A Relatively Powerful Mage

Imri sighed as the arguments from both sides dragged on. He vainly wished everyone would be more rational and stop appealing to a sentimental rationale. He sensed Emelia through their bond, amused at his annoyance. She was far better at navigating emotional discussions and was far more at ease.

“We need to find a better location for our camp. The goal is to create a city where we can rebuild civilization,” Imri explained to those gathered, a mix of every group represented.

“Why do we need to find and rebuild anything? There is a perfectly fine city right there,” Russ said, motioning in the general direction.

“Excluding a parasitic slug that takes over your body,” Sylvi pointed out.

“There’s always going to be something. I say we fight to reclaim our homes,” Zhaire said.

“Even if we retake the city, redoing the infrastructure would require a lot of work. There will also be new magic infrastructure that should be included as well,” Imri said.

“There’s also far more city than there are people,” Emelia pointed out.

“So we rebuild a small portion of the city and add new infrastructure. That’s still better than starting from scratch,” Russ argued. Even Imri could see that Russ's arguments resonated with many of those gathered.

“It might be tempting to think we could simply pick up our old lives, reclaim our homes. It isn’t that simple. There is magic now, and the Chixel have an entire floating island as one of their cities. It’s not a small thing that you just add on; it changes everything,” Imri said.

“Are you suggesting we build a floating city? That seems preposterous,” Dr. Thompson said, voicing his typical distrust of anything magical.

“We need some kind of a defendable location. Our best advantage has been our obscurity and mobility. If we camp in the middle of the city, every Chixel and Azala will know where we are. They knew the integration would happen, and our Chixel allies informed us that the Chixel leadership would be well-established soon. If they wanted to, they could send an army and shatter what little we had rebuilt,” Sylvi explained.

“So we're just going to be nomads the rest of our lives, too scared to put down roots?” Russ argued.

“We continue searching for something unique, a natural treasure that is worth settling a new city for. Once we find a location, we can build a home with the advantages we’ve gained,” Imri explained.

The arguments reached an impasse. Both sides continued arguing, repeatedly bringing up many of the same points, like a broken record. Eventually, they dispersed, with no real decision made.

“Everyone is scared, and they want to turn to what they know,” Emelia explained to a frustrated Imri as their group of four started a side discussion.

“They need hope,” Sylvi agreed. “I think we need to give them a reason to settle somewhere else before they’ll agree.”

“What did you have in mind?” Imri asked.

“We find the location where we want to settle down. We find a natural treasure that is worth building a city around,” Sylvi said.

“I like the idea, but it might take some time. Powerful natural treasures don’t just pop up everywhere. They're rare and hard to find,” Imri pointed out.

“I propose we start the search immediately,” Sylvi said, getting a nod of agreement from Imri but a concerned frown from Emelia.

“While I’m not opposed to the idea, you’ve admitted it won’t be a short excursion,” Emelia stated.

“Don’t worry, I was going to suggest I go alone. Imri won’t be going on another excursion away from camp,” Sylvi reassured her.

“Won’t it be dangerous going alone?” Emelia asked.

“I can move faster and stealthier on my own. If we had enough people to spare, maybe it would be nice to have someone watching my back, but I’ll manage,” Sylvi said.

“I could join you,” Zhaire suggested. His general sentiment for retaking the city was more likely a reaction to inactivity rather than a genuine desire to rebuild Minneapolis.

“While I appreciate it, I think you're needed here. It won’t be a short excursion, and the best approach will still be avoiding conflict,” Sylvi explained.

“Just be careful,” Emelia said, Imri nodded in agreement. Sylvi promised she would, though she knew it wouldn’t matter if she had the bad fortune of running into a group of Ulfr Hounds or worse.

“If we move the camp, we’ll leave a message for you. We’ll hide it in that tree,” Imri said, pointing to one of the stone trees with a small hollowed recess.

Sylvi was decisive after making the decision. She immediately moved to begin packing her bags. Imri sensed Emelia’s unease as she watched her friend set out. He laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Zhaire huffed and walked off, Imri hoping he wouldn’t do anything reckless.

With that decided, Imri refocused on completing his first practical enchantment. He already had a concept in mind, with the main obstacle being the materials. Fortunately, the material components weren’t needed in large quantities, at least not for this kind of item. He went around the camp, asking everyone if he could use their jewelry, with the promise that he would return it with an enchantment added on. While many were reluctant to give up their precious items, many saw the practical benefits and readily let him borrow them.

For his first enchantment, he selected a silver necklace with a teardrop diamond. He selected it for several reasons. First, it was slightly larger than the rings or earrings that many of the women had, making it easier to inscribe the runes and leylines. Second, unlike the fitted pieces, it could be given to anyone on an as-needed basis. The final reason was that the jewelry belonged to Teresa, and he hoped to ingratiate himself with Zhaire for a time.

He studied the necklace for a long while, mentally mapping out where each of the runes would go. It was a simple enchantment, the only challenge being the much smaller scale of the runes than what he had grown accustomed to practicing on paper. He sketched out his final design on paper, crafting the runes at the same minuscule scale they would be on the final work. His first practice run didn’t go as expected, so he repeated the attempt several more times until he had successfully inscribed all the runes at the proper scale twice in a row.

Feeling confident, he moved to the necklace, slowly inscribing the runes like he had on the paper. He worked slowly, carefully reproducing every rune with as much precision as possible. Even with the slower pace, it didn’t take long for him to complete the enchantment. He tested his creation, channeling a small amount of his mana into the leylines, which ran along the length of the necklace. The mana ran from the leyline into the small teardrop diamond, where it remained. Imri tapped the diamond and felt his enchantment activate, feeling the world around him slow ever so slightly. The effect lasted only a moment before the world returned to normal.

Imri raised a triumphant fist into the air. The enchantment had worked; he had created a Time Dilation necklace. There had been several challenges in creating the necklace. The first was the centerpiece of the enchantment, the rune of Time Dilation. He suspected it was far beyond any novice enchanter, and the only reason he could craft it was his heritage and the synergy with his class that had given him the chronomancy runes skill. In addition to the complexity of that one rune, there was the challenge of what to set the amplitude at. He had originally considered the 5% effect, which was his standard amplitude when casting the spell personally. However, he strongly suspected the enchantment would be much less efficient than his own casting, and the diamond also wouldn’t be able to hold as much mana. This meant even at full charge, the time dilation effect would be brief. So, he settled on 3%, the lowest number with a noticeable effect.

The second major challenge was the activation of the Time Dilation. He had originally considered activating the enchantment as soon as mana was present. However, that would have meant the mana would need to be charged in the middle of battle. This was limiting who could charge the necklace to the user. He also wasn’t confident that anyone would have the control necessary to charge the necklace efficiently. Even Caroline, who had been practicing mana control, could barely infuse her mana.

Instead, Imri decided to activate the Time Dilation enchantment using the True Distance rune. Again, this presented challenges; he wanted anyone to be able to use the necklace, so he couldn’t have the rune measure something overly specific. Fortunately, his practice had shown him that the spell could measure distances between something having a specific characteristic. The key was providing enough information so the spell could distinguish which object to measure. So, Imri had written the rune to measure the distance from the gem to the wearer's right index finger. When that distance was 0, the enchantment would be activated. The downside was that the True Distance rune was constantly running, meaning the necklace would need to be recharged constantly. Imri hoped the rune had negligible consumption, as he currently didn’t have a better option.

Satisfied with his work, he fortified his runes to full strength, having been somewhat diminished from the test run. Finally, he took out the highest level core that was available, a level 8 Ulfr Hound core. He used the core to finish the enchantment, locking it into place. With his work completed, he identified the finished product.

Item Tier/Rank Mana Efficiency Description

Silver Necklace of Time Dilation 1F 126 An aesthetic piece of silver jewelry with a teardrop diamond, mass-produced before system integration. Enchanted with Time Dilation by Imri Padar. The effect is activated by tapping the diamond with the wearer's right index finger. Upon activation, the wearer slows down relative time by 3%, allowing them to move faster than creatures unaffected.

Imri was relatively pleased. He knew the 126 was the mana efficiency of the rune, only slightly above half of the efficiency of his own spell. This was a bit worse than he had hoped for, but not an entirely unexpected outcome. This also didn’t consider the mana lost from charging the necklace. Imri was proud of his creation, but it certainly wouldn’t replace his spellcasting anytime soon. What it did provide, was a use for others mana, people who weren’t using any mana now had a use for it. Imri shifted his focus, and a mental prompt brought up the logs for his gains through crafting.

New Achievement Rank Primary Stats / Rank Description

Master Crafter 1 .1% Produced a crafted item of significance. Rank is determined by the quality and function of the crafted item.

Imri Padar has reached Level 4 in Runic Enchanter (1F)

Primary Stats Gained New Value

+1 Agility

87

+1 Intelligence

146

+1 Willpower 131

Secondary Stats Gained

+1 FP

85

+4 MP 202

+3 Mana Efficiency 218

+4 Crafting Efficiency 223

New Quest Gained Progress

Runic Enchanter Class Rank Up F to E Craft functional runes 7/20

Imri was pleased with the results, most of which came from the primary stat gain, though every point from secondary growth was welcome. Imri was curious about the results if he could craft the same item again, and he expected it would be a couple of points more efficient. He was also pleasantly surprised with how easy it would be to rank up his profession. The quest counted not only the primary runes he had used but also every boolean and switch that was required to complete the enchantment. He had also added a faint light that would activate when the necklace was nearly fully charged.

He returned the necklace to Teresa, who seemed only mildly interested as Imri explained how the enchantment worked. However, Zhaire more than made up for her lack of enthusiasm. He practically ripped the necklace away from the former ballerina, who seemed not at all bothered to give it up.

“Do I need to wear this around my neck?” he asked as he inspected the necklace, which would fit almost everyone in camp except for Zhaire.

“You just need to touch the gem with your index finger while wearing it. How you wear it is up to you,” Imri explained. Zhaire nodded, fiddling with the setting until it fit around his left forearm like a bangle. He hadn’t needed to adjust it much, his forearm being of comparable width to Teresa’s neck.

“Can you make more of these?” Zhaire asked.

“Eventually, my mana is getting low, and I should wait before crafting another. We have enough jewelry for now, but cores are going fast with Caroline and I using them,” Imri explained.

“I think another raid into the city is in order. We should be able to snag a few Azala that are patrolling nearby,” he said almost reverently. He was clearly pleased to have an excuse to look for trouble.

“Just don’t go too crazy. There will be plenty of fighting even if we don’t go looking for it,” Imri said. Zhaire’s face clearly said he disagreed, but he nodded anyway.

With the necklace currently uncharged, Zhaire handed it back, tasking Imri to charge it for him. Imri wasn’t about to spend his precious MP on it, so he spent the next few hours teaching several people how to infuse mana. It was worse than he feared, and many could not channel mana to any degree. Those few that could, did so with terrible efficiency, and most of the mana was lost to the air. Despite many people with full mana pools, the necklace remained almost entirely uncharged. It would take some practice in mana control before using the necklace would be feasible. Fortunately, Zhaire was nothing if not competitive, and Imri did not doubt that he would eventually become proficient at controlling his mana.

Zhaire went ahead with the raid, planning a route to an upscale jewelry store in a shopping mall. He assembled a small group that included Teresa, Dr. Thompson, and several others Imri wasn’t well acquainted with. With Sylvi, Zhaire, and Teresa gone for a time, the camp had a dearth of capable fighters.