Alix awoke with a hangover and suffered with it for an hour before he remembered he didn’t have to. By then he was half way through getting some tailored robes made, paying extra for a rush job so that they were ready before his midday class at the Grand Cathedral. He downed a quick tonic and the throbbing in his skull abated.
At the sight of the tonic, he remembered what Evory had told him that morning. Wulf had earned over two thousand gold wrestling the night before and had been banned from any future Fight Nights. He had appeared at the Adventurer’s Guild the next morning in a daze to collect the rest of his money, mumbling something about finally being able to afford the downpayment on a house on the 5th Ring.
Shortly before midday, the robes were finally finished, a stylish black ensemble that matched the finest outfits the students had been wearing the day before. Alix made his way nervously towards the Grand Cathedral. It was only a short walk as the cathedral was located in the Guild District, the place doubling as the guildhall of the Church of Babyl. A small crowd of black at the entrance stood out, the rest of the students waiting on Professor Gyle’s arrival. Of course all of them were early, just in case it was another test. They all stood in anxious silence, awaiting the arrival of the asshole.
Sylvan Gyle appeared at exactly midday. He brushed passed them and headed inside without a word. The robed students quickly followed. Alix made sure to keep up, putting all his hopes at remaining undetected into blending in with the others, despite the fact that they were the only ones wearing black in the whole place, looking like a funeral procession amongst the colourful crowds. Heavily armoured Imperial Guards stood in the shadowy corners with their stout halberds. With their thick plate armour, they all matched Wulf in size. Alix couldn’t understand how they remained standing under such weight.
The stained glass windows provided a welcome distraction. The intersecting circles and lines caught his attention, and he soon realised he was looking at crude spell forms. His first thought was to take out some paper and a pencil and sketch some quick copies, but his ring instantly began to analyse the patterns. Those that had real functions were copied to his system, but many of them appeared to be nonsense, likely designed by craftsmen that didn’t understand the significance of the originals.
“Are you finished gawking?” a voice that needled at his nerves said. Professor Gyle suddenly stood behind him. “I didn’t recognise you at first Mr Marshall. You can try and dress up all you want but it wont turn you into something you aren’t. This way, the sword is in a back chamber and we need to be out before the afternoon devotion begins or we will be stuck here for hours.”
Gyle led the group across the central chamber, their footsteps echoing around the vaulted arched ceiling, to a door that led to a stone stairwell leading below the cathedral. As they crossed the fairly empty room, worshippers only arriving for the twice daily devotions, Alix couldn’t helped but be awed at the giant altar of Babyl that took up the entire far end of the main hall. It was a monstrous thing that rose from floor to ceiling, beginning with a trunk of stone, then branches carved in wood, curling around stained glass windows representing foliage.
The chamber of the sword was sombrely lit by a single shaft in the stone roof. The sword of Selene was illuminated by a beam of light that shone down the shaft. The chamber looked and felt ancient in its simplicity. It felt like there should have been dust piled beneath their feet but everything was spotless. Not even dust motes could be seen through the beam of light.
The sword was resting on rich red velvet pillows, encased in a glass or crystal case. A reverent hush filled the room, finally broken by Gyle’s low voice.
“Get to it then,” he said simply, eyes fixed on the sword,
The students spread out and soon the hush was cut by the sounds of pens scratching in notebooks, the students noticing countless things that Alix couldn’t see. Gyle gave Alix a questioning look when he saw that he wasn’t taking any notes himself.
Alix stepped around the chamber to find a clearer view of the sword and to get out of Gyle’s line of sight. Then he used the ring to analyse the sword. First came the name, identifying the sword truly as the blade of the Solknight Selene. Then the analyses went deeper, and the list of components appeared. He had to restrain himself from laughing out loud at what he learned.
The Quicksilver was listed first, then came Frostite, a welcome addition as he had plenty of it in his inventory. Then came Osmiridium, which he had never heard of before. Lastly was Gold. Selene must have been too embarrassed to write down the formula, embarrassed to admit to using what was supposed to be the ultimate end goal of alchemy to create her own magnum opus.
Alix had no idea how it was all supposed to go together, but he guessed that the Frostite might in some way increase the melting point of the Quicksilver, and then all the materials were somehow alloyed together. He hoped somewhere in there the toxicity of the Quicksilver was addressed.
The other students continued to take notes and draw diagrams for reference, but Alix felt like he already had everything he needed. When he turned to leave, Gyle hissed out at him.
“Where do you think you are going, Mr Marshall?”
“I’m going to start the assignment. I’ve seen everything I need to see,” Alix replied, hurrying out of the cathedral. At every moment he felt like a group of Imperators were about to descend down on him.
Once back out on the streets, he breathed a sigh of relief that he had survived the ordeal unscathed. Alix made his way back to the Adventurer’s Guild, needing time to plan his next course of action. He knew a few things for sure. He needed a supply of Quicksilver, and he needed the use of a forge. As well as all that, he had to learn how to craft a spellblade, which is what he thought the sword of Selene was. Evory had mentioned them before, but he had yet to learn how to make one.
The other option open to him was returning to the keep and making use of the Dark Elves knowledge and the forge there, but he would lose several days walking there as he couldn’t hire a ride and he didn’t know how to ride a horse yet. Even then, he was sure Tifayn would be too much of a distraction, and he didn’t think he was prepared to see just how much their daughter had grown since he had left. He had heard she was the equivalent of a three year old child now. She was beginning to talk but she had yet to tell anyone her name. It would have been a welcome break, but he felt like there was nothing he could accomplish there that he couldn’t accomplish in Galdea.
Evory was off duty when he arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild, a simple looking man known as Dilbert manning the desk instead. Alix gave him an awkward smile and nod of the head as greeting and then went to get a pint.
Is there anything you can help me with here? Alix asked the ring as he sipped on the pint, a newly installed keg of refreshing but flavoursome black lager.
You are already on the right track. I cannot tell you exactly how the Solknight Selene crafted her weapon, only that it is a Spellblade. You could inquire at the Magician’s Guild. They are right next door.
Alix groaned internally. Asking for a copy of the Opulentiam Lunae was one thing, but enquiring about how to craft a spellblade, as a Rank F Adventurer, was inviting too many questions. From what little he knew of spellblades, he knew that they weren’t the kind of thing that just anyone walked around with. He had also yet to see a shop selling them in Galdea. He had hoped to ask Evory, the only one he could say he trusted in the city, but he didn’t have the time to wait around for her to return. Wherever she was, he just hoped she was being careful to not reveal her true identity, a constant worry he carried.
There was one more thing he had to be careful about. Tifayn’s words came back to him. You are more likely to lose your hands to frostbite before you can even begin working with it. Not only did he need to find a way to handle the Quicksilver carefully, he also had to figure out how Frostite could be safely worked. Although he assumed he would be fine, if he needed any help during the process, he couldn’t reveal that.
Alix contemplated contacting Mr Bones for advice, but he realised then that he was just procrastinating. There was only one thing he could do. He needed to ask the Magician’s Guild for help. He finished his drink and made his way next door.
The Magicians Guild was an impressive building, a miniature castle in the heart of the city. It was a crowded mass of rising spired towers and branching antechambers built around a central keep, all lavishly decorated with rich purple tile and whitewashed walls.
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A pair of tall, thin doors, bound in swirling bronze, stood open to visitors and resident magicians. Alix had expected large vaulted ceilings and grand stairways but space was at a premium in Galdea so every spare inch of space inside the guildhall was utilised.
Inside the front doors there was a reception area, at which sat a bespectacled man in robes, reading from a large tome at a desk. He looked up lazily at Alix’s entrance.
“The next entrance exam isn’t until next week,” he said in a drawl before returning to his book.
“I’m not here to join the guild, I’m an adventurer from next door,” Alix replied. He stepped closer to the desk as a pair of robed magicians entered the guildhall behind him and rushed up a spiral staircase that rose straight upwards in the cramped entrance hall. Then a door that led deeper into the central keep opened and a man Alix recognised from the Adventurer’s Guild stormed out. The man recognised Alix as he made his way towards the exit.
“Better not waste your time here lad,” the man said as he passed without slowing down. “Tried to charge me a year’s wages for a simple weapon enhancement spell. They should rename this place the Thief’s Guild.”
Alix awkwardly turned back to the receptionist. Text above his head read Cylin, Lv. 32. 6th Tier Apprentice Mage.
“Don’t tell me you are here to ask for a discount on guild approved spell rates as well?” Cylin said once the man was gone.
By guild approved, Alix assumed Cylin meant the Trade Guild. Different from the Merchant’s Guild, the Trade Guild didn’t sell anything, but it was their duty to make sure that the other guilds offered their wares and services at a reasonable cost. The Magician’s Guild must have been able to prove that the weapon enhancement spell was worth its asking price, otherwise the man would have threatened to report them.
Alix heard that more than half of the Trademasters of the guild had been removed from their posts and exiled from the guild after the controversy around potion pricing the previous year. Rumour had it that they had taken bribes to turn a blind eye to the extortionate pricing during the plague. Many deaths were blamed on their actions and after losing the protection of the guild, they fled Galdea.
“If someone here can help me with my request then I will happily pay the going rate,” Alix offered, although he sincerely hoped that he didn’t have to pay a years wages for the information he needed.
“And what is your request?”
“I’m looking for someone that can help me make a spellblade,” Alix replied after a moment’s hesitation.
“We don’t do that sort of thing around here,” Cylin replied snidely. “Especially not for such low ranking adventures.”
“What do you mean? Spellblades are by their very name a thing of magic.”
“Of course they are, but there is something you are missing. By their very name, they are also within the purview of the Blacksmithing Guild. The only Spellblades we deal in are those created before the dispute.”
The dispute? Alix almost asked what Cylin meant but he was already finding the man to be unpleasant and didn’t want to go around in circles with him all day. He had a momentary thought of using an Obscene Privilege potion, but quickly quashed the idea.
“Fine, what about books on the subject? Is there any information you can give me on the creation of Spellblades?”
“I’m afraid that as long as the dispute is ongoing, those need to remain protected guild secrets.”
Alix groaned internally. Why the hell was everything in Galdea so complicated? Everyone always seemed to be out to rip off everyone else, and to be as big of an asshole about it as they possibly could. He tried to think through the problem. It sounded like he couldn’t get either the Magician’s Guild or the Blacksmithing Guild to individually craft him a Spellblade, and it sounded like they were rarer objects than he had imagined.
I thought you said I was on the right path? Alix said to the ring.
You are, but you are thinking about it wrong. You don’t need a Spellblade right now, you need Selenite.
Of course!
“Fine then, forget I said anything about Spellblades. What I need is help creating an ore, that could hypothetically then be used to create a Spellblade. I know what materials I want to use, I just need the guild’s help in combining them safely and successfully. After that, it will be no one’s business what I do with the ore and I won’t be intruding on any disputes.”
Cylin’s mouth twisted, annoyed that Alix had managed to find a loophole in his argument.
“It will be impossible for you to create a Spellblade without a high ranking magician’s aid, but I suppose there’s no harm in setting you up with a student or something. As spelled ore cannot be claimed by another guild such as the Mining Guild, as we name it Spellbase and use it for many other uses than Spellblades, there shouldn’t be a conflict. If you have your own materials then the cost should just be for the time spent using our equipment. Wait here while I call on a student.”
Cylin glided up the stairs and returned promptly with a student in tow. Text named him as Katin, Lv. 24, Student Mage.
How does a student differ from an apprentice? Alix asked the ring, but Cylin provided the answer.
“This is Katin. He is only a student for now, but maybe if he does well with this job it will look good on his application for apprentice. His time to prove himself is running short, so you will both fail or succeed together,” Cylin said, leaving Katin looking both furious and hurt.
Why is everyone in this city such an asshole?
“Come on,” Katin said through clenched teeth, glaring equally at both Alix and Cylin.
Well this is going to be fun…
Katin led him to a small room a few floors up. It was cramped and hot inside and it looked not dissimilar to the forge back at the keep.
“Looks like you’ve been smelting something,” Alix said as a way to break the tension. He felt like he had gotten Katin into trouble somehow, or put him unnecessarily under the spotlight.
“I’ve been doing more than that. I’ve been creating the best Spellbases in the guild but no one cares. They all think it’s a waste of time.”
“Why would creating Spellbases be a waste of time?”
“Well, my Spellbases are mostly suitable for Spellblades, but most of the guild are content to keep the dispute with the Blacksmithing Guild going. Their ‘dispute’ is pathetic. We all know blacksmith’s can’t create a Spellblade as they are a magic item, and the blacksmiths aren’t mages. It is literally impossible for them to create one from scratch without any assistance.”
“How are they stopping the Magician’s Guild from creating them then? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“It’s all just politics, a game between the guild masters that’s only causing suffering for the rest of us. The Blacksmithing Guild saw how much we were charging for Spellblades, and then they got the ridiculous idea to submit a complaint to the Trade Guild that we were infringing on their business. As if their profits were in danger because we were creating something that they could not. The guild master should have just let it go, but he took the complaint as a personal insult. He made a counter complaint that the Blacksmithing Guild are trying to steal our secrets. There is some truth to that claim, as they have tried sending blacksmiths to take the entrance exam in an attempt to spy on us and now they need to prove that they aren’t engaged in espionage. It’s all a mess, with both sides just trying to cost the other one as much money as possible in fees. Meanwhile, my advancement is on hold as the direction of my research is currently ineligible for an apprenticeship. My life’s work is now seen as a waste of time,” Katin finished in an angry rush, almost spitting the words.
“It sounds like you are just the sort of person I’ve been looking for.”
“I apologise if I appear short tempered, but Cylin is an ass and always tries his best to rile up the students. He is bitter because he can’t rise further than 6th Rank after trying for so many years. He sees all us students as competition. So what is it you need my help with? If Cylin has asked me to help you, it probably means he thinks we are both going to fail.”
“Well let’s prove him wrong. I need to create a Spellbase using a certain list of materials. Quicksilver, Frostite, Osmiridium, and Gold. Can you help me with that?”
“What in the name of Babyl are you trying to create? I’ve never heard of such a combination. Where did you hear about it?”
“Just think of it as an experiment. I know what the end result should be, I just don’t know how to go about combining the materials to get there.”
“I can see why you need my help. Working with Frostite is tricky business. I haven’t heard of anyone trying to combine it with Quicksilver before but I suppose it can be done. Osmiridium would be a smart thing to alloy it with after that. It is the densest element in Babyl. As for Gold, I can’t think of any logical reason for its inclusion. It is mostly a decorative metal. You have all these materials already?”
“I have Frostite and Gold.” Katin let out a deep sigh and Alix suddenly felt like a fool for coming here so unprepared. “I can easily pay for whatever’s missing,” he added to try and help smooth things along.
“You don’t look like you are that high ranking an Adventurer, no offense. How did you come by Frostite?”
“It’s a long story. I was down the wrong hole at the right time I guess.”
“Well I hope you are storing it correctly. It is a very dangerous material. You are lucky you managed to collect it without injuring yourself. What about the other materials?”
“I was hoping you would have them on hand.”
Katin snickered. “They don’t let me keep a decent stock of materials here since I’m just a student. They don’t even give me any research funding. I need to prove myself on my own before they will give me any resources. You will need to find the rest yourself.”
“Damn. Where can I find Quicksilver and Osmiridium then? Is there a metal merchant or something in the city that sells them?”
“There are merchants but they don’t carry Quicksilver because of its toxic nature. You can harvest it from Metal Slimes. As for Osmiridium, it is only available in small batches as it is prohibitively heavy. If anyone was to store too much of it, the floor would cave in. You should be able to find some for sale in the city, but if you need a lot of it, and I get the feeling that you have something large and pointy in mind, you will need to visit all of the dealers in Galdea. I can give you some names to start with. Come back with everything you need and I will help you if I can.” Katin found a scrap of dirty paper and scrawled down some names and addresses.
Metal Slimes…I’ve read about them recently…
A job posting Alix had read in the Adventurer’s Guild suddenly came back to him.
“Well, luckily I’ve got two weeks to get this done,” Alix said, taking the note. “Thanks for your help. I’ll hopefully be back soon.”
Alix headed back for the Adventurer’s Guild, hoping the job he had seen before was still there.