[NR] Magic Doesn't Like That - Chapter 613

And enough it was, at least while within Jason’s body. The natural flexing of space around the planet, especially while within a place currently being annexed from the Deep Wilds, was a little much. However, space seemed to be almost entirely relative and so the space inside his body was calm enough for the frayed threads to hold the d20 globe knots in place. All that was left? To replace every System line.

This certainly wasn’t going to be a quick process and while Jason was proud of his buildings, he didn’t trust them that much. So, he waited for Rosha and Courtney to show up again. He had business with Courtney, anyway.

A couple days passed and Jason is sitting across from Courtney. She looks up from a paper with his analysis of one small part of the immovable rod pattern. “And the whole thing is like this? You broke the entire pattern down to this level of detail?”

Jason shrugged, “I needed to find how it worked at the most basic level.”

Courtney sighs, “You can’t afford to own this. Even if this is only built upon the publicly available stuff and ignoring the bits I helped you with, it is too complete. The only reason you’re still alive and free is because you didn’t finish it in NeoRealm and we’re in the Deep Wilds. Otherwise, a diviner would have caught its creation and the powers that be would have swooped in to compete over it.”

Jason raises an eyebrow, “That’s a bit extreme. It is based purely on the public pattern. I can’t be the only one to have done something like this.”

Courtney nods, “And everyone who has is now ‘honored guests’ of one power or another. In theory, this isn’t hard to do. Simple scientific method is going to get you here eventually, right?

“Wrong. This is magic, and magic hates being too predictable. Every attempt to standardize crafting like this over multiple items will fail.”

Jason, “Then why am I important? If it can’t be repeated, I’m worthless. It’s all there on the paper already.”

Courtney wagged her finger at him, “Ah, but you did do it! While you might not be able to replicate it, they’d hope you would manage something else. Maybe not this extreme, but maybe it would be.

“See, the problem with stuff like this is that magic literally rewrites itself. Not in the same level of an artifact. Well below that, in fact. However, I’m willing to bet that unless used to make an immovable rod, one of those materials or techniques will suddenly have a different effect. Or some other weird thing, you never know.

“If anything, an artificer family or company that just wants to prevent any potential future incidents might wrap you up. Out there, a bunch of artificers and alchemists are cursing as previously stable recipes aren’t so stable anymore.”

Jason, “But there is a market for this plan?”

Courtney shrugged, “Oh sure, but it is the kind of thing you can only sell once. Also, you picked an. Interesting. Item to breakdown. Don’t get me wrong, they’re popular enough, but since there is a public pattern, the full breakdown isn’t worth as much.

“If you did this on something like a necklace of fireballs? We stop talking about gold and begin valuing things in trade. After all, a truly rare item can’t be bought, only bartered. Priceless in the truest sense.”

Jason, “However, since there is a public pattern that works, it isn’t cracking open a new market.”

Courtney, “I figure you can get at most a few hundred thousand gold for it. While that would be made with just selling about a hundred rods, you can’t exactly make them yourself, anyway.”

Jason, “I’m not sure what I was expecting? But that amount managed to both be more and less than I expected.”

Courtney nods, “I understand the feeling. On one hand, it was made using a free pattern so it can’t be worth too much. On the other hand, a particularly clever crafting mage could probably figure out how to skip numerous steps and materials, cutting the material costs significantly.”

Jason, “If only the immovable rod was more sought after or with a limited number of uses.”

Courtney, “Well, at least you’ll have made some headway on the next gear upgrade or two. With this, you’ve almost broken into the second economy.”

Jason shrugs, “I’ll start dealing in favors and barter after I hit 100. Though the speed at which prices increase with level is a bit ridiculous.”

Courtney rolls her eyes, “Getting to 100 instantly raises someone from whatever social status they had to personally being within the top one percent. They might not always be there in wealth, even idiots can hit 100 given the right situation. However, someone at 100 won’t have a hard time making money. Even just living somewhere can earn them money.”

Jason, “All the more reason to move onto the infamous favor economy.”

Courtney, “Do you even have a plan for what to do with the money? It’s probably about what your mom makes in a couple months, but without the financial burdens. Well, besides taxes. For such a large sum of gold, the System is going to automatically take a cut.”

Jason, “I was thinking of buying a bunch of ritual manuals. Oh, and stuff for Lily. My current equipment isn’t the best, but it is hard to find stuff that fits me and takes into account Energy.”

Courtney steeples her fingers, “Hmm, I think. I think that we might want to trade it to this kingdom instead of auctioning it. They’ll have what you want, but wouldn’t sell it to you for just some gold. Not quite on the level of barter only, but even simple rituals are rare. Let alone the types a kingdom will keep around. You might only get one manual in exchange for that manual.”

Jason, “I’d be fine with that, though presumably they can throw a bit of change in with it. How do we do this?”