NOVEL NEXT Chapter 171: New Accessories
Over the course of the week, Wulf continued spending his evenings crafting equipment with the others. They sat at their regular workbench, chiselling and carving and shaping. Once he'd finished his array of crystals, he helped the others.
Kalee finished her staff, and though it didn't create a visible portal into a void, not like the regular storage pendants, it could absorb constructs specifically and hide them away in a storage realm, like a pocket dimension. It automatically stored them in specific locations, and when it was full, would hold a ten by ten by ten cube of constructs.
The description of the staff read:
Mass Sage's Staff (Unique)
A staff crafted by a Mage who is beginning to accept the intricacies of her Class. It can store up to a thousand constructs and minimize their weight.
With the expense of mana, the weight of the stored constructs can be temporarily added to the staff's tip, causing it to strike targets with greater intensity. With each enemy defeated this way, the storage capacity increases, to a maximum of two thousand constructs.
One secondary effect has been hidden. When the wielder bonds with the weapon, the secondary effect will be revealed.
Once it bonds with a wielder, it will only function for that wielder.
"There you go," Wulf said. "That's a pretty good staff. And—look. Its main function was visible right away. Fate Cutters didn't do that."
"Are you getting better at making weapons?" Seith asked.
"Or maybe, like, it's 'cause he did it as part of the group," said Irmond.
"We'll go with that one," Wulf said. "But honestly, I'm sure working together with you guys has helped a lot."
Wulf also helped with Irmond's bow by transmuting an overlay. Irmond's old bow had a thin layer of gilding on it, but there were better substances than gold, especially for bows. He transmuted it to a substance known as Windwood, which was known for growing in the especially windy Great Planes—in sparse copses of millennium-old trees. They manipulated high winds into vortexes, and when enough of them got together, they could create a tornado.
Irmond shaped the thin transmuted gilding into specific patterns, which would direct the vortexes behind his arrows and give them extra strength, then poured a touch of his mana into the weapon to finish the crafting process.
When the weapon was done, its description read:
Redleaf's Bow (High-Gold)
Sometimes, even the most basic of classes can become something wonderful. Any arrow shot by this bow will ignore all air resistance and be unaffected by the wind, except for enhancements that push it from behind.
This weapon will only function for its bonded maker.
Immediately after, they'd tried it. Instead of splitting the air with a sonic boom, the arrow disappeared in a flash. Everything went quiet. When it hit its target—the stone wall at the back of Wraith's hangar bay—it smashed the stone with an ear-splitting crack.
"Woah…" Irmond breathed.
"It's not fancy," Wulf said.
"But I'd bet it could put a hole in most fiends' skulls," Seith said, placing a hand on Irmond's shoulder. "Good work."
"I still need to combine it with a skill," Irmond said.
"Sure, but it's a High-Gold weapon. You're a Low-Silver," Wulf said. "You're on the right track, and there's no argument against it."
Irmond nodded, then smiled. "Thanks."
Lastly came Seith's equipment. She'd finished most of her climbing picks using the wood they'd gathered from the dungeons, and was about to finish them, but Wulf suggested that they should use some of the leftover rings from the chainmail they'd stolen. Despite what Kalee had used, there was still an enormous sheet of chainmail hanging over the scaffolding on the side of Wraith's hangar bay.
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They made a tiny storage pendant for each of the climbing picks, so they could fold up into simple rings and hang from Seith's belt when she wasn't climbing around on the outside of the Wraith.
The picks themselves ended up at Low-Gold Quality, with only a single special effect, which was that they could fold into a storage pendant and hang without being in the way, as well as having unusually high durability.
Wulf said, "I promise, I'll work on getting you something stronger eventually."
"It's alright," Seith replied. "I don't need a weapon like the rest of you. I'm an Artificer. My calling is the workbench—it's about making stuff. Not fighting. That's what I have you guys for, right?"
"Anything in particular you're looking to make?" he asked.
"What's the plan with the rest of that chainmail?"
"Nothing currently." He tilted his head. It had been about a week since he'd spied on Azanthius' meeting, and he needed to tell them eventually, but admittedly, he wasn't really sure what he could say. But there were some ideas lingering in the back of his mind, and he was pretty sure some of it had to do with crafting. It'd come full circle, even if it felt unrelated at the moment.
"Guys," he said softly, "we need to talk."
He glanced around, making sure no one was listening, then called them closer to the table. Then he explained what he'd learned, speaking softly: he told them about the Academy working apparently very closely with the Orichalcums, to the extent that the Orichalcums could determine academy policy. He told them about their concern over Alchemy, and he told them that he was pretty sure the only reason Azanthius didn't know about Wulf and Kalee's true nature was because he hadn't gone looking yet.
"So…" Irmond tilted his head. "I mean, like, we knew the Academy was working with the Orichalcums, right?"
"But why would they want to keep Alchemists down? Why would they even be afraid of Alchemists?" Wulf asked.
The others glanced at each other, and finally, Kalee shrugged. "I don't know, Wulf," she said.
"What even are Embodiments?" Seith asked. "Something about Alchemists runs the risk of making them lose their Embodiments?"
It was Wulf's turn to shrug. "I have no idea…" he muttered. "I've heard them mentioned a few times, and I think it's necessary in order to advance to Orichalcum. I just don't know what they are."
"The good news is," Irmond began, "next week, Thirdday, in our Complex Advancement lectures, we're talking about the higher stages."
"They're going to be talking about advancing to Gold, not Orichalcum," Kalee corrected. "But it'll be useful nonetheless. Even though a few of the third years already made it to Gold."
"We don't have much to fear from a third year who's already made it to Gold," Wulf reminded her. "If they're already a Gold, they're not a very strong one, and we can take them out."
"Assuming they forced it with mana-water," Kalee countered. "It's possible that a Mage, say, used a family dungeon all summer."
"It's possible," Wulf conceded. "I won't get complacent."
After a short pause, he continued, "But, where I was going with that—the Academy is not our friend. We have to be willing to do whatever we have to in order to protect the world, and if it means screwing over the Academy, then so be it. If we were to build a really big storage construct, we'd be able to steal something really big."
~ ~ ~
Wulf lingered outside the lecture theatre for Complex Advancement 398, staring at the corkboards and the different notices. Technically, the hallway had windows, and technically, it was midday, but it never felt like it anymore. The sky was, at best, hazy. At worst, enormous clouds of dust blocked out the sun. Already, plants were withering, and he was going to need to figure out a solution for the plants in his storage pendant when their season began.
There were posters advertising weekend jobs for Ascendants to help out on farms. The old speech regulation posters were covered over with recruitment notices for the military—targeted at fourth years, but you could get a slight payout if you dropped out of the Academy early to join the Ascendant Corps.
After all, not everyone could pilot an Oronith.
There were a few posters near the edges of the board with a public service announcement, branded with Farmer's Guild livery, dutifully reminding students that Alchemy was weak, and that any modern Alchemists were destined for obscurity. Those had been covered in ink graffiti.
And then, in the very center, there was a poster with the updated rankings for the tournament and the upcoming fights. Wulf would have one more High Bracket fight in this semester, but the odds were in his favour now.
Leo remained at the top of the board, with his next fight in his favour—the odds being nearly seventy to one.
Finally, the previous class left, and once they'd all filtered out the lecture theatre doors, Wulf stepped inside and took a seat near the back of the room, and slowly, the others filled out the rows beside him. But, being Thirdday, almost no one was talking, and in the ten minute grace period they had between lectures, there was plenty of time to arrive. No one was late.
He, Kalee, Irmond, and Seith all shared the class with each other. The numbers of students were dwindling. Some had already dropped out, knowing they wouldn't make it on an Oronith crew. There were plenty who still held out hope.
Then, of course there were those who'd left the academy to return to their families, and there were a few who'd been killed over the course of the year.
Their lecturer, Dr. Konstant, approached the front of the class. He laughed softly, then said, "Everyone was eagerly awaiting this lecture, weren't you? Well, let's begin, shall we?"