Over the next couple weeks, things began to change within Wolf’s Rest and presumably the world, though Doyle and Ally can only observe the town. Now, you would think that the old runes and symbols suddenly having genuine power would be noticed right away. After all, Ally had been watching one person in particular who had been attempting a magic circle for months. People had to have been doing stuff like that all over, right?
The problem is that Doyle was basically cheating. Otherwise, soone else would have already gotten the system to recognize the old runes. Conceptual Reinforcent was simply too powerful when it ca to trying your hands at a ritual. After all, if arrays and formations were that easy, Doyle would have gotten the skill he wanted.
However, that doesn’t an nothing has changed. The runes now have power. So while all the mass produced junk is still that, any hand carved pieces of artwork or jewelry that makes use of those symbols have changed. Many such pieces had sadly degraded beyond saving over the months.
So though? Whether it was pre-system work that managed to survive or soone carving a necklace with rembered runes, magic sparked. It was honestly sort of ironic. Those few believers who tried to do sothing with the runes, were overall failures. Those who simply carved a simple necklace with symbols rembered from their past? Maybe not even believed, but used out of tradition. The simple pieces worked.
Yes, the effects weren’t strong, but they did exist. If only more people noticed. They simply lacked the ability to analyze magic items, let alone the ability to notice them in the first place. While not sothing you can mass-produce as the magic would warp at such an attempt. A simple necklace with a small wooden tag with a rune of protection carved on it would help shift the odds.
Not that every arcane dabbler found failure after Doyle opened up the path for them. Though Ally’s pick wasn’t one of the successful, another person in the town was. It wasn’t anyone important, in fact, Ally didn’t even recognize him despite her avid people watching sessions. To a certain extent, most people in town wouldn’t have recognized them either.
They lived in a small hut and made a living by occasionally heading out into the forest to forage and hunt. They spent all the rest of their ti ditating and pondering magic. Now, they weren’t attempting to be so sort of eastern style cultivator. Rather, he was rembering and planning.
Most of his sumrs had been taken up by helping his grandfather on his mother’s side to run their antique store. An antique store that was known for their book collection. Scholars regularly visited to both sell and buy journals and manuscripts of all ages. There had even been a ti or two when complaints had been made against the store about how so book or another should be donated to sowhere to preserve.
Of course, as a teen, Callen hadn’t been too happy about “wasting” his sumrs this way. Still, he had spent more ti than might be considered healthy studying what so researchers would politely refer to as grimoires. Most, however, called them nonsense and to be fair, they generally were. Chances are that if you find a book with a title referring to Solomon, that’s just going to be nonsense with a fancy title slapped on it so the book would sell.
So of the works, however, were true grimoires. At least as much as any book can be such a thing, when magic didn’t exist yet. Which ironically was better than not. Written with ti lost knowledge, those books contained clues of what was to co and now, Callen worked at putting it all together. He had heard the tutorial guides talk about how fantasy and deities made themselves known by way of souls.
Almost everyone took that as interesting, if worthless, background fluff. Callen instead took it as a very important piece of information. To him, it ant all those dusty books he had read during his sumrs might have value. So, he spent his ti rembering what he had read and trying small things.
Experints that even before the system recognized the runes had minor success, just from the lines being able to carry the Mana around despite the runes not working. If soone was to know that, they might ask why Ally hadn’t noticed? After all, she had been paying enough attention to notice the other person doing weekly rituals, why not Callen?
Simple, he didn’t do anything in town. While part of why he went into the forest was to find food and things to sell, it was also where he attempted “magick”, as he referred to it. Of course, the rituals and such are normal magic. Callen was just making a personal distinction between those things he learned pre-system.
With tools prepared in strange ways such as a stick from a lightning struck tree that lived and a bowl of stone unshaped by mortal hands, Callen did his workings. Magic circles carved with various herbs placed around to try and empower things or alter other ones. Those herbs and the various lines allowed for small changes, despite the runes. Though to be fair, circuit diagrams would also do a treat, especially when dealing with lightning magic.
Except now, Callens magic circles worked in the way he intended. Even managed to snag the skill Formation Master (Magic Circles). In fact, he personally believed that his magic circles started working properly because of the skill. Of course, he had the cause and effect reversed. Because his circles started working, he gained the skill.
Either way, the important part was that with the skill ca knowledge. And this was what brought him to Ally and Doyle’s attention. Callen went from scratching magic circles in the dirt to expanding his house such that he can make more permanent circles. And those circles were interesting.
At the mont, no one was capable of making masterwork stuff. That ant no one was able to practice their various improvent skills and no one had any enchanted gear. This wasn’t new of course. The masterwork bottleneck is a well-known phenona on newly integrated worlds. There were even various schools of thought that judged new worlds by how quickly they manage to have masterwork items on sale at regular stores.
What Callen had been doing was a half-step. His magic circles were focused on infusion. This was honestly quite similar to Doyle’s growth ritual, except the power being infused isn’t directed towards anything specific.
Instead, the target will simply have the power within it made denser. Though not in the material sense? It was one of those interesting things you co across when dealing with supernatural powers. See, if what Callen did was simply shoving more power into an item, that power would quickly drain away. After all, it isn’t like he could make a magical tal or so such through this thod.
Instead, each particle of power within the item is made more existentially important. In fact, the next step would be to purify that power to reduce it back down to normal, except more focused. Callen doesn’t know how to do that yet, but as so crafters within the town have found, the proper application of a crafting skill does so of the work.
So, as Ally and Doyle watched, Callen beca an important man. His ability to process a material such that when crafted, it brought out more of the materials best qualities, was quickly discovered. Ace even made a play at hiring him.
Callen turned him down, but Ace didn’t need to wait long before he got access to Callen’s materials. It was just not from Callen himself. Though Ace did consider it a sha.
If only Callen had gone under his umbrella, a small monopoly on the technique would have been maintained. Instead, Callen got scared by a number of attempted kidnappings and worse. Ace had put so security up around him, but there was only so much you can do in the middle of a town. Ace figured that the only place he could have kept Callen safe, would have been the inner circle.
Why? Because despite a spear made of wood being almost exactly the sa, whether it was made of infused wood or not, the wielder could tell the difference. It was like the difference between a balanced blade and one that isn’t, except taphysical.
To use such a blade allowed the wielder to bring out more of their skills. Though not just weapons benefited from this. Rather, any tool benefits from it and even simple things such as a post will benefit.
So might ask how this interacts with a masterwork? Doyle sure did! Though the answer was disappointing, it didn’t. Part of what made a masterwork was exactly this sort of effect. To craft sothing so perfect for its purpose, that even its taphysical nature lines up with it.
Doyle noticed one particular detail. ‘Isn’t this what my items are? They’re not masterwork quality, but they are taphysically perfected. Why can my stuff be enchanted, but not the infused stuff?’
Ally shrugs, ‘There is one big difference that separates a true masterwork, whether crafted or dungeon spawned, and an infused work. A masterwork sword has all of its intent directed towards being a sword. The material used doesn’t matter except in whether it can support its intended purpose.
‘Infused work, on the other hand still has impurities. It is like giving soone twice as much ore as needed to make a certain amount of tal. They’ll be able to more easily get enough tal. However, you end up with the sa bar of tal in the end and a master slter will still have a higher quality bar.’
Doyle, ‘Does it at least increase the chance of making a masterwork?’
Ally shakes her head, ‘Nope! Well, I guess I should say that the difference is negligible and only cos into effect if the crafter can already make masterworks. It doesn’t matter how much clay you give to soone, if they don’t know how to throw a pot.
‘In the end, infusing sothing tends to only be used for mass produced crafts such as nails and such. An infused wire can turn out a ton of “close enough” nails compared to how long it will take even a good blacksmith to craft a nail from a piece of tal. Masterworks are not about taking shortcuts, but rather attention to detail.’
Of course, this doesn’t answer what happened to Callen. Though that was simple enough. Yes, he lived, he just had to give up the golden goose, as it were. To prevent others from targeting him, he released everything he knew about his magic circles.
This was what brought arrays and formations into the forefront of the local area. Sure, a bunch of people and various groups had been gathering knowledge on it, but this was the first ti the knowledge was released publicly. As for why Callen did this? He simply wanted to keep to himself and didn’t value the information. After all, it was easy enough for him to figure out, so how valuable could it be?
Very. The information was very valuable because of all the people attempting it already, for one thing or another. For instance, after seeing the released information, that one guy Ally had been watching was struck with an epiphany. Walking through a dark room is hard, but once soone sheds a light on the situation? Well, it becos a lot easier to avoid tripping on the furniture.
Callen’s Theory on Circular Runic Arrays would later on be recognized as one of the most important docunts in kick-starting the world’s magical rebirth. Even people on the other side of the world would recognize it. He wasn’t the first, so having even managed to get the universal standard runes working from day one. However, as those from an academic background will understand, he was the first to publish. This update is available on novｅlfire
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