A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Solvi sighed, her heart shaken by how much basic knowledge Eldrian was lacking. If she had to classify his actual understanding of runes according to what he just said, then at most, he was at the level of a Tier 2 runesmith.

Evidently, he knew more runes than a Tier 2 runesmith. He had obviously jumped to memorizing runes and then trying to crudely apply them. Creating his own method as he struggled in the dark without a mentor or any proper instructions.

'I really can't approve of Boran's way of dealing with this...' It hurt Solvi seeing how much of the basics Eldrian lacked. And yet, she knew he was capable of making amazing items.

This construction magic device would indeed be an amazing creation, something Solvi doubted she could make. And Eldrian was confident, even though he didn't understand the forging process.

"Do you want to try and make it now?" Solvi asked.

"Before going back to Ganalin?"

"They have given me management of a smithy for the time being. We can use my personal stash of materials."

'Oooh, that is appealing but, it's late.' Eldrian had gone a few days without sleeping already. He needed to log out and make sure everything was fine IRL. Of course, Two went every six to eight hours to stretch and eat something. But his real body was basically rotting in a cave.

"Come on! I won't understand without you showing me!" Solvi pushed, slapping Eldrian's shoulder in encouragement.

"Al-alright." Eldrian smiled awkwardly as Solvi led him to her forge. Since it was late at night, he had gone to where she was staying, a type of long-term inn -or hotel.

"I'll start the forge. What metals are you planning on using?"

"Ah, sorry, but I have nothing on me."

"I said we'll use my inventory. It will be my payment for observing this unique method of yours. So, what do you need?"

"Can I get enough Mithril for a shield, and some brightsteel... enough for a dagger? Also, enough rikolium gold for inlaying and then crystals of the elements of earth, wind, and nature. Oh, and a large mana crystal."

Solvi listened with a smile, doing her best to keep that smile going as Eldrian listed his requirements. Nothing was particularly rare, but that didn't mean it was a cheap list of materials.

Just the mana crystal would put her out 1000 gold. All in all, this was probably going to cost her around 3000 gold.

Luckily, for the innovations with the cannon and some side work she had done, Solvi had enough of the materials on hand. However, she had plans for them and didn't really have the gold to waste.

Taking the bitter pill and swallowing it forcefully, Solvi brought everything Eldrian had asked.

"Hope this will do." She said after having placed everything next to the forge.

'She actually had everything on hand? But this can't be cheap...' Eldrian didn't quite feel right using this as is. Especially since he knew Solvi wasn't especially rich. All she had she had earned with her own blood and sweat.

'Well, she did say I should consider it payment for showing her my technique. So I guess it's okay.' Rationalizing it so, Eldrian inspected the crystals. All but the mana crystal were medium-sized, each worth anywhere between 20 and a 100 gold.

'Ventus crystal, rank 1, wind element... Vromia crystal, rank 2, earth element... Vis Crystal, rank 1, nature element... That should do well enough.'

While only one crystal was rank 2, that was the earth element one. Which was the most important, so it should be alright. The others just needed to be the specific element after all, he could technically even use mana crystals instead. But then he would need to add some more runes to ensure elemental conversion of mana, which would just increase the difficulty.

"Satisfied?" Solvi asked as soon as Eldrian finished inspecting the materials.

"Yeah, it should do nicely. Now, time to start, I guess..." Eldrian turned to the forge, feeling a hint of nostalgia and distance.

'I'll just do things as I'm used to. First, getting the mithril into form.' Throwing in the ingots, Eldrian chose one of the many adamant hammers available and got to work. Working the metal into form took some time, and of course Eldrian cheated from time to time.

Instead of using tongs, he held the pieces with ether as he worked. Watching from the side, Solvi felt great admiration watching that. It even made her wish to pursue Eldrian's manner of using magic a bit more.

There were spells to hold and move pieces you are working on but, there was nothing that was as flexible as what Eldrian was showing. No matter the form, no matter the heat. He held the pieces with his magic, even sometimes using it from time to time to give certain form to the metal like a mold.

Of course, she could also clearly tell from his technique that he didn't know how to properly handle his hammer. He was clearly forcing things to move ahead. Watching him hammering the mithril without a care made Solvi's heart ache.

Once Eldrian had forge welded all the ingots and formed the outline of a shield, he started working on the section separations. For this, he used the brightsteel. As per its name, it was a material rich in the light element, which not only looked nice but also worked well at forming a barrier between sections of the item.

First, Eldrian formed the central part where the mana crystal would be placed. Next, he added three circle-ish designs around the center. Adding inlays for the crystals according to the blueprints. Afterward, he used the rikolium gold and started forming the runes and their circuits. Connecting them to the inlays in order and ensuring that everything would flow properly.

Once he had repeated this four times, he now had basically three different circuits and one control module for the entire device. Adding the crystals, Eldrian controlled the flow of mana while envisioning the end goal of for the item.

'Let the mana flow through the inner circuit and mana crystal, connect with the brightsteel and activate the wind section first. Supply mana and activate the circuit aim—secure the area.... I guess this means make sure there are no living things in the area and if there are warn them to leave...'

Luckily, Eldrian's method of using runes was quite basic. The wind element section basically only took the offered mana and prepared it for a search function. Eldrian knew from past experiences that he could add more functions to the circuit. Which was what he did now.

The enchantment step, as he has come to consider the finalization step of forging.

'Next, nature—remove any obstructions from plants. Then, earth—flatter and prepare, then create... either what is envisioned or designed...'

Eldrian paused, taking a moment and adding a few more runes to the earth circuit to give an option for a pre-drawn plan to be added to the part to use as a guide for construction. Sadly, when he returned to the enchantment step, the crystals shattered.

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