Chapter 17

The most expensive item I’d purchased since ascending appeared in my hands, and I carefully scrutinized the simple-looking tool.

The training device was meant to assist aspiring enchanters in shaping and imbuing their intent into an otherwise mundane item. It looked like a simple wooden stylus, or maybe a short, pen-sized wand, but I knew not to be fooled by appearances.

Engraved along the side of the artifact were the symbols for ‘Enchant’ and ‘Training’. However, unlike most of the enchanting techniques of my previous realm, these symbols held no actual power. They simply advertised the item’s function.

“It’s been a little while since I used one of these,” I murmured as I lightly gripped the weakly enchanted item.

I removed one of the wooden blanks I’d just purchased and placed it on the crafting table. I’d examined every item before purchasing them, but I still took the time to look over the wooden piece to ensure it was perfect before starting.

The last thing I wanted was a failure because I was using subpar materials.

Seeing it was about as good as I could expect for something purchased in a supply store, I let out a slow breath as I traced the training aid from one end of the small token to the other and around the edges, priming the device as I drew ambient essence into the focus.

Once the enchanting focus was sufficiently primed, I began imbuing my intent into the stored essence before directing the energy into the item.

I wanted the finished item to create light, which was something I could only accomplish because light was an integral part of lightning. It needed to turn on or off at a touch, depending on its current state.

If it was not illuminated, a touch would create light. If it was already glowing, a touch would cancel the effect.

It was simple, but required perfect focus. Even a stray thought could be enough to sabotage one’s effort if they were not experienced enough to double back and reinforce their intent.

What might have been difficult, if not impossible, for me to accomplish without the training tool suddenly became far more obtainable. My diminished mental stats made holding my focus and channeling my intent significantly harder than it would have otherwise been, but not so difficult that I couldn’t manage.

When the stylus returned to the starting point, there was a small pulse marking the successful completion of my first enchantment.

[You have successfully enchanted an item!
You qualify for an advanced skill: Enchanting (Common)
Would you like to slot the advanced skill: Enchanting (Common)?]

An advanced skill just meant that the skill incorporated more subskills than a normal skill might. For Enchanting, it was probably things like imbuing, channeling, focused intent, essence manipulation, and other similar subskills.

There was no actual listing of such a thing, but they were commonly acknowledged by most, including the clergy, as being an invisible aspect of skill acquisition and development.

Happy that I’d managed to succeed on my very first time, I accepted the skill into one of my remaining slots. Practically giggling with excitement, I pulled up my status.

***

Name: Emie Neohim
Titles: Ascender (hidden), Contender (hidden)
Level: 9
Evolution: None

Core Skills:
Demesne (Rare)
Stasis (Unique/Common)
Restorative Healing (Rare)
Lightning Bolt (Common)

Skill Slots (9/14):
Divide Space (Unique/Common)
Dimensional Anchor (Uncommon)
Teleportation (Common)
Herbalism (Common)
Haste (Common)
Repulsion Aura (Uncommon)
Telekinesis (Common)
Identify (Common)
Enchanting (Common)
***

I was ecstatic about the gain, and I quickly brought the wooden focus to my lips and gave it a kiss.

“You and I are going to make wonderful things together, just you wait,” I told the small device, still feeling giddy from my success.

I’d finally recovered all of my most important skills, and I was eager to see what I could create next.

“Emie? Are you in there?”

I turned toward the muffled noise with a scowl before noticing the angle of the light shining through my window. Realizing how late it was, I winced and set down the obsidian ring I’d failed to enchant.

“Sorry about that. I got a little carried away with Enchanting,” I said, motioning toward my workstation after opening the door to my new friends.

I’d filled the little shelves behind the table with a variety of different enchanted items, most of which had little real use.

Who needed a piece of wood that was extra durable? Or a piece of leather that changed colors?

Most of the items I’d created had been little more than practice pieces as I worked through my current limitations. They weren’t meant to be actual products or anything.

Of course, there were a few things that were genuinely useful. Things like a ring that would speed healing if someone were injured, or a pair of tiles that would fuse any cloth pressed between them.

I planned to use the latter to craft my own bags once I picked up some suitable cloth, but that would have to be a project for another time.

“That’s a lot of trinkets.” Cora’s eyes shifted from the workstation to the apartment, and her look of interest shifted to confusion. “Is this bigger than it should be? It looks bigger than the other rooms we’ve been in.”

After a moment of examination, the rogue seemed to lose interest and shrugged the inconsistency away. I was glad that she wasn’t overly bothered by my slightly larger room. Besides, if they wanted to, we could always combine our apartments anyway.

“You ready to go?”

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“Sure. Let me just…” I quickly touched each of my completed projects and the enchanting focus, safely storing them. “Ready.”

Adding me to their party only took a few minutes, and I made a mental note to swap out my ‘not interested’ patch for an ‘already taken’ patch the next time that I worked a shift at the medical facility.

“Do you want to come to our apartment so we can discuss our plans going forward now that we’re officially a party?” Cora asked after we finished up with the clerk.

“Sure. That sounds fine.”

When we arrived inside their apartment, I noted that it was set up much like mine, but was slightly larger and had an office attached.

“This is bigger than my apartment,” I pointed out, recalling what she’d said about my apartment being larger than some of the others she’d been inside.

“Yes, but it’s a double since there are two of us,” Cora said. “It started off with two bedrooms and two baths, but we were able to change the second bedroom into an office. There’s still a half-bath attached, but the extra space was added to the living room to make it larger.”

“It’s nice,” I said with a smile as I looked around. “How did the renovation process go? Were there actual physical modifications, or was it something magical?”

I was curious because if they were able to control the changes, that meant my apartment might have more flexibility than I realized.

“Everything was done through the room controller,” Cora said. “I don’t know if yours is the same or if it’s different for us since we’re in a two-bedroom apartment, but there is an option to change the purpose of a room and specify what percentage of the total square footage is dedicated to each room.”

Cora tapped the tile, and it expanded to cover the small coffee table. On the screen was a copy of the apartment’s current floor plan.