Putting that potentially dangerous line of thought in a box labeled nope, Damian returned his attention to the tome in his hands. He contemplated what exactly he wanted to try first. While he had the knowledge in his head, he had yet to even attempt to carve a rune, high precision was a necessity in this field. A single mistake, would prevent whatever item he was enchanting from ever holding working runes again. Magic would flow into and through every rune on an item. So, while the only limit to how many enchantments you could put on an item was how much you could fit on its surface area, magic would flow through and empower every rune before activating. If one was off by even a fraction, at best the enchantment would fizzle out; worst case it leads to the disintegration of the item.
While pondering what to use as practice, he put the tome down, only to hear a weird thunk that grabbed his attention. Looking over he noticed a slate tablet poking out of the back of the book. He pulled it out and examined it in curiosity. The slate, both in material and appearance, was the size of a laptop with runes carved on the edges. On the face of the slate was a written message.
‘To my newest friend,
I have a very good feeling about you and your large friend, so I decided to include a small gift with the book you purchased. This is a practice slate for runes. Simply use your tools to carve a runic sequence and touch the bottom most rune on the slate. The runes you carved will glow either green or red respectively. Green and you carved the rune to an acceptable degree of accuracy, red is the opposite. When you wish to restart, or try a new rune sequence simply shake the slate to erase what is written upon it. Consider this gift an investment in your future, an enchanter is always useful to know, and profitable for us both! Good luck my friend, I have full confidence in you!
Sincerely,
Maladus, merchant extraordinaire and investor supreme!’
Damian chuckled at the note, either Maladus was playing a very long game he couldn’t yet see, or the demon was just very friendly. He decided to put his paranoia aside for now, and make use of the connection a friendship with Maladus represented. Damian would give him the benefit of the doubt going forward, but still make sure to watch the demon’s actions carefully. Trust but verify is a good motto to live by. Turning his attention back to the slate he gave it a shake and watched the note disappear leaving a blank slate ready to be carved. Damian ran a hand over the surface and felt no indents or depressions that would indicate it had ever been used before. It was fascinating. The best part, was that the runic script on the edges were in Elder Futhark. Just at the edge of what would be possible for Damian to create, once he had enough practice.
This is just what he needed! With this proven rune concept, he could attempt to mass produce these slates to allow the common populace to try enchanting! Once he got his weapon idea past the prototype stage, he could help teach workers to start mass production and arm the military with more effective weaponry. This would go a long way towards getting the influence and recognition he would need to feel comfortable approaching one of the higher ups in the government alongside Lu and the other two. With that in mind he opened his inventory and retrieved the tools he received from the second tier Rune skill tree.
The tools were a variety of carving tools, from knives and awls, to chisels and engraving pens. Anything that could be used to carve something was included. Each tool was a mixture of four materials that with his knowledge from the skill tree and what he read in the book could recognize the purpose of. First was the handle of each tool, it was made of birch wood, symbolizing purity and new beginnings and had a small covering of porcelain that symbolized refinement and grace and would give each tool a small amount of corrective guidance when carving to assist the rune crafter with accuracy. The blades or bodies of the tools were made of iron to symbolize discipline and endurance enhancing the steadiness of the carver’s hand and increasing the longevity the runes carved. Finally, the edges mixed in sterling silver for purity and clarity aiding in removing the fine particles that would be left in each groove and increase the ease with which magic could flow into.
The tools were probably the most aesthetically pleasing items he had ever owned. However, getting tools of similar quality created would be problematic. Damian shrugged, he would cross that bridge when he came to it for now, he had work to do. When Damian considered a weapon to enchant only one came to his mind. He would admit it was mostly due to his love of the design in an old movie he watched with his father, but if it worked? He may or may not also have already created a working replica when an old girlfriend convinced him to go to a convention with her in cosplay. The weapon he was thinking of was an automatic crossbow from the movie Van Helsing, staring Hugh Jackman. He loved the idea of it, and when he was finally given an excuse to create one, he went all out.
It was also around the time he first decided to major in mythology and folk lore, so he wasn’t satisfied just making a regular replica. Each piece of it had to have a meaning or symbolism that would be useful for a weapon created to kill monsters. The stock was made of dark oak wood to symbolize stability and strength, lovingly carved with images of hunting wolves. The prod, or bow, was made by entwining two separate woods, ash and yew, together they represented a duality of life and death, each wood also representing cosmic connection, ash representing Ygdrasil, and yew the connection between the living and the dead. The entwined arms of the bow were slotted into carved deer antlers which complemented the concepts of the ash and yew, but also was used in folk lore to represent guidance. Finally, the trigger mechanism made of cold iron for its anti-supernatural properties and its symbolism of inevitability.
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While just using technology, it was not very impressive as a weapon. It couldn’t be used for long before wearing out the springs in the pneumatic piston system that pulled the bowstring back each time. Cold iron was a soft metal, and couldn’t take the high-pressure string tension for very long. Thus, any bolt fired from the replica had very low piercing strength, but runes could make up for these inefficiencies. If Damian could get his impractical cosplay weapon to be an actual threat, then he would be confident in making a simpler version that could be mass produced. With that in mind Damian threw himself into practicing on the slate, barely reacting when Big Lu got back beyond asking him to process the sinew he brought back into a crossbow string before going back to his carving practice. He failed more often than he succeeded due to it being his first time, but with each repetition, each checked reference he got closer.
It wasn’t until eight in the morning on the following day that he felt confident enough to put all his practice to the test. He was extremely glad that he brought the crossbow with him when he originally came to Pigeon Forge with Big Lu for the pub crawl. He had found a buyer for it and was going to meet them on his way back home after the trip. Fortunately, which felt morbid to think, he never got the chance and had kept it in his room ever since. When he retrieved the crossbow replica and walked back into the kitchen, he found Big Lu sitting there with a cup of coffee in hand and a brand-new crossbow string on the table.
“Doesn’t it normally take days to months for the sinew to cure and dry enough to be useable?” Damian asked.
“Normally yes.” Big Lu replied after taking a sip of his coffee, “Turns out that monster parts, when worked, reach their final states in hours if the work is done properly.”
“How does that work?”
The big man gave a shrug, “Monsters are inherently magical beings, as in the only reason they can live, when most of them have impossible anatomy, is due to magic fueling them. Once they die that magic leaves the body in about forty-eight hours. If worked by someone who knows what they are doing the magic leaving the parts will accelerate the process accordingly.” He took another sip of his coffee. “So, what’s the plan and why are you bringing out that old prop of yours?”
“It’s a bit of a proof of concept and, should it work, a powerful personal weapon. Using a few runic scripts, I plan to increase not only its fire rate but the force of the bolts when they are shot out. In addition, I can strengthen the durability of the materials it’s made of to increase the amount of tension they can take.” Damain said distractedly.
He carefully took the crossbow apart and prepared his tools while Big Lu stood by and watched. “This will take me a few hours, can you let Colonel Johnson know that I’ll be stopping by to test this out? If he likes it enough, he might be convinced to reassign some of the work force to start making crossbows, while I get tools made to teach others how to enchant.”
Big Lu nodded his head slowly, “I can do that. I’ll start working on making some leather armor pieces and try a similar approach. Good idea man, if we do this right we will make a real impact on the war effort. Catherine took up smithing and is already teaching people. Arushi took up herbology and has made progress on some healing remedies. She is spreading the knowledge as much as she can. It’s a good start and we got lucky that they decided to take a noncombat related skill tree, everyone else prioritized only combat effective skill trees.”
Damian grunted his agreement as he picked up his tools and began carving the first runic script. He started with the trigger mechanism hoping to increase its durability. Taking the engraving pen, he went to make the first line before stopping. He realized he forgot to get something to help him see what he was doing. If wouldn’t be a problem for the stock and prod due to their size but when it came to smaller items it would be almost impossible. He was just about to curse when a hand, holding a wearable jeweler’s loupe with those little magnifying glasses they use, came into view. Damian looked up at Big Lu in surprise. How could he have known he would need this?
Big Lu gave a grin, “Runes tend to be small right? I figured you would need a magnifying glass of some kind, and on my way back yesterday, I passed a jeweler’s shop and took a look inside. Found these sitting on a work bench in the back. There was one mounted to the work bench as well but it would have been annoying to lug back so I just took these.”
Damian gave him a grateful smile as he took them. He would need to do something nice for the big lug as thanks. Putting them on he took up the engraving pen and the trigger mechanism again and could finally see what he was doing. He set the pen to the metal and began to carve. Damian took it slow each stroke of the engraver only taken after a short deliberation. His hands didn’t waver and his focus was absorbed into the act, an hour flew by in what seemed like an instant.
When he was done and set the trigger mechanism down to admire his work he felt a small stirring in the air around him. Whatever it was it surged into his finished work and Damian held his breath in anticipation. After thirty seconds the trigger mechanism gave off a bright flash of light. Once the light subsided Damian picked the device up and inspected it. The metal felt more solid and heavy in his hand and seemed to have a luster that wasn’t there before. The biggest change however was the runes themselves. There in the depths of each carving was a small white glow signifying that magic was running through them. When Damian reached the last rune and saw it had the same glow as all the others, he allowed himself a small satisfied grin.
“One part down, now to do it again.” Damian regathered his focus and looked to the remaining parts. The fires of determination blazed in his eyes. This was just the first step; the rest was yet to come.
