117. Arcane Development

Alter Metal Mass has progressed to Rank 7!

Steel Weave’s flexibility and durability have increased at both weight extremes. 

Spellweaver has progressed to rank 2!

Assistant Spindle’s arcane capacity has increased. 

Lukas laughed, reading the journal messages.

“What is it, boss?” the newly resummoned Flukas asked. “Did Thunderstorm’s Eye make it to the threshold?”

“Nope.  It seems everything but the ability we need to grow is progressing. The same thing happened with Spellweaver.” Lukas sighed. “The ability will ascend when it's ready. Knowing our luck, it won’t happen until after we need it to.”

“Or in the middle of it all,” Eins added, polishing a section of the chest armor he was working on. It had several sections and would require chainmail and leather layers to hold them all together. Lukas planned on employing Shae for part of the project. “I hope Arcane Smithing takes its sweet time. As cool as it would be to play Thor, I’d rather be in here.”

“I know you guys think results make up for it, but I’m not happy about what you did,” Lukas said, even though it was unnecessary. Flukas already knew it after the resummoning. However, it felt good to vent. “I don’t care if you go out drinking or just gallivanting around the outer river districts. But the fighting pits? There is a reason I’ve never ordered you to go up there. There is too much risk of exposure. Besides, we need to be more careful while working with the Shadow Seekers.”

“I’m sorry, boss.” The clone didn’t sound apologetic. There was no point to it. Lukas knew how his copies felt. 

“However, that light mage, she felt strange, didn’t she?” Lukas looked up at his stand-in. It was clear the clone wanted to crack a joke, but was resisting. “It wasn’t quite dragonfire, but there was something different about her magic.”

Flukas nodded. “Its signature was different. Perhaps a warlock?”

“I thought so too at first. Standard light magic weakens shadows.” Lukas manifested a disc of Shadowsteel. “Skina.” They didn’t use light spells often, and he still needed the word to call the magic forth. The black metal remained unaffected. “I’ve never seen it dissolve Shadowsteel. So, it's special somehow. Different like Ace’s unique brand of divination and probability magic. My first thought was it's linked to some sort of deity or otherworldly entity.”

“But now you’re wondering whether it's connected to whatever faction raised Mira,” Flukas said, completing the thought.

“That’s why you’re, Flukas,” Eins commented, walking past the pair. He hung a new completed section of the breastplate from the wall. The multiple segments made it weaker than standard plate armor. However, Lukas wanted something easily foldable and stored in the journal’s Hidden Compartment. “I wouldn’t have made the connection. Is it the specialization combined with Spellweaver?”

Neither Lukas nor Flukas acknowledged the question. They returned their attention to the project at hand: developing the Shadow Step spell. Ace had been sent to keep an eye on the fighting pits ever since the other clones returned. Lukas also intended to set a couple of stalkers to the task. He wasn’t sure whether they were pulling at threads, but it felt like a line of inquiry worth following.

A person’s comprehension of the Law can heavily influence their Understanding. Similarly, their Understanding can heavily influence the Law. The tenets go hand-in-hand in the same way Understanding and Intent are reliant on one another. Understanding is the bridge between the two and brings all casters together. 

The little note felt more critical than ever as Lukas attempted to create the spell. First, he settled on the idea that Shadow Step wasn’t teleportation. It wasn’t like Blink, which involved dematerializing at one spot and materializing elsewhere. Instead, he used Ghost Walk as a model, which involved phasing into a separate plane of reality and using it to travel outside of space and time, thereby bridging the distance between two points. 

Shadow Step was all about creating a wormhole-like passage between two sets of shadows and getting vacuumed between them. Tying the concept to physical laws helped solidify the idea. Lukas had come to realize that when formulating a new spell, making it sense to him was the most important thing of all.

I don’t need to follow the Laws to the letter. My interpretation of them is essential. But why stop there? Esther said that if I can figure out or formulate new concepts, Fracture’s magic should allow me to develop my very own Laws.

“Holy shit,” Flukas gasped, shooting up from his workstation. His wooden chair fell with a noisy thud. “Boss. You need to see this!”

“If it's another stupid Shadowsteel construct, I’m dispelling you and giving the title of Flukas to someone else.”

“Trust me, boss. This is incredible. I’ve cracked it.” The clone paused. “Somewhat.” 

Lukas wanted to be annoyed. However, the genuine enthusiasm told him that the clone wasn’t out to waste time. He set the spellform he was working on aside and rose from his seat. A large black disc marked the middle of the spellform Flukas had assembled. At first, it looked like a standard two-dimensional shadow, but then, when Lukas got close, he realised there was more to it. His stand-in had created a hole.

When Lukas looked straight down into it, he expected nothing but empty space. Instead, he witnessed a whole other world. Silhouettes moved in the darkness. 

“Where does it go?” Lukas asked.

“That’s the thing. I don’t have the faintest idea.” Flukas grinned. His words dripped with pride. “I was fooling around, to be honest. You’ve been at the same thing for days, and it's not been working. Opening a tunnel connecting two fixed shadows just isn’t working, boss. So, I focused my efforts on just opening the entrance and thought we could figure out the exit some other time.”

“Say less,” Lukas stated, grabbing a piece of parchment. He balled it and dropped it into the hole. It disappeared. “Stick your hand in and see if you can fish it out.”

“Forever the guinea pig.” Flukas sighed before obeying. He sank his arm into the shadow tunnel with no ending, all the way up to the elbow. Much to Lukas’s disappointment, the clone returned empty-handed. “The tunnel goes on forever. I suppose with no endpoint, it's just snaking around neighboring shadows somewhere.”

“You don’t seem to have invested much magic in it.” It was more a statement than a question. He touched the spellform, and the hole disappeared. “The neighboring shadows must be the things we could see.”

“So, we figure out the destination where they were and we can start—”

“No,” Lukas interrupted. “I don’t think that’s important. This tunnel. The Shadow Realm. They’re not linear. The laws of space are different. There is nothing below us.” He and the clone peeked into the hole. It looked like a workshop with a cauldron in the middle. People were working around it. One person stirred, and another chopped ingredients nearby. Brighter patches marked a shiny rectangular surface. “That looks like a window, and the white-grey bits must be sunlight. We must be looking into one of the other workshops.”

“Where do we go from here?” Flukas asked.

“I don’t have the faintest idea, but it's a start.” Lukas looked over the spellform. “Make a few copies of this. We’re going to use it on a base template and try a few development paths.”

“Yes, boss.” Flukas saluted before getting to work. All the while, the clone grumbled about not getting the credit he was due and being used as a lab rat. He seemed to believe the title of Flukas put him above such tasks.  Lukas didn’t like it one bit.

______________________________

“I wasn’t expecting you today,” Ephram stated, his face lighting up as he shook Zwei’s hand. “What are you showing off today?”

“I call it the Storm Gauntlet,” Zwei replied, holding up the piece. Ephram, Irma, and the other Revolution members who had wandered over leaned in for a close look at the intricate runework. “It’s primarily a defensive tool for catching enemy blows. The enchantments reduce weight, increase durability, and—”

“Forget the standard stuff,” Irma interrupted. “Tell them about the magic. I haven’t seen anything like it. Or maybe do a demonstration if you’re up for it.”

“Very well.” Zwei pointed at one of the guards standing by the entrance to Ephram’s gallery. El-Prime had not long discovered that the property belonged to the man. Stalkers were trying to find their way in and snoop around. Unfortunately, the man wasn’t just a spellscribe but also an expert wordsmith, far exceeding Penelope and Esther’s skill sets. El-Prime would need to embark on the task or send a Spellweaver personally. “You there. Shoot me.”

“What?” The man appeared bewildered, glancing between his employer and Zwei as he fastened the gauntlet. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”

“This man is a tier-three Shadow Seeker,” Ephram replied. “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.” He pointed at a corner of the room with scant decorations. “Best do it somewhere with no valuables. I’d rather not have anything damaged or stained.”

“It’s a good thing you have your priorities straight.” Mira appeared at her teacher’s side. Her usual shyness around strangers seemed to fall away. She had spent most of the past hour talking to old and new members of the group, discussing their respective trades. Ephram had commented on it being weird, but then chalked it up to how the mission to Reistein had changed her. “Are you sure about this, Lukas? The crossbows might be mundane, but—”

“You should know better than to call me creations mundane, young lady,” a nearby man said, drawing a couple of laughs.

“I was going to say they’re mundane, but each of them is a masterwork,” Mira continued. “Bolts from them shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

“I trust my creation,” Zwei said, flashing a confident smile.

Trust in your creation. Appear reckless. Make Ephram believe you’re a fool he can trust.

People murmured and chuckled as he strapped on the oversized metal glove and got in position. It covered his left arm from fingertips to elbow and was twice as wide. Despite the bulk, it weighed the same as a one-handed weapon. Eins and Zwei had designed the Storm Gauntlet as a counterpart of Shaker’s Beard. One did not feel heavier than the other and throw the wielder off-balance. 

“Ready?” The guard asked, his tone betraying uncertainty. 

“Go for it,” Zwei stated, activating the enchantment. Tendrils of electric-blue energy danced along the surface as the runes lit up. The air rippled in a disk in front of the weapon as sound pulsed from the arcane crystal planted just below the wrist. 

The bolt flew too fast to see but slowed noticeably a couple of feet from Zwei, changed course, and struck the gauntlet. It hung glued to its surface afterward and didn’t fall to the floor. The man who had fired the projectile appeared relieved. The man had the build of a sharded but didn’t seem like he had a stomach for combat. It was probably why he was guarding an artisan’s property instead of protecting the city or working for a guild.

“Is it a slowing and attraction enchantment?” asked the weaponsmith responsible for the crossbow. 

“That wasn’t a Slow Field,” Ephram said, brows furrowed. “Air shaping and manipulation fueled by sound-attuned magic. Correct?”

“Spot on,” Zwei replied, deactivating the enchantment. He tested his shoulder after removing the gauntlet. It had perfectly absorbed the impact, and his joints felt no repercussions. “That’s one powerful crossbow. I wouldn’t have dared to block it with an ordinary shield.”

“It’s designed to punch through armor and the most powerful defensive abilities,” the weaponsmith said, moving closer. His eyes narrowed as he inspected the gauntlet. “I can’t even tell where the bolt struck. What is the second function? I saw hints of lightning magic. Is that for an offensive function?”

“Sound and lightning can both work for offense,” Irma said, gleaming with pride. “Lukas here is manipulating fields generated by the interaction of lightning and steel.”

“The gauntlet is functioning as a lodestone,” Ephram said, appearing awestruck for a moment. “Imagine the applications. Do you have much data or published research on the phenomenon?”

Zwei shook his head. “Nothing concrete enough to share. There are a lot of material issues, and I’m still figuring things out. The hiccups are mostly with overheating and deterioration that a simple durability enchantment won’t overcome.”

No way in hell am I or El-Prime sharing any of this with you. 

“So, lightning-attuned magic metal is the only other solution?” The weaponsmith had a notebook out. Zwei realized that bullshitting his way out of the problem wasn’t going to work. Professionals surrounded him, and they were likely to see through all of his lies.

“Unfortunately, not. It seems only ordinary steel or magic metal with unattuned energy generates the lodestone field,” Zwei replied. “The lightning flowing through metal is what does it. I got lucky this time.”

“Metallurgy happens to be my speciality,” the man pressed. “If you want to collaborate, I’d be happy to cover production costs and help figure out the optimal—”

“Back off, you vultures,” Irma said, voice stern and hands on her hips. “This is Lukas’s research and creation. He’ll share it with the Revolution when he’s ready.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked the weaponsmith up and down. “We all know how collaborations with you turn out.”

“That was a misunderstanding!”

While the pair argued, Ephram wrapped an arm around Zwei and guided him away. Their conversation faded into the background. It seemed not all members of the Revolution got along. The weaponsmith sounded worried about losing valuable knowledge altogether. He didn’t say so, but Zwei was sure the man was confident that he’d hoard the discoveries, not sharing them with anyone ever. The man wasn’t wrong. El-Prime had no intention of sharing his electromagnetic research and development with anyone. When he finally achieved the ability to develop coilguns for the clones, he wanted no one else to have access to the magic or technology.

“Ignore them,” Ephram said, rolling his eyes. “They regularly flip-flop between friends, rivals, and mortal enemies. We’re all on the same side here. It’s all about the advancement of technology for the betterment of our city and by extension the world.” He grinned. “Besides, an inventor also needs to protect his personal interests. If I were you, I’d register ownership of all creations with the Union first.”

“That was the plan,” Zwei lied. “I like what you’re doing here and the concept of the Revolution. Collaboration sounds good, but, honestly, this is the product of a year of trial and error and study. I’m proud of how much I’ve achieved alone and don’t particularly want to add someone else to the mix.”

“Understandable.” Ephram led Zwei away from the crowds and to the far end of the room, where the Revolution events typically took place. He had admired the grand doors during the previous visit, but failed to get a good look within. The magic radiating from it was dense and pure, having piqued his curiosity. “Esther tells me you’re not much of a ritualist. Is that true?”

“It's certainly a field I’d like to study in more detail. Given my limited talents in direct combat, ritually preparing spells beforehand might make my life easier. Mira tells me you’re an expert on the matter.”

“Great minds think alike,” Ephram said, slapping Zwei’s back. The doors opened, and he waved at the circular room’s rune-covered floor. “We do more than share knowledge and collaborate in the Revolution.”

“Mira dropped a handful of hints. You commune with Greater Beings for guidance and the means to extend your understanding of the universe.”

“Among other things.” Ephram didn’t seem bothered about the fact that Mira had shared the Revolution’s secrets, leading Zwei to wonder whether she was supposed to recruit him. “We have another ritual coming up on the night of the upcoming New Moon. New members aren’t usually welcome to them, but why don’t you join us? Viewing it might help you on your journey. Afterward, we can get together every couple of weeks and I’ll guide you on the art of ritual-casting.”

“I’d like that very much.” Zwei grinned, shaking the master spellscribe’s hand.