Syl

Chapter 142: Final Stretch

After paying the fee, my guild tag was apparently appropriately marked to show that I was authorized. I also received a piece of parchment as a receipt that I could use in case someone asked for proof that I could access the inscription. I was a little shocked at how much security was around it until Greg mentioned that half of it was due to this particular enchantment's potentially dangerous nature, and even qualifying to teach someone else was apparently extremely strenuous. Obviously, I didn't foresee myself teaching anyone enchanting, so it was a bit of a moot point.

With other less dangerous patents, you'd be given a parchment copy of the design, or with the really complex ones, even a small booklet with detailed instructions. Spherical ones were extremely hard as attempts to replicate them on pages had been difficult, and simply having someone paid to teach was far less costly than trying to create a magical tool to display the three-dimensional inscription.

True to his word, Greg gave me two small books to borrow, each a catalog of the various patents for sale. It was a simple name, short description, and associated price, with sometimes an additional fee listed if tutoring was required or available. Then, we returned to our workroom, which had already received a few small crates.

"Right. Unlike our previous lessons, I'll demonstrate, and then you'll need to first replicate it on the chalkboard or parchment." Greg said as he pulled out his own tool. "While I have confidence in your ability to replicate this, it is better to be safe than sorry, and wrongly drawing this enchantment can result in injury."

"No problem." I agreed.

He opened one of the crates and inspected for a solid area where he could carve the enchantment. You wanted it to be safe and secure because if it became too damaged, you could lose whatever contents were stored inside. The inscription was like a true work of art, and I struggled to recognize a single portion. Where other inscriptions and runes had seemed quite similar to some spells I'd known, these were completely foreign. My [Rune Reading] was trying to decipher it but failing miserably, I got some vague interpretations about converting and expanding, but it was actually starting to hurt my head. When Greg finished the final stroke of the pattern, an ominous hum permeated the room before it settled down.

"I swear I hold my breath every time I finish that final stroke. That sound is the thing of nightmares." Greg said with a chuckle.

"I'm just glad this is a circle enchantment, not a sphere."

"There is an upgraded version of this that is a sphere, but it's costly and difficult. You must pay for and take an exam before you're even considered. The exam is a thousand gold, and the patent is another two thousand."

"Seriously, Sylvester, dimension magic is no joke. I know you're inquisitive, but don't mess with this. That hum terrifies me because I've seen many enchanters lose their hands in it, if not worse." Greg warned. "As for the upgraded version, it causes objects placed inside of it to be paused in time, for lack of a better word. Food won't spoil, ice won't melt, and drinks stay warm. Even a year later, whatever goes in comes out as if it were the very same second."

'My [Core Storage] does that...'

"Anyway. That's neither here nor now." Greg interrupted my wandering mind. "I suggest you study this as intensely as possible, then start practicing it on the chalkboard."

I studied the inscription while ordering my [Sub-Cores] to save the design. Other than the extremely complex circle, which was the entire linchpin of the enchantment, the rest were a lot of [Rune Framework] lines designating the interior volume of the crate as the source, with plenty of redundant lines drawn in. I asked Greg about it, and he confirmed it was so that the contents wouldn't be lost or damaged if one line was damaged.

Then, I started replicating it on the chalkboard. Even though it was correct the first time, Greg made me repeat it a few more times and pointed out some small irregularities to fix up. It was admittedly nitpicky, but Greg warned me he had high standards before he took me on.

Finally, after filling the chalkboard multiple times with the exact same inscription, Greg was satisfied for me to attempt it. I wasn't willing to lose a hand to a failed dimensional storage, so I ensured my [Sub-Cores] would correct me. It was an intense experience, far worse than when Thern was staring at my work. It felt like Greg was preparing to potentially jump in to warn me at a moment's notice. With bated breath, I completed the final stroke, and the hum filled the room as I quickly retreated my hands from inside the crate.

"Excellent. Truly excellent. I wish I had your memorization." Greg chuckled. "Now, before you undoubtedly start enchanting endless amounts of crates, let's have lunch."

***

There were boxes and crates—so many boxes and crates. Thank the gods that I didn't get muscle cramps because repeating that complex circle for hours upon hours every day was gruesome even for me. Some days, I would even just order some [Sub-Cores] to pilot my body for me because even I was starting to take mental strain. I'd started losing track of time and hoped I still had leeway to work with. Maybe Syl could bribe Thern to delay his trip? I honestly wasn't sure anymore.

Greg and Thern had apparently tested one of my carvings, and I could reliably recreate the inscription with a year-long lifetime. This was one of the uses of a high-level [Rune Inspection] skill to verify an inscription's integrity and remaining life. Word had gotten around, and soon, almost every merchant had requested one. Mass-producing temporary crates wasn't that rare of an idea, although other enchanters usually used it as a source of emergency fundraising.

The peculiarity was that [Rune Carvings] of the dimensional storage inscription would have an average lifetime of around six months. There was a lot of variance between enchanters; Greg could make them last seven months, and Thern's lasted ten easily. But mine were peaking at a year and reliably. Greg and Thern had theorized it was due to my extreme consistency when enchanting, but I had a very odd feeling that perhaps my [Core Storage] trait somehow influenced it. So, with reliable and cheap storage available—everyone wanted one. The price was undoubtedly raised due to the year guarantee, but it was still a mere fraction of a permanent storage cost of this size.

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I was happy that Sylvester was now earning some income, as I wanted to buy the patent for many inscriptions. Most notably and highest on my priority list was one for mental resistance, which I wanted to carve directly into my own core as soon as possible.

Speaking of cores, I had been experimenting a lot with Kappa. I could easily fit two high-rank runes on it without resorting to spherical enchantments, and I'd been trying various combinations. My favorite combination at the moment was self-repair and durability, as both were highly compatible, so I could put the highest rank for both without any compromise.

My other options were self-repair and magic resistance or durability and magic resistance, although those were slightly less compatible. Sure, there were other compelling things like mana gathering, stealth, and blur, but none really appealed to me as simply increasing survivability, at least for now.

Also... Against better judgment, there was an accident. I had tried inscribing the dimensional storage rune on Kappa. I was driven by an errant thought that it would increase my storage or give Kappa individual storage separate from the linked storage we could all pull from. Instead, it had been... Disastrous. I would have thought Kappa would simply explode or something similar. Instead, Kappa had been sucked into a tiny pinprick of a void of nothingness... At least, that is the only way I could describe it. It was haunting, and what scared me the most was that I didn't get a destroyed or lost connection notification. There was nothing. Kappa was just gone as if removed from existence beyond the understanding of my notifications. My only relief was that I could reform the [Sub-Core], and I vowed never to attempt that again.

As for progress, I had reached level forty in almost no time when we switched over to the new training method, and I'd been offered something that Greg was looking forward to—a class upgrade. Forty was when most professions got to select a new class, described as a specialization. Enchanters got quite a few, and I was surprised that I was being offered ones from completely unrelated fields, but Greg said that was perfectly normal.

Runesmith, Runeweaver, Runescribe, Runetinkerer, Runecrafter. Greg had said that I could pick any that tickled my fancy, and he only discouraged Runescribe, which was extremely costly.

Runesmith would let me inscribe runes while forging a weapon or armor. Runeweaver would let me use thread to inscribe runes into cloth or leather. Runescribe would let me use specially crafted magical paper and magic ink to draw a full inscription, which I could apply to almost anything for an instant temporary enchantment. Runetinkerer was all about creating magical items, combining inventing and runes, and was what Greg had chosen. Finally, Runecrafter was more of a generalist and encouraged experimentation and new ideas. It wasn't the flashiest of the five, but it spoke to me, and I wanted to create my own runes eventually.

Would you like to swap classes?>.

'Yes.'

...

...

...

...

I blinked in confusion. I had just gained two levels instantly. What happened? I read through the latest notification in shock as I dropped my tool.

"Sylvester? What's wrong?" Greg asked, concerned; he frantically inspected the work I had just completed. "It looks fine to me?"

"I hit level five..." I mumbled as I quickly tried to upgrade it.

'Yes! Gods, yes!'

"Truly!? That's fantastic!" Greg shouted loudly as he grabbed my shoulders in a half-hug, the excitement getting to him.

"I just upgraded it... I got two entire levels from it, reaching five. That's... Insane."

"Bah! I'm surprised it wasn't more with all of us dedicated to you reaching it!" Greg said, slapping my back.

"I still got a point... Should I get [Rune Repair]?" I asked.

"Normally, I'd say yes. But... I think you should get [Brand]." Greg said, grinning proudly.

"Really? Isn't it pretty useless?" I questioned.

"How else will you permanently mark the tool you will make? I want to point to the name Sylvester on it and say, 'He was one of mine!'" Greg said before laughing. I found myself joining in the merriment and purchasing the skill.

Having a skill in my profession list without "Rune" in the name was a little funny, but this was a universal skill amongst the professions. You could activate it whenever you completed a craft, and it would mark the target. One time, Greg even showed me a Baker with the skill, and [Appraisal] showed me that every one of her muffins was branded. They were also the damn best muffins I had ever tasted.

After we cleaned up the room, I was almost immediately dragged to Moonsong for a celebratory dinner that Greg had fully paid for. I dared not think of connections he pulled to somehow get a booking on the same day. While we were settling down after dinner, he pulled out a small box and softly slid it across the table.

"Really Master Greg? You're spoiling me." I said with a chuckle.

"Open it first before you give me any lip. I'm still your Master for a few more days yet!" He guffawed.

I shook my head and slowly opened the box; inside was an immaculate, enchanting tool with replaceable heads of varying sizes, from a toothpick to a scalpel, the largest looking like a letter opener. [Appraisal] told me it was made out of Electrum, and unlike my previous tools, it looked brand new. [Mana Conception] and [Rune Inspection] together showed me intricate designs perfectly flowing throughout the tool with matching [Rune Framework] that would link up between each of the different heads to the handle. I couldn't believe the detail and beauty of the device. Seeing my speechlessness, Greg slapped me on the shoulder.

"I can't let my [Apprentice] just use any old piece of junk. I'd be laughed out of the guild!"

I could only smile in stunned silence. I finally looked at the [Brand] and nearly choked when I saw Gregory and Thern.

Greg gave a massive grin, clearly realizing what I had seen. "You impressed a dwarf; that's good work. He did the forging, and I did the enchanting. Make sure you buy him a bottle of the strongest alcohol you can before you see him again."

"And what about you?" I asked.

"Oh? You want to give your old Master something... Well... Let me think..." He said before breaking out into a smug grin and chuckling. "That damned refrigerator egg better be bloody perfect; I want to be able to brag for years!"