11 Magecrafting (3)

Groaning as he sat up in the chair, stiff all over, Luca noticed a blanket fall off his back. He smiled, picturing the old mage grumbling about having a troublesome disciple, but with a smile as he did so. Getting up and stretching, he saw that it was close to dawn, meaning he had enough time to craft his weapon before breakfast. According to Andor's 24hr timescale, it was close to 6:30. The roosters consistently crowed at 7:00, and breakfast followed within a half-hour afterward.

Grabbing a couple of handfuls of old magic silver scraps and a handful of common crystals, he went back to the desk and summoned his Archimedean Field, beginning to first dismantle and remold the scraps into a large ingot and the crystals into fine grains. After this step, Luca carefully shaped the ingot into the design's form, the pieces of which remained separate. The barrel used the crystal grains to coat the interior of it, in order to handle the force of the reaction, and on the edges of the two blades. Once this was complete, he pricked his finger and squeezed out some blood. Using a cleaned quill, he used it to carve runes into the metal with perfect accuracy through the guidance of the System. Magic ink was rare, as it had to come from magical beings, but, as magical beings themselves, mage's blood functioned in just the same way, but with less usefulness over time.

Almost 20 minutes passed before the runes were completed on each individual piece. Only then did Luca combine them together and begin the final fusion, complete with the last runes. Just as the roosters crowed, his weapon was completed. Save for its silver coloration, it looked like a standard Desert Eagle from the outside, but it was much more impressive than it seemed. "I know the perfect name for this. Silver Eagle." A pop-up appeared in front of him upon its completion, revealing that his creation had exceeded the expected result by a factor of 3, making his first creation a C-grade magic weapon. Due to this, he was able to choose a bonus ability. "Sweet. First, show me how the Silver Eagle turned out."

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Item Name: Silver Eagle

Item Grade: C-Grade, Unique

Damage (Average): 50

Effects:

-Effect 1: Ammunition not restricted to any one element

-Effect 2: Mana gathering rate increased by 5%

-Effect 3: 15% chance of instant kill upon headshot, percentage lowered by 1% per level higher than the user. 3x damage to critical locations, damage lowered by 5% per level higher than the user.

Remarks: The first magic item created by Luca, and his first personal weapon. This weapon can only be used by Luca, and will not react at all to any other users.

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Feeling very satisfied with his new creation, the lad quickly fashioned a holster from old leather scraps for his new firearm. Once it was holstered correctly, he asked the System what abilities he could receive for his reward.

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Long-Range Expertise - Increases spell distance up to 200%.

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Elemental Control - Allows for minute control of all spells.

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Magic Proficiency - Atmospheric mana accumulation rate increased per 20 spells cast.

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"What a brutal set of choices here… I could use all of these. The real master mages all have something similar to these. I know one of them has the Long-Range Expertise ability." For the first time since choosing spells, Luca was faced with another heavy decision. The young mage grumbled as his options bounced around in his mind, quickly starting to give himself a headache. He eventually took Elemental Control due to how versatile it was in comparison, and, after that familiar vertigo feeling, asked the System if the new ability would affect his firearm.

"Theoretically, yes, since the ammunition is a compressed magic projectile. However, due to its flight speed, it would be hard to alter its trajectory after firing. You'd have to react within 0.1 seconds to do so. You can alter the spell you're converting into a bullet, though. Pure elemental mana bullets (PMBs) are different from spell bullets. PMBs cost 1mp individually, but spell bullets cost the same as the spell does."

As he planned to test his new weapon, he made his way downstairs and out into the courtyard. Upon closing the door, he heard the roosters crowing as dawn broke. Smiling, Luca began setting up targets out of random stray objects all over the area. Just as he was finishing up the last target on top of the enclosed wall of the courtyard, a female voice came from inside the old mage's house, "Breakfast's ready!"

Setting a small basket of bread on the old dining table was a woman just a year or two shy of 40 years old, long hair of a similar hue to a dark sunset tied up in a ponytail contrasting against her green eyes. Wearing a brown tunic and matching trousers, if not for the apron and lack of dirtiness, she could have passed for a farmer. Funnily enough, that wasn't too far from the truth. "Ah, good morning, Luca."

Entering the dining room after taking his shoes off, Luca smiled widely, "Good morning, Andrea. Eggs and cheese, right?" After dusting himself off, he took his seat, rubbing his hands together, "I'm already anticipating it."

"That nose of yours is sharp," the redhead said with a small chuckle, beginning to place food on the table. This woman was Andrea, Ysmir's granddaughter. When she was 20, after her father died with 9 other villagers during a bandit raid on a routine caravan run to the Sheridan Estate, and her mother and grandmother passing away soon after from shock and grief, especially the former as her last words were an argument, she moved into her grandfather's house, taking up the duties of a housekeeper on top of caring for the heartbroken mage. She herself had been grief-stricken, but she stubbornly chose to remain with old Ysmir in his advanced age. During her spare time, she also took it upon herself to handle her grandfather's herb garden. She had children of her own, but they had grown up a year or two prior. One was a village guardsman while the other had his great-grandfather's magic talent.

Not two minutes later, the sound of irritable complaints came from the stairs, drawing small grins from the two in the dining room as Ysmir made his way down, "Curse these old bones, why did I build a two-story house in the first place…"

As Ysmir entered the kitchen to join the table, Andrea shook her head mildly, "Grandpa, I've told you before we should move your stuff downstairs but you just won't do it."

"Of course not, some of those items are fragile! They'd break if anything happened and gods above know what'll happen if they do!"

"If that's your call, Mister Creakybones," teased the redhead.

"It most certainly is, little Miss Fireball," responded the old man, who laughed as he saw his granddaughter blush in embarrassment at being reminded of one of her childhood incidents of trying to control a campfire with her father's wand, which subsequently ended with her hair becoming slightly singed, as opposed to numerous burn marks and holes in her clothes. Thankfully, she wasn't burned herself.