Chapter 23: The First Enchantment

The clanging of steel and the smell of smoke. Other than the book in his hands, this was all that filled Alex's mind.

It was already five at night. He had been here, near the forge, for the whole afternoon.

Alex accepted the job from a very large, even by Alex's impressive standards, bearded man. The man's name was Blacksmith Gavannon. The smith wore an apron, it was black and made up of overlapping scales. Alex imagined that it was made from leather and scales of some impressive monster. The smith had short, wild, red hair. In contrast, his fiery red beard was meticulously braided.

Alex had angered the man quite a bit early on when he addressed him as simply Gavannon. Eventually, from watching him converse with others, he learned that this giant of a man would answer to Smith, Smith Gavannon, Blacksmith, or Blacksmith Gavannon. Any other name would earn you anyone a fiery scowl and a lecture.

"A man is what he does. I am a Blacksmith. I temper and forge the world to be of use to me. Forget it again, and you will be the next object to receive my attention." Alex had earned this lecture almost immediately upon coming to the forge.

Alex had been given a book when he entered. He was then told to sit at a work bench and read until he was given something to do.

The book, was about the complicated interactions between basic enchantments and weapons. It even included many runes, with descriptions, that Alex had not yet seen before. The book looked relatively new, but it was smudged with ink and soot on nearly every page. Almost like someone had hurriedly written it without washing their hands first, and didn't even allow for the ink to dry.

"Boy." Alex was so engrossed in the description of a rune and it's uses that he didn't hear the smith.

"Boy!" Gavannon's tone made it clear he would not be so 'polite' if he needed to call out a third time. Luckily, Alex heard him this time.

"Yes Smith?" Alex can running over to the forge. The heat and vibrant light coming from the coals nearly pushed him back from the anvil where the smith worked.

"You have studied the book?" He asked it very absentmindedly, as he was also inspecting the blade on a recently finished short sword.

"Yes. I can't say that I have mastered the material. But I am confident in making an attempt." Gavannon eyed Alex as he spoke. His gaze gave away no impression as to how he received the news.

"Good. A man should speak clearly, and understand his own limits. Cockiness, will get you killed." The way he spoke made Alex feel like he was the man's apprentice, rather than an employee.

"Yes, smith." He responded immediately.

"Tell me the most important attributes to pay attention to when enchanting a weapon." The question did not come as a surprise to Alex. The first chapter of the book he was given was spent on exactly this information.

"The regularity of the relative size of the runes. The structure and sequence of the enchantment. The proper depth to carve to, for the material you are working with. Lastly, the smoothness of the interior edges the runes." Alex recited from memory.

"Why must we care about the smoothness of the interior of the runes?" Gavannon's gruff voice seemed to carry a hint of acceptance.

"That is because the mana that powers the runes will flow through the space that is left behind from me carving the runes. If the walls of the carving are not smooth, the mana can become chaotic as it flows. This puts strain on the weapon. If it cannot handle the strain, it will break." Alex swallowed, in an attempt to wet his dry mouth, then continued. "Explosively."

"Take this sword and enchant it with the fire element on the blade." The smith said with a nod.

Alex took the sword and got to work. He had learned this enchantment from the book earlier in the day. This enchantment had a total of nineteen runes.

An activation rune on the grip side of the guard, this was used by the wielder to activate the effect. Two passive runes on the opposite side of the guard, one to gather mana, the other was a switch rune to stop the gathering when the blade was fully charged. A large mana storage rune, this would be attached to both the passive runes and the enchantment. A mana dispersion rune, to send the mana down the blade to the other runes. Seven mana transmuting runes, paired with seven lesser fire element runes.

This structure could be said to be very basic. Even so, Alex felt very intimidated attempting his first real enchantment. He knew it would take him some time to finish. He would be late to dinner, but it was worth it. But before he started he had one last thing to check.

"Are you sure there will be no problems?" He asked Eluril.

"For the last time. My plane has enchanting too, we even use the same runes. So of course you can use qi to attach and prime them. Otherwise how could they make use of runes where I come from?" Eluril was on the table near the sword rolling her eyes at Alex.

Alex spent the next three hours meticulously carving rune after rune. Eluril had taught him to encompass the tools he held with qi as he used them. This would seriously drain his energy, which he had much more of since advancing, but he would barely make it. This would strengthen the tools and do the work of linking and priming the runes. He just had to be very careful about the order he carved the runes in, otherwise they might not be connected properly.

By the time he finished he was covered in sweat and grime. He had nearly used up all of his qi. He almost ran out, but he was now constantly producing more qi. It was not a lot, but every bit helped.

The sword looked beautiful to Alex. His work was well carried out, for a beginner. The runes were not hidden in the slightest. Their curving lines and complex structures gave an ornate feeling to the weapon.

Having finished the blade he brought it to Gavannon. The smith eyed the blade looking for any problems. Finding none, he pressed the activation rune on the guard with his thumb.

He could feel the weapon vibrate slightly as he pressed the rune. The mana thrummed as it flowed through the weapon. This surprised him greatly, but he did not show it.

The blade of the sword immediately became red hot. The smith slowly waved the sword through the air. A beautiful tail of orange and red flames followed behind the blade.

Keeping the enchantment active, the smith brought the sword up to his eye level and inspected the mana storage rune. This type of rune was unique. It would be filled with visible mana while the enchantment was active. It would act as a gauge, to show how much mana was left in the enchantment.

Gavannon was stunned, but he did not show it. The storage rune was still nearly full, in fact it was barely emptying as the enchantment was maintained.

Doing some quick calculations, he figured that it could stay active for almost a half an hour. This was ridiculous for a rune of this level.

"This is passable work." He said to Alex as he continued to eye the runes on the blade. "Come back early tomorrow morning. I will have more for you to enchant." With that he turned away from Alex and continued to inspect the blade. Even going so far as to pull out other instruments to help with the inspection.

"Yes smith." Alex was just happy his enchantment worked. He smiled largely and left. Never once wondering about Gavannon's suspicious interest in such a simple enchantment.

Alex made his way to the dinning hall. Not only was he starving, but he was also late. By nearly an hour. Luckily, Tom and Red were still there, but they did not look good at all.