thomasdarkrose
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Vol. 2 - The Grind - Chapter 22
🕑 Added 2019-01-12 05:07:23 +0000 UTCAfter leaving Hekrin's place, Thomas made his way to The Swans Nest and enjoyed his dinner before heading up to his room for the night. After relaxing in bed Thomas did his usual thing of staring at the ceiling to rank up 'All Seeing Eyes'. After he felt his mana coming close to drained he used 'Serenity' to relax and fall asleep for the evening.
After his breakfast the following morning, Thomas made his way to Emmerick's Enchantments. Since he'd just recently visited he didn't even need to ask for directions. The store was actually just a few doors down from Rock's Armory so it was easy enough to find. Thomas stepped inside and smiled when he noticed Sara standing behind the sales counter. With a mischevious grin, Thomas made his way to the counter.
Sara watched Thomas and gave him a bright smile, a distinct difference from his previous visit, "Good morning and welcome to Emmerick's Enchantments. How can I help you this morning?"
Thomas was very clear about the difference in her attitude and it greatly amused him. He gave Sara his best smile and decided to tease her a little bit, "Actually, Sara, I'm here to speak with Emmerick. Is he around so I can speak to him?"
Sara squinted her eyes and took a harder look at Thomas. She hadn't mentioned her name and she didn't recognize him at all, so him knowing her name was a little confusing. Seeing the look of confusion on her face, Thomas playfully lifted his right hand up to reveal the ring she had sold him yesterday. 'Big ticket' items like storage rings didn't sell very often so Sara immediately recognized the plain silver colored ring on his finger. Her eyes widened a bit and darted from the ring to Thomas's face, "You're him! That filthy guy that was looking at me like in a funny way!"
Thomas blanked for a moment at her claim. Once he processed her words he immediately began to wave his hands in denial, "No no no! I wasn't looking at you funny! Well, not really! It's just that your hair and eyes made me think of a half-elf I met so I thought you might be one too! I only 'looked funny' your ears to see if they were pointy! I swear!"
Sara eyed Thomas suspiciously while trying to decide if she believed his words or not. She crossed her arms beneath her ample breasts, which just served to accentuate them more. Sensing a trap, Thomas kept his eyes firmly on hers and didn't take to even take a single glance at the tempting sight. Sara continued to eye him for a bit before uncrossing her arms and turning around without a word. She stepped into the back room and came back a moment later with a man who looked like he couldn't be more than twenty.
Sara gestured to Thomas, "This is the guy that wanted to talk to you Emmerick."
Emmerick looked at Thomas and gave him a polite smile. Emmerick was a rather handsome man with short white hair, "I'm Emmerick, is there something I can help you with?"
Thomas grinned and nodded, "I'm Thomas, Hekrin sent me over to learn Enchanting from you."
Hearing his name both Sara and Emmerik's eyes widened a bit in surprise. Emerick asked, "You're Thomas?"
Thomas nodded in reply and Emmerick continued, "I see! I've heard of you. But I heard you just started working for Ricktor a couple of days ago."
Thomas laughed lightly and explained, "I finished there so Hekrin sent me here next."
Once again both Emmerick and Sara looked surprised so Thomas explained, "When I was summoned I gained an ability that gives me an advantage when it comes to Alchemy. That advantage allowed me to rank the skill up with surprising speed."
Looking enlightened, Emmerick nodded, "I see. That makes sense. Normally it should take nearly a week for someone to get to rank twenty-five in just about any profession without some sort of edge."
Emmerick gestured for Thomas to follow him, "Well come on into the back and we'll get started."
Thomas followed Emmerick into the back and was rather surprised by how little there was. He'd expected a wide variety of tools and materials that would need to be worked with to make enchantments but there was surprisingly little. The only tools he could spot were hanging on one of the walls. A lot of engraving tools hung on the wall with a large number of mana crystals below them. Everything else just looked like things waiting to be enchanted various weapons, armors, and items.
Emmerick smiled when he saw Thomas's surprise, "A lot of people think that Enchanting is some super difficult super secret technique that requires amazingly expensive materials. It's not. Enchantment is all about worldly knowledge and experience. Everyone thinks they need to use special runes and magical materials to make enchantments, but really, all you need is willpower. Let me show you. It's a lot easier to understand with an example."
Emmerick walked over to a workbench with a dagger sitting on it. Emmerick gestured to the dagger, "Before you arrived I had just finished enchanting it. A simple enchantment to increase the sharpness of the edge so it can slice and pierce armor more easily." Emmerick lifted up the blade and drew Thomas's attention to a small engraving on it. The engraving looked like a small image of the dagger itself, "This is the engraving I created for this enchantment."
Emmerick took the knife over to a piece of iron armor strapped to a dummy. The armor was ragged and already pierced with many holes and covered in slashes. Emmerick placed the tip of the knife against the armor and pushed with just a little force. The blade pierced into the armor like it was made of tofu. Emmerick looked over to Thomas and smiled, "As you can see the enchantment is working wonderfully."
Emmerick set the knife down and picked up another knife from a small pile of them, "Watch closely."
Thomas moved closer to Emmerick to watched as Emmerick picked up a mortar and pestle to grind a mana crystal into powder as he explained, "The only material you absolutely need to make a simple enchantment is a good mana crystal. That's not to say that you can't add in additional materials to make even stronger enchantments, it's just not strictly necessary." After Emmerick finished grinding the mana crystal to powder he added some oil into it, turning the mana crystal powder into something like ink.
Emmerick selected a small engraving tool with an extremely sharp edge and dipped it into the mixture of mana crystal powder and oil. Picking up a small hammer Emmerick looked at Thomas, "The single most important thing about enchanting is a mental image. You have to very clearly be able to picture what you want the enchantment to do in your mind. For example, with the dagger I showed you earlier. I imagined the scene of the dagger sliding into iron armor like the armor wasn't even there. After that, I carved an image that, to me, represented what I wanted to convey. In the case of that dagger, it was an image of a dagger that I felt was 'sharp'."
Emmerick turned back to the fresh knife, "Watch closely."
Emmerick placed the tip of the engraving tool covered in mana crystal powder against the new knife and held it there for a moment as he closed his eyes and focused. Thomas assumed he was focusing on the image of what he wanted in his mind, as he had explained previously. When Emmerick opened his eyes he began to tap the top of the engraving tool with his small hammer. The tool gently carved a small groove into the metal while depositing the mana crystal powder in its path. Every couple of taps from the hammer Emmerick would dip the engraving tool into the mana crystal and oil mix to recoat it.
Thomas watched as Emmerick carved a completely different image, if it could even be called an image. What Emmerick carved out was nothing but a simple straight line. It barely took Emmerick more than five minutes before he set the hammer and engraving tool down and turned to smile at Thomas, "Done."
Thomas arched an eyebrow in question at Emmerick's claim. No matter what it really didn't look like Emmerick had actually enchanted the blade to Thomas. Not even a little bit. Emmerick chuckled at Thomas's expression and picked up the knife to carry it over to the mostly ruined armor. While Thomas watched, Emmerick gently pushed the blade against the armor and easily pierced it again. Thomas's eyes widened in surprise, he was shocked that a simple line could count as a sharpening enchantment.
Emmerick laughed playfully and pulled the knife out of the armor, then turned to face Thomas, "The line I carved represents the edge of a razor sharp blade that can cut through anything. With the image in my mind focused on that specific image while I carved I imparted that image to the knife. The mana crystal sears that image into the item being enchanted and then when mana is channeled into it, it activates and does as I intended."
Emmerick walked back over to the workbench and set the knife down, "As long as you have a focused mind and strong willpower then it doesn't really matter what you carve to represent the image in your mind. Just keep in mind that the more you carve the more stable and functional the enchantment will be. While carving just a line as I did will work, it could potentially overload and fail at a crucial moment. That's why on the previous one I carved out an image of a whole dagger. Just to increase the size of the symbol for the enchantment."
Emmerick gestured to an empty workbench, "Take one of the knives and try to enchant it for sharpness. Don't be afraid of failure, just be aware that if you do fail it will cost you twenty-five gold. Fifteen for the dagger, ten for the mana crystal."
System Notice: Enchanting Tutorial. Follow Emmerick's directions to unlock the Enchanting skill.
Thomas took one of the knives and carried it over to one of the free tables. After setting it down he gathered the necessary tools and a mana crystal. After grinding the mana crystal to powder and adding the oil, Thomas relaxed and spent a moment trying to think of an image for a sharp blade and what he wanted to carve to represent it. After thinking for a while a smile blossomed on Thomas's face. He'd thought of something that would either be amazing or straight up terrible.
Taking a deep breath, Thomas firmed up the image he'd thought of in his mind and focused on it with as much power as he could. After a few moments of focus, he started by placing the tip of the engraving tool against the flat of the knife and carefully tapped it with the small hammer. Very carefully he controlled the power of his blows to only carve out a very shallow trench. He paused every few taps to dip the engraving tool into the mana crystal mixture to keep the tip coated.
Anyone from the modern world would begin to recognize what Thomas was carving after he managed to carve out a few lines. The image took form as straight lines, angled lines, and circular nodes that looked strikingly similar to circuitry. It wasn't perfect, but the image was hard to deny. It took Thomas a good thirty minutes to finish the carving to match the feeling of what he was going for.
Thomas set down the tools and examined his work. The image looked almost exactly like what he wanted. He wasn't much of an artist, but it wasn't too hard to draw a few simple lines and circles. That was exactly why he'd chosen to go with the image of a modern-day circuit board. Thomas picked up the dagger and examined it closely.
Weapon Type:Dagger
Rarity:Normal (Enchanted)
Quality:Average
Description:A basic dagger made of iron that has been painstakingly enchanted by an amateur enchanter. Though the image chosen for the enchantment is unique, it is no doubt effective.
Enchantment:Sharpness - When mana is channeled into the weapon the blade will become supernaturally sharp.
Judging by the description on the dagger, Thomas felt he had succeeded. There was one way to be completely certain though. Thomas turned to address Emmerick, "Can I test out my enchantment on the armor?"
Emmerick glanced at Thomas and nodded, "Go for it."
Emmerick continued to watch Thomas, curious if he had succeeded or not. Thomas walked over to the armor and urged the mana inside of his body to flow into the dagger. He felt his mana drain very very slowly, an almost negligible amount. There were no outward signs of the enchantment working, such as a glow. Thomas gently placed the tip of the dagger against a section of the armor that hadn't been destroyed yet and slowly applied pressure. For a brief moment nothing happened but after a little more pressure was applied the dagger started to pierce into the armor with ease.
Emmerick clapped and nodded in approval, "Well done Thomas. It seems you have a knack for enchanting like you do for Alchemy. You pass with flying colors!"
System Notice: Tutorial complete! You have unlocked the Enchanting skill.
Thomas smiled and handed the dagger over to Emmerick for him to examine. Emmerick eyed the curious looking symbol that represented the enchantment, "Where did you come up with such a unique design?"
Thomas smiled as he replied, "I thought of a bladed weapon from my world known for its sharpness. The symbol represents that."
That was only the partial truth. Thoms couldn't exactly tell Emmerick that he got the idea from a vibrating monomolecular sword in another game he played in the past.
Comments
Cody S.
That's correct. The mana that powers the enchantments is provided by the user. I never appreciated Enchantments that just gave power for 'free' after they were applied. It seemed especially egregious when the enchantment was really powerful. I mean, the sword is just a piece of metal where does it get mana from to power the enchantment? And enchantments that just get mana from the atmosphere for free are cheap (in my opinion). So I thought it would be more fitting for the user to have to provide the mana. ALSO! It gives a reason for even warrior type players to have to spend at least a bit of experience raising their Magic attribute. They need it to power their gear! The blue box usually appears when Thomas is told to do his practice piece. In this case, that was after the demo by Emmerick.
Heru Kane
Ooh. What an interesting system for enchanting. So as a note when a person uses the weapin its their mana used and not say the items mana? Also question, just a thought really, but wouldnt the skill tutorial blue box pop up as he first begins speaking.
