For the second time in as many days, Shesh was taken outside into the street.

Tenna’s walking place was slower than Cera’s had been, as expected from his advanced age, and Shesh did their best to act inconspicuously as they followed close behind. Their destination was the enchanter Vetruvia’s workshop; Vetruvia was another of Tenna’s old friends, and the one responsible for almost all the enchantments used in the café. Shesh had met her on occasion when she came by to inspect and perform maintenance on the glyphs or the golems, but this was the first time Tenna had taken them to visit her workshop.

Their trip took the two deeper into the city, into a backstreet of the Artisan’s Quarter. The narrow street was lined with all sorts of interesting storefront windows filled with various specialty products. Shesh did their best to see the sights without turning their head unnecessarily, made easier since the Golem’s sight rune granted a wider field of vision than a pair of forward-facing eyes would.

An apothecary’s shop had all sorts of herbs and medicinal materials both dried and fresh arranged on shelves.

Next door, a blacksmith had polished swords and halberds alongside a gleaming suit of plate armor. Shesh wondered if there was a forge hidden in the back of the store somehow, or the weapons and armor were carted in from the edge of town to avoid deafening the neighbors with hammering noise.

One of the larger stores was for a golemancer, someone who specialized in creating golems. The constructs on display in the window were far fancier than Shesh, with fine china or even silver plating on top of clay or wooden frames. Looming behind those were some security golems with bulky clay frames protected by metal plates. There were no war golems, which would have been even larger and made of materials such as stone or metal, but Shesh thought those might have been reserved for official kingdom use, or at the very least sold by a more prestigious golemancer that catered to nobles on the main street.

It wasn’t any flashy enchantment store or exotic monster material trader that caught Shesh’s eye, but rather a woodcarver’s studio. After making sure Tenna’s attention was fixed on the road ahead, Shesh dared to turn their head and sneak a brief glance. Behind the storefront window, various carved statues were arranged in a seemingly random manner, everything from small carved rabbits and frogs to a life-size exquisitely detailed owl. Shesh longed to go inside, to see all the small carvings up close and watch the artist work. But they couldn’t, and they didn’t, and once the moment had passed the Golem was back to walking carefully behind their owner.

Shesh was surprised at the strength of their own curiosity about the woodcarvings. It rivaled even their interest in enchantment, something Shesh hadn’t realized was possible. They began to wonder if it was possible for them to try their hand at it as well, but after pondering it for a moment decided that it would probably only be possible at Cera’s place. Acquiring material and tools, and then hiding both those and the shavings from Tenna was likely an impossible undertaking. Shesh did not have too long to indulge this new interest as soon after Tenna rounded a corner and immediately following it was their destination.

Vetruvia’s workshop was discreet and modest, with only a small sign on the door marking it and no storefront window. The simple establishment matched Shesh’s impression of the enchanter, who seemed on her inspection visits to be somewhat asocial.

Inside was a cramped space, with much of the surprisingly large studio being taken up by shelves stocked with tools, materials, and a sparse number of generic enchanted items.

“Good morning, Vet.” Tenna greeted from just in front of Shesh. At first the elf blocked the proprietor from Shesh’s view, but once Vetruvia stood up she easily towered over both.

“Tenna.” The aged orc woman replied gruffly. “Y’don’t usually come by here with a golem. Looking to buy something heavy, or is something wrong with it?”

“I came here to get it fixed, Vet.” Tenna smiled, then called Shesh over to stand beside him. “One of the plates on its arm broke, so I’d appreciate it if you could repair it for me if you’ve got the time.”

Vetruvia walked over to Shesh, and Tenna lifted their arm to show the cracked porcelain.

“Yeah, I can fix it. Won’t take long.” The enchanter confirmed. She fetched a stamp-like tool, and when she flipped it over Shesh saw twin linked enchantment circles inscribed onto the bottom of it. “How’d it happen?” Vetruvia asked as she fished through some drawers that contained assorted magic stones.

“Oh, you know how they are.” Tenna answered pleasantly. “You give one poorly worded command in the kitchen, and anything can happen. I’d say golems are almost as accident-prone as us elders!”

The joke elicited a raspy chuckle from Vetruvia, and Shesh was pleased that their owner hadn’t spread negative gossip about Cera.

After finding an appropriate magic stone Vetruvia slotted it into the center of the larger circle, and both sigils began to glow a faint hazel color. Taking Shesh’s hand, the enchanter pressed the stamp into the cracked plate. The pressure on the wound stung momentarily, but then a tingling numbness enveloped the Golem’s palm. After ten seconds of contact Vetruvia lifted the stamp-tool and the porcelain plate came off with it, leaving only the linen ‘skin’ exposed from underneath.

While Vetruvia walked off to fetch a replacement, Shesh had the opportunity to see what a professional enchanter’s workstation looked like. There were multiple heavy desks arranged together into a ‘C’ shape, all of them apart from the center one completely covered in tools. There were many assorted rulers and protractors, as well as more than two dozen basic circle templates. A long abacus was set off to the side, and beside it a chalkboard covered in complicated mathematical formulae. Various chisels, files and brushes were assembled systematically on racks along the wall. Above the desks many small drawers lined the walls, many of them held shut by long iron bars fastened at the end of the row with a padlock that had a small enchantment circle with a piece missing instead of a keyhole. Presumably, attaching the missing piece would open the lock somehow, Shesh surmised.

Also on the desk was another, much older and more weathered copy of Advanced Enchanting Theory. Apart from its age it seemed identical to the book Shesh had gotten from Cera.

Huh, I would’ve thought a professional enchanter would have a more advanced version of the book. Shesh thought to themselves.

“Here we go.” The Orcish enchanter returned a moment later with a new porcelain palm cover. She pressed it into Shesh’s still-extended hand, and then with another stamp tool adhered it back into place. The feeling returned to Shesh’s palm, this time sans pain.

“Thank you.” Tenna smiled. “Is it alright if I pay you for it the next time you come over for an inspection? I think we’re due for one soon.”

“Yeah ‘ts fine.” Vetruvia agreed. “Just a small patch job anyway, won’t be much.”

“How’s your project, by the way?” Tenna inquired, which brought a huge toothy grin to the Orc’s face.

“I’m pretty much done!” She declared, shuffling over to a large safe in the back. The safe also had an enchantment lock like the padlock, only with a more complicated enchantment and a jagged key piece. When the door was opened, Shesh could see labeled jars filled with various powders: sapphire, silver, jade and mithril. On the shelf below that there were stacks of parchment bound together into books with string.

Vetruvia’s target was on the lower shelf: an even larger stamp-like tool, with a plate section as large as the trays used in the café. It was heavy enough that even Vetruvia, who seemed quite muscular (though perhaps not as much as Cera), had to use both hands to lift it.

“Oh, is that it? I thought it would be more complicated.” Tenna remarked, to which Vetruvia scoffed. “I’ve been working on the calculations for this for several decades, believe me it’s complicated enough.”

The enchanter flipped over her invention, and underneath was the most complex enchantment circle Shesh had seen other than the ones on their fellow golems. A half dozen small enchantments were arranged in a circle and linked by a larger ring, with the interior formation containing six more sigils drawn throughout the large circle’s reaction lines. One of the small sigils was very similar to the kinetic energy sigil Shesh had learned the night before, but the rest were unknown. The entire formation was carved into a metal plate and lined with a silvery metal that Shesh suspected was mithril.

Shesh had not realized that circles could be linked into another circle along its circulation ring, even interrupting the ring. Shesh hoped that this technique would possibly be covered in a chapter they had not gotten to yet.

“Impressive.” Tenna nodded, stroking his chin. “Will you finally tell me what it is?”

“It’s a clay compactor, specifically for golems.” Vetruvia explained proudly. Her enthusiasm at explaining her invention had apparently brushed aside her usual gruffness. “By using this I can make a clay golem as hardy as a stone one.”

“I thought the main advantage of a clay golem was its flexibility.” The Elf questioned. “Well, that and the price. Wouldn’t making the clay as hard as stone make it difficult for the golem to move?”

“Nah, that’s why it took me so long to perfect it.” Vetruvia grinned. “This enchantment makes clay that is as hard as stone, but if it is used on clay that is already part of an animated golem it can continue to move just as it had before. To summarize: it keeps all the advantages of clay without the downsides.”

Shesh found themselves slightly irritated at the backwards logic of this explanation. Logic seemed to apply to magic more as a guideline than an actual rule.

Maybe such reality-defying magic is a suitable reward for almost half a century of work. Shesh justified, and that made them feel slightly better about it.

“This is quite the invention.” Tenna praised. “You’re going to become the most wanted enchanter in the kingdom when you display this to the Enchanter’s Guild. Probably even get a royal commission to boot!”

“Ah, yeah, I suppose so.” The Orc seemed to deflate slightly at those prospects. “Didn’t do it for that, ‘s just neat.”

“Hmm, yeah, I suppose you wouldn’t be interested in that sort of thing.” Tenna chuckled. “But inventions are made to be used, don’t you think? It’d be a waste for your life’s work to just gather dust in your safe forever.”

“Yeah, I’ll think about it.” Vetruvia nodded, and after a moment of awkward silence turned around to place the enchantment back. “Not perfect yet anyway – drains mana faster than a starved Vampire. For instance, I estimate for a golem the size of yours it would take about two high-grade mana stones.”

“Goodness, that’s more than all my golems consume in a year.” The café owner exclaimed. “It’s almost cheaper to just make a stone golem then, isn’t it?”

“Maybe, but this is better.” The enchanter argued. “Clay is easier to sculpt, and like you said before much more flexible. Not to mention that a hardened clay golem would weigh far less, so it won’t fall through a wooden floor like a stone golem would.”

“I suppose you are right. You are the expert, after all.” Tenna conceded. “Okay then, I should get back to my café. Have a good day, Vet.”

“Yeah, you too.” Vetruvia answered. “I’ll come over next week to do the inspection.”

“That would be fine.” Tenna agreed, turning towards the door. “Follow me, no.6; we’re going home now.”

While they walked back to the café, Shesh tried to summarize what they had learned from this visit. It seemed that Vetruvia used a lot of drawing templates and rulers in her enchantments, which Shesh had never used. That was probably because as a Golem Shesh’s hands were much steadier than an old Orc’s.

Next, it appeared that mathematical calculations were necessary for more complicated enchantments, judging by the chalkboard over the desk and the stacks of papers stored in the safe along with the clay compacting enchantment tool. Shesh was a bit concerned that without any formal education it would be difficult for them to learn to do these calculations. Hopefully they would come as easy to them as reading and enchantment had.

Finally, Shesh was still intrigued by the design of the clay compaction device. They had an inkling of what a curved connection line could do, some instinct as to what effect a curved mana flow would have.

It was too early to experiment with it though; Despite the curiosity, Shesh was sure that they should read through the book and reach that section naturally before messing with enchantments that they didn’t understand. Otherwise, the next time it might be worse than just a cracked palm.

Zrooper

Sorry for the late chapter. Life in general and University in particular had been kicking my ass this past couple of weeks. It's going to get worse before it gets better because I still have midterms to look forward to...

Anyway! Today dear Shesh learned what a professional enchanter's work looks like,  and the advantages and disadvantages they have over them.