[Tarsin's Boarding House] Phase Two [Clyde]

[Hadrian]

65th Summer, 511 A.V. The next day, Hadrian returned early and arrived before his colleague. After sensing that everything was working properly with the enchantment for the time being, the blade's structure shifting toward a stronger one, he sat down on the floor before the magecrafting circle and began to bring his breathing and thoughts under control, meditating on his breath with his eyes closed until he achieved calm. When he opened himself again to the world around him, his understanding of the enchantment before him was even deeper and wider, his mind simply observing without judgment. Thoughts rose up like bubbles from the deep, and he noted their passing but did not take hold of them. Even observation affected things, and so he kept his observation as passive as possible. As he observed, he began to manipulate the djed within him, Fluxing everything faster than it would normally go, blasting out blockages and sweeping away stagnation so his aura was open and prepared for the work ahead. These meditations also helped him flush himself with djed, rebuild his stores. He had never once Leeched, fearing that initiation more than most things, but he made himself a more open receiver to the natural absorption and regeneration of magical energies. Martial purposes for the Flux had never been his aim, although its use had helped him out of more than one sticky situation. He recalled practicing it with Azilis back in the University's halls, wondering at what other applications they might find for it if they worked diligently enough. He smiled faintly, missing her, but that thought too eventually drifted along.

[Clyde Sullins]

Today, Clyde rose once more for the day. He got up, and threw some cold water in his face. Going along, he used the common restroom, since he did not want to have to stop in the middle of the work. Finally, he got a small bite to eat, before heading up to the room were they were doing there work. Walking into the room, Clyde wondered what Hadrian was up to. He could almost feel the raw magic crackling in the air, the room was thick with it. Breathing in deeply, he smelled the familiar scent of the powders and things used in the process of magecrafting. Finally, he took out his chalk, and began to go back over the numerous bits of glyphing. It was best to make sure that it was all intact. There was a few bare patches, or places were it had been smudged or erased and needed fixing. "So Hadrian, ready for another day of work?"

[Hadrian]

Hadrian's consciousness slowly coalesced within himself, pulling within, rising as if from a great depth. His eyes blinked a few times to hydrate themselves, but not from weariness. In fact, the meditation made him more alert and energetic, but it was more focused than before. He stretched as he rose, little knots of tension that the Flux had worked out popping with the slightest movement, everything moving more efficiently and happily. He offered Clyde a slight smile and looked over the repaired glyphs, nodding his agreement with everything that was done. "More than ready, Clyde. And you?" With much greater ease than the day previous, he let Shield energy pour off of his hands and into the focus glyph that would continue to receive energy until such time as the spell petered out, and then the glyphs would be destroyed as they always were. The Shields supported by the encircling glyphs flickered with color, then evened out and disappeared from the normal spectrum, only sensible on the Auristic spectrum. His hand plunged through that barrier to errant djed, and he could feel the internal magical temperature through his skin. His fingers widened as his awareness reached out to that little portal to the Void that was sucking up excess energies, and he reinforced its structure so that the glyphs wouldn't be the only thing keeping it from collapsing in his absence.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde saw as Hadrian put a bit of shielding energy into the glyphs, and moved his hands over it himself to assist. Flowing out a small stream of shield energy, he smiled, showing off more than anything. Had he never shown Hadrian he knew shielding? It was not much, but he could at least flow a bit of energy to replenish what he had already done. "I learned the basics a while back, though I am no were near as skilled as you. But even an amateur like me can replenish your already made shield. If you would like, I could do that from know on?" Looking around, it seemed that they were more or less set up, and he went over to his bag, taking out a small container full of a powder. This was just a low level reagent, however it helped to get djed to sink further into the object. And since they were doing a larger enchantment, this would help the process. Really though, such a common reagent was used pretty often, even in lower leveled magecrafting jobs. Grabbing a pinch of the powdery substance, he sprinkled it over the blade, and then used his fingers to rub it in. Once done with that, he looked around for the hammer, which they would need to charge it. "Do you have the hammer? I seem to have misplaced it... I suppose it is your turn to use it anyways... I am always misplacing such things..."

[Hadrian]

Hadrian watched Clyde's Shield energy ooze out of him without comment. No expert himself, his own was not the clean, consistent Shield he would have liked, but he was working on it himself. The glyphs he had made helped regulate the shape and intensity of the Shields, making up for both their lack of skill. Finally he nodded. "The glyphs should hold the energy no matter which of us creates it. I suppose whoever sees the need for a fresh infusion can take care of it." He pulled a pouch of black sea salt and sprinkled it over the Shield-sigil, muttering an incantation as he did so. It should help the Shield repel all darkling influence in the surrounding djed. Ravok might be tainted like a rotting peach, just ready to fall apart at the wrong touch, but what he created would be pure as he could manage. Producing an electrum hammer and his ashwood flute, he cocked his head as if he were listening to something not apparent to the untrained ear, letting the hammer hover up and down the length of the blade. Finally he seemed to hear what he was looking for and chimed a series of notes at different points along the blade, and finally the hilt. He set the hammer aside and began to key notes along his flute, air blowing across the mouthpiece to harmonize with the tones tolling in the air, adding new layers of complexity that they might add another boost to its durability. "Next time let me show you another way to add reagents without actually touching them to the item. Anything like that changes the resonance of the metal and makes the process more complicated than it has to be." He smiled a little. "Short cuts."

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde nodded in response to the part on the shielding, it did make sense to do it that way. Though he could not really easily see the shield, since as he said he was at a lower level. He would just try to add a bit each day, to counteract the wear from the previous ones usage. He watched as Hadrian did an odd incantation, while sprinkling something, trying to enhance the shield. He had never seen that before, and did not know you could do that with a shield... How did that work? "What was that powder for? And what did it have to do with the shield?" Then Hadrian took out a hammer which was used in magecrafting, along with his flute. That was another odd thing, most people did not use a instrument when doing magecrafting. Though he was starting to pick up on tones that the blade was making, which was what Hadrian was focusing on... Trying to get a good harmony... Which was important in both music and this branch of magic. Hadrian struck the blade in several places, making a high pitched chime... Similar to the ones from when he struck the blade before... But not quite the same... Just a hair different... Which in this made a big deal... The sword vibrated with the sound waves traveling through it... And slowly stilled... Though he could almost swear he could still hear a sound... A deeper one at a different pitch level than before... He nodded once more, at what Hadrian said. He was much more experienced in this than him, and would take his advice. "Another way? I would love to see it. Anything that will make things work better. And it is always good to shave off some time. Especially in such things as this which takes days... Still though I think it is going pretty well so far."

[Hadrian]

"It's just simple black sea salt," he said. "Old shamans used to make circles of salt to protect them from things they summoned before they understood magical geometry, and many black minerals are good at dispelling negative energies, so I'm experimenting with it to bolster the shields, since they are basically only there to prevent negative energies -- with which Ravok is rife -- from altering our work in ways we cannot anticipate." He nodded and explicated his process a bit more, "I call it a res-filter, and I'm sure it could be constructed in different ways, but what I have done is weave a fine mesh of metal wires, jerry-rig a stand, and daub it liberally with undifferentiated res. Liquids can be poured through this res-filter, or smoke strained through it and directed toward the object. With the proper glyphs set up around it, the res helps phase the reagent into the item, really combining them." He shrugged, not really trying to prove anything, even though he was moderately proud of his little innovation. "Others might do something similar, but I have found this to be effective. And so much of what I do has been altered as my ability to sense magic has increased. Even little things like dust on the blade will effect the tone the hammers pull out of it, and while the effects might not be drastically altered, they will be altered, and that is something we can control. So much of life is beyond control, I like to eliminate as many variables as possible."

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde nodded as he listened to what Hadrian said. He was careful to take in every word, as it might be helpful to him in the future. It was interesting to see the way a magecrafter worked, how they did said a lot about a person. And as they got better, they tended to start to show there own unique style, which no one could duplicate. It was things like that through much study that let you later on decipher who it was that enchanted it. Though this was probably true for making items and such things also, such as those made by a expert blacksmith... Though he would not have expected Hadrian to have such a superstitious side to him... You learned something new everyday... "I never really thought about a places energy effecting things... Though I guess the place can have an effect on your creations, in subtle ways... Was it you or someone else who said that they wanted to make a magecrafting place in the void... Something to do with no outside disturbances... Sounds similar to that. Though I doubt making such a place would be all that feasible..." "I think I sort of get what you are saying.... Normally a lot of outside things get in when you add reagents, but by using this filter it only lets that one thing through... A much purer method... Though I am not quite sure how you would get it to phase into it as you said... Not sure what you mean..." This was yet another thing that reminded Clyde of Hadrian's skill. He was truly gifted, and really knew what he was doing with magecrafting... Maybe someday he himself would be as skilled? Though he was still far from being there... But someday... "I do understand trying to keep things under control... Especially in such things... When you are talking of such permanent power and especially those of greater strength... What seems little can over the long run be a lot..."

[Hadrian]

"When you can sense as much about the djed as I can after all this time working on my Auristics, you'll know how important it is to keep outside influences from affecting your work," he assured him, not trying to sound bombastic. "The more complex your workings get, the more important it becomes to keep even minor mistakes out of your work because they are amplified exponentially... I may have mentioned a Voided workshop. Certainly I've considered the possibility, though I can't be the only one. It would require a very stable portal and..." His eyes went distant for a moment. "It would require a lot of high-end magic, lots and lots of effort, to make that feasible and worthwhile. A retreat for a Master. Or Masters. "The phase..." He pulled some parchment to him and began sketching what he was talking about, diagrams and alchemical glyphs though he had never delved into more than theoretical alchemy on his own. He always figured he would get to it when he got to it. "If you have, say, a gem that you are enchanting, it's solid. You want to infuse it with, say, blood as a reagent. With this res-filter," he said, drawing, "surrounded by a circle of appropriate glyphs, you can let the blood rip through the res caught in the mesh and between the res and your glyphs, the blood that drips out the bottom will be out of phase enough that it can pass into the target gem rather than splattering over it. Elegant rather than messy, you see?" He glanced to Clyde, trying to tell if he got it. If not, well, everyone had their own way. Teaching was not his forte, but it seemed that the more advanced world magics required help, which meant apprentices for the most part, so eventually he was going to have to begin teaching in earnest; not just Ethan, and not just a temporary partner like Clyde. But the school of magic he might found on his own, a style, or something. Was it possible?

[Clyde Sullins]

Once more Clyde found himself trying to carefully take in everything Hadrian said. He was learning a lot about magecrafting, things only possible to be gained from experience. Which was something his new partner had a lot of. He also had a lot of interesting theoretical ideas, which he found himself having. Though his own ideas tended to be more about unusual uses of magecrafting for odd effects, while Hadrian was more about non-traditional processes to make the final result better. "Yes, that is true. The larger and deeper the experiment, the more a small difference makes a big deal. I seem to recall the story of a man who tried to walk across the desert. He walked a bit stronger with one leg, making his path a little bit off, and not straight. Even though it was a small error, he ended up walking in giant circles, and died of thirst without crossing." Clyde watched the drawing, as he saw what Hadrian was saying. "So, the thing, as it passes through the res on the filter is energized, bringing it to a higher phase... Allowing it to enter into the object... Interesting... And all it needs is appropriate ability in glyphing... Hmm..." "Do you think you could teach me, and help me make one of these 'res-filters'? I am at least as skilled as you in glyphing, so that should not be an issue. I think I see how it works, I just need to be able to perform the process to make one..." He hoped Hadrian would teach him this, as the entire thing intrigued him, and he looked over the parchment and drawing, trying to understand the finer points of the thing Hadrian had shown him. It looked quite useful for certain situations, and he could use it in later magecrafting. After all, he had pretty much shown the thing to him already, by this diagram. Clyde would see soon enough how generous Hadrian was feeling.