Word soon spread that the festival was set to be held in the week leading into the new year. With the unusually large number of high-ranking dignitaries, the construction teams needed all the time that could be spared to build suitable lodgings. Sis took this time to look into recruiting a fourth member for her team and begin group training. I would’ve liked to focus all my time on my work, but since Sis intended to have me contribute to the combat, I was roped into their drills. Taking inspiration from our memories of basic training from our previous life with signaling and communication.
As for my personal projects, my original idea was to make an enchantment of runic inscription, but all that accomplished was an intermediary tool for runecraft. It would let someone without the know-how make a very specific rune if they knew how to engrave it into a material. It lacked the key function of use without excessive study. It might make a decent practice tool for a new rune crafter to practice writing runes without the step of imbuing, but it was a flop in any practical sense. However, I also had a more advanced skill, Runic Mana Projection.
This skill was the accumulation of two paths of specialization: the path of mana mastery, which is more of a research side branch of mages, and rune writing. It is a convenient skill that lets me write runes on nothing but pure mana and had previously saved my life from the cripple hunters that had ambushed Dad. The key point is it removes the material requirement for writing the rune. If successful, it would function as a wand with a specific spell that activates when fed mana. My plan was to keep the rune simple and easy to produce, and then I could distribute a convenient function like condensing water to provide villagers with an alternative to daily runs to the well.
Of course I would need to build in safeguards to the rune, like limiting the maximum output, but I was eager to give it a go. The tree we had retrieved from outside the walls had been mostly bought up by various carpenters, but I had made sure to keep a reasonable reserve for myself in my workshop. I fashion a number of crude wands from the wood. My practice with detailed woodworking left much to be desired from this stage, but they were sufficient enough to begin my experiments.
It’s a strange thing connecting with the residual spiritual energy for enchanting materials. It involves extended meditation and finding a sort of spiritual resonance. Once connected, I need to imprint a portion of myself onto the target. This was something that was a unique struggle for me; so many skills took time to sift through, and being hasty could easily mean enchanting the Charm skill, making it a very pretty stick, or any other skill I had. Once I was sure I had the right skill, I needed to shape the power within the material to mimic my skill. Now came the hard part: I needed to memorize the shape of the skill specifically while creating the rune I wanted.
Memorizing the form of a skill was far beyond what I could achieve at the present, but copying it piece by piece wasn’t unreasonable. I have to split my focus between my active Enchanting skill, the Runic Mana Projection skill, and the specific rune I was projecting. If the enchantment collapses, the material loses all properties and magic, becoming a normal systemless stick, at least until it becomes a part of something living again and gains the corresponding new properties. My project creates nearly two dozen worthless sticks, but eventually I get it right. I think. Maybe. . .
I didn’t get it right. Everything worked perfectly except I didn’t consider where I was forming the rune. When active it condensed water, but along the length of the wood it quickly oversaturated, and the change of internal structure collapsed the enchantment and gave me a spongelike stick. I still wasn’t deterred because that marked success on a theoretical level. With greatly renewed zeal, I got back into making sticks because trying to complete three complex tasks simultaneously was hard. Dual Concentration came easily to me, but it seemed a more advanced variant wasn’t going to be easily forthcoming.
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After many ruined sticks, I finally realized I was a complete idiot. The Runic Mana Projection skill has another key synergy to enable off-body casting. I needed to add Mana Zone, which enabled me to build my projected runic mana into the active field. I tended to forget about this skill because advanced skills inherently activate subordinate skills because most people couldn’t split their focus. A key example would be Dad using Spear Mastery while activating Power Thrust. The effects naturally paired up in activation.
At the very least it just increased the complexity of my imprint by double as holding Runic Mana. Projection active would also let me work with Mana Zone. I can only find myself looking at the stubborn pile of sticks I had filled my trash can and the vicinity with. However, in the end it was worth it. I held up my masterpiece like it was some kind of legendary artifact when it was just a water stick. I test out the stick and find it to be an absolutely horrendous waste of mana, taking nearly 10 mana to fill a normal bucket. I don’t even have the energy to be mad at my newly named ‘Wand of Minor Water.’ I'll just accept that this is the process, and eventually my invention might matter.
Now I was faced with another question: making the pile of wooden sticks behind me had burned a majority of my materials. Did I still want to make a bunch of these to sell for my display? As I think about this dilemma, another question comes up. Sis and I both intended to give our all in this festival, but with so many guests, it would be inevitable that the sheer diversity of our skills and advancements would expose our secret. Do we trust the society that had casually decided killing Dad would be more profitable? At the same time I have to consider that the Earthkin, who had moved to shield my family, would be present. If my showing was mediocre, would he consider his efforts a waste and withdraw his protection?
We still have most of a year until then. For now I had a new idea with my new technique: how about I make a runic fire starter? Convenient and multipurpose, as long as nobody is inspired to use it for arson, it should be safe. I busied myself with using the remaining wood to refine my runic enchantments.
Callia’s 4th
Callia had lined up the current members of her A team. Nixie the trapper and stealth expert. What she lacked in direct combat capabilities she made up for in cunning. Reesia the guardian had taken to learning from her master like a fish to water. Turolf hadn’t held back, and now Callia was proud to stand beside one of the most reliable friends one could ask for. Then there was Callen, a wildcard and bag of tricks like no other. If it came to blows, he could keep up with her and recently was finally beginning to get a hold of his style, a mix of specialty combat items and well-timed runic powers written on the air around him. Then there was her. Renack, her grandpa, despite having lived a life longer than her and having raw power exceeding her many times, had come to understand Callia was some kind of combat genius. While Renack could overpower Callia in a direct confrontation or in speed, Callia moved with extraordinary speed and precision for someone of her stats. Callia dodged and moved in ways that Renack was unable to pin down even with maximum efforts.
Callia ran her group through hand sign communication, fully absorbed in the here and now, but after completing the training, she went straight to town. They had a team of 3 fighter escorts and 1 VIP, but the event required 4 fighters, so Callia needed to find the last member. Callia personally felt she could personally handle a team of four, but meeting participation qualifications were important. The day was getting late, but as Callia made her way home, a voice called out to her.
“Callia! I want to be your friend!”
Callia turned around and recognized the shy younger girl who had often watched her from a distance. Callia was surprised by the usually bold attitude of the girl, but this was also perfect for her current plans anyway.
“Deal!” Callia wouldn’t say no to a new friend coming in good faith.
“I need a fourth for the festival. I don’t need you to fight, only participate. Are you willing?” Callia directly asked the girl who seemed to be squealing and spinning in circles after her earlier acceptance. The follow-up statement froze the girl briefly, but after shaking herself and slapping her cheeks, she responded with a loud voice.
“You can count on me!”
Callia grinned with almost predatory anticipation as they parted ways. It seemed the universe was eager for her to unleash untold suffering on the poor fools in her way.
