James sat solemnly in his lab -- his research was stagnant, with no hope of a breakthrough.
And it's not like he lacked funds -- in fact, the academy funded him well. The only problem is that he lacked assistants and test subjects.
As Elliot said, his old labmates were dead, and the new apprentices failed to meet his requirements, apart from Adam.
"It's no surprise that a genius of his level won't be interested in my research," he wailed.
He clung onto the black walls of his lab, glancing occasionally at the projections in the room: unfinished, untested, useless.
"I'm too old."
He was already in his seventies, and Death was waiting by his door. Realisation crept up onto him, and that realisation soon turned into dread and regret, "Why did I choose to research this field..."
"I can't do this anymore..."
James slumped against the wall and sighed. Suddenly, the door to his laboratory lit up: [Apprentice Adam wishes to enter.]
James' eyes lit up, and leapt from the ground, rushing to open the door.
Adam wandered around the academy trying to locate James' lab. He didn't know whether or not he was present, either, but he had no way of locating him.
The door swung open.
James stared at Adam with wide eyes, "So, you agree to be my assistant, right? Please!"
Adam was taken aback; he almost couldn't recognise James -- the once dashing young man was now a balding old man, "Yes, if I get sufficient pay, that is."
James grabbed Adam by the hand and dragged him into the lab, kicking the door close, "Wait for me!" He rushed into his inner chambers and took out a paper contract and handed it to Adam.
Adam read the contract -- the responsibilities of both parties, precautions, confidentiality agreement.
James announced, "The academy funds me with 2,000 energy stones per month -- I only need 800 to survive, so the rest is yours!"
Adam widened his eyes; 1,200 energy stones per month was undoubtedly a huge sum of money, and it was much more generous than the mission rewards at the Mission Hall.
James immediately shook Adam back to reality, and announced, "However, we need to produce satisfactory results within the next three months, or they will shut my lab down -- the department has already lost patience with my project, and gave me a strict deadline."
Adam nodded; three months means that he will get 3,600 power stones, "Mr. James, what do you mean by satisfactory results?"
"A complete set of meditation methods that apprentices can use," he replied. "I already have complete sets in my lab, but nobody is willing to verify it for me. Besides, it isn't easy for me to build a set of runes either."
Adam smiled. This project requires massive calculations, and lucky for James, Adam is an artificial intelligence. Building a set of runes is a piece of cake for him.
Adam said, "Alright. If your research is successful, I want to have the right to use these runes."
James nodded hastily, "Of course, no problem at all."
After Adam received verbal consent, he added this clause to the contract, and wrote the amount of 1,000 power stones as his salary per month. James immediately paid Adam and accepted the contract immediately, and couldn't wait to pull Adam into his lab.
James said, still smiling, "From now on, you have free access to the lab, but do not take any of my data out of the lab."
...
Half a month soon passed, and Adam had disappeared from the public eye. The only times he would re-emerge was around two o' clock, where he travelled from his dorm to the lab every day. His meals were eaten in the lab as well.
Adam found that James was a good person -- despite being an assistant and test subject, James treated Adam very well. He didn't allow Adam to test the unsafe and unstable runes, but guided him along the way. Adam built a basic meditation rune set under his guidance, remembering James' advice, "These basic meditation runes created by Prometheus are the most stable runes to date, and can be used by any mage. No matter how much an apprentice experiments with runes, they have a pillow to fall back on to shield them."
This was great to Adam. He had gained a lot of experience working under James. In less than half a month, they developed a basic meditation method, and Adam could feel his weak soul being shielded by a layer of armour.
James was satisfied. Adam's talent once again exceeded his expectations -- to complete the initial meditation method, at least a thousand pieces of runes were required, and an ordinary apprentice can only conjure three to five pieces a day.
James was also fascinated by Adam's ability to multitask, not knowing that Adam had computing powers. James could only build one rune at a time, but Adam could construct multiple runes at the same time.
Half a month later, James made sure that Adam could withstand the experimental and unstable runes. He turned on the projector and said to Adam, "Now, try to build these sets of runes. If you feel that something is amiss, stop immediately."
Adam looked at the set of new runes -- they still had a total of 9 runes, but the structure was much more complicated than Prometheus' set of runes. However, based on his analysis, he could tell that the runes would fail -- they didn't show any clear and concise patterns within it.
However, he tested it anyway.
James added, nervous, "Compared to Prometheus' runes, these runes enhance your mental strength. If it is successful, then the mage 'armour' will be incredibly strong."
"Step by step, remove your original mage armour, and... wait, what?! Adam! Stop!"
James was horrified to find that Adam's mental strength had scattered across the room, and the resulting force blew all of his research papers across the room.
James shielded himself and begged Adam to stop, but was confused upon seeing his calm face. James' face contorted into horror upon realising that since Adam is stripping his mage armour away, he would be vulnerable and could collapse into himself at any time.
He panicked and ran towards him -- Adam was his last hope, and he couldn't let anything happen to him.
Adam announced, "As far as your runes are concerned -- yes, they are complex, but the structures within it are redundant and rough."
James froze, "Are you... alright?"
Adam nodded, "Do not worry about me, worry about the experiment -- this experiment is too inefficient, I can probably..." in Adam's head, he thought of how to allocate his computing power to maximise efficiency, "...construct four different sets of runes at the same time."
"Four? Completely new structures?" James stuttered.
"Well, yes, but I am unfamiliar with runes, so I can only settle for four," Adam replied.
James widened his eyes in awe, "This must be the multitasking spell that you mentioned earlier!" James thought that multitasking was an inherent talent, and admired Adam for it.
"I guess," Adam replied.
James envied Adam. If only Adam was me, he thought.
Adam built the runes as they spoke -- he discovered that a flaw in a rune does not necessarily affect the entire set, so they started to experiment again.
James set up his optical projectors once again, filled with hope, "Maybe this time, we can succeed."
...
They did not. Two months passed, and their experiments demotivated them again and again. The two holed themselves up in the lab -- James left once a week to teach, and Adam remained in the lab 24/7.
However, they still couldn't develop a consistent and universal method for meditation.
There were only ten days left before the deadline, and James' appearance drastically changed from when Adam first met him -- a bright, passionate young man to a depressed, unmotivated, balding old man.