The next morning after breakfast Nick got to work on enchanting the pauldrons with an environmental protection enchantment much like his self created space suit had. Nick didn't want this suit of armor to grant him greater strength in combat but rather to allow him to go anywhere he wanted without issue. Each and every enchantment on the pieces of the armor served this purpose in some way including the ones on the gauntlets. With the pauldrons environmental protection added to the set this armor would become the ultimate tool for exploration and travel once he finished the cuirass.-

The six words he used for the pauldrons enchantment were ranta , cu`ma(void) , lelime(travel) , varna(safe) , roban(wilderness) and berthas(adventure). This was the highest amount of elvish runes he had ever used for an enchantment other than when he was creating the Arda Milme ring and it showed. The final product took most of his energy to create and was nearing the middle point of the mythical grade which was quite good all things considered. 'All that's left is the cuirass and then this armor will be complete. It's going to be a bit difficult to complete on my own though.' Nick thought with a frown.-

The enchantment for the cuirass is going to be a bit special as it was going to serve as the core or heart of the armor and blend each of the enchantments on the other parts together to create something greater than the sum of it's parts. The way this was going to be achieved though was the really special part as Nick was going to attempt a ballad enchantment. Ballad enchantments were not a part of the Celebrimbor style despite being closely related. The reason for this was because the old elf had never been able to do it himself.-

An example of ballad enchanting was the song of creation that he had sang while creating the Arda Milme ring. It definitely fell into the same branch of enchanting as the Celebrimbor style but was of a higher tier and more of an instinctual thing than a thing that could be learnt. One could not simply train to achieve it but had to have the right stimulus and conditions inherently alongside an opportunity for this gift to manifest. Nick had been avoiding it after the creation of the realm as he feared what it may do to him.-

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Ballad enchanting was a sort of harmonic resonance from ones very essence with what they were creating and as a result it was little different from broadcasting ones very essence aloud and exposed to the world. All it took was a single nefarious and correctly skilled being to interject during the song to cause devastating damage or corruption to his essence. Nick was fearful of this precise situation and was glad that nobody did such a thing when he created the realm previously , then again it also probably caught anyone aware of it off guard and thus unable to react.-

Such an enchantment was impossible to truly hide as it was a worldly affair and was broadcast widely from the source of origin. This means that unlike last time if the range of effect for this broadcast reached far enough then people could attack him in the worst way possible through it as they wouldn't be as caught off guard as the previous one. By singing the song of creation previously Nick had unlocked the ability to actively ballad enchant but refused to do so until now out of caution. This armor however deserved nothing less and so he had chosen to do so for the first time actively.-

"Your home on the island should suffice to muffle the ballads range thanks to the wards you have placed there , though I know not to what degree." Celebrimbor said solemnly. The old elf was the only person in this world who truly understood what ballad enchantments were as well as what they meant besides Nick. Due to this he did not blame Nick at all for not using them more and was just as concerned about potential attacks as Nick himself.-

The most famous attack on one singing a ballad enchantment was during the very creation of his own world after all by Morgoth who corrupted all of creation and tainted many higher spirits. One of which was his lieutenant and later the very one that killed Celebrimbor and his family while perverting his creations , Sauron. So the old elf was intimately familiar with the horrible things that could occur during the ballads singing. The rise of another Sauron through Nicks corruption was a possibility that he was very aware and afraid of as a result.