As Jeb pulled a blob of clear glass up, he considered what colors he wanted to use. Thinking about it, he decided to make a clear pane of glass first. It would make sure that he hadn’t forgotten any important steps or motions for making a pane. It would also give him a standard to reach with colored glass.
Of course, now that Jeb could actually blow glass, he found that he needed to relearn a lot of the process. After his tenth popped or sagged bubble in a row, he debated just giving up on using his actual breath. A small part of him wondered whether it was just his Class restriction stopping him from blowing glass well.
Jeb shut that line of thinking down immediately. For one thing, there was absolutely no way that he could tell if that was true. For another, his grandfather never suggested that his Class would interfere in subtle ways.
“Still,” Jeb mused aloud as he pulled another piece of molten glass up, “it would be nice to be able to blow glass in the standard way.” He couldn’t think of any scenarios where he would no longer have access to Least Move Air, but that didn’t mean that there were none. Even just thinking about it for a moment longer, Jeb realized that he could think of at least one reason that he would lose access to Least Move Air.
The Librarian had told him that his Mana would get more and more Aspected as he Leveled and Tiered up. It wasn’t a stretch to assume that losing access to Elements would happen just as much as access to other forms of Magic. Gritting his teeth, Jeb refocused.
“I think I just need to start from the very beginning,” he mused as he put his mouth to the pipe. He blew a small sphere, noting where it was less than perfect. Thankfully, learning to blow glass using his breath instead of a Glyph went far more quickly than learning it the first time had.
On the other hand, Jeb had not realized just how difficult it was to blow glass. When he used the Glyph, he could blow a steady and continuous stream of air at whatever pressure he needed to shape the glass, only pausing to heat it back up. With his breath, on the other hand, he had to take air in before he was able to take it out.
Three breaks later, Jeb managed to make a set of identical spheres. He quickly made a pane of glass using Least Move Air, noting how much easier it felt than even before. Apparently learning to blow glass with his breath helped him shape it with a Glyph, which made some amount of sense. There was something fundamentally disconnected in using a Glyph instead of his breath. He felt like he had a better internal understanding of the medium now than he had before.
Once he finished spinning the ring and cut out the pane, he focused his breath. Jeb had found that, despite how demanding the Skill was to earn, he quickly fell into Meditative states while working. It likely had just as much to do with the fact that Glassblowing required a pattern to his breathing as any focus he was putting into the process.
When he went to sleep, he was able to regularly make evenly thick and transparent pieces of spun glass, though they still weren’t large enough to satisfy his grandfather, let alone himself. The breaks started to fade into each other, and Jeb found that he was staying in a state of Meditation as he worked and rested. Each window he blew came out slightly better than the one before it.
Jeb sat up from the floor. He was mostly sure that he had fallen asleep on it. Thinking about the glassblowing he had been doing felt more like listening to a story than seeing his own memories. It was a strange feeling.
Whether his work was a dream or a memory, he was still able to blow an appropriately sized window quickly enough when he got back to work. Jeb tried not to think about the fact that he had been at this stage before. Technically, all of the work he had put forth to blow glass with his breath was a waste, since he could just use his Mana for the same effect.
Then again, he was certain that his his ability to keep working through exhaustion was going to grow more quickly than his Mana pool. In the long run, it would hopefully mean that he would be able to work for longer. As he considered it more, Jeb realized there was another benefit to not using his Magic to make the glass.
Any Mana or effort focused on shaping his Mana he spent making glass was Mana and focus that he could not use to work Magics into the glass. He was certain that he would be able to inscribe Glyphs or Enchantments into glass like he had with every other material he learned to work. That would almost certainly require his entire focus.
Jeb shook himself out of the thought. Putting Magic into glass, while something he almost certainly planned to do, was not something that he could do yet. For now, he needed to learn how to work it.
Jeb pulled another piece of molten glass from the forge. This time, he dipped it in some red crushed glass and reheated it. His strategy of beginning with making orbs had worked well enough, so he shaped a red orb. It came out nearly perfectly.
Of course, nearly perfect was far enough away from his goal that Jeb was dissatisfied. He broke the red spherical ball into a different glass disposal and tried again. His second attempt came out far better, and that set the tone for him learning to make windows.
Each color had slightly different temperaments, he learned quickly. They all affected the way that the glass moved and heated in their own unique ways. By the time he had gone through the entire set of single colors, Jeb was exhausted.
Somehow, though, his Meditative state lasted through sleep this time. He arose and started working without needing to consciously choose what he was doing. He started working combinations of colors.
The first time that he did, he found that he had not mixed the blue and green frit well enough, and he ended up with a partial gradient. That broke him from his focused trance. Looking at the window, which was still as transparent as colored glass could be, he basked in the beauty of transitioning colors.
Once he was able to mix blue and green to make a single blue-green shaded window, he switched focus. Jeb started working towards making better color transitions between the shades. His grandfather stopped him before he was able to finish following the path to its logical conclusion.
“Jeb, what is this?” his grandfather asked, gesturing to the latest window that Jeb had made.
“A mistake,” Jeb said, “the stars bled too much into the night.”
“I see,” his grandfather said, staring at the window more closely. It was a picture of the night sky. Or, rather, a night sky.
The stars were only in approximate spaces, made with small dashes of yellow dyed glass throughout the deep blue background. Jeb had been able to make gradients almost as easily as solid colors, which prompted him to make single pieces of glass with discrete color boundaries.
That was more difficult, but he figured it out quickly enough. Inspired by the success, Jeb found himself wondering if he would be able to make stained glass effects out of a single pane. Initial tests gave him hope. Large and simple shapes were difficult but readily doable for him.
He was currently working on making small points, and there was nothing that spoke of small distinct points quite as much as the stars at night. Jeb tried to explain what he had been doing, but his grandfather waved it aside.
“This is my fault,” he said, “I should have realized you would pick up working in color quickly. Though, I do have to ask, since when do you blow glass using your breath, rather than a Spell Glyph?”
Jeb pivoted his explanation, now walking his grandfather through the revelation and decisions that he had made. At the end of his story, his grandfather nodded thoughtfully.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“Well, that just leaves your project then,” his grandfather said. Sering Jeb’s confusion, he stared at him for a moment. “How did you finish earning Smithing and Woodworking?” he asked, clearly leading Jeb to the right answer.
Jeb nodded, now following along. “Is making a project the standard way of teaching Skills?” He was more and more realizing that he would not remain a First Tier student for long. Eventually, it would be his turn to pass his Skills and knowledge on to future generations. Jeb wanted to be sure that he was ready when the time came.
His grandfather nodded. “It isn’t universally practiced, but it is at least a fairly standard method.” Clearly understanding why Jeb asked the question, he continued, “it makes sure that the skills a student develops while learning a Skill do not remain as isolated elements, and can instead be used as a cohesive whole. It also has the benefit of giving a student the sense of ownership over what they have learned. I’m sure that making the staff you have means far more to you than any of the carvings that your aunt had you make before it.”
Seeing that Jeb was mulling that over, his grandfather finished, “if you need me for any advice, I’ll try to stop by fairly often. If not, though, I look forward to seeing what you create.” His grandfather left the room, and Jeb thought about what he wanted to create. He knew that it would have elements of stained glass in it, just because of how beautiful light passing through colored glass was. Anything more than that, though, Jeb was unsure.
He thought about the projects he had made to unlock Smithing and Woodworking and struck inspiration. Seized by the sudden impulse, Jeb got to work.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 6457/100
----------------------------------------
Total Statistic Load: 352 Physical Load: 127 Strength: 29 Dexterity: 22 Endurance: 31 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
----------------------------------------
Mental Load: 225 Intelligence: 47 Willpower: 52 Magic Affinity: 55 Mana Depth: 37 Charisma: 34
----------------------------------------
Mana: 1070
----------------------------------------
Glyph Attunement: 26 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana - Efficient Tier 2 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient Tier 2 Spell
----------------------------------------
Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
----------------------------------------
Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Bardic Magic Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Enchanting
----------------------------------------
Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
----------------------------------------
Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)