I then pulled out the case that held the Babylon Candle.
Balthazar already seemed intrigued and I wasn't quite sure why until I heard his next words.
"What is that? I can feel the magical energy radiating off it." He asked.
"This is a Babylon Candle, it is a magical artifact that I came across in a faraway kingdom called Stormhold," I explained.
"What exactly does it do?" He asked very interested in a magical artifact he'd never heard of.
"From what I have researched, it is capable of transporting someone anywhere and all they need to do is think of it," I explained.
"Anywhere?" He questioned.
"As far as I know there is no limitation on location, only that it can only be used until the Candle is completely burned. Therein lies my issue and the reason I came to you for help. I need to find a way to increase the time one can travel, a single candle length is not enough." I explained.
Balthazar had been listening intently and at the latter part of my words had been casting diagnostic or Analysis spells to figure out what it could do. These spells were unfamiliar to me, most likely from later in the book than I have studied.
His expression changed multiple times. First, it was simply an expression of thinking deeply, then it was a shock, then confusion, and finally suspicion.
The last expression made me worried, did he discover something?
Did he figure out I'm from another universe?
Did he figure out this can do more than just travel?
Or did he simply realize something about the candle itself that made him suspicious as according to Ditchwater Sal, it is Black Magic.
"This artifact is certainly interesting, where is it you said you acquired it?" He asked.
"A kingdom called Stormhold, why do you ask?" I questioned.
"This artifact is a lot more powerful than you realize. Not only is it able to travel where you want, it can travel to any one you want. And any thing . This Candle, in the hands of the Morganians, would be a direct route to Dave. It is a very good thing that this never came into the hands of Horvath, he would have used it to find the Grimhold, other Morganians, and any possible thing to make him strong enough to free Morgana and defeat us." Balthazar explained.
"I didn't know it was that powerful," I commented feigning ignorance as it was able to travel a universe, so what he described was nothing.
"Knowing all that, will you still help me?" I asked.
"Of course I will, I am your master after all, but you must promise me something." He said.
"Anything." I replied.
"Once we have worked on this, improved it, replicated it, whatever it is you wanted to do with it. You need to put it in a place where no one will ever find it at least until Morgana is defeated. This artifact is too dangerous to risk it getting into her hands." Balthazar said seriously.
"I understand Master, I will do as you say." I replied using his title so he knew I was serious.
"Okay now that that's out of the way, let's get started. First question before we begin, is this your only candle?"
"Yes. It's part of the reason I couldn't test it that much, it was running out." I explained giving a random reason as to why it was used up a little.
"Very well, I shall analyze its limits and we can then work on possibilities for improving said limits." Balthazar explained.
________________________________________
(2 Months Later)
Throughout the last 2 months, except for all the magical training I did of both Sorcerer and Wizard Magic, Balthazar and I worked tirelessly on researching the Babylon Candle, and today was the day when we'd have the first field test of the prototype.
Balthazar and I stood alone in the lab looking down at an object on the table in front of us.
It was a large wooden log that had been cut into a rectangular prism and sanded down to avoid splinters.
"Do you think it will work?" I asked.
"Theoretically, it should function just the same way as the candle, it helped that we kept the burning aspect of the artifact, I believe if we tried your suggestion, it wouldn't have worked the same way." Balthazar explained.
Balthazar was referring to an event 1 month ago where I had suggested a prototype that we ended up "wasting" a week on.
I had suggested, as a way to increase how long the transportation could last, that we make the artifact be a large dollar coin and it would allow you to travel as long as you rubbed the coin and would only be used up when you rubbed the coin so much your two fingers would meet by rubbing through the coin itself.
I had thought of this idea as it would take a very long time for one to rub through the coin that, factoring in the energy usage of the travel itself, should've allowed one to travel farther distances if say the universe I was trying to reach was very far away.
It ended up being a bust but it did help us come to a valuable conclusion.
We had realized that changing the object to a coin would change the very way the magic was supposed to work as it was no longer fire, heat, or energy, but entirely focused on time.
Focusing on how long we could make the travel last, ended up distracting us from the fundamentals.
We eventually settled on its current design.
It was honestly genius, everything was the same as with the candle, you would set one end of the log on fire and the travel would last until the log was fully burned to ash from one end to the other.
By making it this way, all we did was change the medium of the artifact, everything else stayed the same.
Fire, check.
Heat, check.
Energy, check.
All we ended up changing was what was burned. This not only fit with the motif the candle had but also succeeded in increasing the time you could travel as it'd take longer for the log to burn than the candle.
After going over everything one last time, I looked over at Balthazar, then the log, then back.
"Do you mind if I do the test drive?" I asked.
"I wouldn't have it any other way. It was your idea after all." He said
I then grabbed the log and used Incendio to light the log.
As I held the log, I was thinking the same thought over and over and over, trying to find the farthest place from New York that would test all the things I was hoping to check.
The average time it would take for the log to burn, approximately how far I could travel until the log burned halfway, and if it even worked at all.
The place just was thinking of was Perth, Australia. Geographically, it was the furthest picture from New York City.
Balthazar watched in fascination as a bright white light covered my body and I disappeared from the lab.
I was surprised the light was white instead of the normal yellow, but I theorize it is simply because the artifact is stronger than the candle was.
Eventually, I landed in Perth, in the middle of a hidden alleyway as I was thinking about being in Perth but hidden.
I eventually did see a muggle gawking at me, so I obliviated him, made sure I went into a more hidden area, cast some concealment spells, and activated the log again.
________________________________________
(Back in New York)
Balthazar was waiting and all of the sudden, a bright white light appeared in front of him and he saw me standing there, log in hand, with a huge grin.
"It seems it was a smashing success." He commented.
I looked at the log and saw it had only a small corner of it burned, despite me using incendio on the entire end.
That didn't surprise me that much as the candle was able to travel an entire universe and still have a fourth left.
I was over the moon in happiness as I now have a lasting and effective way to travel the multiverse. I can finally begin my dream of learning as much magic, and as many different magics as I want.
"Yes, I would unequivocally call it a success," I replied, the smile never leaving my face.
"So have you settled on the name?" Balthazar asked.
"Yes. It was harder than I thought it'd be, but I decided to go simple and call it a 'Babylon Torch' as a Torch can also be referencing a burning log." I replied.
"It's not that bad. Now that it has been confirmed to work just as it should, we can begin the second project you asked about." Balthazar said.
"Yes, no time like the present," I said as we walked over to a bundle of loose papers that were all notes on our next project that I had asked about when we were working on the final prototype.
This last project was simply supplemental and something I feel would be very easy compared to what we had just accomplished.
________________________________________
(2 weeks later)
It took slightly longer than I thought but still a fourth of the time that it took for the last project.
This new one was simply a Projection to improve the Gemino Charm or the Duplication Charm.
I wanted to improve it so that it could copy magical items, such as the new Babylon Torch we had just made.
We were lucky that, while we couldn't make it perfect, as long as I had the parts, i.e. Log, enchanted papers, Rune stones. I could make multiple copies of this amazing artifact.
This was the same for any magical artifact as long as I knew how it was made, had the actual artifact, and got all the pieces for it, I could duplicate it.
The Babylon Torch needed the Enchanted papers that were made to transfer the effects of the Candle onto the finished log, and the Rune stones had the runes that were put on the enchanted papers.
All of these together allowed me to duplicate the Babylon Torch.
I found that the improved Gemino Charm allowed me to duplicate all the components with no problem so I had at least 50 potential artifacts in my possession.
I was ecstatic about everything we'd accomplished and I was now ready for the future.