Chapter 2 - Shopping Spree
They entered the same room Lilly had been to several times before, where she had met Selene for the first time. Although it had lost some of its intimidating factor after Lilly had been working in the grand office, it still looked elegant and had a refreshing aroma of newly brewed tea.
“Please have a seat, both of you. Would you like some tea?” Gallus asked, showing them to one of the couches in the middle of the room.
“I’m fine, thanks. We just drank some tea before leaving,” Lilly replied, turning him down. She and Mia sat down next to each other on the couch, ready to negotiate.
As soon as Gallus sat down on the other couch, Lilly could sense his demeanor change to one of pure business acumen. “Well then, what can I help you with today, Lilly dearie?”
“Now that my education is finished, we’re planning to step up our enchanting business going forward. And so, we’ll need some high-quality material. Would you be the right person to go to?” Lilly asked, also getting serious but leaving a slight smile on her lips.
Gallus smiled. “Absolutely, in this city, I can confidently say I’m the best person for the job. Do you have any specific enchantments in mind right now?”
“Our first project will be a palladium cuirass, with a lot of room for enchantments. I’ll have to see how much my enchantment uses the available space, but at least 2 enchantments should be fine.”
Gallus’ eyes widened slightly after hearing ‘palladium cuirass.’ He looked over at Mia with a hint of respect. “That certainly is a project. Do you have enchantments in mind, or do you just want to hear what my best available material is?”
Lilly had thought about the enchantments earlier, but not after Mia would be wearing it for a while. “Hmm, some strong warding enchantment would be good, one including heat resistance if possible. Do you have any preferences, Mia?”
Mia seemed deep in thought. “Well, something that can be worn without much bother would be nice. The protective necklace is kind of unpleasant since it’s hard to feel things. As for the second enchantment, I guess whatever would fetch the best price would be fine.”
Lilly nodded in agreement. “That’s a good point; it should feel nice to wear. What do you think for the other enchantments, Gallus?”
“It would depend on who your target customer is. If it’s something made for combat and general use, more protective enchantments and strength enchantments might be the way to go. But if it’s for protecting someone outside of combat, then warding and displacement enchantments would be great.”
“Well, I think combat should be considered. Would both protective and warding enchantments be for the best?” Lilly asked, thinking of the different defensive enchantments.
“Yes, protective enchantments work best as a final layer of defense since they rely on the wearer's capacity to assist in protection. Warding only uses the cuirass's mana directly, so it’s less sturdy. A palladium cuirass will obviously provide a lot of protection on its own, but if it’s sold alone, it will need to protect the rest of the body as well.”
Lilly thought about the enchantments for a second, deciding what to prioritize. “Okay, let’s go with a protective first, then a strengthening, and then warding if there’s room at the end. What do you have to offer?”
Gallus nodded. “For protective enchantments, our best materials would be a core of steelwood, a dragon scale, and a titan heart.
The steelwood core offers unparalleled protection, but it hinders movement, so it’s not very popular. It can be countered with strengthening or agility enchantments to make it easier to move again, but the wood alone takes up the space in most enchantments. It could be a good choice in your case.
The dragon scale works in much the same way as other scales, just much stronger and with extreme resistance to heat. It works on the surface of the skin, so it doesn’t help against internal injuries much. You know about the issues, though; making it difficult to feel anything on your body.
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The titan heart is the most expensive item, but also the strongest. The only issue is that it’s more popular for enchanting strength than protection, so you might want to consider it for that enchantment instead. It has very few negatives, as it makes the entire body much more robust and doesn’t hinder movement.”
Lilly’s eyes widened at all the interesting choices. “I feel like the scale is out of the question, and since we’re including a strength enchantment, I think the steelwood core is the best choice. What do you think, Mia?”
Mia nodded. “That sounds like the best one for this project. Are there any better strengthening materials to consider?” she asked, looking at Gallus with clear curiosity.
Gallus smiled again. “Perhaps not better, but we certainly have other good choices. You may know, Lilly, that strength enchantments are almost exclusively taken from hearts. And so they are usually very expensive.”
Lilly nodded, recalling reading that in one of the books she had been studying. Almost every beast would strengthen their muscles from their core, making the heart the only real place for systems that would send strength to other parts of the body. Muscle tissue could only obey, so the effect was a lot weaker.
Gallus continued, “We don’t have any top-of-the-line strengthening materials, but a titan heart is very close. We also have the heart of a sea emperor, the heart of a great Herculean beetle, and the pearl of an ancient guillotine clam.
Lilly could hear the gold fly out of her pockets with every word. She was very curious about the materials' effects, and gave Gallus a slight nod to make him continue.
Gallus smiled and took a deep breath. “The titan heart gives the greatest strength of them all, but it works a bit slowly. You could crush rock with your hands, but throwing a punch would have a lesser effect due to the delay of the power. It’s mostly used by warriors with large weapons.
The sea emperor heart is very versatile and fast, but it lacks the high strength of the other materials I listed. The sea emperor is a giant octopus, so the enchantment gives a peculiar effect of heightened control of your limbs as well.
The Herculean beetle heart is very small compared to the others, so it doesn’t have the same amount of mana. But it’s the best enchantment compared to the mana it consumes. And I wondered if your enchantment would increase the capacity enough to make it among the strongest enchantments out there.”
Lilly was skeptical, though. “I think my enchantments would be better with much mana because of the purity I can give the base item. That way, the mana can be applied a lot faster, making it stronger. Efficiency is obviously good, but if it sacrifices total mana, I think it’s not worth it, even with my enchantments.”
Gallus didn’t seem to agree with her. “Mmh, with the Herculean beetle heart, you would put less strain on the wearer, and be more sure of having enough room for the third enchantment. It’s also the cheapest option.”
“You’re a terrible salesman then, Gallus…” Lilly considered his words more carefully, no longer sure if the total mana was as important as efficiency, especially if the difference wasn’t all that large. “What other aspects does the bug heart have, then?”
Gallus seemed to dislike the disrespectful name, but he refrained. “It’s not as easy to control as the others, often making twitchy movements if you’re not careful. But it has excellent speed, making it perfect for punching or jumping.”
The thought of Mia making twitchy movements was disconcerting, so Lilly silently decided against using the bug heart in her mind.
“The pearl is a bit special. It offers extreme strength in fast and static movements, but it’s very weak at strengthening slower movements. It could be extremely good for archery, for example, but it has clear weaknesses.”
Lilly nodded to signal she had understood the qualities of the materials. “I think I’m partial to the sea emperor, then. Other than the lessened strength, it seems perfect. And the strength will be countered by my enchanting either way. Mia?”
Mia nodded energetically as she looked at Lilly. “Absolutely! The pearl sounds sort of cool, but I’d like to have consistent strength.”
Gallus seemed satisfied with the choice but maintained his professional demeanor. “That’s a good choice. The transport will be slightly challenging due to the size of the heart, but we can arrange that for you if you’d like.”
“... How large is it?” Lilly asked, not expecting a problem like that. All her previous enchantments had used relatively normal-sized materials, and certainly nothing she wouldn’t be able to carry.
“Oh, it’s about as tall as you are. And it’s in a giant jar.”
“Well, then, transport would be nice. Preferably to the workshop next to the office.”
“We’ll handle it, Lilly. Would you like to hear about our warding material as well?”
“Of course!” Lilly replied, enjoying this mad shopping spree a bit too much. She was very pleased that Gallus was leaving the price to the end, even if it was for the sake of preventing her from thinking too much about it.