Mined Games chapter 9

Mine. Smith. Condense. Three simple words, three very un-simple actions, and ones I repeated ad nauseum. I found that breaking my body down with mining before getting into the condenser actually helped me absorb the mana faster, and that I’d been doing things in the wrong order. So I made sure to do my physical work before my condensation.

I spent a week working. Learning to make items better, clearing the mine. I got in touch with Riley a few times, keeping the channels between us open by using him as an alternate source for mana tainted ore. My usual sources had noticed the increased traffic, even with me spreading things out, so the black market was my best bet.

Riley, for his part, didn’t mind at all. He charged me a bit over market price, but that wasn’t the end of the world. After the first week, I finally managed a dagger to the level that the tutorial recognized it as a success. Since there was no mana, there couldn’t be a Form rank, but it was a pretty nice knife, if I did say so myself.

I considered selling it, but with no mana imbued, there was no way to measure Form. So, to finally test out my skills in a more concrete way, I contacted Riley and bought a mana crystal. Specifically, a life mana crystal.

Human condensation was based on the way mana crystals formed, so for any mana type a person could have, there were naturally occurring crystals. For people like me, with rare mana types like space, those crystals were extremely rare, hence why we were valuable.

Even past Caster rank when people could melt down crystals and mix them together to create more complex enchantments, space materials were rare enough to make using them costly and difficult. When a person with a certain mana type imbued mana into an item the mana imbued was, obviously their own mana type. So any item I imbued with mana would take on spatial attributes, allowing me to make spatial items even without spatial materials.

Life mana was a much more common type of mana. Specifically, there was one family in Edgebank that used a life mana formula, and that family were the Selton family. Tara’s clan. They weren’t huge, but they were notable alchemists so people were well aware of what they could do. Because life mana was more common, getting crystals of that mana type was easier, though still far from cheap.

My mission this time was to use the magic forge’s ability to imbue mana to try to forge a mana item for Tara. Still being Acolyte meant she wouldn’t be able to cast spells with it yet, but having compatible mana would mean she could as soon as she hit Apprentice. Plus if I got lucky I might make something that actually had an enchantment.

After getting my hands on the glowing leaf green mana crystal I stashed it away in my inventory, taking a quick look to see what it said about the item.

Mana Crystal (1)- A tier one mana crystal naturally condensed from life mana.

Nothing earthshattering, but when I loaded it up into the magic forge, I selected tutorial as usual, and enabled mana imbuing before starting on the creation of the knife. The device glowed as usual, but rather than a neutral blue, this was leaf green.

The forge heated up, and I heated the metal, but rather than glowing red like normal, it began to glow green. I almost dropped the iron, but I ignored the effect, and started following the steps. When i hit the metal the first time, the glow vanished, returning nearly instantly when I pulled the hammer away. I frowned, but followed the arrows, and was shocked to note that when I hit the metal a second time, the glow didn’t vanish, just dimmed until it was nearly gone.

The mana had been pushed into the metal with the heat, but I hadn’t Saturated it. As the mana was hammered into the iron, it became part of the object. That Saturation turned the metal into a mana material allowing it to channel mana. The more saturated the item the more mana it could channel, with full saturation creating a magic item, assuming the minimum Form requirement was reached.

Of course, different materials had different saturation limits and therefore could channel different amounts of mana, but the process was the same whether you were working iron or starsilver. You hit the metal to induce a resonance with the mana and the material allowing them meld together.

To my shock, the hammering became a LOT more intense and rapid fire once mana was added. I probably should have assumed that, but aside from direction and force, tempo was important for the generation of resonance, which is why hammering techniques were created for certain schools of smithing. Like a signature.

I didn’t have one of those, but I had the forge and its directions, and I barely managed to hang on to the timing. Aside from the timing of the strikes, I still had to keep up with the necessary steps to maintain the Form, or the enchantment wouldn’t take, and it was all I could to to manage to hang on until the knife was finished.

Once it was done, I dunked it in the oil, letting it cool, and slumped to the ground in pain. My arms were killing me, but I was pretty sure I’d managed…something. I slowly climbed to my feet, using the togs to remove the knife from the oil.

It looked…green. It was a greenish black metal, something I hadn’t seen before. Sadly, when I put it into my inventory I found that I hadn’t made the cut.

Life knife (1)- An iron knife with forty percent saturation and at thirty percent of its Form. Sturdier than a normal iron knife, and able to channel mana, with life mana flowing the easiest.

I groaned. That was a disappointment. But not too much of one. I had to start somewhere as a blacksmith. Thirty percent Form wasn’t great, but the tempo thing had been a huge surprise to me, so I supposed it was better than it could have been.

Despite that, when I considered scrapping the thing, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I carried it to the back of the forge, and turned on the grinding wheel. I spent the next thirty minutes carefully and slowly putting an edge on the blade, as well as polishing it. Then I wrapped the hilt with some leather I had brought and looked it over clinically.

It might not be perfect, but it was a nice looking knife, and once she hit Acolyte it would be helpful to Tara. Everyone needed to start somewhere, and I started here. Dropping the Life Knife back in my inventory I considered doing some more training. I’d made it to the second circle, and could go further but right now I mostly just wanted to go visit my friend and give her the present I made her.

Stepping out of the mining company, I headed for the shower, washing myself off and getting dressed quickly, so I could head over to Selton Apothecary. When I arrived, I was greeted by the same old cheerful call of my name, and I smiled up at Tara as I headed for the counter. She looked just as cheerful as ever.

“Cale! I haven’t seen you in a week and a half. I was getting ready to call in the city guard. Though your dad finally snapped and chained you to the shop counter so you couldn’t stop working.” Her tone was joking, but her eyes shone with relief at seeing me here. I instantly felt guilty as hell for making her worry, but I pushed past it to return the smile.

“Sorry Tara. Been busy.” I reached into my pocket, and through that into my inventory, gripping the hilt of the Life Knife underhand, passing it to her. “I got this for you.” I didn’t say I made it. I wanted to tell her, but there was no way to justify the mana Saturation, given the obvious growth in my own condensation.

Her eyes went wide. “Caleb, what the fuck?” She sputtered, taking the blade from me carefully. It wasn’t fancy or perfect, but it was definitely nicer than most normal knives. Aside from being more durable, I was betting her mana was reacting to the knife. I saw it glow slightly, and I knew from the books I’d read that while that wouldn’t give it a magic ability or anything it would make it sharper and harder to break.

It also wouldn’t cost her any mana while it did it. That kind of trick might not be useful or practical for an real mage, but for an Acolyte it was the next best thing to an actual magic tool. Something that could help keep her safe.

“It’s yours.” I said firmly. “Wouldn’t do me much good. Think of it as a side effect of my new job. Which I can’t really talk about yet.” Once I hit Apprentice I could claim to have been secretly training as a Blacksmith. Make up some imaginary teacher who would be able to take the blame for my income.

Until then I’d just keep quiet. Luckily, the job itself quickly became a secondary concern for her as she got a closer look at me. “Wait a second.” She grabbed my arm, flipping it over to trace the silver veins under my skin. “You hit the second circle?” Her face split in a huge grin and she dragged me over the counter into a crushing hug.

Being fifth circle meant being much stronger than me, for similar reasons to the knife. While first circle mages were fully saturated in terms of musculature, the mana in subsequent parts of the body resonated with the primary mana as they progressed, making them stronger.

I was honestly lucky she didn’t question the silver veins, probably because knowledge about the workings of mana types like space weren’t common. The visible silver mana would fade once I moved onto the third circle and started on my tendons, so it wouldn’t be a problem for much longer at least.

Tara dragged me to the back, closing the shop, and sat me down, pulling out a bottle of mead and plunking it down on the table. She poured some of the glittering liquid into two glasses and shoved one at me, grinning happily.

“I just…I’m so happy for you Cale. I know how long you were stuck at first circle, how you were convinced you’d never get out. I won’t ask how, but whatever it is I hope it keeps up.” Her voice was thick with emotion, and it was hard not to echo the sentiment given all I’d been through. She’d seen how hard my life had been, and it meant everything to me that she cared so much about pain she’d never had to endure herself. I would be sure to repay her with everything I had when I got powerful enough.

Sadly, my money was somewhat limited now. I’d spent all of it over the last week on training aids and that life crystal. But the whole thing just showed me the way forward. Once I had enough income I was going to buy more common mana types, and do my best to train my ability to make mana items, maybe even making magic tools of my own.

Once I did that my money problems would be solved. I’d have everything I needed to continue my condensation and probably even hit Apprentice before the magic tower had their recruitment. Not that I was planning to do that. I’d been poking around, and the magic tower, while impressive, wasn’t my target anymore. I was aiming for the other most powerful group in Edgebank. The place where the richest and most respected mages hung their hats. I was going to try to get into the Blacksmith Guild.