Their lunch and planning finished, the four agreed to meet again in three days, giving each the chance to organise where they would stay and sort out the mundane details that had to be seen to when they were not travelling in the Fae realms. Unlike the others, Martin already had his accommodation sorted and felt no need to look for anything else. Instead, he decided to use the time to see what he could learn about Runes and their usage for effects beyond enhancing the basic properties of an item.
He made his way to the Academy’s library, he knew he should go through his own set of books, most of which he had not examined properly yet as he wanted to master them one at a time. It was how he learned his new forging techniques, concentrating on it until he had it perfected and only then would he try something new. Now he saw the flaw in his methodology. In not paying attention to the other books he had missed out on the potential of his new abilities. not knowing enough to even know what there was to learn and what he had missed. But as he was already in the Academy, it made sense to check the library here first rather than making multiple trips and wasting time doing so.
With his frequent use of the library, the staff there was used to seeing him coming in. Normally he made his way to the history and anthropology sections, clearly interested in learning about the realms and the races living within them. They were quite surprised when he came towards them and stopped at the desk.
Giselle stepped forward. As one of the few Awakened librarians, even though of only a lesser power, of Finding, she was most often there to help visitors find exactly what they were looking for.
“Good afternoon. How can I help you today?” She greeted Martin as he arrived, smiling as she did so. As an aspect of her affinity, she could feel the question hovering, waiting to be voiced so she could reach out and find what was needed. In the face of such a need, it felt like a drive, a need to find what was sought. Here in the library, it was manageable, but in the wider world, it could be painful. So many people, so much need. It gave so little power and could be deadly if she ever ventured into the Fae realm and got driven by the needs there, especially when faced with incursions of the Dark! At least those in charge understood, though they continuously hoped she would gain better control as her ability could be unparalleled in finding hidden foes.
“I need books on Runes.” He thought a bit more, elaborating on what he wanted when seeing the look on Giselle’s face at the broadness of the request. “Specifically, I want to learn about embedding runes in items to manifest effects outside of their basic attributes. I know about enhancing basic attributes like sharpness, weight, and durability. What I want is information about embedding affinities like fire to manifest such effects or to protect against them.”
Giselle nodded; the request was now specific enough that instead of feeling a thousand pulls from different areas of the library there were only three, all coming from one area. Stepping out from behind the desk, she indicated for Martin to follow her. As useful as her power was, it could only guide her to where the sought item was, giving no information on what had been found, just a pull to where it was located.
The first book was marginally useful, a primer on runes, its pages filled with runes and a simple note as to what they were used for, but it had no explanations or usage notes. A good resource to know what runes existed, but not how to use them. The next book was small, written in a cramped hand. It was filled with margin notes, abbreviations and words forced in between lines. All looked to be in the same hand, so it would seem that the author had written it in this manner. The title showed it should be useful, Enhancing the Intrinsic Properties of Materials Through Embedded Runes but Martin shook his head, it seemed too obtuse and would need time to study it seriously, perhaps even rewrite it into a readable format. The third book was non-specific but seemed to touch onto the subject with a more practical focus “A Handbook of Embedded Runes with Affinities”. Paging through it, it focussed on identifying of properties in items and then discussing the methods of enhancing and bringing them out, or of combining them, both the advantages and the disadvantages. It did not discuss specific runes but combined with the first book it looked like he had found what he needed.
Taking the two books, he made his way to a table, taking a quill, ink, and parchment with him, Giselle handing them to him from the stack behind the desk. As a graduate of the Academy, this was just part of the resources he had access to. A great boon as ink was not always available in the marketplace and making his own took time and was not something he was very skilled at.
He spent the rest of the afternoon reading the text on runes and their affinities. With his basic understanding, he paged through the Manual of Illustrated Runes, trying to identify those he would need. He was disturbed in his study by one of the apprentice librarians tapping him on the shoulder. Looking up he noticed there was no light from outside, the sun had set, and the library emptied out. Sighing he put the books to one side.
“Can you please keep these out for me? I will return tomorrow.”
The apprentice nodded, picking the books up as he escorted Martin out of the deserted library. At the door, before Martin left, he placed the books into a cubby giving Martin a tag. “Just use the tag tomorrow and the books will be brought to you.” The apprentice smiled and bowed as Martin left. A feeling of relief swept through him. It was always a pain when patrons refused to leave. At least this one was pleasant about it.
The next day Martin returned, arriving at the library early enough that he had to wait for it to open. When the librarians and their apprentices did finally arrive, he still had to wait. Their arrival did not signify that it was open. His impatience grew as he saw the sun rising higher in the sky, but the doors opened as he heard the second bell after sunrise. He almost ran in as the doors opened, retrieving his books of the day before and continuing his studies. By midday, he had a plan. First, he had to identify the properties of the metals in his forge. It seemed that the metal itself needed an affinity to the element he wished to manipulate. It had to have the element infused through it in a process called “melding”: combining the base metal with something with an elemental affinity. Only metal with an affinity could use the associated rune, the metal’s affinity binding it to the rune.
He returned the books to the desk to be put away and made his way out of the library towards the Academy’s store. His forge only contained basic materials and had no ores or catalysts with elemental affinity. He hoped to find some basic items with elemental affinities, and that they would not be too costly.
The store took up the entire basement of the academy. As he entered, an assistant was called to help guide him to what he needed. The one called this day was an elderly man, dressed in the blue livery common to those serving in the Academy. He gave Martin a small bow. “What can I do for you today, Sir?”
“I am looking for items with elemental affinity to be used in Smithing.”
The assistant grimaced. It would be someone looking for smithing supplies. They were away in a corner. Only a few requested them and so they were put aside in the depths. Hopefully, he inquired,” Are you looking for ores or affinity materials?” Inside he prayed it was affinity materials; those were used by many mages as components in rituals as well as by alchemists in concocting their potions. If he was lucky, it would be a short trip, not the march into the depths.
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Martin started, surprised that they had ores, but he decided to look at those another time. He had already decided to experiment with affinity materials. “Affinity materials, though I will be coming back to look at the ores soon.”
Smiling in relief, the old man led him to a nearby desk, a set of thick books on it. Each was marked with a separate glyph representing one of the elements. Many more existed than Martin had heard of. The table seemed to carry the most common ones: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Nature, Light, Darkness, Metal and Time, but a shelf behind carried even more. Martin was tempted to browse, but knowing that he only had a day and a half left before he met with the others to return to the Fae realm, he decided to postpone looking into what other elemental types existed. He pulled the book for fire elements toward him.
In the limited time he had, he decided to try and create a defensive item- a ring with a fire affinity that would provide some protection to its wearer. He knew that total immunity to an element was beyond his capabilities. He reviewed his options, thinking, he would have to work with a relatively weak material to not over-extend his mana resources. At best, he could hope for a small amount of resistance against fire, but he was more interested in proving he could do it.
He paged through the book, seeing items and materials he had never heard of, including natural derivatives from creatures of the dark, and even some from the races he had met. Seeing his frown, the attendant quickly moved to assuage any suspicion.
“All materials from intelligent creatures in our realms are only harvested from corpses. And then only with permission of the family, or from the Crown when no family is known. We do not accept materials from any other source.”
Martin nodded, continuing his paging. He stopped on a page, seeing an item that looked like it would be both easy to work with and powerful enough for what he wanted to do but not powerful enough to threaten mana overload. He pointed at the item, the man nodding.
“Very good sir. How much of the fire essence ash will you need?”
Martin thought, knowing that while he needed a minimal amount, this being the first time he was working with such materials, he might need to retry the process a few times before he got it right.
“Three ounces.” A large amount really, enough for close to ten attempts, but it did not age or lose its potency with age, so he did not mind having extra as it could always be used later. The man nodded, leaving to go fetch the material as Martin walked to the exit. It was a common and cheap material, no one would be asking for payment for this one. Now, though, he understood the requisition forms that the Academy had given him with the forge. Some of the materials were expensive enough to bankrupt a country! He had no doubt the same would apply when he looked at the rare magical ores.
His material in hand, he made his way back to the forge. He spent only enough time going to his room to don some sturdier clothes before going down to the forge. He lowered the upper walls as he fed the furnace, building the fire up to the heat he needed to work. While waiting for the furnace to get to the heat he needed he moved to the alchemical table. He poured some of the fire essence ash into a mortar and pestle, looking at the large granules, resembling that of sea salt. He knew the finer it was, the better it would absorb. Sighing, he started grinding it down into a fine powder. Once done, he continued his preparations, making a wax mould into which he would pour his liquid metal.
He worked the fire, making it far hotter than he normally would, knowing that this day he would not just be forging the metal but melting it. The heat radiated off it, heating up the leather vest he had donned to protect himself. He sweated, feeling the heat as his body warmed and his sweat was ineffective to cool it. From the corner of his eye, he saw Bram enter the forge.
Still pumping the bellows, he turned and shouted, “You are welcome to stay, but no further than the second anvil. It is dangerous in here!” Bram nodded, taking a seat on the edge of the anvil. Kicking his feet back into it.
Martin grabbed some of the iron, throwing it into a clay crucible. Using long tongs, he picked it up, depositing it into the middle of the furnace. Leaving it to heat and melt he stepped back. He looked at Bram, smiling.
“You want to become a Smith?”
“I dunno.” He looked at Martin’s sweat-covered body. “Looks like lots of work.”
Martin laughed. “Yes, it is. But satisfying. In the meantime, you are welcome to stay but then you need to make yourself useful. For now, just fill that waterskin and bring it back here. I could do with a drink.”
Bram grabbed the waterskin, quickly bolting out, not wanting to miss watching. The buildings in the area shared a water pump and he quickly moved to stand in line, which was thankfully short. He returned, Martin still watching the forge. He took the waterskin, drinking deeply. He returned it to the boy nodding. “Back to the anvil. I am going to be removing molten metal from the furnace.”
He moved carefully, placing the finely ground fire essence ash in easy reach of the metal worktable, a metal pole for stirring next to it. Donning thick leather gloves, he grabbed the tongs again, thrusting them into the fire and pulling out the crucible. He placed it on the work table, quickly adding in the fire essence ash and stirring until the ash was gone. Then, knowing time was racing against time, he quickly poured the metal into the wax mould and sealed it. All he could do now was wait for it to cool and form.
He settled down at a table away from the furnace. Cooling himself down he drank more of the water. He watched as Bram wandered around the forge, making sure he went nowhere near the hot forge or played with any tools that he could hurt himself with. He wondered what it would be like to have an apprentice, then immediately gave up on the notion. He would not be here often enough to teach properly nor was the boy old enough. Passing on the notion for now, he waited patiently for the mould to cool.
The ring that came out was perfectly round, making him immensely pleased with the outcome. The iron had a strange reddish cast to it, not one he had seen before. He examined it, deciding it must be the influence of the fire essence ash. He moved over to the Jeweller’s workstation, clamping the ring down in a mini vice, examining it through the magnifying glass placed atop of. He took hold of the engraving tools. Working as carefully as he could, he etched the rune he needed into the ring. Then he carefully carved it in deeper, filling the resulting image with more of the finely powdered fire essence ash.
He took a deep breath, preparing for the final phase and infusing mana into the ring. He closed his eyes, quieting himself, and controlling his rapidly beating heart. Opening his eyes, he concentrated on the ring. He placed one finger on the top, the other below and started to push his man. As he did so, he could feel the man flow from him into, and through the ring, coming through to his finger on the other side. The book had talked about forming a circuit with the item as part of the flow, and he could feel it, a circling of mana, through him and the item. Each circuit a bit of the mana being bled off, staying in the ring. He could feel Bram watching, and then exclaiming.
“By the titan’s balls, it's glowing!”
Martin did not lose his concentration, even while hearing the coarse language of the streets from the boy, but he could understand the boy’s surprise. The rune glowed, the fire essence ash burning a bright red. He continued circulating the mana, feeling it being siphoned off ever quicker on each cycle. Eventually, it just circled, nothing more being drained, and the glow faded from the rune.
Martin picked up the ring, scrutinizing it as he brought it before his eyes. The red cast in the iron was more pronounced. The rune was flush with the iron, but was a bright red, standing out and, in Martin’s opinion, giving the ring a sombre look. He pulled out the sanding, buffing and polishing materials on the workbench to smooth and finish the ring. The red iron glinted, reflecting the fire from the forge.
He placed the ring on his finger, finding it fitted the first time. That was not too surprising as he had used his finger in the making of the mould. Wearing it, he approached the furnace. It still burned fiercely, but he found that it felt no different to sitting away from it, he simply did not feel its heat. He could see its heat and knew how hot it burned from the colour of its flames. He grinned, then let out a yell of triumph. It had worked! He had created his first item with an elemental affinity!