Kalar´s Continent

Teo had needed to rest for several hours, before he was back on his feet. His mind and body had been s.u.c.k.e.d dry by the exhausting practice session, he had with Goliath this morning and only a few hours of deep sleep could breath some spirit into him again.

The pressure on his mind and body had not lessened since then, though. Since Goliath could prevent the excessive Mana leaking from his body, even when he slept, he could continuously temper his body for 24 hours a day. But he would still need some time to get used to it.

The feeling was hard to describe, it felt a bit like walking around after staying up very late and being incredibly numb and tired while simultaneously having a light headache; in any case, it was very unpleasant.

Teo had slept all the way till early afternoon and after quickly eating something for lunch, he would need to go to the cellars and practice his Enchanting skills with Uncle Thoralv. It was lucky, that he previously had told Goliath about it and he managed to wake him up, otherwise his uncle would probably be very angry again.

As Teo ran down the steep stairs leading to the cellar, he went over everything he learned today again. Theoretically he should be able to use the same concept, he used to craft a Mana core for himself, for Enchantments and he was already eager to test his hypothesis.

He slowly made his way through the badly illuminated path towards the forge, located in the inner reaches of underground area, until he could see the gentle red glow of burning coals. His granduncle was already waiting for him, standing right next to a slender, black sword.

"Good, you're finally here. We are going to work on a real Enchantment today, instead of just practice material, and I want you to help me with it," Thoralv said in his usual thick voice.

From up close, the sword looked even more impressive. It was completely black, from tip to hilt, and had a smooth, shiny surface. Apparently it was not made from normal iron and its overall quality was likely to be on par with its appearance.

"It looks expensive," said Teo slowly, trying to remind his uncle of the possible consequences of his help.

"Hahaha, it's made from blacksteel. I only finished it yesterday, while you were out playing," answered Thoralv, laughing heartily and holding his large belly with both hands. Obviously he noticed the intention behind Teo's words, but that would not change his mind. He had wanted to give the boy some real practice for weeks now.

Enchanting was a complex and difficult craft, created by and for real Magicians, even though talented individuals like themselves could use most techniques too and had made it something of their own.

After his talk with Goliath this morning, Teo already began to suspect that it was originally developed by normal elemental Magicians, that had also gained a basic control over Mana, and was only picked up by common people with a natural Mana Affinity much later, for its profitable nature, yet he had no proof so far.

The two main parts of Enchanting were the Magic Circles, giving the item all the d.e.s.i.r.ed properties and effects, and the Energy channels, forming smooth grooves throughout the entire workpiece through which the Energy of the user or from the surroundings could flow and power the built in Magic Circles. Together they functioned as the heart and circulatory system of every Enchanted Item.

The Energy channels were laid out very complex and were impossible to erase, one wrong groove in the delivery, or Magic Circle part could cause an energy shortcut, ruining the whole item permanently. Worst case scenario, a messed up Magic Circle could even explode, making it somewhat dangerous for unpracticed hands.

However, thanks to his uncle's unrelenting nature, Teo could only do his best and try not to scrap his uncle's masterpiece. He would just need to assist anyway, his uncle would still do the hardest parts himself.

The first part of every Enchantment was understanding the layout of Energy channels, Magic Circles and their intended functions, which Thoralv explained meticulously in great detail. A basic overview would be enough for assisting his uncle, but if Teo wanted to be able to do something similar alone in the future, he would need to understand every line and smudge in the blueprint and learn from it.

The Enchantment planned for the blacksteel sword was actually rather simple, only utilizing the basic sharpness and lightweight Magic Circles. The ingenious move however, was the filigree structure of Energy channels, running very close along both edges of the sword, granting it amazing durability and hardness while in use, owing to the natural diffusion of Mana into the surrounding material —strengthening the weapon exactly where it would be strained the most.

Combining the hair-splitting sharpness of a scalpel with its unusually high durability and low weight, it would make for a fearsome weapon, guaranteed to make short work of common iron weaponry. It was no wonder, that his uncle was known for his exquisite and highly detailed works, even when half of what he forged had the visible details of a brick; it were the inner values that counted.

His uncle instructed him on the parts, that he should work on first and then it was time for action.

His first task was carving a wide Energy channel in the center of the sword, functioning as the backbone of the Energy circulatory system, from which smaller branches would occassionally split off.

These branches would be the second part of his job, carving the fine capillary channels all the way up to the edge of the sword, that made this layout so brilliant. Much to Teo's dismay, his uncle would only tackle the more complex Magic Circles, located along the huge artery, that ran through the center of the sword, leaving him to shape the highly complicated network of channels himself.

Luckily Teo already had an idea how he could speed up the process of creating the main channel quite a bit.

Teo slowly absorbed some of the Mana in the room, bringing the pressure inside him up to a level he could work with, and began to braid a few especially thick Mana threads inside him into a thin rope, further compressing the Mana as much as he could in the short amount of time.

Teo was not too worried, that his uncle would notice the changes he went through. He had always glowed like a torch under Mana Vision and the details inside one's body where only tangible for oneself. Also it was considered normal, that the Mana Density of a young boy would grow together with his body, Teo's only grew a few paces faster.

After weaving a rope as thick as a spaghetti and as long as the whole sword, he slowly began to insert it into the weapon, starting from the hilt, while slowly rotating it around its own axis. Slowly, but steadily, it sunk into the tool and worked its way forward like a drill.

Carving Energy channels could not be taken literal in this context, as the material was not damaged and both its surface and innards would stay intact, without any visible grooves, but it was hard work nonetheless.

Teo would need to change the inner structure of the material, in order to make it a better conductor for Energy, which can be accomplished by repeatedly flushing Mana or any other Element through a small and highly specific path over and over again.

With time and a sufficient exposure to compressed and rapidly flowing Mana, the chosen path would become an increasingly stronger conductor for Magic and would thus become able to deliver the user's Energy all over the tool, powering all of its Magic Circles. It was just like flowing water, slowly carving a canyon through a mountain.

The process required exquisite control over Mana, a high sensitivity to the material properties and lots of patience. It required strict concentration during the whole process and large quantities of willpower.

In the nature of Energy channels also lay the reason, why it was very beneficial, to be an Arcane, in order to become an Enchanter. Every Element could be used to carve a channel, but all of them would only conduct Elemental threads of the same kind, or its closest neighbours, making the Artifact useless for anyone practicing the wrong Element. Only pure Mana itself could create Channels, capable of conducting all Elements equally.

Teo's hard work and ingenuity paid of though, as he managed to finish the main channel in barely half the time he would have taken, using standard techniques, making quite the impression on his uncle.

The first step accomplished, Teo downgraded to a smaller thread and began to work on the narrower branches winding through the whole item. Quickly he noticed, that his control over the Mana he guided along had improved significantly from a few days ago. His sensitivity to the flow of it was heightened and he could not only move it faster, but also with much higher precision. Teo wondered, if this was a side effect of his newly formed Mana Core, but had no real information to work with.

He finished the intermediate channels quickly and without much trouble. Barely an hour had passed, since he started his work on the sword and he was making rapid progress. His uncle was now almost finished with the Magic Circles, only polishing some rough edges, and would pay increasingly more attention on how Teo was doing, as he was approaching the hardest part now.

Slowly he began to work on the much shorter and narrower channels, stretching throughout the sword like a filigran network of hairs. This task required absolute concentration because even pulling a thread through a wrong path once, would lower the quality of that specific channel and possibly the whole item.

From time to time Teo would mess up on one of the narrower channels, but managed to keep the situation in check, minimizing the damage. Luckily he had not hit one of the larger channels and caused an unwanted shortcut or the collision of opposite flows, so no real harm was done. He was using his full concentration, to carve hair-thin channels through perfectly calculated paths with no room for errors, it was taxing on his mind and body alike.

He was at it now for over 2, maybe 3 hours and his focus was beginning to decline, his forehead was covered in fresh sweat and he would not be able to continue for long. To his great relief however, he was almost done.

A few minutes later he finally finished his work on the first real tool he had ever worked with. Not a metal rod, but a real sword! Of exceptional quality even.

Tired he sat on the ground exactly where he stood, unwilling to move another step. He had done it. He managed to finish his first usable Enchantment with his uncle's help and apart from a few minor hiccups he had not let him down.