Chapter 20 - Steelwood Core
The next few days passed quickly, and the full moon was ready to make its mark on Lilly's enchantments. Beak had grown considerably over the last few days, even growing a full coat of feathers. He was now able to follow Lilly on her staff, floating behind her wherever she went.
It turned out that Selene and Rantas had gone to the war together. She still hadn't forgiven him, but she let him get a chance to prove himself by keeping her safe. He would be a great asset, judging by Eolande's words.
Lilly, alongside Mia and Eolande, had made their way to the workshop, and were now getting ready to start the first enchantment. Lilly felt the excitement building as she was getting ready to start on the cuirass, bringing out her trusty carving tool once more.
“Which one was first again?” she asked, feeling the nerves set in. She was going to enchant three items, each one stronger than all her previous enchantments by far.
Mia was studying Lilly’s actions from the side of the enchanting table, eager to watch her work. “Didn’t you say protection first, then strengthening, then warding? I don’t know if it will make a difference since we’re doing all of them regardless, but I think that’s what you said when we got them.”
Lilly nodded, going through the runes for protection and wearer in her mind. The carving was the simple part of the process, but she still went over it several times before starting. “I’ll have to transmute the steelwood core… No, actually, I need to feel the energies in all the materials first and find the best common alignment…”
Mia looked at her with worry. “Lilly, you’ve been out of it ever since we got here. Do you need a splash of water or something? A slap? A kiss?”
“Yeah, no, I’m fine. I just have to go through the process in my mind first. The more I’ve learned, the more I need to keep in mind.”
A resounding slap sounded out regardless of her denial, making Lilly yelp in surprise. Mia hadn’t moved, but she already knew who the culprit was. “Elly, I said I was fine! You were just looking for an excuse!”
Lilly turned around and looked at Eolande, standing there with her palm outstretched and grinning. “It’s been so long! And I definitely think you needed it, right Mia?”
Mia chuckled after realizing what had happened. “Oh, absolutely! I think I can handle it as long as I’m around, but it’s good to know you can help her if I’m busy.”
Lilly looked back at Mia sourly. “I’m not giving anyone permission to slap your butt, you know. I feel like you could have shown me the same courtesy.”
“You’ll have to take that up with Mom, then. And if you can make her stop, I say go for it.”
Lilly found it hard to imagine the quiet and understanding Nancy Gorton slapping anyone. “Well, if she does it, you probably deserve it. But whatever, let me get back to it.”
She used the table to sense the energies in each of the materials, slowly theorizing the best way to transmute them to bring out their full powers. With only one material, it was simple, but when she had to consider all three, it became a lot harder to find the best alignment.
‘It makes the transmuting itself easier to find the best alignment, and I’m no expert on that subject yet… Better make sure I find the easiest alignment.’
After a few minutes, she felt she had found it. She briefly wondered if she only had to consider the parts of the cuirass that would be used for each enchantment, but figured it was safer to make the entire thing aligned.
The transmutation itself was over as soon as she had decided. Once the planning was done, it was a simple spell. ‘Now for the runes… Protection and wearer are the only ones I need, right?’
Holding the carving tool Mia had made for her, which seemed like forever ago, she started carving the runes gently into the cuirass. She was carving on the inside to make the appearance less important and to make it harder for enemies to know what enchantments were used.
Mia was looking intently at her movements, following every stroke as the lines appeared in the cuirass. “I’m surprised the carving tool still works on palladium. Did you improve it somehow?”
Lilly nodded. “I purified the steel with the flame and transmuted it to work better. It needs me to supply it with mana now, but it’s a lot sharper than it was at first. But I’m pushing the limits, for sure. I could probably carve with my finger if I wanted to, but I’m fond of this thing.”
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Mia smiled, recalling the time they enchanted both the hammer and carving tool on the same day. “It’s the first thing I made for you to enchant, so I get it. I’ll be sad if I ruin my hammer by accident one day.”
“Exactly… There, that should do it,” Lilly said, looking at her finished runes. Now, the only step remaining was the enchantment itself.
Lilly took a deep breath, putting both her hands on the table and focusing on the cuirass and the steelwood core. ‘Everything should be perfect now. The full moon is present, my flame is at full power, and my desire to protect Mia is at its peak. Let’s do this!’
An immense amount of flame flowed through the table, splitting perfectly between the steelwood core and the palladium cuirass, marking the start of the enchanting process. The thick threads of the protective system within the core started flowing through the air, finding their place in the cuirass.
Due to the sheer power at work, the entire table and the two objects started glowing. Lilly felt her nerves threaten to control her actions, but she restrained herself. “Mia, please move away from the table. I don’t know what might happen if something breaks here, but it won’t be pretty.”
Mia seemed hesitant, but she moved after seeing the look on Lilly’s face, where beads of sweat were rolling down her temple. “Is this far enough?” she asked, having moved behind Eolande.
Lilly nodded without looking, keeping her focus on the enchantment. She felt that her desire to protect Mia would lessen if she moved further away, but she was too scared to keep her too close, no matter what the result of the enchantment would be.
She was circulating the flames within her own body for protection while also focusing on keeping the heat under control. Her mind was starting to frazzle from all the things she had to keep in mind and focus on, but she managed to keep it under control.
‘Gods, this is more exhausting than I thought. Will I be fine for four more enchantments?’ she wondered, feeling like she might have underestimated these enchantments. Luckily, the first one was about to finish, as the final threads were floating out of the core.
They entered the cuirass smoothly, marking the end of the process. The cuirass started glowing intensely as it started the process of draining mana, forcing Lilly to shield her eyes with her hand.
“Gods, that’s some intensity! I hope the barracks won’t mind that we use all the mana around here for a while… Ahhh, that was harder than I thought!” Lilly exclaimed, feeling her mind clear after the intense focus.
A sudden thought struck her, making her curse her own stupidity. “Ahh! shoot, I need to carve the other runes! I won’t be able to once it finishes!”
She hurriedly grabbed the carving tool and flipped the cuirass while it was glowing, keeping her eyes as tightly closed as she could without shutting them. “Ahh, this was stupid! I’m stupid!”
She started carving from memory, praying that she would make it before the process finished. Since the enchantment was so powerful, she assumed it would take a while, but she couldn’t afford to waste any time.
As her eyes adjusted to the intense brightness, Lilly focused on the runes. ‘Warding, wearer, good, good. Now for strength, wearer. What was the rune for strength again? Three lines like… Ah, right!’
The final line was carved before the process finished, but Lilly was sweating heavily. She wiped her forehead with her arm and breathed a sigh of relief, looking around the room to see the dreaded reaction of her spectators.
A huge blind spot was persistently covering her vision, but she could see them in her side view. “You’re laughing surprisingly little. Is everything fine?”
Eolande replied with a choked laughter. “I’m hahaha, I’m covering my mouth, sorry. We should have brought an extra set of clothes, I see.”
Lilly felt a light breeze on parts of her body, along with a burned smell. “... Damn it.” Patting her clothes, she could feel several holes decorating her torso and arms. Her skirt seemed to be fine, but little remained of what was below it.
“... Could you do me a favor, Elly?” Lilly asked, feeling her cheeks flush from shame. She really hadn’t expected to lose control like this again, and it came in addition to the near disaster of the enchanting process.
“Sure, just let me see the end of the first enchantment first.”
As she spoke those words, the glow faded from the cuirass. Lilly turned and blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to hurry her vision in its recovery to see the finished product. ‘Ah, I can just feel the result… I’m being silly.’
Sending her flame to feel the result of the enchantment, she gasped in shock. “It’s so strong! This protective enchantment would require a violet crystal on its own! It has nearly taken up a third of the space already! It’s ten times stronger than the enchantment for the protective necklaces. When taking the quality into consideration as well, this should be an incredible protection!”
Eolande and Mia looked at it with sparkling eyes, both excited to test it out. “It’s going to be way too strong for your average person to handle, but for an experienced adventurer, it should still be fine. I can’t say the same after the strengthening enchantment is added, though,” Eolande said.
“Can I put it on?” Mia asked, looking at Lilly like an eager child.
“Sure! Since your body is getting purified, you’re fine with many enchantments, so you don’t have to worry much. Elly, we’re going to need some crystals for the final enchantment after all. Can you bring some strong ones? Along with a set of clothes?”
Eolande nodded, smiling as she looked at Lilly’s clothes. “The full set, I’m guessing? I only managed to make two violet crystals these last few days, and one is for my belt. But the other one can be… payment, maybe? I’ll have to think about it. I’ll be back soon. Get into the armor so we can test it later, Mia.”
Mia was already in the process of putting it on and had her head in the middle of it, making her voice sound metallic. “You better bring a big needle!”
Eolande chuckled and waved as she walked to the door. “See you soon, girls.”