Luke watched in mild disbelief as Thalia climbed onto the chair opposite him like she owned the place.
"I want coffee," she announced to the server, swinging her legs.
John opened his mouth. Closed it. Then sighed."…Make it mostly milk," he said. "And warm. Not hot."
Thalia gasped. "You're ruining it."
Luke hid a smile behind his glass.
When the server left, silence settled—not awkward, just easy. The kind that didn't need filling.
John leaned back, stretching slightly. "You look like you were mid-revelation when we interrupted you."
Luke glanced down at his notebook, fingers resting on the worn leather cover. "I usually am."
"That wasn't an answer."
Luke exhaled, then tapped the notebook once. "I've been working on a framework. Something… tangible."
John tilted his head. "Tangible magic?"
"Exactly."
That earned John's full attention.
Luke opened the notebook and turned it so John could see. The pages were filled with precise diagrams—interlocking symbols, geometric arrays, and layered inscriptions that spiraled inward like a machine made of language.
"I call it the Glyph-Engine," Luke said.
Thalia leaned over the table. "It looks like a fancy circle."
Luke nodded seriously. "It is a very fancy circle."
John's eyes moved slowly over the diagrams. "This isn't just a spell formation."
"No," Luke replied. "It's a physical representation of one."
He traced a finger along one of the outer rings. "Normally, magic exists as intent shaped by will. You hold it in your mind, structure it mentally, and release it."
John nodded. "Which is why higher-tier spells fry people who aren't built for it."
"Right," Luke said. "The bottleneck isn't just the amount of mana—it's also cognition."
He tapped the center of the design.
"The Glyph-Engine externalizes that process. Every glyph replaces a mental step. Every ring stabilizes a layer of complexity. Instead of thinking the spell, you let the structure do the thinking for you."
John went quiet.
Luke continued, voice steady but energized now. "In theory, this allows a caster to execute spell constructs far beyond what their mind could normally handle."
"…How far?" John asked.
Luke hesitated.
Then said, "Above eighth tier."
The words sat heavy between them.
Thalia blinked. "Is that a lot?"
"Yes," John and Luke said together—this time, not smiling.
John leaned forward, elbows on the table. "so you mean to say that even a mage who is tier four or tier one can use it."
"Technically yes," Luke said. "But the problem is that the user has to have the amount of mana to cast it at once."
John stared at the design again. "the problem is you're still making it exactly like a spell." he continued "if people had that much amount of mana then they wouldn't need this device now would they?".
Luke nodded. "you're right it does sound stupid when you put it like that"
Their coffee arrived. Thalia's cup was mostly milk with a sad little layer of foam. She took a sip and frowned.
"…This tastes bitter."
John looked at her then sighed. "coffee is supposed to taste bitter"
then he takes the cup of coffee from her. "go order a milkshake you're not old enough for caffeine anyway"
Thalia runs to the counter and orders a milkshake
then John looks at Luke seriously. "if the mana is the problem then why don't you keep a container that can store mana for a long time". then he continues "so that the user doesn't have insert that much mana at once but can do it over time".
Luke looks at him with a smile. "that's why I told you about it"
Thalia runs back and sits on the table with a strawberry milkshake