A War Without Swords.

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

It was bustling as usual in the city, as Ayalan had walked down the street- however, to his young companion's eye, the people did not bow, nor did they call him King; they simply waved or said, "Hello Aya," or "Hi Ayalan!"

Aya's response was always a nod, a hello, and a name attached to every person. They could only hear the city sales going on all around them, and the coliseum was dead today- the prisoners had not been brought out for the time being due to the crisis, which was okay by Aya- he had been working on repurposing the area as a training grounds rather than a bloody sport.

As he continued walking, the people just generally seemed to continue working, they did not celebrate his return but they did not banish him.

To Ramirez, the people and Aya were equal, and Aya came to a large door with a small staircase shaped triangle coming from the ground- he pressed his hand into the door, and closed his eyes; the doors slid open slowly, and the descent began...

[Ramirez De Zoro]

Ramirez followed behind Ayalan, observing the people of Chalybs, making mental notes. He walked down the staircase, "So where are we going?" Ramirez asked, still looking around at this city above the water.

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

Aya smirked and slowly descended, "Well you see, intense research is done all hours of the day by multiple teams of researchers who wish to learn more about the world, and the things not of this world."

He opened the door, and there was, put simply, way too much scientific equipment for Aya to even begin looking through- from the simple burners and beakers to the advanced mana register, which could tell someone how adept their mana skills were, Ramirez would have more than enough to work with, upon which, Aya walked in with him- as it were, they were underwater at this point, as the windows illustrated, but the walls looked much too reinforced- on top of this, the water was inside a large aquifer existing within the island- the laboratory was a cornerstone for the city to stand as tall as it did.

"I figured you'd need our best equipment, and as such, we can offer you whatever you need, and I'll be personally assisting on this experiment."

He sat down, looking across at Ramirez.

"What are the facts currently that we know about this machine?"

[Ramirez De Zoro]

"Well, the machine seems to be powered by mana in the air from the areorivers." Ramirez stated as he looked through the books. "When it has enough mana, it starts cycling it into the machine, then spews it back into the air right above it, collecting more mana, to get it sucked back it." Ramirez closed his book, and looked up.
"It's like... when you are about to cast the spell, you use your own mana from your body, but you don't have enough in your body, without causing harm, so you use the mana in the air form it at where you are casting the spell, such as your hand, your mana comes out of your hand as a spell."

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

Aya nodded as he folded his arms, "I appreciate the real world example."

...He smirked a little, "Well. As real as it gets for myself anyway."

Now he stood up, and watched Ramirez looking over some books, "So it is a siphon that runs on its own collection...that's brilliant, and obviously devious as well."

He looked back at Ramirez, "So if we were to consider that is the way the machine works, then the best thing to do is...well."

Ayalan sighed and thought again, "Either one overloads a machine, does not give enough power to a machine, or outright destroys it- all of these are options besides Utilizing the machine, obviously- is there any way to go with these basic ideas of the machine? You said it had a barrier- that is more than likely powered by mana as well."

[Ramirez De Zoro]

"The barrier seems to be powered by mana, but I think it was more of making barrier to help siphon the mana in to the device, and to make sure that the mana coming out is separated. Overpowering it, seem pointless, because this device main purpose is to store mana in a column." Ramirez said as he looked at his sketches he made of the device, and the world map.
"If I knew what they were doing this for, then it would make it easier to disable it... Wait... You think they are from that other planet... Earth right?"

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

Aya looked to Ramirez as he nodded, thinking, "So you're saying that the barrier protects the device..but to what purpose?"

He nodded and closed his eyes as he breathed in and out...he thought of every invention made in Chalybs, as he spoke:

"Chalybs has had the best scientific advantages for the last couple of decades and the production has not stopped- the researchers have never heard of a device like this, and every person sent out to observe either gets killed by a creature or comes back with a report that its nothing they've ever seen. If it somehow isn't Earth, I can tell you it certainly isn't our planet...egh...let's talk about purpose."

He held out his hand, "I can think of five good reasons for a device like this: To gain control of power for yourself through a stabilizer and filter; To mark territories with high mana stream; To Study the Mana through channel optimization- if you will, I guess I mean small packets of data; To strip the world of our mana- I would say no to this idea, there's not nearly enough devices...yet. of course. And Five, to distract us from a truer purpose." Aya leaned back in his chair, thinking to himself, "There may be more, but as of right now, all of my conjecture is possibility- I need your help to make it fact."

[Ramirez De Zoro]

Ramirez pondered, and then started to think. In his head, everything dark, then words and numbers started to surround him, making calculations, predictions, and running analysis against what Aya said. Then he thought to himself.
1 = 78%
2=36%
3=55%
4= 66%
5=10%
X=Y%
"... It wouldn't make sense to mark territories, it's too grand, and there are easier ways to mark different kingdoms with mana, and also no report of it happening in Ingis, nor Guasto. If the group wanted to distract us, if they are from Earth, then how do they know about the Heroes, and why? Studying mana could be a goal, but they would have only study at one area for a time. According to witnesses in Vuoto, they made that mana column, and vanish after a minute of it appearing. Taking mana might be a possibility, however it's too large to move, and there isn't a way to get near the machine to extract it without being killed...."
Ramirez said, then he tapped his chin. "...I think the one that makes the most sense for power. I mean if you have the mana in one place, you can force your enemy into either a corner, or you can use that area to start in an invasion, or..." Ramirez stopped talking and then he made more calculations for a while.

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

Aya nodded a bit and leaned in, "Your feelings are noted, and I understand you agree with power. Now though, if you plotted for invasion- why utilize our mana? How do they know of the power? It's not like any person can pick up mana and use it well- these machines cannot be for harvesting alone because those...people..that utilized their teleportation just left them behind- what would be the purpose of leaving your siphon behind? Doesn't one normally take a sapper with them if they wish to use its power?"

Aya now posed these questions to spark Ramirez' mind, knowing full well that his own efforts would never be enough compared to the keen mind ready to accept new truths as a younger person- older scientists were always so stubborn!

[Ramirez De Zoro]

"Because what is one of the greatest way to display power to an opposing land?" Ramirez said as he revealed the Allorum map with lines. "Invasion. What if the siphons where left behind as like bombs? Look, where they put the siphons, they are where they are large pockets of Mana in the air. Well these pockets are connected by currents called the aerorivers. If these are connected, they would work such like barrels of gunpowder, connected to fuse. All they would need is a spark to set it off."
Ramirez then starts to do more math using up different papers.

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

Aya opened his eyes with thoughts of the possibility of a chain explosion...


"So to avoid a widespread explosion, especially..."
Aya thought to himself, "A chain explosion.. There are more possibilities."

"We interrupt the aerorivers, we contain the explosions, we deplete the mana, we stop the other bombs, but all said and done- what's the activation? That should be top priority for the secondary team...Ramirez, what could trigger that kind of reaction, and how can it be stopped? You have the most advanced facility at your disposal..."

Then Aya had one last question on this tangent, "Even with a large army.."..."If their goal is invasion, what are their points of entry?"

[Ramirez De Zoro]

"I am working on the calculations for the explosions." Ramirez said, "Well the good thing about the mana being this condense, any spell fired towards it would have been dissolved... I mean the spell that would have to start this up, would have to be an extremely powerful sage, being able to manipulate Mana into itself, starting a change reaction. Now the best option for us to do is to contain the explosions... I can call my fellow scholars and help set up barriers... We just need stop them from setting more Mana siphons."
Ramirez made more sketches on the Allorum map, and pulled out a book, with different maps in there too.
"We can figure out where the are going to strike, if they looking for a specific size of mana in the air, then it shouldn't be hard to figure this out... As for an point of entry...I would have to be a large empty area, not near any town to have the army ready without dealing with the enemy forces aka us."

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

Aya pondered the last bit, as he pulled out a map himself, nodding...

"The...only two places with a large span of land and an easier to traverse area would be ...Roccia and Ariadelvento if we're talking pure land mass. Everywhere else is either too populated, too cold, too landlocked, or too dark to traverse in with ease. He nodded and marked the spots to be safe, and went back to Ramirez' first point-

"Now, if you'd like, we can try to stop them, but even if we had a guess where they were going to go, they can move instantaneously; how would we stop the device itself? And, if we encapsulate the mana in a barrier, is there a chance the barriers would dissolve and be eaten away at themselves? We'd need to have dedicated people blocking their streams..."

Aya was kind of a downer in this case, but he had to be- the more prepared, the better, and he asked a last question of, "What can we do right now?"

[Ramirez De Zoro]

"It's not a guess where they are going to, its where they are going to be." Ramirez said, as he worked on more calculation, "What we need is an unactivated device, so if I can figure out where they are going to be, then we can cut them off, and get them and the siphon. As for the barriers, it would be a dilution and capturing plan, taking enough mana from the pillar then putting up a barrier with many different people casting the same spell, it should be able to force the barrier to be strong enough. "
He looked up and took a breath, "Did you receive any reports from anyone about a mana pillar being made in Roccia?"

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

Aya had nodded with compliance to his plan: "I can get you however many necessary for the job, I'm just afraid of anything strange happening and affecting the mages. Like if they themselves get siphoned from as a security device. We truly don't know enough of their abilities."

"I digress. I have faith that Roccia will be taken care of, a few dogs of war are already en route, we can only assume that the best place for me to approach will be Nerezza if they haven't struck there yet, we can only go two steps ahead of our own men, I can have Amalia and our team check this area as well."