Source is the magical power used to run almost every machine in Ars Nouveau, and it’s kept in 
Source Jars placed near whatever needs it. Source is made by Sourcelinks, of which there’s five different kinds, and each one turns something you’ll usually have plenty of into Source, like crops, food, fuel, mobs or potions. After that it can be moved around your base using 
Source Relays.
Source isn’t the same thing as the mana you use to cast spells, and the two are never mixed together. Your mana will refill on its own over time, whereas Source has to be generated, stored and then moved to where it’s needed. Because of that, Source is usually what ends up deciding how quickly you’re able to progress, once the 
Imbuement Chamber and the 
Enchanting Apparatus are up and running.
The Source Calculator adds up what your Sourcelinks make each minute against what your machines use.
Getting Your First Source
Every Sourcelink needs 
Source Gems to be crafted, and Source Gems are made in the Imbuement Chamber, which seems like a problem at first, since the Imbuement Chamber also uses Source. However, the Imbuement Chamber is able to work without any Source nearby, as it builds up a slow trickle of its own. It’ll turn an 
Amethyst Shard or a piece of 
Lapis Lazuli into a Source Gem in just under a minute that way.
So the first thing you’ll want to do is build an Imbuement Chamber, and leave it making a handful of Source Gems. Four of them are enough for two Sourcelinks, and the Agronomic and 
Mycelial Sourcelinks are the best ones to start with, as they run on things you should already have. Once a Source Jar is placed within 2 blocks of the Imbuement Chamber, every Source Gem after that takes about 5 seconds.
Source Jars
A Source Jar can hold 10,000 Source, and it’s crafted using six 
Archwood Slabs and two blocks of 
Glass. Source Jars can only be filled by a Sourcelink or a Relay, rather than by anything you do yourself, and looking at one will show you how full it is as a percentage. The glass also fills up as the Source Jar does, so a row of them can be read at a glance.
Breaking a Source Jar keeps the Source inside of it, which means a full Source Jar can be picked up and carried to wherever it’s needed. That’s the easiest way to move Source before you have Relays. It’s also worth noting that a 
Redstone Comparator placed against a Source Jar gives off a signal based on how full it is, which can be used for a lamp that tells you when you’re running low.
How Far Machines Reach
Machines don’t need to be touching a Source Jar to use it, but each machine only looks so far for one, and it isn’t the same for all of them. It’s measured as a cube around the machine, so a range of 10 means 10 blocks in every direction, including up and down. A Source Jar within 2 blocks of everything never has a problem, although that’s not very practical.
| Machine | Jar range | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Imbuement Chamber | 2 blocks | The recipe’s cost |
| Potion Melder | 5 blocks | 300 per cycle |
| Whirlisprig | 5 blocks | 250 per batch of items |
| Ritual Brazier | 6 blocks | The ritual’s cost |
| Wixie Cauldron | 6 blocks | 50 per craft |
| Drygmy | 7 blocks | 1,000 per cycle |
| Enchanting Apparatus | 10 blocks | The recipe’s cost |
| Spell Turrets | 10 blocks | The spell’s cost |
| Runes | 10 blocks | The spell’s cost |
| Warp Scroll (making a Portal) | 10 blocks | 9,000 |
The Imbuement Chamber is the one that catches most people out, as it only looks 2 blocks away, whereas nearly everything else reaches 5 blocks or more. When a machine needs more Source than one Source Jar holds, it’s able to take from several Source Jars in range at once, so a big Enchanting Apparatus recipe might drain two or three of them in one go.
On the 1.20.1 version, a machine can only take Source from one Source Jar at a time, so that Source Jar has to hold the whole cost of the recipe by itself. Most Sourcelinks on 1.20.1 will also only pass on 1,000 Source every 5 seconds, and the Mycelial Sourcelink pays a lot less for food, with 
Bread giving 91 instead of 415.
Sourcelinks
All five Sourcelinks are crafted the same way, using two Source Gems and two 
Gold Ingots, with a center item that decides which Sourcelink you get. A Sourcelink can store up to 20,000 Source inside of it, and every 5 seconds it pushes what it’s made into the nearest Source Jar within 5 blocks. It’ll fill that Source Jar first, before moving on to the next closest one.
That push is also where each Sourcelink tops out, as a Sourcelink can’t pass on more than 10,000 Source every 5 seconds, no matter how much you feed it. Once you’re at that point, a bigger setup will need more Sourcelinks, each with a Source Jar of its own, rather than more fuel going into the Sourcelink you already have.
| Sourcelink | Center item | Makes Source from |
|---|---|---|
| Agronomic Sourcelink | Wheat | Crops and trees growing within 15 blocks |
| Mycelial Sourcelink | Mushroom Stew | Food dropped next to it or placed on Arcane Pedestals |
| Vitalic Sourcelink | Glistering Melon Slice | Mobs dying, animals breeding and babies growing up |
| Volcanic Sourcelink | Lava Bucket | Burnable items, with a bonus for Archwood |
| Alchemical Sourcelink | Brewing Stand | Potions from a Potion Jar underneath it |
The Agronomic and Vitalic Sourcelinks work a bit differently from the other three, as they’re waiting for something to happen nearby, instead of eating items. Each of those events can only pay one Sourcelink of that type, which means placing a second Agronomic Sourcelink in the same field won’t double what you’re making. The second one will only start collecting once the first one is full.
Agronomic Sourcelink
The 
Agronomic Sourcelink gives 20 Source each time a crop within 15 blocks grows a stage, and 50 Source each time a sapling grows into a tree. Using 
Bone Meal on crops doesn’t count though, as the growth has to happen naturally, so you’ll get more out of a large field that’s left to grow on its own than a small one you’re speeding up by hand.
The magical plants from Ars Nouveau are worth planting around it instead of 
Wheat, as 
Sourceberry Bushes, 
Magebloom and the Archwood fruit pods all give 45 Source per stage, and an Archwood Sapling gives 100 Source when it grows into a tree. Starbuncles are able to harvest Sourceberry Bushes for you as well, which makes a patch of Sourceberry Bushes around an Agronomic Sourcelink one of the easiest ways to get Source early on.
Saplings are the exception to the Bone Meal rule, since a tree will pay out however it was grown. Because of that, using Bone Meal on Archwood Saplings next to an Agronomic Sourcelink is a quick way to fill a Source Jar when you need Source in a hurry, and you’ll get Archwood Logs for a Volcanic Sourcelink out of it too.
Mycelial Sourcelink
The Mycelial Sourcelink eats food, which can either be thrown on the ground right next to it, or placed on 
Arcane Pedestals around it, and it takes one of each every 2 seconds. How filling the food is matters a lot more than how much of it you have, as saturation counts for the most, and the Source Berry foods from Ars Nouveau get a large bonus on top of that.
| Food | Source each |
|---|---|
| Source Berry Pie | 2,700 |
| Source Berry Roll | 1,685 |
| Golden Carrot | 930 |
| Steak or Cooked Porkchop | 856 |
| Mendosteen, Bastion Fruit, Frostaya or Bombegranate | 855 |
| Mushroom Stew | 498 |
| Bread or Baked Potato | 415 |
| Carrot | 249 |
| Sourceberry | 140 |
The Mycelial Sourcelink also turns the 
Dirt and 
Grass Blocks in the 3×3 underneath it into 
Mycelium over time, and then grows mushrooms on any empty Mycelium next to it. That’s worth knowing before you place one on a lawn you care about, and standing it on Stone or Archwood Planks will stop it from happening.
Vitalic Sourcelink
The 
Vitalic Sourcelink gives 200 Source whenever a mob dies within 15 blocks of it, and 600 Source whenever two animals are bred there. Summoned creatures don’t count, so the Vitalic Sourcelink is best placed next to a mob farm or an animal pen, where it can collect Source from things you’re already doing anyway.
It also makes baby animals nearby grow up a lot faster, so they’ll be fully grown in about two minutes instead of twenty, and the Vitalic Sourcelink gets a small amount of Source each time it does this. Once that’s added up, breeding two animals and letting the baby grow up is worth roughly 1,000 Source, so a pen of 
Cows you breed every few minutes can be a steady supply.
Volcanic Sourcelink
The 
Volcanic Sourcelink burns anything that can be used as furnace fuel, and the amount of Source it gives is based on how long that item would burn for. Archwood Logs get a bonus on top of their burn time, with Blazing Archwood Logs getting the most, and items on the Arcane Pedestals around it are all burned together, whereas items on the ground are burned one at a time.
| Fuel | Source each |
|---|---|
| Fire Essence | 2,000 |
| Lava Bucket | 1,666 |
| Block of Coal | 1,333 |
| Blaze Rod | 200 |
| Coal or Charcoal | 133 |
| Blazing Archwood Log | 125 |
| Other Archwood Logs | 75 |
| Oak Log and other logs | 25 |
Lava Buckets are the ones you’ll want to use, as the empty 
Bucket is dropped back out each time, so a Create or pump setup that refills them turns the Volcanic Sourcelink into an endless supply. 
Fire Essence might look like the best fuel on the list, but it costs 2,000 Source to make in the first place, which means burning it only gets back the same amount you put in.
While it burns fuel, the Volcanic Sourcelink heats up the 3×3 of blocks directly underneath it, turning 
Stone and similar blocks into 
Magma Blocks, and then turning those Magma Blocks into Lava. You’ll want to stand it on something that isn’t Stone, like 
Archwood Planks, unless you actually want the Lava.
Alchemical Sourcelink
The 
Alchemical Sourcelink uses up potions from a 
Potion Jar placed directly underneath it, or right beside that spot, and it drinks roughly one potion every 5 seconds. How much each potion is worth depends on how long it lasts, how strong it is, and most of all how many different effects it has.
A potion with only one effect isn’t worth very much, with a Potion of Swiftness giving around 300 Source and the stronger one about 500. However, every extra effect multiplies the total, so a Potion of the Turtle Master, which has both Slowness and Resistance, gives over 7,000 Source each. That’s why the Alchemical Sourcelink is usually paired with a 
Potion Melder, which combines two potions into one, and a Wixie to keep brewing them.
A full Potion Jar holds 100 potions, which lasts a little over 8 minutes at that rate. The Alchemical Sourcelink is the most work of the five to set up, although a single potion with a few effects can be worth as much as a whole stack of fuel, so once it’s running it can keep a Sourcelink close to its limit with very little input.
Moving Source with Relays
Once your Sourcelinks are more than a few blocks from the machines they’re meant to be feeding, you’ll need a Source Relay to carry the Source across. A Source Relay takes Source from one place and sends it to another, up to 30 blocks away, and it moves 1,000 Source every second, which is more than enough for most bases.
Linking with the Dominion Wand
Source Relays are linked using a 
Dominion Wand, which is made in the Enchanting Apparatus from a 
Stick, two Source Gems and a Gold Ingot. The order you click things in is what decides which way the Source goes, and getting it the wrong way round is the most common reason a Source Relay looks like it isn’t doing anything.
To make a Source Relay take from a Source Jar, use the Dominion Wand on the Source Jar first, and then on the Source Relay. To make it send Source somewhere, use the Dominion Wand on the Source Relay first, and then on the Source Jar or the next Source Relay. Using the Dominion Wand on a Source Relay while sneaking will clear its links, and a Redstone signal turns it off.
Relay Upgrades
The four upgraded Source Relays are all made by putting a normal Source Relay into the Enchanting Apparatus, with a different set of items on the pedestals. None of them cost any Source to make, so it’s only the items you’ll need to gather.
| Relay | What it does | Pedestal items |
|---|---|---|
| Source Relay: Splitter | Links to many jars at once and shares 2,500 Source a second between them | 4 Nether Quartz and 4 Lapis Lazuli |
| Source Relay: Collector | Also pulls from any unlinked jar within 5 blocks | 4 Chests |
| Source Relay: Depositor | Also fills any unlinked jar within 5 blocks | 4 Hoppers |
| Source Relay: Warper | Sends to other Warpers at any distance in the same dimension, while both are loaded | 4 Ender Pearls and 4 Popped Chorus Fruit |
Placing a Collector next to your Sourcelinks and a Depositor next to your machines saves you linking every Source Jar by hand, as the two only need linking to each other. The Warper is the one to use for a farm that’s far away, although past 30 blocks there’s a chance each transfer loses 30% of the Source it’s carrying, and that chance keeps going up until every transfer loses it at 130 blocks.
Once you have Source flowing, the next step is putting it to use in the Imbuement Chamber, which turns Source Gems into the Essences that most of the later recipes in Ars Nouveau will ask for. A Source Jar or two next to the Imbuement Chamber is all that it takes.
Frequently Asked Questions
You’ll need to place a Sourcelink within 5 blocks of the Source Jar, and then give that Sourcelink something to work with, like food for the Mycelial Sourcelink or growing crops for the Agronomic Sourcelink. The Sourcelink will push Source into the nearest Source Jar every 5 seconds, and a Source Relay can be used to fill Source Jars that are further away.
Early on, the best is an Agronomic Sourcelink around a patch of Sourceberry Bushes, or a Mycelial Sourcelink fed with cooked food, as both of them run on things you’ll already have. Every Sourcelink tops out at the same rate though, so later on the best one is whichever you can keep fed, which is usually a Volcanic Sourcelink on refilled Lava Buckets, or an Alchemical Sourcelink drinking potions with several effects.
Every Sourcelink sends its Source to Source Jars within 5 blocks of it. The Agronomic and Vitalic Sourcelinks will notice crops growing and mobs dying up to 15 blocks away, whereas the Mycelial and Volcanic Sourcelinks only take items from right next to them, or from the Arcane Pedestals around them.
You’ll need to place one Warper at each end, and then use the Dominion Wand on the sending Warper first, and the receiving Warper second. Each Warper links to Source Jars within 30 blocks the same as a normal Source Relay, but the two Warpers can be any distance apart, as long as they’re in the same dimension and both ends are loaded.
