Whipping to lock eyes with me, a predatory glint in her eyes, Alex excitedly asks me, “Thank you My Teacher? I hear it’s tradition for a magic blacksmith to craft an artifact for their successor, and once the successor can surpass that artifact they are considered a crafter in their own right, the new having surpassed the old. Is it true? Did your teacher craft you a shield for you to surpass? Did you bring it with you!? I would be honored to be able to look at how high a bar spirit mountain puts forth for their students!” 

As she frantically scans me for a non-existent shield I am able to get through a sentence. “I don’t know about any such tradition, but I did make a shield for my master when I left.” 

She stops circling me, “Ah, so you made a shield for your trial artifact.” Hopping back to the door she beckons, “Come on! I can’t wait to see you craft! A magic smith from spirit mountain is something no one alive can currently claim to have seen at work! Our workshop ...”

I glance at Claire, who just smiles wryly and shrugs. The next room is a simple indoor workshop, with a vent over the forge. I take note of where everything is stored, basically having tuned Alex out and just watching where she displays things. I know I want to create an artifact that will stop artifacts from surprising us, but I am stuck deciding on how to go about it. I could make it a blanket magic disruptor, which would just stop all magic. I am sure Sif can weave it so that it avoids friendly mages, but that would be needless complication requiring the user to compensate, violating my standards. I could make it so that lesser artifacts would not be able to activate via blood, which seems to be the standard of this time. The downside here is that if someone is capable of powering an artifact another way, this little trick is useless. The last option I am debating on is actually rather focused, though the last fight is making me consider it. I can make the artifact lock the space around it, making it so that no objects can teleport there. If not for Lyn literally moving at the speed of light, the teleport attack would have worked. And that was just the work of a crappy artifact that needs blood to activate. 

What if I face something that can do more than just bring its wielder to a jump location. What if there is a bow whose arrows are teleported before the target right after being fired? Or a spear that can open a portal just small enough to stab through? Those things wouldn’t be hard for me to make, I just haven’t since visually targeted space magic tends to lead to bad accidents. A slight mistake can cause the strike to be wildly off target, and the further the portal the more the spell will drain. I got rebuked by a noble family before when I made their heir a ring that can make a magic door type portal in front of him and to a location he can visualize. When they came to me demanding compensation for their son spending a week recovering from mana exhaustion I had to explain how I had warned him of the dangers of using space magic through assisted means. They didn’t care that it was only because I put a limiter on the ring so it wouldn’t kill the user if they miscalculated that their son survived. But if these lesser artifacts remove that risk by being unable to absorb mana beyond what is provided, then I can expect to see more of these space type artifacts.

“... Helllllooooooooooo Claire’s twin! You going to start soon?”

I snap to attention, “Yes, sorry, was lost in thought deciding on what to make. Sif, please assist me as usual. And Alex, I am sorry, but please don’t expect me to answer anything, I won’t be able to talk during this. Lyn can explain things if you are curious, she has seen me do this countless times.”

~Alex’s PoV~

I see Robin head towards the ingots and takes three normal iron ones. I step forward to tell her she can use our high quality ones but Claire shoots her arm in front of me, holding me in place. I open my mouth only for her to put her finger up to me. Why isn’t she letting me say anything!? Claire knows nothing! And I tried to get her to learn!

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand, so just restrain yourself for once and just watch. You don’t want to miss this,” she warns me.

“Fine!” I pout and plop to the floor, where my jaw immediately drops. That lady Sif just combined and transformed the common ingots into extremely valuable, high quality treasures. Claire draws some things I can’t quite make out and starts the forge. Hurriedly I scramble and put on the glasses I have hanging from my neck. They are an artifact that lets a manaless person “see” magic. Our family has passed down what different schools of magic tend to look like, and I stare in awe at the sheer amount of mana being channeled extremely efficiently. 

Could this even be considered forging still? Instead of just using tools though, all the processes are started with magic, and I can accept that. But she is completely ignoring how long it takes. I haven’t heard of anyone being able to reduce the time spent, even with magic. Also, what is with that instant dress magic! That’s so coooool! So interesting that she could shape the metal with just those gloves. Seeing her put the sword into the sandpit I start to get up, but Claire just puts her hand on my shoulder and points. A short chant and Robin takes out the sword and starts inscribing elegant patterns with her glowing pen. This is getting pretty insane… I see some absorption property that is somehow not getting in the way of the other enchantments. Developing a headache from “seeing” the effects, I can vaguely make out the patterns of space magic and some other, non attributed magic. 

Seeing her still refining, I take off my glasses. Sooooo dizzzy.  How is the sword not exploding in a magical disaster from all those layers?! Oh good, she is cleaning the sword normally with a quick quench and grim removal. Heh, “normal”. At least the magic she uses to wipe away the grime actually makes sense. After doing some more magic blacksmith stuff, she looks up, smiles, and declares, “It’s done. Uhm, I don’t know if I can explain the process, but I can demonstrate the sword!” 

Leaping to my feat, I splurge my anticipation into a sentence, “That was amazing! Ok, ok, I understand not explaining the process, trade secrets and all, but wow! How did you get so many magic effects to harmonize in a single sword? How is it able to hold an enchantment without burning through all its mana with those insanely powerful enchantments?! Oh, sorry, trade secrets. But tell me what that thing can do before we test it! I saw those enchantments, that thing certainly qualifies as a greater artifact, and I won’t be so dumb as to be the one responsible for messing up our home.” She looks kind of weary. Makes sense since she did just make something amazing. “Come on, I know you must be tired after making that, but we have to test it, let’s go! I will take us someplace safe for testing.”

Claire laughs, “I don’t think she’s tired from the crafting.”