Chapter 35: FRIH - 35
Some time later...
"What? Twenty-three magical tools?!"
The shopkeeper's voice cracked through the quiet of the cramped interior like a whip. Inside the modest establishment—lit dimly by a single floating orb of warm light—his shout seemed to echo off the walls, startling a nearby cat that had been curled on a shelf beside a stack of dusty scrolls. The creature bolted for the shadows as the shopkeeper stared, dumbfounded, at the array of artifacts laid out before him on the thick wooden counter. His jaw hung slightly open, the disbelief painted clearly across his weathered features.
He leaned forward, the tips of his fingers twitching with an urge to touch the relics—yet he held himself back, partly out of reverence, partly out of fear. Each item shimmered faintly under the enchantment light, some adorned with runes dulled by age, others surprisingly pristine, their craftsmanship immaculate. Even at a glance, they were unlike anything he had seen in all his years running the shop.
He'd never encountered such a situation before. Twenty-three tools, all seemingly ancient magical artifacts...
While it wasn't uncommon for adventurers to bring in a piece or two—usually scratched, cracked, or inert—this was something else entirely. These were whole. Intact. Gleaming. The air around them pulsed softly, the kind of subtle resonance only real mages could sense—a whisper of power long sealed but not forgotten.
While adventurers often brought in similar items for appraisal, they were usually damaged, or modern forgeries.
His fingers hovered inches above the nearest artifact, a wand etched with faded silver inlays. He recognized none of the marks, which sent a shiver of both dread and wonder down his spine. How long had it been since something truly unknown had crossed his threshold?
Mages were incredibly rare. In the Northern Continent, there were only about three hundred.
And even among them, few had both the raw magical aptitude and the discipline to craft true tools. The forging of a magical tool was no simple endeavor. It demanded materials not easily acquired, enchanting skills honed through decades, and a theoretical knowledge of spell matrices that few ever mastered.
Creating magical tools required not only masterful forging skills but also a deep understanding of the relevant magic.