Chapter 12 - Introduction to Magic Item Crafting

"Such a sweet tongue, but who knows what is hidden inside? You must have a hidden agenda for talking to us, right?"

Well, okay, my way of approaching the two royals was indeed unnatural. I have read the rumor about Princess Isabella before and she indeed has some trauma when people try to get close to her. Who wouldn't when you are almost dead and your mother died because of such hidden schemes?

"Well, yes, actually. I indeed have a hidden agenda when I try to remind the two highnesses from doing an argument in public"

"Oh? You are confessing so easily? Are you also aiming for my older brother? Tell me what kind of hidden agenda you have so this princess can punish you for it"

"Why did you have to threaten this lowly one with such a scary thing Your Highness? This Emilio does not have any design toward the 3rd prince nor you in fact. This Emilio is only trying to be in the good book of your grandfather"

"Grandpa Alfonse? What do you mean by that?"

"Reporting to the princess, this Emilio is lucky to have caught the great mage's attention and he told me to give a hand to the princess when she needs it. And protecting the princess' dignity by stopping the argument should be a good start for it"

"So your true aim is my grandpa? Heh, what a cute hidden agenda. I can see why you don't even bother hiding it"

"I'm glad that you do not suspect me anymore, princess"

"Oh my. So you stopped using that overly polite speech? And I didn't say that I don't suspect you anymore"

"Oh come on, princess. I am just a young member of an Earl family who does not have the right to succeed in the title. There's also that matter with the curse. I don't have time to play politics in the kingdom. I'd rather learn more things as a mage so I can find a way to cure my curse. But well, if you insist, princess, you can be my friend"

"In your dreams. Who's going to be friends with you? You don't have the right. And a friend is not something good to have"

Why did I ask her to become my friend? Well, I dunno. She seems lonely and I have to divert her attention from trying to frame me anyway. And looks like it worked. Let's ride on the wave then.

"Well, knowing your past, a friend is indeed not something you wish for, princess. But I have to say, that was not a friend. That was a betrayer. So I recommend you, princess, to get some friends to clear that misunderstanding caused by the betrayer. After all, having more friends is better than having more enemies"

"Heh, like I said before, who knows what is hidden inside the heart? How can I find a friend without knowing what they hide inside their heart? There is no easy way to find out"

"Is that so? Hmm. I can think of one way to easily peek inside someone's heart"

"Oh? And how is it?"

"By sparring with them"

"Huh?"

Oh, that cold face of hers is broken into a dumbfounded expression. Good going me. Keep trying to destroy that icy shell!

"Hahaha, why did you look so confused, princess? Have you ever had a spar with other people before? In a spar, as it is a situation where you are getting high from the combat situation, it will become harder for people to hide the feeling they hide inside and it will appear in their faces. Even if you failed to get your opponent drunk in combat due to your insufficient strength, you can still see how they treat you who are in a weaker position"

Princess Isabella had the look of enlightenment after hearing my explanation. Hahaha, how is it? I still have a lot more talk-no-jutsu material to turn your enemy into your friend if you like.

But well, the princess is taking a bit too long to wake up. The class is going to start soon. Let’s wake her up.

“Umm? Princess? What do you think about my answer?”

“Uh? Right. I can see the merit of your technique. But I still stand in my opinion. Making a friend is difficult”

“Princess, socializing with fellow humans is already a difficult thing from the start. A great hunter even once said that they like monsters more than humans because they would just directly come to us with hostility while humans hide their fangs and try to stab each other from the back. But even if it is hard, it is still a necessary skill that you need to learn if you want to survive in this world. It is almost as important as combat skills”

“But I am the princess of this kingdom. I can just let my retainer do that for me”

“Yeah. you can do that. And I will congratulate you when you are being used as a political pawn and married off to some old man from the neighboring kingdom”

“Insolence!”

“Not to mention. Just like what you said before princess, who knows what is hiding inside people’s hearts? Can you guarantee that your retainer is loyal only to you to their death?”

“You vulgar man. Didn’t your purpose to get close to me is to get in the good book of my grandpa? Why are you antagonizing me instead? Don’t you afraid that I will tell you on?”

“Well, princess, being in your good book does not equal to being in your grandfather’s book. And what I am doing now is sure will be appreciated by the great mage instead. Because I am waking you up from walking toward your own doom”

“My own doom? Are you cursing me, you lowly man!?”

“Didn’t you hear what I was saying before? At this rate, your value is only to turn you into a political pawn and nothing else. If you want to be freed from that fate, well, just ask your grandfather how to, I won’t help you more than this”

“Hey, wait, stop right there you ruffian!”

“Princess, the class is about to start. Do you want to be late for class? Well, you can do things as you please but I could not. I need to go to class. Oh, and I will lift up my barrier so please don’t scream too much or you will turn yourself into a joke”

Stolen story; please report.

“What barrier……!”

I have erected a one-way mirror and a voice-dampening barrier. Of course, I do that in order to avoid the walls from growing eyes and ears. The one-way mirror is created by using light reflection principle while the voice dampening is created by placing a vacuum in the surrounding area. Science magic for the win baby!

Princess Isabella seemed to realize the barrier dissipating too so she shut her mouth from screaming anymore at me.

“Since when? And how did you do it?”

“I said before that I don’t want to see the royals make an embarrassment of themself so I just did it casually after 3rd Prince left. I don’t want any rumor about us talking on the roadside to trouble you after all. And if you want to know how I do it, first, you need to master all 3 basic mana controls to a greater degree. Like activating all three of them at the same time level of mastery. Then I will happily teach you how”

“Just like how you showed off in Sir Maxwell’s class yesterday?”

“Show off? Please. I am more concerned with my own ability to protect myself rather than showing off in front of a bunch of newbies. Well, indeed showing off feels good. But it won’t save me in front of the monster’s tooth and nail. We are going to be late, your highness. I need to take my leave now. Good day to you”

“...... Good day to you too Mr. Emilio”

Well, at least she still has some self-restraint and doesn’t keep on snapping her anger at me. Old man, I have done all I can to help your granddaughter wake up. It’s all up to her now.

And just like that, another boring day started. Well, I might want to focus on practicing my shadow magic. Well, reading is still mandatory. Gotta keep on devouring knowledge nonstop. That’s the secret of rich people in the past life, to read 1 book a day. But it is also the secret to becoming a powerhouse in this world. Knowledge will open my way.

Later that afternoon.

Finally my first magic item crafting class. I’m curious as to what level the magic item in this world has reached. I need to know so I won’t get blindsided by a common tech in this world that I never learned of because of my ignorance.

And looks like I’m right.

Today’s magic item crafting class started with the introduction of what kind of magic items that normally sold to the masses. Well, the rich to be exact. Because no commoners could get access to buy those. Even I never saw any of them in my hometown.

The magic items introduced today are a light-emitting magic item, magic staffs, and the things that I take note of the most, magic scrolls.

The first one to be introduced is the magic scrolls.

A magic scroll is a scroll that is engraved with a ready-to-cast spell that can be activated at any time. Magic scrolls are also created with their own energy storage so all you need to do to use it is to activate it. And no, it isn't activated by ripping the scroll into two.

Who popularized using magic scrolls by ripping it anyway? It was like smashing your electronic appliances into the floor hoping that it would be turned on. How could an engraved magic spell get activated if the engraved spell gets damaged?

Anyway, the lecturer for this class told us that magic scroll creation is the easiest magic item to make so most apprentice will start their training by making them. The magic scrolls could also be sold for a good amount of money so it is indeed perfect for beginners.

Magic item crafting could be said to be one of the moneymakers in magic studies. However, it is not popular with mage apprentices for two reasons: the limited and expensive materials and the high difficulty of creating a working magic item.

In this isekai world, the cultural level is more or less similar to that of Earth’s middle age. And in middle age, goods distribution is far from adequate. Many items have prices but no available stocks. But it does not seems to be a big problem for me currently. I own the advent- oh, no, the hunter guild now. I can just post a hunting quest for the materials and wait. Well, granted I need to train those hunters into a decent fighters first, that is.

The real problem for magic crafting comes from its difficulties. It is simply hard to create even magic scrolls which is the simplest. And if you fail too many times, you will be in the red from the high cost of materials. There are a few other moneymaker magic studies that are far easier and more beginners-friendly which caused magic item crafting to turn into an unpopular study. Well, most people basically choose to be combat mages from the start as combat prowess is number one in this world.

The lecturer also shows a few magic scrolls as examples. All of them are just basic elemental attack magic scrolls. When I asked the lecturer about other kinds of magic scrolls, he only answered that there are higher-rank elemental attack magic available but new students are not eligible to learn that.

I am speechless. Magic scrolls' main advantage is its diversity and greater range of application. Making only attack spell magic scroll seems stupid to me. Of course, it is only for me who is a transmigator and also a mage. Attack spell magic scrolls are essential for nobles and royals to defend themselves. Most people in this world could not cast magic because of the high barrier to learning it. On the other hand, any random person could use an attack magic scroll to kill high-level monsters and get a great profit from it.

That is also the reason why magic scroll making never became popular. Rather than selling a scroll that could make other people get rich in an instant, a mage would choose to hunt those monsters themselves with their magic. Humans will choose the egoistical option most of the time.

But as a man with an army, this magic scrolls making seems infinitely valuable. If I can arm my army with magic scrolls, I can literally drown my enemies with gold coins. There’s also other support magic that could save lives at dangerous moments. Magic scrolls are worthy of further research.

The next item to be introduced is the magic staff.

Well, long story short, magic staff includes magic spell grafting to the staff and adds a magic focus point to the staff that helps the process of magic casting to its wielder. The grafted magic spell can be any elemental attack spell or supporting spell. Some of the popular supporting magic effects to graft at the staff are mana regeneration, mana storage, increased power output, and cultivation support.

Cultivation support is just like its name, to support the magician when they are cultivating. It is either to support the magician in terms of mana sensitivity or elemental sensitivity.

Besides the high-grade grafted magic staff, there are also other cheaper options like single-use magic wands and refillable magic wands. Just like its name, the single-use magic wands can only be used until the power stored in the wand is depleted. It will then turn into an expensive stick after. While the refillable, the user can recharge the stored power inside the wand and in theory, could use it forever.

It is pretty much a multiple-use magic scroll in my mind. Of course, those two had their own advantages so I need to study them further.

I also wonder whether the magic staff can be created in other forms like a sword or a spear. The lecturer then answered that the impact from a melee fight will damage the engraved magic spell in the weapon so it is not something feasible. It seems that I have to scrap that idea for now.

For the last item introduced… it was just a glorified magic light bulb.

The lecturer is very proud of the item because the technique to create it was founded by the ancestor magician of Lumina kingdom. It is something that only Lumina kingdom has. It has been one of the Academy's main sources of income for centuries.

From the lecturer's explanation, this magic lamp is a single-use item that can give an intense light that can turn night into day in a limited area. Of course, the single-use here means that the magic lamp can be turned on anytime it is needed but once the magic energy inside it is depleted, it will turn useless. However as the main materials to create it are rare and expensive, the academy could not create too much of it.

Well, I bet that even if the academy can create a lot of it, there will be no one buying them. Only the super-rich on rare occasions would need this item, I'm sure the demand is not as great as the lecturer boasts.

The lecturer then told me that the main material needed to create the magic lamp is a monster's magic core. Well, that explains why it is expensive. Magic cores can only be found in tier 3 and above monsters and even then, it is still rare for tier 3 monsters to have it.

I have collected some magic cores from my days commanding Earl Stadford's army when we were out subjugating monsters but I don't have that many myself even from the high frequency of the Earldom's army subjugation outings over a few years.

I have to say that this magic lamp is the ultimate prodigal item. It is a big waste to use a rare item only for lighting. I can think of a few ways to make decent lighting and all of it is infinitely cheaper than this magic lamp.

I'm afraid I will make this technique that the lecturer is overly proud of turn obsolete soon. Well, not my problem I guess.

Either way, the magic scrolls and magic staffs are already a great harvest from this elective class. So many new things to play with. Can't wait to go back home and practice it. Even the magic lamp can be used as a study to improve the design. Nothing is wasted.

But I'm afraid that I must postpone my magic item crafting research. I feel a bad omen is about to come to me soon. Gotta increase my combat power first. Then everything else could wait until I survived it.