A whole week passed while Aleyn worked on the enchantment: Fortitude. And at the end of the week she was still working with the first part of her sketch. Drawing enchants turned out to be just as hard as she had imagined.
"Son of a shit!
An angry yell ran through the workshop followed by a hardened steel plate hitting a wall. The workers stopped to have a look at the spectacle for a moment but averted their eyes very quickly.
A dwarf girl with her head on the table gave everyone a strong feeling of "do not fuck with me right now". Yet one person could not leave her alone, that person was their dear teacher Camedyr.
"Oi! Don't go throwing the plates around. If you get hit by one of those its gonna leave more than a nasty lump."
Camedyr picked up the plate and took a look at it. The plate had a drawing in the shape of a triangle with the bottom line curving inwards and it looked like someone was about to draw more on to it but a big fat line went across the pattern to the very edge of the plate. That line was not a part of any of the designs he knew.
"So whats the problem here then?" Camedyr asked.
"I lost my concentration and ruined the whole thing. That's what happened." Aleyn answered in a calm yet angry manner.
"You need to calm down and concentrate more then obviously."
"Obviously." She repeated.
Camedyr kept an eye on Aleyn as she tried again. In the end she lost her concentration and once again ruined the pattern. Just by looking at her you could easily see she was very frustrated but it became even more clear as she tightened her fist and hit the table. That one hit was enough to break a leg of the said table and the whole thing almost fell over.
"You're paying for that." Camedyr said calmly.
"What ever." Aleyn stated.
"I'm also banning you from coming to the workshop for lets say.. four days."
At that point all of her anger turned in to panic.
"Wait wait wait. You can't do that when I'm this close!"
"You're getting further and further away. You always show up early, you never take breaks. It's not really a wonder you're boiling over. You need to let out some steam, it will do you good."
"But I'm so close!" Aleyn cried in frustration.
Camedyr didn't budge.
"No buts, it's for your own good. Out or I'll throw you." Camedyr said in a very serious manner.
Seeing his resolve she had knew she had no real way out of this. But it was so frustrating! She was so close and now she had to have yet another pause in her studies.
Aleyn gathered her things and was about to leave, but not before giving a mean look at Camedyr who didn't flinch. The workers looked at her leave and then turned their eyes toward Camedyr.
"Having fun?`Get back to work." Camedyr yelled.
Camedyr received an immediate reaction as the people scurried back to what ever they were doing. Work will not be interrupted over one gear breaking after all.
In a small room with only a bed and a window, Aleyn laid in her bed thinking.
"Two days huh.... It's not much of a vacation if I can't get my mind off of that damn enchant. Stupid boss..."
The one thing in her mind ever since she started to work with the proper patterns had been that very enchant. Through tireless work she had almost gotten to the point of finishing her first part, yet it would always slip away and haunt her.
After Camedyrs ban she had realized it herself though, she was only getting worse. The four day ban was probably right on the mark.
"What am I going to now though?"
It was rare for her to have some time off and when she did she usually spent it on her own projects. She could always find another smithy but really, she needed to let out some steam.
"I could read those books I bought from Nancy."
But was more studying and training magic really gonna help her relax? Probably not. But reading was relaxing, especially when she didn't have a time restriction. She had no other ideas anyway.
"Sigh."
She stood up from the bed and took her coin pouch along with "Applications of magic" with her and left the Inn. If she had to relax then laying in the bed wasn't going to go too far.
First stop, Broken Horn. With the day just starting she had not had any meal apart from breakfast and it was just about to be lunch time. Sitting in her usual spot overseeing the city she watched as the ever busy Dvalfgar lived its hectic life while she chowed down and had a peak at the contents of her book.
1. Introduction.
2. Basic applications.
3. Internal Enhancement.
4. External Enhancement.
5. Controlling elements.
6. Afterwords.
The book itself was quite thick but the content was small compared to that of the real world. The main culprit seemed to be the size of the letters.
She skipped the introduction after having a look at it because it was five pages of the author explaining his references and methods as well as qualifications. The typical introduction shenanigans.
"Energy within ones self which is unaffected by our physical condition, that which we call Magic. It has countless uses, how ever this book will only discuss the most basic parts."
"Enhancing ones self or others. Through magic it is possible to improve ones own strength by affecting their body."
"Control of elements. Without magic it is currently impossible to control or understand the elements, but through magic controlling the world around you becomes more than possible."
She had already heard a brief summary over these subjects from Nancy but as stated, it was brief. Hopefully the book would shed more light in to the subjects.
""Internal Enhancement. The act of using magic to improve your own qualities temporarily. Magic has many uses in this category as magic energy qualities in itself are very positive when applied to ones self. For instance, you can use your energy to improve your muscles blood circulation which in turn gives you a limited boost in power as well as reduces fatigue, how ever over compensation through magic can still result in physical injuries.
For instance, if too much energy is applied to the muscles it is more than likely that you might strain the muscles or even in worst case sever said muscle due to reaching a personal limit. It must be mentioned though that the likely hood of physical injury through proper use of enhancing is as likely as any physical activity done without said enhancement.
To improve ones blood circulation on a basic level, energy needs to flow through your veins with the blood circulation. This compliments your normal bodily functions, but any extra physical power that is used will deplete the energy.. This includes any energy used to recover fatigue, how ever the lost energy is directly proportional to the work your body has to do.
It is possible to direct the process to a specific part of the body which lowers the amount of energy needed, however this requires a bit more finesse and skill. Especially for External enhancement which we will be talking more about in the next part.
There are many ways to enhance ones self. Enhancement through your own energy solely is the most common technique but not the only one. If a person has enough knowledge and training in different subjects of magic such as the elements, they can apply that concept to them self to enhance their own attributes. For example a magic user who has vast knowledge in Fire magic can use the power of fire to multiply their physical power and magical energy temporarily, same concept applies to most if not all elements.""
On that note the first part of the book was concluded. Aleyn closed the book and started thinking.
"Blood circulation.. Is it really that simple?"
She put the book down for a moment and took a look at her right arm. Visually her arms had some muscles showing to contrast her slightly tanned skin, it actually only now dawned on her that after working so much with blacksmithing her skin had gotten a few shades darker from her usual light colour. It was rather weird to realize that she herself had not noticed something like that.
"Energy needs to flow through your veins..."
She gave it a go. A little bit of concentration was needed to direct her energy towards her arm but the reaction she felt was quite something.
It felt as though her right arm was outside of a window on a windy day while the rest of her body was inside in a slight discomforting warmth. Yet that wasn't the only thing, she could feel a slight throbbing as her muscles swelled up a size.
Quite curious on the results she stopped the flow of magic to her arm and observed. You could see her muscles shrink back to her normal size and she immediately felt the cool feeling vanish.
"Really simple.."
In fact it was quite strange that Nancy or Camedyr had not mentioned it to her since it was so simple. Suppose Nancy would want her to concentrate on learning control but Camedyr could have taught her the trick for blacksmithing purposes. Regardless there was no point going too deep in to it since he probably had a good reason for it. Or he just forgot which is actually more likely...
Moving on with the reading.
""External Enhancement. To improve qualities in another person or object temporarily. External enhancement shares its steps with internal enhancement, how ever some additional steps are included
To enhance a different person you must know a bit more about the human body as when you enhance your self you can feel your own body and naturally have a guide to where the energy needs to go. The subject can also reject your offer to help through enhancing by not allowing your energy inside of them so mutual acceptance is needed.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Regarding object enhancement. In most cases applying magic to a plain object will not result in a reaction. How ever items which have a magical use by design can be enhanced. This way of enhancing is very specific with the amount of energy used as most magical crystals or ingredients do not gain additional effect if given more than needed energy, how ever there are exceptions.
Giving energy to a crystal can also be used to enhance your own power. For example, a fire magic user benefits greatly from an active fire crystal.
We will not be discussing the methods of external enhancement, how ever you can read all about them in "Advanced Applications of Magic".""
Aleyn rolled her eyes at the last comment.
She had already worked with crystals quite a bit and tested some of their uses and even had some ideas for her own equipment but the only thing she had heard about external enhancement was replenishing another persons energy through sharing.
The subject wasn't too interesting for her. But what about Elemental control?
""Elemental Control. The most iconic subject of magic users. Through magic and understanding the essence of an element one can bend it to their will. As easy of a concept as it is, elemental control is amongst the hardest categories to master as a novice can spend years progressing through the steps to learn how to control a single element.
Each element is different. One might be easier to control yet the user can have problems with results due to other reasons.
We can see this phenomenon in fire magic especially. Fire magic is very powerful and easy to control, how ever it requires the user to provide a source from which the fire can persistently draw fuel from. If this source is an item then the power one can extract from it is limited to that items capacities, how ever if the user learns to mold their own energy and provide fuel from them self then the fuel supply is only limited to what the user has to offer. If one seeks to become a powerful in fire magic they must shed the idea of only using items to compliment their element.
Elements can be combined but you rarely see these combinations as the control you must have over multiple elements at the same time isn't as simple as having control over multiple elements and never using them in combinations.""
Now this here was actually interesting. Molding your own energy to fuel fire? If fire needed fuel then the other elements must need something similar right?. How far could you take molding your own energy, was it only relevant regarding elements? Sadly the book did not have an answer to this, suppose she shouldn't expect too much info from a basic book.
Multitask reading and eating worked well and she had now finished her reading and her lunch. The book actually shone some light in to the concept of magic to her. Originally she had thought magic was all about control but if it needed different types of knowledge to compliment itself then it wasn't as simple as it looked.
With her lunch eaten and the book read, the question was.. what next? Well she might as well have a walk while thinking it through, maybe she might stumble on to something.
Walking through the city was quite a task in itself. Merchants had their shops set up around the streets and people crowded the roads to have a look at their wears, blocking most of the access. Oh well might as well join the sheep and have a look, maybe there's something interesting to find.
From food to accessories to actual weapons and armor, the list of things was quite something even if the quality wasn't top notch. Aleyn drifted to a merchant who was selling armor. Claiming good quality and high grade material. He was talking to a tall man who was having a look at a set of dark gauntlets.
"Yes yes. These right here are hardened steel gauntlets made by a student in Camedyr Tin-flames workshop. They usually sell for 20gold but since I can see you have an eye for good materials and really this fine pair of gloves is a few sizes too large for a normal person. I'll lower the price to 14 gold just for you."
Looking closer at the tall man. She noticed that he wasn't actually just a normal man.
The man had longer than average eyebrows which stuck out quite a lot and the edges of his face had some sort of a scale pattern that marked the edges of his face and hair line. His hair itself was dark red and looked more like a mane than actual hair as it reached quite far behind his back. The man probably had some dragon inheritance as his build was very muscular and his hands and feet were clawlike yet not quite claws.
"Hardened steel, that is indeed quite a good material and this design looks good."
Aleyn had a look at the pair of gloves they were talking about and shook her head.
"Those weren't made by anyone from Camedyrs shop, I can tell you that much."
The merchant turned to look at Aleyn and gave an annoyed look and the Tall dragonkin man showed interest in her words as well.
"What?" the tall dragonkin asked.
"Yeh, if someone under boss made those then he would get their shit kicked in hard by the boss. Also it's not made of hardened steel but iron."
She took one glove from the tall dragonkin man.
"The design is quite stupid as well. When making armor you always think of the use first before you make the item look good. Here for example if you just press hard enough, all of the moving parts disconnect and your glove is useless."
She pressed the joint of the gloves middle finger and all of the moving parts dropped on the floor immediately.
Seeing Aleyns demonstration the Merchant had sweat rolling down his cheek but stayed quiet.
The dragonkin looked at the merchant and was very unimpressed.
"So you lied about the material and its a faulty product?"
"No no, its definitely made of hardened steel and that right there is just for safety."
"Safety? Why would you ever use that?"
The merchant thought for a moment and then stated.
"Maybe your fingers got stuck and you need to remove them?"
The dragonkin narrowed his eyes on the merchant.
"You know what. I'm not really looking for gloves where my fingers can get stuck in."
He placed the other glove back in the merchants hands and turned to Aleyn and gave a small bow.
"Thank you for that."
"It was nothing."
Aleyn watched the dragonkin leave and then got a slight shock as the merchant started yelling at her.
"You! You go away! I'm trying to do business here."
Aleyn shook her head again. It sort of reminded her of Ken, swindling people who didn't know better but she didn't think even he had the guts to pass those gloves as quality goods. She moved on to look at what the other merchants had to offer but in the end the merchants didn't have anything worth while to offer.
Walking around the middle of the city for a while and exploring she noticed that people were heading for the arena. With nothing better to do she decided to see what the fuss was about.
It turned out that a group of people were using the arena to train while the arena had open doors. Few guards were stationed and patrolling but they didn't seem to mind the intrusion.
Seeing quite a few people sitting and observing the group she decided to have a break with her stroll in the city and sat down to have a look.
"Sanders! Straighten that back of yours you slacker!"
The group was in pairs and taking turns with hitting and guarding at the moment but just a moment ago they were doing push ups. It sort of reminded Aleyn of those gym groups where groups are led by a instructor and they move in the rhythm of music while changing what they were doing. Though the group lacked the music and the over enthusiastic instructors.
She couldn't see too well since she was so far away but she could deduce that they were being lead by a dwarven man with short dark hair and a long beard as he was the one yelling at everyone and at the head of the group.
The instructor stopped and changed it up and now they were doing squats. The people were really pushing it, were they training for something specific?
"Okay! Stretch and we go again!" the instructor yelled.
At that point Aleyn had an idea and moved to the seats overlooking the instructor. From a closer look you could see that the instructor looked quite rugged. He had some scars around his face and his skin looked very rough. The man had quite a muscular build for a dwarf but no where close to the lump of muscle Camedyr was.
"Hey, Can the public join in or do I have to pay?"
The yell slightly confused the instructor and he had to take a moment to look around where the yell came from, eventually he realized the yell came from a girl who was overlooking him from the audience.
"Eh? This isn't easy training you know"
Aleyn showed a disappointed face.
"Is that a no?"
The instructor thought for a moment then shrugged.
"Well you can join I guess but like I said. Don't blame me if you get hurt or pass out."
Aleyn perked up quite a bit and then dropped down to the middle of the arena. Infact her question seemed to have been on some peoples mind because once she went down some other people decided to join as well. The instructor didn't seem to mind the extra attention though and continued with his yelling.