NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60
Argul picked up the 20cm long lamp pole with the glee of a mad scientist. In theory it should be perfect to create a spell formation with liquid mana for a working enchantment. Mana would run through it and create the desired effect without using up any intent in the process, because the intent is bound to the liquid mana.
She would worry about things like intent filters once she had managed to create a working enchantment. Argul had no idea how the liquid would impact the material inside of the pole so it would be best to do things step by step.
She focused on the spots inside the pole where some of the liquid mana was already located and carefully began to weave her spellformation into the metal, making sure that left holes in the intent structure where the drops were located.
Argul added a mana input in the middle of the pole and changed the coordinates for the light so that it would be created 10 cm above the head of the lamp.
When she was done she let the formation collapse like she had done in the air and about half of it liquidized. That of course wasn’t enough and she repeated the process a few more times. The reduction of the volume during the fusion process of mana and intent also played a big role in the amount of times she had to recreate the spell formation.
About half an hour later, Argul was finally done and had filled out most of the formation. There were a few tiny holes in it here and there and overall the edges were very rough and poorly connected to each other, but it should still work. She would just have to improve her skills, especially in the creation of liquid mana so she could work more in detail and for her enchantments to have the same efficiency in terms of mana usage as her spells.
Argul grabbed the pole at the mana input and began to feed mana as well as the spell intent into the enchantment. Quite a lot of mana was lost in the process and escaped the enchantment through the various holes and badly done sections of it.
She bit her lip and watched in anticipation as her mana moved through the enchantment.
Argul held her breath. This was a very important moment for her. Heck, it might be very important for the whole population of sapient beings out there.
She had already put 50 mana into the spell and balled her fist. C’mon liquid mana, you can do it!
Argul put more mana into the enchantment, ignoring how painingly inefficient this was. She normally used about 1 mana for 2 minutes of decently bright light and when she had created the spell it had been a mana per minute.
The enchantment she had created would only create a light for about 15 minutes and the bad quality might reduce that even further.
After 90 mana the enchantment finally activated and Argul jumped up in triumph. “Yes!”
The liquid also didn’t seem to impact the metal any further. She had to investigate how it looked like inside and if the mana liquid created any pressure for the material, once she had the right equipment.
She let go of the metal pole and picked up Aina, not caring about the loud clanging the thing created on impact with the ground. Then she hugged the slime tightly. “I did it!”
Argul jumped a second time in joy and held Aina up into the air. “We did it!”
She hugged Aina again and kissed her several times, not caring about the possible sapience of her. They had created a method to enchant things together and Argul had seldom feld joy like this in her life. The last time had been with her daughter on the first floor.
Argul loosened her embrace a little and picked up the lamp pole of light. She grinned happily. Goodness that was a stupid name, but she loved it.
Argul rushed around the inn and basically broke through the door into the main room. She opened her mouth to announce her success, but realized that the room was empty and closed her mouth again in disappointment.
Her mood was about to do the biggest drop it had ever done when the tinkle of tableware colliding with each other came out of the kitchen. Somebody was there!
Argul’s excitement went back up to 100% instantly and she ran towards and into the kitchen. There she hugged a flabbergasted Luna, sandwiching Aina between the two of them in the process. “I did it Luna!”
Argul laughed happily and Luna joined her after a few seconds.
It took a while for Argul to calm down again and Luna sat wheezing on the ground when she did. “So-”
She took a short breath. “What exactly did you do?”
Argul, now down from her emotional high, realized what she had done and blushed deeply in embarrassment. Her original plan had been to run to her daughter and let out the emotions there, but she had needed a person to talk to right now and Luna had been the only one there.
She looked down on the ground and avoided eye contact with Luna. “I’m sorry about that.”
Luna just waved her away. “I don’t mind. I was happy that you were happy and sometimes you just have to let things out somewhere.”
Argul nodded meekly and Luna looked at her in anticipation. “So, what was it?”
Right, she still had to show Luna her success. Argul’s happiness overwhelmed her embarrassment and she offered the pole of light to the sheep-kin. “Try to push about 90 mana into the middle of this pole and you will see.”
Luna took the pole, looked at Argul once and began to channel her mana into the enchantment. After a minute a slightly deformed sphere of light formed above the pole and illuminated the kitchen a bit more than the windows were able to.
Luna stared at the light for a moment and turned to Argul with an unbelieving expression. “Did I just do that?”
Argul nodded happily. “Yep, I enchanted the metal to create a light that will hold for about 15 minutes.” Hopefully it did, the form wasn’t very promising.
Luna looked at the simple metal pole with awe. “Wow, you are a genius Argul!”
Argul shrugged uncomfortably and blushed a bit at the compliment. “It isn’t that difficult and the enchantment is really crude for such a simple spell.”
Luna turned to her again and raised an eyebrow. “You want to say that discovering something exceptional like this while simultaneously creating spells randomly after only knowing mana for a few months is not the work of a genius?”
Argul looked away pointedly and didn’t answer. She still didn’t think of herself as a genius, but you were really only humble for so long before it became denial instead.
Luna looked at the pole once more. “Can I keep this thing?”
Argul nodded. She had no further use for it and would create similar items like this in the next weeks to train her enchanting further. “I named it lamp pole of light, keep it if you want to. The enchantment will break after a while though, because of your personal mana signature.”
Luna smiled and pushed out her chest proudly. “Thanks Argul, I don’t mind that it will break. Now I not only know the person who did the first enchantment, but also the owner of the item.”
Argul smiled, as long as Luna was happy it was okay.
Luna held the pole like a wizard staff and pointed it at the light. “Lightus begonus!”
Argul took control of the light spell and dispersed it so Luna could have her fun.
The girl turned around once more and held the pole into the air. “I am a mighty wizard, kneel before me or else!”
Argul rolled her eyes. “Or else what?”
Luna tapped herself with the pole on the chin thoughtfully. “Or else I will have to feed you to death with delicious food?”
Argul acted shocked. “Oh no, how cruel of you.”
She smiled and petted Aina a bit again. “Fun aside, please don’t tell anyone I was the one who did the enchantment. I don’t want to have the attention.”
Luna nodded in agreement. “I promise I won't.”
Then she looked at the pole a bit disappointed. “We might as well keep this a secret. I don’t need the attention of unsavory people or the city administration either.”
