Ch: 51

I am surprised that they hadn't mentioned a letter or anything about her brother and girlfriend before, during or the arrival. I figured that would be a huge tangential motivation for the trip.

Daniel

Remember that to creat a new world all you really need to do is either make the prefix up or the suffice sometimes it’s better to leave the root alone since readers have grasp on the meaning

Diego Morales-Heyser

I am not 100% on what you believe, but the Healer is the daughter of Four(Reel) and Kervin's boss. The bosses daughter was in the military as an healer, but left and went to an village. The Healer was an merchant then went into Healer training with the military, but was not good enough so she left in shame. The mother found love but her lover was not wanted by the family so she ran away to be with him. She have sent a letter to her family, but Kervins boss have not mentioned getting on from his daughter. In short the Mother have no direct connection with Silver Heard. However there is an chance that the mother belong to one of the 3 bigger merchant families. or at least one of the 10 biggest once, her family was big enough to do regular trade with high value goods. So a lot bigger than Kervin and his family.

Håvard

For fantasy metal names you could try looking up historical names of metals or obscure alloys and making them new materials. Most people aren't going to know what Duralumin (industrial age Aluminum alloy) or Plumbum (Roman era lead) are. Maybe doctor them a bit to keep off the nitpickers

Nobody

Can't believe I didn't realize WHICH merchant family her mom was from sooner, I assumed the healer was the guys daughter at first because she acts so stuck up.

Nobody

Finding good books about ancient and medieval alchemy is tricky because there's a lot of new-age stuff out there, but these two texts look like good places to start if you want to riff off of old Hermetic ideas about the relationship between alchemy, metallurgy and the soul: https://www.amazon.com/Hathors-Alchemy-Ancient-Egyptian-Hermetic/dp/0952423332#:~:text=Dr.,Feminine%20and%20ancient%20Egyptian%20transformation. https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Gold-Zosimos-Panopolis-Alchemical/dp/0473407760/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=medieval+alchemy+and+metallurgy&qid=1600799111&sr=8-1

ActionKermit

Boredom, she was simply bored

Alteron

If she doesn't like killing goblins and does not want Reel to see her skills, why did she insist on fighting the goblins? She definitely did not need to fight them and her companions would have preferred if she didn't, so I don't understand why she did this. And does she really still think that Reel doesn't know that she can use magic?

Todd Kloos

She's not being very judgemental, she just explained why she let the two go. She has a way she wants to live, a way to balance the morals of her previous life with her new one and not go insane. She didn't really judge him for killing them, only stating that she wouldn't kill them once they fled. She's forming her own code of conduct and doesn't care if others don't follow it.

ShadeByTheSea

This video is another great resource about the relationship between mining, metallurgy and alchemical mysticism in the 17th-18th centuries. It contains both textual analysis and laboratory reproductions of chemical experiments of the time: https://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/videos/why-did-isaac-newton-believe-alchemy

ActionKermit

Here's another option: each word is actually the spoken version of a rune, a spell being a runic circuit, and the pronunciation while expelling mana being the "wire" that connects the runes. It also explains why nothing happens when you mispronounce it, your runic circuit isn't properly connected so it doesn't do anything. Runes are probably the most efficient way of expressing concepts for magic, kinda like assembly language for magic, whereas normal language has to be interpreted or compiled first, contains a lot of redundancies and is inaccurate.

MadGod

I've been thinking about how the magic in this world works and I've come up with an explanation, maybe not how it really works but with the limited information I have this is what I have: The first evidence is more words = more mana usage. this can easily be explained by how inefficient our language contains information. I doubt magic really cares what language is, only the information contained within. words are just vibrations in the air after all. The evidence for this is that the English language still works, meaning that the only restriction is whether or not the user considers the words, words. So magic efficiency depends on how much information is being conveyed. Which means that a magic language does not want filler words, and should work with only have concepts and ideas. In fact the cleaning spell MC uses could be cast with only one word. It works like this: Each syllable means a vague concept: Expel, Mana, Attach, and Dirt. The spell expells mana that then attaches to the dirt and carries it away. The word then compresses that information into one specific meaning kinda like how computers can compress files. There are weaknesses to such a language like there are only no many syllables and too many ideas and concepts. If the information is what matters most not words then simply using words as vague ideas and making the sentence compress the information you can have much greater ways to express ideas and concepts. Notice how the cleaning spell has 4 words? Expell, Mana, Attach, Dirt. MC may come to realize this and may be able to more efficiently compress this information as was intended. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Comiak

Umm, didn't read your whole comment, was longer than last chapter. But the part I did read about our protagonist pretty much screwing herself by not taking advantage of her current company, I totally agree with. She's pretty much spent her life min/max'ing her time to increase her skills and levels, but ignores an opportunity to learn from a high lvl spy/assissin? Kinda silly if you ask me. She's going to look for materials to make an arrow, but ignores a resource that has probably used a variety of weapons and equipment. I still don't understand the whole reason she's become so antagonistic towards him. Not like he slapper her ass or stared at her in a lewd manner.

Dikfor

Btw, regardless of whether you make minor adjustments in response to the above (I really hope you do, obviously:-) I'm very much looking forward to the next chapter and the materials browsing! Hopefully you will have her ask about the materials and maybe seek out smiths (ideally Silver Herd will already have 1 or 2 there when she shows up, ready to answer her questions) since she's already shown that combinations of materials are important and may not be immediately obvious without experimentation which she doesn't have enough time to start from scratch.

Stephen Pearson

I'm a big fan of the story, but I was seriously disappointed in this chapter. Not because of the goblins, it's reasonable for her to struggle with who or what to inflict violence upon. On the contrary, my problem is her complete and utter lack of curiosity on things which range from immediately critical down to merely of guaranteed great future interest. By that I mean, she has correctly identified Reel as a spy, which means he will have lots of pertinent information on top of a keen eye for situations around the kingdom. He is also the highest levelled human she has ever met, and is festooned in magical items. Further, she is endlessly bored for five entire days yet cannot do anything. Lastly, he explicitly offered to explain anything she wanted to know about... yet she's more interested in tweaking him because he's annoying. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that these discussions need to be covered in detail; a simple mention of how endless her question have been would cover it to explain less than completely embarrassing ignorance on her part later, and would even be an amusing way to annoy him back. So, in rough order of decreasing improbability that she wasn't interested in: 1. He has actually valuable magic items, and lots of them. While he's unlikely to explain his own equipment, she should be curious about what sort of effects exist, how they're used, how common they are, how expensive they are, and what sort of materials they are made from. Does she need to worry that he'll realize she wants to enchant? He already knows that. He delivered the enchanting materials, procured from his company, and he's a spy. Ask away. This has direct bearing on her current fetch quest, and will give her an initial leg up. It also is square in her areas of interest, so cannot be explained away as 15-year-old surly lack of interest (especially considering it's closer to 20 yrs due to longer days, months, and years). 2. He has actual experience with higher level people. He can explain how common various levels are outside her village, and in what sorts of professions. Well known higher levelled skills might be discussed as part of this. 3. She's on her way to an actual city for the first time in this life. What are the customs, interactions, normal and abnormal behaviors for the city? What sorts of threats are endemic to the city that would be new to a village girl? Who are the power players in the city? What are the points of interest in the city that she might benefit from, or even want to check out some other time? Other smiths of high skill that she could even look at their work? 4. The general clearly has keen interest in her. As a spy he should know a lot about her and her house already, and has had the chance to form his own first hand impression. 5. There is a literal war, which is already affecting her. Who is the other country, why is there a war on, what is the likely outcome, what would happen if they roll through the fort, is there any chance that her village or Drey where her family is will be overrun? Will taxes have to be raised? Conscription? 6. What about her country? What are the structures of governance, and who are the players? She will be unable to completely avoid them forever; having a grounding in who they are could be critical later. 7. How does Silver Herd operate? What are it's strong areas, what are it's goals, how are their employees structured (could use Kervin as an example of a change)? Who are they in competition with? This is germaine as other players may make a move to poach or end her later. This of all of them is where she should expect the answer to be shaded to the positive for the company. 9. What about other bordering countries that they're not currently at war with? What are their relations, and is there any concern that any of them will take a shot at the country while it's weakened from it's current war? 10. Any cool skills he can teach? This one may be too personal or not done. Alternately, she may not want to give away information that may leak as part of this process. But instead of being curious about any of that, some of which bear on her immediate quest or her family's future as she becomes more sought after... she threatens him with her mother and sits there complaining about being bored.

Stephen Pearson

Hopefully she comes across a family being mutilated and violated to make her stop being such a judgemental cunt. This is a world where most humans are hiding behind walls to keep them safe from being preyed upon, and she wants to just let predators of humanity roam around free? She is utterly disgusting.

Garend

Some real-life ideas from Renaissance alchemy that might be applicable include: Aurum horizontale: a substance that is "gold in weight but not yet sufficiently yellow", produced in alchemical experiments intended to transform base metals into gold (chrysopeia). Bezoar: A quasi-legendary stone with healing properties that sometimes appears in the bodies of animals. Reminiscent of "monster cores" that appear in fantasy fiction. Cinnabar: a reddish form of mercury oxide ore. Glaure augurelli: Probably Bismuth. Used in small quantities to enhance certain steel alloys. Stibium: Antimony sulfide, used by the ancient Egyptians and Romans for eye cosmetics. Known for its flame-retardant properties and its usefulness as part of a lead alloy. In general, remember that alchemy and metallurgy are closely linked. Alchemy played a vital role in the mining industry in the 14th century because most of the easily accessible metal veins in Europe had been tapped out, so chemical solutions were needed to separate usable material from junk rocks. A broadly-educated generalist blacksmith like Aalyiah absolutely has reasons to study alchemy, especially since she mines as well as working with processed materials.

ActionKermit

Medieval and renaissance alchemy are a goldmine of ideas for magical metals. Here's a page briefly discussing some of Isaac Newton's alchemical experiments involving metal: https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/reference/chemProd.do One of the beliefs of the time that Newton set out to explore is the notion that the earth itself is "alive" or has life-like properties. One of the experiments mentioned in the link above has to do with producing metallic "vegetation", or the use of chemical baths to create structures reminiscent of metal veins found in stone. The goal was to find out how the living metal "grows" into place. We know that's geological nonsense today, but who knows what kinds of effects could result from infusions of elemental mana in Aaliyah's world?

ActionKermit

Honestly, the whole " A MC need to be a dark killer " is so unrealistic to me. Goblins are a pest, nothing more. The villager can deal with them. Her reluctance to murder seem quite justified.

Sondadir

The-Anti-Akuma

Mermaids Tears: basically blue seaglass with a mixture of earth and water mana. Smoke Glass:fantasy obsidian. Adamant Tusk: Tusk or horn from a magical animal of earth nature. Hunters Stars: A type of nut that glows at night under a thick branch cover, if powered it can be mixed with metals. Black Bone:Bones of a creature that died to lightning.

Dopplerdee

In real life, the shaft would be too heavy unless you used something like titanium, at which point, you'd be better off just using titanium and skipping the wood. Heavier arrows have more stopping power but have a lower range. However, in fantasy settings this kind of logic can be ignored.

Dikfor

So what, you'd genuinely read through a chapter just describing them gearing up for the journey, departing and driving through the forest for several days while nothing else happens?

Elmhedera

In some settings it’s called Star Metal

Alteron

He is a strange person, when he joins Kervin he is being as annoying as possible, and again to Aaliyah, maybe to see what makes them tick?

Alteron

I think Reel is supposed to sound like a lunatic. It seems like a sort of persona that he puts on and isn't who he actually is. I mean, we don't even have his actual name yet.

Wesley Krause

In a old campaign I had Blackwood, ideal for bow and arrows, grew mostly in Elven areas. The arrows was made by hollowing out the Blackwood and filling it with a metal core, I have no idea if that will work in real life.

Alteron

ALLSHINE. This is completely made up. Allshine isn’t an ore but a deposit of sediment found in the higher mana zones. It’s called allshine because it produces a spectrum of light (visible or not) based on the immediate mana surrounding it. One application is being used as an indicator for a person without mana sight. Another might be added to other inherent magic metals to always make it glow. For example if our MC added it to her sword it might always glow red/orange. The intensity of light is proportional to the mana density. On a side note it’d be interest to see the application of refinement/distillation in a fantasy with these materials.

Gray Gillespie

can you please stop these time jumps back and forth? they're irritating

Ato

You're probably right even if you're joking. Better suspension (or in this case ANY suspension) would allow for carts to get pulled over rough Medevial mud and gravel roads with greater speed and less breakdowns. The lack of suspension on those old wooden carts severely limited their practical top speed, meant they got stuck lots, and the wheels/axles broke frequently due to the shock back then. Suspension didn't become a thing really until the later 1600's I think

tibbish

He kills people for money. Of course he'd have some screws loose.

tibbish

Mental Metal: psi sensitive metal that while too soft to form effective armor or weapons with on its own can be used to enhance psi abilities or shield psi attacks. Usually in the latter role used as a liner of sorts in a helmet with the outer layer being regular steel or magi-steel for the wealthy. As for a weapon to enhance psi abilities that will depend greatly on the individual for whom it is being made and care must be taken to tune the item to the user. This also means the weapon would be near useless for anyone else of course which can be a boon in certain circumstances but will have a terribly negative effect on resale value as loot. At that point its value is to be measured by weight as the raw melt price on the market of the day. Which unfortunately due to its specialist and niche role, despite the rarity of such Dwarven sourced alloys that are of no known means of production in human lands, is surprisingly poor for a magic material. -excerpt from The Trader's Guide to Magic Items, Ores, and Sundries

tibbish

reel is sounding like a lunatic

Morog T Tiny

I kind of want her past experiences to shine through a bit more now with the city comparisons. she still comes across as very naive all the time without any callback to previous life apart from, "it happened". I liked that her reason for liking the city was more subtle than it being a city but rather being taken in by the mana flows nice work there. might need to mention that real actual starts to laugh as you only mention her walking away from manic laughing which seemed odd

Viva01

Read up on Stymphalian birds they were a Greek myth that describes them as birds with bronze beaks and metallic feathers. It be a great monster component that would cover metal and wind

CHoobler

A meteorite might be an interesting magical material that could easily go unnoticed by someone who doesn't know what it is. The metal could be infused with magic as it is superheated while falling to the earth. Meteorites are often mistaken for random rocks and thrown into rock piles when farmers clear fields. With the farms all around the city, it is possible that there is rare ore that has simply been discarded.

PortlandPhil

May want to use region specific materials since things have properties. Iron from a volcano, or stone from a deep deep mine. Picking locations associated with rare materials gives some opportunities for world building and places to visit in the future.

Alex C

There is a game called Fantasy Blacksmith that has a few metals that you may like.

Nemanja

snake silver: This extremely rare metal is found in mana rich swamp lands where it will take in the abundant levels of earth and water mana. While it is highly unlikely that anyone should ever get a glimpse of this metal in their lifetime's, it's reputation as an extremely flexible metal precedes itself. This is metal is flexible to the point of folding like paper (with enough force of course) and retains other metal's hardness in spite of this. A weakness of this metal is that it becomes surprisingly brittle if it's left little room to bend, making it susceptible to piercing attacks. This metal is utilized in the highest quality armors as both a buffer and protective plating in the joints of armor where it can cover up those weaknesses.

Quollski123

some ideas that might work but are not Ore's as we have seen Aaliyah use monster parts. silverwood- wood infused with some wind mana, flexible but soft (as in its easy to bend but to be truly useful for an arrow it needs hardening). Some carapace form some other monster that has infused ore in its carapace. why not mana infused Obsidian (it breaks easily but that is the point of it in the arrow since the shards will be stuck in the wound.). also one crazy, practically impossible material- Temporal weave- nobody is sure what it does, at one point it's there, the other it isn't. made of unknown things, has time effects. can suddenly increase its speed or slow it down by a huge margin (like 10x times). it bends unnaturally, moves sideways and generaly it does a lot of weird things all in some way related to concept of time.

Solarlancer

I made the name Scarletite for a DnD campaign once. I made it as an in-between for mithril and Adamantium for my players. Just something to give a slight damage boost, horrible for aromor though

Osprey36

senile steel: a metal which can't seem to remember that it was damaged and will work to repair any damage taken in the last 24 hours. Senile steel is considered to be an uncommon metal found in small deposits that forms in the sides of deep crags. It's outrageous price is only partially due to it's rarity, the main reason for it's price is the arduous task of refining the metal. To refine the metal, it must be worked on constantly for the 24 hour period whilst performing periodic mana injections. The other method requires a talented magician who can prevent any ambient earth mana from entering the steel. The is because the metal naturally takes in earth mana to repair itself.

Quollski123

who cares about fantasy ore? Aaliyah needs to invent better cart suspension.

J03MAN

Keep in mind the more unique lore like item material grades or all those damn runes you add, the harder or more tedious aspects of the story become. I think it would be fine stick with known fantasy items like mithral or real world minerals with new properties (ex: rose quartz conducts fire but shades it pink).

Docnox

Gotta go get that Unoptanium

B'eliar An'Zoth Lord of Daze

Thanks for the chapter! Two typos: You're just jealous > You're just envious hoard of goblins > horde of goblins

Guessed

I very much enjoyed this chapter. The interactions between Aaliyah and Reel show a bit of both their characters, the love of life from one, and the disregard from the other. I am very amused by the "your mom" joke, that was a bit of classic comedy. Alsoñ I am curious what Aaliyah's mom said that scared a level 70 assassin. She can be scary, but not THAT scary... Oh well, everything will make sense soon enough. Thank you for another wonderful installment of your work.

Chemnerd263

If this world had something like a patent system, i could see her making bearings and shock absorbers for kevins cart. But without intellectual protective rules in place, it would only enrich others. Its no wonder the development of our wold was stunted for such a long time without it. Everyone just keeped his/her knowledge a secret so no one could just steal it. :-/ Metals/Aloys? Hm, besides the standard fare like: Duranium, Elementium, Arkanum, Adamantium & Eternium... Phlebotonium ^_^ Ok, lets think of something myselfe: Lumenit(ium) & Lunarium - When gold and/or platin traces located in high places (mountain topps that stand over the see of clouds), they can soak up the sunlight (gold) - or moonlight (platin). Those two metals (unlike most light (mana/essence) based materials) are only secondary known for their interaction with light magic. For those who know of these metals, they are known for the extreme heat/cold effects that seem to be travel along the very light they emit, circumventing most magical means to block them. Both metals are quite dangerous to mine, as even in an unrefined state, their emited light can do great damage to the eyes of people with high endurance. Magical enhanced black looking glasses with certain entchantments can be used to block the effect of these metals.

D

Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alchemical_substances loads of great stuff.

Algarept

I woke up this morning to a gift. An amazing and wonderful gift. Excuse me while I read this.

Chemnerd263

That second to last one. o_o

Enif

Better yet, the bush has flowering seasons and when it is ready to explode, it grows more and more unstable until finally random winds will trigger it. A bomb bush exploding nearby another bush will of course trigger that bush, etc. Despite its usefulness, allowing bomb bushes to grow rampantly results in flowering periods shattering entire mountainsides. To the bush, this loosens the rocky soil it grows in. To anyone living in the area, the resultant landslides are not so great.

Jonathan Seah

Cummingtonite. It's a real mineral (magnesium iron silicate hydroxide). I'm not suggesting you use it I just think it's a funny name.

Enif

Personally I think this is a great idea. At least for common, uncommon, rare items anything higher grade can be singled out for personalised names. Also with metals she crates herself. BUT using the Latin names would help speed up writing imo. And besides I am sure that not every know metal/items will be listed in the next chapter. Drey maybe a bigger place but I sure it not the biggest so it would be limited with what they have in stock etc.

Mr Ove

Bombbushwood. VERY dangerous. Absorbs wind and fire mana. When mature, explodes and scatters nutts to the whole region. Have to be harvested as close to maturity as possible. Need special skills to harvest. Many uses.

Narasan

Magmacoral . "Grows" inside active vulcan. Actually shells from a colony of small magical crabs that feed on the warmth od the. Vulcano and ...i guess some sort of magmaplant. Cant think of a name

Narasan

Mistril( its a pun.sue me.) An ore soaked with water mana. Turns whole area misty. Found inly in small amounts very powerful. Can as a weapon suck out the water of enemys . Even magical enemys. Can as a shield destabilize most water magic.

Narasan

Thank you!

Andrew

Echo crystals. Found on top of mountains in ( you guessed it) high mana zones. Absoorb air mana. React to any sound aside from the wind by amplifying the echo to lethal levels. Can only be harvested via air blades or some such. Very dangerous. Can be used to make sonic entchantments

Narasan

Heavenstone. Not actually a stone. Its wax infused with air mana by a bee species in a high mana zone. Floats. They use it io built flying nests. Tge name is very pretentious to drive the price higher. Can be melted and used as an ingredient in alchemy. Can be integrated into buildings to make fantasy architecture possible( its durable but weights nothing). Some super rich guy built a floating hiuse in a faraway country. Very expensive until someone finds a big nest. Than only expensive.

Narasan

Memorialis ore from a natural golem from a high magic zone . Absorbed some of the experience that scattered by the death of the golem. When integrated into a weapon/tool makes it slightly easier to use skills with it. The higher level the golem the higher the boost

Narasan

Stipare stone. Stipare is latin for packing. It's a stone that looks like pumice, but has the physical properties of closed cell packing foam and is used to ship expensive, fragile items.

Rallaster

I would use Latin words for the ores, like Ignis for a fire-elemental magical ore.

Markus

Magnitorium Hemocrystnight Bularium Fistinanusium Magmisite

DNAjester

Solar Gold / Lunar Silver / Star Platinum And the triple alloy Celes in Terra (lit. Heaven on Earth)

Jonathan Seah

This chapter is so good. Finally something new. Also Reel should be more discreet about being annoying.

Giperman

The materials could also contain stories, like Lionel’s Lament, a ore created when Lionel self-detonated to destroy the army invading his city.

Alteron

Thanks for the chapter

Alteron

Thanks for the chapter!

Seth

Yay updates can’t wait for the update. As for Ores.... -Elemental- Ore would be a good one. Fire Iron, Ice Iron, etc and then up it to elemental steel. A basic magical ore found in an area of high magical density influenced by its surrounding. Do the same with woods. It gives you a ton of low end materials. As for mid end I’d state (metal) (creature). Griffin Steel, Etc. Only high end ingredients having unique names would be fun

Milandaanza

Materials... There's this chart I drew up for Blue Core: https://app.lucidchart.com/documents/view/01a300e5-3446-4051-bce2-81f712b96216/0_0#?folder_id=home&browser=icon Other than that: Crysteel (crystal steel?) Petrified wood Incandescent Aerium (Aerium = copper in latin) Caelium (Caeli = air in latin)

Jonathan Seah

Drake iron. Like pig iron, it's nearly scrap metal, from failed magical projects.

The Epitome of Eccentricity

Thanks for the chapter

DayWalker

500 experience killing those week (weak) goblins.

Oxylus

Thanks

Prial

Corrections

Kosnik4