Testing

To test the pistol, Kye had to do several dry runs with the runic matrix to make sure the complex wouldn't collapse when triggered. Doing a dry run consisted of not feeding the runic matrix with Spellweave energy and simply activating the firing mechanism. If the matrix was stable, it would cycle all of the runes as normal but fail to produce any magic, while if it was unstable, some runes would fail to cycle and the matrix would collapse. In a dry run, this posed no danger at all, yet with any amount of Spellweave, it could prove fatal.

Kye pulled the trigger and observed through a hole where the top cover would be what the matrix was doing. The rune plates spun and cycled around smoothly as they should, but Kye wanted to run the test at least ten more times before he would be satisfied. This was the unfortunate aspect of being an inventor, testing was 99.9% boring and uninteresting yet important and necessary. While it was true that Kye was making weapons and that was exciting, it would be a few more days of mundane testing before he actually got to live fire it for the first time.

Kye continued his tests, making sure the venting system worked properly, that there were no mechanical faults with the blowback slide system, making sure the magazine well didn't catch the Spellweave battery when sliding it in and out, that the contacts in the well worked correctly and weren't losing any energy in the transfer and things of that nature. It took Kye nearly a full week to clear the rifle prototype and while the pistol had fewer parts, this blowback system he was experimenting with was a major concern of his when it came to mechanical reliability.

The venting system was human dependent with the rifle, and the runic matrix refused to fire if it was too hot thanks to a fail-safe system he put in. If the rifle failed, it would just stop working and become useless. In the pistol, the venting was part of the firing process which meant that Kye couldn't use the same system to prevent a catastrophic overheat. The solution was for Kye to put in a manual release so that the slide could be pulled back manually should the worst occur, but that would make the pistol much harder to engineer, as two separate slide release mechanisms would have to be fitted. It also posed more situational problems like quick drawing and holstering the pistol. Say the slide was to get caught when being holstered and vented all the hot gas into someone's leg, or if it was in the process of sliding back when drawn and prevented it from firing it in a tense situation.

To Kye, the chances for failure were higher should this manual release be fitted than not. The solution Kye thought of would be to have a small store of gas stay within the gun that, when a mechanical release was pressed, would force the slide back and vent the pistol without the need to fire. It would be possible to do without a mechanical component as well, air spells were perfect for this purpose. If Kye engraved air runes on the sides of the internal mechanisms, he could power them with the Spellweave battery and achieve a gas store within the pistol.

Kye began testing the runes on pieces of scrap metal to make sure the gas trapping device would work as he envisioned. After inscribing the runes, Kye picked up a bag full of fine dust that was a byproduct of metal rune engraving and sprinkled it through the air before activating the runes with his mana. What happened was the effect Kye was looking for, the dust settled on what appeared to be an invisible barrier of air. There would have to be a refinement of the idea but Kye was satisfied with the fact that his first solution appeared to work in concept.

Something that was very common in inventing was that a brilliant idea would turn out to be completely impossible in reality. Either it flat out didn't work, or it was too expensive or too complicated to do many times, inventing had many setbacks along these lines. For Kye, these were part of the challenge and he enjoyed overcoming the challenges that came with inventing new things, yet not many of his fellow inventors felt the same. To them, these challenges were setbacks that needed to be battled with rather than worked around. Kye believed that within the confines of limitation is where true brilliance is found.

Vanessa watched Kye work and found herself with many questions but didn't want to interrupt his focus. She was curious about the air trap as well as all the tests he was running. Surely he could just assemble the weapon and have it work properly the first time, he was a brilliant inventor after all. Her curiosity could not be contained so she asked a question after many hours of silence.

"Master, why run all these tests?"

"What do you mean Vanessa?"

"I'm referring to all these repetitive tests. What is their purpose?"

"Well, machines like this are intricate webs of moving parts that all need to do their jobs perfectly. Without testing, you fall risk to fundamental concepts of your design."

"I am unfamiliar with machines, they do not exist within the knowledge I was given, can you explain to me the concepts of these machines?"

Kye decided that this was a good time for a break anyway and nodded to Vanessa. He wheeled over a whiteboard and began teaching Vanessa about mechanical concepts and the power of the wheel. Fundamentally, all technology stems from the wheel and its creation is what allowed humans to become a dominant force within the world. As Kye explained these things to her, Vanessa felt like she understood more and more why Kye was respected in the eyes of her mother. Although she understood very little of the technical side of Kye's lecture, she left his explanation with a newfound respect for humans and Kye.