Chương 55: (54) 2.7. Caught Red Handed

"What do you mean, not an artifact?" Vin asked, staring blankly at his magic mentor.

"Look at it, it's covered in runic formations!"

"Precisely," Shia nodded.

"Think about it Vin, you've encountered far more artifacts in your short time on Edregon than most people will in their entire lives. Even minor ones are actually rather rare, you just have an insane knack for getting your hands on them it would seem. How many of them were covered in runes like that?"

"Well…" Vin paused, thinking back. Retracing his steps in his head, he started as he realized Shia was right. He'd encountered other objects covered in runes before, such as the glowing gemstones from the citadel he'd learned his Light spell from, or the concealed cubby built into Shia's Master's own bed he'd studied to learn Concealment. But neither of those objects had prompted the system to give him any experience, meaning they weren't artifacts.

"... Only the stone," he finally admitted, pointing to the elder's pocket.

"I assume you're about to lord your knowledge over me and tell me why that is?"

"Precisely," Shia grinned, any hesitation she'd just displayed over teaching him entirely forgotten.

"Unless the elder would prefer?" She asked, shooting a questioning glance at the woman.

"By all means, please go ahead," the elder smiled.

"I'm curious to hear if magic differs between our two worlds after all."

"In that case…" Shia took a deep breath, entering mentor mode.

"When people talk about enchanting something, there are actually two ways to go about doing that. The first method, and the one you're more familiar with, is creating an artifact."

"Construction of an artifact is done by forming the correct runic formation within your personal mana like you would for casting a spell, except rather than allowing the spell to activate, you have to hold the formation in place. While holding the structure steady and inactive, a feat I assure you is far more difficult than it sounds, you then pull the formation out of you and imprint it upon a physical object; another extraordinarily difficult feat."

"So that's why none of the artifacts other than the stone have runes physically carved onto them?" Vin asked, nodding along with Shia's explanation.

"Exactly. When you used your sword to learn Sense Magic, how did you see the runes making up the spell?"

"I'm not entirely sure… I used my magic and focus attributes to direct my attention into the blade and was somehow able to visualize its runic formation…" He paused, realizing what she was getting at.

"Ah. I tapped into the formation someone had imprinted onto the blade, huh?"

"Precisely. Anyone with high enough magic and focus attributes is able to visualize the runic imprint of an artifact, but it's dangerous," Shia said, frowning at him.

"Thankfully, your sword is only a minor artifact. The spell imprinted on it isn't very powerful, what makes the sword so dangerous is the material it's made from. If you'd tried sending your focus into a more powerful artifact, you literally could have melted your own brain. Or worse."

"Oh," was all Vin could say, doing his best to shrink back into his chair under the annoyed gaze of his mentor. He was embarrassed enough that despite how much he wanted to know, he decided against speaking up to ask exactly what would have been worse than his brain melting.

"Oh, indeed," she said, still frowning.

"Anyway, this first method, what my people call runic imprinting, is how artifacts are made. The alternative method of enchanting is called runic engraving. Such as with the elder's cane there. Unlike imprinting, engraving is the physical act of carving runes onto something, and then filling it with mana when you're done. There are some nuances you need to learn in order to engrave correctly, because as you pointed out earlier, runic formations created within our own mana aren't on a flat plane.

This often requires the formations to be a bit more complex, unless you are just engraving a fairly simple spell."

"Okay, I can't help but notice how you didn't stop to mention the dangers of engraving multiple times like you did with imprinting," Vin pointed out.

"Why doesn't everyone just do engraving then if it's so much safer?"

"There are a number of reasons," Shia sighed, ticking them off her fingers.

"First off, while engraving is far safer, it's actually much more difficult to do. It's hard enough having to learn what runes do in the first place for casting spells, and adding the nuances needed to engrave spells on a flat plane is like learning to understand a new dialect. Technically the same language, but still different. It's not impossible to work your way backwards from engraving to spell, like you did with the Concealment spell, but it's another story entirely going from spell to engraving."

"After that, there's the mana consideration. For some reason, imprinting a formation into something and turning it into an artifact allows the object to draw mana from the world around it. Runic objects on the other hand, require a continual supply of mana in order to function. How frequently they need to be refilled depends entirely on the skill of the engraver, the materials they're using, and the effect they are achieving. With all those different factors, it could be anywhere from days to years."

"Those definitely sound like annoying downsides," Vin frowned, imagining having to continuously replenish his different artifacts with mana. But if he could make his own artifacts… Shia clearly didn't like where his mind was heading, because she snapped her fingers in front of his face, startling him out of his daydreams of being decked out in magical armor.

"That doesn't mean you should run off and try your luck at imprinting runes without any actual training, Vin." Shia stared at him, making sure she had his full attention.

"If you engrave a formation into an object incorrectly and put some mana into it, at best nothing will happen, and at worst the object you spent so much time on might violently shatter. Do you want to guess what might happen if you imprint an object incorrectly while trying to make an artifact?" A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Brain melting?" Vin offered.

"Brain melting," she nodded.

"You know how I stressed the dangers of runic backlashes during spell creation? Because you're forcing the mana to build up and not activate the formation during imprinting, if you mess up, the backlash is magnitudes worse, Vin. I honestly can't stress this enough."

"Okay, I got it," he said, holding up his hand defensively.

"I know I was a bit stupid jumping in head first into spell creation before I was ready, but I'm not suicidal. I swear I won't try creating any artifacts without direct supervision."

"Good," Shia sighed, glancing over at the elder.

"Did you have anything you wanted to add?"

"Oh no child, I think you did an excellent job explaining," the elder smiled, tapping her cane on the ground twice in quick succession.

"Curiously, rather than imprinting and engraving, my people call these two methods imbuing and carving. If anything, I don't think you stressed the dangers of imbuing, or imprinting, enough."

"You could probably guess from our walls and my cane, but my people practice almost exclusively runic engraving," the elder continued, holding up her cane and nodding at the intricate array of runes carved all over it.

"We are a patient people and have no lack of stone. Should we mess up, it is simple enough to find a new piece and start anew. That stone I lent you is the only example of imprinting in our entire village in fact," she added.

"Want to take a guess as to why it's also covered in runes?"

"It's designed as a learning aid," Vin guessed, already having put the pieces together.

"So you enchanted it using both imprinting and engraving."

"Correct," the elder said, tapping her cane again with a smile.

"The Stone Mages in our village wouldn't risk putting anything more dangerous than a simple Sense Stone spell into the object, and the act of using both techniques actually helps speed up how quickly a person learns the spell."

"Making it the perfect instructional tool," Vin finished, in awe of the ingenuity. Already his mind was ablaze with the fact that there was practically an entire new field of magic he'd had no idea existed. This time however, he was planning to take Shia's words to heart. He'd spent enough time with the elf at this point to realize when she was being serious, and while he never thought of himself as being the smartest guy in the room, he wasn't dumb enough to risk liquifying his brain just yet.

Maybe in another ten levels or so.

"Okay. That's a lot to take in, but it all makes sense," Vin said, scratching his head.

"Then my only question is… Why does the System reward me for discovering artifacts and not runic objects?"

"Why does the System do anything?" Shia shrugged.

"In this case, my best guess would be because artifacts are harder and more dangerous to make." Yeah that's fair. Vin sighed, contemplating the question. If he ever got the chance to chat with the Gods again he was going to need an entire week to field all the questions he had for them.

"Well now, as interesting as this has been, I heard from Samtha that you and your friends were thinking about spending a few days here in our village?" The elder asked.

"Night is already upon us, and these old bones don't stay up as late as they used to. How about I show you where you'll be staying and we can chat more tomorrow if you'd like?"

"That sounds great, thank you!" Vin said, getting to his feet.

"Sorry to take up so much of your time. I was honestly only planning on dropping by for a quick hello and to return your rock. I'll admit I wasn't expecting the full magic lesson."

"Think nothing of it child," the elder smiled, patting his arm. Despite her age, her fingers were calloused and hard, like the very stone her people carved upon.

"Nothing brings me joy quite like teaching the younger generations. I only wish I could say the same for all of our Stone Mages," she clicked her tongue, heading out the door and gesturing for them to follow her.

"We have a few buildings that we used to allow wanderers and those visiting from other villages to stay in, though they have been empty ever since the Great Migration, so you don't need to worry about imposing," she chuckled, leading them toward the edge of the village.

"You needn't worry about comfort; the guest houses have the same carvings as any of our own lodgings. Now, if you find you need anything during the night, be sure to-" The elder froze as a scream erupted from the other side of the village, the shrill sound piercing through the general, comfortable murmur of the village and blanketing the settlement in silence. Before Vin could even react the elder was darting toward the source of the scream, her supposedly old bones making short work of the distance.

Vin and Shia only had to share a quick look before the two of them went racing after her, hot on her heels. Vin was shocked to find that the elder was actually faster than he was before remembering that speed was largely determined by dexterity. He had no doubt that the stone carver had dexterity in spades. Please let it be that Alka accidentally scared someone, please let it be something as minor as that, he prayed as they ran toward the source of the scream.

The village was small enough that they arrived at the source of the scream in no time, only to find a sobbing woman being consoled by a host of villagers. There were a full dozen warriors surrounding one of the stone buildings on the edge of the village, each one with either a spear or mace at the ready. Vin spotted the elder standing in the open doorway, the hide covering held above her head blocking the moon light and casting a dark shadow on her face.

Spotting Vin out of the corner of her eye, she seemed to hesitate for a moment before turning to frown at him, a hard look in her gaze.

"What's wrong?" Vin asked, doing his best to ignore how a handful of the stone spear tips shifted to point toward him as he approached.

"Is everything okay?"

"No. No it is not," the elder said solemnly, gesturing for him to look inside. Confused, Vin stepped into the doorway, his heart stopping at the scene he found before him. Inside the quaint little house that looked far more lived in than the elder's waiting room, lay a dead man on the floor. The man's eyes were wide open and he had a look of shock on his face, as though he was just as surprised by his death as everyone else.

The entire room had been ransacked, with leathers strewn here and there and shattered jars scattered upon the ground, spilling preserved food everywhere. Just inside the room stood a full squad of armed warriors, the half dozen men and women facing the dead man with cold fury on their faces. Their weapons leveled at the six inch tall man standing directly in front of the man's corpse, his bloody hands raised high above his head.

Scule's eyes met Vin's, and the petian let out a sigh of relief, a bit of color flooding back into his face as he called out.

"This isn't what it looks like!"