4-59. Brick by Brick
Carmen’s file scraped against the block of dragonstone, removing only the tiniest bit of material. In a lot of cases, it would have been frustrating, but Carmen had long since fallen into what she referred to as a worker’s trance. It wasn’t a skill or anything – just a tendency to dive so deeply into a task that everything else sort of faded away. She’d done it often enough before the world’s transformation, and it had become more common in the wake of the World Tree’s touch.
She could have used her abilities to make it easier, but that would take attention away from Ethereal Infusion, which she’d resolved to maintain at all times while working on what she’d begun referring to as The Great Forge. Even one lapse, and she felt that she’d create a weak link. And while that might not completely ruin the final product – or even be noticeable to most people – when she had taken on the project, she had told herself that she would cut no corners. So, Carmen kept to the original plan, regardless of how tedious it was.
Gradually, the carving began to take shape. She’d roughed it out with a chisel, but refining it required a much defter tool, which was where the file came into play. It had been made with sun copper and enchanted to be much harder than even the magical metal would normally be. As a result, it was on the verge of being Complex-Grade, and like all the other tools she'd made over the past few months, it possessed an ability.
| Crafter’s Imbuement
| Using this tool upon raw materials imbues it with a small trickle of ethera.
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