Mike knew very little about enchanting, and the little he did know had been from copying the patterns of magic he discovered previously. Whether it be copying the enchantment in an already made item or copying the magical abilities of a monster on an item, he had yet to create an actual enchantment from scratch. What Raj had been doing was on an entirely different level than what Mike was doing. He had been learning and studying the theory behind how everything worked, and how to apply it in his own enchantments.
For example, Raj had spent 10 whole minutes explaining to Mike the importance of minimizing jagged lines within an enchantment, as that would create a point where the mana could runoff in the air and be wasted. From everything Raj had begun teaching him about mana, Mike began drawing many parallels between how the magical energy worked and how electricity worked.
While it did follow some of the rules that electricity did, there were a few things that it did that made little sense to Mike. Unlike electricity, which tried to equalize charges across a path of least resistance, mana tended to bunch up in large quantities, with the mana density feeding into itself until eventually it formed into either a core, an elemental, or some other kind of phenomena.
“I don't get what you find so confusing about this.” Raj said, pointing to three glowing drawings he had made on the wall. “You just draw the rune, and connect it to others, that can’t be so difficult.”
“I understand that, I just don’t understand why that works. What makes those runes produce the effects they do?” Mike asked. He knew that the runes, when connected, would form into an enchantment, but he was at a complete loss for how it worked.
“If I had that much knowledge on the subject, I wouldn’t be seeking your help.”
“Ok, ok. Just go over it one more time, which ones do which, and why is it so important to not fuck them up?”
Raj sighed, pointing at the first of the three runes. “This is the connector rune, the most basic of the bunch and required for nearly every enchantment. It facilitates the flow of mana through the enchantment, which is why it has so many ingress and egress points for mana.” He pointed to the points in question, which were lines of mana that stopped abruptly, as if they were a piece of a missing puzzle. “You can add or remove as many connections as you would like, but the central pattern must stay the same.” He pointed to the middle, which was made of many lines spiraling into a central point that glowed brighter than the rest of the ritual.
“Why do some enchantments not require them?”
“Because any enchantment with just two runes or less doesn't need to worry about mana distribution, as it only has the one path it can follow, that being back and forth.”
“Could you not link the runes in a circular pattern?”
“You could in theory, but that would result in every rune being weaker overall as well as the enchantment taking up far more space. It is easier and more efficient to add the connector rune.” Raj then pointed to the second rune. It looked like a funnel that opened up at the end similar to a trumpet. “This is the force rune, another of the ones that is used very often.”
Raj went on to explain the nuances and uses of the force rune, which basically boiled down to it being the rune that allowed it to affect the physical world outside of the materials the enchantment is placed on. The last rune was a far less used rune, and was just one meant to show Mike how niche some of the runes could really get.
“Where did you even learn how to make that rune?”
Raj rolled his eyes. “Our great sandy patron had convinced me that it was a different type of rune, and wouldn’t stop activating it after I made it. It took me nearly an hour to figure out how to deactivate it safely while it was being run. There was a lesson in that, but I swear it almost drove me mad.”
Mike couldn't help himself, and he infused a touch of mana into the rune, activating its effect. A noise like an airhorn blasted through the room they were in, and Raj quickly dismantled the rune.
“Quit it, unless you want to learn how to disenchant through a trial by fire.”
The next week was spent with Raj and Mike going over different kinds of runes, how to connect them, how to add conditions to their activation, how to set a target, and many other things required in the advanced work of making enchantments. Mike’s wisdom stat gave him a very good memory, but even after the dozens of pop quizzes Raj gave him during that time, he had always gotten at least one rune wrong from the hundreds he had been shown and taught.
The entire week was frustrating for Mike, as he felt like it had been so unproductive. He knew he was wrong though, and his skill upgrades only further proved how incorrect he was.
*Skill upgraded! Enchant, becomes Enchant (epic)*
*Skill upgraded! Enchant, becomes Enchant (heroic)*
The skill didn't have any obvious application like his combat skills did, but Raj had pointed out some of the benefits behind it. The first one was that recalling the various runes and enchantments he had come across was easier, and he could copy them easier in the future. It still was a struggle to remember the hundreds of runes and combinations, but the upgrades had indeed helped. He had also discovered that it slightly improved his mana control while he was working on enchantments, which when stacked on top of his already impressive control resulted in him making next to no mistakes when it came to drawing out the runes.
It was the easiest heroic skill he had gained, but that was mostly due to spending a week straight getting taught by somebody with the skill at legendary rarity. Mike would have almost certainly taken months to upgrade the skill to heroic if he had tried doing it through trial and error. During all of this, he had been helping Raj improve with his control over mana, and they had begun to make more progress with the ritual he had been working on. It consisted of 5 enchantments, and at least 30 runes in total. Raj worked on making the runes and four of the enchantments, while Mike focused on the enchantment in the center.
It was essentially the same as the rune of connection that he had been shown at the start of his lessons, but if it had taken steroids that in turn had also taken steroids. Hundreds of connections needed to be made from the many connector runes that made the connector enchantment, and Mike was struggling to keep it all neat and organized. He needed to coordinate when the connections would be formed with Raj, who linked the other ends of the connections from the enchantments he had been working on.
Mike strained as he pushed his control over mana to its limits, with dozens of tendrils of mana reaching out at once to form the stable connections required for the ritual to not explode. By the time the connections were finished for the first of 4 that needed to be done, he was sweating and swaying on his feet. He had gotten light headed, which was something he hadn't felt in a long time.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“I’m gonna need a break before we do the next one.” Mike said.
Raj was bent over, his hands on his knees as he also dripped with sweat. “Giving up already?” He teased, looking like he was just as ready to collapse as Mike was.
“No, just give me a few minutes. We did just spend…” Mike tried to remember. “Actually, how long did that take us? I was so focused that I kind of lost track of time.”
Raj looked over to one of his enchantments on a wall. “It took us about 12 hours to make the enchantments and form the connections. Now we just need to do that three more times.”
“This is going to be a long day, isn’t it?”
“I think you mean a long night.”
“I have been down in this bunker so long that whatever time of day it is outside is completely irrelevant to me.”
They got back to work, finishing the next three enchantments quicker than the first. Mike had gotten better at controlling his magic, and Raj had gotten into the groove of making the enchantments as well as improving his own mana control, which made each enchantment get finished and connected faster than the one before it. By the time they had finished, Mike and Raj had been underground for a total of 9 days, and had been draining themselves of mana for the past 3. They were spent, and even though the ritual was done, they still needed to test that it actually worked.
“I have never had an enchantment work on my first try, let alone a ritual.” Raj said.
“Oh, have some optimism.” Mike said, getting ready to infuse his mana into the circle.
“I’m just saying, if this blows up, it's probably better to be ready for it.”
Mike grabbed a cube from a nearby box. The cube had a minor enchantment in it that forcefully converted mana into a neutral affinity. Mike had tested that, and found it to be enough to trigger his mana to destroy the enchantments. He set the cube on a table nearby, and walked over to the middle of the ritual. Raj had called down all eight of the grand chiefs to help infuse mana into the circle, as it was very expensive to power.
The cost wasn't something they could be entirely certain about until they used it, but Raj estimated that it would be somewhere between 150 and 200 thousand mana points. Raj plus the eight grand chiefs had a total mana regeneration rate of just over 35000 per minute, and they had enough mana already stored within them to power it instantly.
As they infused their mana into the ritual, a problem immediately became apparent to both Mike and Raj. The ritual was soaking up all the mana it was being given, but nothing was stopping it from directing all of that mana to accomplish the task it had been given. Over one hundred thousand points of mana were dumped into the cube before anybody could react, and the unfortunate cube detonated like a grenade as the material it was made of failed to hold back the massive amount of mana it was being fed.
Mike, Raj, and every one of the chiefs was flung across the room, smacking into the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of a few of them. Mike was the first to recover, and quickly ran over to check on the ritual. Raj ran over as well, seeing the same grim sight that Mike saw. The ritual had been completely destroyed in the blast, the lines of magic not having enough integrity to stand up to the tide of mana.
“We are lucky the roof didn't cave in.” Mike noted, looking at the burn scars now littering the walls around them.
“We are lucky that it didn't kill us.” Raj said, his hands trembling. “Most of the mana must have been absorbed by the enchantments I placed on the walls before reaching us. If it hadn't, we would have been vaporized.”
Mike looked at Raj, shrugging slightly. “So, ready to try again?”
__________
An entire month later, and with so many failed attempts that Mike had completely lost count, the ritual once more sat in front of him, fully finished and ready to test. It was very different from the one that he and Raj had originally made, as they had needed to add many conditions, restrictions, improvements, and another entire enchantment to get the exact effect they desired. Mike’s knowledge and practice with enchanting had grown significantly while working with Raj, and he had begun working on more of the ritual than just the connector enchantment. He could just feel that he was on the edge of a breakthrough with his enchanting skill, and if they could just get this to work, he would take the step he needed to reach legendary rarity with it.
A large portion of his practice had come from repairing the absorbing enchantments on the walls just in case they had another incident like the first test they had done. They had some similar events, but none had been enough to nearly kill them like the first one had.
“This time it has to work.” Mike said, rubbing his hand together nervously.
“You said that every other time.” Raj said, getting all of the chiefs into position to begin powering the ritual.
“Yeah, but that was before we learned how bad things were getting in Gratsden.” Over the past month, they had been given news about everything happening outside while they were stuck working on the ritual, and things were getting worse by the day. “The tank that we left behind as recon requested to leave, so they let him. He ran away under the guise that it was a solo hunting expedition. That only made Roots crack down harder on who could and couldn't leave the walls of Gratsden.”
“We can’t just rush this. I know that the sooner we get this done, the better, but if we try to hurry it along too quickly then we will end up taking longer by blowing up all of our attempts.”
“I know, but we can’t just leave them forever.” Mike said, placing an enchanted cube on a table nearby. Mike had begun feeling the pressure and weight that Raj had previously been suffering from, and it was beginning to weigh on him just like it had weighed on the leader of Dune. Luckily, he didn't need to bear it alone like Raj had needed to, and he was able to push through the feelings thanks to his friend's presence.
“I know.” Raj said, a sullen tone present in his voice.
They followed their standard procedure from there, with the chiefs infusing the ritual with mana to power it. The improved enchantment of control ensured that none of their mana was used to infuse the cube, instead powering every enchantment and rune present. The glow coming off of the ritual lit up the room like a disco, with everyone's bodies casting shadows against the walls.
“So far so good.” Mike muttered, beginning the last step of the process. It was the easiest step, but the one that they had failed at the most times. He infused a few points of his mana into the center of the ritual, watching and feeling the mana get sucked through the ritual, guided through various enchantments. After a few seconds, it shot out of the ritual, headed straight for the cube.
As the magic sunk into the cube, Mike nearly shed a tear of joy as he already knew it worked. He could feel the enchantment in the cube disappear, and he knew Raj had felt it too when he heard the cheer come from the leader of Dune. They ran to the cube, wanting full confirmation that it had worked, and hugged each other out of sheer relief that the month-long slog was over.
*Skill upgraded! Enchant, becomes Ritual Enchanting (legendary)*
It was a good reward for all his work, gaining a legendary skill, but being so close to Raj, he could feel the many levels the man gained from being the only person involved that had a profession based around enchanting.
*[Planet Notification] Humanity has made its first creation of legendary rarity. To celebrate this accomplishment, all involved in its creation gain 5 levels in their profession up to level 100.*
*Profession level up x5! Prodigious Artisan of the Arcane (level 50)*
*Race level up x3! Human (level 45)*
Mike quickly put 90 points into fortitude and 135 into constitution, grinning as he did so. They finally had the means to free the people of Gratsden, and now, they just needed to make a plan to put into action.