Chương 525: B8—Chapter 30: Cheated Again

Although we planned to move on and investigate the other three Gates near the city, we somehow ended up stuck there for over two months. It started with Al. On the second day after we came back, Al came up to the attic library in my house, where I was reading, and lingered near the door, fidgeting with his sleeves.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I was wondering if you could assist me with something?" I got up and set the book aside.

"Sure. What do you need?" He motioned for me to sit back down.

"Not yet. I need to find a suitable location first. But once I do, could you please use your wind affinity to help me dry all the plants I collected?"

"No problem. Tell me when you're ready." He nodded with a small smile, thanked me, and left with a pep in his step. Two days later, he led me to a warehouse he'd rented. The moment I walked in, my jaw dropped. The place was huge, maybe twenty meters wide and over fifty meters long. Al had strung rows of rope between supports throughout the warehouse, with bundles of herbs hanging from them at several different heights. Everywhere I looked, there were more plants. I knew he'd collected a lot.

I remembered how many times we'd stopped and guarded him while he harvested, but I hadn't realized it was this much. There had to be more than a ton of herbs hanging throughout the warehouse. I arranged a comfortable space for myself with a couch and a small table to put my feet up on, then continued studying the second book about material enhancement for enchanting while circulating wind through the warehouse.

Al walked around the hanging rows of herbs, inspecting the bundles one by one and replacing the dried ones with fresh batches from his Storage. Every now and then, he stopped by and asked me to adjust the airflow, muttering about moisture levels and ruining delicate leaves. Once I finished the second book in the series, I moved on to the third, though I hadn't experimented yet. I really didn't want to blow up all of Al's plants. He would've killed me, and he'd probably have been justified.

There was enough greenery in that warehouse to stock an apothecary for years. The third book was built directly on the second. The previous one mostly dealt with compatibility between aspects and enchantments, what worked well together, what clashed, and which combinations tended to destabilize over time. The third book went far deeper. It focused mostly on anchoring enchantments into the aspects embedded inside the material itself.

Not just from a compatibility angle, but actually weaving the two together so the aspect became part of the foundation of the enchantment. That part fascinated me, because it meant I'd have to rethink almost my entire approach to enchanting. Until now, I'd treated aspects more like additives or supporting materials. The real structure always came from the runes and magic script. According to the book, that approach was crude. Effective, but crude.

With this method, some of the enchantment had to be rooted directly into the aspect itself, using specialized runes designed specifically for that purpose. The enchantment fed the aspected material, and the material fed the enchantment in return, creating a sort of cycle between the two. Instead of forcing mana through an inert surface covered in runes, the material itself became part of the spell structure. The implications were far-reaching.

According to the book, the result was far more complicated enchantments on much smaller surfaces. They lasted dramatically longer, worked more efficiently, and remained stable under much heavier mana loads. Even better, if the enchantment didn't include runes that absorbed mana from the environment, it still went far longer before needing to be refueled because the aspect itself helped sustain it. That explained a lot about my nature spear.

When Payan first told me its enchantments were anchored in the spear's aspect, it sounded kind of crazy. Now that I understood what she'd meant, it actually made perfect sense. The second part of the book was even more fascinating. It dealt with enchantments that had separate parts. That was the name I gave it, anyway. The book called it Multi-Anchor Distributed Runic Synchronization Structures. Basically, it meant I could create separate items that were all part of the same enchantment.

The book gave the example of a glove enchanted to call back a thrown weapon. The weapon carried one part of the enchantment, the glove carried another, and the two "recognized" each other through linked runic structures, anchored in the aspects of the base material. Naturally, my first thought was a light switch for my light plates. That realization hit me like a wrecking ball to the head. Not a penny dropping. A full-on demolition-grade revelation.

It had never even crossed my mind that completely separate items could work together as parts of the same enchantment, and the second the thought landed, it felt so stupidly obvious that I almost wanted to smack myself. Of course it should work. Why wouldn't it? If runes directed mana and created interactions, then there was no reason those interactions had to stay inside a single object. The more I thought about it, the more logical it seemed.

A regular enchantment was already a bunch of connected functions working together. One section gathered mana, another directed it, another shaped the effect, and another stabilized it. The only real difference was that instead of carving it all onto one object, you split the structure across multiple objects and connected them through linked runes and aligned mana signatures. Which was honestly amazing once the implications started sinking in. It meant switches. Remote activators. Armor with interchangeable parts.

A weapon rack where the owner could call a sword to hand. It meant one central power source feeding several enchanted objects. Hell, theoretically, it could mean entire systems spread throughout a building or vehicle. And the truly embarrassing part? I'd already seen something similar before and completely failed to make the connection. The dunehoppers in Quassior had two ball wheels disconnected from the main body.

I even examined them with my senses at the time and noticed that each wheel and the main body contained part of the same dungeon core. That should have been the biggest clue imaginable. Instead, my brain immediately shoved it into the "dungeon core magic" category and stopped thinking about it. Only now did I realize what I'd actually been looking at. The parts weren't just sharing the same core. A runic connection had to link them.

The enchantment itself spanned multiple separate structures that functioned as a single whole. Yeah. That one was embarrassing. Thankfully, when the realization finally slammed into me, Al was busy inspecting herbs on the other side of the warehouse and didn't see the facepalm or the sheepish expression. All of Al's plants were dry by the time I got near the end of the third book, so I helped him take down the ropes and coil them up.

Back at the inn, I opened my house, and he immediately disappeared into his lab to start processing his mountain of herbal loot. Judging by the manic sparkle in his eyes, we'd probably only see him at mealtimes for the foreseeable future. I headed up to my library to finish reading and start working on my own idea. The last chapter of the book talked about combining all the principles together, but more importantly, using them as the foundation for further development and innovation in enchanting.

Up until then, the book mostly explained established methods, what worked, what failed, and why. The final chapter was different. Less like a textbook and more like some old master grabbing the reader by the shoulders and telling them to stop copying other people's work. It ended with two paragraphs that lodged themselves into my brain and refused to leave.

"The student who limits himself to replication shall forever remain a craftsman rather than an artist. True advancement within the enchanting disciplines emerges not from memorization of established matrices, but from comprehension of the principles governing the interactions between materials, runes and script, and mana aspects, flavors, and affinities.

Once the enchanter understands aspectual harmonization, distributed mana resonance, structural anchoring, and recursive rune and script integration, the question ceases to be whether a construct can be created. The question instead becomes: what boundaries are self-imposed through failure of imagination? Every modern enchantment was once considered impossible by those lacking the insight to attempt it.

"Master what is known, then turn your attention toward what is not. Explore your art beyond the boundaries established by those who came before you. Seek inspiration in unfamiliar materials, unexpected interactions, and ideas others have dismissed as impractical or impossible. The horizon of enchanting has never been fixed. It advances with every mind willing to look beyond it." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. I stared at the text for a long moment.

Then leaned back on the couch and muttered, "Well, shit." Up until now, most of what I'd been doing amounted to magical engineering through trial and error. Effective trial and error, sure, but still trial and error. I learned runes and symbols, and with every new one, my general understanding of enchanting improved a little more. The knowledge gave me ideas about what I could do with what I'd learned. Now, though, my whole viewpoint had done a complete one-eighty.

Instead of thinking, "I can do such and such with what I know," I started asking, "What do I actually want to create?" The idea came first. After that came figuring out how to build it, which materials to use, which aspects fit best, how the runes and script should interact, and how to make the whole thing function together, even if it was split into several parts. There would probably still be a lot of trial and error involved, but it felt different.

Less like me being the effect of my knowledge and more like actually being the cause of my creations. For the first time, I felt like I was starting to understand the logic underneath enchanting instead of just stacking effects together like magical building blocks. And once that understanding clicked into place, the possibilities started multiplying in my head so fast it almost made me dizzy.

The familiar feeling of something clenching and unclenching happened inside my head, and a wave of energy passed through my body. Yes! It had been a long time since my mana rose last, and this time I could distinctly tell it happened in my Mind orb. Lis told me way back that the way to advance it was through learning and understanding, and this was the first time I truly understood what he meant. Not because of the increase itself. It had been a long time since I regularly lacked mana.

The extra capacity was nice, sure, but that wasn't why I got so excited. It was because I'd finally cracked the Mind orb issue and understood the difference. All the previous times I learned something, I mostly gained information and skills. Of course, those came with understanding, but it was understanding of what already existed, what already was. This was different. For the first time, it felt like my actual understanding expanded beyond that. My viewpoint shifted to what could be.

The way I looked at enchanting changed completely, and because of that, my mana changed with it. It wasn't just learning. It was growth. Another "Yes!", this one accompanied by a fist pump. Mana: 15, 200/15, 500 My mana rose by only 300, but it was still great. Not the number, but the way it happened. I rubbed my face. Mahya is going to kill me, and she still doesn't know about the previous rise. Al vanished into his lab for two weeks while I worked on my new idea.

Apart from appearing during meals with increasingly alarming smells clinging to his clothes, we didn't see him. Then, two weeks later, he finally resurfaced. First, he disappeared into Mahya's workshop for an hour. After that, he found me in the spell room while I was hunched over the table, trying to stabilize a script pattern that had an annoying tendency to short-circuit. A shadow fell over the desk.

"Give me all the potions you have," Al said.

"Not only the ones I provided." Without looking up, I asked, "Why?"

"I shall replace them." I pulled out everything I had, both the regular vials and the potion paintballs, and lined them up on the table. Al inspected them one by one. Occasionally, he uncorked one, sniffed it, and made a dissatisfied noise. When he reached the water-breathing potion, he made a face and handed it back with two fingers, wearing an expression like he was giving me a dead, smelly fish. Then he returned the Exoskin Elixir as well.

"I do not yet possess a superior version of this one," he admitted. The rest disappeared into his Storage. In exchange, he began placing large glass bottles onto the table, all labeled.

"Mana. Healing. Strength. Agility. Anti-Venom. Dark Vision. Resilience. Wakefulness. Regeneration Draught." Then he placed the last bottle down.

"Stamina." The second I saw the label, I tensed up, but Al only smiled and gave my shoulder an amused pat.

"Do not worry," he said solemnly.

"It is a standard energy potion." I exhaled in relief.

"Thank fuck." The last thing I needed was another one of Al's "improved" energy concoctions trying to kill me with a hard-on. I picked up one bottle and turned it in my hand.

"Why bottles?"

"So you can transfer the potions into the balls."

"Oh, OK. Makes sense." The next day, he disappeared again and only came back in the evening, feeling noticeably stronger. He'd gained at least a level, though I suspected it was probably two.

"Where did you go?" Mahya asked.

"The Alchemy Exchange." For the next eight days, he left in the morning and came back in the evening. He didn't feel stronger every day, but by my calculations, he gained at least five levels. Mahya occasionally made a face at his back, but didn't say anything. Once he went upstairs, I kicked her leg.

"You can sell your wooden stuff too, you know?" She sighed and shook her head.

"Not here. Their woodwork is too advanced." I finally cracked the issues with my new project and recruited Mahya to help me. She made me a sturdy twin bed frame out of dense hardwood while I worked on the enchanting side of things. I aspected crystals to Life and Nature, combined them, and saturated the wood with the mana. Then I spent days engraving runes and script into every part of the structure. All in all, it took me nine days to finish the project.

The final result was a bed you could place a patient in, which would slowly heal them over time without burdening the body. Not just cuts and broken bones either. The thing could theoretically treat almost anything physical, including regrowing limbs if given enough time and mana. But the really amazing part wasn't just the healing itself. It was how everything worked together. First, the bed had five separate crystals with the Absorb Mana From the Environment enchantment embedded into them.

Those acted as the mana reservoir for the entire system. Instead of draining the patient or requiring a mage to constantly refill it, the bed slowly gathered ambient mana on its own and stored it for later use. Second, it had a separate wooden control panel linked to the bed through the distributed enchantment structure I'd learned from the books. I was ridiculously proud of that part. The panel worked from up to twenty meters away, even through walls or from another room.

Through it, the user could select different healing modes: regeneration, disease treatment, or limb regrowth. And the truly beautiful part, at least in my opinion, was the safety system. The bed constantly ran a low-grade diagnostic spell throughout the healing process and monitored the patient's physical condition in real time. If the patient began losing body mass, showed signs of physical collapse, or if anything else tripped the diagnostic thresholds, the healing immediately shut down.

Before stopping, the bed sent a wave of invigorating energy through the body, from head to toe, similar to my Fortify Life Force spell. That part had been the trickiest of the entire project. I couldn't fully recreate Fortify Life Force inside the enchantment. No matter what I tried, the spell structure was too complicated and too tied to active casting.

What I eventually managed instead was a weaker substitute: an invigorating wave of mana that boosted the immune system and increased the body's natural regeneration by around ten percent. Not nearly as impressive as the original spell, but still enough to stabilize exhausted patients and help prevent the healing enchantment from pushing the body too hard. When I finished the last script sequence connecting the panel to the bed, my red light started blinking.

You have gained the ability Enchanting I stared at the line, confused.

"Seriously?" I asked the ceiling.

"Gained the ability? Not a class? Why isn't it a class? Oh, right, it's supposed to be a profession. Why isn't it a profession? What the hell?" I got the distinct feeling of a shrug mixed with a mild apology from the system. It was still muted and felt far away, but clear enough that I somehow understood the meaning behind it. It is what it is. Sorry. At least my red light was still blinking.

Level Up +3 to All Traits Wizard Battle Master Level 18 Level Up +3 to All Traits Wizard Battle Master Level 19 The only saving grace was that Enchanting appeared on my profile as [Junior] instead of [Novice]. I also noticed that Nature now had [Medior] beside it, while before it didn't have any tag at all. I let out a deep sigh. At least there was that. The red light was still blinking. Milestone Reached Tenacity 20 or Above Reaching a Tenacity level of 20 or above marks a significant milestone in your journey.

You can now actively engage your Tenacity to sense the direction most likely to lead to eventual success through sustained effort. Rather than simply enduring hardship, you can instinctively recognize when persistence will matter and when refusing to give up can yield results. Whether facing exhaustion, prolonged danger, setbacks, or seemingly impossible challenges, Tenacity grants you an intuitive sense for when to endure, when to press forward, and which struggles are worth the cost.

Engaging your Tenacity in this way transforms it from a passive Trait into an active tool, helping ensure your determination is directed where it can make a difference. I'd completely forgotten about that part regarding the special attributes, and remembering it made me feel a little better. Not quite there yet, but better. To properly express my remaining unhappiness, I blew a loud raspberry at the ceiling and pointed accusingly upward.

"Just so you know, you're still not off the hook. I should've gotten a profession, not a skill." This time, the system wisely chose not to reply. Later that evening, when I told Mahya and Al about it over dinner, Al went quiet, his expression thoughtful.

"I have never encountered any mention of this in my family's Archive," he said after a moment.

"However..." He frowned.

"It does make sense. All runic languages and magic script were originally developed by Wizards. If enchanting grew from those disciplines, then its connection to the Wizard class would be entirely logical." Mahya considered that, then slowly nodded.

"Yeah. Actually, it makes a lot of sense." She looked at me, one eyebrow creeping upward.

"Although, since you're the Wizard who's been studying enchanting all this time, you probably should've figured that out before the Guidance had to tell you." I glared at her. She gave me a pitying smile.

"Just saying." I rubbed my face and slumped onto the table with a groan. Of course it made sense now.