Chapter 65: Let the Crafts Do the Talking

  Tristan’s goal for the next week was simply to eat, sleep, and learn enchanting from Temperance Garrow. He’d left a message for Sophie about where he’d be in case she needed him. Then he wasted no time in going up to the Foundry.

  The first full day of training absolutely flew by with more rune practice, including learning a couple more runes. His technique improved a lot, as did his fine control when shaping the runes. He still made lots of mistakes, especially with his thick fingers, but Tempy kept supplying him with materials to continue practicing.

  On the second day, he asked Tempy if he should start using [Imbue] to add magic into the successful runes from the day prior.

  “You need to make a charm first,” was her reply. “Then the whole thing will be small, compact, and consist of just the rune itself. Fewer complications mean fewer ways to royally screw up.”

  That hadn’t exactly made sense, especially since he’d already carved out the sharpened rune on steel, but he didn’t want to question Tempy or her methods while he was still so new.

  “Which should I use?” he asked aloud.

  Tempy, as he quickly learned, liked to answer questions with questions. “What do you want it to do?”

  He thought about it before answering her. “I think I want the sharpened rune from yesterday.”

  She chuckled. “You do know that today’s crafts and yesterday’s don’t have to be related, right? I asked what you want it to do, so don’t just stick with what you already know because it’s easy. If you want to do something else, then branch out. Feel free to get creative.”

  She paused and made sure he was listening. “So, what do you want it to do?”

  She made a good point, and since he was trying to learn as much as he could, he decided that maybe more practice on offense runes wasn’t really what he needed. Today he would learn something defensive. Besides, if he was going to continue making small and compact charms later, maybe he’d get more use from them if they sured up his defenses.

  “I guess I want to try something new. I didn’t really think that was an option. Do you have any strong, but simple, defensive runes?”

  Gods, did she ever.

  She brought out a handwritten page with a hastily scribbled label of “Defensive?” at the top. Beneath it were rows and rows of affixes and properties that were all at least partially defensive in nature. It had taken Tristan several minutes just to parse them all. By the end of the page, he’d found a dozen he thought might be interesting to work toward, which he pointed out to her.

  Tempy raised her eyebrows and said, “You’re ambitious. Alright then, let’s see if you’re also up to the challenge.” Then she drew out three different runes from his selections, and labeled them each in the same, hurried hand. “These are the three I think you might have a chance at completing for your first real enchantment. Pick one, make a simple pendant, and then add the rune to one side.” The way she said the last two words made Tristan pay attention.

  “Is it bad to work on both sides?”

  She let out a single, harsh laugh. “Not ‘bad’ exactly, just way harder. Usually you end up oversaturating your medium, especially since the second side ends up taking twice the magic, and that’s just on a relatively simple pattern. When you add more complexity, you risk entangling the weaves, and then you’d really be in a bind--assuming it doesn’t backlash, which at your level could kill you if your health is low enough. Botching higher tier enchantments will kill you--and turn your workstation to ash.”

  He’d gulped. “Got it. One side only for now. So is working on a bigger surface better?”

  “It can be, but don’t oversimplify the issues: more physical size doesn’t always equate to more magical capacity. You’ll just have to figure it out with trial and error, like the rest of us.”

  And with those words of sagely wisdom, she left him to experiment.

  - - - - -

  “What I still don’t get is how I’m supposed to get a better effect,” Tristan said. He was holding a small, roughly circular pendant that he’d flattened down to fit snugly into the palm of his hand. On the face he’d decided to call the top was one of the rune combinations that was supposed to “reduce damage taken” according to Tempy’s notes.

  But all it did was grant a bit of temporary armor every few minutes, which felt to him like too little on too long a cooldown.

  One of the other cool quirks he’d learned about the Crafting Ark was that [Identify] was actually only blocked on others. Anything you made, you could still [Identify]. To a certain degree, that made sense. Unfortunately, that also meant he had to verbally relay any relevant details to Tempy whenever he wanted her feedback or input.

  Tempy took the pendant and placed it flat against the desk, repositioning herself to look straight down on it. “First off, this is a good reproduction of the runes,” she began. “I’m kind of impressed that you managed something so precise so soon. It looks like you’ve got good enough control over your tools that it shouldn’t limit your input or flow at all.”

  Next she took the pendant in her hand, closed her eyes, and... well, to Tristan it looked like she just sat there a while.

  When she reopened her eyes, she looked at Tristan, who was sitting right by her side. “It works well enough. What’s the issue?”

  “It’s a really weak effect.”

  “It’s a pendant,” Tempy replied.

  Tristan frowned. “Pendants can do way more than this though.”

  “Yes, when produced by people who have been practicing for much longer than you have. This is literally your first pendant. Was your first bracer any better? More than that, it’s your first successfully enchanted object at all, and you’ve done it on your second day in the Class. You should take pride in what you’ve already accomplished. How long after you began smithing did it take you to make that?” She reached over his shoulder and flicked the [Oozebane Greatsword] sheathed on his back. “Surely not on the second day? Maybe it’s time to temper your expectations a little bit.”

  She was right, of course, but Tristan didn’t want to think of that. Before she could walk away, he pulled out her list of affixes. “Just, out of curiosity, what’s the coolest defensive property you could put on a pendant of this size?”

  Tempy looked back and waggled a finger at him. “That’s not a fair question for me to answer, Tristan. Firstly, I’ve been working at this much, much longer than you have.” She raised another finger. “Secondly, I know all kinds of tricks. If you think of it like words, I’ve got a bigger vocabulary than you. I can do more as a result. Most of all though,” another finger went up, “I know that the real question to ask is, ‘what’s the coolest defensive property on the list that I’d want to add?’ Then I’d work to add that one.”

  That made sense, but it also made Tristan wonder, based on something she’d said before. “What if your target effect was something runes didn’t normally do well?”

  “How would you know that unless you tried to make it?” Tempy asked. “Maybe you just need to expand your vocabulary.”

  “So, great teacher, could you give me a few more runes to study then?” He held up his pathetically small stack of pages, then placed her list in between them. “As many as you want to give, I’ll take. And I promise I’ll actually study them, too. You can even quiz me on them if you want, or--"

  Tempy scoffed. “I don’t have time for that level of nonsense, but I will sketch out a handful more runes. I’ll put them on my bench before I leave in a bit. I’m getting hungry, and I think it’s..." her eyes flickered to the side as she no doubt checked an internal clock. “Yeah! Just about breakfast time!”

  Tristan was a bit blindsided by the apparent time, but he thanked her all the same. How had they worked throughout the whole night and he hadn’t realized it? Time was a strange and fleeting thing on the Crafting Ark. Looking around the Foundry, he realized that in part it might be because there were no windows or outside reference points at all.

  He added ‘get a permanent clock for Status display’ to his list of things to do.

  Looking down at the “successful” pendant on his workbench, Tristan couldn’t help but consider all the ways he’d like to improve upon it. For one, he could probably improve his magical efficiency by getting more familiar with the [Imbue] skill. And as he improved with [Magic Manipulation], he should get faster with it and see less magic get wasted. Probably a few other perks, too.

  Then he considered a more complicated process altogether. This time, he’d only used [Imbue] at the very end, essentially painting the runes with his magic. What if he used his other new skill, [Infuse], to increase the metal’s magic while he was making the pendant?

  That got him thinking ahead. Like how once he learned [Augment], he could possibly use that skill after the initial crafting was complete to boost what he’d already imbued! Of course, if he got [Inscribe] next, then he wanted to try and see if the runes didn’t have to be on a scroll. Like adding impermanent runes on top of a permanent item, seeing if he could essentially tack an extra effect--or even a more powerful version--in addition to the base version.

  And, ironically, he prayed he wouldn’t get [Bless] next, because he had no idea what he’d do with that, other than probably get himself smited, or smote, or whatever the word for “slapped down by a god” was.

  He got so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t recognize that the time began to melt away again, and he missed Tempy leaving.

  - - - - -

  “Oi, Tempy, what’re you doin’, lettin’ this kid slum around with you? He’s got a Steelblood strike!” a coarse voice practically yelled, “AND NOT JUST THE ONE I GAVE HIM IN HIS SIDE, RIGHT LADS?”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  His mockery earned him a round of coarse laughter from the crowd, and Tristan wondered if Rule 3 was going to apply.

  Tristan saw the large, bent-nosed man swagger up to the anvil where his enchanting teacher was pounding out a long, dark billet that Tristan thought might be large enough to eventually become a greatsword. It was the same man who’d elbowed him before. He recognized the roughly barrel-shaped frame with shoulders nearly as wide as Tristan’s--but also a gut to match. His arms were no joke, though. Tristan could see the telltale signs of a smith who’d worked an anvil for decades.

  Tempy didn’t look up at the man though, instead keeping her hammer’s rhythm steady. Tristan noticed that it was slower than his own, but also that it felt more methodical. She had built more pauses into her strike timings to reevaluate, rotate, or adjust. Just like the last time he’d seen her work, her strikes were incredibly precise and powerful.

  He looked down at his own workspace, where a stack of small metal discs proved how unsuccessfully he’d been at combining a few runes on pendants. At least he’d gotten faster at making the runes. That and Tempy hadn’t needed to correct his linework in, well, he assumed it might have been hours, but he honestly had no idea how long it had been.

  Meanwhile, the newcomer didn’t seem to like being ignored. “Tempy! TEMPY! Temperance Garrow!” he yelled, growing in volume until people two rows over ended up looking at him. “Oi! I’m talkin’ to you!”

  At last, and only because it looked to Tristan like she’d finished one side to her satisfaction, the runesmith lifted her eyes to stare daggers at the boorish man.

  “What do you want now, Boris? Can’t you see I’m working?”

  “I want you to cut this little runt loose! He’s only, what, level 15? And already with a strike. What’s that tell you about ‘im, eh? Not the kind you should get associated with, being all unaffiliated. Don’t you want to protect that little shop of yours?”

  Tristan felt his anger start to simmer deep down in his belly. He set his hammer down right beside his chisels and was about to take a step toward the newcomer, but Tempy immediately shot him a glare that said in no uncertain terms, Don’t you dare.

  Returning her attention to the man, Boris, Tempy adopted what Tristan could clearly see was a fake smile as she said, “This is my newest student, and I’ll thank you not to disparage him in my presence. You don’t see me talking badly about the chaff your guild has been taking in lately, do you?”

  Boris frowned, crossing his clearly-powerful arms before his huge chest. “Your boy has a strike. That means he’s caused problems for the Steelbloods--my people!”

  “I do that shit every other day,” Tempy fired back, growing louder herself. At this point it felt like half of the Foundry was paying close attention, and the other half was merely pretending not to.

  “Though I guess most of you are too dumb to realize it.” She continued, slamming her hammer down on her anvil in a single, sharp TING! “Or just too cowardly to act on it.”

  Boris bristled.

  She tapped her chin delicately. “Or, you know what? Maybe you’re just afraid of how it would look if you suddenly gave the last unguilded smithy on the Row its third strike. Might look a bit like you were a monopoly trying to force out your competition, wouldn’t it? And then I’d bet there would be an inquiry into your Guild’s practices by the Arbiter... But you lot don’t have a single thing to hide, do you?”

  Tempy crossed her well-toned arms and cocked her head to one side, and in that moment Tristan doubted there existed a more attractive person in the entire realm.

  “Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Tempy said, flicking one hand dismissively at the instigator. “Grumble and bluster all you want. You are not going to intimidate me or my student. He’s going to blow all your little fledglings out of the competition at the end of our cruise!”

  “We’ll see about that,” Boris said through a smile that was every bit as forced as his clenched teeth. Then the man gave a big, loud belly laugh and practically yelled, “We’ll let the crafting do the talking for us!” and stormed away.

  Tristan shook his head as he stared after the man. He doesn’t even know me, but somehow he seems to hate me already. All because of one stupid little strike.

  He turned to ask Tempy something, but before he could, her hammer fell--already back in her rhythm.

  He found that a bit odd, since he really could have done with a bit of teacherly support and guidance in that moment. Then again, hadn’t she just publicly backed him and proclaimed her faith in his abilities?

  He shrugged. I should take the hint and get back to my own crafting. He’d felt he was close to adding a new rune to his last pendant, before the interruption. It was time to ignore the hostilities and get back to work.

  He thought about Boris’s last statement, and a confident smile blossomed on his face. Since we’ll let the crafts do the talking, I’m going to make something that would even impress Inspiration Jack!

  - - - - -

  He’d been using his numerous experiments to figure out the ways runes could technically be altered while remaining mostly the same. It wasn’t that different from writing the same letter in different styles, honestly... just much more difficult, and permanent.

  By subtly changing the way he sculpted the rune, he found he could affect its properties in different ways. Not all his changes worked, but some did. And due to the massive amount of materials he could afford thanks to Ark prices and a small gift from Tempy, he was able to experiment more and more.

  One set of changes led him to discover a tradeoff between a defensive ability’s power and its effective time. Constant, passive effects tended to be much weaker. So he’d shifted his focus to making the abilities ones that needed to be activated. He’d finally succeeded five pendants ago, but of course he hadn’t stopped there either. That first success had offered such a long duration ability that it might as well have been passive, resulting in a barely-higher defensive effect.

  With each following attempt, he’d tried to tweak the pendants’ properties. He’d tried compressing the duration, and quickly he’d learned that he could manage it, but not with enough accuracy to give it the increase in defensive power that he wanted.

  Then he’d been reminded of the [Brightshield] property on [Hope’s Aspiration]. It wasn’t exactly enchanted, but Tempy had told him that talismans were just a stronger form of inscription, and he knew that incorporating that faded talisman had been what granted the sword its awesome, unique ability.

  So how did it work? He figured that its insane power probably came in part from reducing the duration to just one single instant. That it then had to be recharged was another reason it could be so strong. There was a balance to its ability. All he had to do was find and manipulate that balance in his own items.

  With his next pendant, instead of merely trying to shorten the ability’s active time, he also tried to lengthen the cooldown...

  But something changed in his process.

  Tristan wasn’t sure how to explain it exactly, other than to say that it felt sort of like when his Core helped supplement his crafts. But he could also tell that this was definitely not just his Core helping him send magic into the pendant. This was different. It was distinct.

  He closed his eyes as he inscribed the rune lines, and he felt rather than saw where the line needed to go. He trusted in his hands, his tools, and his skills.

  When he opened his eyes, the pendant was done--and the brilliant golden glow surrounded him as the telltale DING! swept through the Foundry.

  Congratulations! You have reached LEVEL 16!

  You have earned another skill selection.

  The enchanter Class has reached LEVEL 3!

  Skills Earned:

  [Augment] An active ability allowing the user to increase the abilities already present on an item; works better when increasing an item’s natural properties. One of the foundational methods of enchanting items.

  Skill Selection:

  You may learn one skill from the options provided. Any skill not selected now will still be available in subsequent level-up skill selections if you so choose.

  Do you wish to proceed now?

  When Tristan thought Yes, he was a bit disappointed to see that his new selection was between two passives: he could either take [Endurance Up II] or [Strength Up II]. Then again, the two skills offered boosted his two best stats, so could he really be that upset?

  What ended up making the choice a bit easier was when he realized that he’d already earned [Strength Up II] thanks to the second upgrade from his swordsman Class, which meant that taking this skill would actually push his version all the way to [Strength Up III]. He knew from talking with Jamal that each level of a skill doubled the stat gains it gave, which made this upgrade give a 20% boost instead of merely 10%! That was simply something he couldn’t overlook. Strength increased power while crafting, his damage output in combat, and also helped several of his skills.

  With a thought, Strength became his highest stat, finally overtaking Endurance, and growing all the way up to 78! It was a ridiculously high number, Tristan realized, especially when compared to his 11 strength he’d started out with. It was crazy how much he’d grown!

  [Strength Up III] A passive skill that grants the user a 40% increase to Strength. Skills that scale exclusively off of Strength receive double this bonus.

  After he finished reading his new skills and considering his stat growth, he looked down at the pendant that had gotten him there.

  [Pendant of Stalwart Defense (uncommon)] [Stalwart Defense], Soulbound

  A defensive pendant forged by a talented swordsmith and then enhanced by a promising enchanter.

  He thought the item’s name was pretty cool, and its description was a bit funny. He wondered why the two crafter sections seemed to be separated when they were actually both done by him.

  He expanded the new [Stalwart Defense] property to see what it actually did and had to admit, he was rather pleased to see his experiments paying off.

  [Stalwart Defense] While wearing this item, once per day, you may reduce all damage you take by 33% for 3 seconds.

  The ability showed lots of opportunities for growth, even if it wasn’t the strongest. Yet, he reminded himself. I’m not nearly done with this idea yet. With more attempts, he knew he could make it so much better.

  He couldn’t help but smile as he flexed his over-tired fingers and arms. He hadn’t even begun incorporating his two newest enchanter skills, and he knew that layering those throughout the crafting process was bound to yield better results.

  Tomorrow, he thought. Which reminded him that he needed to figure out what day it was. He needed a break. He could feel the weariness lingering in his muscles, just below the surface. Now that he was starting to notice it, he knew he was long overdue for a rest.

  Tristan stopped and really studied his Status for the first time in ages. He’d gained a Class, three levels in that Class, and another level in his Primary Class on top of that. But he basically had no idea how long it had taken, just that it had been fast.

  The Crafting Ark really is an amazing place for crafters. He blinked. Oh gods, what about Sophie?

  He hadn’t even thought to check in on her in... way too long. He wondered what she’d been up to.

  Tristan Hammerson

  Human

  L16 Swordsmith/7 Swordsman/3 Enchanter

  {{Student of Jamal}}

  Stats:

  STR 78 (+23)

  AGI 31 (+3)

  END 69 (+8)

  INT 17 (+1)

  WIS 19 (+1)

  MCT 38 (+1)

  Core: [Soul-Forged] Items you craft replace a portion of the required materials with soul, are greatly enhanced, and become Soulbound. You may only use Soulbound items.

  Titles: {Awakened}, {Fledgling Dungeon Delver}, {Lonely Dungeoneer}, {Soulscarred}, {{Student of Jamal}}

  Skills: [Augment], [Blade Echo], [Craft Armor], [Craft Shield], [Craft Tool], [Craft Weapon], [Create: Portable Forge], [Disenchant], [Gather Ore], [Identify], [Imbue], [Infuse], [Permanent Party], [Repair Item], [Rivalry], [Sharpen Blade], [Work Metal]

  Attacks: [Blade Flurry], [Cleaving Slash], [Piercing Thrust], [Riposte]

  Passives: [Agility Up I], [Blade’s Resolve], [Born Blacksmith], [Combat Reflexes], [Endurance Up I], [Enhance Craft I], [Heat & Fire Resistance], [In a Hurry], [Manipulate Magic], [Strength Up III]

  for those interested. (8 chapters ahead!)