Tec Mage Chapter Twenty Two: Fending Off A Monster

Atlas was lead in to a store room by Noah, there was a simply wooden table and on the table was a thick book, in each corner was robes, staffs but mostly leather bags,

Noah opened the book to the last page with writing on it

"Ahh here we are, this is the list of things we need and what enchantments we need on them" said Noah

Atlas had a quick look, apart from the robes and staff there were a huge amount of bags that needed to be enchanted with 10x space and 5x weight reduction

"Why so many enchanted bags" asked Atlas

"Money, the bags are sold to adventures and freedmen to make money for the guilds" replied Noah

Atlas understood, he him self owned 5 enchanted bags but he had made them him self "how much does one enchanted bag go for"

Noah rubbed his chin "500 gold, maybe"

"If it goes for so much why do i have to do a lot of enchanting just to get my spells" asked Atlas

"It's cost, the bags have to be made by tailors then they have to be enchanted and the cost of mana potions that come from the Alchemist to fuel the Enchanters" answered Noah

"But i don't need any mana potions to fuel my enchantments" said Atlas

"Then i will be giving a little extra in spells to compensate you but not too much other wise we wont make a lot" Noah was really excited, with Atlas doing the enchanting he could save on potions and enchanting cost, this months books will easily be in the black and may compensate last month as well

Atlas had to agree, after all it had been his idea to enchant for spells "could you do me a favour" asked Atlas

"Yea, sure what is it" Noah was in a great mood

"My apprentice Dracken is waiting out side the city walls with a bound wolf, could you send him a message to go back to Mary" asked Atlas

"A bound wolf?" said Noah a little confused

"Just some thing we picked up while travelling" answered Atlas

"No problem, i'll do it my self as i have other matters to deal with" said Noah

Noah left the book open at the page with the list of things that needed to be enchanted and left, Atlas started off with bring his two training books out, opening his Alchemy and Enchantment books to the appropriate page he started to read

Each page of the alchemy book and enchanters book said that the next part of learning to do both crafting skills needed to be done in tandem, reading the list of thing needed Atlas removed them from his bag and placed them on the table, the strange metal pieces were all made from mithril a metal that was light and could conduct magic, in fact out of the five magical metals it was 3rd best at doing so

Atlas set up the alchemy set, a glass container with mithril metal pieces on the side was set for the base, Atlas had seen one of these before, he had bought one in town from a player, at the time he didn't know what it was and even Alison didn't know, according to the alchemy book this was an elemental flask, basically it would hold the raw mana of the elements fire, water, wood, metal ect, on top of the elemental holder was a tall mithril stand with an open sphere on top, the enchantment book said this was the mana abstractor, one of the seven rules of enchanting was everything had mana and any item put in to the sphere would have there mana abstracted, so if fire was placed in there it would take fire mana, after a while the item would regenerate it's mana to normal like a player

Atlas decide to use fire first, with his fire cape out he lowered the heat so instead of mana being consumed it regenerated mana faster, he dipped the tale of the cape in to the sphere, nothing happened in till Atlas started to use the enchantment called displacement on the mana abstractor, because there were no enchantments on the item in the sphere, mana was abstracted instead, if it was just the displacement enchant then nothing would happen but the mithril sphere with strange symbols on it all so helped, the sphere started to turn slowly with the fire in side it, after five minutes a single drop of red mana had condensed on the bottom of the sphere ready to drop in to the elemental flask, the mana would drop in to the flask as a liquid but then act like a flame when settled at the bottom of the flask

Atlas was kind of pleased he did this first, now that the mana abstractor was working he didn't need to feed it energy, with that off his mind he started to work on enchanting bags, there was a mountain of bags that needed Atlas touch but due to Atlas enchanting his own bags, vials and flasks he was easily able to fill the quoter in the books

After a day of enchanting the bags Atlas had finished, he also obtained a full flask of fire mana and half a flask of forest mana, according to the alchemy book forest mana was made from green plants that had plenty of vitality and so Atlas put some of his herbs in the mana abstractor

When Atlas mana was low and he waited for it to recharge he played with the fire mana and forest mana, Atlas poured some fire mana out in to his stone bowl, it was like a liquid but the top of the liquid was reaching out like flames, Atlas was staring at it for a while and found the liquid was evaporating, he checked the fire mana in the elemental flask to find that it hadn't decreased, Atlas put it to the strange symbols on the side of the flask

Atlas started to put small pieces of wood in the stone bowl to test the fire mana, nothing happened, the wood just rested on the mana but didn't burn, this brought him a small moment of hesitation, thinking Atlas casted a very small Fire trap in the bowl no bigger than a small coin and waved his hand over it, the fire trap activated and a small dome of fire erupted from the trap but as the flame started the fire mana reacted and instead of a small explosion a massive one blasted out and broke the stone bowl and burnt Atlas hair, Atlas fire cape quickly wrapped the fire up so the table wouldn't burn but instead of controlling the fire the fire mana made the cape flare up, Atlas was having trouble controlling his cape and so he used clay hand to smuther the fire

With the fire out Atlas made a deduction

1. Mana out side of were it belonged would evaporate unless it was stored properly

2. The fire mana wasn't fire but the mana representative of fire

3. The fire mana was like oil or gas, on there own it wouldn't burn but add a flame and it gave fuel to the fire

To make sure that his deductions were correct he pulled out a new stone bowl and filled it up with forest mana, as the liquid started to settle the mana was creeping up on the side of the bowl like vines, Atlas put a new fire trap in the bowl and waved his hand over it, when the flame appeared all it did was a normal fire trap, the forest mana didn't react with fire and so it didn't act as fuel for the fire trap, after the flame went out all that was left was the same forest mana, Atlas picked up the wood he tryied to use a fuel before and placed it in the bowl, Atlas stepped back and waited to see what would happen

The liquid in the bowl started to disappear as it was absorbed into the wood, nothing happen but as Atlas looked more closer a single bud had formed on the wood

"Amazing" said Atlas

It wasn't the fact that the wood had reacted with the forest mana but the kind of wood had put in there, it was building wood, striped of its bark and limbs to show only the core of the tree it came from, Atlas had to test it on some thing more alive

Again the bowl was filled but Atlas now placed a herb he had been keeping in to the bowl, this time the effects happen almost straight away, as the liquid disappeared the herb steady grew and grew in till it bloomed

After seeing this Atlas sat down, this new development was a game changer, no longer would he have to wait for herbs to grow but could pour some forest mana on the plants for instant growth, the only problem was how much of the forest mana he used, most of it was gone but Atlas had plans for the forest mana which he would put in to practice when he got back

Atlas went back to the alchemy book that told him to mix chalk in to the fire mana and leave in till the chalk absorbs the mana, the book said that this would take all day and to leave the chalk in the elemental flask, it also pointed out that chalk was once alive and that this was the only reason that it could absorb the mana and change

After doing what the book told him he put the fire flask away and put more plants in the mana abstractor to gain some forest mana, he started to enchant the robes and staffs, most of the robes and staffs were beginner stuff and easy to enchant but there were some pieces that needed special care and attention placed on them that Atlas had to use more of his mana on, every now and again Noah would stop by and take the items that Atlas enchanted while dropping off some food and drink, this carried on in till the afternoon of the 2nd day, in truth Atlas wanted to leave, he had said that he would be back to the tailoring shop in a day to pick up his new armour and he wanted to see the new piece like a child wants to see their presents on Christmas day, just as he was finishing Noah entered the nearly empty stock room with a big binder and placed it on the table

Pushing the binder towards Atlas he said " that's for you, good job by the way, i've put four suitable low level spells just for you" Noah turned the binder to the first couple of pages

Atlas turned the binder around so he could read the spell "Fire control" he looked on the next page "Water control", turning the page Atlas expected earth and air control and wasn't disappointed

"Yes, i noticed that you have a lot of crafting skills and thought that these would come in handy" said Noah

Atlas looked at Noah in till he explained him self

Clearing his voice slightly Noah spoke "with these spells i think it will make it easer for you to work, here is an example"

Raising his hand Noah manifested flame in his hand and the condensed it down to an orange flame, "with this black smiting will be easier" Noah looked pleased with him self

Atlas pulled fire control and air control out of the binder and placed his hand over it "learn"

Fire Control beginner level 1

The ability to control fire in your hand, can not manifest fire with this skill

Air Control beginner level 1

The ability to control air in your hand, can not manifest air with this skill

Now he had some control over fire and air he placed both his hands together, stealing some fire from the candle on the table and using the skills he had just learnt fire burst out off his right hand then was condensed to make a small but powerful flame with the other hand he condensed the air so more oxygen was coming out and combined both to make a small blue flame like a wielding torch, when he got better with these skills he hoped he would be able to do this with one hand, this skill was convenient because now he was able to wield things easily with out using a lot of mana, yes he could of used his cape but to get it at that heat with out oxygen or butane would cost him a lot of mana, not only that with earth and fire control he could make glass super quick

"The only problem with these skill is that you can't manifest the elements, a different spell is needed for that or the elements at hand" explained Noah

"This is fine, with this it should be quicker and easier to craft" Atlas closed the binder and placed it in his bag, with only one more robe to enchant Atlas finished quickly to pick up his new armour from the tailors, he said he's goodbyes to Noah and was about to leave when Noah started to speak

"Hey, if you come once every month to do some enchanting then you can save up for more advanced spells and i will even give quest that you freedmen like to do" Noah was delighted with Atlas work, he never once complained and just got down to work, the whole enchanters guild didn't do as much work in a month that Atlas had done in a day and a half, this was just down to dedication of work without a persons pride getting in the way

"We shall see" Atlas felt a little fidgety at the moment being in a closed room with a quota of work, even in the real world there was work that needed to be done outside and even the gnolls cave had other things to do if you felt the need "I won't promise any thing but if you like i can get my team to start making bags and i can enchant them in my own time.... money can be discus when i deleaver them to you"

"That won't do, we have a deal with the tailors" answered Noah

"Well i could come back in a week and pick up a load of bags and take them a way to be enchanted in my time" suggested Atlas

Noah was pretty sure that Atlas wouldn't steal the bags, Atlas had a good character apart from the enchanters guild Noah had started to hear good things about him, he had heard about the toys he had made, given and sold to people, the training hall instructor had a couple of good things to say about him as well as the lieutenant in the city watch police force there had also been times when Atlas had been seen walking a old women to her work place

"All right, come back in a week and i will have the bags ready for you" ordered Noah

With the deal done Atlas left happy but fidgety, in town Atlas sat down and refilled his canteen from a fountain he made a note of what he had to do today

1. pick up his new armour

2. pick up the furniture and toys

3. ask if Betty needs any more fish

Screwing the cap back on his canteen Atlas made his way to the tailor shop but unknown to him some one had recognized him or to be more precise the thing around his neck

At the tailor's Atlas was asked to come into the back room to pick up his new clothes, the girl who measured him before handed him his gear

"Thank you little lady" the girl started to blush again like the last time Atlas had talk to her

Atlas got changed and exited from the changing room, Atlas was wearing dark blue scaled trousers that had a silver thread sown in to the end of the legs and at the pockets, his boots were made from the same stuff as his trousers and so were dark blue as well, the boots were in the same shape as his old ones but instead of metal toe capped with a small spike at the end, there was a fin from razor fins skin, the fin was as sharp as a blade but stronger than steel and much lighter as well, it also had a smaller fin on the heel.

On Atlas chest was a clean white shirt with silver lining thread and silver buttons shaped like a wolfs head, over the shirt was a light blue vest made from the belly piece of Razor Fin, it also had three silver buttons shaped like wolf heads, the best piece was the robe, in side the robe was the pockets that Atlas asked for, each pocket was so close to each other that by first glance they all seemed to be one but the robe it self was different, the selves only went to his elbow and instead of a closed off front it was open all the way down to show off the vest, it was more like a jacket that went down to his legs, the silver buttons were here to so the robe jacket could be closed off and the silver lining thread was here also, at either side of the collar was a small design of a silver wolf howling and on the back of the robe was a big sharp fin, there was also some dark blue gloves with the same razor sharp fin on the side just like his boots and robe, Atlas didn't wear the gloves for he would have to dismantle his old ones first and fix the metal and Alchemy pieces to his new gloves

The whole set included the robe seemed to him to complement each other

"just like you asked, pockets in the inside but i'm sorry to say that this was all the material used and we couldn't make a complete set of leather armour and robe" said the girl

Atlas felt very dapper, with his dark blue magus hat and his steel staff with wolf motto the whole thing came together

"I hope you don't mind" the girl spoke up "i saw your staff with the wolf shaped crescent moon and i incorporated the idea in to the cloths"

she was looking down at her feet and slightly blushing, Atlas was never that fashion savvy because of working in a building yard for all his adult life, he need hard working clothes that wouldn't tear but now he felt prim and proper

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Atlas walk closer to the girl and raised his hand

"You've done a wonderful job, my name is Atlas and i offer my hand in friendship"

The girl was taken back, she looked at Atlas hand then to his face, after a few moments she clasped his hand and shook it "my name is Elcea"

Your friendship with Elcea and the tailors of Ledern Kingdom has improved

Charm +1

"Do you have by any chance some more of the silver thread so i can transfer my Alchemy to my new gloves" asked Atlas

"Hold it right there" Elcea disappeared in to a different room and quickly came back with a spool of silver thread and a needle, she handed it over

Atlas handed over some coins to compensate the thread "in till next time, oh if you need a favour from me then leave a note in my home, i live behind the training hall" Atlas waved good bye to Elcea and left

Elcea stood on the spot and looked down at her hands, in her hands there were some silver coins, on reflection she didn't even care that the thread she had given Atlas cost a lot more then he had given her, she felt good that she had made a new friend and went back to work with a skip

Out side Atlas was feeling better now he was outside, no more was he tense from being inside for too long, his next job was to collect the furniture, games and odds and ends but he had sent Dracken back to the gnolls as he worked on the enchanting for a day, buying a new cart with a donkey would be fine, Atlas still had a lot of money from selling enchanted steel weapons to the masses and buying some thing like this wouldn't hurt him to badly

As Atlas started to walk to the cart dealership a big rough hand landed on his shoulder "is this the man" a deep but young voice said while pulling Atlas to a stand still

"Yes that's him, that's the man that stole my property"

Atlas spine went cold there was no mistake about it, he knew the man's voice or should he say Dwarf voice, as Atlas turned around he was face to face with a young private of the city police force and just behind him was Roark the evil git that for a week taught him blacksmithing and tried to hurt and humiliate him

"Could you come with me sir" asked the private

"Why" asked Atlas

"This person has claimed you stole his property" the private answered back

"And if i don't" asked Atlas, he was tired with the dwarf, every time he thought he was finished with him he came back harder

"Then i'm arresting you on the charges of possession of stolen goods and suspension of theft " there seemed to be a strange smile on the privates face like he was the cat that got the cream

The private reached out to grab Atlas hands but the days where Atlas was weak was gone, with greater speed than the low level private Atlas raised his hand out towards the privates face palm facing him

"Stop, don't man handle me, i didn't say i wouldn't come" said Atlas

right then Roark started to speak "what about my property"

The private nodded at the dwarf then turned to Atlas "sir, i'm going to ask you to give the creature that's around your neck to Mr Roark in till this matter is sorted"

The dwarf was smiling and had his hands out waiting for Forge to be placed in them, now that Atlas was looking at him more carefully he noticed that Roark looked poorer and scruffy, he also had bags under his eyes

Atlas knew that Roark had gone to jail but he was now out, the reason he went to jail wasn't because he damaged Atlas hands and hired people to hurt him, that in it self was a hefty fine because with healing magic and potions a damaged body could be repaired instantly and so there was no lasting effect, the reason he went to jail was because he had lied to the law and prevented the course of justice and when he tried to bribe the person in charge he was sentence to a harsher and longer sentence

Roark term in jail was going to be 6 months but after being carefully and bribing almost all the jailers and the superiors with cash he was able to meet up with a judge that he heavily bribed so he could leave the next day, the whole situation took 3 months, if Roark had been more polite to the jail keepers and didn't treat them like shit when he was first brought to jail he would of been out the very next day

Roark had to pawn all his tools and belongings to bribe the right people and even then he had to get a loan but as long as he had his forge then making swords and money was easy, the 1000 swords that Atlas and the apprentices made was meant to be sold to a certain party but the contract was over and the party took the swords for payment because the time limit on the contract had ran out, all in all Roark was flat broke

Atlas was not going to hand over Forge, "How do you know he's not lying to you " asked Atlas

"Wh.." said the private with the smile slightly wiped off, it was obvious that the private wasn't that smart but some thing about the smile told Atlas that he had to be carefully

"I know this dwarf and we have had some dealing with each other, not pleasant dealings, he wants this" Atlas gestured to Forge "so its my word against his word... unless he has some one that can vouch for him"

The dwarf lowered his hands and tightened them in to fist but said nothing, waiting in a cell for 3 months had tempered his anger and now he didn't fly off the rails with shouting and foaming at the mouth

The private was clearly out of his depth, he was hoping to get this done and arrest the man named Atlas for stealing, sweating just slightly he had an idea, a couple of weeks ago he had seen lieutenant Borin interrogate a man so he had grassed on his friends and incriminated him self by doing so

"Come with me, both of you" said the private, how hard could it be the private thought, if he was lucky then he might get a promotion out of this

At the police station Atlas was locked in a cell, the private tried to take his bags and Forge away but every time he got near to Atlas the heat burned his hands and after 5 minutes explaining to the man known as Atlas he wasn't under arrest but just in for questioning he gave up

With Atlas in the cell he started to wonder what was going on, this whole situation felt like the time he had taught Sergeant Borin how to interrogate some one but it also felt like it was being done sloppy, while in the cell and musing over what just happened Atlas had a look at the spells in the binder

The first thing he did with the new spells was to learn the earth control and water control skills to complete the set

Earth Control beginner level 1

The ability to control earth in your hand, can not manifest earth with this skill

Water control beginner level 1

The ability to control water in your hand, can not manifest water with this skill

Fire, Air, Earth, and Water Control has been converted in to Basic Element Control

Basic Element Control beginner level 1

The ability to control the 4 basic elements in your hand, can not manifest elements with this skill

Atlas was looking though the other pages in the book, he was looking for quadruple copy's which would mean one copy for him and each of the apprentices, there was copy's like Air Control but there was also a spell called Magnetic Presence

"Learn" said Atlas while his hand was over the page

Magnetic Presence beginner level 1

Able to control magnetic forces, make metal float cause repulsion and attraction with metal, can use a program for the skill, the more complex the program the more mana will be used

Atlas learnt quickly what a program was, the program was a set of information that the spell would follow with out concentration of the user, Atlas had used some iron nails he used for crafting to test the spell, with some effort and concentration he was able to make the nails spin in a circle just above his opened palm

A program has been set for Magnetic Presence

Now Atlas could use the spell and spin the iron nails with out concentrating, instead there was a permanent decrease in mana when the spell was in use and that returned when the spell was deactivated

Atlas had two sources of mana and so he made the same program and used the same spell so there was two floating circles of nails near him, he did this to increase the Mastery of the spell, Atlas was beginning to like this skill, when he first looked at the skill he assumed that Noah had put it in there to help with blacksmithing not realizing that when metal hit a certain temperature they lost there magnetic powers but now Atlas could see potential in defence, attack and crafting

While waiting in his cell Atlas pulled the Mana extractor out and Elemental flask and started to collect more forest mana from some herbs, while waiting for the return of the private Atlas meditated to increase his mana regeneration

Two hours went by and the private had got the information he need from the dwarf call Roark, he wanted to leave the man called Atlas in the cell for a couple of days so it was easier to get a confession out of him just like the lieutenant did but the lieutenant would be back in a few hours and the private didn't want him to get the credit for the confession, the private crossed the floor where Atlas was kept in the cell, he was about to say to him to come to the interrogation room when he witnessed Atlas in his cell meditating with floating metal and a strange contraption dripping green liquid in to a flask, right now he regretted not putting the man in skill stopping chains

"com...Agg" the private cleared his throat "COME WITH ME" he had said it a bit louder then he wanted but the surprise of what the man was doing caused him to lose a little control of his voice

Atlas packed his stuff away and was lead in to the same confession room he had interrogated Tiny, sitting down the private offered him a glass of water and started

"Look sir, we know you stole that creature you have around your neck, we have witnesses so how about you just hand him over and pay a small fine and you can be on your way" explained the private

Atlas realised that the private was trying to copy the techniques that he him self had taught sergeant Borin about interrogation, the private was doing a bad job of it, he didn't offer any evidence or even hint about how Atlas stole Forge away from Roark

"I want to talk to sergeant Borin" said Atlas

The private was shocked that Atlas knew about Borin "there's no one of that title here"

Atlas hand was tapping on the table, this made the private nervous "so Borin has been promoted then" said Atlas

The private didn't like that Atlas was using lieutenant Borin name so freely, it made him feel like he was over his head with Atlas, after a couple of seconds of no answer coming from the private and sweat dripping from his head Atlas decided to use a skill he hadn't used before

"Daze"

Daze worked by enchanting the air around you and dazes any human with in 5 meters, Atlas was unable to use this skill on the gnolls and so it was still level one but Atlas was confident that it would work on this low level private

At first Atlas didn't see any different with the Private that was in till he started to speak again

"amm agg fee utyy" mumbled the private

The skill had caused the private to think he was still talking to Atlas but in fact he was in a daze, it was like a hallucination but only in the mind of the private, ultimately it was hard to classify because it was in the mind of the private and Atlas couldn't see into his mind

Atlas stood up slowly and waved his hand in front of the private, with no response Atlas picked up the glass of water and drained it, placing the empty cup up to the door and resting his ear against it he could hear every thing out side the room, alone his careful listener skill would allow him to hear though stone but only 10 meters but with this method he could hear a lot more

"What is Ash doing"

"Oh him he's trying to get promoted"

"What you mean is he's trying to interrogate some body to confessing"

"Didn't the lieutenant say to stop that and to only do this if he was here to supervise"

"Yea but Ash is worried that lieutenant Borin will take credit for it"

" That boy has too much drive, if he carries on like this he will be dismissed from the force"

" Didn't he mess up his last interrogation"

"Yea, lieutenant Borin had to take over and save the situation, i think that's why he's thinks that lieutenant Borin will take the credit"

"Enough of that, i don't want to talk about Ash's problems, what are you doing tonight after work"

Atlas went back to his seat quickly and sat down, the private was coming to "wh.. where was i"

Atlas just stayed quite, "like i was saying you're not doing your self any favours by keeping the creature"

At this Atlas opened his mouth "look Ash i don't think you understand what's going on here, i think that you only know a small part of a big story, lieutenant Borin would of found the whole story first"

Private Ash was stunned, this man knew his name even though he hadn't said what it was, not only that he had guessed that Borin was now a lieutenant

Atlas pressed on "i can understand that you want to be promoted and feel that lieutenant Borin takes your credit"

Private Ash was now sweating a lot, could this man read minds

"But let me tell you about mister Roark" Atlas went on to talk about how Roark had hired people to hurt him and when questioned about it he had lied about it to the police, Atlas pressed on that there was a good chance he was fresh out of jail and looking for revenge

"I on the other hand haven't been in trouble with the law and some times help with the police force... that's why i know about Borin, if that's not enough then how about some references" Atlas started to list the training hall instructor, Borin, and one of the masters of the mage guild, Atlas also went so far as to tell private Ash to check the people at the North gate to show he has had the creature around his neck for some time

"The guards have seen me many times with the creature" Atlas didn't want to give Forge's name away because he did take Forge away from dwarf and his name might incriminate himself

The private was dumbfounded, he was truly speechless

"So what you have here is my word (a person he hasn't been in trouble with the law and goes out of his way to help the police) or a dwarf (that has gone to jail for lying to the police force), everything i've said can be checked with a little time" explained Atlas

The redness on the private face was hard to tell if he was angry with Atlas or Roark

"THAT THAT LITTLE CREEP" said the private, it was now obvious who private Ash was angry with "I'LL MAKE SURE HE GOES TO JAIL....AGAIN"

"Wait wait don't be hasty..... i've had big trouble with him for the past three months, it will not do just to send him to jail you have to completely destroy him.....legally destroy him" answered Atlas

Atlas and private Ash spent the next 30 minutes going over the plan Atlas had come up with

End Of Chapter Twenty Two