Vaunce carried out the books he had grabbed from the library. He had gotten distracted again and hadn’t grabbed anything he had gone there for. Entering his room, he set the books on his desk and flopped on his bed. He had at least tried to look up information about his condition of not being able to actually use void mana, but had seen some books on forging enchantments on items and had picked that up instead. Those books always pulled at him and he couldn’t help himself.
Falling asleep, he thought about all the enchantments and effects he had read. Mana wave, Mana creation, Mana absorption, Mana storage; There were all sorts of things you could do, especially when you started combining them at higher levels. Thinking of everything he could make, Vaunce slept soundlessly through the night.
Feeling out of breath, Vaunce tried to inhale, only to be met with a mouth full of fur. He sat up with a jolt, catching Clara as she was flung off of his face. Coughing, Vaunce took a few seconds to compose himself and gulped some water he kept on his bedside table. Petting Clara on the head as he got ready, he went downstairs and started making breakfast for himself. It was too early for anyone to be up, so he tried to be quiet as he ate and left for the hideout. It had been a few weeks since he had last been there. Between classes and his apprenticeship, he never had more than a couple of weekends where his time off allowed him to make the trek for any extended time. Today he was going to see if he could make some basic enchantments he had read about in the books he had picked up at the library. Walking through the streets this early was always peaceful to him. There was something about the fresh air, the lack of sounds, and the empty streets that attracted him to it. He wouldn’t mind this sort of quiet and isolation. Not having to deal with anyone or anything and just enjoying the peace. He sometimes thought about just leaving and living in a forest without telling anyone, but then again; he didn't know the first thing about living in a forest.
Arriving at the hideout, he used a void tunnel to go straight to his forge. He still was afraid that it would stop working for him, but it worked as it normally did. He found it worrisome that he could easily use certain types of void spell shapes, but no others. It was frustrating to no end.
Stop Vaunce. Not today, that isn’t what we are here for.
Reminding himself about the enchantments, he felt a renewed excitement bubble up inside him as he walked up to his forge. There wasn’t anyone else here. The other four had work or training of some sort today. Vaunce had made sure to pick a day that they would all be busy so he could focus without bothering them on it. Forging was always extremely loud, even with the fields of silence that Lilith had established for him. Composed of Air mana, she had made it so that it cushioned any sound that pushed against it. It made it louder in the hideout, but you couldn’t hear anything from above.
Starting the forge, Vaunce began the preparations to start making some simple items he could try enchanting. He wanted to see if he could make some simple lights for the hideout. They had lanterns that used whatever mana was poured into them, but he wanted to try to make some lights that pulled from the ambient mana instead.
Finally getting the forge hot enough, he pushed in the clump of copper he wanted to use for this. Copper wasn’t the most mana efficient metal, but it was the cheapest metal that could use mana, even if it was only a bit. Putting the container in the forge to smelt, he started pumping the bellows to assist in hitting the temperature needed. After feeling the air start to boil, he stopped pumping and went to grab some water while he waited. It wouldn’t take very long, as he only used enough for one bar of copper. His plan was to cut it in half and make four copper balls that could be held in the hand. They would glow so that no one had to bring lanterns back and forth from their home. Taking off his shirt and dunking it in a nearby tub of water he kept specifically for this, he put it back on and put on his forging goggles to pour the molten metal into the molds he had prepared. Sweating profusely, he gripped the tongs holding the container and started pouring. Hearing the Liquid metal sizzle with heat, he made sure all of it went into the molds. Finished pouring, he cleaned up and started to clean up, dousing the forge in the process. He only intended to try enchanting with this set of copper balls today. Sitting outside the forge to cooldown, he got comfortable as it would be a few hours until they were cool enough to handle.
A few hours passed as he waited for the molten metal to harden in their molds. Finally getting them out, he picked up the first one and closed his eyes to concentrate. He thought about the effect he wanted; Glowing, Light. Feeling a drain on his fire mana, he opened his eyes to see ethereal flames dancing around the orb. The flames weren’t burning or hurting him, but they did make him feel like he was seeing a ghost. Setting it to the side, he picked up the next one and repeated the process. Instead of trying to use Fire mana however, he tried using water mana. Thinking about the moon's reflection off of a lake, he felt the water mana sink into the orb; Although it was a lot slower this time and it required more focus. Feeling the mana stop, he looked up and saw the orb, glowing softly in his hand. This is more of what he wanted, but he also liked experimenting with using the same enchantment but differing mana types. It fascinated him how different mana produced differing effects but the same purpose.
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Setting the second orb aside, he picked up the third one to continue. This time he focused on earth, although he wasn’t sure what to expect. He didn’t know anything that glowed using earth mana. He focused on it, and after a while sighed. He couldn’t enchant something using a mana type that he wasn’t sure could do the effect he was looking for. Taking a break he thought about everything he knew about earth mana, and by extension forests. That was where earth mana was probably the strongest or so he thought. Feeling inspired he picked up the orb and began to refocus his thoughts. Glowing moss on trees, and fireflies drifting lazily in the evening breeze were what he was thinking of. Feeling the earth mana drip into the ball, he painstakingly held his concentration. Opening his eyes after what felt like forever, he checked his overlay and his jaw dropped. It had been two hours since he had started to enchant the third ball, and he had to go back soon. Annoyed, he looked at the third ball and saw it glowing happily; casting its green light on everything nearby.
Well at least I succeeded. I doubt I will manage to get air mana to work for it though. What would that even look like?
Cleaning up, he tucked the three balls into an area by the door so that the other would notice them when they came to the hideout next. Sighing, Vaunce was feeling content at the amount of work he had done. He had also started to be able to get a feel for enchanting things, even if it was a bit time consuming at the moment. Getting up, he decided he was going to try to research a bit before heading home.
Teleporting into the stronghold, he wished he could use void mana as freely as the others in his class had begun to. Some of them had started to be able to use them in spell shapes recently, and he was jealous. He would never tell them that though. He was trying his best but no one seemed to be able to help him with it.
Don’t let it get to you, Vaunce. You’ll get it eventually.
He always felt a tad down when he thought about it. Despite the encouragement he gave himself, he felt like he would never get it.
Arriving at the library, he headed to the section on void mana. He had been in this section a lot recently. Reading the spines of the books, he noticed a black embroidered leafing on one of them. Pulling it out, he saw the title simply read “Void Mana”. It was a very thin book, so thin it couldn’t have been more than 100 pages. Taking it back to the chair he was using, he began to read the book. It told a similar story about what void mana was that his father had told him. It wasn’t as detailed, but it did explain to him that any negative emotions towards void mana would stop it from working for anything but the most basic spell shapes.
“Void mana is like a living thing, it is possibly the only mana type that can tell the intentions of the user. There have been cases of mages not actively casting a spell, but the void mana reacting on its own to. There have also been some instances of void mana reacting to threats while its caster is unconscious or unable to normally create spell shapes. It has led the Void Research Group to believe that void mana is the embodiment of creatures from other planes, namely the void, that have died and somehow been transported here. Another possible theory is that void mana simply echoes the hidden thought and turnings of a person's soul. Many people are in agreement with the second theory, as the first one is a bit wild. Put simply, if void mana senses that it is unwanted or feared by its user, it won’t work.”
Thinking back, Vaunce realized that void mana did scare him. Rather it unsettled him, even seeing all of the joy and life it had brought with everyone around him at the stronghold. He couldn’t shake the feelings that had been pushed into him all his life. He wondered why it had taken him so long to find this out. Bothered, he sent a message to Tim asking if he knew anything about it.
Hearing a beep, he glanced over to see the reply.
“Yeah man, it was mentioned on day one I think? I never mentioned it to you because I assumed you had gotten over it.”
Annoyed by the revelation, he closed the message and started to trek home. Teleporting out of the stronghold, he appeared in the forest and started walking in the direction of his house. He wasn’t sure how to stop being uncomfortable with void mana, but he figured he would just focus on forging instead. He had a couple of years before he completed his apprenticeship and then he would be free to do as he liked. He figured if he still couldn’t use void mana by then, he would just travel the empire and learn all he could about forging. Void mana was really only a secondary thing that had come up in recent years. He really cared more about forging than he did void mana, but his dad insisted on void mana. Vaunce only really relented because his parents had let him become a blacksmith instead of a combat related occupation. Normally only commonfolk did the craftsmen jobs; Nobles were far more likely to become mages, or knights, or warriors.
Entering his bedroom, he flopped into bed and was quickly asleep having exhausted himself for the day. Jumping up onto the bed, Clara stared through the window, as if daring something to try its hand at opening it, before falling asleep fitfully on Vaunce's face.