Chapter 86 Magic Vision

Lucas was at a loss, he couldn't figure out how to manipulate his magic to the point he could create what Elam asked of him and the overlapping runes were too complicated. Stuck with his problems, he visited the city once more and perused the shops.

He skipped every single restaurant and clothes shop immediately. He had already made that mistake once. This time he wanted to visit a blacksmith. He knew that artifacts were a thing, remembering Liam's artifact of Rank 0, he knew that magic and smithery had to be combined.

Entering the blacksmith he was greeted with a cloud of smog and heat. The sudden shift in temperature made him feel uncomfortable. Weapons and armor were placed alongside the walls, some with beautiful decorations, others just piled up in a barrel. He could see an adjacent room from where the black smog came since the door was wide open.

'They must be busy back there.'

'Yeah, what the hell is up with their customer service? Letting their entire shop drown in toxic fumes, what a great way to greet new clients!'

'They must have just forgotten it or are too focused to bother. Besides, we aren't customers, we're broke.'

'..but...ah forget it.'

Lucas took one of the swords in his hands. He had some knowledge from Liam on how to fight with it, but never really bothered learning his stances. Lucas wanted his own style that would overcome all others, but he didn't even know how many different fighting styles there were, nor was he planning on figuring it out.

He swung the sword around and felt that he was missing something. His intuition told him that there was something else to this sword. He could feel the magical aspect, but couldn't place his finger on it.

"What the hell are you doing to my merchandise?", a burly man came out of the room where the smog originated. His face was darker than normal due to all the soot.

"Ah, my apologies, I was looking around and wanted to try this sword out.", as always, Lucas stayed polite and patient. "Huh? No no, I'm talking about how you're using it. Aren't you a mage? Why are you swinging it around like a stick?"

'What is he talking about?'

'He's asking you to use magic with the sword, there aren't any other connections I can see. Also, can't he clean himself up?'

"Yes, I'm a Rank 1 mage, but I don't have any experience with artifacts. I'm assuming I need to supply my magic to the sword, but I don't want to damage it in any way."

"Hahaha, do you think my creations would break so easily from magic?! My work won't be belittled! Here, let me show you."

The blacksmith was a lot more friendly than Lucas' first impression. When it came to the man's interest he couldn't stop talking about it. His creations were pieces of art, and he didn't seem to have many listeners. Not that Lucas minded it, he was curious about how to use the weapon and hoped to gain something from the man.

"Look, if you focus on these spots you can see the moment you insert your magicules you can see it light up, right? Well, then you need to focus on where they're going, when they reach these places and make contact the artifact will activate..."

After listing how his weapon worked in excruciating detail, Lucas was left with a single question. "How am I supposed to see the magicules in the sword?", to which the blacksmith showed a surprised expression. "Do you not know about magic vision? You're a genuine Rank 1, I can tell, but you don't know about that?"

"I come from a place far from here, and we don't really see those kinds of things."

"Pfff, hahaha, then what do you learn? Ballet? Hahaha!", the blacksmith found his own jokes to be hilarious, even if he was the only one laughing. Lucas could only hold his emotions back and focus on the precious information the blacksmith was about to give him.

"Hoo, it's been some time since I've laughed so hard, thank you, sir. Magic vision is extremely basic magic that lets you see the magicules in the air. If you've trained it enough as I have, you can see it in objects and manipulate it to a certain degree. You see in my profession, we need a lot of insight and..."

"Yes, yes, I know how important your job is for this city and the mages within, but would you happen to know the runes for this spell?"

"Oh, that's easy, I'm surprised they didn't teach you that in the academy."

The blacksmith didn't feel the need to charge Lucas for the runes as the blacksmith knew that every student in the school nearby would learn it in their first lessons. Extorting Lucas now wouldn't do the man any good as a Rank 1 mage could easily enter the academy without any problems. Since Lucas looked very young, he must've come from a pretty wealthy family or gotten very lucky. Which made the smith even more confused about why Lucas had never heard of it before.

After talking a bit longer, Lucas figured out the prices and the average costs of making an artifact. He wasn't planning on making one himself, but it would do him good to know how the entire process worked.

"Do you have many customers, sir?", Lucas felt that the man had been alone for quite some time. The fact that there was no one at the reception, nobody came in while they were standing there, and what the man said all led to a single question.

The man lost his happy demeanor for a moment and had to sigh, "Ever since that company settled here, I don't have any clients to work with. They just stole everything from me, I can't imagine the other blacksmiths out here are too pleased with them."

"Which corporate entity are you talking about?"

"You don't know them? I guess you must come from really far then, haha...well it's for the better. Otherwise, we wouldn't have met. It's the Golden Palace, a company prized on the fact that they can get anything you wish for at a reasonable price. Nobody knows how they do it, but they can offer anything I have at a cheaper price. I can barely get anyone in my shop nowadays."

"Well then sir, let me do you a favor then. If I need a weapon I'll visit your shop, I won't even bother looking at what the Golden Palace has to offer."

Lucas was pretty much broke, he had a few coins left, which were worth something in the mortal world, but he wouldn't get the scraps from the mages with them. Promising the blacksmith he would return to buy something later, the smith was happy again. His blooming smile was back and his humor was back in full force. Only after a few more jokes about Lucas could he finally leave.

Now that he had gained a new vision, he needed to get used to it.

'How did he pronounce it again, was it M̷̲̾v̷̡̥͚̯͈͗̆i̸̖̳̩̲̰̊̋s̸͍̈̾̌͘i̸̼̝͈̖͗̈́́̈́͘ͅ?'

'No, no it was way more like M̵̗͂̑̉͒v̴̻͍̙̒̈́i̶̧̜͇̾͊̅̋̚s̶̖̉͝ȉ̸̡̦͔͆̕͘.'

'Ah, you're right.'

'What the hell did he give you?'

The world around them looked like an explosion of color. All magicules were being reflected in his eyes, almost blinding him. Not everything contained magic, but some things were overflowing with them. Looking at his own body, he could see his core, not the color of it, but the magicules inside of it.

'Ooph, so our core can't be sensed by Magic Vision.'

'For all you know there could be another sort of vision that can see it.'

'Then we simply need to prepare for the time.'

'Also, did you notice how he said that we were to have already known of this if we went to the academy? What else are we missing out on that everyone else sees as the basics?'

'Who knows, there's no point in complaining about it, we can ask Elam once we finish our task.'