Battlefield Reclaimer, Ch 46: Attuned Design (Patreon)

It took the better part of a day for the amulet to finish cooling and by the time it was done, it absorbed nearly 500 points of Earth mana. It was far more than he’d expected.

He had the feeling that the capacity had something to do with the attunement he’d added through his aura. There was a sense of crystal flame there, of him, imbued into the material, and it felt like that was what had absorbed the rest of the Earth mana.

As his senses swept through the material, he could feel that the silver had taken on a crystalline structure similar to the gemstone, while at the same time it retained the fluidity of the metal. It was an interesting blend, and not one he’d have thought could happen before this.

Among other discoveries during the crafting process, he’d learned that touching the Earth mana didn’t harm him. He’d never felt particularly threatened by it, but his father’s warning and the intense heat coming from it had been enough to make him cautious. With Ayala around to heal, he’d felt comfortable enough risking a drop of it, which he had let fall on his leg. The mana was hot and intense, but it only rolled off his skin like water.

He had a feeling that it had something to do with mana density. His body was saturated with his own internal essence, which acted like a protective shield. He wasn’t Earth-blessed like his father, but as long as his internal energy was intact, the Earth mana wasn’t going to harm him.

Now, he picked up the mold, turning it over in his hand as he let the excess Earth mana pour into his palm. There was a cracking sound as his aura flowed into it and the mana began to crystallize. It was just a tiny amount of mana, and it turned to a crystalline powder that was a lot like snow.

Crystallized Earth Mana.

The prompt came and went, as it usually did when he created something for himself. He didn’t have a skill to assess everything he saw, but if it was related to him, the World Law tended to give him the name. Maybe one of these days, he’d learn a skill for identification that would help with that.

If he had time later, he wanted to experiment with adding it to materials, but for now he just stored it away in a small pouch that was on the side of his work table. The little pouch was already half full of the same substance, since he’d been playing with the Earth mana while waiting for the amulet to cool.

His essence flowed into the amulet that was still in the mold, filling it more easily than any other item he’d ever created. It was almost like he was just sending it from one part of his body to another. The amulet wasn’t even finished yet, but it already felt connected to him. That had to be an effect of the attunement.

The amulet fell out of the mold and into his hand. It was a slightly rough disk of gleaming, crystal blue silver about the size of his palm. He’d already been working on the amulet with Essence Refinement as it cooled. Now, it was time for the final step.

A surge of essence flowed out of his body as a spiral of crystal flames flowed into the amulet, fully embedding itself into every crevice of the amulet’s structure. Instead of just purifying it, it felt as if this amulet were almost made of living crystal flame. His aura swept through it joyfully, reaching into every corner and twisting around the internal structure as if it were coming home.

He held the concept of what he wanted it to look like in his mind and the amulet began to shift, transforming slightly as it took on beveled edges and the surface smoothed out, becoming a perfectly blank expanse without a single ripple in the surface. The grain was nearly invisible, as smooth as a mirror.

A moment later, Essence Refinement was complete. A notification rang in his mind with silver chimes as he felt his Enchanter profession jump upwards. It also came with a surge of class experience.

Congratulations, Enchanter. You have crafted a fully attuned personal item from rare Earth materials and infused silver.

No one besides you will be able to use this amulet.

You gain 5,000 Class experience.

Congratulations. You are now a Level 32 Battlefield Reclaimer.

Total Experience: 296,975 / 533,000

You are now General Level 32.

Total Experience: 299,975 / 533,000

You gain +1 Intelligence, +1 Aura, and have three free status points to distribute.

He blinked at the notification for a moment as he felt the surge of experience bubbling merrily through him, making him feel more relaxed. He’d been at the edge of Level 32, but he hadn’t expected to get there from this one item.

5,000 experience was an enormous amount for a crafted item, fully ten times more than he’d ever gotten before, and that was just from making the base. What was it going to be if he managed to enchant it?

He also noted that the requirement to hit Level 33 was almost twice the experience he had already. That was the First Cliff that Krana had told him about. The levels after that wouldn’t be any less difficult, and then at level 66, it would become even harder.

If he had been a pure crafting class, it would have been a staggering amount of required experience, something that might take him a year or two to get past even if he could work on it every day. Fortunately, he was able to gain full Class experience from combat too, which meant he would just have to spend about three days killing Outsiders and it would be easy enough to get to 33.

Even if didn’t go looking for monsters or a flaw, he was sure the World Law would let him know when one popped up. It seemed like the Guardian Star on his hand marked him out as one of the “Authorities of Law” that would always be summoned to Outsider invasions if they were nearby, and it wasn’t like he could refuse. He was strangely alright with that, even if it was dangerous, since every battle would result in a significant amount of experience and perhaps crafting materials.

As for the free points, he put all three of them into Wisdom, bringing it up to 24, since he wanted to get his ability to reclaim auras up higher. The more he learned about them, the more useful they became.

While waiting for the amulet to cool, he’d been able to test out his ability to intensify auras some more. He’d discovered that he was able to charge a Basic aura up to a maximum of 20 points of essence. His Wisdom had been at 21, so he suspected that was the limit.

Now, all four of the auras in his storage were fully charged to that, which gave him a good pool of restoratives. He just needed to find some more monsters now.

Once the experience stopped surging through his blood, he focused himself as he looked down at the amulet in his palm.

Attuned Earth-Blessed Gem Silver Amulet (Blank)

The prompt came and went, giving him a description of the item, and he let out a slow breath as he carefully turned it over, studying it from every angle to make sure it had turned out well. He could feel that it had as his aura flowed through it, but he wanted to see it too.

Now, for the actual enchantment.

He pulled out a piece of chalk as he turned back toward his work table, setting the amulet down carefully on top of a piece of salamander hide at the center. Gem silver was extremely durable, even more than the gem it had come from, and the stone table shouldn’t even be able to scratch it, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

He began to draw, sketching an enchantment pattern in a circle all around the amulet. It was an enlarged version of what he had learned from the illusion amulet, with all of the new runes he had seen.

---

Some hours later, there was a massive circle of runes surrounding the amulet at the center of the table. It was as close as possible to what he’d been able to discern from the original amulet. Now, as he was trying to imagine how this would go onto the amulet, he realized he might have gotten a bit carried away.

This rune diagram was enormous. He had placed all the runes he had seen into it, and then he’d copied the connections between them and created new ones based on the same concepts to create something like a balanced formation, but he didn’t know if any of it would work. He was guessing at a lot of it, which meant the pattern was theoretical at best and probably explosive at worst.

He tried to imagine placing the formation onto the amulet, but there were too many runes and he was missing a lot of the connections from the original pattern. On top of that, he had the feeling that the actual enchantment was not just in two dimensions. There were connections between the runes on other levels that he was missing, where the layout itself represented higher runes or individual concepts, a larger pattern built from the smaller ones to create layers that all had to be balanced for the enchantment to work.

The original was a design by a Second Evolution Enchanter, but he’d tried to copy it anyway, filling in anything that seemed broken as he was lost in the flow of it. He’d even come up with a way to put it all into a circular enchantment that would fit on the amulet.

He shook his head as he looked at the pattern he’d spent so long drawing out. Then, he suddenly reached out and erased the entire circle of runes with a sweep of his hand, brushing the chalk away from the table.

Using it like that could warp the amulet into something unrecognizable, which would be a huge waste. He also couldn’t take the chance of 500 points of Earth mana suddenly erupting in an uncontrolled explosion.

In the future, he would practice with these runes, from the simple to the complex, and figure out what each one of them did. Eventually, he would discover what was missing and make the enchantment his own, but trying to force it right now was the wrong path.

He brushed his hands off as he looked back to the now blank work table, tapping his talons on the edge as he considered what to do instead. The design might be too complex for now, but the effort hadn’t been wasted. It had taught him a lot of new runes and some ways to connect them. Now, those ideas began to run through his mind as he considered what to make instead.

He needed the amulet to help him blend in and keep people from attacking him at the drop of a hat. It might not be powerful enough to stop a Seer’s abilities, but a Seer should be able to tell he wasn’t a monster and that he didn’t have an Outsider glow around him. He would have to hope there was enough time to talk that out before anyone attacked. It would also give people pause if Krana or his father were close by.

He had learned several illusion-type runes from the amulet pattern, as well as concealment, shadow, prevent, obscure, and others that were more specific, like clothing, hair, and eyes, which were all related to changing parts of the wearer’s appearance. A few of them he’d already known from his studies, but most had been new.

The most useful of them all was the one he’d seen for race. If he could create the right pattern, he might be able to make something with that. The amulet had been designed for a dwarf and there was no rune for human on it, but he knew a rune for that already. His talons continued to tap on the stone table.

Eventually, he pulled out the acid worm amulet that he’d created, staring down at the simple pattern on it. It was the barest, most simplistic piece of trash of an amulet created by a brain-addled apprentice who was probably drunk..., but it was an illusion amulet of sorts. It was enough to give him an idea.

He might not be able to create an amulet that completely changed his appearance or that hid him from sight and identification abilities, but what if he could create an amulet that gave people around him the suggestion that he was normal or that made them not look at him? A “Nothing strange here, I’m a human” type of avoidance amulet?

With 500 points of Earth mana behind it, that might be enough to convince people to believe it. It might lose energy quickly if he got a lot of attention, and it probably wouldn’t work that well on anyone who had a seriously high Wisdom..., but he could recharge it. That might be enough to travel home, with a cloak up around his face, and discourage people from looking at him. He’d have to make a set of gloves to hide his talons, since that would save some energy. He rubbed at his chin, thinking it through.

He wasn’t going to be walking into a city with it, but if he could get home without being attacked, that would be good enough. As long as he was in a party with other people to pull attention away from him, he might just look reclusive. There were some strange people out there who always wore cloaks and didn’t like to show their faces, and he would be just one more of them.

The chalk came out as he began to draw again, quickly sketching a runic circle around the amulet. If he made an amulet like that, it wouldn’t be enough to just say he was human. They would look at him, and that would drain the amulet faster. He needed something that would make people avoid him and think nothing of him. It would be better to be seen as some type of reclusive shadow wizard who turned people away rather than a demon.

Runes flickered through his mind as he sketched ideas, until he settled on a combination of human, avoid, and strange, along with some supporting connections and sub-runes that he’d learned from the illusion amulet. Those were common enough that he wasn’t afraid of them going wrong. They would only help to stabilize the enchantment.

He had thought about using dark instead of strange, but he didn’t want people to think he was evil, nor to accidentally create a cloud of shadows around himself. He’d rather give them the impression that he was just strange and should be avoided. An “Avoid the strange human” amulet.

He had also considered forget instead of avoid, but that was a much more complicated rune. It would take a lot more energy to make people want to forget about him, rather than to just avoid him. He looked down at the rough pattern and nodded as he began to add in more details, working to perfect the design and make sure it was balanced.

There were always odd travelers on the roads and some of them were frightening. He’d seen a few of the type when they’d passed by the village, especially as guards for small merchants. It shouldn’t be a problem if he made himself look like one more.

He wasn’t sure how long the amulet would last, but he should be able to recharge it back to its maximum mana, even if it took a while. The amulet was different from the water crystal or even his father’s hammers. Those were driven directly by the user’s mana, which meant you had to always be in control of the process. The amulet had its own mana storage instead, which meant it could operate automatically until the energy ran out.

He did some quick math in his head, coming up with the rough idea that it would take him about 17 hours of meditation to recharge 500 points of mana, and that was if he did absolutely nothing else with his time. He shook his head as he thought about it.

At his current rate, he passively regenerated around ten points of essence an hour. The increase to 24 Wisdom had improved it to almost 17% per hour, and it looked like every 5 or 6 points of Wisdom added another percent. If he actively meditated, it was two hours to get back to full. That part hadn’t changed.

It would be better to charge the amulet continually over time rather than trying to do it all at once. He didn’t know how much mana it would use in a day, but he could try to top it off each night. He would also need to keep some intensified auras on hand to feed it in an emergency.

Time flew away from him as he continued to sketch, adding more stability and durability to the enchantment. He might not have learned how to use dozens of runes at once, but studying the illusion amulet had definitely helped to give him some ideas for how to make these three more effective.

---

A short while later, the new design for the amulet was complete. Instead of just one big circle this time, there were three concentric ones. Each of them was linked to one of the three runes at the center and they included stability and durability runes that enhanced the overall formation.

The entire pattern was an interwoven cycle, like three spirals turned into one. No matter where energy entered it, it would flow evenly through all three circles before powering the focus runes at the center. That would help to increase the efficiency of the enchantment and to harmonize the flow of energy, even if it meant that it needed more power to activate it.

He wasn’t worried about that part. The amulet had more than enough energy and, once it was running, the cost to maintain it would drop precipitously. The concentric circles would help to contain the mana, increasing the efficiency as they bound it in place and made sure it was only spent as needed.

“Well, it shouldn’t explode,” Krana said thoughtfully, as she looked over his shoulder to see the result. She was still trying to help, but she didn’t have much to add on the design. Sam was treading new territory with this experiment.

Sam nodded back at her. Then he picked up the amulet and turned it over in his hands as he let his aura flow through it. Models of the runes began to flicker through his mind, flowing into place as he imagined where they would go.

In his mind’s eye, an image of the amulet appeared, made out of crystal blue flames. Runes began to appear on it, flowing into place with a little snap of power. He could feel a slight amount of his essence draining away as he continued, but there was no skill notification for this visualization technique. For Enchanters, something like this would have been under Model Enchantment, but he had the feeling that for him it just fell under Essence Control.

It didn’t take too long for him to complete the design in his mind, and he held it there, turning it from side to side as he checked it over for flaws. He knew there was a way to add three-dimensional runes and to surround the entire amulet in a sphere of interwoven connections, since the original design had been something like that. He couldn’t do it yet, but one day he would get there.

For now, this would have to be enough. In the future, he’d either find a way to alter this amulet or he would melt it down and build another one. He gave the amulet in his hand a deep look as he set it back on the work table and turned to pick up his stylus.

The design in his mind’s eye merged with the amulet in front of him, overlaying it. Then he began to engrave the runes, starting with the focus points as he worked his way outward to the first circle. A subtle spiral of crystal blue flames swirled around him and across the design, fluctuating in time with the subtle movement of his hands and his breath.

It wasn’t the huge design he’d first come up with, but it was still the most complicated enchantment he’d ever created. Conceptually, it far outstripped his father’s hammers, which drew most of their power from the same rune being layered seven times to create a resonance. The hammers were beautiful in their simplicity that was refined to a single purpose, but this was complex.

Hours flickered past as the engraving continued, and Sam’s eyes never wavered. He wasn’t even aware of the passing time except as it related to his progress on the design. The others in the cavern continued their own training, turning to look at him from time to time, but he was barely aware of them.

Eventually, he carved the last rune and paused, his slit-pupiled eyes staring down at it. A moment later, his last Aura of Basalt appeared from his storage and hovered over hand.

He set the stylus to the side as he took hold of the aura and began to imbue it into the amulet, slowly fusing the wisps that rose off of it into the lines. He could have used pure mana for the amulet, but he had the feeling that using an aura would give him better results.

He didn’t notice Krana’s wide eyes as she stared at his hand, trying to see what the sphere of grey smoke was, or her glance toward the enchantment that was slowly being filled with energy. He’d never explained his class to her, and this was the first time she was seeing an aura.

Despite its small size and the aura being fully intensified to 20 points of essence, the amulet had a significant number of runes on it, some of them with a lot of internal storage capacity. They all needed to be imbued fully for the initial activation. The aura only lasted through about three quarters of the process. When it ran out, he was in a meditative state and, almost as if acting on instinct, he waved his hand toward the mana pool, calling it to him as he picked up his stylus again.

A stream of Earth mana twisted up from the pool and flowed through the air to a point near his shoulder, where it gathered into a liquid sphere that radiated heat and light. A thread of mana poured down from it, connecting to the stylus in his hand. He was barely aware of it as his stylus moved on to the next rune.