Chapter 67: Investments in His Path

  It took three more days fully devoted to making charms before Tristan felt comfortable with all the ins and outs of their little runes. He struggled most of all with the curves, which had to be a lot more precisely-rounded than he'd originally thought. Too steep or flat a curve was enough to ruin an entire attempt. He had a small bucket full of failures to prove just how difficult the process was for him, and that was after Tempy had already come by to empty the bucket of his previous failures once.

  Looking down at his most recent attempt, he couldn't help but smile, even if its current state left something to be desired. One of its outer edges was jagged instead of smooth, but the rune itself was crisp and precise. He had a really good feeling about this one. He was also getting much better at sensing how much magic his runes could take, and he could tell that this one wasn’t quite full yet.

  Breathing slowly, he pushed just a tiny bit more into the charm. He could feel the moment it all just clicked together, like it was unified at last, and the craft was complete. It had worked, which made five successes in a row, and this one had been his first attempt at a new rune, [Minor Rune: Precision]! It was proof of the progress he’d made with his new enchanting techniques.

  Better still, the unmistakable golden glow and Ding! rang out, announcing his new level to all those around him.

  Congratulations! The enchanter Class has reached LEVEL 4!

  Skills Earned:

  [Inscribe] An active ability allowing the user to to grant potent new, single-use affixes, properties, and abilities to a scroll or item. One of the foundational methods of enchanting items.

  Tempy had said [Inscribe] was a deceptively powerful ability, and he supposed he could see how that might be true. Trading permanence for a much bigger, one-time effect could be useful in the right situations. Getting a tremendous boost to his Strength might be amazing as a short-term damage increase. It could also enable shenanigans, like lifting crazy heavy objects--or enemies. And once he gained several more levels, he was pretty sure this was how he might be able to incorporate something like [Haste] into his own gear!

  He forced himself to stop before he got lost in all the maybes. That wasn’t what he was aiming for here. He wanted to learn to make permanent improvements first. For now, splitting his focus would just leave all his crafts subpar.

  No, he didn’t feel ready to push into temporary enchantments yet, no matter how potent--or tempting--they might be.

  But he could still be proud of what he’d accomplished. Another level already. Another new ability! I’m kind of loving this whole Crafting Ark experience bonus!

  That also meant he only had one “foundational method of enchanting” left to earn. He wasn’t upset that his last would be [Bless]. He wasn’t nearly ready to begin worrying about divinity and how best to borrow its power. He had enough trouble wrangling the magic that was near at hand.

  He had managed to correctly [Imbue] several simple charms with [Minor Rune of Deflecting] after Tempy had walked him through it a few times. After over a dozen failures, he had three successes in a row and was feeling pretty good about himself.

  So he attempted a more complex design, [Minor Rune of Blunting], without her guidance.

  He meticulously copied the design, and then repeated it three more times in a row to refine his process. Each time he would get about half way through the [Imbue] process when an intense tiredness swept over him. The first time it was enough to make him fumble his tools--and suddenly there was some sort of magical reaction that he had absolutely no idea how to handle properly! He ended up with a literal lump of metal that was somehow both molten and charred. How that combination was even possible, he wasn’t sure.

  The next two times, at least he was somewhat prepared for the drain. But even with his mind ready, his body couldn’t compensate. Something was very wrong, and two more ooze-like lumps of smoking metal joined the first one.

  At least the last failure earned him enough experience to bring his enchanter level up to 5.

  Tempy appeared behind him after that and actually laughed. “Congrats, Tristan, but, um, why are you trying to fit that rune on that tiny charm? That’s more than just ambitious at your level.” She started by pointing out a few places where he’d run the rune too close to the edge. “And what are you using as your Source?”

  Tristan looked at her blankly. “Source of what?”

  Tempy closed her eyes for a long count as she chuckled. “Of magic? Where’s the magic coming from that you’re trying to pull into the charm?”

  Tristan didn’t have an answer for that.

  “Gods among us, kid. Did you completely ignore the column showing how much magical essence each rune requires?”

  Clearly Tristan had. He pulled the page of her handwritten notes closer to his eyes... and of course, there it was: “Magical Essence,” clearly labeled, with a scale between 1 and 10.

  [Minor Rune of Blunting] had a 4 in that column.

  “I just thought, since the rune design was only a little more complex..."

  “That you’d jump up three levels in Source difficulty and somehow be magically fine?” Tempy finished for him. Her tone wasn’t as scolding as he feared, merely disappointed. She indicated the final, still-smoldering lump of failure, raising an eyebrow. “And how’d that turn out for you? Until you are able to source this much magic, this is going to happen every time you try that. How do you feel?”

  Tristan put a hand to his chest. “Not great.”

  “Yeah, I bet not. Even with your new level in enchanter, you haven’t trained your internal conduit hardly at all yet. You’re essentially developing a brand new muscle. It’s barely learned to float and you’re asking it to swim an ocean. Stick to the runes labeled ‘level 1’ for now. You were right to branch out in rune complexity; that’s definitely what you should do next. But for now it’d be dangerous to try anything past level 2 without an external Source, alright? Until you’ve gotten more crafts under your belt, you won’t have built up your own conduit nearly enough. Doing that takes more raw power and sustainability.”

  Tristan rubbed his chest slightly, though it did nothing for the internal ache he still felt. He understood, at least in concept, what she was trying to tell him. In truth, magic was still just something he didn’t really have a good handle on yet.

  “Do you have any spare Sources I could use?”

  Tempy lifted a single eyebrow. “Do you think I’m just made of magic items that I’m not planning to sell? Hmm, let me think about that.” Her eyes narrowed.

  Tristan scratched his head sheepishly. “Sorry, I didn’t think about it like that.”

  The runesmith shook her head. “It’s fine. You’re new, and this isn’t totally unexpected. But as nice as I’ve been to you, kid, you’re on your own there. So maybe go down to the Central Market and find yourself some arcane dust and lesser magic essences for cheap. Then, if you want, we can try a more demanding rune.”

  That was exactly what Tristan did. He spent roughly thirty gold, which was practically a fortune in Woodsedge, on enchanting mats. He was immediately thankful for the steep discount of the Crafting Ark since, despite coming back to his workbench with what he felt was a ludicrous pack full of materials, the materials only ended up lasting him two days. At least these finished products ended up being usable.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Staring at the pile of completed, successful charms, Tristan couldn’t believe how much he’d accomplished. His most recent had even been a 3 on Tempy’s Magic scale.

  One saving grace was that his Core worked as well on his enchanting as it did on his smithing. It had supplemented every one of his crafts, and Tempy had confirmed that what he’d produced had ended up being at least a bit more potent than the basic design she’d expected from someone at his level.

  He hadn’t realized how helpful the second benefit of his Core would actually be. The discount in materials was always apparent, but he’d never had a way to measure how his Core “greatly enhanced” his crafts like it claimed to.

  He was about to head back down to the Central Market again when Tempy stopped him.

  “How many of these charms are you planning on using?”

  Tristan hadn’t even looked back at the stack. “Honestly, probably none.”

  “Then you definitely don’t need to head back downstairs yet. Just [Disenchant] these, and you’ll at least get some of your dust back.”

  As he did exactly that, the true gift of his Core became quickly apparent: because it had slightly improved the quality of all his crafts, he got a much better yield from his disenchanting than Tempy had said to expect. Rather than merely getting 25% of his original supplies back, he got closer to 40%!

  “That’s incredible,” Tempy said after looking over his returns. “Though I suppose it would have to be since none of your crafts can be sold--or even used--by others. Not every Core is as kind in both the give and the take.”

  Tristan straightened as she put things into a more positive perspective than he’d considered. “I’m still out all of the metal I used for the base charm though.”

  “But does that really matter?” Tempy asked without a sliver of joking in her tone. “In the normal market, enchanting mats are snapped up quickly, ending up far rarer, and thus more valuable, than metal. Like a lot more. Once you get your own internal conduit built up, you might be able to [Disenchant] everything you craft and make a sizable dent in the material you’ll need for the next craft.” She paused. “Though I guess that depends on your production speed and enchanting quality.”

  “Won’t it all just be Soulbound though?”

  Tempy pointed to the handful of dust he’d just produced using [Disenchant]. “No, look. It’s all just crafting mats, so not Soulbound at all.”

  Making things just to turn them to dust, Tristan thought with a slight frown. That’s not what I want to do, no matter how profitable. He shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll ever fully go that route, though it should help make experimenting a bit cheaper.”

  “A good way to think about it,” Tempy said with a nod. She pointed at his clean workstation. “Are you going to do more of that experimentation now, or are you calling it a day?”

  Tristan wasn’t sure, but he thought he might have caught a hint of amusement in her question. Does she want me to call it a day? He tried not to get caught up staring as he scanned her face for hidden motives. But he couldn’t be sure.

  He forced his eyes back down to his workbench where he unrolled a long piece of paper with a few hastily sketched lines on it. “I’ve been planning my next craft, actually. My next big one.”

  In a flash, Tempy appeared beside him, practically shoving him as she looked over his design. “Another bigass sword, I see, though you haven’t even settled on the full shape yet?” She didn’t take her eyes off the paper, but her tone did lighten, moving away from the possible disappointment into something more teasing. “You’ve got a thing for big blades, Tristan. You’re not compensating, are you?”

  “What? No!” Tristan practically squeaked, as he became uncomfortably aware of his mentor’s giggling. “I still haven’t quite figured out the shape yet. I like to let that sort of come naturally while I’m working the materials, you know? All I know is that I want a greatsword. I love the feel of a greatsword--"

  Tempy cut him off. “I understand all that. What I don’t understand is what you’re trying to do here,” she said, pointing at the spot on the base of the blade where Tristan had just recently--and quite hastily--scratched in a few ideas.

  “I’m, well... I want to put a few runes there.”

  “Those aren’t any rune combinations on my sheet,” Tempy said, raising an eyebrow. “They look like they might be related to the [Major Rune: Taunt], but...?" She left the question unspoken.

  Tristan’s mouth fought to find an appropriate response, but the only thing he could come up with was the truth, and he knew it didn’t sound great. “Honestly, I kind of wanted to try something different. Something new. I still haven’t figured it all out yet, as you can see, but... I want this sword to be as unique as all the others I’ve made.”

  Tempy crossed her impressive arms. “So rather than take this wonderful resource full of previously established and guaranteed-to-work runes that I’ve painstakingly provided for you, you’re basically trying to treat enchanting like it’s the Frontier and search for something new?”

  Tristan exhaled slowly. “Yes.”

  “Cool,” Tempy replied. “Ballsy, but cool. I respect that. And also probably for the best, since even if you somehow managed to replicate it perfectly, a true [Major Rune: Taunt] wouldn’t do anything for you until you were level 10 in enchanting.” She stepped aside. “I’ll also appreciate you letting me know a few hours before you try to actually create any of that. I’ll need the time to move my workstation farther away from yours--and the inevitable explosions.”

  Tristan looked up at her aghast. “What–-?” Only to find a very amused look on her face. “Oh, you’re joking.”

  “Only in part. I will expect the warning. You’re still new at all this, kid--”

  “Stop calling me ‘kid,’” Tristan cut in. “Please.”

  Tempy eased herself back, as if taking him in, clearly jarred by the interruption. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said, nodding slightly. “But, back to your design, let me at least try to guide you a bit, so you won’t end up blowing yourself up.” Stepping toward him again, she patted his shoulder with one hand while pointing with the other at a part of his scribbles. “This is an interesting start to an idea. It could turn into a powerful defensive combination if you tweak it a bit more... maybe pair it with another rune. What are you trying to gain from it?”

  “I was thinking of it like an external defense,” Tristan answered honestly, though a bit sheepishly, “so it could, uh, make a certain sound... when I hit it.”

  “What sound?”

  “Just, the sound of a sword striking a shield.”

  Tempy smiled at him with a little head shake that showed she didn’t quite understand. Not that he really needed her to. This was just something he wanted, something he’d enjoyed from months ago and honestly grown to miss.

  “I’ll be interested to see how it goes,” Tempy said reassuringly. “What you’ve laid out here definitely has potential.” She tapped the page a few more times. “I kind of wonder if you couldn’t bring the two ideas together.”

  Tristan followed the line she was making, between the Taunt-inspired one and the rotating shield. “That’s... actually...! Wow!”

  “Right?” Tempy winked at him. “It’s a little crazy, but I'm excited to watch you find a way to make it work!”

  Her faith in him made his pride swell, while her smile made his heart hammer an anvil of its own. “Thanks. I guess I’ve learned not to shy away from crazy. And besides, I want to make you proud--”

  Tempy waved that away. “Nah, none of that. Just do your best. If it works out like we both think, then you can definitely win that Tier 2 Primary Contest at the end of all this. Regardless, we don’t need the ‘I want to make you proud’ nonsense you’re spouting right now. Don’t make me proud; do better than that! Make me impressed.”

  Needless to say, Tristan wanted nothing more in the world than to make that happen as quickly as possible.

  He brushed all his thoughts about charms to the back of his mind--for a while at least. He did still want to make one good enough to enter into the Secondary Crafting Contest, but that could wait another week or so. Entries wouldn’t even open until the start of the third week.

  In the meantime, he wanted to finish the design of his next sword. To have any chance at winning the Primary Contest in the tier 2 bracket, he’d have to make an impact with the sword he made, which definitely meant going above and beyond the basics of form and function. He needed to put his best swordsmithing on display!

  With a touch of shame, he realized that he hadn’t really been honing those skills as much as he probably should have been. Since his Awakening over a year before, he’d only worked on a handful of swords, and of those, he’d only kept two! For a swordsmith, that was way below expectations.

  Immediately he came up with excuses: he’d spent a lot of time learning the swordsman Class from Jamal; and due to his Core, he’d had to spend even more time crafting the rest of his own gear, which others could have just bought or neglected.

  No, he thought, reframing the ideas, those weren’t excuses. They were all investments in his Path. They were critical to who and what he was going to be. That just meant he had a lot of work left to do to get his swordsmithing up to where he thought he should be. He wouldn’t settle for good enough. If I want to be great, I have to push beyond my current limits! I’m only unforged for now, not forever.

  If anything, the amazing successes of both [Hope’s Aspiration] and the [Oozebane Greatsword] showed what he was capable of.

  As he went back to studying his plans, and his internal expectations rose, another good idea began to forge itself in his mind. Suddenly, he was extremely glad he’d bought all that tier 3 black mithril in the Grand Market. If he could integrate it with what remained of the white mithril from his birthday... A black and white mithril blade would be really cool, he admitted, and a great way to test myself. His pencil quickly went to work scratching forms and ideas onto the plans beneath him.

  He remembered that Jamal had said his [Oozebane Greatsword] would probably last him all the way through tier 2, and even though Tristan agreed, that was only if Tristan wanted to go solo. If he wanted to stay with Sophie--and he did--Tristan needed a sword to tank with, too.

  Besides, a swordsman could never have too many swords. They’re not called a ‘swordman,’ after all.

  - - -

  for those interested. (8 chapters ahead!)