have to do with this though?”
“Well, my only guess is that another possible variable is causing these kinds of reactions,” Albedo clarified, “And since the only other variable happens to be the seed that the Crucible was built around, then it must be adding an independent variable that’s producing these results.”
As the two of them continued their tests and observations, they found similar results as they not only increased the amount of power that the Crucible was holding, but also prepare the second one to balance the amount of energy it was storing. It was only the first day of their research efforts, but the alchemist could tell that everything so far happened to be a resounding success. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary that would hinder any further progress.
Though, unknown to either of them, someone else had been watching their tests… and were planning to find a way to utilize the fruits of their research for their own plans.