Chapter 9: A Unique Compass
Pops had the copper laid out in a dozen small ingots, and Dominic wondered just how large this compass was supposed to be. It should just be a box with a carrier liquid and a floating dial under a glass dome. But he didn't see any glass in this shop at all.
"What we are going to make today is a Dimensional Compass, not a ship's compass. It will tell you what plane you've gone to and what direction you need to take to get to the one you want.
It's a bit of a specialty item, and not many know how to make it, so my customer has been a bit cranky. His sort doesn't often come out to the common quarters to get anything, much less in person."
Once he was finished ranting, Pops snorted with derision, making his long white beard fluff up for a moment. Dominic smiled at his version of a pouting face, and instinctively knew that it must be for his benefit. He couldn't see that old man being that emotional about some odd mage.
"You don't need to know how to make the whole thing, and you would not be able to make it at your skill level anyhow. But what I want you to remember is this. See how you need to lay all the magical materials perfectly on it in the exact pattern? If you get any bit of that wrong, the item is scrap metal, and you'll lose most of the materials.
But if you do like this, make a paper cutout that you stick to the copper sheet. You can just paint that crystal paste over the top in the right brush stroke order and call it a day. As long as you don't try to add any extra mana before you touch up all the edges, it's fine."
The old man was practically rolling with laughter as he did just what he said, using the template to paint the symbols on the copper sheets until they glowed with magic and the runes engraved themselves into the surface.
"Now we take our hammer and our chisels and get to work. No hard edges. I use this one here to round them off, then the flat one to make a nice hard bend. Light taps with the hammer. The hot brass is pretty soft.
The pieces all interlock like this, all seventy of them, until we end up with this."