There was no reason to say no to Marie's request. As a matter of fact, it would give my brain time to stabilize before I attempted any more crazy stuff with an extra 5 levels worth of Containment. I wasn’t sure whether she was willing to challenge herself with what I was planning to make. When I ran through the list of Materials I'd seen in the crate for Billy's project... I suspected she would actually be more successful-- Deepening Technique aside. Before I got ahead of myself, I figured it would be appropriate to ask her.
"Of course," I said. "I could definitely use a break still and watching others handle Pith Threads always gives me inspiration. Did you have something in mind?"
"Not particularly... something with wood, obviously!" she answered quickly, waffling between confident and hesitant.
"Okay, how's about this? I have one more Item I intend to give to Billy. My goal was to aim for the Trait that gives Fievil," I said, pointing at the axe-hammer that had been resting in the corner of the room since I'd started crafting. "His ability to transfer weight from the weapon to me. I'm not totally sure if it will work with a smaller Item, but it should at the very least lend his Djinn Legs a bit more mass than... just air. I would love it if you took that role."
"Oh! That sounds wonderful! But," Marie glanced at Fievil before meeting my eyes. Of course, I had a knowing smile on my face when she continued her rebuttal. "I'm not familiar with Earth Attuned Materials at all. Wouldn't that detract from the focus you are trying to make for the Item?"
"I would say yes... if we weren't using Earth Attuned Materials." Not wanting to drag out her confusion, I reached back into the crate with Materials and plucked out the forearm sized log of wood I'd spotted within earlier. It had given me pause for two reasons. The first was obviously the fact that it was an Earth Attuned hunk of a magnolia tree. The second was that it was a proper wood Material, not just a gathered piece from some unlucky tree still out there making life miserable for forest critters. I'm projecting. The Geode Palm never actually hurt me.
While I thought back on that first high level encounter, Marie was holding the Earth Material like a priceless artifact instead of the sturdy piece of wood that it actually was. I caught her mumbling and took a curious step closer to better make out the words. It was quite under her breath if I only barely heard them with my high Perception. "It's drinking my mana..."
"Curious," I said, smiling as the young girl snapped her gaze to me. "Unfortunately not many Materials I can consider stone to shape without some... logical stretches that require I get much better with my Freeforming. I think if you combine Infusions with your Gift, the final product will be much more cohesive without even requiring all the finicky bits me or Madeline would need to do."
As for the dwarfess, I was sure she was going to catch her notebook on fire. The last time we'd gone through the crafting project she'd been entirely committed to the experience rather than the learning of it--what with having just acquired
"Anyhow. I would be honored if you crafted something for Billy with your abilities. If you need my assistance, or have any questions I am more than willing to help you."
"Ballast?" She asked, glancing at me and getting a nod in return. She looked between me and the log for several seconds before making up her mind. She took my position at the center of the work station.
I stood beside her after retrieving Fievil. I could feel the Totem stirring, but not yet fully awake. However, if I needed to neutralize the area I could nudge an Arcane Sink into being. Thankfully, for the first part, Marie was going to use her Gift rather than Infusion shaping which shouldn't result in any failures... or so one would think. The moment the young fae tried to bend the wood like she normally would have a splinter the size of my index finger snapped off and pinged towards her chest. My hand caught the object, getting a pinprick on me thanks to my reflexive use of Striated Dermis. When I closed my hand, Tremor Frame discharged and pulverized the petrified magnolia wood splinter between my fingers. Marie's mouth hung open as she watched me brush the remains from my hands.
"Always be prepared for a reversal of the situation. Don't be afraid to go even slower. While we don't have unlimited time, I don't have to 'work work' until tomorrow," I said, patting the young crafter on the back. It seemed to have the proper effect as she turned to the log and glared with an intensity that would have made Daniela proud. Her spell chains blazed, green and gold caging the log as it quivered. Whether in anticipation or fear, I wasn't sure.
Once more, Marie started bending the log but the progress was a crawl compared to what she'd attempted earlier. I could see the magic enhanced cellulose fibers fight back against her ministrations but she cycled her mana through them to keep them together the moment they looked ready to splinter. Remembering what Sharon had done with her Arcane Sink, I tried to summon it as small as possible. There was no draw on my mana, so I knew Fievil was feeding it from his stores, but it was a seamless link between my intent and the weapon's mana. The Shard's Domain formed a two foot sphere around my palm and I brought it closer slowly enough to envelop part of the wood. Instantly, the gold strands of Marie's magic started to muddle but I pushed my intent into the domain.
It was a testament to the young crafter's focus that she barely noticed me fiddling around with her magic's composition. Or perhaps she'd noticed and figured I was trying to help.
Instead of letting it envelop Marie's hands, I focused on acclimating the mana to the wood and bringing it under control. This proved both effective and dangerous. While the strain Marie had to put on the wood to deform it lessened, flecks of petrified bark formed where the Arcane Sink blended with her magic. More than once, I was forced to shut it off just so that we wouldn't inhale too much of the stuff. Nevertheless, Marie was relentless and eventually the magnolia log was bent into a mostly circular shape. She didn't pause, immediately turning her efforts of bending into massaging the strands at the joint to lock into place with each other. I wasn't sure how she was doing it, but I noticed a distinct reduction in the amount of materialized mana wood as she seemed to take control of them the moment they formed.
She's already adapting. I'm in control of the bulk of the mana in the Arcane Sink and she's the one using it to her advantage, I thought, smirking. Seems there might be more Shamans around than you thought Sharon. There's no way this isn't her own genius abilities. The idea of what crazy high level mana biomes would look like sent a shiver through me. Could be like being under an Arcane Sink but all the time. That's a frightening prospect.
My drifting thoughts were banished when there was a flash of burnished gold from within the wood before Marie dropped the hoop-ed log on the work table. The whole thing was smoking slightly as if burning from within, but I quickly realized it was excess mana in gaseous form escaping through the material. Marie coughed and swatted at the smoke while I tried to keep my jaw from hanging too low. Just how much mana was she cramming into that thing!
"It's not perfect," Marie pouted when Madeline started poking at the hoop of wood.
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"This is fantastic, Marie!" I said, quickly coming to her own defense. "You didn't even need to use an Infusion to modify the Material. That might not seem like a big deal, but I don't think I would have been able to manage what you did without burning through an honestly embarrassing amount of them."
"How would you have done it Mr. Ronan?"
"Well, probably cut some triangles out of this," I explained, making chopping motions on the wood. "Then I would have used either another Material or more Infusions to bind the whole thing together. Considering my non-intent driven artistic skills, it probably would have looked terrible."
"We don't doubt it," the two girls said in tandem, glancing at the pair of boots that looked nothing like the abominations I'd started with.
"Har har. Laugh it up. If it's ugly, but it works, when who am I to complain!" Man, I'm glad Danny wasn't here for that one. There's a self zinger in there ever was one. "Are you ready to try
"Are you sure?"
"Not a single doubt. As a matter of fact," I said, combing my beard in thought. I removed Fievil from my back, planting the hammer into the ground hard enough to wedge the blade in the packed ground. "I want you to try to keep an Arcane Sink field activated while she works, Madeline."
"Me!? B-but, I'm not a fighter!" the dwarfess stammered. Her twinkling hair and flapping notebook only added to the cuteness of her outburst.
"Who said you needed to be one? I'm sure this grumpy mole will let you take a turn," I said, prodding my words with a mental image of Madeline funneling mana into Fievil. I got a visual of the mole Totem in question rolling over in his sleep before the connection cut out. Encouraging, considering it was the clearest response I'd gotten from him, but concerning since it didn't exactly scream competence.
With much reluctance, the dwarfess set her notes to the side before grasping the haft of the axe-hammer with both hands. I handed Marie a trio of Q2 Earth Infusions to use on the Material itself, instructing her not to think about the final product but merely on 'energizing' the Material in preparation for the actual creation. Her fingers shook, but her gaze was steady. I took a single step back, letting the two of them channel their mana simultaneously under unspoken agreement. They have been working close in hand, but this amount of synergy is awesome to see in person.
I'd been worried that Fievil wouldn't be able to use foreign mana, but I figured it was a worthy try considering Madeline and I's matching Attunements. As it was, the Arcane Sink was a shadow of what mine would have been and lacked in density but it served its purpose. The Pith Thread from the Infusion snapped to the wood, letting out a well tuned twang as if it were a musical note. Marie yelped, but her hands had steadied the moment she started to work. As the first Infusion unspooled without hesitation, she held still and smoothly brought forth the second.
The effect of the Arcane Sink wasn't obvious, but I knew from experience how difficult it was to control the Threads. Even if Marie was more than capable, the enhancing of Earth Attuned energies within would have eased her attempts to control the bucking boar of energy and bring it under control. Once she got the hang of it with the first two, the third didn't even unspool and instead shot directly to the log like I would have done. Considering I was usually the one performing the crafting work, it was awesome to see others bend reality to their will.
As soon as the third Q2 Infusion had flowed into the wood, it looked almost unrecognizable from its original form. Where the bark had been mostly smooth except where the fibers had failed under Marie's ministrations, they were now held a hexagonal pattern not too dissimilar to the columns we'd used to build the Ock Bridge. It was a strangely mineral arrangement to see on something organic, and it seemed to draw the woodshaper's attention more than any of the previous changes she'd managed on the wood.
"It's... still wood, but it doesn't like to change unless it's along one of these lines," she mumbled, running her fingers down one of the parallel lines formed by the hexes.
"Like I mentioned, it is my guess that this part of the process lets a material act as if it were one 'rarity' higher. So, theoretically, turning this into an Amplitude Item should work even if it's not as guaranteed as the uncommon materials. If I completed this process with an uncommon, it would act like the hummingbird plumage. Some of its magical features would show should you run mana through it. Theoretically. Considering these things don't grow on trees--" I paused, chuckling as I realized what Material we were discussing. "Considering how uncommon they are, it’s costly to try to experiment too much instead of going for a full blown Item."
At some point, Madeline had let go of Fievil and was scratching away at her notes again. I noticed the grooves on the bone haft retained some of their caramel glow even if an Arcane Sink wasn't manifested.
"Does that mean this material has some unusual properties already?" Marie asked, drawing my attention. "Like the ant bones?"
"Chitin carapace, but yes. Again, if we were able to, there is a frightening amount of combinations and testing that could be done to map the potential of what many people dismiss as a 'simple' material." I made sure to throw in air quotes to highlight just what I thought about the few people that dismissed the work the Wildwoodian crafters had been putting in since I introduced them to Infusing. Even the Zebelos, without access to the same techniques as us, had reached this point with their equipment. The Stone Silk and the Slime Cores were Infused Materials in all but name. Just those key developments had revolutionized Ocala and cemented their position amidst the Factions despite the direct combat superiority of the Clansmen and Breakers.
With an expression I felt I also made when I realized how much work and how little of the Material we actually had, Marie set the magnolia hoop down and sighed. I couldn't help but chuckle, placing a comforting hand on the young woodshaper's shoulder. "Don't worry. Since you two are out of Fire Infusions, I am most certainly not going to stop you once we are done here. I wouldn't want you out there in the dangerous storm while there is plenty of dangerous crafting to be done."
My words seemed to ignite the two girls with energy and Marie scooped up the hoop she'd been so dejected about not two seconds prior. "Where do we go from here!?"
The three of us spent a few minutes brainstorming the best way of turning the hoop into an adequate Item before Marie assured us she had a good plan. She felt it in her 'gut' and her gut hadn't led her astray through the whole crafting process, so I wasn't going to stand in its way. After another reminder of making sure to keep the visual locked in mind, even going so far as to tell her to make a rough draft on a sheet from Madeline's notebook, we were as ready as we were going to be.
Cracking her small fingers, Marie grabbed the Q3 Infusion that had belonged to the magnolia tree in one hand and the hoop it had transformed into in the other. Madeline took her position at Fievil, looking for all the world like a mad scientist ready to pull a lever to electrocute their creation to life. The two shared a nod before the dwarfess unfurled an Arcane Sink and the fae unspooled the Infusion.
Unlike before, Marie didn't try to grab hold of the Pith Thread at all. Alarmed, I took a half step forward before realizing there was jack squat I could do; the Infusion was spent. When I took a second look at the woodshaper, I realized she hadn't simply lost control of the stronger Infusion; it was on purpose. With gestures that vividly reminded me of Samuel controlling his vines, Marie orchestrated a dance of mystical umber light. She formed whorls in the air, making sure that no two sections of the Thread touched before she started to weave it in and out of the hoop. With each pass, the grooves in the hex bark glowed deeper and deeper. When the last bit of the Pith Thread had been wrapped around the hoop it looked for all the world like a copper electromagnet would have. Then she pulled.
Not only did the Thread widen the hoop, but I also saw it constrict within the coils and the wrist thick hunk of wood thinned to no more than an inch before Marie twisted her hands in the air and clenched her fists. The light of the Threads sunk into the material just like one of her woodshaping cubes and the changes truly began. The hexes on the closest side of the hoop joined like suds, forming larger and larger hexes gradually towards a trio of central ones. When the strange shift was complete those three hexes unclasped and hissed before the magic of the change used up.
Madeline stumbled, holding at her abdomen from clear abuse of her mana in an unusual way. However, Marie and I's eyes were locked on the Implant notification hovering beside the fledgling Item.