Mack was very curious to know how much essence that little crystal could hold.
And also curious to know how mages measured that.
Because Essence density is not exactly output or capacity, is more abstract as it can encompass both kinds of measures, but for something like a crystal that was a tool, a measurement for the expected result when used was better than a measurement that encompassed all, like density.
[There are several ways and terms used to measure Essence Crystals]
'Just give me the more precise or the most used, and I bet they are different.'
[Correct assumption, the most precise method was devised by an ancient civilization now extinct. They called this method as Lux Units. They used a simple light rune circuit and measured how many photons an Essence crystal could emit when activated during a given time and they measured the total time emitting the same amount as its capacity]
'I see they really thought thru to be a very scientific method of measurement. But how they measured the capacity? It's not like they will wait for the crystal to run out of juice.'
[That is the exact reason for this measurement to not be very popular. Because it's not very practical. They indeed only had the capacity in lux units when the crystal was fully used]
Mack was speechless. Why create a system like that?
[Currently, this measurement system is mostly used in laboratory tests. When the precision of the results must be extremely accurate]
'And the most popular?'
[It can be translated as EC. It's a measure specific to Essence Crystals]
'And how is this measured?'
[The capacity is measured using the size of the crystal and the whiteness of them]
[The bigger and whiter, the better. Essence crystals became dark rock colored when empty and milk white when full. The same apply for not manufactured Essence crystals they are translucent when full and dark opaque when empty]
'I see.... that's indeed vague, as I never used one I can't know what to expect of them in all the transitions and sizes even if someone said to me that it had a capacity of 2EC I would not know what that means in a practical way. But for someone used to them it's ok I guess.'
[Indeed]
'Why they don't just weight them? The more Essence Density, bigger the weight, no?'
[It's a common misunderstanding. Essence Crystals don't have a weight. This is still a mystery to the scientific community. Some say that its Essence is so compressed that it creates its own gravitational field, while others say that its entirely made of essence and because of that, it does not have matter to affect. Only when used they turn to rock and have a normal weight of rock, some believe it's a byproduct of the process]
'Huh? interesting.... entirely made of Essence....'
Mack looked at that small white crystal in front of him and pondered on how many unsolved mysteries still exist out there.
Even after millenniums they are yet to be solved. More and more, Mack felt an urge to go and explore all the universes.
'And how many ECs has this crystal?'
[According to my data, it has 100 ECs]
'Only that? Is that a lot?'
[Yes. As far as I can tell. Mages have standardized several factory sizes for Essence crystals. And this in front of you is the third most common type. The most common one is the size of rice and is equal to 1 EC]
'And what about the output?'
[They don't use a measure for that, it's common knowledge that an Essence Crystal has a maximum output of 1/100 per hour of their capacity in average.]
'So if they want to construct more powerful spells, they need bigger crystals or more crystals'
[Correct]
Mack gazed to the side and saw a small red button close to the door.
Mages mixed tech and spells in such a way that seemed so natural that Mack still could not believe. He still had that old image of mages in dark castles doing rituals, killing goats as sacrifices and dancing in the rain or doing arrays for everything, even to light up a room.
Mack pressed the button, and the entire array around the crystal dimmed its light.
The next second, Mack pushed the door by the side of the button and entered.
Walking inside the room Mack's eyes passed over the several runes and symbols and tried to catch a glimpse of its functions.
He would need to spend several hours to manage to figure what this array did and how.
But he didn't have that many time. Because at any day, the mage army would pass by this area when going back to their space ships.
Time waits for no man.
Mack grabbed the crystal, and it indeed felt that had no weight at all. Looked like he was holding a plume. He could feel the smoothness of the crystal and also his pointed and sharp edges.
Just like a polished diamond would feel to the touch. But instead of a transparent and glass like appearance, it was white.
"Ok let's go to the others floors. If I'm right they have more of this on each floor."
Said Mack, smiling at Raz.
Raz felt a chill to his spine with such smile. It was not of someone that was happy with joy. More like someone who was preparing a blood bath.
Mack left the room and went to the elevator with the other warlocks.
This goose tower had more eggs to give.
After half an hour they went to all floors and just as Mack suspected, every single one of them had a Crystal, except for the first and last one. Finding in total 8 Crystal.
But the moment they removed the last one, the elevators and all the other functions of the tower stopped working.
After an improvised 'staircase' made of rubbles and debris of the broken wall of the elevator, they finally reached outside the tower.
Mack wished to spend more time learning and practicing runes using the tower runes, but time was pressing.
And with the discovery of the crystals, their plan had a significant new rote of action.
"Raz, in wich direction is the other tower like this one?"