Chapter 49: Chapter Fourty Nine: Who doesn’t like a bit of napalm in the morning.

“So, Onder, you’re the best [Enchanter] in the city?” I ask with interest while watching the centaur in question stare at me in confusion.

This particular centaur is quite literally part man and part goat. He is shorter than the average centaur, but, to my immense annoyance, still rippling with muscles like the rest of them. His short white matted fur does a poor job of hiding the musculature under his skin. It is a glorious sight, and I cannot help but be jealous. I mean sure, I have muscle, even nice abbs, but I’m no Adonis.

Onder shakes his head, “No, no, I am merely the highest level [Enchanter] in the city, I’m nowhere near the best,” he replies, grunting as he moves around in his modest home next to his workshop.

Onder is not a young centaur, on the contrary, he is quite old, though you wouldn't really be able to tell because of his muscular form...

Did I mention I’m jealous? I probably did… I am very jealous. I want big beefy muscles as well.

“You are a level 82 [Enchanter], which is more than double my level. I can barely do one kind of enchantment, let alone many different ones,” I say, waving at the various items displayed in Onder’s home. They are all items which have been enchanted with varying effects, from a bone spear that numbs when cutting flesh, to a javelin that weighs practically nothing.

“Look, I just need you to show me your techniques, perform a couple of your enchantments, explain the way you use these crystals, and I promise I won't be bothering you again,” I ask him once more.

The centaur had been adamant about having me find a different [Enchanter] to learn from, and I would have done so if all of the others had not left the city when Doreson took it over.

Five goddamn [Enchanters] in the city and I am left with this old fart.

The old man looks at me, staring at my pleading face before sighing.

“I am not a good [Enchanter]. My maximum mana is low and most of my enchantments are simple things,” he says before pointing around the room, “even these weapons are barely of [General] quality. I mostly create things like pans with [Self-Heating] enchantments or knives with the [Sharp] enchantment. Small simple tools and items for daily use.”

That doesn't make sense to me. If all these other [Enchanters] were able to create proper weapons with decent enchantments, then why the fuck was their level lower than Onder’s?

“Just… please show me.”

He looks to me one more time.

“Alright.”

Final-fuckin-lee.

He raises his hand and points to his workshop.

“First, head to my workshop and wait for a bit. I need to get some supplies. Hopefully I have some crystal lying around.”

With a quick smile, I reach into my pocket and grab a large vial filled with powdered crystal… that I may have permanently borrowed from the cities storage…

“I came prepared. Will this amount suffice?”

He looks at the vial before slowly nodding, “That is more than enough, though I must still get some supplies from storage. I was not expecting the army in this city to require my services, though it seems the patriarch does.”

I smile, thinking of how fast rumors travel. It had only been yesterday that I arrived on this floor and had forced the enemy army to surrender within a couple of hours. Now come late morning the next day and word had already spread about my existence.

The old centaur grunts and points towards his workshop again, “Go to my workshop and wait for me, I will go get my supplies.”

I nod quickly before grabbing my staff.

“Ughhhh, ahhh, it hurts, it hurts,” I exclaim as I use my arms to raise myself from my seating position on the floor.

MY HIPS ARE BURNING!

“Shouldn't you go see an [Healer] about that injury? You seem to be barely able to stand, I doubt you would be able to stand at all without that staff.

Nnnnnooooooppppppeeeeee.

“It's fine, I’m fine… just a bit of pain. No need for a [Healer]. I’m healing on my own.”

Onder gives me a skeptical look before shaking his head.

It is actually true. I think my body has some weak healing factor. My hips were far worse before I fell asleep and now they seem to have naturally shifted back into place, albeit with bruises galore… I may have cried in the morning when I was taking a shit.

Onder sighs before leaving his home, while I turn and limp my way towards his workshop. Inside I see boxes, ovens, inner fire pits, bowls of various sizes, colorful liquids, clean bones, you name it. The workshop is furnished with a multitude of different objects.

Frowning, I trudge very slowly towards a crate and carefully sit my pained ass down. I try to ignore the pain, but fail to do so completely. I frown as I call up the status messages I had missed.

So, mental problems are a thing in this world and I had actually gone insane for awhile. I wonder if I could have resisted it if I had allowed myself to pass out. I probably would have.

“Hmmm.”

Now that I think about it some more, wouldn't certain classes be considered mental status effects too? I mean look at Zorren, he seems to have some serious anger issues due to having the [Berserker] class, while relying on a single skill to keep him in check. I can see physical status effects on people when I use [Advanced Analyze] on them, but I wonder if people also have mental status effects that I am not privy to?

“Ughhhh”

So much to think about now, so little time to think about it. I probably shouldn't dwell on such things too long. Instead, I should focus on positive things.

Like the new levels and skills.

Seven levels in [Hero] which seems to do absolutely nothing.

Five levels in [Noble] which seems to do nothing as well.

Nine Levels in [Necromancer] which gave me an interesting skill.

When Jessica explained to me that [Necromancers] are extremely dangerous and were hunted constantly, I did not necessarily believe her. She made it sound like the class was all-powerful, telling stories of entire cities being slaughtered by a single [Necromancer].

But now, as I read this skill, I can understand how that would be possible. A high level [Necromancer] can literally create an army of undead without having to keep up the mana cost. Combine that with the ability to constantly create more undead, and it would not take long before they become able to threaten an entire kingdom. Killing [Necromancers] while they are weak would be the best, most efficient method of stopping something like that from happening.

Well, this skill may be useful down the line, but for now, I prefer quality over quantity. Especially now that I have the other skill I obtained yesterday.

This skill is outright insane. In a good way though. The mental afflictions resistance is cool and all, as is the hostile aura resistance. But that 90% of soul cost decrease is freaking amazing when you take into account my soul attribute. Instead of having a max of like, six Berosus, I can now have sixty. On top of that, it goes amazingly well with the 300% increase in minion control.

Mental control of minions requires a mana cost which increases exponentially as they get farther away from me. That increase in mana cost has now become three times lower thanks to this single skill. On top of that, my ability to control swarms of minions has improved drastically as well. Coordinating them individually and in groups is now mentally easier.

In that sense, yesterday was a good day…

Except for going mad and getting my hips crushed during sex.

Other than that, it was a good day.

“Apologies, it took a while before I could grab my materials,”

Turning my head, I find Onder walking in with a box which he carefully places on a table.

“Some of my materials were harder to find than others,” he says, taking out several instruments from the box. I recognize a stone crucible, a stone mortar and pestle, and other various tools, mostly made of stone and glass.

“Those instruments make it seem like you are going to be doing alchemy.”

Onder nods towards me, “Perceptive. Indeed, [Enchanters] and [Alchemists] use many similar instruments and processes for their craft, though they differ greatly in usage.”

Onder looks around before finding some firewood and placing it under the chimney. He then takes something that looks like a bone poker and uses it to stab the log. My eyes widen as mana converges at the handle, before rushing down and creating a fiery spark.

Onder turns to me, smiling while holding the item in his hand. “I call this a Fire Poker. It's enchanted with the [Ignition] enchantment, though the quantity of crystal in it is too low to be able to use it more than once a day.”

Looking at the stick of bone, I notice that the sharp end seems to be black, charred even.

“I see. The enchantment is created at the handle before being sent down. This is probably because the bone itself is not resistant to fire, so the flame it creates could damage the enchantment.”

Onder seems to be taken aback by my explanation before he smiles, “That is completely correct. As I don't have the [Double Enchantment] or [Multi Enchantment] skill, I cannot place two enchantments on a single item. Therefore I was unable to also enchant it with [Fire Resist].”

I nod, taking in this new information. Seems like the [Enchanter] class has a lot more restrictions than I had already realized.

“On the subject of enchanting, it seems you know many enchantments. Did you learn them through a skill or through some form of trial and error?”

I ask him, thinking about my own two useful enchanting skills. [Copy Enchantment], which allows me to reproduce the enchantment placed on an item on a different item, usually with differing results. And [Enchant Deconstruction], which allows me to destroy an enchantment, gaining partial knowledge of the inner workings of the enchantment. These two skills together would theoretically allow me to learn any enchantment I come across. Well, that is as long as I can reproduce the enchantment with [Copy Enchantment]. Unfortunately, the mana costs for reproducing [Rare] and higher enchantments is insane... So the enchantments on the rings, hood, and especially the staff are currently way out of my league.

Which is understandable, because I don't think learning enchants through [Copy Enchantment] is proper enchanting to begin with.

Onder gives me a confused look to my question, “Enchantments awarded by skills are rare, and if you ask me, limited. Though they are efficient and powerful, they are also a crutch to learning real enchanting. A real enchanter can reproduce the enchantments provided by skills, sometimes with even better results,” Onder explains as he puts a basin over the fire and adds a liquid that looks like oil into it.

So there is a way to enchant without obtaining skills. I figured as much, but the question is, how?

“So, you are boiling oil? Why?”

Onder takes a moment, grabbing a ladle and mixing the oil slowly, “Well, the first part of enchanting anything is to mix what you want to be enchanted with the crystal. This way, the item will obtain the property of the crystal, which passively absorbs mana. I have found that oil is far more efficient in this process than water, which has a tendency to waste crystals.”

Onder lets go of the ladle and walks to the table next to me, grabbing the bottle of crystal powder, taking a good look at it before frowning.

“This crystal has been ground, but not nearly finely enough,” he says before moving towards a table and grabbing the mortar and pestle,” Crystals need to be turned into a very fine powder first before they can be used. Thankfully, I have some of this,” he says, grabbing a small vial. He opens the vail and pours a little bit of the liquid inside it into the mortar. He then closes the vial and takes a small handful of crystal, which he puts it into the mortar as well.

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As soon as the crystal touches the liquid, I hear the sounds of sizzling and see some smoke rising up from the mortar..

“Acid. You’re using acid.

Onder grunts and nods before taking the pestle and mixing its contents.

“I find that acid is faster and far more effective than only using a grinder, though I do lose some of the crystal in the process. But it is still a good tradeoff considering how much more effective it seems.”

I sit back, watching as he mixes the acid and crystal, stopping only once no more smoke is being produced. The crystal seems to have completely turned into a liquid. He then moves and pours the contents into the oil and mixes. He nods in approval.

“The last part is to insert the items. It can either be bone or good quality wood,” he starts, moving to his box and taking out a simple wooden spike. A spike that, as I look at it, I notice that it is naturally pointy and not actually sharpened.

“Treant wood is extraordinarily durable and the spikes they produce are many times sharper than a monsters horn. On top of that, their wood holds some of the strongest enchantments.”

Treant? Aren't those monster trees? I guess it would make sense for a living tree to be stronger than just a regular tree.

He takes the spike, its length as long as my forearm while at back back end as thick as his biceps (did I mention just how big those are?), and throws it into the oil.

“Now then, this part doesn't take too long. The wood will naturally absorb the crystal and will eventually gain the ability to absorb mana. The amount of crystal absorbed as well as the purity of the crystal will determine how fast it absorbs mana as well as determine the cost and thus the strength of the enchantment.”

It makes sense. The quality of the material has an effect on the enchantment and its strength. I have enchanted a lot of bones with the [Bloodletting] enchantment that I know. I found that enchantments on bones from higher-level monsters cost slightly more mana but also create slightly stronger effects. Of course, none of my enchantments seem to be as effective as the one on the metal dagger that from which I copied the enchantment in the first place. It's possible that metal is better for enchantments, or maybe the enchanter was a higher level. I wonder if the process of mixing crystal and metal is through melting. Does the crystal have a melting point? Is there maybe another way?

“Hmmm, you seem to be deep in thought.”

I look up, realizing that I had been thinking silently the entire time.

“Right, sorry, just thinking of different ways to mix crystals into various objects.”

Onder waves his hand in my direction, “Always keep wondering, never stop trying new things, even if you fail, you can still learn from failure. I have failed many times in my pursuits and I was awarded with many levels in my class. Too many [Enchanters] fear failure, so much so that they stagnate their growth.”

Oh, that makes sense. You don't have to be successful in learning an enchantment, merely gaining knowledge in general, like what doesn't work, will help increase your level.

I look at the old centaur in a new light. All those levels he gained were mostly from learning from failure, that is why he is such a high level.

“Now then,” the centaurs starts, grabbing tongs from his desk and using them to grab the wooden spike. I watch as the spike is taken out of the oil, and the first thing I notice is that it seems rather shiny. Ondar smiles before moving closer to me, letting me take a look at it.”

[Advanced Analyze]

I nod after reading the description and the newly added effect.

“It is good. You will be enchanting it now?”

Onder nods, “Yes, I find that the enchantment is slightly stronger when placed right after the crystals are initially absorbed. I am not sure why this is, but it might be because of the heat, though I could not explain why this would matter.”

Curious, I activate [Advanced Mana Sense], which allows me to sense the mana around me and in objects.

I see. That makes sense.

“Well, to answer your question, the spike is naturally devoid of mana right now, but is absorbing mana as we speak. I believe the presence of mana in the spike makes enchanting harder.”

Onder eyes me, “You have the [Mana Sense] skill?”

“Nope, I have [Advanced Mana Sense],” I reply, smiling as his mouth opens wide in astonishment.

“Amazing, I only have [Minor Mana Sense].”

Onder shakes his head, mumbling something about patriarch before moving to a table and placing the spike on it. He turns to me, “Now then, this spike would make an amazing spear tip. Do you have any recommendations for the enchantment?” he asks.

“Recommendation? I don't know what enchantments you know.”

Onder chuckles, “The [Enchant] skill allows the creation of any enchantment as long as the [Enchanter] can imagine it.”

“Wait, really? Any enchantment? You can create enchantments? Just like that? Through Imagination?”

Holy crap… did I really not try to will an enchantment into existence? Was it that easy the entire time?

“I recognize that face and I must inform you that it is not as easy as you believe. Complicated enchantments cost enormous amounts of mana and require a very good understanding of the process. So, nothing too complicated please.”

I can't help but continue smiling like an idiot.

“Question, would I be able to supplement your mana with my own?”

Onder takes a moment, starts to shake his head but then stops, “You said you have the [Advanced Mana Sense] skill, correct?”

I nod.

“Then if you are skilled enough, you should be able to have your mana follow and copy mine. Hmmm, would you like to try it?”

Yes! No! Dammit. That would involve having to stand up and moving to the table.

I look to the table, it’s a good five meters away from me.

*Sigh*

The things I do for science...

...Errr magic science?

Standing up, I suppress a cry of pain as I slowly make my way to the table.

“Lets try that then. As for the enchantment, can you add the [Ignition] enchantment, but overcharge it and make it activate as soon as it makes impact with flesh?”

He frowns, “possible, but it will require a lot more mana, otherwise the enchantment will fail and the item will be ruined.“

“That's fine, I have a lot of mana. You just do your thing and I will help.”

Onder nods and places his hand on the spike. I do the same a moment later, circulating my mana through my body to prepare.

Onder takes a breath and closes his eyes.

“[Enchant]”

I sense his mana leave his body, exiting his hand and entering the spike. But the speed and quantity of the mana entering the spike barely amounts to anything.

With a flex of my will, I send a literal stream of my mana into the spike, mixing it with his current trickle, enhancing it several times over. A stream of mana is now entering the spike, finally revealing to me the intricate program of mana being created inside. Enchanting is the literal manifestation of both creating a spell in the item as well as giving it substance. Creating a far from a one time use item.

With another force of will, I increase the amount of mana sent into the spike even more, finding that the program being created starts to increase in complexity. So much so that I can no longer follow its creation as geometric programs pile on each other, condensing into one complex program. Unfortunately, it seems that if I lower the amount of mana being sent now, it would ruin the enchantment.

Oops, I might not have enough mana to finish this. Crap.

Shit, shit ,shit. This is going to be close.

Fuck, im starting to feel dizzy.

And just as my headache gets excessive, the spike stops accepting my mana. Sweat covers my face and I am forced to take deep breaths. Looking at Onder, he too looks like he just ran a marathon, but like me, he also has a huge smile on his face.

Oh… something doesn't seem right.

[Advanced Analyze]

I turn and look at Onder, his mouth wide open as he stares at the item. Apparently he has some skill that allows him to know the enchantment, a probably passive one considering he didn't activate any skill vocally.

“So Onder, how about we not make this into a spear, but into a javelin instead??”

Onder looks to me, his eyes glazed as he slowly nods his head.

Javelin napalm grenades. I made motherfucking napalm grenades. Long range fucking napalm grenades.

I frown as I stare at the item, thinking in hindsight the activation requirement was a bad idea. I can see this killing someone who accidentally drops some meat from their meal on it. Is blood considered to be internal flesh? Shit, this is dangerous.

“Well then, I don't suppose I can use your workshop for the next couple of days? I have a lot of ideas.”

Onder looks at me, then looks at the spike which could destroy his home and possibly the homes near his.

He turns to me.

“No.”

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