Construction Mage - Chapter 65: Ironspine Staff

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As soon as Clay selected the option to craft an Ironspine staff, he felt his body instinctively move on its own. It wasn’t to the point of fully seizing control over him, but a clear image of what the end product would be like entered his mind. His hands moved on their own, reaching out for the materials laid out before him.

If he wanted to, he could stop his actions at any time, but there was no reason to. 

Hm, I should be able to make modifications to the specs. What if I focus my mind and change the end image stirring in my mind?

Testing out his theory, he imagined the staff to be slightly thicker and longer than it was. His grip on the piece of Ironbark shifted at the change, reflecting the updated image in his mind. He then tested it out a few more times before settling on what would suit him best and allowed his body to get to work.

Like a spectator, he watched himself shave the rectangular piece of wood into a more rounded shape, while his free hand occasionally mixed the Bone Ash and Mana Dew together. The white powder quickly turned into a doughy slab upon coming into contact with the blue liquid. However, he didn’t knead it once it settled. It was simply left out to dry while he focused his efforts on shaping the body of the staff.

After half an hour, Clay finally began to mesh everything together. The slab of dough had dried out to the point of being powdery again. He pinched a small handful at a time and sprinkled it over the staff. At the same time, he felt mana leaving him as it flowed into the materials.

Repeating this process to cover the entire staff, the ash brown wood began to change color. It turned lighter until the shade of brown completely disappeared, resulting in a faded grey staff. At the crown of it, Clay had somehow precisely carved out a wooden claw hold that was the size of a large fist. He frowned when he saw himself placing the tiny magic crystal there. There was no way such a small shard of crystal would fit. It would have to be several times larger for it to work.

Those thoughts lasted until his eyes showed otherwise. He sprinkled the rest of the powdered dough onto the crystal, and it rapidly grew larger in size as it shone with a bright light. The spindle-shaped crystal filled out and turned into an elegantly cushion-cut gem. Its light blue color shimmered, cycling through dozens of colors before settling on a clear green. It fit snugly in the wooden claw at the crown of the staff.

That is—magical.

By the time Clay regained his senses, he found himself sitting eerily still. He had gotten used to his body moving on its own at some point, so it took him a second to realize it was over. A brand new staff lay before him, and he couldn’t wait to pick it up for a closer look.

[Uncommon - Ironspine of the Nimble Sage: A sturdy staff that attunes the user with the magical energies of the world. Its larger than average construction, combined with the aged Ironbark used, greatly increases the durability of the staff. +2 Strength (Magic Only), +4 Agility, +4 Wisdom.]

Jackpot—I think?

The only Delver equipment Clay had truly held before was the kobold longsword he had sold. He didn’t have a good reference point to compare to, and for good reason. This information was personal to each Delver. Just like their exact stats, few casually revealed such details about themselves.

He hefted the staff and found the weight quite comfortable in his hands. The Ironbark felt completely different compared to the mundane shovel handle. It felt cool and smooth, like actual iron. It made him somewhat worried if he would need gloves, as the wooden ridges of the grip would dig into his flesh when he swung it with full strength. Thanks to his endurance, it likely wouldn’t injure him or even chafe his palms, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of discomfort out of his mind. The first time he had swung a metal baseball bat all day had scarred him.

Nevertheless, he felt power coursing through him as soon as he gripped his new weapon. He soon fell victim to its allure and began testing it out.

Summoning his golem, he then aimed the crystal of his staff at it and began casting an Earth Blast. It immediately took him aback as his chant came out slower than usual.

“Spirits, hear my call,

By Lestionora’s name, rise from your thrall—Earth Blast!”

The piece of hardened earth materialized rapidly, forming within two seconds before firing. The force it exerted scattered the pieces even further than usual, with some debris even bouncing back to Clay. Wiping his face, he closed his eyes with a furrowed brow.

This—the chant was shortened, but I took much longer to chant each word? Is this due to the agility bonus?

Previously, when he had put points into agility, his chanting had sped up. It went from a full five seconds for a basic Earth Blast down to three seconds. At the back of his mind, he had been wondering if adding more points into agility would make him chant at superhuman speeds, but this new discovery showed it went in another direction.

He now surmised he had reached a breakpoint where the chant was shortened instead. If this were true, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was another breakpoint that would remove the need for chanting entirely.

I thought there would be a skill for chantless incantations, but does the key lie in agility instead? Or perhaps both?

After repeating his tests a few more times, the novelty quickly wore off, and he turned his attention back to the materials laid out before him. He had enough to craft another three staffs, so he couldn’t see why not.

***

Early the next morning, the sound of knocking woke Clay up. He reluctantly roused and put something on as he went to answer the door. As soon as he did, the brightness of the sky told him he had slept in later than usual, but there was still more than enough time before meeting up with Malik.

However, Malik was the one at his door right now. To be precise, it was him and two others. They were both middle-aged men. Their demeanor was similar to that of a less friendly Garrick—stern but capable.

“Good morning, sir. I bought two people that you wanted me to find,” he introduced before stepping to the side, letting the guests introduce themselves.

The first to step up was a muscular man with a full beard. He had curly brown hair and was only slightly taller than Malik.

“Name’s Jorren. I ran a small pottery shop back when the town of Ashwell still existed.”

He then retreated a step, kicking the all over to the lanky man behind him. He had shoulder-length hair that was deep crimson. The color leaned closer to black than red. Only when the light hit it at certain angles did the red come through, making it look more like accents.

“I’m Bren, sir. I was in charge of most masonry in a small village you probably never heard of before. I also ran our town’s pub, so I know a thing or two about ovens. You can trust me to do a good job.”

“Right, right. Welcome. I’m Clay. Umm, why don’t you all come in here and take a seat first. I was just getting ready for our morning Delve.”

The three men nodded and started walking in, with Malik taking up the rear. He flashed an apologetic smile at Clay for having interrupted him after all, but he was quickly waved off. Clay could blame only himself for oversleeping. 

Last night, he had stayed up a little too late, trying to craft a few more Ironspine staffs. He had wanted to see what other types of bonuses it could give and build up a small stockpile. Then, he could either sell them when he needed funds or saw a good trade deal, or he could keep them as a backup.

Unfortunately, he had been too naive. Crafting wasn’t a guaranteed investment. There was a reason why Delver equipment was so valuable. It wasn’t just the materials that were difficult to obtain. He learned the hard way that there was a high chance of failure during each craft. In fact, all three of his subsequent attempts had failed.

The sorrow and frustration he felt for wasting all the resources put into it came back to him as he washed his face. With a wistful sigh, he waited until the water heated up before he wiped himself clean with the hot water. The most liberating feeling of the morning came after he was done with wiping himself down, when he would dump a bucket of hot water all over his body. 

The warmth his body felt was then prolonged by brewing a cup of hot tea, which he served to his guests as well.

“Be careful; it’s hot,” he warned as he set the cups on the table. “Thank you for coming so early, on such short notice, by the way. I hope that Malik managed to give you a basic rundown on why I invited people with your skill sets here?”

“Only that you got a job for us, and it’s better paying than any labor work we can find,” Jorren answered bluntly, to which Bren nodded along.

“Yes. In the long run, I need Jorren to teach me pottery, but in the short run, help me complete a few custom orders. As for Bren, I’ll need you to help me build a proper ‌oven right here.”

“Um, I can do that, but we’ll likely need Jorren’s help. Is that the base of the oven you have there?” Bren asked, pointing to the corner where the kitchen was.

“Yes, I’m not sure how to do the dome part, though. It has to withstand quite a bit of heat, so I wanted help from someone who knows what they’re doing. Does Jorren have experience with ovens as well?”

“Of course,” the man in question answered. “Any decent pottery workshop has worked on a baker’s oven before. The dome part you’re talking about is best built with clay, after all. Preferably with fire clay, but I doubt the city got much of that stuff anymore. No sources around here, but we can make do with regular earthenware clay, as long as you mix in an appropriate amount of sand or straw.”

“Seems like Jorren here knows what to do with the inner layer, so let’s talk about the outer layer,” Bren said. “What type of material do you want me to work with? The same one you’re using over there?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, do you mind if I get a closer look?”

“Go ahead.”

The lankly man immediately went over to the half-complete oven and ran his hand over it, feeling out every detail. It didn’t take long before he turned back to Clay.

“This is just compacted mud that has been dried out?”

“Right. It’s just hardened earth from my spell. I have a small stockpile of it from doing this,” Clay said before pointing his palm to the ground. 

He consciously tried to dial back the amount of mana he put into it, so it wouldn’t make a mess. With his new staff in one hand, the cast was completed much faster than usual. A dull thud echoed through the room as the two men gawked with their mouths open at the scene. 

They both thought the same thing: So this is magic, eh?

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