“Okay,” Ethan muttered to himself as he looked over the list in his hand. “We need ten longbows enchanted with increased damage, increased accuracy, or increased range. As many Arrows as I can enchant with Fire damage, nineteen suits of Armor and ten shields with either Ice resistance or increased defense… and ten spears with Fire, Penetration or increased damage. That’s quite the shopping list.”

Chad had stopped by earlier with his order for the soldiers of Zuri. It wasn’t going to be easy or fast, but Ethan was sure he could get it all done over the next few days. Chad had also dropped off ten suits of armor, all the spears, shields, and five hundred each of Broadhead and Bodkin arrows. All the equipment took up a corner of Ethan’s workshop

For the moment, Ethan was focusing on a previous Item Darius had asked him about. Ever since they had gotten so many suits of Power Armor, with their high Mobility, Darius wanted to know what Ethan could do to increase all of their fighters' ability to travel quickly. Ethan moved to the large circle inscribed on the floor of his Workshop. This was one of the more useful aspects of the Enhanced Enchantment workshop. Ethan could access the workshop’s interface and adjust the circle to fit his needs. At the moment, there were an intricate series of lines with an oval center and six smaller circles around the edge. In each of the smaller circles, Ethan had placed components that would be consumed and their properties should transfer to his prototype surfboard. It was made of a bunch of wooden planks bound together and was about five feet long and two feet wide, with a pair of leather straps to fit the pilot’s feet in so they don’t just fall off.

“Okay, I have one Arcane Crystal, a bundle of Feathers from a flying serpent, a Spectral Essence, the wings of a giant Dragonfly, Tattered Spirit Cloth, and one Lesser Air Essence Crystal I bought just for this. Silver Surfer style flying Device take seven.” Ethen sat down next to the circle and turned his thoughts inward. Gradually, he entered into a light meditative trance, focusing his mind and visualizing the end result he wanted. Arcane Enchanting wasn’t an exact science, and he needed to find the materials that not only had the right attunement, but were also compatible with each other.

Once Ethan reached that special state of being aware of everything, but focused on nothing, he placed a single finger on the outer line of the circle. Feeling his Mana flowing through his body, Ethan gently guided a tendril of it through his arm and out his finger. With his eyes closed, he could sense the Mana flow along the outer line. At each intersecting groove, the Mana split and flowed along the new path. Gradually, as the energy split multiple times, he increased the flow and every line of the circle was glowing in his mind's eye.

Ethan watched carefully as each smaller circle that contained one of the material components filled with Mana, forming a dome over each item and suffused it with his magic. The next step was the tricky one. As they were saturated in the neon-like azure light, he had to focus on the desired traits of each and at the same time. Fortunately for Ethan, all except for the Arcane Crystal held the Essence of flight that he was looking for. The Arcane crystal was there to both amplify the Essence of flight and increase the Mana Capacity of the Materials the item was made out of.

As gently as he could manage, he extracted the traits with a thin strand of Mana, guiding it out of the Dome and down a line that connected with the inner portion that contained the ‘Airboard’, as he hoped to name it. Sweat beaded on his brow as he concentrated on six different things at once. As the Diamond shaped receptacles filled with the Essence of Flight and the Arcane crystal’s Essence of Magnification and capacity, Ethan felt the diagram vibrate ever so slightly. The faint tremor caused a sudden spike in his anxiety, but he fought it down and focused harder on control.

Once each receptacle was full, Ethan opened up the flow regulator for the Mana and allowed it to enter the central oval. He could feel his Mana reserves dwindling, so he tapped into his Workshop’s supply and used it to supplement his own. The strain of channeling so much Mana increased, but he put it out of his mind. His will be focused, nothing would stand in the way of his success. He would create this flying enchantment. With his determination set in stone, Ethan opened the tiny gate at the base of each Essence receptacle and allowed the concept of flight to infuse the Mana surrounding the board and let it saturate into every cell in the wooden structure.

Just as he thought he would finally complete his project, the faint vibration returned, only this time it was ten times stronger than before. The Mana itself was oscillating in frequency, and the very cellulose structure of the wood vibrated against each other. Dust, made up of the microscopic particles of the material rose into the air, then it was followed by splinters ripping themselves from the wood and in just another few seconds, it looked like the entire board was going through a wood chipper as it tore itself apart at the cellular level. Shouting in frustration, Ethan triggered the diagram’s failsafe. A shield sigil activated, covering the entire circle in a barrier while all the Flight Essence infused Mana and materials were shunted off into the Mana Reclaimer.

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Ethan didn’t really know how the device worked, but it was a function of the workshop and it looked like a large spherical canister. Any kind of Mana that was fed into it was broken down into component Essence, fed through a converter and was turned back into regular Mana that refilled the Shop’s reserves. If the reserves were topped off already, then the remaining Essence was shunted into some alternate dimension or something. He didn’t know where it went, but Darius never mentioned a boost to the Village’s Essence production, and he never saw any manifestation for even felt any difference in the atmosphere.

Feeling frustrated and confused, Ethan slumped down into a comfortable armchair he’d salvaged. Everything was going well until I moved the Essence of Flight into the receptacles. I went over that diagram half a dozen times; it should have worked. As he pondered his latest failure, Ethan aimlessly opened his notifications and idly scanned through them.

Your skill, Enchanting has increased in Rank.

Enchanting Rank 12: +24% Enchantment Potency, +12% enchanting quality.

+6 Xp.

Your Skill Meditation has increased in Rank

Meditation Rank 7: +14% Mental Resistance, +14% Mana regeneration

+2 Xp.

Your Skill Mana Control has increased in Rank

Mana Control Rank 8: +16% Mana Stability, +8% Mana Efficiency

+2 Xp.

“At least failing at Enchanting still gives a bit of skill progression,” Ethan muttered. He then checked how many experience points he needed for his next level and swore again. “WTF! C’mon. Twelve? Twelve damned experience points to my next level? Seriously!” he got up and started pacing around his shop, frustration rising up all over again. As he angrily stomped around, his eyes kept getting snagged by the pile of equipment lying in the corner. Maybe I need a palate cleanser? It’s not much, but I still get some experience points for enchanting gear…

Distraction at hand, Ethan marched over and picked up the first thing that came to hand, the eight-foot-long spear. It wasn’t anything too flashy, an elongated kite shaped spear head attached to a thick Ash handle. As he looked it over, he used his Identify skill.

Long Spear

Quality: Excellent

Rarity: Common

Durability: 26/26

Damage: 26

Weight: 3.5 lbs.

Length: 8’

Traits :+10 Armor Piercing.

Base Materials: Steel, Ash

After going over the base stats, Ethan pulled out his Aetheric Insight Enhancement diagram and laid it out on his Engraving Worktable. Once he placed the Spear on top of it, he then focused on the Aetheric Insite spell and channeled it into the Diagram. As different values lit up as he manipulated the enchantment’s controls, he quickly transcribed them into his notebook for future reference and comparison.

Long spear

Aetheric Matrix strength: 5 (Master Level Enchantment Potential)

Mana Capacity: 1,716

Mana Absorption Rate: 28 per second

Mana Dissipation Rate: C (1 to 10 Mana per month loss)

Mana Conductivity: C (70 to 79 percent conductivity)

Ethan let his spell go and then looked over his notes carefully. The fact that the spear could hold up to a Master Tier enchantment was absolutely astounding. It was a shame that he could only enchant it with Novice Tier effects, but they didn’t have years, or decades for him to train his Enchanting skill that high. The Mana capacity matched the enchantment strength. It would take him forever if he tried to completely fill it with all the Mana it could hold, and that was including using the Workshop’s Mana supply. The twenty-eight Mana per second wasn’t too shabby. If he had the capacity, he could fill it up in just over a minute. With a C rank conductivity, he shouldn’t have to do maintenance on the weapons for months at a time. Refilling already enchanted Items that didn’t rely on charges was a pain in the ass, and it really taxed his low Mana control skill. The conductivity could be better, though. Twenty to thirty percent Mana loss when conducting Mana sucked, but it was better than average for the stuff he’d seen.

Ethan checked over the notes Chad had left him again, to make sure he knew what exactly they wanted him to do with the spear. As it stood, he could place up to six Novice Tier Enchantments on it, with the Excellent quality rating, his Enchanter class bonus, and the bonus of his workshop. “Right, he only listed three options: Fire Damage, Regular Damage, and Armor Penetration… I can do better than that!”