'So, do you still need more data or can we finally get started?' asked Teo while going through a thick grimoire about common Magic Circles used in Enchantments.

'There is always more data to be had, but it should be time we gave it another try,' said Goliath cheerfully.

He had already scanned all the relevant books in the family library and saved them in his database.

Carefully going through all the material and categorizing it while simultaneously compiling it into concentrated portions regarding a certain topic, was hard work, but definitely worth it.

Through the runes and Magic Circles on his own body as well as the snippets of information he had picked up in ancient times, Goliath had considerable access to long lost Enchanting techniques, which he was trying to combine with the modern approach to the subject for months now.

Both ancient and modern practices followed the same fundamental concept, but many other points seemed irreconcilable. Especially the weird layout of Energy Channels as well as the structure of the Magic Circles and the frequent occurrence of Runes, outside of Magic Circles, were considered quite queer by modern standards.

Through his tireless efforts in combining the best parts of both systems into a single, more advanced one, he had managed to see some success though.

Usually, Teo would only practice on simple metal rods or common iron tools, because it would be too wasteful to use real weapons in order to practice his skills, but he had recently bought a few steel daggers with his pocket money to use for his serious attempts at enchanting them.

He had already scrapped 3 of them during experiments with Goliath, one of which even completely disintegrated into metal dust, but he did not give up and was about to try again.

Teo paced through the long corridors and made his way down the coiling spiral staircase, hewn from solid basalt blocks, into the dark underworld of the mansion.

With time he had become used to every part of the building, even the dark nooks and crannies he dared not enter before. The cellars were still far from his favorite place, but entering them no longer felt like being swallowed up into the intestines of a humongous beast.

It was dark and humid down here, as his uncle was not working right now and the huge forge near the workshop was left unused. Teo had to help himself to one of the fresh torches, stored beside the end of the staircase, and ignited it with a snap of his fingers. He smiled at the hungrily growing flame for a second, seemingly very proud of his small trick, then chased after the retreating darkness that filled the straight path all the way to the workshop.

Teo lit up a few torches in the small room but had no intention to fire up the nearby forge.

Through his passion for smithing and enchanting his own works, his granduncle had discovered, that the Mana Conductivity and the formability of Energy Channels in an item varied at different temperatures and started to use this property to his advantage. It was a small effect, but with a huge enough difference in temperature, it was very obvious nonetheless.

Metals tended to experience a drastic decline in their conductivity when heated high enough to forge them into a new shape, making the Enchanting process much more difficult and tiring. Yet the material was also more plastic on a microscopic level, greatly increasing the quality of the formed Energy Channels and making the extra effort worth it.

His uncle had perfected this into an art form, completely combining the smithing and enchanting processes to form something new. He would gradually soak the metal in his Mana from the moment he started smithing it, carve the complex Energy Channel structure while tempering the item, and finally quench it, freezing the channels in their perfect state while simultaneously hardening the metal to its limits.

However, Teo was nowhere near such a level of mastery yet and preferred to do it the traditional way. He could not utilize five decades of practical experience like his granduncle could and his superior Mana Affinity could not make up for the difference in expertise either. These advanced techniques, brilliant as they were, would only make a task he was struggling to accomplish as it was, even harder.

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Teo fixed the dagger where he wanted it to be and fished out the blueprints he and Goliath had come up with for today's attempt, going through them step by step.

He did not necessarily need to do the Enchantment here, but the workshop was the perfect working environment, allowing him to proceed with the process undisturbed and warding of foreign energy fluctuations with its location deep underground —making it well worth the trip.

The structure that the blueprint showed was not very complicated, only incorporating a single Magic Circle, but it already encompassed some of the changes to the Energy Channel network, that Goliath had proposed.

One of the major differences to a traditional layout was a single Acceleration Rune near the tip of the blade, that directed the Mana flowing through the circular main channel back towards the hilt, theoretically increasing the circulation rate of Mana and thus the output of the connected Magic Circle.

It was an experimental change as well as the reason for the most recent failure that had disintegrated the whole weapon, but Goliath was sure that his new corrections would remove that effect entirely.

After making sure that he knew the layout like the back of his hand, Teo began to carve out the winding main channel with a thick string of concentrated Mana.

Just like they had practiced, he concentrated his efforts on supplying the necessary quantities of Energy and directing the general flow of Mana, whereas Goliath would make small corrections on the general structure wherever necessary while keeping the formed channels stable.

Because Goliath was a life form based on pure Mana and had been feeding on Teo's excess energy for years now, he lacked a "spiritual fingerprint" of his own and could guide Teo's Mana directly —as long as his master did not try to resist. This unique feature of their symbiotic relationship made them the perfect partners for any kind of magical collaboration and allowed Teo to rapidly advance his Enchanting skills.

Owing to their brilliant display of teamwork, they managed to finish up the main channels without a hitch and began to focus on the wider channels of the sub-network. Everything went well so far and they were making rapid progress, the next steps were the real challenge though.

Before extending the final parts of the thin and delicate web of connections, they had to carve and stabilize the major rune located near the tip of the blade as well as carefully shape the complex Magic Circle forming the heart of the Enchantment.

Teo spent a lot of time to imprint the mesmerizing Rune one stroke after the other, Goliath assisting him and correcting any deviations from the intended path throughout the process. He had practiced this step at least a dozen times in the last days and was very familiar with it —which still did not prevent him from sweating bullets for the entire duration.

Just as expected, they managed to complete it without much trouble and started to work on the most complex part of the whole blueprint.

They had chosen a basic 'sharpness' Magic Circle for their first Enchantment, as it was relatively simple compared to 'lightweight', 'self-repair' and many other common effects, while still being extremely useful. The complexity of its design should not be underestimated though.

It resembled a large triangle, with the edges fixed to the rim of a circle, but that was where the simple geometrical analogies ended. Additionally, it contained 3 major Runes near the edges of the triangle, which were further augmented by two dozen minor Runes and hundreds of smaller lines and geometric shapes throughout the whole structure.

It was mind-boggling enough to just look at it, but every line had to be drawn with extreme caution and could not be misplaced by more than a tenth of a millimeter, making it extremely hard to carve successfully.

Luckily, Goliath had no trouble completely memorizing it in full detail and could assist Teo on numerous occasions, taking ample weight off Teo's shoulders.

This step took up more than an hour and Teo had to rest for a few minutes every time he completed a major part of the structure. Now, it finally was fully formed and seemed to be stable.

It was not powered up yet, but it was a good sign nonetheless. They did not even make it this far last time; before they could finish the overloading protections, they had accidentally triggered it with their own Mana and fried the whole weapon in the process.

The last step, connecting all of their previous work, was done quickly and did not pose much of a challenge anymore, they were almost done now.

Soon a complete weapon with its own dendritic network of Energy Channels and a stable Magic Circle lay before them. If it did not explode on activation and displayed the intended effect, it would be a successful Enchantment.

Teo hesitated; he was afraid of failure, understandably so, if it could potentially cost him a hand.

'Come on, try it out!' Goliath encouraged him, assured of their success.

Teo could barely hear him over his violent heartbeat, battering his ears, but tightly grabbed the dagger in his hand nonetheless.

As he gently infused his Mana into the intended pathways, he felt something inside it stir. It began to power up, its presence growing with every second. Soon it settled down and emitted a barely audible, high-pitched hum.

It was a success.