Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 788: CH788 Mana Motor

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Mana Motor

The Mana Motor...

As the name implied, it was a device that converted mana into mechanical energy.

It was that simple.

Yet at the same time, incredibly complex.

The Mana Motor Alex and Sugud had built in the workshop was nothing more than a working prototype. Now that they had confirmed the design worked, they were ready to refine the technology and produce improved iterations.

At its core, the Mana Motor consisted of five fundamental sections: the Mana Intake, Mana Regulator, Rune Core, Rotor Assembly, and Output Shaft.

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The Mana Intake was, in essence, where and how mana entered the motor. Unsurprisingly, its runic design was derived from Alex’s Mana Gathering Circle.

Since Alex intended for the Mana Motor to become the foundation of an entirely new technological tree that would drive his territory’s development, he deliberately designed it with a modular intake system.

Depending on the application and available energy source, the intake could be configured into one of four forms:

an Ambient Mana Collector,

a Mana Stone Socket capable of accepting mana stones or other condensed magical energy sources,

a—for now—theoretical Mana Battery Interface,

and a Mana Conduit Port designed to connect directly to a large external mana network.

At least... on paper.

After all, the latter two designs remained theoretical.

Given the state of mana on this plane—more accurately, Berserk Energy—Alex was already considering the possibility of introducing a mana battery containing mana that had been filtered and purified of its berserk properties.

The effects of Berserk Energy on machinery had yet to be properly researched, making such a power source far safer and more reliable.

Likewise, he envisioned connecting Mana Motors directly to massive mana reservoirs—such as the mana reservoir space bestowed upon him by One Heaven or the large runic mana pools maintained by major organisations back on Pangea—through stable runic conduits.

A runic conduit functioned much like a runic wire, whereas the Ambient Mana Collector resembled a wireless mana receiver.

If a vast reservoir of mana already existed nearby, Alex saw little reason to rely on a comparatively wasteful wireless connection when a stable, efficient ’wired’ connection could be established instead.

Much like the wired and wireless technologies of his previous life, a mana conduit offered greater stability, higher efficiency, and lower transmission losses—provided the source of mana was sufficiently close.

For now, however, these remained concepts waiting to be realised.

The only intake systems currently available were the Ambient Mana Collector and the Mana Stone Socket.

Even so, Alex was confident that, when the need arose, the remaining two designs could eventually be brought into existence.

The Ambient Mana Collector was essentially a device that incorporated Alex’s Mana Gathering Circle at its fullest potential, allowing the runic formation to continuously draw in surrounding ambient mana just as the original gathering circle had always done.

The Mana Stone Socket, meanwhile, worked a little differently.

With a small modification, the absorption power of the gathering circle was concentrated within the confined space where a mana stone—or any other condensed energy source, such as a berserk stone or berserk beast core—could be inserted.

Alex had yet to properly test it, but he suspected that the motor’s efficiency—or more accurately, the ease with which energy could be extracted and circulated through the device—would decrease in the order of mana stones, berserk stones, and finally berserk beast cores.

He had not yet prove this experimentally, but based on the nature of the three condensed energy sources, the conclusion seemed intuitive.

Naturally, the Mana Stone Socket was the more efficient intake method.

However, because it consumed valuable mana stones or other condensed energy sources, it was also considerably more expensive to operate.

Alex never expected it to become the primary means of powering the Mana Motor. Instead, he envisioned it as a contingency option for situations where the motor needed to operate in a mana-deficient environment while condensed energy sources remained available.

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The second fundamental component—the Mana Regulator—was, in essence, the mana equivalent of a voltage regulator.

It was a harmonious fusion of one of Sugud’s precision-engineered mechanical construct and one of Alex’s runic circuits, designed to regulate the flow of mana entering the motor from whichever intake system was currently being used.

Alex doubted such regulation would matter much when drawing ambient mana—unless the motor happened to be operating within an exceptionally mana-rich environment.

The other intake methods, however, were different.

Mana stones and other condensed energy sources were capable of releasing mana at a far denser and more concentrated rate, making regulation essential.

The Mana Regulator therefore smoothed the flow of mana throughout the motor, compensating for fluctuations, preventing overload, and maintaining a stable mana pressure for the Rune Core.

As an additional function, it also allowed the operator to deliberately regulate the mana flow rate, making it possible to adjust the motor’s power output on demand.

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The Rune Core was the true heart of the machine.

It represented Alex’s greatest contribution to the Mana Motor and, more than any other component, distinguished it from the Steam Engine, the Internal Combustion Engine, and especially the Electric Motor.

And that distinction went far beyond the simple fact that it was powered by mana.

Instead of pipes, pistons, copper windings, and magnets, the Mana Motor’s rotor and stator were inscribed with intricate runic arrays.

As mana flowed through these arrays, the runes generated a rotational force, directly converting magical energy into mechanical work.

Like the Mana Intake, Alex deliberately designed the Rune Core to be modular.

His intention was to develop successive generations of Rune Cores with greater efficiency, improved performance, and specialised functions. By making the core interchangeable, existing Mana Motors could be upgraded without having to redesign the entire machine.

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The Rotor Assembly was the mana-equivalent of the rotor found in an electric motor.

When mana flowed through the Rune Core and the runic arrays generated rotational force, that force was transmitted directly into the rotor assembly, causing it to spin.

The rotor, in turn, rotated the motor’s output shaft.

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Finally came the Output Shaft.

This was the component responsible for transferring the motor’s mechanical power to whatever machine it was designed to operate.

It had been engineered to connect to gearboxes, belts, chains, wheels, pumps, pulleys, and countless other transmission systems.

In short, as long as a machine could establish a stable mechanical connection to the output shaft, it could, in theory, be powered by a Mana Motor.

That meant everything from hand drills and water pumps to small automobiles, heavy locomotives, factory machinery, and even massive industrial presses could eventually be driven by the technology.

Of course, Alex had no illusions that the prototype he and Sugud had just completed could accomplish all of that.

Instead, he intended to introduce a classification system based on the amount of mechanical power each motor was designed to deliver.

Fortunately, this did not require entirely new designs.

The underlying architecture of the Mana Motor would remain largely unchanged across every class. The primary differences would simply be the motor’s physical dimensions, the capacity of its Rune Core, and the amount of torque and power it could safely produce.

For example, Class I Mana Motors would be intended for handheld and light-duty equipment, such as hand drills and the sewing machines Alex planned to introduce in the future.

Class II Mana Motors—like the prototype he and Sugud had just completed—would power small workshops and artisan machinery.

Class III Mana Motors would eventually find their place in agricultural machinery, tractors, and small automobiles.

Class IV Mana Motors would be designed for heavier vehicles, including heavy-duty trucks, construction & mining equipment, and locomotives.

Finally, Class V Mana Motors would power sea- or ocean-going ships, air vessels, and large-scale industrial factories.

And if the technology continued to mature as Alex envisioned, these five classes would likely become only the beginning of an entirely new age of machinery.

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