Chapter 41

Marcus…


When he woke up in his bed he felt refreshed. More refreshed than he had in a long time and so he decided that today he would try doing a little experimenting.

Today he will attempt to recreate a TV.

The first thing he wanted to test out was whether or not they had light bulbs or at the very least tungsten and bulbed glass.

After dressing himself and bringing his sword along with him he started wandering around town until he came across a craftsman's workshop. When he stepped inside he could see many various metals that were all listed with the same names as the ones he was aware of but he didn't spot tungsten right away.

"Is there anything I can get ya sir?" the store owner asked him.

"Yes, do you have any tungsten?" he asked and the owner gave him a weird look.

"Tungsten...? I mean, I do but what would you need that for? It doesn't have a whole lot of uses," he said as he hopped off his stool and his torso disappeared from behind the counter. At first, Marcus assumed that he was bending over to pick something up but no, the man had simply got off of the stool and was standing at his normal height.

"Forgive me for asking this, but are you a dwarf?" he asked curiously.

"Well yeah, why? Got an issue with us little folk?" the dwarf replied.

"Not at all. I've never seen a dwarf before. I'm just interested to meet one," he replied and the dwarf puffed out his chest, clearly happy to hear that.

"Well then, you'll be plenty interested to find that we do keep a good amount of tungsten in stock. Care to tell me what you plan to use it for?" he asked.

"I want to run some tests with it. I'm going to invent, no excuse me, reinvent some technology using what I know about electronic hardware and rune formulas," Marcus stated and the dwarf was confused.

"I can't say I know that much about electronic hardware but the use of rune formulas can be rather complex and might backfire if you don't know what you're doing. Though, since you said you are reinventing somethin' then I'd like to help you on this endeavor," he said with a curiosity. It was clear that the words 'reinvent' and 'technology' interested him.

"Of course. I might need your help with things either way with finding resources, so by all means. Also, can I get your name?"

The dwarf puffed out his chest once more as he said, "I am Alfronn, son of Alfrigg!"

Marcus blinked in surprise as he recognized the name Alfrigg.

"Are you also the son of Freya?" he asked and Alfronn was stunned to hear that.

"How do you...?"

"I know about the history of the Vanir and Aesir, as well as the Olympians and the Ennead," he said and Alfronn's jaw nearly hit the floor when he heard that.

After picking his jaw back up he stroked his beard while deep in thought and said, "I should keep that in mind then."


After a few hours of gathering some necessary materials and equipment, Marcus and Alfronn got to work constructing a lightbulb. Alfronn's hands were better trained for delicate work than his own so he let him handle the placing of the tungsten within the bulb and then vacuum sealing it.

"So what is this device supposed to do?" he asked.

"It meant to illuminate things. Now stand back and look away for a moment or it might hurt your eyes...or it might explode if I give it too much energy," Marcus said as he held the electrical contact section of the bulb in his fingers and only gave it the slightest jolt, just barely enough that would count as static electricity.

There was only a faint flicker of light so he slowly and steadily increased the amount of energy until it was glowing brightly at a steady rate.

"Okay, that's test one finished," he said and Alfronn seemed dissatisfied with that response.

"That was test one? You just invented a new form of illumination and yet you consider that test one? At most we have torches and crystals to serve as lights. Do you have any idea how revolutionary these would be in the mines?!"

"Oh I'm sure they would be very groundbreaking but light bulbs are not what I am here to reinvent. This was just one step among a very complicated process. If I managed to actually pull it off then the end product will blow your mind," Marcus said with a smile which just seemed to intrigue Alfronn even further.

Then he remembered what Alfronn had said about glowing crystals.

"Hold on a moment. You mentioned crystals? I know that they can be used as conduits for magic but what else can they be used for?" he asked and the dwarf seemed happy to impart some wisdom of his own.

"You can use them to store energy that manifests as magic within them. If you infuse a quartz with spiritual energy then it will glow brightly, a diamond however has the brightest, clearest, and most focused light. They also have the greatest range of colors that you can use if you need it for something like that," he said.

"How expensive are diamonds?" Marcus asked.

"That all depends on how you want them. The most pure diamonds are mined then cut and polished which makes them both rare and expensive. Usually only nobility and churches are able to get their hands on them. However, there are machines that capture the gasses in the air that can be compressed to make new diamonds," he said and as he took in a deep breath as if to announce the spectacular name of this device, Marcus blurted it out without thinking.

"You made a carbon capture machine! That's amazing!" he said and Alfronn started getting annoyed.

"Okay kid, what the fuck is wrong with you? Can ya read minds or something? You're raining on my parade here. I had this big reveal moment prepared and everything!"

"No. I'm aware of them but where I come from, I don't think we have carbon capture machines so advanced that they can compress enough of it to make diamonds. How much does it cost to make them?"

"The cost for the machine's use depends on how long you use it and how efficiently you are able to infuse your spiritual energy that you got into it. You generate a mass of energy into the machine and compress it down into what you need. Do it fast enough and it won't cost you much. Unless you break it, then you'll need to pay for repairs," he said and Marcus nodded.

"Okay, duly noted."

The two of them made their way to the carbon capture machine to compress it into diamonds and he began inputting the dimensions he would need.

When Alfronn realized how large the dimensions were he shouted, "Whoa! Hold on a moment! With a diamond of that size, it'll drain the life outta ya! You'll need way more energy to try something that massive!"

"You don't need to worry about that, I have more than enough to spare," he said as he released a few of his limiters and the dwarf went pale as he realized how large Marcus's well of power was.

In just a few minutes, Marcus had managed to compress enough carbon into a wide sheet of diamond 157 centimeters wide, 90.4 centimeters high, and 2.5 centimeters thick.

"What the hell do you need a sheet of diamond that huge for?!" Alfronn asked and Marcus simply smiled.

"You'll see. I just need to test a few things out."

Before he got to work on the sheet of diamond he asked for a small crystal that would contain about the same amount of energy that he had put into the lightbulb earlier. He needed it for a specific measurement of wattage. The average lightbulb had a wattage of 60 while most flat screen TVs had a wattage that could range from 70 to 200.

After making the comparison between the lightbulb and the crystal, he wrote down the measurements and saved it for later.

Over the next three hours, Marcus and Alfronn spent the time making extremely precise measurements and drilling tiny holes into the sheet of diamond so small that they needed a microscope just to see what they were doing. They continued this process until they had completed one entire square inch of its surface.

"So...what was the point of all that drilling we just did now? For such a small amount of its surface no less!"

"I'm trying to make an 8k resolution...Hmm, I'm not sure if this is the right way to explain this but I'll give it my best shot. For every hole that we drill represents where light while shine in a specific way. It shows the great amount of sharp detail that it can display with well controlled light. What I am trying to make is a device that can display a series of moving pictures on this sheet of diamond as if you were looking out a window and seeing a real person on the other end," he said and the dwarf seemed stunned for a moment before then looking confused.

“If all you wanted was a new window in your home then you could have called a contractor for that ya stupid shit. Why go to all this trouble for something so simple?"

"Because I'm not trying to make a window, rather I am trying to make something that can show me stories in a visual form. Trust me, once you see the real thing in action it will impress you," he said but Alfronn did not seem convinced.

He asked the dwarf if he had some powdered black iron and luckily enough he did. Samael usually deposited his shavings or powdered left overs whenever he was finished with a weapon and oddly enough powdered black iron was widely used for all sorts of things. Its mainly used to assist in making a solid connection between rune formulas and the crystals that serve as conduits.

Marcus presented some of Malthael's inner layer of skin that was very malleable and a good conduit of magic. It had been dried out before hand and made into a strong leather. At first Alfronn was disgusted by it before he realized its incredible properties and was fascinated by the possibilities of its uses. They cut the leather into strips and carefully layered them on top of the powered black iron set in the small holes. They did it slowly so that none of it would be blown out or dragged out which made it an incredibly tedious step but they managed to do it. Once they had finished layering the strips of leather onto the back they then placed a sheet of apple wood onto its back with the rune formula that Marcus had spent several hours engraving on the back of it. They then set black iron frames around the edges and screwed it tight to keep it together.

He would have to figure out the issue of software later. He needed to worry about the hardware and whether it would work as he intended or not.

"Do you have anything that can produce sound? Like play music or play someone's voice?" he asked and Alfronn grumbled in annoyance.

"I do but...I'd have to use wood from the damnable elves," he said and Marcus couldn't hold back his laughter.

"So the rivalry between elves and dwarves is still a thing huh?" he asked.

"What do you know of our rivalry?" he asked with folded arms and a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing actually. I have absolutely no idea why you are always so at odds with each other apart from the fact that dwarves value craftsmanship and hard work while the elves value their skills in archery and nature," he said but Alfronn looked confused.

"Are you...talking about the light elves?" he asked.

"Well...yeah. Why?"

Alfronn let out a sigh as if it were a heavy topic to talk about, "Well kid, not sure if you knew about this bit of information but the majority of the light elves were nearly completely exterminated by the dark elves centuries ago. In fact, I'm not sure if there are any of them left. They were long lived bastards but they didn't fuck all that much between the lot of them. The dark elves had all but overwhelmed them in sheer numbers and skill in battle," he said and Marcus was shocked to hear that.

"Dark elves...but I know one of them. I even fought alongside one of them, his name is Alta. He didn't seem so bad," he said and the dwarf furrowed his brow and stroked his beard as if the name was familiar to him.

"That name...I think I've heard it somewhere. Gah! It'll come back to me some time later. Either way, the dark and light elves had been at war with each other damn near since the days of King Dagon. Unfortunately, the dark elves were practically bred for war as they had participated in nearly every human war in Erebus's history but its not like the dark elves are evil. The light elves however were limited to their highly proficient but limited skill set of archery and daggers paired with their powerful use of magic. It was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. Neither of them were evil per say but they had different opposing views, and even the dark elves regret reducing them to such low numbers that they were nearly eradicated completely. Not that it matters much to me but to use the mist-wood of the elves annoys me," he said stiffly although his winded explanation seemed to tell the opposite of what he meant. It clearly mattered a lot to him.

"Anyways, lets see what that mist-wood can do for your advanced contraption, yeah?" he said as he went to the back of his shop and found a large log and handed it to him.

"Well? Work your magic and make some kind of sound thing with this. You can do that, right?" he asked but Marcus wasn't completely sure. He only had the smallest amount of experience building speakers but he'll have to give it his best shot.

"I'll probably have to split this wood into multiple small sections so that I can carve out a nice thin cone. This wood will make a better material for a speaker cone than regular paper," he said as the two of them got to work shaving down multiple sections of wood into small paper cones. They then used the materials they had around and melted down some steel fitted into a mold that Marcus made from his dragon glass to serve as the frames for the cones.

After a few more hours of work, the two of them had managed to make what resembled six speakers and one extra test speaker just in case. He also made a vinyl record player with a cut record of his own made from his dragon glass.

"Now for a test," he said as he played Beethoven's Fur Elise with the record player and his ears heard what was probably the most crisp sound he had never thought possible with even his world's technology or rather maybe it had been so long since he heard music being played on a speaker that it sounded so beautiful.

Alfronn, however, was disgusted by the sound of it.

"This makes my ears bleed dammit! Sounds like some high nobility shit that the tree huggers would play! Put on some real damn music!" he said in a blunder.

"Very well. Just give me a moment to think of what would work well," he said until he thought of a few Irish drinking songs.

He placed a new vinyl on the record player and once again the crystal clear sound of the music was as if the instruments were playing right next to him.

Alfronn's eyes widened and he laughed with glee as he said, "Now there's some damn good music! HAHA! This is a rather good invention as well!"

"Okay, now lets set these things up with the display and make a full test."

Using the measurements of wattage he made earlier with the lightbulb and the crystal, given how there was not much surface area covered by the transfer of energy from the powdered black iron to the diamond sheet it meant he really needed very little energy to make it work, give or take about 170 watts of electricity.

Marcus then held the metal cord attached to the TV and fed it his energy.

The display shined with bright white light and when he tried to visualize a red apple on the screen, low and behold, a red apple appeared on the screen immediately after. The more he tried to focus on the detail the sharper in clarity it became until it was nearly perfect.

"Well I'll be...that is an interesting invention you made here. Though I'm not sure what you mean by 'visual stories'," Alfronn said looking slightly impressed.

"This is just the visual test. Since we already tested the speakers, we know they work just fine. We've managed to recreate the hardware perfectly, which is the mechanics on how this works, light, detail, and sound. Now what we need to work on is the software, how it distinguishes individual programs, recognizes stored memory data and can replay all of it whenever I need it to. This part is much trickier," he said but the dwarf welcomed the challenge.

For the next five hours the two of them worked on the software aspect and he went to work on trying to recreate movies from his memories. He didn't have the laser technology to make actual DVDs so instead he made obsidian disks with even finer lines of audio cut into them on the tops of them while they had a crystal and black iron bottom to store the visual part of what would be the film disks.

They then worked on carving additional rune formulas that created a menu that was operated via a traditional remote and everything else that was required of it.

By the time the new TV was finished it had taken them nearly twelve hours to craft and it was the first of this world's kind. A 70 inch 8k flat screen TV with a diamond display.

"Its...its...magnificent!" Alfronn said in awe after stuffing his face with mead and popcorn while the two of them watched the movie Immortals after it was finished in its entirety.

"To be perfectly honest, I had no idea if I would even be able to finish it in a single day, much less twelve hours. I have you to thank for helping me!" Marcus said as he was exhausted from all the work the two of them had put in.

"The pleasure is all mine! I do hope you have more brilliant ideas to share with me because I would love to work on more projects like this with you!" he said.

"Oh by the way...how much would all of this cost for us to make?" He asked and Alfronn's eyes widened as he forgot to price it all. The dwarf then began stroking his beard as he tallied up the various materials used and the hours spent crafting it.

"I'd say around seven goldies will do," he said cheerfully.

Ah shit...


After forking over nearly all of his remaining funds to the dwarf and carrying his new TV back home on his lonesome, he realized that he needed to take more jobs if he wanted to keep this up.

He almost went to the brotherhood hall when he realized how late it was outside and let out a sigh.

"I guess I'll look for work tomorrow," he said as he set up his new TV and went to sleep.