Chapter 38: Let Me Spell It Out For You
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POV: Fillia
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After our moment of shared understanding Astaros began explaining the weapon he had made. There were many things that concerned me about the construction process but to be honest the specs for the blade he gave me were more than enough to make up for it.
"This blade was specially made to be a conduit and enhancement for the foxfire that flows through it. This will reduce the chances of you running out of mana mid battle. Another thing that was put into its construction was a skill of mine called empathic true damage. It basically allows the wielder to deal out punishment even if the blade isn't tough enough to do anything more than superficial damage. Besides that I gave it the ability to lengthen with light magic and it was imbued with elemental slash, a long range ability that fires an arc of light or foxfire when the blade is swung with raw mana being flowed into it. Other than that there is the passive earth element which makes the blade tough and makes sure it won't rust or chip easily." {Astaros}
I was taken aback by the number of imbuements and enhancements present. To be honest I had never even seen that forging technique before. Imbuements were supposed to be difficult and here Astaros was putting 4-5 of them on a single while also making it straight from… wait what is that even.
"Hey Astaros." {Fillia}
He looked over, shaking off whatever thoughts he was dwelling on while I asked my question.
"What metal is this?" {Fillia}
He began to answer, stopping several times before giving up.
"I actually don't know. But it's the same stuff I made my armor with so it's fairly useful." {Astaros}
"Do you know where it came from?" {Fillia}
He touched his chin and assumed a thinking pose before answering.
"River stones." {Astaros}
If I hadn't known him for so long I would have burst into a rage at this point and asked him why he was lying. But having the knowledge of his many near impossible feats this was honestly nothing compared to some of them.
"But seriously you got all this from river stones? I don't even know a place on the Elden straits that has a mining point. And in the first place-" {Fillia}
I pulled up the sword, peering into it's unnatural purity.
"I don't know of anywhere with metal this pure." {Fillia}
He simply shrugged.
"Well I made the metal from burning the dirt out of river stones and leaving behind the metals within before melting it all together to make this stuff." {Astaros}
'Haah'
You know what I give up on trying to figure out how this super-metal came into being.
"What is it even called?" {Fillia}
He again thought for a second before responding in a simple and nonchalant way.
"I don't know, I never gave it one.
I sighed. I love you Astaros but you have to be a little less nonchalant when creating a new resource that could revolutionize the world.
"I assume you've at least made sure this stuff is regulated right? You haven't sold any?"{Fillia}
He now raised an eyebrow at me before beginning to defend himself.
"Now hold on, stop treating me like a fool. I realize the source of this metal is suspicious but other than that I realize both it's potential and risk. It's the reason I had you guys retrieve my are and destroy it in the aftermath of the drake battle. I am not an idiot child wielding a power that is beyond me. I am perfectly capable of considering and weighing my actions before making a decision. I have rarely made any mistakes regarding my own abilities. One of the few being the mess of collateral from the Assassin incident. I then personally went and corrected my mistakes with extreme prejudice. Trust me a little here alright?" {Astaros}
Though I wanted to retort there was nothing I could really say to all that.
"Fine my bad. I didn't mean to say it like that. I'm just worried maybe the power is getting to your head." {Fillia}
At this he froze, before slowly beginning to nod.
"I see. I'll take your concerns into consideration." {Astaros}
Trying to turn the conversation back to the lighter mood from earlier I picked up the sword and began examining its physical traits over again, its blue sheen now lighting in the end of day glow.
"In any case this sword is an amazing work of art. Thank you." {Fillia}
He smiled again and though I could still feel some concern through the soul link he had mostly cleared up.
"Your welcome, also I thought of a name for the metal." {Astaros}
It was now my turn to raise an eyebrow.
"And what would that be?" {Fillia}
He then looked up at the darkening sky his eyes reflecting the brightest of the evening stars.
"Systin Silver. That will be its name." {Astaros}
I smiled turning the name over in my mind.
"It's not a bad name. Though I could probably think of a better one." {Fillia}
He playfully punched me in the shoulder with fake indignation.
"Says the woman who can't come up with a better nickname than "bucket head"" {Astaros}
"S-shut up, I'm trying okay!" {Fillia}
We then began to bicker as the evening light seeped from the sky, and the three moons took their rightful places above us. It was a warm feeling to be able to just waste the evening away like this.
"Hey Astaros." {Fillia}
"Hmm?"
He glanced over as we laid on our backs at the edge of the forge, gazing at the star filled sky.
"Thanks" {Fillia}
He simply smiled and wrapped his arm around me as I lay in the moonlight.
…
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POV: Astaros
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About ten or so minutes later Fillia left and headed inside as I said I still had something to make for Christine, and she offered to call her outside.
I began to heat up some more metal as I waited for her arrival. The problem Christine has with her spell-casting is that she lacks precision in her spellcasting.
She outputs far too much byproduct and waste for simple spells. Though it's not her fault. While elemental mana wielder can simply output and control their powers spell casting not only requires control but loads of concentration. So while a master of her own abilities like Raven is capable of doing it without a wand to put out a spell at a moment's notice, someone like the novice Christine needs a conduit to focus her grey mana, the higher the quality the better.
Magic circles require time to develop and being able to consistently flow power through a magic circuit can become impossible for a novice mid battle so they use wands. But when a battle or strenuous activity needs to be done spell casters are generally excluded.
Why? Because even a genuinely skilful spell caster only has so much mana. And that's why high quality conduits are needed.
Objects with high mana purity like branches of trees that are above the tombs of high mana races like elves, dragons and demons are generally used. This prevents grey mana from escaping the conduit under the same principles of mana and water, with grey mana being funneled through the middle of the conduit and then into the magic circle which executes the spell.
Though complicated to explain, it is simple as a concept.
This is proven by the current phenomenon happening to my left.
A purple magic circle flickering beside me in a pale imitation of Raven's teleportation magic.
It happened twice while I worked to form the metal with my mana vision, before an embarrassed Christine finally came up to the forge area, while I was just beginning to get the metal to a good temperature.
"I'm sorry about that I was trying spatial magic an-" {Christine
"Take a seat, I'll inform you of your duties in a moment." {Astaros}
And she obediently did so.
It took me about half an hour with the white hot flames burning away at the Systin Silver. Slowly it began to take shape as the metal curled and became a short rod, while Christine watched in silence.
In the final moments of its formation, I wrapped it in dark element in a blast of steam as the metal experienced an extreme temperature change.
"Christine, this is a wand made especially for you. It should reduce your mana excess." {Astaros}
She nodded as I grabbed the abyss enshrouded wand.
The darkness then repealed as I absorbed it. Beneath this layer of dark element was a silver wand, unnatural shadows flowing from one shining face to the next. It had a thin, needle point tip and was shaped like a long tear drop, the glittering silver faces and shifting black shadows making it look more akin to an icicle than a wand. I had decided to imbue the wand with dark element to prevent grey mana leakage, which caused the unnatural shadows. Her eyes widened as she eyed the beautiful wand.
"Wow" {Christine}
I twirled it between my fingers before pointing the handle of the wand at her.
"Take it. I'm gonna need you a lot in the coming days so I expect you to be able to push your limits with this."
She nodded before speaking tentatively.
"Astaros I-I've never seen a forging technique like that, a-and isn't this really expensive looking?" {Christine]
I chuckled before pulling a long pouch from my chest.
"I've been planning to make something like this for a while, which is why I got this carrying pouch as well. Just take it. It'll make my life a lot easier." {Astaros}
I gave it to her and she tied it around her waist.
"It's not uncomfortable is it?" {Astaros}
She shook her head.
"Nope, it's fine." {Christine}
"Good now we have one more thing we need to do. And that's to test the wand. Can you use any support spells?" {Astaros}
She nodded.
"Void shield. It protects against one ranged attack by absorbing it and then returning the attack. It's one of the magics one has to learn before learning full blown teleportation." {Christine}
Her face then fell.
"Though I can only make one shield at at a time, master Raven can make seven at once." {Christine}
I smiled before ruffling her hair. I then pointed her towards the house.
"Did Raven build that? Did she labour for hours to construct a home for all of her friends?" {Astaros}
She shook her head.
"Then have some faith in yourself. You have potential, and you just have to unlock it." {Astaros}
Turning this over in her head she seemed to cheer up and with a little bit of encouragement she regained her determination.
"I'll try my best." {Christine
I then stepped back and began charging a light beam, which I then aimed at a tree across the lake. My armor deployed as I gave an order.
"Protect that tree with a void shield." {Astaros}
"On it!" {Christine}
Instantly she began to charge a spell, a violet magic circle appearing in front of her wand as she pointed it at the tree.
"ONID FIILDO!!" {Christine}
I fired a beam of light towards the tree, the force of the attack splitting the water's surface as it blew away the darkness of the night.
And as it was just about to burn a hole through the tree a black hole opened up in front of it, warping space around it as it consumed the blazing beam.
It then shifted points on the tree, before returning the beam.
I strode forward and backhanded my returned attack, the flash of which caused Christine to cover her eyes.
"Congrats" {Astaros}
She slowly opened back her eyes as my helm retracted, her red eyes meeting my silver ones.
"You did good. Christine" {Astaros}
She smiled, gripping the wand in her hands.
"Thanks Astaros" {Christine}
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Blue_Robin
Blue_Robin NEW COVER ART OF ASTAROS'S HELM!!!
NEW VIOLENCE NEXT CHAPTER!!!
I am quite happy with the outcome though I am kind of sad we never reached the review goal. Meh. I have recieved encouraging words from others as time passed and thats what matters. Other than that I hope you all enjoyed.
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