They were both keen to find out whether the strange variance in the properties was common to all the cores.

Next on the list was a group of wood cores, and Cal looked them over. Most of them were recognisable from their size and forest green color as Level 1 cores even without looking at them through the eyeglass, but one was larger than the rest. Cal picked this larger one up and looked at it closely. Like the coal troll core, this larger wood core also had lines of darker color running through it, just under the surface. The color was a deeper, richer green than the small Level 1 cores.

He raised the eyeglass and peered through.

Evil Tree core

Monster level: 3

Rarity: Uncommon

Fullness points: 100

Available effects:

Growth (Flora): +8

Growth (Fauna): +7

Flexibility: +4

“Another new effect,” Cal said, reading the data out loud for Max’s benefit. “Growth boosts for plants are found at Layer 1, and the boosts for animals and other creatures at Level 2, but there’s a new potential called Flexibility in this core. I don’t need to check my book to know that Flexibility isn’t something wood cores are known to have.”

Max nodded to himself as he wrote the data down. “Do you think the Level 1 wood cores have it, too?” he said.

“Let’s find out,” Cal replied.

Root creeper core

Monster level: 3

Rarity: Uncommon

Fullness points: 100

Available effects:

Growth (Flora): +3

Growth (Fauna): +2

Deep roots: +2

“These cores have a different potentiality. This one’s called Deep roots,” Cal said. “I wonder what that does? We’re going to need to do a lot of experimenting to find out how all these new core potentials work.”

Interestingly, all but one of the Level 1 wood cores had the new effect. Cal carefully separated the one that didn’t from the others, though with the wood cores, he thought that he would probably not experiment too much yet. Deep roots, like Shine, was not self-explanatory at all, but the growth boost for plants could be applied to plant pots, and he was sure that those would be successful products, since no one sold such things for private individuals, only for businesses in the farming district. For the moment, he would focus on making and selling growth-boosted pots, rather than trying to create something with the new potential.

Next, Cal pulled out the water cores. These were the pale gray of a calm sea under a cloudy sky, with delicate flecks of white through them like foam.

“There’s lots of those,” Max said. “And a couple of them are bigger than the other Level 1 cores. Are they Level 3?”

“Level 2,” Cal said. “See how they’re not quite as big as the Level 3 cores from the coal troll and the evil tree? Also, they don’t have the black lines running through them. They’ve got this pale speckling instead, and the base color’s only a shade darker than the Level 1 cores.”

“They’re what, water cores?” Max hazarded.

“Well done!” Cal said with a smile. “How did you know?”

“The color,” Max said. “The air cores are blue, so I just guessed.”

“You guessed right,” Cal said. “Let’s have a look…”

River Bane core

Monster level: 2

Rarity: Common

Fullness points: 100

Available effects:

Perseverance: +5

Energy +4

Poison Resist +4

“Something new?” Max asked, seeing Cal’s start of surprise at the sight of the last item on the list.

Cal nodded and read the list out for Max to write down. Max also hesitated, his eyes going wide with surprise when he heard the final item. “I don’t think poison resistance will be much needed these days,” he said. “Nobody’s getting poisoned in Jutlyn anymore. Poisonings used to happen, back in the old days when there was war in the world and more danger in politics and even business, but assassinations don’t happen now.”

“I agree,” Cal said, “but I suppose that Poison Resist might protect a person from other things, not just poisons deliberately given with bad intent.”

“What kind of things?” Max asked.

“Well, people who work dirty jobs where they might be exposed to substances that would make them ill, or even our hunter friends who find themselves out in the wild and might need to drink from unclean water. Some monsters can spit poison, I think. What was the one?” He paused for a moment, trying to remember. “Oh yeah, the light lizard. That’s a Level 3 scryer monster. I think it’s known to spit poison.”

“That’s good, then!” Max said. “You could sell items enchanted from these to adventurer teams!”

“Not without my Level 2 qualification,” Cal reminded him. “I might give a Level 2 enchanted item to a friend, or use one myself, but selling them to people isn’t an option.”

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“Of course,” Max said, holding up a hand. “I’d forgotten.” Then he frowned. “It’s a bit annoying, though,” he added. “We’re leaving loads of money on the table here if we can’t sell any of the Level 2 or Level 3 stuff.”

“I know,” Cal said. “Yeah, it’s frustrating, but we’ll get there. The Level 2 exam itself isn’t too expensive. Doing the course is pricey, but you’re allowed to just register for the exam without having done the course.”

“How much is the exam on its own?” Max asked.

“A bit under 2000 crowns, last time I checked,” Cal said, “but it might have changed, I’ve not looked for a while. Anyway, we’ve got a bunch of other stuff to pay for before we can do that. The Level 2 exam would be a good investment, but we need to get the enchantments done from the Level 1 cores first, then we can think about what’s coming next.”

“Okay,” Max agreed. “So, what have we not done?”

“Level 1 water cores,” Cal said, pointing to the smaller light gray cores.

Liquid sprite core

Monster level: 1

Rarity: Common

Fullness points: 100

Available effects:

Perseverance: +3

Energy +2

Pure Vision +3

Again, Cal read out the data, noting for Max’s benefit that Pure Vision was a new category. He quickly ran his eyeglass over all the other Level 1 cores and then whistled in surprise.

“These cores all have Pure Vision as a possible enchantment!” he said. He checked again, but it was certain. There were no cores that didn’t have the extra potential added.

“I’ll definitely want to find out what that one is,” he said.

Max smiled suddenly. “We’re going to have fun experimenting on ourselves with these,” he said wryly. “I wonder what Pure Vision does?”

“We’ll find out,” Cal said. “So, is that everything?”

“Except the Level 4 cores,” Max said. “You’ve not actually looked at them through the glass.”

Cal laughed. “I got so caught up in looking at the new effects in the lower level ones I totally forgot!” he said. “But really, these ones are the most important for us.

He took one of the Level 4 cores from the desk and held it in his hand. The rich purple hue identified it as a scryer core, and it was much bigger than the lower level cores, but unlike the Level 1 and Level 2 cores, this one had no extra coloring.

Fateshifter Phoenix core

Monster level: 4

Rarity: Rare

Fullness points: 100

Available effects:

Vision +15

Instinct +12

Prescience +10

Cal had to get the bestiary out again to double check, but it was as he suspected: the last item on the list, Prescience, was new.

“That’s the kind of thing that would be really useful to a scryer,” Max said.

“You’re right,” Cal answered, “but I think there’s something else here, too.” He glanced over at the crystal ball that sat dark and inactive in the corner. “That crystal globe there, it’s a scryer’s tool. I never knew how they were made, but I think I might be able to hazard a guess now. We’ve just seen how the essence of a core can be drawn into a crystal rune. What if that’s how a scryer’s crystal ball is activated?”

“You mean by being enchanted with a scryer core?” Max asked. He laughed. “That would be a very good reason for scryers to keep their art so secret. If it turned out that all they were actually doing was using an item enchanted by another kind of magic user, that would be pretty embarrassing!”

Cal shook his head. “Even if it was the case that they use enchanted crystal, I guess there’s still real skill to the art of scrying. It’s not just the use of a tool. People are taught how to do scrying over a period of years, much like formal enchanter training, and they don’t just use a crystal ball. There’s more to it than that. I guess that the crystal ball is created by enchanters, but it doesn’t mean that there’s no skill involved, any more that the use of growth-boosting enchantments by farmers means there’s no skill in growing food. The crystal ball is only a tool. It still takes skill to use a tool well.”

“I hadn’t seen it like that,” Max said. He looked around the workshop. “I guess in the same way, we use this shop that was created by people who had skills we don’t have, but that doesn’t make what we do any less worthwhile.”

“Exactly,” Cal said, smiling. “Everything requires collaboration to some degree, and the sharing of skill.”

“But you were thinking you might be able to fix that old crystal ball up, using one of those cores?”

“It crossed my mind,” Cal said. “But again, that’s experimental magic that’s not going to bring us any direct benefit just now. We’ve got two Level 4 Scryer cores now - we had three and we used one to fix the rune on the table. There’s another Level 4 core here as well, though. What’s this?”

Shadow hunter core

Monster level: 4

Rarity: Rare

Fullness points: 100

Available effects:

Stealth +14

Cunning +10

Shadows of Morn +7 (variable)

“The last one is new again,” Cal said, “and I have no idea what it might do.”

“Quite a few of the cores say Variable after some of the qualities. What’s that all about?” Max asked. “They’re mostly on the new potentials, but…” he flicked through his list. “Yes, I thought so. The Destruction property on the fire wylf core has Variable as well, but you said that the Destruction enchantment was a known quantity.”

“Yeah, when it says Variable, it means that it’s a property that might change in strength based on other factors about the user, or the item enchanted. Destruction is going to be more powerful when put on an item whose purpose is destruction, like a weapon, rather than something with a mixed purpose like a hammer - hammers can be useful for creating as well as for breaking, whereas the main purpose of a weapon is destruction. It also depends on the person, I think. The Appetite enchantment on the coal troll core was listed as Variable, so it might be more effective in a person who had lost their appetite because they were ill, for example, than on someone who already had a good appetite.”

“I get it,” Max said, looking back at his pad. “Shadows of Morn,” he mused, reading out the name of the new property on the black Level 4 stealth core. “I wonder what that is?”

“I guess we could enchant something with it and you could try it,” Cal said with a grin. “After all, it is your subclass, though it might be a bit of a big boost for you.”

“My what, sorry?” Max said, distractedly. He was counting the cores, double-checking the numbers on his sheet of paper.

“Your subclass. Stealth weaver. I was just saying that the stealth enchantment might be good for you, since stealth is your subclass.”

Max stopped counting the cores and looked uncomprehendingly at Cal. “My… subclass?” he said, as if using the word for the first time.

“Yeah, you know,” Cal said encouragingly, unsure what the confusion was. “Like Jason’s main magic class is Stone Singer, but his subclass is Color Weaver. You’re a Steel Singer as your main class and a Stealth Weaver as your subclass.”

Max was staring at him blankly. There was a long silence, then Max said, “I don’t have a subclass. I don’t… I’ve only ever been a Steel Singer, I don’t have any other magic. What…? How…?”

He looked suddenly pale and wide-eyed, as if he was about to faint.

“Easy, Max,” Cal said. “What’s the matter? Come on, take a seat, you’re all right.”

Taking Max’s arm gently but firmly, he helped Max into one of the chairs by the fire, then took the chair opposite for himself.

“Sorry,” Cal said once Max was settled. “I’ve given you a bit of a fright. I didn’t mean to. I assumed you knew.”

He’d heard of this kind of thing, and he could have kicked himself for mentioning it in such an off-hand manner. Elemental mages - those called Singers and Weavers - were born with their talents, not trained to them like enchanters, scryers, or other material mages. In theory, given enough time anyone could become an enchanter or a scryer regardless of talent. Though the investment of time, money, and effort could be prohibitive, they were the only limiting factors.

A Steel Singer like Max, on the other hand, had his ability inherent in his soul, and the talent had to be uncovered and then trained. Those who discovered their talent themselves were usually recognized and trained, but sometimes - like in Max’s case - they didn’t get the formal training they needed to be able to understand what they were truly capable of.

When they discovered who and what they were for the first time, it could be a bit of a shock.

“Max,” Cal said as he swung the kettle over the hearth. “I think I need to explain one or two things to you.”