Chương 215: Testing Crystal

Over the next few weeks of school, Damion continued to make slow progress on his artifact. He was able to work out the portion of magic seal for True Sight that displayed the Rank of what he was looking at. While this was not the core of what he wanted from the spell, it did offer him a method to display what his artifact would look at, provided he could modify the section of the magic seal to suit his needs.

He was still in the initial stages for his project, but he had identified the key points he needed to work out if he was to actually succeed. First, as with all artifacts, he needed a control or a brain. Next, he needed to work out the power source. Was his artifact going to be powered by channeled mana or was it going to be self-powered, and would it need the capability to store mana? Unfortunately, until Damion figured out how much mana would actual be needed for the device, he could not answer those questions.

Next was the part that was giving him the most trouble, the probe or the scan of a person. He simply did not have enough knowledge of Light and Holy magic to be able to accurately figure out how spells of those affinities traveled through a person's body. He did not need the spells to heal, just to safely map a person and relay that information back to the final part of his artifact, the display, which would interpret what the Holy magic found in the body into an image for viewing.

Since he was able to single out these four tasks for the artifact as separate, he was able to tackle them one at a time. Once he worked out the individual parts, he could begin to work to make bridge parts to connect the different pieces so they would work together. Elicia took note of Damion's fervor for Artificing class and how he studied his textbook for more than just the answers to homework assignments.

She considered asking him if he had changed his goal from exploring to crafting, but in the end decided to wait patiently to see what Damion managed to create. After all, the last time he was like this, he managed to create a brand-new tier 2 spell. As the school term went on, Damion came to the conclusion he needed inspiration, or at least some way to get over the hurdle he was having of working out how to use Holy magic to do what he wanted.

He considered using credits to buy spells from the Magic System, but since he had eight affinities, the chances of him getting a Holy affinity spell were not great and if he bought too many spells, he would end up needing to buy more spell slots. In the end, Damion settled on buying a testing crystal. If he took it apart and examined the enchantments, he felt he had a good chance of better understanding how it worked and how to construct his artifact. The question was where to go.

There were hundreds of artifact shops in Argentum, but none of them advertised this kind of artifact. Everyone was always focused on weapons, armor or other artifacts for survival. Artifacts that did only one task were likely not big sellers. He considered returning to Teft Artifacts and Adventurer Supplies, but he felt Helena Teft might not give him as warm a welcome as she had last time. Even if he had practically given them a fortune, his bringing up his teacher, Helga Teft, had not been well received.

By the weekend, Damion settled on returning to Calm Sea. Given he had purchased his new armor from them and that he had a friendship with Eugene Hill and his attendant Josephine Caplan, he felt they were probably the best choice for his request. He doubted they would keep him buying a testing artifact a secret from the other noble families, but that knowledge by itself was meaningless and he had no intention in sharing that he was planning to take the artifact apart to study.

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"Mage Wells, welcome back to Calm Seas," Afifa Caplan greeted him as he and Elicia entered the store. Phil had been left behind to fly around the school. Damion felt it was not a good idea to bring the Ferocious Beast into the city.

"Thank you," Damion responded.

"I have a bit of a special request for an artifact today and am wondering if you might be able to help me out with it."

"Of course. What type of artifact are you looking for?"

"A testing crystal." The Caplan attendant froze for a moment before regaining her composure. Clearly, something about Damion's request was off putting to her, but he did not know what or why.

"Testing crystals are created by the Mage Association and I'm afraid that they are the only organization that is allowed to sell them."

"Oh," Damion said somewhat disappointed. If that is all it was he could probably request one from them. If they still did not elect to sell one to him, he would resort to asking Mage Teft if he could borrow one of the ones belonging to Silver Spire. Borrowing one meant he would have to be very careful if he took it apart, and make sure he could put it back together, but he still felt he could manage.

"Is there something else I can help you with?"

"You wouldn't happen to know who in the Mage Association I can contact to inquire about a purchase do you?"

"I do apologize, but I don't have a name I can give you. If you go to the local branch office they might be able to direct your further."

"Thank you," Damion told the attendant before walking outside and taking out his communication tablet. He did not see the need to go to the local branch of the Mage Association when he had a direct number of Axton Veers, an A Rank member. If anyone could assist him, it would be the man who was desperate to recruit him.

"Mage Wells! So good of you to contact me," Mage Veers greeted Damion.

"To what do I owe the honor? Are you contacting me to say you've decided to join the Association?"

"I haven't made up my mind on who to join at the moment. Though, I think I will make an effort to complete Mage Association missions when I can. I was actually wondering if it would be possible to purchase a testing crystal."

"A testing crystal? Whatever for? They really don't do anything aside from revealing a person's affinity."

"Oh, I had an idea on a new artifact, but I was having trouble with how to make my enchantment work to scan something and then display the information and I thought of the testing crystal." Damion did not want to fully reveal his idea, but he felt if there was any chance of getting a testing crystal, he would need to offer a plausible explanation as to why he wanted one. The truth was always the best option in such situations.

Damion wanted to keep his reasoning as vague as possible, but he did not want to have to start making up fake details if Mage Veers wanted more information.

"Not working on an artifact to spy on your attendant in the bath are you?"

"What? No!" Damion quickly denied, while beside him listening in, Elicia turned red.

"Just joking kid. I know you wouldn't do things like that," Mage Veers laughed.

"How about a reconnaissance drone instead. They can scan the area and send a signal to a tablet providing real-time information."

"Oh, yes, that might work perfectly," Damion said. He had not thought of the drones the Adventurer Association used to assist in hunting down Ferocious and Demonic Beasts. The drones could not scan through an object, as far as Damion knew, but drones basically could do everything he wanted except for that. It should be much easier for him to modify a drone, especially if he was also able to get a testing crystal to figure out how it sent its scan to a person's magic core.

"I'll send one over to the school for you. They aren't too costly and are dead useful for adventurers."

"Thank you very much, Mage Veers," Damion said before disconnecting.