CH47

Falk stopped in his tracks. “Boy, I’ve said before that there’s only a handful of ways to deal with passive magics, but that’s not from lack of trying. Over a dozen races have some sort of passive effects they need to deal with if they want to interact with the larger world, and you’re saying you figured out a method in the few weeks I was gone?”

“I maybe figured out a method,” Ben clarified. “Unfortunately, it’s proven impossible to test given the size of the enchantment I would need to make breaks literally every single material I’ve tried it on,” And try he did. Ben was more than a little worried about what his teacher would say when he saw some of the supplies he took and ultimately broke, but it was still less than he would have used to make Thera’s staves in that time, so hopefully he would get a pass.

Falk for his part was at a loss, no wonder he wasn’t telling the other two about this. No need to raise their hopes about something that was probably impossible. Still, if on the off chance it would work he would do everything he could to help. “Alright boy, tell me how you’re planning on doing it. My enchantment’s still going to be better than yours, I should be able to bind it to a weaker material,” But Ben only shook his head.

“It won’t work, to do what I’m thinking you’d need to be able to feel Thera’s ambient mana. Maybe there’s other skills that would make it possible, but I only know for sure that I can do it with connect. If I can’t make the enchantment smaller then I’ll have to wait until my skill levels increase, not to mention that since it’s an enchantment Thera would have to be able to power it, which means making it robust enough that it could withstand her power, which mean making the enchantment even bigger. If I had thought of this earlier I would have changed my job to Enchanter instead of Craftsman, maybe that would have helped,” He spoke while staring up at the sky, filled with exasperation.

His teacher’s thoughts were in turmoil. He knew Ben was the only holder of this skill at the moment and there was plenty of precedent for new skills being able to change the world. Wouldn’t it be worth taking a little risk to see? At worst he could probably get Thera’s parents to replace anything they used. They got to Falk’s residence and Ben was about to turn away for the night, but his teacher stopped him.

“Hold on a moment. What sort of item were you looking at using to hold the enchantment?”

“I figured an arm brace would be good. While making something like a shirt may work a little better, any material I could conceivable make it out of would be far too rigid and uncomfortable for practical everyday use.”

“A decent choice, hold on for a minute. I’ll be right back,” His teacher walked into his home for a few minutes before coming back and handing Ben a small lump of metal and a stone.

“What is this? Silver and quartz?” He asked.

“Try mythril and a white mana crystal.”

Ben almost dropped the items when his teacher told him that. “Jesus Falk! I knew you were holding out on me but I didn’t think you’d have magic materials just laying around your house!” From what he knew, there were nine magic materials that existed, seven metals and two crystals, and even if the ones currently in his hands were two of the most common of the nine Falk had handed them over like it was nothing.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“When you have things like this it’s better to keep them away from prying eyes. Even if those aren’t too rare comparatively at least and the costs have been going down over the last few decades I’m still not going to just let anyone see them. Especially not an apprentice who may be tempted to use them for a staff that’s destined to explode.”

“Well you don’t have to worry about that, I don’t actually think I’m comfortable using these at all. These would be the most valuable materials I’ve ever worked with.”

“You have nothing to worry about, the crystal’s already properly set so you don’t need to do much with it, just attach it to whatever you make with the mythril along the rim.”