The Wandsmith [LitRPG, Isekai, Harem]

Ori sat on a log, watching as Ricoh, Tess's father, chopped down a tree. Beside him, Tess stripped branches from one of the foot-thick trunks already felled that morning.

They had arrived back at Strafhollow just after first light to find the remains of several buildings still burning after the raid. The rescued had arrived the night before and had already seen to the dead, as well as several survivors who had been hidden away in cellars and secret basements.

Towards the edge of the village, Tess's family home, or what was left of it, smouldered. What had once been a large, two-storey house had burned to the ground, leaving little intact.

Ricoh and Tess had stood in silence, processing the loss, before sifting through the remains. Ori had helped where needed, offering physical assistance as they searched for artefacts hardy enough to survive the fire.

Fortunately, the flesh traders had brought no Seekers and had not lingered to loot. The family vault and a void storage ring had survived intact.

"I'm sorry," Ori said, glancing toward Tess and her father.

Ricoh paused mid-axe-swing, shook his head, and replied, "It was just a house. We can build another."

"Did you build the last one?"

"Aye. And the cabin by the lake," Ricoh said, returning to his work.

"Is that one of your crafts? Carpentry? One of your classes?"

Ricoh shook his head. "No class or craft tradition for us forest folk. We low elves have just as many classes as you, or at least as normal humans."

"Da's a Forest Ranger. Nascent rank. He taught me the bow, how to track and hunt," Tess added, her focus still on her task.

Ori looked between them. It was clear Tess took more after her father in bearing and temperament, which made sense given how she had likely seen him as a more realistic role model. She shared his quiet pragmatism, his grounded approach. Where her High Elven mother, even in exile and stripped of ancestral Grace, still carried herself with an air of nobility, Tess showed none of the woman's airs and polished poise.

"Mind if I have a look at that axe? And your knife too, Tess?"

They both stopped. Tess handed him her hunting knife without a word, already anticipating what Ori meant to do. Ricoh stepped over, choosing to watch as he leaned on his axe.

Ori reshaped the knife's edge, sharpening it physically before layering it with enchantments. Hardened and sharpened, the blade became a Greater-Ranked artefact. Still, Ori felt his growing dissatisfaction with the limits of his knowledge.

"Who taught you to enchant?" Ricoh asked.

"I'm mostly self-taught. Had access to a few books."

"Elven books?"

Instead of answering, Ori caught Tess's glance before turning back to Ricoh. The wiry man stood of average height, his skin sun-kissed beneath a hazel mop of hair slicked to his brow with sweat. There was something behind the question, and Ori waited, allowing the man to air his thoughts.

"I heard something I maybe shouldn't have last night. Just a few words. And a name. One Sel forced me to swear never to speak of."

"Then swear it," Ori said, giving the man his full attention.

"I, Sir Ricoh of Strafhollow, do so thrice swear to keep your nature, and any other confidential details, private, not to speak of them with anyone save you, yours, and my daughter Tessalyn."

Ori felt the ancient magic settle over them. As he exhaled, Ricoh rolled his shoulders and stepped forward to offer his axe.

"The mystery of the Bondweaver... even among us common folk, the legend spread across realms and ages. The tale of a man who came, romanced a Briar Queen, then vanished in the night. Even now, after hundreds of years, it's still spoken of in speculation and bawdy tales over drinks. The guesses as to what you were ran wild—fae, demon prince, eldritch horror. If anyone had said human, they'd have been laughed out of the tavern. And now... the same man courts my daughter." Ricoh shook his head in disbelief.

Ori said nothing; it seemed more like something Ricoh needed to say aloud than something he expected a reply to.

"And it's not like I could say anything against it, even if I wanted to. You saved Tess's friends and family. Thank you, by the way."

Ori nodded.

"Now, I'm no expert in the ways of politics, but I know enough about this supposed Overlord to see there'll be danger for Tess, for both of you. And as her father, it would be remiss of me not to ask you to protect her, now and always."

"I will," Ori said.

Tess stood and hugged Ricoh, accepting his words as the blessing they were meant to be.

"Thank you, Da," Tess said after a while.

"Now, look after him too, you hear? I know you're chomping at the bit to get out of this village; I can feel your restlessness, but whatever happens between you will be your responsibility just as much as his. Your mother should have… would have taught you some of this in time."

"I'm—we won't be leaving, not for some days, not before—" Tess began.

"Aye, then perhaps there'll be some time yet for some mother and daughter lessons before you leave. Still, while I might not know exactly how it'll work in your... household, with the other matriarchs and such, both of you will need to look after each other to survive. You understand?" Ricoh said, holding Tess at arm's length before turning his attention to Ori.

"Yes," Ori said as Tess nodded.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Good. Now, let me see what you're going to do to my axe."

"Want some?" Lucas said through the familiar bond as he picked apart a fresh carcass. Lightning sparked between him and Lysara in the small forest clearing they had chosen to train, about an hour's flight from Strafhollow. Freya and Ruenne'del, holding on to Seraphine's Beacon, had chosen to stay behind with Tess, helping her and the other villagers with their rebuilding efforts while getting some girl-on-girl time, much to Lady Seraphine's delight.

Before Lucas lay the remains of a large, bison-like herbivore that had likely been minding its own business in some distant field, only to be snatched up by the invisible talons of an Immortal rank Greater Strix. With his massive black beak, Lucas carved, then tore out a strip of meat from the beast's calf, and offered it to Ori in a rare, genuine gesture of hospitality.

"Thank you."

Ori took the strip of meat and dangled it above his mouth. Despite it still dripping blood, he was starving, and raw beef no longer seemed as unappetising as it once had. One of the many subtle changes from his evolution meant he could digest raw meat just as efficiently as cooked, with far less risk of parasites or disease, though that hadn't truly sunk in until now.

"How have the last few days been? Enjoying immortality?" Ori said after chewing for longer and harder than what was comfortable.

Lucas tilted his head, giving Ori an odd look.

"You're a cocky little shit, aren't you? Worse when you're not even trying."

Ori snorted. "I wasn't even—"

"Yes, I know. And if you must know, the Immortal Rank is… well, being stronger is always good. As for immortality, ask me again in a millennium."

Ori chuckled. "Any feedback, suggestions or complaints?"

"Not really, not anything I should share with a squeaky little boy. A babe, really," Lucas replied.

"What is it? Did you want help with a signature spell, too?" Ori pressed.

"I have more spells than I know what to do with already. I'm a hunter, not a magician. No, I care more for practical things, things rarely seen on beasts like me."

"What do you mean?"

"Enchantments, lad. Like that useful artefact you use to store things. I want one. It would be… convenient." Lucas sighed, his request seeming to cost him more pride than he expected.

"You want a storage ring? Why?"

"Why do you think? Just because I've managed to thrive in the wilds all this time without them doesn't mean I couldn't put such a trinket to use if I had one."

Ori glanced at the carcass and considered the obvious practical uses Lucas could find for such a device.

"Is there anything stopping you from using a normal ring?" Ori fetched a spare void storage ring and placed it before the owl's giant talons.

"How does it work?"

"Intent and a bit of mana. You need to be touching it."

"Like this?" Lucas prodded it with the tip of a claw.

"Did it work?"

Ori waited as his familiar's face rotated in that odd way owls do, before he got his answer.

"This one is too small, on the inside and on the outside," Lucas said finally.

"Well, at least it works. It's something I'm going to learn how to enchant next. I should be able to figure it out if I reverse engineer that one, but I want to check out more enchantments and visit a library or two first. But yes, I'll make you a bigger one—something that could clasp to your leg or toe."

"Good. Yes… that would be… good." Lucas cooed in satisfaction.

"You've wanted one of these for a while, haven't you?" Ori said, continuing to chew on the strip of meat. It was a bit too chewy, and he didn't much care for the taste of fresh blood, but meat was still meat, and he stored the rest to grill later.

"It took me a while to understand that trick after watching you lot on the ground, but yes, to call what I felt lasting envy would be the least of it." Lucas ruffled his wings. "Now, I believe I've had my fill of polite company for one day, and she makes my feathers itch. Goodbye." Lucas' talons curled over the half-eaten remains, and with a gust of wind and light, the giant apex predator took off into the sky.

"Don't mind him, Lysara. I think he's still a bit put out by the fact that our Sparks defeated him back then." Ori chuckled.

"I should spend more time in the sky; those clouds look inviting," said the Lesser Elemental of Flux. Ori glanced up at the overcast sky, now threatening rain.

"Don't think Lucas would appreciate that."

"He wouldn't mind, in truth, he deals with storms all the time."

"Storms? Can you feel something?"

"Yes," Lysara replied, as another tendril of lightning sparked between her and his outstretched arm. This ritual of connection helped steady his thoughts, grounding them in their link as they explored their shared, unique affinity.

With his focus settling, Ori felt the pull of the earth, the cool flow towards the lake of potential beneath his feet, while something lighter and more tremulous tugged at him to ascend to the clouds above. This sensation felt even more pressing with his new Altus and Air affinities, a conceptual recognition that made previously ignorable aspects of the world around him much harder to overlook.

Threshold, Integration, Immersion, Sublimation and Assimilation: from first to fifth, these were the ranks of affinity comprehension.

With the aspect of Flux at the forefront of his mind, Ori allowed himself to sink to the edge of Sublimation, if only partially. Already at Immersion, the third and highest level of comprehension for most before elementalisation, Ori, with Lysara's help and in fulfilment of a promise made at the inception of their bond, sought a path forward towards the fifth rank of comprehension, Assimilation.

While many believed this was the point where an affinity utterly overtook and assimilated the wielder, erasing all remnants of sapient will, Ori pursued a different interpretation: one where will transformed the affinity, assimilating it towards one's ends, whether by mastery, subjugation, or a negotiation which was more in keeping with his understanding of Transcendence. It was actually Ruenne'del who had suggested this path, as her girlfriend and now apparently Ori's future betrothed, Kayleigh, was at the Titan rank: an Ice Fairy at the bottleneck of ascension to Primordial.

The Titan to Primordial branch of the ranks above Divinity featured beings at or beyond the fourth rank of comprehension with their affinities, elemental avatars capable of not only controlling their element across a realm, but of redefining it.

Ruenne'del had described Kayleigh's nature, how her control over ice had shaped her, yes, but how her stubborn and often imperious nature had tamed an elemental aspect of reality to the point where ice was only cold when she needed it to be, only froze what she wanted, could flow like water, flex like steel, and burn with the same intensity as fire.

To Ori, it was a level of control and mastery he struggled to understand. At the heart of it was the question: why turn something into what it was not, and if he were to do so with Flux, how would he reshape or redefine it, either in a way that suited him or in a way he found appealing?

It was strange. He demanded so much more from light, to heal, to punish, to purify and rarely to illuminate and now knowing what he knew of the Ice Fairy and Titan rankers, he believed he was much further along in his comprehension of Light as a result.

But lightning? He took joy in allowing it to remain loud, jagged, bright, and wild, as after all, its fundamentally magical nature had been the very thing that had drawn him to study it long before his abduction. These introspections were the cornerstone of progression with affinities, the reason he had taken time away from the village, beyond simply spending time with his bonds.

Despite the risks and the long road ahead, Ori felt no regret for the promise he had made to the once-wand spirit when they first formed their familiar bond, a promise a wiser, more knowledgeable Ori might have hesitated to make. It was a shared goal that still enhanced his magic and made him better able to face the challenges to come. Here in the clearing beneath the building thunderhead, Ori revelled in the dauntless freedom and sense of exploration this challenge promised.

After long moments of shared meditation, Ori emerged from his contemplations, Lysara's last thought still echoing in his mind.

"I think you're right, Lysara. Maybe it's time we both learned how to fly."