Len glanced around the old workshop he'd been given.
The front was a small store front. The majority and rear of the room was turned over to workstations.
He undid the latches on the windows, pushing them and back door open to let in light and air. A cleanse spell removed the dust and dirt from a workbench. Light crystals illuminated his workspace consisting of papers, pencils and steel plate. He took out his utility knife and placed it on the table and sat down.
He picked up one of the light crystals, casting an unstructured spell upon it, imagining it as the sun itself, radiating life-giving light.
Warmth spread across his skin as the hue of the crystal changed. Len studied the effects for a few minutes before cancelling the spell and setting the crystal down.
He pulled out a piece of paper and began sketching an enchantment.
It would need it to be reflective, absorbing the power of the light crystal and returning it in a different way, or filtering the light coming through the crystal to produce a different effect.
Len looked up from his initial drawings.
"It would be a lot easier if I just used a lantern. Then I could carve the enchantment into the glass of the lantern. Or I could use some kind of reflective contraption to place it inside to shine out."
Len put the light stone away and stood startling a woman who was cleaning the floor.
His hand dropped to his blade before he stopped himself.
"Oh, sorry, Mister Len. I didn't want to disturb you. I was just trying to get this sorted out. My name's Gretchen. Miss Carolyn, that's Lady Carolyn, said it would be good for me to come here. Well, she didn't say that. My foreman said that he had orders or a request, I'm not quite sure, to have someone, an assistant or secretary, who knew mechanical things to come here."
The woman ran a hand through her hair, holding the broom as if it were a shield in front of herself, and uneasy and worried smile on her face.
She kept on glancing at the light crystal in curiosity.
"Gretchen?" Len asked.
"Yes, sir. Lord. Um, Mister Len?"
"Len will do just fine, and no lord, mister, or otherwise," Len smiled, trying to be as disarming as possible.
"Very well, sir. I mean, Len," she coughed, blushing. "So, why did Carolyn send you here? To be an assistant or a helper, you said?"
"I was told to sign one of those contract thingies that I can't say anything to anyone or that, and I would help you, and if you need anything, I can go get it, or if you want to talk to anyone, I can go get them. Basically, I was just told to help you out in any way possible." She said the last part in a single rush.
"Okay.” Well, this is convenient. Len thought to himself. "I actually am in need of something."
"What do you need?" Gretchen snapped upright.
"I need a lantern. A reflective lantern, or a lantern with panes of glass in it."
"Oh, okay. Yeah, I could go get that." Gretchen nodded.
"Okay, I'll get you some coins then," Len reached into his pockets.
"Oh, no, I was given a stipend, actually, for all of your research needs. So, if you need anything, I can just draw from that or bill it to the Isendia family. Do you know if they’re really going to be doing something down here in the industrial part of town everyone’s asking.”
“I thought you can’t tell anyone,” Len asked.
“I can’t,” Gretchen picked at the broom.
But you’re still curious.
“Lets say that we will be quite busy miss Gretchen.”
"Is there anything else that you need?" Gretchen asked.
"I'll need some clay, sheets of steel. Say, no more than five centimeters thick, and all different kinds of sizes. Whatever you can find, really,” Len said. “Also I’ll need crystal powder, say four buckets worth.”
"All right, mister—sorry! Len. I'll get right on that." She turned for the front of the workshop, carrying her broom with her, pausing at the door, debating with herself before she placed the broom next to the door and hurried away.
"Well, I've got an assistant," Len muttered to himself and headed back to his workspace.
Len's steps slowed as he reached the bench he’d put items on.
Growing lights are an interesting complex problem, but heating was going to be the biggest issue. He crossed his arms, holding his chin, and looked at the list he'd created of the different things he needed to create.
Without heat, the plants would die frostbite was due in just a few months. With just heat they would be able to extend the growing season.
That would be the biggest boon. After that it was increasing the speed of growing the plants.
The farmer skill would increase the speed, quality and the overall harvest.
Utilizing enchantments he could increase the nutrients in the soil making it so crop rotation was not required.
Increase the strength of the crop’s body then the mana it holds goes up.
He could use the formation to grow crops and the plants that could be used in alchemy.
The faster they could get a new rotation of plants into the ground the better. They needed to be reliant on their own food and the city was going to get a population boom shortly.
Sound transmission devices and transfer tokens were complicated enchantments but he knew them well.
Need to break them into molds so that we can quickly reproduce them.
Len grimaced, all of them would need to be copied and mass produced.
Heating the plants would be partially easy. Just stick them on rods and they’d heat the area.
Len frowned, moving over to his messenger bag to draw out a heating crystal.
He rolled it around in his hand.
It was hot, though it would only heat a small area.
How can we increase your output or range.
Len held the crystal up between two fingers and his thumb feeding it mana like he might when charging up an enchantment.
It heated up, no cracks or issues appeared as he increased the amount of mana to the crystal.
It started to get too hot to hold, so he crouched down and put it on the dirt, pushing more mana into it.
The crystal reached a point where it stopped increasing the heat that it put out though continued to take in more mana.
Excitement gripped him as he continued to charge the crystal. It took a few minutes before he couldn't put any more manna into the crystal.
"You marvellous little crystal,” Len chuckled. If they could enchant the rods to draw in mana and recharge the crystal it could maintain its heat and affect a larger area.
Could just be wood poles with something at the top to hold the crystal and withstand the heat.
If I could make a second enchantment and they were throughout the fields.
Len paused. The first enchantment drew in mana and charged the crystals. They’d need a good amount of mana to keep maintained, but if he got some uncommon wood, then that should be relatively easy to supply.
The excess—well there was going to be all these poles out there stretched out through the fields. If he could, he could turn that into a formation. A series of interlinked enchantments greater than the sum of its parts.
Create a directional, they condense mana, push it into the city itself. That would increase mana regeneration rates and make it faster for the enchantments within the city to recharge.
That was a lot of mana running through and while the stuff was chaos always trying to screw up things. It was also a powerful resources when used right.
If we could store that in the city somehow, Arcanum did it. Though instead of just making it denser we should store it and have special training areas where its stronger for people looking to cultivate.
If they were storing that much mana… a city wide barrier became a possibility, mana cannons and weaponry. The trains coming through could recharge off of them—if they did that could they use the train tracks themselves?
They would be made from steel or comparable materials to withstand the train. That was uncommon, two enchantments. One to draw back to Goran? Or share power between cities? The trains could passively charge from the interlinked tracks.
Len shook his head it was a good idea to keep in mind, but scope creep.
Len pulled out a piece of paper drawing out a diagram of the contraption and information.
“Okay so heating crystal, wooden rod of uncommon material.” He reached out with his will, creating a ghostly rod of mana. The rod peeled into a flat surface as an enchantment bloomed in a hundred lines across it.
“The enchantment would be mana gathering, then a second that would be directional to that mana?” He studied the enchantment infront of him. Lines and runes disappearing, the enchantment altering before him.
“Could make it directional compression? That way it compresses and pushes it towards the city. The rods that are closer to the city create a pattern around the city. Compression regions, each gathering mana from the area before and the area around it and condensing it further.”
It would be like one’s mana channels, the further it got to one’s dantain the more compressed the mana was.
With a thought the enchantment altered and tweaked, he formed the rectangle into a rod once more turned it and peeled it off again.
He took out a few lines and runes that wouldn’t be missed. He’d add those into the rod itself, hidden so that others couldn’t copy his work. They would also be part of the start up sequence. Whenever the rod was moved the enchantments would power down. Once it was placed again then someone that knew the start up sequence would have to thread their mana through in a certain way to activate it.
“That will work nicely.” The mana blueprint of the enchantment form compressed down becoming clearer and more refined. He brought it over the page he’d been writing on and pressed it to the page, infusing the form with heat.
The sharp lines and runes were singed into the paper, the blueprint dissipating, leaving behind a black copy.
Len took out another page, pressed it to the first, copying it and putting it in his messenger bag. He rubbed his hands together.
“Okay, what’s the next biggest problem with growing food?” He kept rubbing his hands together, his brow pinched together. Water? His hands stopped moving as his eyebrow cocked upwards.
There were no major bodies of water that came close to Goran other than some ponds.
Otherwise, all of the water came from wells dug deep into the ground.
If he made an enchantment of the water condensing spell that he and Rick used to fill canteens that would keep the crops watered, and they could be used throughout the city to provide people with a clean source of drinking water.
Troops could have it on their canteens, they’d passively fill over time. It would be a small change per soldier, though it would mean they’d have to carry a lot less water.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
With big enchanted condensing enchantments they wouldn’t need to be shipping water with every unit or purifying it on the go.
Cleanse enchantments would be great too for medical use. Len noted it down but put it to the side.
An enchantment form appeared in mid-air. Len didn’t need to alter it much, the mana usage was really efficient doing something so simple so it could run off of ambient mana for a long time.
Then he removed several key parts and added in a start-up and stopping sequence.
"Mr. Len, I got all that stuff you needed," Gretchen called from the front of the workshop.
“Okay,” Len pressed the enchantment form to a piece of paper, creating a singed version. He copied it and stored away a second version as Gretchen navigated into the workspace. “Wow its warm back here!”
Len glanced at the heating crystal on the ground.
Two Isendia troops were with her.
“Wilkins, Jameson, good to see you’re staying out of trouble,” Len grinned at them.
Wilkins blushed as Jameson grinned back, enjoying his friends embarrassment.
I can guess who put the other up to helping out the girl.
Gretchen looked around the space, a bucket in each hand filled with clay.
“Just put them there,” Len said. “Thank you.”
Jameson and Wilkins dropped off their loads with hers, Wilkins pulling out metal plates he’d been keeping pressed between his arm and side and Jameson put down the lanterns.
“I do need a couple of extra things. I need a wooden pole. Actually, you know what? Do you know those torches? The ones where they have like the metal brazier around them? Or something like that?" Len asked.
"We got a bunch of them in storage. I think we can get them from the quartermaster if you want," Jameson said.
“You got any that you could put into the ground and it would be over head height?”
“Yeah, use them to light up camp,” Jameson said.
"Perfect. I'll need, let's start with ten of those. I’m looking for some that are made from uncommon wood,” Len said.
“Check the mana density of the material to know the grade,” Wilkins said.
“That’s right. If you could grab those and bring them back here, drop them off with Miss Gretchen.”
“Can do!” Wilkins said.
“Alright well I have to get back to it,” Len started building an enchantment form in mid-air.
They quickly headed out of the workspace.
Thankfully, the next enchantment was also something he was well versed with. After the apocalypse, everyone ran low on food.
It became the most prized item to have and hard to get. It was only those that could fight beasts that could get food reliably, clearing areas so that scavengers could harvest the food that they needed.
Enchanters and crafters of all kinds worked together to create ways to grow more food, such as the growing houses.
He paused and made a smaller enchantment, parts from the first flitting to the second enchantment.
A formation would be much better using one central enchantment, and then four smaller markers that would help with increasing the effectiveness of the enchantment and defining the targeted area. That way, the farmers could quickly and easily mark out an area or field and have a single enchantment covering a large area.
Doing so was going to take a lot of mana.
The enchantments altered on the marker blueprint.
I’ll draw in mana through the overall formation, feed it into the main enchantment to fill the marked area. It was similar to the idea with the heating rods.
By covering a larger area, it should allow the enchantment to gather more mana and reduce the number of enchantments and markers they’d need to make.
The enchantment resolved in his eyes, with hidden components, start up sequences and fail safes to stop if someone moved the markers or enchantment.
Len copied it to paper and instead of having it dissipate he spun out three copies of the marker and pressed it all to sheets of steel drawing up the steel to the lines of mana.
He power of the spell layered over the enchantment form. It dug into the steel, forming the parts of the enchantment on the surface.
Len dismissed it all, sweat on his face as he withdrew his utility knife, activating the mana balde he cut the markers out of the steel plate.
Using a thread of mana with a spell to compress steel he threaded it into the steel plate, forming the hidden lines and runes.
He repeated the process with the other pieces and set them down to the side.
The enchantment started gathering mana as soon as it was completed.
Len bundled up the markers and enchantment, placing it to the side. It would fill with mana until the lines within were full.
"Okay, sound transmission devices," Len said to himself. He grabbed one of the buckets filled with clay, and his sound transmission device. He pressed the enchantment covered front face against the smooth clay at the top of the bucket, creating a clean impression when he removed it.
He pressed his hand to another bucket, thinking of the turning numbers that were located on the device, as well as the pin that held them in place.
He commanded the clay to make space for them.
Twelve of the rotating numbers appeared in the top of the clay with a hole next to them for the small pin.
Len pictured the second half of the formation within the sound transmission device that the back plate of the device and willed the clay in the bucket into its shape.
He looked over the components. “Lets test it.” Grabbing a bucket of powdered crystal he poured it into the molds then willed the crystal to fuse together.
He took the front of the sound transmission device, using his blade he cut away the extra filling where the dial was supposed to be, replacing it with the pin and numbers from the second bucket. A little fusing spell and the pin was part of the sound transmission device.
He ran his thumb over them, feeling them click through each position. He put in the numbers for the sound transmission device he’d borrowed from Rick.
He took out the back plate from the second bucket, matched it to the front of the device and fused it together except for the enchantment.
A thread of mana through the device and he added in the remaining runes and lines.
He ran his mana through the device in its special activation sequence. The other device activated, both glowed with mana.
He'd added a destructive rune to the device. If someone didn't put in the right combination of mana, then the whole device would turn to crystal dust once more.
“Well it works.” Len poured crystal powder into the molds, fusing it again and putting them off to the side.
“Never actually made one of these devices before," he mused, pulling out a fresh piece of paper and pencil. He tapped the back of the pencil against his lip, eyes focused on the blank page.
The device had rotating numbers, similar enough to the sound transmission device. Could just copy down the process there.
The more complex part was the dedicated sequence that the token's owner had to utilize to activate it, either withdrawing or depositing funds.
It functioned somewhat like a contract, requiring mutual agreement. Tokens had evolved to the point where one couldn't force another to pay with their token unless they agreed to the transaction.
They hadn’t needed a sequence, but one couldn’t complete the transaction unless they agreed to it.
What if it's not a contract with the person?What if it's a contract with the token?
Agreeing that the token would hold funds for you, that you could withdraw and deposit, and that you wouldn't try to alter or cheat the token and the amounts represented on it.
It was like making an agreement with someone that they would hold your money and they were only able to take and give money if you agreed with it.
Though it was with a piece of metal instead of a person.
That would mean any transaction couldn't be tampered with, and you're agreeing with the token to transfer the funds to the other party. The token would essentially record the actions of that contract. Then, you wouldn't need a secure sequence.
The token would only work with you, or for you, or by associates that you empower because that's all under contract.
It was like making a contract with a contract.
Len formed an enchantment blueprint in midair.
This one was slightly different, not utilizing just runes and lines but also words, a contract laid out at its heart.
He split it into two parts that would layer over one another, copying it to paper then duplicated it several times before pressing them all down on steel plate he had to the side.
He cut them out with his utility knife, taking two of the sides once he was done and pressing them together, fusing them on the spaces between the lines and runes, creating a thin sandwich of metal.
Using clay, he formed a mold for a pin and number dials. He filled the mold with the...powdered crystal, fusing it together to create his necessary parts. Utilizing a few spells and his utility knife, he quickly cut out little spaces for the numbers and the rods to go through on either side of the token.
He created a blueprint from mana of just words and arrows. One said balance and the other transfer.
Len pressed it to the token, compressing the lines into it.
He put down the first token then repeated the process to make four in total.
"Gretchen, could you come back here?" Len asked.
"Right away, Mr. Len." She hurried back into the workspace as he held out one of the completed tokens to her.
"I just need to test something. I'm going to give you five coppers." He placed them on the table. "If you take those and then give them back to me, say you'd like to cashier them with me as a representative of Goran. While holding this token in your hands.”
"Okay." Gretchen took the token, picked up the coins, then passed him the coins. "I'd like to cashier these five coppers with you as a representative of Goran.”
He accepted the coins.
Her confused expression turned to shock as she looked down at the token in her hands, grabbing her stomach where her dantain would be focused. The numbers at the bottom of the token rotated upwards.
Len’s didn’t change as he was acting as cashier.
"Okay, perfect. Now I want you to say that you want to withdraw five coppers from me and then we're going to touch tokens together," Len said.
“I want to withdraw the five coppers.” She tapped her token against his and nothing happened.
"Okay, use the negative on the transfer then put the number to five.” Len instructed. She did so.
"Okay, and say the words that you said again and we’ll tap tokens.”
“I want to withdraw the five coppers.” She tapped her token against his. Her numbers dwindled down on her token as they rose on Len's token and he felt the contract come into place with him utilizing the token.
He felt discomfort before he handed over the five coppers and the discomfort fell away.
"You need conscious thought to agree to what the token is doing in order to agree to it. Just by utilizing the token and cashiering money at the gates or using it to buy something or sell something, the token would activate and become bound to the person. Perfect. Okay, thank you, Gretchen." He slipped the token away into a pocket.
"Do you want this back?" She held out the tokens and coins.
“No, you might as well keep it. We'll be using those a lot in the future.” Len turned back to his papers and noted down what he’d figured out.
I should look at the lightning fences next, keep creatures out of the fields.
He realized that Gretchen hadn’t left as he finished writing and looked back at her.
“What are you drawing?” Gretchen asked, distracted, she didn’t sound frantic for the first time, curious and interested.
“These are enchantments, they take the mana from the world around us, and exert control over it, creating a reliable output,” Len smiled.
“Ah, sorry for distracting you Len!” She bunched up her hands in her skirts and bowed her head.
“Curiosity is a powerful tool, don’t ever be sorry for being curious,” Len smiled. “Now, what other questions do you have? I’m not letting you go until you ask at least one that you’re storing up in there.”
“Well, uhh how does it work?” She asked.
Len paused, gathering his thoughts and pulling back. He’d been working so deep in the enchantments. It’ll be good to learn how to teach people from the starting point.
Len took out a fresh piece of paper and put it between them and started outlining an enchantment.
“There are three parts to an enchantment, power, which is done in the lines of an enchantment.” He finished the simple geometric pattern and starting writing out squiggles.
"Then there is the effect written in runic that commands mana. That's the heart of the enchantment, as in, what will the enchantment do?” He circled the ‘effect’ and turned to her.
“For example, an enchantment might take air and turn that into water by condensing the water that's held in the air. That's an effect. But it must also have a direction.” He held up a finger. Before jotting down more ‘runes’ creating a square around them. “So, you could have it in a specific area that it draws in air and converts it into water, or you could make it all of the area around it, or you could link it to another smaller enchantment called a marker. That would allow you to create a larger area of effect and a stronger enchantment overall.” Len looked at her.
“So, power, direction, and effect," Gretchen said.
“When all of those components are balanced out correctly, it activates and the enchantment works how you desire it to,” Rick said.
"Okay," Gretchen nodded.
"As enchantments get more advanced, you need to use stronger materials. They can hold more mana, allowing you to create more complicated directions, to increase the overall effect, to increase the amount of power supplied, or make it more power efficient. It can also lead to having more enchantments than just one on a single material, which can mean you need to balance out those enchantments or combine those enchantments, which is the best."
"I've never heard of anything like this enchanting," Gretchen frowned.
"It's something new, like the screens everyone's been seeing," Len said.
"Oh, okay then. Well," she hesitated for a second, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Len." She bobbed her head and hurried away.
He felt sad at the way she’d cut herself off.
I feel that she wanted to ask more.
He hoped that she would get the courage to try and ask more questions and pursue enchanting if she so desired.
She seemed very sweet.
Len cast the unstructured spell to turn the light from the crystal into a growing light once again. He probed the unstructured spell, trying to understand its effects and the best way to reverse them. He jotted down notes on his paper. "There is a different kind of light coming from the structured spell compared to non-structured."
He cancelled the spell and moved to the steel plate on his bench. He added in lines to contain, control, and focus mana in a path he desired. Then he cut a section of the steel plate out itself, pushing it out the other side.
He put the plate down, placing the light crystal atop it. He took out another steel plate, putting it to the side. Then he started carving into the piece that he cut out from the steel plate. This was the actual enchantment containing the runes that would command the mana to act in a certain way and function differently.
He put down the piece he had carved up, using it as a template to cut more pieces from the remaining steel plate. Then he added runes to them as well, creating three different versions, each altering the light that would be emitted by the crystal. He dropped the first into the cutout on the carved steel plate. The light coming off of the crystal changed, but it wasn't the same as what it had been when he cast his spell.
Len poked the testing piece out and replaced it. That feels more like it. He poked out the tester and put in the third enchantment, the third effect tester. He pressed his lips together and shook his head. The second one was better.
He poked out the tester, putting the first and the third to the side as he studied the second. He carved out another two testers based on it. Three tests later, he picked the light crystal off of the enchantment prototype.
"All right, that'll just need some focusing and tweaking to make it work for our lantern.”
He put the growing light prototype to the side and stacked the lanterns near it.
He heard the door open at the front of the workshop.
"Miss Gretchen," Wilkins said,
That'll be my rods.
He looked at the items he’d already created. Right now I’m the only enchanter, so I’m the bottle neck to making more stuff.
Len picked up a couple of the steel sheets, copying the enchantment from the growing formation. It might be some time before Wilkins was able to get past Miss Gretchen.