[Flashback] Welcome to Commercial Magecrafting (Solo)

[Eridanus]

Day 6, Spring of 509 AV
Sometime in the Morning
Somewhere in Stormhold Castle

Eridanus breathed in the fresh smell that always accompanied spring whenever the chill of Winter passed by. He had graduated from the University of Zeltiva not too long ago, and at the recommendation of his main mentor, Professor Wejerx, he had traveled to Syliras to learn from his professor's contact. Having been involved in the academic world for four years, it was time that his skills be tested out in the 'real world', and so Wejerx had already sent a courier ahead to inform the contact.

Entering the grand castle, he followed the directions written on a note given to him by Wejerx. He was supposed to find a certain Luineas Rowley, a magecrafter who used to be Wejerx's student, an alumnus of the University of Zeltiva.

Making his way through the winding passageways, he finally found himself looking at an ornate door. Looking at the rough illustration in his note, he compared it to the design of the door, deciding that he was at the right place. Raising his hand, he hesitated slightly before knocking three times.

There was silence, but moments later there was a muffled shout in response, though the vantha could not quite make out the words. The door creaked open, and a man with blonde hair opened the door. He looked around twenty-five, and had an air of elegance and confidence around him. He was dressed in finery that did not scream of luxury, but at least showed that he was somewhat well-to-do.

"Luineas Rowley?" Eridanus queried.

"At your service. You... must be Wejerx's apprentice, eh? Eridanus?"

The vantha nodded.

"Come in, then. The drafts in the castle tend to get a little cold in the morning," The aristocratic looking man beckoned, stepping back to allow the vantha into the room.

[Eridanus]

Luineas Rowley invited Eridanus to take a seat in his elaborately furnished room, while he excused himself to get some tea. He was insistent on displaying hospitality as a gesture of good-will and grace, and thus the vantha seated himself in the plush couch, marvelling at the excellent interior design of the room. Trophies of various animal heads hung at the upper parts of the rooms, while paintings adorned the walls. The fireplace was empty of course, but the room maintained a sort of warmth that felt more comfortable than when he was navigating through the chill corridors of the castle.

Luineas entered the room again with a silver tray with a teapot and two ivory cups, placing them on the table. Filling the cups with tea, he gestured for Eridanus to help himself to a cup while he sipped graciously on the other.

"So tell me about that old codger... still crazy about music, and blah-blah-blah sonics and all that?" Luineas began casually.

Eridanus laughed, nodding, "Professor Wejerx was very particular on that. There was once when I re-composed one of his arias that dictated a certain Intelligence in one of our operations just so that the second piece could harmonize at a nice augmented fifth. Guess how he reacted?"

"He went bonkers," Luineas stated quickly, confident in his answer.

"He went bonkers," Eridanus affirmed, chuckling, "and he went around screaming about how music is a science before an art and all that jazz."

Luineas guffawed, though to be honest the anecdote would only make sense to someone who had learned under the strict but jovial wing of the resident magecrafter in the University who specialized in Resonant Harmonics.

"Well, you'd soon learn that improvisation is key in the commercial world. Often, you don't have time to compose a precise arrangement to fit what your client want. And in Syliras you have to work on a strict deadline since merchants already booked schedules with the trade ships."

Standing up, he beckoned for Eridanus to follow him, and he led the way to another room, opening a locked door at the end of that room.

The vantha's eyes widened in amazement as he found himself looking at an elaborately furnished and stocked magical laboratory. It was comparable to the ones in the Toadstool Cluster back in Zeltiva, but there were slight differences in that everything was not arranged as nicely as back there.

The place was a chaotic mess, though there was a certain order in the chaos if one bothered to observe and catalogue clearly. The ground and tables were all cluttered with objects, and the vantha had to tread carefully in order to not step on any of them.

Luineas noticed the student's discomfort, and he laughed weakly, "Well over here there's no supervisor to kick my ass if I don't neaten things up, so..." He shrugged, and led Eridanus to a marble pedestal at the center of the room.

"You came at a good time, actually," the magecrafter remarked, proceeding to pick up an ordinary looking fork from the ground.

[Eridanus]

The marble pedestal was covered in an orb of darkness that seemed out of odds with the surroundings. It can only mean that there was a shield, though Eridanus had no idea why the magecrafter saw the need to block light. Perhaps the Paradigm he utilized had something to do with light? Was it a customization of Resonant Harmonics which dealt with sound?

"Um... The shield...?" Eridanus began questioningly.

Luineas nodded, replying, "Oh, the tasking against light has nothing to do with the magecrafting. I set it to remind myself not to touch the pedestal until a certain time. I tend to get a little forgetful, and sometimes when I wake up from my little naps scattered through the day I forget how many steps I crafted on the item. The shield is glyphed with my personal encryption to let me know. The darkness is just to tell me that there's an item there, since sometimes the item can be small enough that I accidentally assume that I have no operation going on. Costly mistakes... costly..."

He glanced at the fork, then jabbed it at the black orb, the shield powering down and disappearing. The marble pedestal could finally be seen in full view, and upon the pedestal stood a jewel-encrusted box.

Luineas handed the fork to Eridanus, who reverently placed it back on the ground where it was, causing the magecrafter to remark amusedly, "It's just an ordinary fork, you know. I glyphed the trigger to receive this particular fork. No particular reason, it's just my style. You know, when you're free from the protocol and trappings of the academic world you soon learn to develop your own style, and you'd realize it's way easier to do what you're familiar with than rigidly following rules. I guess this is why Wejerx wanted you to work with me for a year or so. The University taught you all the rules, and now I'll teach you how to break all of them the right way."

As he glanced around as if searching for something, Luineas kept up his commentary, "You'd soon learn that you'd have to adapt to several different Paradigms in order to optimize your work. Different paradigms have different pros and cons, as I'm sure that you're aware of. Resonant Harmonics, for example..."

"Has one of the best versatility and can easily conform to structured enhancements. However, while its versatility is huge, so is the time required to craft an appropriate tool for customized enhancements," Eridanus interrupted, reciting in a practised manner.

"Very good, you know your stuff. Yes it is indeed so. Now, what happens when a client wants a complex structural enhancement regime on an item in a short amount of time? The time given is reasonable; it's the known rate at which magecrafters can enchant an item. However, you don't have the time to compose a new sonata or aria to deal with it if you purely use Resonant Harmonics! Unless you can improvise precisely on the fly, and I know I don't have that musical talent to do so, you'd need something more reliable."

Luineas found what he was looking for, hefting up a heavily glyphed hammer. It resembled the same hammer blacksmiths used when forging their weapons, and Eridanus wandered aloud, "Impact Smithing?"

"Exactly. Impact Smithing lets you direct a customized structural enhancement regime on the fly, and this Paradigm is best suited for such things. It may lack in other areas, but this is where it shines."

[Eridanus]

While Resonant Harmonics boasted the most versatility throughout all categories of enhancements, it was also notorious for the preparation time required. However, this was countered partly by the ease of creating fixed protocols to deal with common cases. Unfortunately, custom cases that were often seen in commercial contracted Magecrafting did not conform to such standards. However, Impact Smithing shines in structural enhancements while performing poorly in the other areas. It took a longer time in standard enhancements compared to Resonant Harmonics when using the fixed protocols, but the time taken to create any enhancement was consistent, making it excellent for customized orders which generally took a longer time on any other Paradigm.

Gripping the hammer, Luineas tapped the box gently with it as the glyphs on the hammer glowed. It was then that Eridanus noticed the several glyphs on the pedestal itself that corresponded to the box's position. It seemed that the glyphs kept the box there, which made sense for constant blows on the hammer would easily make the box fly off.

"Primer, Initial Push, Further Shaping, these are all irrelevant in Impact Smithing," Luineas remarked. Proceeding with several more strikes of varying intensities from a single direction. "The angle, direction, speed, and timing of each strike. This is what truly matters."

He frowned as he struck the box several more times, muttering to himself as he grabbed an oversized magnifying glass that lay on one of the nearby round tables. He observed the box through it, then shifted his direction around the box, hammering at it several more times.

"No fuss about not talking, and all that Resonant Harmonics stuff. The only thing that matters are the variables involved when this hammer strikes the item. Or the box in this case," Luineas continued, punctuating his explanation with several strikes with the hammer.

Wiping a sweat that was beginning to form on his forehead from the exertion, Luineas nodded to himself, handing the magnifying glass to the vantha. "I'm not sure how much practice you had with other Paradigms beside Resonant Harmonics, but take a look. Tell me what you see."

[Eridanus]

Eridanus breathed deeply as he allowed djed to fill his head, directing them in particular through his eyes. His pupils dilated, plunging him into a world governed by magic and auras, the physical obstructions ceding to the superiority of djed.

Looking through the magnifying glass that amplified the discipline, he observed the various djed pathways within the box. It was easy to see which ones remained at their original positions and which one remained still, a magecrafter of his own calibre could see it through enough experience. Handing the glass back to Luineas, he shut down the supply of djed that allowed him to view the item's aura, addressing the man.

"Impressive. An MC3 operation that seeks to enhance the durability of the box. Accordingly, it requires a catalyst, which you have already invested into the box at the beginning of the operation. The first two enhancements had already been made, though the third is incomplete."

Luineas beamed in delight. Wejerx had sent him someone who actually knew his stuff properly. The last graduate the old codger sent his way was too rigid in his ways, only knowing about Resonant Harmonics and things relating to it, thus ignoring all other fields. That was highly crippling in commercial magecrafting where one had to be adaptable. He had sent the man back after two seasons to the University with a letter that suggested he was better off doing research in the University rather than delving into commercial magecrafting.

"Finish it then," Luineas stated, handing Eridanus the glyphed hammer. He gestured for the Eridanus to begin while he began to peek through the magnifying glass at the box to supervise the vantha's actions.

[Eridanus]

Is he crazy? He's letting a guy he met for less than a bell to finish an MC3 operation for him? One that requires a catalyst?

That meant that Luineas had faith in him, and he was determined not to let that faith go to waste. Remembering the pathways he saw, Eridanus dredged up what he remembered about Impact Smithing from his mind. Bringing back memories of long nights spent in the library and the lab memorizing the various positions and illustrations of Impact Smithing, he circled the box, seeking the best position to finish the last Durability enhancement.

Stability is key.

The oft-repeated phrase by Wejerx came unbidden to mind, and that was the key needed to unlock the puzzle. Of course, the final few blows had to push the modified djed pathways into a consistent lattice or the final djed structure would not be stabilized.

Eridanus now knew what to do, and he stopped his circling, hammering the pathways cautiously. He started off with small, timed blows, gradually advancing to stronger swings when he grew in confidence. He began to estimate how much force resulted in how much modifications, and proceeded to hammer at the box, circling to correct deviations from the lattice.

Luineas watched with interest, nodding to himself as he observed the precise movements of the djed pathways through the magnifying glass. Eridanus had no way of knowing the precise movements of course, but he could feel the general movements that resulted from his blows. Whether it was a passive sensitivity gained from Auristics, or sheer experience from Magecraft, he did not know. It was an interesting question to the professors back at the University as well, for every Magecrafter had Auristics, and it was difficult to isolate such 'gut feelings' to a specific discipline.

[Eridanus]

Eridanus squinted at the box, remembering his estimations as he circled the box again, his finger trailing on the box. Somehow he could feel certain vibrations that resulted from the djed emissions - magically charged air that was a side product of the operation - and he used it to guide himself for the correct direction.

Finding one, he aimed the hammer at that point, tapping tentatively on the box to get an estimation, the elusive 'gut feeling' of magecrafting. Though, Impact Smithing relied much more on this gut feeling than other Paradigms. It could be countered by studying the item through the magical glass after every strike, of course, but the nature of Impact Smithing meant that it would take ridiculously long if he did so. Thus, pragmatically speaking every Impact Smith had to master this 'gut feeling'.

Increasing the force of his swing, he slammed several more blows with the glyphed hammer, then rounded the box one more time until he found no more anomalies. As far as he could tell, the box was reasonable lattice-shaped.

Luineas nodded, passing the glass to Eridanus while he picked the hammer from the vantha. Eridanus pushed djed into his eyes again to get the full amplified view of the box, seeing that it was roughly in the lattice shape, but his gut feeling was not precise enough to guarantee a truly consistent structure.

"Perfection, Eridanus. The commercial world can accept no less," Luineas remarked as he proceeded to slam the hammer quickly in five precise points. Through Eri's view, the aura of the item righted itself, and its internal djed pathways shifted into a strong consistent lattice. Powering down his auristics once more, he returned the glass on the circular desk, watching Luineas put the hammer carefully into another table's drawer.

"As you are aware, the Cooldown stage is common to all Paradigms. I intend to do it a little later though, so to make it quick let's throw up a shield together. You just need to contribute to extraction and shaping, I'll take care of the rest."

[Eridanus]

Eridanus began to concentrate on his astral body, drawing from the raw resource that formed the bulk of his soul. He could see Luineas doing the same, and used his arms to direct his formless djed towards Luineas' palms, commanding his djed to form together with Luineas. Both of them pooled together a reasonable amount, and they began to circle the pedestal, patting in unison as they shaped the shield.

Together, they formed the large shield that enveloped half the pedestal and the entire box, creating the same large orb that Eridanus saw earlier before Luineas disabled it with a fork. He continued to shape the glyph as Luineas began to concentrate on tasking. Using his focus to keep the shield sustained while the experienced magecrafter finalized the shield, he held the shield's focus and kept it stable through willpower until the other man was done, before releasing his mental grip.

"Alright. We're done here," Luineas stated, adding his final instructions in the form of a poke, causing the entire shield to turn black again.

"Let's get outta here, the tea must be getting cold."

Leading Eridanus out of the room, he locked the door to the lab carefully, then beckoned for the vantha to take a seat. Refilling the cup with the tea that was moderately warm instead of steaming hot like before, he gestured at the vantha to drink, cheerfully saying, "Now tell me more about your times with Wejerx. I want to hear about your adventures when you're a student."