Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

His first idea was for an additional shield. Even though he’d just improved the cloak, all the enchantments he added to it were just to keep him from getting injured. Its immediate weakness was that it wasn’t anchored, so while he may not get harmed if another stone ape threw itself at him, he wouldn’t be able to avoid being knocked to the ground, where it might be able to start going for his less defended face.

To do what he had in mind though, he’d need to use a pretty high-quality material to keep it small and easy to use, so he immediately started digging around the storage room, seeing just what he could find.

It didn’t take too long to gather some materials he thought could get the job done, grabbing some good quality steel as well as the exoskeletons of a couple mind beetles, creatures that naturally possessed empathy magic and used it in their hunting. While it wasn’t the same as the barrier magic he planned to use for his enchantment, the fact that they were both non-affinitied in nature meant that he’d be able to have an easier time adding his enchantment to the entire thing without having to worry about the material breaking.

With that selected he got to work grinding the beetle remains, cleaning it as he went of any dried-out innards before adding it to the heated steel, working the materials until he was sure they were smoothly blended together. From there came the shape the item would take. It needed to be something he could conveniently carry around. In his bag would be alright, but in a pocket would be more ideal, making it easier to be something he could just pull out and use immediately if he needed to.

But then what to make? He considered a cube, built in such a way that it would disassemble itself once activated and box him in for protection, with each piece acting as a corner as a barrier emerged to form walls between them, but as much as the mental visual made it appealing, it left him with far too many moving parts and failure points.

So I want one solid object, something that would be able to give me a fair bit of protection. A shield could potentially work then, I could build the enchantment to act the same as when I had my barrier gauntlet, extending outwards, but I think that would only be able to protect me from a single direction. I’d still be completely vulnerable to anything coming from the sides or above. So where does that leave me? Unless maybe… A ring?

He wasn’t thinking of making anything like the sort of ring his fingers were covered in, while they could technically act as catalysts to deploy mana through to fire off attacks and create spells, that was a one-way ticket to mana exhaustion if he tried. What he was considering was more of a cross between a bracelet and a hula-hoop, something he could wear on his arm, but when needed he could drop on the ground to encircle him, raising a barrier around him as he did so into a dome-like shape. The very top where his head was at would admittedly be a weak point, but not to the extent that he would need to really worry.

Feeling the most viable option by far, he immediately got to work shaping the metal and crafting the pieces to act in the way he saw them moving in his mind. The end product wouldn’t be small, it would actually cover most of the forearm that wore it, be with a little extra work he could use that to his advantage as well, adding a secondary barrier enchantment to it to act in a similar way as his gauntlet had before he lost it during his battle with the demon horde.

It took some tinkering, but when he was done he had a helix-like band that would take the shape of a large circle he could comfortably stand in when he dropped it to the ground, all that was left was applying the enchantment. For that, he used the same rings as when he had added the enchantment to the coat as well as his resistances, but all aspects were blended into the base barrier enchantment. It upped the mana cost a fair bit, and once he was done he wasn’t positive he’d be able to power it with one of his newly made white mana batteries, so he used a rainbow one to be on the safe side for the first test.

Placing his freshly made tool on he activated it, watching with his mana sense as it all activated properly, the power from his battery pouring into the enchantments and creating a nearly-transparent but powerful shield on his arm. Canceling the enchantment he moved on to the next test, dropping the band and watching it as it uncurled around him, a powerful barrier immediately forming as he did.

The enchantment was designed to not only deploy the barrier to protect him, but also cling to the ground digging into it as it went off to keep it in place. He pressed his hands on the barrier, feeling it holding firm and felt the confidence to throw himself against it, making sure a strong blow wouldn’t tip it over. He felt everything stay in place, and while that didn’t mean it couldn’t be knocked down by something with more energy than his body weight, it was a good starting sign.

Everything’s looking good so far, now to just… Fuck.

A small flaw, one he hadn’t paid much mind to suddenly reared its ugly head. The barrier deployed from the inside rim of the ring, while the battery was on the outside, meaning not only could he not remove it to cancel the enchantment, he couldn’t destroy the enchantment either to free himself.

“Well, this is going to be embarrassing,” He muttered to himself before calling out in a much louder voice. “Hey Falk! I need a bit of help back here!”

Once his teacher finally stopped laughing, he took out the battery and the barrier came down.

“Boy, I gotta say, it’s never a dull moment with you, is it?” The yeti chuckled as he wiped a tear from his eye. “The design is good, and the battery as you call it is a smart way to make use of a mana stone. When you’re in Anailia you should show it to Pelenia, I’m sure she’d see the value. Having said all that, I’m sure you know where you need to improve on this without me spelling it out, right?”

“Make the barrier rise from the outside of the ring instead of the inside, and remake the tool so that the battery is on the inner ring,” Ben said with a sigh, embarrassed to have made such a simple mistake.

“Good man. Don’t go letting it get to you too much, every crafter has a mistake or two to look back on, happens to the best of us. Having said that though, another way you could improve on the design of your enchantment would be to make it so things can pass through the side you’re in, while any attacks at you could be guarded against like you currently have it.”

“You aren’t wrong, but the barrier magic I have is too low-level to do something like that. Once I’m back in Anailia I’ll grab it at level six and I should be able to make that possible though.”

“Level six?” His teacher asked with a raise of an eyebrow. “You go up again?”

“When I made the enchantment on the coat.”

“Crazy brat, take a break if you need to. Isn’t this supposed to be your day off anyway?”

“It is, that’s why today's dedicated to working on stuff exclusively for me instead of the shop.”

“God’s above, when you work yourself to death a lot of fingers are going to be pointed my way.”

“Anyone that knows me will vouch for you, you’ll be fine,” He said, waving off his teacher's concerns as they both got back to work.

There were plenty of hours left in the day and he still had things to make. Namely a weapon.

He was none too fond of how often he found himself in a dangerous situation where his options of fighting back were limited, but he also didn’t want to take the time to train up a combat skill like the knife or hammer wielder ones he currently possessed. It simply wasn’t how he wanted to devote his time to grow, meaning that he would need to make something that would combine destructive power with ease of use, and he didn’t need to just make one.

His first immediate thought would be both wasteful and pricey, but perfect for maximum destructive power when in the event of an emergency, at least until his god shot the idea down.

Came the shout in his mind.

Does that mean it’s possible?

Ben personally didn’t see any issues. He'd only be using a small amount if he did, and the idea was just to craft an enchantment the same way Myriad had quizzed him about creating a powerful fire, just to a greater extreme. If he could convert all of the mana stored into crystal into an explosion spell instantaneously then he didn’t doubt he could get quite the effect.

Honestly, hearing all of this kind of makes me want to try even more.

Relax, if you think it’s such a bad idea then I won’t. There’s plenty of other options anyway.

For example, a knife could potentially be made to be extremely powerful without the need to master his skill, and since they were simple to carry around on top of the fact that he was already fairly competent with them thanks to the combination of knife wielder and the basic tool proficiency that came with his crafting, it felt like a safe bet.

The main issue was how to make it. When he considered just how many potential effects he could place on one it just brought out his creative spirit, making him want to stress a knife to the limit of its function, but first that meant creating the best one he could.

As much as he’d want to make it the same way he had Will's gauntlets, he didn’t trust himself to not immediately mess up and get himself killed by touching the blade without thinking. Unlike his friends, who had the sort of vitality and recovery rates that meant they’d probably be able to walk such a mistake off, for Ben the risk was far more life-threatening.

Instead, he went with steel once again, not selecting the materials he would incorporate into it until he was sure of the enchantments he would want.

Sturdy and drain were the obvious choices, and he was sure he could enhance both aspects by blending in the different types of mana he could produce from the rings, but he didn’t want to stop there either. While those would be excellent on a knife by themselves, he wanted more than excellent. He wanted to create something devastating, and he felt ideas take shape in his head for just how he would go about it.

On top of the previously named earth and death spells, he intended to add spells of the fire, water, dark, and time affinities. He knew he could make the fire and water affinity spells synergize well, using fire to heat the blade to a downright ridiculous degree while water would be used to lower the boiling point of the liquid around it, causing overwhelming devastation to anything unfortunate enough to be on the wrong end of it, while dark would aim to spread a mental effect throughout the body so long as the knife was lodged in it, namely pain suppression.

The idea was that anything cut or stabbed by the knife might not be as worried as they otherwise should if they didn’t immediately feel the pain of an attack, letting the blade do damage for even longer. The final spell that would bring it all together as something that nobody would want to be on the wrong end of was a time enhancement one, speeding up the time for the blade and anything it contacted, meaning he’d be able to make all the damage it could already inflict even more potent.

He knew it was going to be complicated, maybe even too complicated as he was pulling the ideas together and started writing them down as he went, sketching the shape the enchantments would need to be made in for his hypothetical blade while at the same time figuring out the finer details, how each spell would be blended with other ones to enhance the overall effect, which ones would be woven together and which wouldn’t, all the while trying to figure out if there was anything else he could do.

“It just feels like something is missing,” He muttered to himself as he stared down at the design he’d made.

“Maybe, but… A healer huh? Healer healer healer, I feel like there's an idea there,” He pondered aloud before yelling out. “Wait! Healing suppression! The final effect to tie it all together! I can use the death affinity spell as a base while blending in some light and life magic to compliment it! Myriad you’re the best!”

All that was left was making the knife itself. Looking at the design he had for his enchantment, he would be using every affinity of magic but space. A small part of him wanted to find a way to include it for completeness sake, but he pushed that back. He could always try and make another later on, and the more important issue was deciding just what materials to add to the steel for the best effect, and in what quantity.

He jotted down more notes, figuring out the ratios that he thought would be best before taking it to Falk, hoping to get his work checked before he committed to it. The enchantments were complex enough that if he made any mistakes he was sure the knife would shatter, so it was best to be sure it would work.

He pulled his teacher from the flail he was building when it looked like it wouldn’t be too inconvenient and handed over his notes. “What do you think? Any chance of this working?”

“Boy, what exactly are you trying to kill with something like this?”

“Uh, anything I need to I guess.”

“Well if anything gets within stabbing range it looks like it won’t be hard. As for if it has any chance… What’s your current level in crafting?”

“Seven.”

“Mmh, up the amount of knightmare bone you plan on using by about one percent and it might be possible. Big emphasis on might. Frankly, if you hadn’t only just leveled up both your skills I’d think you were attempting this to get you to the next level, something like this is going to walk the fine line between mid and upper rare, and I can’t say which side it will fall on.”

“No need to tease me with some good news Falk, I’m already going to make it,” Hearing his teacher say that did bring his enthusiasm through the roof though. All it came down to was if he’d succeed.

Leaving his teacher and going back to his forge he got to work, heating up the steel while he started on grinding out more than a dozen varieties of bone, measuring out the quantities he would need before carefully adding them to the metal with as much patience as when he’d done upon making Thera’s new brace until the final product was perfect.

From there he worked the metal, shaping it until he had a blade that would be almost as long as his forearm if he ignored the handle, with a space in the grip he could put his mana battery to power it.

With that the knife itself was complete. It felt comfortable in his hand as he gave it a few good swings to feel it glide through the air before he moved on to the part that would make or break his project, the enchantment itself.

With so many parts to it, he knew he would be pushing himself to his mental limit, even with the benefits of all of his minds, and that wasn’t even considering his mana. With so many things to do, all of them dealing with affinities he couldn’t wield, he was going to have to take it extra slow, just to be sure he didn’t pass out part way through.

He got to work, blending and shaping, feeling every bit of his enchantment as it came together in his hands as the time ticked by, leaving him feeling the sort of mental strain that was so rare for him as his mind skills improved. Every bit of him was dedicated to the task at hand, and as he was finally complete, enchantments built into a cohesive whole, the blade turned to dust in his hands.

His god told him sympathetically.

“Hmm? What are you talking about Myriad? If it doesn’t work the first time then I just need to try again.”

He gave himself a minute to relax before he did just that, having some water and feeling the pounding in his head subside before he got back to it, only to fail again.

Not deterred, he went back to the storage and tried again, and again, and again after that. He knew he could do it, it was right on the edge of what was possible for his current level of skill, but it just wasn’t coming together.

He decided to make this attempt the last for the day. It was getting late, and if he couldn’t manage it this time then he would sleep on it and hope that things would go better the next. Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind of all of his thoughts and got to work.

Myriad stayed silent, seeing the determination in the mind of his apostle as Falk waited to the side, not wanting to distract his student as he put every bit of himself into his task. Mana was shaped as stretched, every bit of it bending to his will as he pushed himself to make it work. Each strand of enchantment placed with a level of delicacy and precision that he knew he was incapable of doing better if he had to, feeling deep in his core that it didn’t matter how much he believed in himself, if it didn’t work this time then it was beyond his abilities, and as he laid the final bit down he waited with bated breath, prepared for the entire thing to shatter to dust in his hand, but it never did. Potentially the deadliest item he’d ever made was complete, and it was beautiful.

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