Chương 214: Artifact Construction

"Aside from single use artifacts, or 0 Rank artifacts, all artifacts are created from magically powerful materials. Many people think that this is because the material governs the strength of the artifact, which is partially true, but the true reason is that unless magically powerful materials are used, an artifact can't withstand the power of magic." Damion was quite excited to listen to Professor Heinrick lecture on the crafting of artifacts.

Given his own goal of creating an artifact that could peer inside a person and their magic core, he needed to learn as much as he could and as fast as he could. Once he graduated from Silver Spire, Damion doubted he would have much time to pursue this goal unless he joined a guild as an artificer.

"This is why ordinary objects can't be turned into artifacts and why ordinary materials like iron or cotton can't be used to make artifacts. Every part of an artifact must be a magical material. If it isn't, if even the tiniest part of an artifact is ordinary, then eventually, the magic running through that artifact will burn through that ordinary material and the artifact will fail. The more crucial the ordinary material was for the artifact, the more catastrophic the failure.

"The Mage Association is responsible for licensing artificers, even those that work in guilds and noble families. This ensures that each artificer is aware of the penalty of selling substandard artifacts."

"What is the penalty?" asked Mage Hill. Coming from a commoner family, like Damion, Mage Hill was not aware of what the penalty was. Though Damion had already read ahead in the textbook and since he was also taking Magical Law and Ethics with Mage Teft, he was aware that the penalty was harsh.

"Should an artificer sell substandard artifacts, they will lose their license, have to refund the purchaser or purchasers, as well as be required to serve in the Crimson Order for a period of no less than five years. If the artifact was widely sold or it was a high Rank artifact, B Rank or higher, then the term of service could be upwards of twenty years." The entire class was silent when Professor Heinrick told them of the penalty.

It clearly was not worth pocketing an extra bit of money with the risk of such a severe punishment.

"Do proper artifacts ever wear out? I mean the magical materials in them?" Damion asked. If the punishment was so severe, there had to be a way to determine what went wrong, unless of course properly made artifacts never wore out.

"Magical Materials will only ever wear down under two circumstances, damage or too much magic channeled through them. Damage is obvious, if part of the artifact is damaged, it may no longer function as intended and may eventually breakdown. That is why it is important to always have your weapons and armor properly repaired, if you don't they may fail the next time you try to use them.

"The other chance at failure is having too much mana channeled through them, though I say too much mana, it is more like, too high a Rank of mana. While stronger artifacts can be wielded by anyone with enough mana to activate them, weaker artifacts can actually be damaged when those of higher Ranks use them." This news sent a bit of a shock through Damion.

The sword his family had given him was important to him and he did not want to damage it unintentionally, but he had already used it several times, though as far as he knew, he had not caused it damage. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"How can you tell if an artifact is damaged by channeling too much magic into it?" another student asked before Damion could.

"In most cases, the artifact will immediately begin to malfunction. Once it reaches a critical level the artifact will either become completely inert, due to the enchantments being burned out or explode from the overcharge of mana." The class let out a shocked gasp at the idea of an artifact exploding in their face when using it, causing the entire class to make a note to never use an artifact lower level than themselves.

"Is there a set strength difference? Like can a C Ranker use a D Rank artifact?" Damion asked.

"If a mage is careful and only applies the correct amount of mana through an artifact, there is little issue with using a lower Rank artifact. The trouble comes when a mage tries to channel their full power, or a power level higher than the artifact, through said artifact," Professor Heinrick answered.

"What about tablets, and lights and all the other everyday artifacts we all use?" Mage Hill asked.

"Common artifacts like what you describe are usually safe from being overloaded by strong mages, unless a mage does so intentionally. Common artifacts, such as those, rely on the Mana Absorbing enchantment to power themselves, not on a mage. Other artifacts that require charging to use, such as ground or air cars, while not usually of a high Rank themselves, those artifacts have limiters in place to prevent overcharging or the charging pathways are reinforced to allow higher magic power."

"Is that like having more than one artifact to make a bigger artifact?" Damion asked suddenly figuring out an answer to one of his questions on how to make his x-ray artifact. Instead of trying to make one artifact do everything, make several artifacts to each do a different function and then make them work together as a whole.

"Quite correct. Larger and more complex artifacts are often designed as multiple artifacts and then combined. Ground cars are a prime example of this. Each wheel is an artifact, that once it receives a burst of mana from the battery, a separate artifact, rotates. The steering mechanisms and speed and braking controls are also separate artifacts. Individually, the artifacts are not anything complex, but together they form a large working artifact."

"How do you get them to work together?" Damion asked before Professor Heinrick could change the subject.

"For artifacts with just two or three parts, it is not complicated, a simple artifact that is designed to govern the functions of the others will do. However, once you get into artifacts made up of five or more parts, you need to construct artifacts and enchantments that bridge the others and the control artifact.

"Think of artifacts as an organism. A brain controls everything, but it needs a heart to pump blood, and arms and legs to move, and veins and nerves to connect everything together." Damion nodded in understanding. He still did not know how such bridging and controller artifacts functioned, but now he had a path to follow. Still, his first task was figuring out how even to make the artifact do what he wanted it to do.

True Sight offered insight into the nature of things, but he had yet to figure out what parts of the magic seal were the ones he needed, or if he was needing to enchant the entire spell into his planned artifact. If he created a set of artificial eyes, or maybe glasses with the enchantments to see into things, but as of yet, he was still stuck on the early steps of the drawing board.

He considered contacting Leland, to see if the artificer that was able to come up with the necklace of mend could help him with this project, but Damion wanted to have something more concrete than just the abstract idea he had now. Besides, trying to explain why he wanted to look inside a person to see their magic core would not be easy. After Artificing class was over, Damion had a sudden realization on his planned artifact.

Even if he could work out the enchantments and make them work like he wanted, he had no materials. The few Demonic Beasts he had he sold, keeping only the cores. And since he could not go into the labyrinth or into a dungeon, the chances of him being able to acquire the magical materials needed for his artifact were abysmally low.