“I was under the impression it was possible to rent them with enough money, even for an outsider,” Red said.
This was something he had been casually researching since coming to the city, so he knew powerful factions often rented these Spiritual Forges to crafters or other people. After all, setting up such a facility was difficult and costly.
“This used to be the case,” Marina said. “But it changed since the war against the Empire started. The royal family closed its forge so they could use it for the war effort, while the Golden Hand kept theirs open for renting for a while. They changed their mind though.”
“Why?”
Marina smiled. “Profits, why else? If they closed the forge for renting, they could force people to seek their guild crafters if they ever wanted to forge an artifact and earn a lot of money over these commissions. Of course, some people would be reluctant to do it since they wanted to keep the powers of their artifacts a secret, so the guild offered yet another option for them.”
“They could use the forge if they joined the guild,” Red guessed what she was implying.
“That, or they would need to work for the guild in some important matters. Suffice it to say, since the royal court was not an option and there are no other Spiritual Forges for hundreds of kilometers, most people have to work with the Golden Hand if they want their artifact.”
To Red, this was an unpleasant option. The Golden Hand would definitely take this opportunity to recruit him, given what they knew of his skills, and at best, trying to negotiate with them was bound to get him swamped in a lot of debt.
“There’s another option, an unorthodox one,” Marina said. “You could ask a sect for help.”
“A sect? They accept commissions?”
“Most of the time, no, but if you present them with a valuable cultivation resource, it’s possible to negotiate that. It would need to be something they are specifically looking for, though.”
“And would they allow me to use their Spiritual Forge?”
“No, they would never allow an outsider to use their facilities. They would forge the artifact to your specifications, but at the very least, they are far more trustworthy than the Golden Hand.”
Red shook his head. “That is not an option I can pursue.”
Considering the inheritance of his master, it was vital for him to stay as far as possible from sects. This being the case, it left only one possibility in his mind.
“Is it possible to build a Spiritual Forge in the city?” he asked.
Marina’s eyes widened. “Build one? It certainly is possible, but if it was that simple, then there would be more than two forges in the city.”
“I would still like to know how viable it is.”
The woman fell silent with a thoughtful expression. A few seconds later, Elena returned to the room, carrying an ornate metal box. She had a struggling expression as she set it down on the tea table.
“Here it is, mistress…” she said, trying to catch her breath. “I had no idea these ores were so heav-”
“Not now, Elena,” Marina cut her off with a wave of her fan. “Bring me our files on Spiritual Forges and our inventory on the relevant materials.”
Elena’s face paled, but she nodded and turned to leave the room.
“Oh, also bring a map of the Spiritual Energy distribution in the city!” Marina called after the woman.
It took five minutes before the attendant returned, carrying an enormous stack of papers in her arms. She set it down in front of Marina, who didn’t hesitate to leaf through it.
“Right, you will need some special stones for this… Elena, where’s the pen and paper?!”
Elena gasped and ran out of the room, returning with what her mistress asked. Marina set about writing pages and pages of numbers and calculations, mumbling to herself and sometimes asking her attendant to bring some other files.
It took ten minutes before she stopped and looked at Red with a smile.
“Here it is,” she handed a piece of paper to him. “This is how much it should cost to build a Spiritual Forge from the ground up.”
Red read the number and froze.
“Two thousand Spirit Stones?”
“On the cheapest materials, yes,” Marina said. “Suffice it to say, a facility that can endlessly produce Spiritual Artifacts is extremely expensive to build, though the potential return would make this initial expense seem like nothing.”
“Does anyone in the city have this many Spirit Stones?”
Marina laughed. “They do! Sure, it’s a substantial amount even for noble families, but it’s not like they can’t afford it.”
“So what’s the reason for so few Spiritual Forges?”
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“It’s two-fold. First, you need a location with sufficient Spiritual Energy density to build it.” As she said this, she spread a map on the table. It depicted the city from above, as well as a gradient of colored circles which showed the places with higher Spiritual Energy density. “To build a Spiritual Forge, you would need about this level of density.”
She pointed at the darker areas on the map. Those were almost all located around the royal palace, in the center of the city. Those areas also happened to be occupied by the mansions of nobles and headquarters of large organizations.
“Then, there’s another matter,” Marina continued. “To keep these forges operating, they would need to divert an enormous amount of Spiritual Energy into them - Spiritual Energy which they could be using for other purposes. Suffice it to say, most people opt to use this Spiritual Energy for other purposes, such as cultivation or concocting pills. This is not to mention that without a skilled crafter, they wouldn’t be able to use the forge to the best of its potential, and those are rare to find and difficult to train. Overall, it just isn’t a worthwhile investment for them.”
Red closed his eyes in thought. His wish to build a Spiritual Forge to craft a single artifact now seemed silly to him.
“Now, let’s assume that you find someone crazy or desperate enough to sell you one of these areas so you can build a Spiritual Forge. Not mentioning the fact the royal court would not allow someone to buy such important property without a thorough screening, the price for a place like this would be astronomical. Overall, you could easily spend over five thousand Spirit Stones to buy such a place.”
He sighed. All the woman wanted to convey was that this was not possible without a ridiculous amount of money. Red now needed to consider whether it was worth it to craft this artifact right now or if he should wait for an opportunity to use one of the city’s Spiritual Forges.
“So as you can see, it’s not a very viable…” Marina trailed off.
Red looked up at the woman in confusion, only to see her staring at the map in a daze.
“Hm, master Viran, let me ask you something,” she looked at him with a strange expression. “How skilled are you at forging artifacts?”
“This would be my first time doing it,” he said.
“I see, but I mean… How good do you think you would be at it?”
This question gave Red some pause. He thought back to his time learning blacksmithing with his master Goulth, as well as the Amber Sect Manual and the Arcane Scripture book in his possession.
“I would be very good,” Red said.
A smile grew on Marina’s face. “That’s good!” she pointed at a spot on the map. “Do you know who lives here?”
It was a small manor, at least relative to the mansions surrounding it. Surprisingly, it had a substantial amount of Spiritual Energy density.
“The Fairclough family?” Red said, reading the map.
“Well, yes, but do you know who is a member of the Fairclough family?”
He shook his head.
“Lady Ilse is!”
Red was surprised. Lady Ilse was one of the friends Leon introduced to him when they first met, and also the one who had the prophetic dream about a snakeman walking the streets of the capital.
“You’re suggesting I buy this place from her?” he asked.
“No, this place is definitely not for sale!” Marina seemed fearful of his suggestion. “However, you should be aware Lady Ilse is the only member of her family in the capital, and for all intents and purposes, she can do as she wishes with her manor.”
“I see. So you’re suggesting I make a deal with her?”
“Precisely! Since she’s a friend of Leon, there’s already a certain amount of rapport there for negotiations.”
Red fell silent in thought.
“The money to build such a place would still be a problem.”
He would need two thousand Spirit Stones. This wasn’t an impossible amount for Red to accrue with his work as an Arcane Scripture master, but it could take well over a year to make that much money, and that was far too long for him.
Marina smiled as if she was expecting him to say this. “That’s where I come in with my proposal!”
Red realized where she was going with this.
“The Lehmann’s Traders group can fund the construction of this forge,” she continued. “Then we can provide you with commissions from clients all over the eastern continent to forge artifacts, and the profits can be split between you, Lady Ilse, and our group!”
“I do not wish to spend too much of my time forging artifacts,” Red said.
Although this sounded like a good idea, his ultimate focus would still be on cultivation.
“It’s fine,” Marina waved his concerns off. “It’s not like there’s a crowd of people who can commission artifacts, so you would have plenty of free time to do other things. If you’d prefer, we can also only contact you on the more profitable or complex orders, and let a lesser team of crafter deal with the simple ones.”
“You’re this confident in my ability even though I haven’t crafted anything?”
“Hah, don’t be too humble, Master Viran! I’ve seen the quality of your talismans and formations, so if you claim you’re very good at forging, I’m compelled to trust you.”
Red couldn’t offer a rebuttal to that, though one thing still concerned him.
“Would the Golden Hand and the royal court let this happen?” he asked.
He knew the Golden Hand to be a ruthless group of merchants who didn’t take kindly to being undercut in the market. As for the royal court, they might not be happy at the appearance of another group that could supply powerful weapons to the city.
Marina, however, smirked when she heard this. “They won’t do anything, Master Viran, because Lady Ilse is the Queen’s sister!”
Red was surprised to hear this. “Wasn’t she the only noble of her family in the capital?”
“She is. The Queen is a member of the royal family, and Lady Ilse is the acting head of her family now. Of course, on paper the Queen still commands the family, but neither her nor the King truly care to enforce that authority since… They have lost all their lands and power against the Empire.”
He frowned. “Wouldn’t the Queen be capable of barring this deal if she wanted to, though?”
“It’s possible, but unlikely. Lady Ilse is very well liked and cared for by the Queen, so I don’t see why she would protest against something that would benefit her own sister. All that we need to be careful of is to not cross the royal court’s bottom line, but that is not something you ever need to concern yourself with, Master Viran. All you need to do is forge artifacts.”
Red didn’t respond, thinking about the proposal in his head.
“Master Viran, imagine the profit you could make with this,” Marina said with a smile. “You could earn hundreds of Spirit Stones a month for just a week or less of work. This would be of invaluable help to your cultivation, and your path towards the Greater Ring Realm would be set in stone!”
Her words seemed to convince him, but he raised one last concern.
“Doesn’t this all hinge on Lady Ilse accepting this deal?” he asked.
“Well, obviously!”
“And how certain are you that you can convince her?”
“Well…” Marina hesitated. “Fairly certain. Though I think your presence there might help, too.”
Red sighed. “When are we going?”
“When? We can go right now!” Marina looked at Elena. “Prepare a carriage for us.”
Elena stared at her with some apprehension. “L-Lady Marina, shouldn’t you inform your father before making this kind of deal?”
“I know my father better than you, Elena, and he would obviously agree to this kind of opportunity,” she waved her fan dramatically. “What matters now is to seize the moment. Now, shoo! Do as I told you!”
Elena scurried out of the room, her expression still full of misgivings. But nothing stopped them, and soon Red, Marina, and Elena were on her way to the Fairclough mansion.