Unconquered Tower

TWENTY-THREE

“You have trapped me in hell,” Jerry complained from the ground. The rabbit-kin was stretched out in a pathetic lump, his arm thrown over his eyes as he started complaining the moment that Roan walked into the building.

“Pay better attention when making bets,” Roan countered as the rest of the class stretched out behind him. Jerry lifted his arm just enough to peek at the class before he sighed again and flopped his arm down to cover his face again.

“Look at this lot. Another intro course. I’ve done so many of these now that I think I could do it in my sleep,” Jerry groused.

“Well, get them started and then help me by teaching me an enchantment. I bought something that says it has two slots, what does that mean anyways?” Roan asked. He could make the assumption, but he wanted confirmation.

“The materials and their natural mana can empower two enchantments of the same strength as the grade of the item bought,” Jerry said, finally sounding interested. The rabbit-kin got to its feet in a blur of movement and looked over the group and sighed in annoyance.

“I had hoped this trick would last longer. All right, all of you pay attention and listen to my voice,” Jerry said. The rabbit kin kicked something and Roan saw an intricate flash of tight runes on the ground that flared with brightness for a moment before fading back into obscurity.

“What was that?”

“Hmmm? Oh simple recording and play back enchantment. I’ve recorded myself doing this class and take naps now while I play it over. Slid behind a shielding enchantment and can get a few good hours in,” Jerry said distractedly, looking at the poleaxe on Roan’s shoulder.

“As long as it’s not a recording of you teaching me,” Roan said. Jerry rolled his eyes and picked up the poleaxe.

“Recordings can’t lift things at our level. Now, behind the shielding so they can hear my teachings without us interrupting them,” Jerry said, walking to a corner of the room without looking back at Roan. Keeping his irritation at bay as the rabbit-kin walked away with his brand-new weapon in hand, Roan followed him.

The ground lit up with more tight-script of runes and the entire world warbled, like a heat illusion. Gone was the tidy corner of the house and in its place was a mess of blankets, pillows, food wrappers, what looked like a laptop, and a few books tossed to the side, loose pages spilled out and across the ground.

“Sit, sit,” Jerry said absently, waving his hand at the crumpled blankets and pillows.

“I’m good. So? What enchantment can you teach me to put on that?” Roan asked.

“It has no resonance, which isn’t bad. While a resonance can empower an enchantment, it also does the reverse to those enchantments that don’t fit in its resonance scheme. So, you have more practicality with this, but lower levels of power,” Jerry explained.

“And this?” Roan asked, hefting his old warhammer.

“One enchantment and it has to be fairly weak. The materials are bland and not infused by mana. It will require either an external power source or a small gathering enchantment, but that would stress the materials. Maybe a drain enchantment on the haft, it can draw energy from the wielder? That could work,” Jerry said, mostly talking to himself before turning his attention back to the halberd.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Why do you care about that after buying this?”

“I want to sell it on the auction block. Uncommon-grade weapons cost fifty-thousands, I think I could sell my common-grade, enchanted warhammer for a tidy sum,” Roan said.

“Why? Others will already be enchanted from the merchant stalls,” Jerry countered.

“Yeah, but they’re pre-programmed mobs who only have specific, bland, enchantments, right?”

“Yeah. Still better than anything you’ll be able to do right away,” Jerry said.

“Are there enchantments that can, I don’t know, enhance a bloodline ability?” Roan asked casually. Jerry froze for a moment and then chuckled, a surprisingly deep sound for the rabbit.

“Oh, yeah. Got quite a few that can work and I doubt any of the mobs on this level could do something like that.”

“And what about enchanting a weapon to replicate a bloodline?”

“More difficult than an amplification but still possible. You’d need a higher quality metal than plain steel, or maybe something that’s designed to hold energy? That’s interesting, why do you ask?”

“Just wondering. Would an amulet like this work?” Roan reached into his shirt and pulled out the life amulet and let it dangle between his fingers.

“Oh, yeah, that’d be perfect for it. It’s already enchanted, you’d just need to change some of the baseline enchantments, or possibly add to it. I’d have to study it to be sure,” Jerry said.

“I think that’s the sound of a money press.” Roan couldn’t help the smile on his face as he put the amulet back under his shirt. At this stage of the tower it was already starting to slow down on helping his growth, especially after the body temper. Roan didn’t know how long the corruption story line would continue in the tower, but from level one to level two he could extrapolate it was on the entire first floor. Which would make purification amulets very valuable if he could make them cheaply.

“What do you want to do for the hammer? It can hold one enchantment,” Jerry butted in and Roan focused on the rabbit-kin.

“Amplification enchantment. Teach it to me so I can practice on the hammer before I do the polearm,” Roan said, making up his mind. The people with the most amount of money were likely bloodline users like Taoya. They’d be the ones who’d find the weapon worth the most and would likely bid on it.

“Alright, sit down then and lean close. An amplification enchantment is fairly simple, but to specify it to a generic bloodline makes it much more difficult. If you were doing this for a specific person it’d be easier in a way,” Jerry said, laying the polearm down and grabbing the hammer.

From a spatial ring a set of equipment popped into being, the rabbit grabbing them before they had a chance to fall. It looked like a chisel and a pot of ink, each of them secured with a single finger.

“This is pretty simple stuff, so our only tools are an engraver,” Jerry paused to move the chisel back and forth, “and some basic mana infused ink. The ink will not empower the enchantment, but act more as a conductor for energy to move through the enchantments,” Jerry said. Roan had to admit the youthful beast-kin was a patient and thorough teacher as he worked with Roan for several hours.

Cleaning the weapon was the first order of business, wiping away anything that could contaminate the site or add a flaw into the enchantment. Roan knew from watching Old Bao that when one was strong enough and had enough willpower that this step wasn’t necessary. Any small contaminant would pale in comparison to the weight of a master’s willpower and mana pressing down on it.

Next they mapped out where the enchantments would go with a piece of chalk that the rabbit pulled out a moment later. Jerry said it was a mana neutral, sterile chalk available on the market place for a few credits. Once it was mapped out, Jerry handed the warhammer to Roan and told him to memorize it. Rune by rune, connecting line by connecting line they went over the enchantment two-dozen times.

“Learn is burning up. Feels like a beehive in my head,” Roan thought to himself as the rabbit’s words were processed and quickly slotted away. It was like a walking epiphany years old lessons that he didn’t understand suddenly made sense, half-remembered memories of watching Bao work surfaced and were added and contextualized.

Sweat beaded on his head and rolled down his back. When Jerry was sure that Roan could repeat back verbatim everything he’d said, the rabbit handed him the engraver and leaned back, watching carefully as Roan started to make his first enchantment.