Crafting Success

"These are... quite valuable!" Lucian thought, scanning the pile of items he'd retrieved from the damaged pendant. If the items he had taken from Apollo had merely helped him meet immediate needs, then Norian's hidden stash felt like an unexpected windfall. Even though it represented only a fraction of Norian's accumulated wealth, its quality surpassed anything Lucian had seen before—each item was valuable, without any filler materials.

The only downside was the absence of any urgently needed enchanted equipment; the collection consisted mainly of preserved specimens, magic stones, and various materials. Sighing, Lucian stored the most precious items in his space ring, setting aside the rest in a corner of his lab. Meanwhile, Carrie carefully packed away the head specimen, her expression solemn. For her, it was a grim reminder of the harshness of the wizarding world—and of how lucky she was to have made the right decision to follow Lucian.

"Carrie, are you ready?" Lucian asked, laying out the materials for the bow's restoration. "I'm about to start."

"Coming!" Carrie dashed over but paused to take a small piece of wood from the head specimen's wooden platform. "Mentor Lucian, would it be alright to add a small embellishment to the bow?" she asked, looking at him hopefully.

Lucian shrugged, easily agreeing to her small request.

With materials in place, he glanced at Carrie, then lifted some fragments from the dismantled pendant. "Sorcery Array One, Level Four heat," he instructed, and Carrie set the array as he began purifying the salvaged metals.

In sync, Carrie moved around the lab, preparing ingredients, activating sorcery arrays, and gathering equipment. Within moments, the pendant fragments had melted into a silvery liquid alloy, which, under Lucian's precise manipulation, combined with starmetal to form the central section of the bow. Lucian's forehead glistened with sweat from the intense focus required—like potion-making, alchemy demanded absolute precision.

"Carrie, bring me the bow!" he called. As she handed it over, Lucian cleanly cut the rough edges from the broken area of the bow, creating a smooth surface for reassembly.

"Unite," he commanded, carefully joining the prepared bow sections and embedding the newly crafted alloy segment into place. Silvery liquid began to flow, binding with the wooden sections and connecting the bow's three parts into a cohesive whole. Carrie held her breath, her eyes alight with anticipation.

Finally, Lucian attached the bowstring and stepped aside. "Now, Carrie, the decorative details are up to you. After all, it's your bow."

Carrie's surprise quickly turned to excitement. She trembled slightly as she worked, her hands unsteady as if she were handling a bomb. Lucian couldn't suppress a smile but, holding back his laughter, turned away to let her work.

With careful hands, Carrie inlaid the small piece of wood she had taken, embedding it at the spot where her thumb would rest when drawing the bow. It would be a constant reminder of her commitment and resolve.

"Done, Mentor," she said softly, handing the bow back.

Lucian nodded, taking it to another workbench for the final enchantment. Since it only required basic enchantment runes and no complex array, it was a straightforward process. Soon, he finished inscribing the nine sorcery runes, concealing them within the bow.

"It's done!" Lucian said, setting aside his silver engraving tool and holding up the bow, now resonating faintly with magical energy.

[Identification requires 10 Reverence Points. Proceed with identification?]

Lucian grinned. The system's identification cost hinted at the item's rarity, and a 10-point cost indicated that this bow had turned out even better than he had hoped.