High Artificer, Ch 17: Basic Artificing

Back inside his hall, Sam looked around as he took a moment to adjust to the simpler task of teaching new students. 

He wanted to settle the matter of Altey and Rolen’s crafting professions and then an avatar could teach the rest of these classes. If someone came to bother him, it wouldn’t be much different in terms of power than if his real body were here.

Not to mention he had other forces. 

He looked over to the mountains at the distant edge of his realm. There were thousands of Fourth Evolution golems standing ready. The Fifth Evolution commanders were coming along too, but they would take a little longer.

In the couple of hours since the Winged Furies came by, he’d spent some time working with the academy’s wards and in communication with the Ocean Core. The world’s defenses, such as they were, now saw him as their owner. 

They had naturally deferred to his aura signature as an Astral Titan.

The academy was slightly more time-consuming, but not much. 

Its wards were all encompassed by his domain and they gave way to his Sovereign of Primal Runes ability and fell under his command, just like the old version of this hall had.

Now they answered to him.

With those assurances and some avatars, everything here would be in good hands. 

If he needed to come back, it would only take him an instant to swap places with an avatar, even if he was on the other side of the galaxy.

As for his parents, they were enjoying their island vacation with Roric, so there was nothing to worry about there. They had plenty of elementals to help them with minor tasks and to entertain his brother. 

It was the first time in a long while that they’d had the chance to relax, so they were taking full advantage of it, soaking in the sun and playing in the waves. He had an avatar there enjoying the beach and hanging out with them. 

The sands were golden white and the ocean was crystal blue, its waves rising endlessly against the shore. It gave him a chance to talk about idle things and play with Roric.

Altey returned to the island every evening and sometimes throughout the day, in between visiting the academy and the city. He’d added a teleportation spell for it into her Moonlight Tattoo.

She and Rolen had been doing a lot of exploring the last couple of days and if it hadn’t been for Sam’s ability to scan the city, they would have known it better than him. He was happy that they were getting along.

Taking the boy as a student was working out so far.

After settling a few things around his hall, he nodded and turned to the door. It opened with a wave of his hand, right on time.

Altey and Rolen led the way through the door, followed by dozens of others who were waiting. Most of them had been here for the tour, but they still looked around with wonder. 

The hall was a marvelous sight. 

The sparkling silver-white stone of the pillars, the fields and mountains extending into the distance as the land fell away below, and the endless vault of the stars stretching above combined to give everything a sense of eternity, as if time would never pass in this realm.

It wasn’t so inaccurate.

“Welcome to Basic Artificing and Enchanting.” Sam’s voice echoed through the hall as he pointed to the silver flame at the end. “Please gather around the forge.”

As the students moved toward it, he silently assigned them to work tables and linked their aura signatures into the enchantments. Now, the tables would respond to their touch and the enchantments would support their crafting efforts.

The tables all had newly reinforced shield runes, just in case more of the students had the same affinity for explosions as Rolen. 

If they didn’t, he could always encourage them to experiment in more exciting ways. It was good to test your materials.

A lot of early crafting was using resources to make simple things, and sometimes when simple things were mixed together with a bit of mana, they exploded.

At least if you did it right.

It was a good way to keep students’ attention while teaching them key principles about why things exploded and how to do it when you wanted to.

“Today,” he said as they gathered around the silver flame. “I’m going to show you the basics of artificing and enchanting, including why they are so closely tied to the elements. But to make it really exciting, we’re going to blow a lot of things up. And then we’re going to build something. We’re also going to work on your Inspect and Analyze skills, which are key for any crafter.”

A wave of his hand made a hundred different low-level artifacts appear. They floated beside him, each of them glowing with a different elemental signature. 

He scattered them across the end of the hall, giving each of the items enough room that several students could examine it at once. They would just have to walk up to it and gather in small groups.

The artifacts glittered with mana and elemental essence, floating in the air with bracelets made of silver stone, armor forged with mithril plates, weapons formed of astral ice, and more. There were both the mundane and miraculous among them.

The students stared at the treasures, their eyes wide. Half of them took an instinctive step forward as they tried to reach them, and then their manners held them back, but they curled their hands with desire.

Sam held back a chuckle.

Given that he’d crafted all of these items himself from refined elemental essence, which was in high demand on settled worlds, it was probably the most expensive display of enchanted First Evolution artifacts that the academy had ever seen.

If he’d had all of this at the First Evolution, he would have been truly rich. He also could have avoided a lot of problems.

He hadn’t put all of these artifacts out here for nothing. Showing off their work was one of the best ways a crafter could get attention. This was just like the display case in an enchanter’s shop, except he was attracting the students. 

They needed to know what they could learn and have a drive to obtain it.

“These are all First Evolution artifacts,” he explained. “Every one of them has been created with a single elemental affinity, the power of which is radiating from it now. The task here is two fold.

“Your first job is to inspect all of the artifacts. Try to understand what element is used in each one, what its purpose is, and how you could best take advantage of it with your skills and class. Make sure to take detailed notes.

“Your second task is to spend time with each artifact and feel its elemental resonance. This will help you to develop an awareness for the different elemental affinities. It can also help you to develop your own. The first step in training your affinity is finding out what it is.

“Some of you will know your affinity already, but you are not limited to one. You might be lucky enough to find that you can sense and manipulate two elements, or three, or even all of them, like me. That is why I am called the High Artificer of the Elements.”

He paused as he looked around and he was pleased to see their attention was locked on him and the artifacts.

“Once you get a feel for the elements inside, we’ll move on to the flashier part of this demonstration.” He grinned as he waved at the treasures floating everywhere.

“We’re going to destroy some of those artifacts, at least one of each type, and you’ll be able to watch as the elemental runes overload. So I hope you’ve all prepared an attack ability. You’re going to get some practice with it today.

“There are cheaper ways to show you how much an artifact can handle, but this is one of the most effective and the quickest. Understanding the damage an artifact takes in battle is a key factor in how well you can use it. 

“You’ll very shortly get an idea for what overloading a rune looks like, what their mana tolerance is, and how much damage they can endure. It will help to advance your Analyze skill, runic knowledge, and general crafting awareness, as well as other related skills.”

The students drew in a shocked breath as they looked at the glittering treasures in front of them and then at the forge flame. A lot of them knew just how much wealth they were about to destroy.

A few others looked confused, but quick whispers filled them in soon enough. After that, their attention was fixed solemnly on him.

“After that, whether it’s today or in another class,” he explained, “we’ll begin studying the elements and runes in a more comprehensive manner, as well as basic enchantment patterns. Most of those artifacts you see in front of you will be your study guides this term. You’ll be breaking them down, repairing them, and trying to make copies of your own. So try to find a favorite here in a minute.”

He was laying out the entire plan for the term for them now, so they would know what they were getting into. It would save time later.

“Once you have a solid grasp of your preferred element and the depth of your affinity for it, I’ll help you improve your affinity in a more direct manner.  It’s a key part of enchanting with that element.”

He waved his hand and a series of glowing pillars appeared in the hall, stretching out into the distance. Each of them radiated a massive elemental signature and all of them were different.

“These are elemental pylons. Once you have a sense for which one will help you the most, I’ll confirm it, and then you can train with that element here. It will be the foundation for your crafting efforts, as well as developing rare skills and abilities for elemental manipulation.”

He stopped for a moment as he saw the students staring at the pylons, giving them time to get used to the idea. 

Offering to help them with their elemental affinity was a rare gift, something that even the academy couldn’t accomplish easily, and definitely not in an introductory class. 

Quite a few of them recognized the value of it and their view of his class had just shot up exponentially.

He didn’t mention elemental elixirs to them, but if there were students who stood out in particular and he had a good view of their character, he would make sure they got those too. They would help to completely remodel their constitution to work better with their affinity.

“As the class progresses,” he continued, “you’ll study runes related to your element and use them to shape your enchantments. By the end of the term, I expect you all to be able to create at least a Basic tier elemental artifact. If you take advantage of this time, you might go even further.

“With my help, it is entirely possible for every one of you to finish this term with both the ability to build a basic artifact and the innate ability to manipulate an elemental affinity.”

He reached out and grabbed one of the artifacts floating nearby, which happened to be an ice elemental defensive artifact. It was a small engraved disk that could be worn like a pendant. He held it up as an example.

“Creating your first artifact is a huge milestone for a new enchanter and as part of this class, I want to make sure that you get there. It’s a skill that will serve you well in the future, whether or not you become a full artificer or enchanter. You will be on the path to building your own equipment. Even if you don’t follow it all the way,  it will help you to use artifacts better in battle and to repair them on your own.”

“What’s more,” he added, “this term will be a competition for who can refine the most powerful elemental artifact, as rated by how much mana it can hold and how advanced the elemental enchantment on it is. 

“The winner of that competition will be given an artifact of their own crafted by me, one that has been made to your exact needs and that will match your class and abilities. It will probably be an evolving aura artifact, one that can grow with you. 

“You should know the value of an artifact crafted by an enchanter who is nearly at the Sixth Evolution. This prize is not something that can be bought.”

Now the gazes were looking at him with blazing ferocity, as well as something that was borderline fanatical.

It looked like his plan to get them to pay attention was a success.

“Alright, let’s begin,” he said as he waved to the artifacts all around the hall. “Break off individually or in small groups and study the ones that call to you. Try to read the enchantments on them and sense the elemental affinity as best you can. 

“Push your awareness into the object and use all of your skills, as well as the force of your will. Think of it like pushing your attention into the item to see what is there. You won’t damage them. 

“This is how you train your Runic Perception, a key ability for any enchanter. There are other abilities that do something similar, but I expect that all of you will be able to get that one as a skill with some effort.

“Whoever can give me the best report on an artifact at the end of the week will be rewarded with some personal pointers on your Profession choices, as well as a First Evolution scroll of your choice: offense, defense, or healing. 

“Other prizes will be handed out for tests throughout the term, so make sure to try your best. Besides the evolving artifact, there will be opportunities to earn First Evolution artifacts of your own that are suited to your class and level, possibly even some of those artifacts in front of you, although it’s more likely to be something new that I create.”

He held up the defensive Ice pendant and gave them a wicked grin.

“And get a good look at this one in particular,” he said, “because in a little bit, it’s the first one we’re going to destroy.”

The artifact was capable of projecting a Level 100 Ice affinity shield. It would be fun to let them attack it and see how long they could last. 

He didn’t expect any of them would be able to seriously damage it, but they might surprise him. If they couldn’t, then he’d break it for them.

“Are you going to make me another artifact if I win?” Altey asked silently as she grinned at him. “Because I am definitely going to win.”

“You might have a little competition this time,” Sam said with a laugh as he glanced at her, although he hid the message from the other students. 

“Rolen is going to fight for it too, and he’s not the only one. Some struggle will be good for you. I will always make you the artifacts you need, but if you want this one, you have to win it for real. It will be extra on top of those, something fun and useful.

“Remember I’ll be fair to everyone. Your innate abilities for Analyze and Rune Formation give you a big advantage, as well as your familiarity with my work, but you’re not the only one with a step up. 

“A lot of these students have rich backgrounds and have been trained for their entire lives. First Evolution artifacts shouldn’t present too much of a challenge to them, even if they don’t understand the runes as well as you do. You’ll have to work hard to create the best artifact here.”

He was confident that she would be at least in the top handful of students, but he didn’t want her to get complacent. He wasn’t making it up about the competition.

As soon as the duel ended and everyone had seen his level, high-level families and their advisors had rushed to push students toward his class.

Rolen should also be up there too, since this class was designed with his artificing in mind, but his placement would depend on how quickly he mastered the techniques.

There were a few other students with high-quality crafting classes that Sam had noticed and was keeping his eye on too, but he wasn’t counting out the rest. Just because they didn’t have a crafting class, it wasn’t the end of the world. 

Sometimes the best crafters started off as warriors or scribes.

As the class began to bustle with movement and the students’ voices soared in the hall, he looked across it all with a smile.

The students here weren’t just newcomers to his class. If he had his way, they would be the start of a new wave of enchanting across the galaxy. 

It had taken a lot of work to set this up for them and there would be more in the future, but so far it was fun to be a professor.