“That is a wonderful idea, Marcus! Let me tell you my thoughts about it and give you some hints for improving the overall design.”
“Ehm, all I wanted was to get an introduction for enchantment. We do not have much place to build now and I have to concentrate mostly on defences, so I can only build a somewhat basic bath, but I will ask you when I create the baths in the next city ring.”
She pouted for a moment and let her head sink a bit. Then she looked up and smiled again at me.
“You're right of course. I'm sorry but the escape and then the unpleasant stay under open sky without any protection made me a bit jumpy. I will try my best to help you with learning to enchant things. The basics are quite easy to learn and you have already begun with the plants you used for building here.”
She pointed to the vines at the wall and nodded.
“They are a good work but they miss a real enchantment. What you did was amazing and cannot be reproduced easily by any mage. I think it has something to do with you being a city core and therefore a creature of pure magic. If you want to enchant an object, you first have to imbue it with the different kinds of mana that are used in the enchantment. For example if you want to create a burning iron blade you have to use fire and earth mana. Fire mana I don't think to have to explain but the earth mana is used because of the material of the blade. Iron belongs to the earth. So if you enchant something you have first to check which mana reacts to the material.”
She waited and gave me time to understand everything and perhaps ask about something I didn't understand, but I was quiet.
“Good, it seems you understand that. So let's get on with it. After having imbued the object with mana you have to manifest runes into it by using more mana and a bit of magical essence. We call this essence vis. It generates around places of power like dungeons or powerful creatures like dragons. I haven't seen vis around here but I think that it will only be a question of time until it generates.”
Now that was interesting, but it also created a new problem. I didn't have any vis for an enchantment.
“There is also a way of creating vis in a laboratory by creating a vis crystal with massive amounts of mana. It's a hard and not very thankful work but if you don't have a place to get some then that's the only way for it. I have a little bit of vis I will give to you but only if I can help you directly with the enchantment. I want to make sure that you get it right.”
No trust here, that hurts.
“I will teach you all the runes I know but being honest, magical research for new runes was not high on anyone's agenda until now. Everyone wants to live as long as possible and increasing the mana pool is the only known way for that. It could change with you creating city guardians. Without the need to increase the own life span mages will have time to research and discover new runes and perhaps better ways for living longer.”
I agreed with her on that matter and with Chara I had my first immortal mage. I told her to come over so she could also learn with me.
Nala had me imbue small pebbles with my mana to prepare them for enchanting, while Chara was observing me and after some time she tried it herself. It wasn't as easy as I thought because different objects of variable sizes could only take so much mana before they disintegrated, quite violent. I wondered first why Nala had distanced herself from my experiment but after the first exploding stone I knew why. Chara was more gentle with her work and after my first grenade like explosion she was very careful with charging her stone.
“Hey Nala, do the objects keep their charge for a while?”
She frowned and folded her arms before her chest.
“Yes, they keep it for at least 2 weeks and then gradually loose it over the next 4. Why?”
I grinned inwards.
“I thought about charging some bigger stones and hide them all around the place and if someone attacks us I will overload them, creating a strong explosion. Do you think it will be enough to kill anyone around ground zero?”
She paled visibly and looked with dread at me.
“That would be a cruel and brutal weapon to use and normally any mage wouldn't be able to do that because you have to be near the object but for someone like you it would be perfect. I only wouldn't want to be near the place by any chance. The splitters of the stones or whatever you use would devastate anything in their path. Bloody hell, that's an awful way to kill, Marcus!”
The idea came to me when I compared my memories of some movies and what happened with my pebbles. I didn't understand what made the mines detonate but the effect seemed to be similar. I could create a magical minefield around my city that only I could use because of my incorporal state. Haha, I will turn everyone that attacks my city into mincemeat!
“I will only use these mines to protect my city, Nala. Nobody needs to attack me but if they do, I will use everything in my arsenal to destroy them. Is there more to enchantment I need to know or can we start with it after I don't destroy my targets now and then?”
Nala looked inquiring at me and then only shrugged.
“I hope you will use the power only for defending the city, but any knowledge can be used for good or bad. Let's see what you will do, my friend. Now back to topic. There are advanced techniques for enchanting, but you will have to find someone more skilled than me and there are not that many around and not one in your city. The only thing I know about that is that you need mathematics for it. So that would be your next lesson after enchanting. Galen should be able to help you with that. Look forward to it.”
I had all my memories from my previous life and I knew that I hated math. The grinning face of my last teacher in that matter came back haunting me.
He always said “You can run from math but wherever you go, math will find you,so get used to it.”
The old geezer was right and I hated him for it more than ever. Bite the dust, sucker. He always made my life miserable with each test. And now I would have to learn math from the beginning again. Galen was still hard at work with improving his mana detection. If anything goes wrong and I can't help him with increasing his life span I will get him as a city guardian as well. His massive amounts of mana would be useful for strengthening my forces. And perhaps we could research together new ways to create magical wonders.
After I had reached a point where I could reliable discern if an object couldn't take in any more mana my teacher and Chara accompanied me to the pool. I had made it two times bigger where the women bath would be drew a wall up between the two parts of the bath. I used vines again to create a canopy. My usage of stone forced me to get even more of it earlier than I thought. The harbor in the hill will come into being in a few weeks if I cut stone as fast as I did now.
Nala examined my work and told me some improvements. For example she wanted an area that wasn't as deep as the other part, where you could just lay down and enjoy the warm water. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough before but I hadn't thought about creating a spa for my citizen yet. When I said it loud, she threw me a look that would have been able to smelt steel.
Galen, you have my pity with that woman. I don't think that he would have much pull in the family if his other wife was as strong-minded as this one. If I had any choice with a partnership I would prefer a gentle and nice lady, but with me being a core that could become somewhat hard to reach in the future. Maybe I could ask Tiria if there were any female cores out there, but looking back I was sure that I will be the only city core for quite some time. After all I'm an experiment of the goddess and will have to prove myself before she would create any new ones.
As far as I understood the elves most dungeon cores were not sapient in the same way as I am.
So Tiria would have to find another suitable lost soul out there in the void. Until then I would be alone in the world. Although I had my elves and with a little bit of luck some humans too. The more the merrier was the saying I think.
“Nala, I will create only a small area for relaxing. I don't have so much place here,please understand that. The big bathhouse I want to build in the second ring will have all the amenities you mentioned and some more if I can work out how they operate. I have memories of my old world but I can no longer understand anymore their workings. Tiria took that from me to give me not to much of an advantage. Even if it hurts, I have to admit that with some of that knowledge I could create quite some problems here.”
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Nice of you to acknowledge my wisdom, little one. I heard Tiria's voice clearly in my mind again.
Please Tiria, give me back at least my elementary school knowledge of math. I don't want to start from scratch again. I pleaded to her.
I felt a breeze in my mind and suddenly there was some of my knowledge back again.
You have learned the skill mathematics.
I thanked Tiria and promised to create a bigger and more beautiful figure for her in the temple I wanted to build for all the gods and goddesses. I felt her approval of that.
“Marcus, I will take your word for that and hold you responsible if you don't deliver.”
If Nala wouldn't have smirked like she did I would have taken that as a threat. Chara walked around the place and turned my way suddenly.
“Marcus, I have an idea! I have found some soap herbs down at the river. With some life magic you could grow them in plant pots for the people to wash themselves with them.”
I thought about it for a moment.
“I think, I can do better. If you could find me some good smelling herbs with medicinal usage as well I could try to combine them with magic to create a new herb with washing and medicinal use as well.”
Chara was hooked with the idea and ran away to find some of the healers.
“Nice idea there, but wouldn't it be hard to combine them together with magic? Not that I wouldn't be thrilled by the idea. It would better for the overall health of the population and also the mood. The women will be crazy about bathing and in the future your bathhouse could become quite famous with something like that.”
“Hehehe, you don't know half of what I have in mind for my bathhouse. I will create an onsen!”
Nala's face showed her obvious confusion. Seems that there was a loss of translation here.
“What's an onsen? I never heard of something like that. I sounds nice, I think?”
“Do you know of hot springs? The water is very hot and is good for skin and muscles alike.”
Excitement filled Nala's voice when she answered. “Oh, that sounds lovely. I heard that one of the elven clans up north near the mountains had something like that. My mother visited the place once and was always telling us how wonderful the water felt on her skin. Although she said that the water sprang from an underground volcano. As far as I know there is no volcano here. So how do you want to create something like that here?”
Ok, I haven't thought about that matter yet. I will have to study geography also. My teachers would be stunned about me if they somehow could see me now.
“I will think about that and find a way. There is always one. Now back to the enchantment. I want to try something. Perhaps I can invite you into my personal workspace. It would make it easier for me to work together with you lot. Please sit down and relax your mind.”
Nala sat down and closed her eyes. Meditation technique was important for mages,so I was sure that she had the skill also.
Then I sent a string of mana to her head. For a moment she resisted it and then it connected with her own mana. I created my personal workspace in my mind again and pulled the mana string into it.
I recreated the pool in my mind and called the infused stones from my inventory when I felt Nala entering the room.
“Is that you, Marcus? Don't mind me, but I expected a younger looking person. You made an impression of a youngster to me. But I now see a grown man before me. Or is that just an image that you show me?”
I didn't know how to answer first. I wasn't even sure if I could change my appearance. In my former life I was 1,8 meter tall with 83 kilograms of mostly muscle and a bit fat. Too much burger and chips do their part to your body, you know what I mean. My dark brown hair and grey-green eyes were dominated by a slightly broken nose that I got from a collision with a branch when I was cycling downhill in the alps. Not one of my fondest memories. I bled like a cut pig. When I arrived in hospital I looked the victim in a horror movie.
Overall I was not handsome but also not bad looking, just the normal guy. My clothes were blue jeans and t-shirt which earned me an interested look from Nala.
“Nope, that's me. Welcome in my workspace. I wasn't sure if this would work out, but I am pleased it did. We can do our experiments here without any danger of hurting anyone outside, I think at least.”
I could feel her mana as a kind of separate reservoir that I could tap into.
“And I can also use your mana here, as it seems. That's awesome.”
Nala was also excited about my workspace.
“Can I try something, Marcus? I have a good memory of my old laboratory and want to recreate it here. Dungeons can create things out of mana and perhaps I can do it here too with you as a kind of catalyst.”
“Sure, just try it but I have to tell you, that I had to lend Dorien's tools last time when I created something here. So i'm not sure if it will work. As you perhaps remember, I am not a dungeon core and many of the abilities that they have, I do not.”
Nala only nodded and concentrated hard. I felt a tug on my mana and gave it to her willingly. I was curious if she could do it. I watched my mana go down fast and her mana pool dried up too quickly, but surprisingly a complete laboratory out of a mad scientist's dream appeared around us. A light headache hit me and suddenly Tiria stood in the middle of the room.
“I can't believe it! You cheated! I hadn't expected you to just invite someone into your mind and use your core's powers that I locked from you. I will have to change that immediately! But for discovering this little bug in the system you can keep the laboratory. I even gift you an enchantment circle for your start with the skill. Thank you for the surprise,little one and have a nice day.”
Then she just vanished into empty air and let Nala and me standing with our mouths open.
We needed some time to gather our thoughts again and regain our composure.
“That was a surprise. Sorry, that I locked you out from getting other useful equipment.”
I wagged my head and said.”Don't mind it. I didn't know that it was possible and Tiria herself wasn't aware of it herself. I got a whole magical laboratory in the deal. On my papers we are good. Just imagine what we can do in here. That absolutely the best gift ever!”
She smiled and then began do roam the place to check if everything was here that we needed for the work.
“Tiria has done us a big favor. I forgot some things but she must have added them for a complete and stacked workplace. Most mages would give their right arm for something like that and if Galen hears about it or any of the other mages in the town, you will have to erect a wall around your crystal to get them off you. We lost most of our equipment when we escaped from our old home and miss it a lot.”
She stopped at the enchantment circle on the ground in the middle of the place and studied it, tracing the line and the engraved runes with her eyes.
“I don't know most of these runes here. Please invite me frequently to study them. They would help me to level my enchantment skill and I would be able to create better things for our new home.”
“Oh I will invite you here quite often. There is much work to be done and you will have to train me. I don't think that I will be master enchanter over night. I'm pumped to start with the work. Let's get started!”
We went to the enchantment circle and I laid down one of the infused stones. I tried to access Nala's bag, where I assumed the vis was stocked. Nala frowned for a moment and I felt her approval. The vis appeared in my hands. It looked like a rock crystal as big as a man's fist and glowed slightly. Nala took it from my hands broke a small part of it off. As easy as it looked the material was obviously very brittle. I would have to handle it with caution.
She went to a boiler and threw the crystal into a test tube, then heating it until the crystal became liquid suddenly increasing its glow to the strength of a lamp. Then she quickly dashed the substance over the stone where it solidified quickly totally enveloping the stone.
“You have to be quick with the liquefied vis because it evaporates fast without an infused object. Now we have to add the runes to the stone and finish the enchantment. For engraving we use this quill here. It helps with concentrating mana.”
I looked at the oversized quill made from an unknown bird feather and just shrugged.
“I have a very good control of my mana. I don't think that I need the quill for writing. Just show me the runes I have to engrave and where to apply them and I will try it.”
She was first reluctant to change the process but then gave in and showed me what I had to do. The stone I was enchanting looked like a six-sided die with 10 centimeters lateral length.
On each side I had to engrave runes for fire and earth alike.
“Engraving runes is very tiring work because the solidified vis is a substance almost as hard as diamond. Therefore most mages write bigger runes to ensure correct lines. The more runes you can engrave on the object, the more power the enchantment gets. So try to be careful with getting the lines correct. For starters draw them bigger and later you can make them smaller as you get more proficient with your skill. And watch your mana usage. If you use too much and have not enough for ending the rune, all your work will be wasted and the object will be destroyed. More powerful enchantments can devastate your laboratory without any problems.”
I checked my mana and discovered that I only had 50 mana left to work with. I changed to the submind working with Galen.
“Hey Galen, I need you to help with something for a moment. I will connect my mana with yours and invite you to my inner mind. Don't try to resist please and come with me. I have an awesome surprise for you. Nala is also already there and working with me on a new project of mine.”
Galen looked sceptical but shrugged and then began to meditate. I did the same trick with him that I already used on Nala and moments later he joined us in the lab.
He looked around, discovered Nala and my smirking glorious self standing at the enchantment circle and I saw almost saliva running out of his open mouth.
“Bloody hell! Marcus, is this for real? Wait a moment, is this really you? I mean, you look a bit other than I imagined you.”
I was a bit angered now. Did all of them think I was a child?
“Yeah, dammit. That's me. Shut your trap and help me with your mana. I try to enchant this stone over there and need some juice for it. So thank you for your help.”
Then I just tugged on his mana and felt it flow into me. This time however I was in control of the it and it didn't just overload me. Man, this guy sure had a massive mana pool.
I turned back my stone and concentrated my mana on my fingertip. A shiny needle appeared and I engraved my first runes into the vis. I watched the mana usage and discovered that each rune needed 50 mana points. With Galen's massive mana pool I could engrave much more runes into the stone than we first discussed.
I concentrated harder and made the runes much smaller now. I heard the other two gasping behind me but I ignored them until my work was done and all sides of the stone were covered with golden glowing runes.
When I finished my work the stone lit up shortly and then I watched the vis sinking into the stone taking the runes with it. After that the stone changed its appearance to something that looked like marble and I could feel heat emanating from it like that one time I was standing beside a smith at a medieval market. The temperature was quite high and I was pleased with my work. This stone would be enough to heat the whole pool.
“That was impressive, Marcus. Your mana manipulation is unbelievable. I want to learn it more than ever now. Get me back outside. I will train like never before if I can do things like that with it.”
Galen disappeared moments later and I watched him working harder than ever with a determined look on his eyes and also a grin. Damn learning maniacs. And for worse, I was damned to do the same!