Chapter 15 - Wrath of the Avankh

Beads of salty sweat ran down Cantorn's face as he fixed the horns to his newly crafted handles. However, the crafting process was still far from over. In a huge effort, the young man began channelling mana into his hands. He knew this was crucial not only for all external mana-using skills but also for elevating his gear to the next level. He theorised that infusing his own mana into the weapon during the crafting process would get a good boost in rarity. Infusing mana also helped with bringing out the 'Legacy' of each item.

'Legacy' was a term, used to describe the powers that an item would retain, based on its origin, impact on the world and previous owner or user. An 'owner' could either be a being, that the item was part of before its death or a being that used a certain item before. The 'origin' was usually largely influenced by the 'owner' but it could also refer to, for example, a mineral that could only be found in certain locations. 'Origin' basically combined the rarity of the item and the danger of acquiring said item into one factor. As for the last factor, it was a bit ominous. Some items could have had a huge influence on the world and its history, and a large part of the population wouldn't even know about it. It could also be something very popular, like a sword used by a special owner. This factor, therefore, was pretty hard to gauge, but the system usually gave out a fair rating for every item. 

Back to infusing mana into the item, Cantorn began to increase his efforts. His first few attempts at controlling mana outside of his body had failed miserably. The first hurdle he had yet to overcome was to pour the mana out of his body. Mana generally flowed freely within the body. Some species had special organs to control or store it better, but elves weren't like that. This meant, that all he had to do was to direct the mana in him towards his hands and then 'press' it out of his skin. Those were the basics of mana manipulation, something he only knew because he had sometimes pried upon the conversations of the few mages in his clan.

Roughly an hour later, Cantorn finally succeeded. Thinking of expelling mana, similarly to how water flowed through a thick cloth, seemed to have done the trick. A small trickle of affinity-less mana broke through his skin, slowly seeping into the surrounding air. He had yet to direct the mana towards anything, which caused it to simply dissipate. At first, Cantorn focused on keeping the mana hovering in the air. To be fair, that was pretty easy compared to forcing the mana to exit his body but it was challenging nonetheless. Only by forming a thin thread in between his skin and the freely wafting cloud of mana could he keep it bound to him. While he knew that it was possible to control mana even without having a direct connection, this was still very far out of his reach. 

Now for the last step, he'd sadly have to go with something basic again. Right now he was only able to infuse mana into the weapon due to his lacking skill, without having the chance to do any fancy enchantments or imbuing any special effects. Hence, he simply forced the mana to waft all around the blade. As soon as it was fully covered, he began actually directing the mana. Slowly it began closing in on the blade, condensing ever so slightly. It soon turned from an almost gaseous cloud to a thick, colourless substance that encased his new daggers. Seeing it like that Cantorn knew that he was about to succeed.

In a final push, he pressed for the mana to enter his weapon. Interestingly enough, it was quite similar to the process of expelling mana from his own body, just in reverse. The magical 'liquid' began entering the daggers, visibly strengthening them. While they were already looking pretty well before, they now exuded a certain aura. This was a masterpiece for sure, at least in his eyes. Without ever doing something like this before, he had succeeded. The final sign of approval for his hard work arrived in the form of a few small notifications, far from proportional to the message they carried.

[You have crafted a 'Wrath of the Avankh (rare)'. A  very large amount of experience is being awarded for your creation.]

[You have reached level 10. 6 status points are available for allocation.]

['Basic Craftsmanship' has levelled up to level 4.]

[The user has learned the new skill 'Basic Mana Manipulation (common)'.]

['Basic Mana Manipulation' has levelled up to level 3.]

Finally, some gains were as he expected. No lucky bullshit that allowed him to succeed, only a large amount of focus and a lot of hard work. It was kind of funny that he felt so accomplished by doing something he didn't have to risk his life for. He couldn't really say that he enjoyed crafting more than fighting, but it surely was a nice change of pace. Anyways, it was now time for him to inspect his rewards a little further.

His new skill didn't really interest him all that much as he basically already knew what it did. In the end, it was nice to see that he gained the skill, but it wouldn't really do much until he managed to get more proficient in it. Maybe once it evolved he'd get interested in it. His weapon on the other hand got him excited. Not only was it made from good materials, but it was also the first item he ever infused mana into, something he hadn't even dared to experiment with before, and it turned into a rare item. That was simply amazing, even when disregarding its actual effects. And they were a sight to behold of, without a doubt.

Ludan

Hello there.

I'm back from my break a little later than planned, but regular chapter uploads should resume again now. While I still won't stick to specific days each week, three chapters per is the goal I'm planning to hit right now.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my writing, so see you soon!

Ludan