I'll try for the next chapter tonight, but I might not be able to finish it. I might have to go to a relative's place in about an hour.
--------------------------------------------
Garnet was tired of waiting for things to happen. She had to wait for requests she could handle to appear. She had to wait for the King's Expedition.
Garnet took out the book that Zedd had given to her regarding summons. She acquired it from him a long time ago, but never looked in it because of the combined hatred between her and Riley towards Zedd. But if there was a time to do it, now would be as good as any since Garnet had nothing to do but wait for the Expedition announcement.
Garnet took out Zedd's book on summoning research. Many of Zedd's own attempts had failed and there were numerous incomplete diagrams. However, there were a few towards the beginning that were complete. The question was whether any of them would actually be useful. The monsters at the beginning were all weak. They were simple slime like creatures that were weaker than the boars and wolves Garnet fought for her early battles.
At the middle, there were some stronger creatures, but they needed something like a vessel, a body to hold their power, which Garnet did not know how to make, so they were not an option. The ones at the back required such an insane amount of mana that she was uncertain she would be unable to do it. But, with money in hand, there was something that she could do. She headed over to the Guild.
"What brings you here today?" asked Hagel.
"I want to issue a request, one for a book on how to create a high level magic vessel that can contain a spirit," said Garnet. "The reward, 500 gold coins."
"Five hundred?!?" said Hagel surprised. "That's more than all the other requests on the board."
"But it will only be paid out when it is determined to be authentic," said Garnet. She took out the gold coins stored in her ring and handed it to Hagel. "Is this fine?" she asked.
"Yes," said Hagel. He began to fill out the paperwork. "Just sign your name here," he said.
Garnet did as told. "Is that it?" Garnet asked.
"Yes," said Hagel. "It's fairly simple to issue a request, but to get a response is much harder."
"Any news on the King's Expedition?" Garnet asked.
"Rumor is that he's currently looking among his men for a leader," said Hagel. "Once the leader is chosen, he or she will choose qualified soldiers, which are very few in number, and then recruit the extra they need from outside."
"How long do you estimate?" Garnet asked.
"Maybe two weeks at most," said Hagel.
"Alright, thank you for the information," said Garnet. It was another thing she was still waiting for. She wanted to scream, but there was not much she could do about it.
"No problem," said Hagel.
Soon after, Garnet saw her own request posted on the board. It had no ranking requirements because it was simply to retrieve an item, but the reward was immense. It was also made using a special type of metal plate rather than paper or cards like other requests.
With this done, Garnet could focus on improving her magicraft skills. Somewhere in that versatile skill laid the key to unlimited potential. The ability to upgrade and refine anything in her possession. Sadly, her skill level was still too low for the weapons that she had, so she had to find other ways. The key to this was the Iron Bar that she had from smelting down the sword she used to kill Boelyn Gray.
Name: Steel Ingot
Quality: High
Effect: None
"Item Enhancement!" Garnet wanted to see how far this could get her.
Success!
She kept going as high as she could.
Failure! Skill level is too low.
Name: Steel Ingot+3
Quality: Low
Effect: Damage +15%
It was a massive increase to damage. Fifteen percent did not sound like a lot, but in the hands of someone strong, it could make a big difference. Since Alchemy could make something like metal bars, it was likely that it could make weapons as well.
Garnet looked through the Alchemy book for recipes related to making weapons. The easiest two were on top. They both required three spirits.
New Recipe: Knife
Requires: 1 Metal Ingot, Fire Spirit, Earth Spirit, Water Spirit
MP Cost: 500
New Recipe: Sword
Requires: 2 Metal Ingots, Fire Spirit, Earth Spirit, Water Spirit
MP Cost: 1000
As long as this worked, she could constantly recycle and refine the materials with Disassemble to raise her skill. She took out the Iron Ingots and began working with those since she only had one steel one.
"Item Enhancement!" Garnet upgraded the Iron Ingot as far as it would go.
Level Up: Item Enhancement (Level 6)
Name: Iron Ingot+7
Quality: High
Effect: Damage +35%, Ignores Slashing Resistance
Now, it was time to make a sword, with a cauldron. It did not make sense to Garnet at all. Swords were traditionally made in forges by a blacksmith with a hammer and anvil. But, according to Alchemy, this would work, so she gave it a try.
"Call: Nuria! Call: Mazu! Call: Meliae!" With the three spirits Garnet went to work. They could control the conditions properly.
Garnet specified some conditions. "We're making a standard sword with a fuller, a cross guard, and a pommel," she said. The spirits all nodded like they knew what she was talking about. Sure enough, they did.
The ingot melted down into a liquid where it was shaped into a sword and came out as a completed sword. Alchemy seemed to be limitless with the potential to make anything as long as you had the recipe for it.
Name: Iron Sword
Quality: High
Effect: Damage +35%, Ignores Slashing Resistance
The effects of the Iron Ingots transferred directly onto the sword. "Disassemble!" The Iron Sword in Garnet's hands instantly reverted to two Iron Ingots.
Name: Iron Ingot+7
Quality: High
Effect: Damage +35%, Ignores Slashing Resistance
It was like they were never used at all. Garnet kept repeating this cycle to level up her skills.
Level Up: Magicraft (Level 6)
Level Up: Disassemble (Level 2)
Level Up: Magicraft (Level 7)
Stat Increase: Intelligence +1
Stat Increase: Dexterity+1
Eventually, she was able to make a maxed out Iron Ingot.
Name: Iron Ingot+7
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Damage +50%, Ignores Slashing Resistance and Immunity
It turned into a high quality sword.
Name:
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Damage +50%, Ignores Slashing Resistance and Immunity
She had created a named sword. One that was considered a masterpiece and to be collected or wielded by the famous. "Let's call it, Dawn," said Garnet. The name of the sword suddenly changed.
Name: Dawn (Iron Sword)
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Damage +50%, Ignores Slashing Resistance and Immunity
Manufacturing high end items worthy of a legend was now a simple task for Garnet's Alchemy. But much to her dismay, she was still unable to enhance the weapons given to her by Anna. The sword and knife were something special. But, Garnet could at least enhance the sword in her hands.
Level Up: Item Enhancement (Level 6)
Level Up: Item Enhancement (Level 7)
Level Up: Item Enhancement (Level 8)
Name: Dawn (Iron Sword)+10
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Damage+100%, Ignores Slashing Resistance and Immunity, Can Channel Magic, Resists Corrosion, No Durability Loss
To Garnet, this opened up a new possibility. If she could create a high quality vessel and arm them with similarly high quality equipment, she could create her own army that could rival any nation. Working with higher quality items also gave her the chance to increase her skills even further.
"Come to think of it, I never actually took a close look at Anna's sword," Garnet thought to herself. She took out the blue and gold sword to take a look at
Name: Excalibur Replica
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Unbreakable, Immune to Corrosion, Can Channel Magic, Ignores All Immunities
It was already a masterpiece without needing to be upgraded, that was probably why she could not upgrade it with her current skill. The weapons that Anna had were far superior to anything Garnet had or create. If Garnet could upgrade this sword, it would be even greater. That was not going to be an easy task though. But for now, she had the knowledge that she needed. It would be possible for her to create her own army, one that could handle the Invasion by themselves. Then, she would have no need to have to worry about it. There would be no need to buy and trade slaves. There would be no need to worry about finding people who were willing to go on her Expedition.
With Dawn in hand, Garnet brought it to Skinner's Auction Services, where she could sell it. "Welcome back," said Carol. "This is yours," she said as she showed Garnet a ring.
Garnet took a look, it was a huge amount of gold coins. About another 1200 in all. "This is from the fur?" she asked.
"Yes," said Carol. "What brings you here today?"
"This," said Garnet. She brought out the sword Dawn.
"No sheath?" Carol asked.
"No," said Garnet. "Just the sword."
"Adam!" Carol shouted.
Garnet could hear some stumbling as Adam came out from the back. He was a mess. "What is it?" he asked.
"This sword," said Carol. "Take a look at it and tell me what you think."
Adam took a look at the sword closely. "I don't recognize the handiwork, I can't tell who made this sword," said Adam. "But it's at least equal to the work of one of the masters."
"The masters?!?" shouted Carol. "How is that possible?"
"What's a master?" Garnet asked. She had no idea.
"The masters are what we call the greatest swordsmiths," said Carol. "One of their swords are nearly priceless because of their high sharpness and durability. They're among the best forged swords in the world."
"Well, the only thing bad about this sword is that it is made of iron and not steel," said Adam. "But other than that, it looks the same and is probably as good as any of the other masterpieces though there's no signature."
In other words, the sword was missing the specialized features of a handmade sword. The quality combined with the lack of distinguishing features meant that it could be traced back to Garnet if they knew she was the one manufacturing them, so it was probably best not to sell more than one or two of them for money or at least do it with long wait periods between. Anymore than that, people would start assuming that she was the one manufacturing them. "I'll sell this sword," said Garnet.
"Very well," Carol replied.
"Can I know what you have for sale?" Garnet asked.
"Are you interested in buying?" asked Carol.
"Yes," said Garnet. "But I'm looking for something very specific."
"What is it?" asked Carol.
"Books, scrolls, tomes, and other texts on magic," said Garnet.
Carol took out a book from the side. It was a catalog. "If there are any, they'll be in here," said Carol.
"Are are items listed in a book?" asked Garnet.
"Not all," said Carol. "These are the items that no one really wants, it ends up in a book like this, but we are willing to hold on to a few strange items just in case the odd customer ever comes around."
Garnet looked through the book. There were some really strange things in there, like a collection of antique puppets and dolls and mummified body parts. There were some interesting materials like golden wood, but they were all in too small of an amount to be useful or too expensive to be practically used by anyone so they ignored it. But something was strange. "I thought someone would surely buy things like this," said Garnet.
"But they sometimes request a minimum price," said Carol. "That price is just too high to sell."
Despite the thick book, only two things related to what Garnet was looking for. One was a scroll of water spells. "I am missing water and earth," she thought to herself. The other was a tome on golem creation that was recovered from the ruins of Constantinople. The most important thing was being able to create a strong vessel though. Even if she could not do it yet, she could probably level up the skill to make the golem and then improve it until she could create the type of body that was needed to hold something like Riley or her other spirits. "Are any of these items fake or counterfeit?" asked Garnet.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Skinner's Auction Services will vouch for everything," said Adam. "If something is not what is described, you can return it."
"That's convenient," said Garnet.
"It's because we have to rely on people's trust," said Carol. "If they lose trust in us, everything we do will not matter."
"How much for this tome?" Garnet asked as she pointed to it in the book.
Carol looked over at what Garnet was pointing at and looked it up. "200 gold coins," she said.
"I'll take it," said Garnet.
"You're actually interested in this junk?" asked Carol.
"It's only junk because people don't know how to use it," said Garnet. "Even junk can be valuable if it is used the right way or you find the right people," she said as she took out the money to pay for the tome. "I'm sure someone realized it was valuable and kept it." For Garnet, she was trying to force her way through to find what she needs instead of waiting. She was tired of waiting and hated doing so.
A few moments later, Adam reappeared with the tome. It was thick. With this though, Garnet might have a chance to finally create a physical vessel that could be used by her summons and have them far away from her without much problems.
"Thank you for your patronage," said Carol.
"For a moment I thought I would have to go through an auction to get this," said Garnet.
"It went through the auction, but there was no mage qualified to use it," said Carol.
Garnet immediately flipped open the book and looked through it. As Garnet flipped through it, she saw the basic recipes. Even though they were considered "basic," the mana cost was enormous, even for simple things.
New Recipe: Animal Golem
Requires: 40 Magic Clay, Earth Spirit, Water Spirit
Effect: Can give a permanent body to any animal summon
MP Cost: 5000
However, this was proof that the tome was real. Further in contained things Garnet could not understand, but the golems were no longer humanoid in nature. They became grander like giants and dragons. The humanoid golem was a little deformed. It looked more like a rock golem than a person. Garnet was suddenly surprised by a note inside the book addressed to her. "There is a gift that will arrive in the Guild soon." That was all it said.
"Is it what you were looking for?" asked Adam.
"It's close enough," said Garnet. "Thank you for this."
"Please come back to us if you have anything to sell as well," said Carol. She was trying to maintain Garnet as a customer. To them, Garnet had access to rare materials and items.
With the recipe in hand, Garnet immediately proceeded to try to craft the vessel. Clay was easy to get near sources of water and Anzio just happened to have some in the farming area near the river. She did not even need to dig for it.
Outside of Anzio, Garnet simply followed the river South until there were no more farms. "Call: Meliae!"
"We're not making things today?" asked Meliae.
"Sort of," said Garnet. "I need clay first."
"..." Meliae had to response. "You do realize with a spirit that has control over Earth and Water, you're making her dig through dirt right?"
"Yes," said Garnet.
"High water content or low water content?" asked Meliae.
"Low," said Garnet. High water content would probably not stick as well.
"How much?" asked Meliae.
"How much can you get?" asked Garnet.
Meliae planted her arms into the ground. The ground shook around Garnet. She could feel something moving beneath her feet. Vines wrapped around chunks of clay suddenly began to appear all around her. The ground itself began to move a little with a depression forming as Meliae pushed the clay towards the surface. "Get it yourself," said Meliae.
Garnet circled around and collected a huge amount of clay. It was heavy, but Meliae has essentially created a clay pit from which Garnet could just put the clay into her Inventory since it could store far more than rings and just put everything inside a single spot in there. With it, she at least had the resources to do it when she was ready. The problem was the mana cost was still too high and there was no way to restore Riley's memories. For now, Riley would still have to attach herself to Garnet.
Garnet wanted to at least try to make sure it worked, so she enchanted a large amount of clay.
Level Up: Item Enhancement (Level 9)
Name: Magic Clay+10
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Durability +50%, Bonus Skill: Endurance, Regeneration
With this, Garnet could now create the clay body using Alchemy. The recipe was different though. It did not use a cauldron like other Alchemy. Instead, it used a magic circle. However, that also gave Garnet an advantage as she did not really need to draw most magic circles. She could actually etch it into the ground with magic.
After creating the magic circle, Garnet put the pieces of clay onto the center. "Call: Meliae! Call: Sino! Call: Mazu!" She technically had three water spirits and one earth, but she wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. After all, this was going to be big.
Garnet activated the magic circle. In a flash of light, the clay shaped into something that resembled a dog. However, Garnet had no idea what she was doing. "So uh, what now?" she asked.
"Did you even read the whole thing?" asked Riley.
Garnet opened the book and looked in it. "Place your hand on the golem and summon forth what you want to place in it," Garnet read aloud.
Garnet put her hand against the clay dog. "Call: Cerberus!" The clay began to change shape, it gradually turned into the shape of the hounds that she recognized. When it was done, it looked exactly like one of her summons. "I guess it worked."
"Stay!" said Ganet. She wanted to see if the summon would disappear for any reason. She tried warping to Antium and back and waiting. If distance was a factor, it would have disappeared, but it did not. "Dismiss!" the hound did not disappear like any other. "Call: Cerberus!" Garnet summoned it again, there were two more with it. It counted towards the total number that she had summoned. She put her hand on the hound and felt that it was different from the ones in the past. This one still had the clay body that Garnet gave to it. The effects would yet to be seen, but it was clear, she could now give permanent bodies to her summons and even travel far from them without much consequence.
This would open up numerous possibilities. "What if I could teach them to use my magic?" thought Garnet.
New Quest: Minion Development
Level up your summons enough to unlock the Minion Development skill
Reward: New Skill
Suddenly, there was a new long term goal for Garnet. One she found her way to Constantinople or restored Riley's body, she would have another task to focus on.
Spoiler :
Name: Garnet
Level: 30
Class: Chaos Mage / Queen Consort / Hero
Sub-class: Temptress of the Night
Stats:
HP: 2290/2290
MP: 7100/7100
Fame: 130
Strength: 57 (+5)
Dexterity: 52 (+7)
Intelligence: 206 (+22)
Vitality: 64 (+5)
Agility: 64 (+7)
Charisma: 37 (+20)
PROFICIENCY:Weapon:
- One Handed Sword – 7
- Hand to Hand – 3
- Staff - 1
Magic:
- Fire – 7
- Lightning – 12
- Wind – 4
- Summoning – 12
- Blood – 6
- Spatial - 0
SKILLS:Weapon (One Handed Sword):
- Horizontal Slash (Level 3)
- Double Slash (Level 3)
- Crescent Slash (Level 1)
- Triple Slash (Level 1)
- Delta Attack (Level 1)
- Spiral (Level 1)
Weapon (Hand to Hand):
- Palm Strike (Level 1)
- Wind Palm (Level 1)
- Explosive Palm (Level 3)
- Lightning Palm (Level 1)
- Sweeping Kick (Level 1)
- Horizontal Kick (Level 1)
- Uppercut (Level 1)
- Ki Burst (Level 1)
- Demsey Roll (Level 1)
Weapon (Staff):
- Thrust (Level 2)
- Swinging Smash (Level 1)
- Double Strike (Level 1)
- Triple Strike (Level 1)
- Quadruple Strike (Level 1)
- Vertical Smash (Level 1)
Class (Dark Mage):
- Fire Bolt (Level 5)
- Fire Ball (Level 1)
- Lightning Bolt (Level 8)
- Chain Lightning (Level 4)
- Lightning Ray (Level 2)
- Light (Level 1)
- Air Bullet (Level 4)
- Wind Blade (Level 1)
- Heat Wave (Level 1)
- Lightning Fire Bolt (Level 1)
- Crimson Lotus: Blade of Lightning (Level 2)
- Mana Armor (Level 2)
- Call: Cerberus (Level 1)
- Call: Revenant (Level 1)
- Call: Death Knight (Level 1)
- Call: Romulus, Knight of Blood (Level 1)
- Call: Sylvia, Priestess of Blood (Level 1)
- Call: Lilith (Level 1)
- Call: Nuria (Level 1)
- Call: Mazu (Level 1)
- Call: Sino (Level 1)
- Call: Meliae (Level 1)
- Recall
- Dismiss
- Enhanced Mana Regeneration (Level 4)
- Lightning Fire (Passive)
- Blood Absorption (Level 7)
- Blood Bind (Level 1)
- Blood Scythe (Level 2)
- Blood Sacrifice (Level 1)
- Blood Bullet (Level 1)
- Transformation: Blood Reaper (Level 1)
- Dance of Blood (Level 1)
- Teleportation (Level 1)
- Teleportation Summoning Circle (Level 1)
Sub-class (Temptress of the Night):
- Enhanced Body (Level 3)
- Captivation: (Level 3)
- Mind Read: (Level 1)
- Pleasure Inducement (Level 3)
- Sexy Walk (Level 1)
- Stealth (Level 2)
- Shadow Walk (Level 2)
- Sonic Scream (Level 1)
- Illusion (Level 2)
- Alluring Song (Level 1)
- Flight (Level 1)
- Aura of Fear (Level 2)
- Scale Armor (Level 1, Passive)
- Transformation (Level 1)
- Partial Transformation (Level 1)
- Transformation: Temptress of the Night (Level 1)
Tradeskills:
- Hunting (Level 5) - Hunter
- Cooking (Level 9) - Cook
- Inspection (Level 5)
- Sewing (Level 4) – Tailor
* - Magicraft (Level 7) – Alchemist- Item Enhancement (Level 9)- Disassemble (Level 1)
- Inventory Expansion (Level 4)
Passives:
- Hand to Hand (Level 1)
- One Handed Sword (Level 1)
- Staff (Level 1)
- Reflex (Level 5)
- Haste (Level 2)
- Scale Armor (Level 1)
- Aura of Leadership (Level 1)
- Aura of the Hero (Level 1)
- Summoning Commander (Level 1)
- Queen's Presence (Level 1)
- Fire Mastery (Level 1)
Unique:
- Hero System (Level 3, Passive)
- Otherworldly Knowledge (Passive)
- Golden Tongue (Passive)
- Mana Compatibility (Passive)
- Quick Learner (Passive)
- Channeling (Passive)
- Charging (Passive)
- Night Vision (Passive)