Chương 115: 114 - Questionable Methods

Alexandra held the spoon in her hands and looked at Raymond's expectant gaze.

"So… I just… Hit it?"

"Alexandra," Raymond said with a smile.

"Do I have to spoon-feed you every answer?" She rolled her eyes.

"I just don't see how roughing up that spoon will enchant it."

"There is, of course, a method to it. Look at the ambient mana flowing through the spoon." She did as instructed and focused on the spoon. There wasn't much mana inside the iron. It was moving slowly, in angular patterns along the metal. She looked at Raymond.

"The mana wants to keep the spoon's structure intact. I think." He nodded.

"Correct. The smith who made this spoon shaped the metal with this in mind."

"Does this count as an enchantment?" Alexandra asked." You could do that without mana."

"Not quite. It's just a property of metal. The mana wants to help, but iron is solid enough on its own that the spoon would hold its shape in a mana vacuum." He paused.

"Remember what I told you: enchantments are magic, not engineering. Does a regular spoon feel magical to you?" She shook her head.

"So, how do we beat up the spoon?" He stood up and took the spoon back from her.

"What we want is for our dear spoon to feel the heat, and yearn for it to stop." He conjured a blue flame in his palm, enveloping the spoon. Alexandra felt the heat reach her face. It was like opening an oven. Raymond looked at her.

"The spoon cannot survive this level of heat," she said. Raymond stopped the fire.

"You're right, it can't. If I kept it up, it would melt." He restarted the fire. Alexandra raised an eyebrow.

"Then?" He stopped the fire again.

"Repeat the process without damaging the spoon. Eventually, the mana should adapt. It will never be strong enough to resist my spells, but the warmth of soup… It will manage." Raymond pointed at an empty corner of the room and cast a spell to light a fire there. A blue flame, burning on nothing, appeared on the stone floor.

"You can do it there," he said, tossing the spoon back to her. She caught it and looked at the fire.

"Do you have tongs? My hands can't handle heat like yours." Raymond produced a set of tongs from his spatial storage and tossed them to her. Alexandra caught the iron tongs. She squeezed the handles, testing the alignment of the jaws, before gripping the thick neck of the spoon. She stepped toward the corner of the room. The blue fire danced on the bare stone, radiating a sharp, dry heat that made her skin tighten before she even reached it.

She extended her arm, lowering the bowl of the spoon into the center of the flame. The gray iron didn't change color immediately. Inside the metal, the sluggish lines of ambient mana began to shift, twisting away from the heat. The angular patterns broke, scattering into chaotic, frantic points of light as the temperature spiked.

"Pull it back," Raymond said from behind her. Alexandra bent her arm, dragging the spoon out of the fire. The metal was already smoking, a faint, acrid smell of burnt grease rising from the surface. The iron had turned a dull, bruised purple at the edges.

"Too long," Raymond observed, his voice level.

"The structure is already straining. You need to pull it before the iron melts." He tossed her a new spoon. She caught it with her tongs and plunged it into the fire. Seconds later, she pulled the spoon out. Raymond clicked his tongue.

"Too early. The spoon barely felt anything."

"Just tell me how long I should burn it," Alexandra said.

"There's no set time. Long enough for it to feel the burn. Short enough not to melt the metal. Always vary. Don't let it get used to it. Keep it guessing." Raymond paused.

"I find it helps to pretend you're torturing it." This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Alexandra turned back to look at him.

"What?" He chuckled.

"A mere image. It's a spoon." She stared at him for a moment, then at the spoon. Well, I need my quest completed. Raymond's suggestion was disturbing, not least because it was working. Now that Alexandra was thinking of the process in his way, the spoon's mana was clearly responding to the stimuli. Alexandra dipped the spoon back into the blue flame, counting silently. The moment the mana began to fray, she yanked the spoon clear. She held it up, ignoring the wave of heat radiating from the metal.

The purple hue was fainter this time, the iron retaining its original shape. Inside, the mana lines were trembling, but they held their formation.

"Again," Raymond said. She repeated the motion. In and out. The heat crept up the length of the iron tongs, warming her fingers through her grip, but she didn't loosen her hold. Every plunge into the blue flame forced the ambient mana to rearrange itself, hardening against the strain.

"How long will it take?" she asked after the twelfth repetition.

"A while. There are many reasons this is not the preferred method of enchantment," Raymond answered.

"And what are the other reasons?" Alexandra asked, plunging the spoon back into the fire.

"This is easier than manipulating mana."

"For the unskilled, it is. However, this method is less flexible, and the resulting enchantments are weaker. Coercion is not a great way to convince someone. It works, temporarily, and when the spoon realizes that the soup's warmth is of no danger, the enchantment fades." Alexandra pulled the tongs out of the fire and looked at Raymond.

"Then why did you kill Louis?" The Magus sighed.

"I didn't." He paused.

"If I wanted his absolute safety, I wouldn't have allowed him to go. But he wasn't a prisoner here. He knew the risks. Don't stop working on the spoon." She put the spoon back into the flames.

"He didn't need to die."

"I agree. I shouldn't be saying that, but demon worshipers aren't inherently evil. Louis might have been a follower of Ummi, but he wasn't a mindless thief." He paused.

"Well, he was a thief, but not mindless. Nor was he an assassin. Not any more than you and me."

"I'm not—""Pull the spoon out before it burns," Raymond interrupted her. Alexandra did as she was told, her protest dying when she realized that she did kill people. They deserved it, perhaps, but it felt like an excuse. She looked at Raymond again. Was she wrong about him? He was smiling at her. After all, they used to be friends, and Raymond's class made it so he couldn't forget that time. It was burned in his veins with iron ink.

"It looks like it's a success," Raymond said, looking at the spoon. She turned her head. The utensil was bruised with heat marks, on the verge of melting, but it was cooling down a little faster than it should have. Inside it, the mana had changed. From a structured, angular pattern, it now flowed faster, entering and exiting the spoon with the fluidity of water. She lowered the thongs and dropped them with the spoon. The metal clattered on the stone floor of Raymond's office. Then, Alexandra summoned her journal.

Enchant an item (1/1) -> Quest Completed: +10 exp, +1 INT, Skill Quest Unlocked: Mana Persuasion. Daily Quest Streak: 74 -> 75 Level up! 5 -> 6 Class perk selection available. Basic Enchantment: Study enchantment to the level of apprentice (1/1) She smiled. Two birds, one stone. This would be her last perk selection before she reached Silver. Her next few levels would be dedicated to upgrading the existing ones. Flipping the pages, she first checked the description of her potential new skill.

Mana Persuasion – Uncommon: Improve your ability to negotiate with mana. Each level increases the accuracy of how your intent is communicated. Each level increases your persuasiveness. Mana Persuasion: Override an enchantment with your own (0/1) Another skill quest that would have to wait for her mana to come back. At least, Basic Enchantment would help. She was about to move on to her perk selection when a cough from Raymond pulled her back to the room.

"Good options?" he asked. She dispelled her journal.

"I haven't looked at them yet." The heat behind her vanished as he extinguished the fire with a flick of his wrist.

"I see. I'm quite curious about your class. It's quite limited in its leveling speed, for a divine class, mind you. However, if what I observed is right, it seems like you can learn any skill, regardless of its nature."

"You can't?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Nobody can. Classes are more than their Art and Perks. They're paths. Once you step on a path, you advance, but you also discard the paths you didn't take." He hesitated.

"My class: Iron Vein Magus, never allowed me to take on weapon skills, for example." She nodded. Alexandra had never felt this limitation. Her skill list was varied, though her stay in the Iron Library seemed to have it lean toward magical skills more than before. Part of it was her merging all her weapon skills into one, but she couldn't help but wonder how much her environment affected the skills she was offered.

The answer was likely to be a lot, since skills came from her quests, and her quests were definitely dependent on her environment. She frowned. Should she change her plans again? If her environment mattered, wouldn't she get better skills by staying in the Iron Library? When she remembered the skills she was unlocking before meeting Sera, she found them perhaps a bit too mundane compared to those she had now. Raymond clasped his hands together.

"Good. Alexandra, congratulations on completing your quest and getting your level. I'm glad I could help. I'd love to host you longer, but I'm a busy man. Are you sure you don't want to take my place as the Magus?"

"Definitely not." He sighed.

"I can't blame you. The benefits are not worth the work and responsibilities."

"Why not quit, then?" He gave her a wry smile.

"And have a goddess breathing down my neck? No can do." He put a hand on her back and pushed her toward the door.

"Now go select your class perk, and let me work in peace."