It had been three days since the mysterious reconciliation between Master Avana and Speria.
Master Avana said she would call an artificer to make the basic tools for me as a mage.
I believe her name was Dorma.
Dorma was said to be a highly skilled artificer who could make both a staff and a magic book simultaneously.
For this purpose, over the past three days, I had kept my body clean, eaten nothing at all, not even slept, and spent the time just meditating.
It was a very annoying task, but I gritted my teeth and endured it, as I was told that the higher the quantity and quality of meditation, the better tools could be made.
Dorma was a female elf wearing an antler hat, a black bear skin robe, and short pants.
She looked at me with a curious expression, which was rather ironic because she was the unusual one.
“Is this the child? The one you mentioned three days ago? You said he was born with innate magic?”
Master Avana nodded.
“Yes, Dorma. If this goes on, we don’t know where his magic might erupt. We need to hurry and create it.”
The artificer called Dorma kept her eyes fixed on me.
“What type is it?”
“From what we’ve seen, we think it might be the nullification type. But we’re not sure.”
At the mention of nullification type, Dorma’s eyes grew even wider.
“If you’re not certain, we can’t set a specific type for crafting.”
“That’s why I called you. If it were an easy task, I wouldn’t have sought you out. By the way, I was surprised you were available right away.”
“Well, you said he has innate magic. This is a good opportunity for an artificer like me to raise my level too.”
“Ah. So you’re saying you won’t ask for payment?”
Dorma didn’t answer.
She just nodded towards Speria, who was standing next to Master Avana, and said:
“A fire mage. It’s surprising enough to see a fire mage on the new continent, but to see one accompanying Avana is even more unbelievable.”
Speria answered with a bland expression.
“There were circumstances. Anyway, you. Can you draw out the innate magic to make a magic book? Even for me, that’s something I’ve never heard of or seen before.”
At those words, Dorma revealed her yellowed teeth.
“It certainly won’t be an easy task. But it’s not impossible either. I’ve been eagerly waiting to meet someone with innate magic and have collected treasures for just such an occasion. If all goes well, my level will greatly increase today. Hehehe.”
Seeing her laugh so sinisterly makes me feel uneasy.
But the thought that I would now be able to have a staff or a magic book made my heart throb with excitement. It felt like all the hunger and sleepiness from the past three days had flown away.
“Alright. So what do I need to do?”
Dorma shook her head and put her hand inside her robe.
“There’s not much for you to do. Looking at your body’s condition, you’re very clean! You really didn’t drink even a drop of water and didn’t sleep for even a moment. There are hardly any people who can be this perfectly clean.”
I’ve always been good at enduring things.
Especially when it’s for my own benefit.
Dorma pulled her hand out of her robe and handed me a dark, murky sphere.
I received it and asked.
“What is this…?”
Bang!
The sphere exploded right there with a loud noise.
Startled me.
Master Avana and Speria asked simultaneously.
“Wh-what’s going on?”
“Are you alright?”
Fortunately, there’s no pain, so it doesn’t seem dangerous.
Dorma narrowed her eyes.
“Hmm. Impressive. Then how about this?”
She once again put her hand into her robe and took out a black sphere. There wasn’t much difference from before, just that the black colour was a bit deeper.
As soon as I held it in my hand, it suddenly started trembling on its own. As everyone watched, it eventually exploded with a bang just like the previous one.
Is something going wrong?
I said in a low voice.
“This one doesn’t seem to work either.”
Dorma tilted her head, then sighed.
“Hmm. This one exploded too?”
Master Avana cautiously asked.
“How many gigas was it?”
Dorma crossed her arms and said.
“100 gigas.”
“Wh-what did you say?”
Not only Master Avana’s but also Speria’s eyes widened.
Dorma slightly lowered her head and muttered incomprehensible words.
“Maybe I need to give 1 tera? Hmm. No way. It’s just one magic, how could it be that much? Maybe just about 300 gigas… No, what if it explodes again? What a waste that would be. Phew. No. Rather than blowing up one after another, it might be better to give something definite. When will I ever get another chance to meet someone with innate magic?”
After contemplating several times, she finally put her hand into her robe. And gave me another black sphere.
It was an extremely black sphere.
No, it was beyond just black.
It was a darkness that seemed to consume even its surroundings, as if a round void had taken its place.
Her face was full of hesitation.
“Here, hold this in your hand.”
Her expression was as if she were giving away her heart.
Is this extremely precious?
I glanced slightly at Master Avana and Speria. They both swallowed dry saliva while looking at Dorma’s black sphere.
It shouldn’t be dangerous, right?
“Alright.”
I grabbed it. And at that moment, the black sphere started trembling rapidly. And it kept trembling more and more as if it was about to burst.
“Please. Please. Please.”
Desperation dripped from Dorma’s voice. I wanted to join in her desperation, but how could I when I didn’t know what was going on?
But the black sphere started trembling even more violently. Dorma’s eyes shook greatly as her voice grew louder.
“Oh, no, no, no, no. N-no way! Bigger than 1 tera! H-how can this be.”
She spoke as if this was the last one.
If this doesn’t work, does it mean she can’t make it?
I looked down at the thing that was shaking so violently that I could no longer call it a sphere, and muttered.
“Come on, please work this time. Okay?”
At that moment, the trembling of the black sphere slowly began to subside.
Dorma clapped her hands together and rejoiced like a child.
“Oh! It worked! It’s stabilizing! Whew. What a relief.”
As time passed, the trembling of the black sphere completely stopped.
There wasn’t any significant change.
I asked.
“So? Is it done now?”
Dorma, with an excited expression, rolled up her sleeves. Then she put both hands into her robe and started taking out various items and placing them on the floor.
They were ingredients of all sorts that words couldn’t fully describe.
“Now we begin! Before coming here, I brought all the treasures of every type I know. Whatever innate magic you possess, we can create any kind of magic book based on it.”
“……”
“Now, we just wait for the color to emerge.”
Dorma stood in front of me like a warrior burning with fighting spirit before a formidable opponent, staring at the black sphere in my hand.
Speria suddenly spoke.
“It’s red. Ran is human, after all. Whatever innate magic Ran has, it can’t overcome that nature.”
At those words, Master Avana chuckled.
“No. Just because someone is human doesn’t mean they’re only fire and iron mages. Do you not know how much influence a mage’s first master has? Who knows. A color we never expected might pop up.”
As Speria was about to say something more, Dorma shouted loudly.
“Now! It’s coming out!”
As soon as her words ended, the black sphere was sucked into its center and disappeared.
“Huh?”
“What’s this?”
“It disappeared?”
The three of them looked at each other in confusion.
I tilted my head.
“Hmm. This is strange. I can still feel it though.”
“What did you say?”
Dorma stretched her neck and brought her face close to my hand. She examined it from various angles, but her frown didn’t disappear.
Her eyes turned to me again.
“You say the sphere is still there?”
I applied a bit of pressure with my fingers. There was definitely resistance.
“Yes. It’s just become completely invisible, not gone.”
At those words, Speria said doubtfully.
“No way. You’re saying it’s so invisible that even my senses can’t detect it?”
Master Avana spoke with a deflated tone.
“invisible, you say. What does this mean, Dorma?”
Dorma’s brows furrowed even more.
She closed her eyes and spoke softly.
“I don’t know. If it were a nullification type, it would have a white glow. Invisible, you say. This is just…”
“……”
“……”
Then suddenly, she clenched her fist and hit her other palm while opening her eyes.
“Ah! That’s right!”
“Wh-what is it?”
Dorma looked at Master Avana and said.
“Was it four years ago? If I remember correctly, around that time… I saw a treasure of this type once.”
“Really? What kind was it?”
“It was an extremely rare item, but since it didn’t have any special effects, I bought it just out of curiosity for research purposes.”
This time, Dorma didn’t put her hand inside her robe but into her left sleeve.
Then she pulled out a transparent crystal shaped like an icicle.
“This. Yes, this is it. Bizarrely transparent, isn’t it?”
Speria’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked at it.
“That’s just transparent, isn’t it? I can see it perfectly well? But the sphere Ran is holding is completely invisible. It’s so transparent that I can’t even sense its presence.”
Dorma shrugged her shoulders.
“This is the only transparent type treasure I have. All the others have some colour to them.”
Master Avana looked at me and spoke gently.
“Then we’ll have to use that one. What else can we do?”
I don’t know what’s going on here.
I sighed.
“Honestly, I’m too hungry and sleepy. Let’s finish this quickly.”
At those words, Dorma said to Master Avana.
“With only this, making a staff will be difficult, but we can barely manage to create a magic book. However, it will be incomplete. Even if we fix it later, we’ll need to fill in the missing parts with other materials for now, don’t you think?”
At those words, both Master Avana and Speria simultaneously took out their own magic books.
“I’ll give mine.”
“I’ll give you mine.”
They glared at each other.
Dorma reached her hand behind her. There were all the materials she had laid out earlier.
“We have plenty of materials though?”
Then both of them spoke simultaneously again.
“Just use mine.”
“Use my book.”
They glared at each other again.
Probably mixing their materials into my magic book would bring them some benefit.
I don’t like feeling uneasy.
I said firmly.
“It’s okay if it’s incomplete. Just make it.”
“Huh?”
“Please make it as it is. We can find and add the missing materials later.”
At those words, both of them became dumbstruck.
Dorma asked in a low voice.
“If you accept their offerings, you can inherit some of their level and magic. You could become powerful in an instant, you know?”
Both of them chimed in.
“That’s right. You’ll be able to learn magic much more easily, Ran.”
“Yeah. This isn’t something we offer to just anyone, you know.”
I shook my head.
“It’s fine. I feel like mixing unnecessary things will just cause more trouble later.”
Easy power always comes with a price, after all.
Dorma glanced at Master Avana and me, then said.
“Mage Ran. If that is truly your wish, I will make it for you, although incomplete. However, if you find more of the same material later, bring it close to the magic book and infuse it with magic power. Then the magic book will absorb it. Of course, if you want to make a matching staff, come and find me.”
“I understand.”
“Good.”
Dorma threw her robe back dramatically. As she did so, all the dozens of materials on the floor were sucked into her robe.
She held out the transparent crystal and said.
“Place the invisible sphere you’re holding on top of this crystal. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Place it on top?
I looked at my hand.
Indeed, I couldn’t see anything.
But I could roughly estimate its size by the feel in my hand.
I carefully moved my hand and placed my invisible sphere on top of the crystal Dorma was holding.
Then the crystal started to melt slowly from its tip.
“Good. It’s a bit annoying that I can’t see it, but… well, it’s not impossible to work with.”
After muttering softly, Dorma manipulated the crystal with both hands. The melted part changed into various shapes under her ten fingers, gradually forming a rectangular shape.
Come to think of it, I can definitely see it. It’s strange that I can see something invisible, but still.
“Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.”
But soon she destroyed the shape and started making the magic book again.
At that moment, Master Avana said to me.
“We don’t know how long this will take. If you’re tired, go inside and rest.”
“Ah, will it take hours?”
Speria chuckled.
Master Avana answered again.
“It might take days, dear.”
But Master Avana’s words were wrong.
It took over two months for my magic book to be made.
