Completed Fruits of First Labor

[Mienskil Ostovik]

14th of Winter, 512AV A groggy Mienskil stirred slightly as his body naturally woke itself up after resting for the absolutely minimal amount of time necessary. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he lifted his head off the cold stone wall and looked around, gathering his bearings. For a moment he was shocked to not recognize his old room of wood walls and crammed documents, but then he remembered that his room was all the gway back in Zeltiva. Turns out his mind and body were still acclimatizing to Sahova's different setting. There was no way to tell what time of day it was, so he had no idea for how long he had slept. Well, if he was awake now, it had to have been enough, otherwise he'd still be out. After crawling his way up the wall and onto his feet, he yawned and stretched massively, waking up his mind and body as quickly as possible so that he may resume work. It turned out that he'd had the presence of mind to at least replace the dirk and tools at the worktable before falling asleep, rather than just fall asleep at the pedestal as was his usual custom. Doing so was dangerous, as he would often forget to retrieve another reagent to further absorb the djed being charged, which would often result in something dangerous if someone else wouldn't point it out to him. Walking over to the table, he gathered up first his tools and carried them over to the pedestal, then returning for the dirk and his reagent. The weapon felt different to his wizardly sense already, a sign that he was making progress, but far more interesting was the reagent he chose. As he walked back to the pedestal, he carried in one hand a fish skull, retrieved from Lab 21A. He had no idea what it was called, but if it was in a lab on Sahova then it had to be something special. When he set down the weapon and reagent on the pedestal, he cursed his inane mind for forgetting to ask what the fish was as he began adjusting the glyphed mirrors so that they would magnify the aura of the weapon atop the small stone block. Then, just as he was about to start again, he cast his gaze back down to check the barrier he had drawn a couple days ago and found a couple scuff marks where he'd walked across. Sighing, Mienskil set down everything again and walked back to the table to retrieve a bit of chalk. He kneeled on the ground and steadied himself with his left hand as he drew with his right, making the linear glyphs that were his style, angling them sharply back on themselves so that they were complete. Each one was a very sharp and straightened out mix of various Nader-Canoch letters that he had learnt back when he was developing the fundamentals of the language, about the same time he was learning to glyph. He had consciously styled his unique markings after the language that had unlocked so much for him, so that way he could both practice his ancient language (in some way) while at the same time get used to drawing his glyphs. Once he filled the gap he'd scuffed, Mienskil drew linear lines to the nearest pre-existing glyphs so that the circle was once again closed and any djed that happened to be lost would remain within the area and not lost to the open air. Hurriedly, he returned the chalk to the worktable and rushed back to the pedestal, grabbing the tools and hastily lifting the dirk with his tongs. Then he squeezed his eyes and snapped them open again quickly, directing part of his internal djed into his eyes. At once the familiar sentences and words began spiraling about, except much larger than normal thanks to the magnifiers. Whereas before each writhing line was about the same size as a line of text in an actual book, now each sliver was nearly as tall as a page, giant words flying through an aura almost triple the original size. The aura hadn't grown however, everything was just scaled up. Over in one corner of his workspace, near the boundary of the dirk's aura, Mienskil saw the results of his past work, the strength and structure of the weapon being reinforced by his attempts. The large ribbons of text fluttered and snaked around the general area, forming an almost component orb within the larger aura. Mienskil knew that would change however, but later. Making sure that the weapon was right over the fish skull so that it could absorb the excess djed and stabilize the project, as well as transfer some of its properties, Mienskil brought the hammer down on top of the dirk, the tool warm in his hands as he focused his thoughts on charging its djed with his own essence and thoughts and sizzling as it came into contact with the target item. A loud clang also accompanied the noise, echoing throughout the almost empty workshop. Both were very sharp piercing noises, but Mienskil had grown used to them years ago back in Zeltiva, and at this point they were music to his ears as it meant that he was making progress. He saw in the background of his attention the collection of lines that represented his work pulse and ripple, a sign that he was doing it right. Raising the hammer again, he brought it down with another loud clang and sizzle, focusing not on the power behind the swing but the djed running through it, motivated by his own mind. Another pulse from the aura, and this time a new line of text began slowly fading into existence in that area. A frown of concentration creased his brow as he continued work, swinging again to cause another noise echo through the stone hall, resulting in another pulse in the aura and that small figment growing stronger. Each swing required a tremendous amount of focus, as Mienskil had to help the hammer's djed circulate himself through his own djed, which required the use of his mind. For this project, he would require each of the dirks to be structurally the same since the purpose was to explore the effect of various unique reagents. So he kept the concept behind each swing nice and simple: something solid and sturdy, hard and strong. Something that could withstand as much as a sword if not as large or well made. Thoughts of the mountains around his home embodied his thoughts, the solid spikes of stone that were unmoving and unforgiving, protecting the city from any threat from the land be it disaster or personnel. He thought of the strength of iron and steel amplified, so that not even other blades could scratch it. A picture of a sword trying to carve its way across the surface of the dagger appeared in his mind, but the saber left no mark on the blade. As his mind began to wonder from that, he directed it to something else as sturdy. A cliff, a giant wall of hardened earth that could withstand storm and sea, left undamaged by man and nature alike, unbreakable. Another picture, this one of a hammer coming down on the weapon that the dirk would become, but the dirk would not shatter or even crack. Each slang and sizzle of the hammer brought a new thought into Mienskil's head, and he fortified each thought enough to empower the next swing. The tool grew even more warm as time went on and the Magecrafter's eyes were almost half-closed in concentration. Chimes, then bells passed and all he thought about was the solidity and strength of stone and steel, indomitable and unbreakable. As he worked, he monitored his progress in the background behind the weapon, observing it as it pulsed and grew and new lines of texts slowly materialized and joined the others in swimming about the aura. No sparks flew during the entire task, as he was not striking hard enough to create the friction necessary. Even so, the amount of energy being transferred through the various steps, the person's djed affecting the tool's djed affecting the weapon's djed, was impressive enough and any wizard would know without needing to see sparks that the changes that were being forced were tremendous. Finally, after bells had passed of the rhythm of the hammer ringing throughout the workshop, Mienskil saw and felt simultaneously the work being complete. The dirk felt finished to his wizard sense, a full step structurally more advanced than it had been. In the aura, enough lines of text had accumulated that the orb was now a healthy little thing, ready to be distributed throughout the item and finish the process. Setting the hammer down on the pedestal, the dirk was carried by tongs over to the trough of water by the side, which had been sitting and collecting all the excess djed that had not been absorbed by the item nor the reagent. It didn't sparkles or shimmer or anything special, to all visual observations it was just a trough of plain water, but Mienskil knew better. This was it. After three days, his first project as a wizard of Sahova would be done, and he would officially be a member of this team, whatever team there was at least. As he slid the dirk into the bed of water, he heard the familiar sound of djed both discharging and settling, similar to the sound one hears when they cool red hot metal in a tray of iron. Only in this case it was more than just the metal that was being affected. The aura had shrunk back to its original scale once it had left the magnifying spot atop the pedestal, but Mienskil could still see the effect the water was having. Almost as if a wall had been lifted, the lines of text that were the result of his work immediately left the little grouping and shot around the rest of the aura, spreading themselves out and becoming one with the rest of the weapon's aura and djed. All at once the slivers dispersed, and soon they were inseparable from the rest of the item. After pulling it up from the trough, he squeezed his eyes together for a long tick to cut off the flow of djed to them, the sensation of the essence rippling through them halting, so he could observe it without any magical aid. He held it up and inspected it, looking along the edge and hilt. To the naked eye, there was nothing different about it. That was how he knew he'd done a good job - any visual deteriorations would probably have been the result of undirected djed flowing into the item. With his work done at long last, at least the first step of it, he gathered up his tools and reagent and the weapon and carried it all back to the worktable, letting them fall onto the surface without rhyme or reason. Then he picked up the weapon and a small length of green thread which he'd requested, tying it around the hilt. Many would think it arbitrary and pointless, but there was an organizational purpose to it. Mienskil had five daggers, all of which looked more or less the same to the naked and magical eye, even after the process had been completed. However, each one would be associated with a unique special reagent that he hoped would give them unique effects as well. Without a way to tell them apart, how was he supposed to know what did what? Once the knot was finished, he set the weapon down and got out one of the sheets of parchment he'd been provided with as well as a pen, writing green, fish on it, followed by ask Henry Gubau in Lab 21A. That last part really was necessary, else he'd completely forget altogether. The scritching of quill on parchment filled the hall for a brief chime, insignificant when compared to the earlier clangs, before stopping as Mienskil set the pen down alongside the sheet of paper, leaving it accessible for his future projects. That done, he wandered back to his little sleeping place beside the wall and sat down, wrapping himself up in the simple yet useful blanket he'd asked the golem for. Tomorrow would see another project start, and he wanted to be well-rested so that he may work himself hard then so he could finish that one as quickly as possible, then move onto the next. Five dirks he'd asked for, and five he'd have to Magecraft. In the meantime though, he had to rest. One of the downsides of being alive. Five chimes after putting his head against the cold hard wall, he was asleep.

[Mirage]

Mienskil

XP:
Auristics: 2
Drawing: 1
Glyphing: 1
Magecrafting: 4

Lores:
Magecrafting: Reading Item's Aura
Magecrafting: Manipulating an Item's Djed
Magecrafting: Reagents may give items special properties

Additional:

Great thread, and you were rewarded for all the details you gave me!! If you want more auristics points then in the future focus on giving me some of the difficulties of using it for prolonged periods of time, how difficult it becomes to concentrate, ect. Also a bit more description on how he controls the flow of djed to activate the magic.

Now then what you have been waiting for, the reagents effects!! So what did those fish bones give to your item?

Answer: ... Nothing! The reagents offered no special influences on the item. Whether it is because there is nothing special to be gained from the fish, or if it is because Mienskil did not actively take the djed and try to force some effect from it he had no idea. It could be that these particular bones were just not good enough, or fresh enough, ect. Maybe it requires them to be alive? All good things to test out in later threads! I wont be revealing to you why just yet. Ill let you experiment first. Plus you get more MC experience this way too

PM me with any concerns!