Shadow Slave Chapter 2048: Different Foundations

Sunny took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

"It will beco a mory?"

Master Alice nodded.

"Yes! In fact, that is how most mories produced by the forgemasters of Valor are made. A mundane weapon is forged, augnted by an Infuser, enchanted by a Scribe, and then turned into a mory by a Forger. Of course, there are a million variations of the process, with different enchanters possessing different powers and strengths. But the basics are the sa. And even if so Forgers can't copy the [mory] quality, those who can pick up the slack."

She paused for a mont, then added with a sigh:

"There are more elaborate thods of Forgery, as well. So of us can simply duplicate mories, so can transfer particular enchantnts — and so on. More powerful of the forged mories are the result of carefully collecting suitable enchantnts and transferring them to a single vessel, almost like assembling a perfect weapon from building blocks. Well, I won't bore you with details… suffice it to say that there is space for artistry in this process, too."

With that, Alice activated her Aspect once more. As Sunny watched, bewildered, the steel arrowhead in her right hand was suddenly enveloped by erald light. So ti later, weak wisps of similar light started to shine from beneath the surface of the bone arrowhead, which she was holding in her left hand, as well.

Soon, the similar filigree of runes started to reveal itself on the ivory surface of the bone, as if burned into it from within by the erald light.

Shifting his vision, Sunny peered beneath the surface of the bone arrowhead and held his breath.

Sothing miraculous was happening there, right in front of his eyes.

A storm of soul essence poured into the black abyss contained within the small piece of bone, drowning it in soft radiance. The cloud of essence drifted in the darkness, shining like a vast nebula… but then, its contours changed, becoming sharper and more defined.

Then, empty spaces revealed themselves between the wisps of shining gas, slowly growing as the strands of essence were compressed tighter and tighter. Turning into strings.

A spellweave was being born.

Sunny suppressed a sincere desire to applaud and simply put on an admiring smile.

"This is… amazing."

Master Alice sighed.

"Is it? Well… I guess so. The first few tis — maybe a few dozen tis — I was amazed, as well. However, there is certainly room for improvent. For example, it is usually too difficult for to replicate Transcendent enchantnts. I also spend too much essence on each attempt — this one is my first for the day, but starting from around the third, I'll have to substitute my own essence with soul shards. It costs quite a penny."

Sunny shook his head.

"Still."

Internally, he was thinking about sothing else.

So far… what both Infusers and Forgers did sounded a lot like the early stages of his own journey as a sorcerer, only built on a different foundation.

The foundation Sunny had used was observation, study, and understanding. By examining countless weaves, he slowly learned to separate particular patterns of ethereal strings from the radiant tapestries. Then, he deciphered the aning of so patterns, and learned how to replicate them.

For the longest ti, his entire repertoire was nothing but replication. Just like the petite enchantress had said, it was very much like assembling a mory from building blocks — only, in his case, Sunny had to prepare the blocks himself. Later, he attained so liberty in how to implent them, thus gaining the ability to attune the copied enchantnts according to his needs.

The foundation the forgemasters of Valor used, though, was based on power and happenstance. There was a lot of skill and shrewd calculation involved in how they created mories, sure, but they ultimately relied on the unique nature of their Aspects instead of understanding. �

Funnily enough, at that stage, the result was the sa. A mory Sunny could create a few years ago would have hardly been superior to a mory created in the forges of Clan Valor.

The difference, though, was that the path these enchanters followed was static, while his was not. Since the forgemasters relied on their Aspects to forge mories, they were dood to be forever limited by the boundaries of their Aspects.

But Sunny could develop and learn. His only limit was his enlightennt and comprehension. So, even though he had been no different from a Forger in the past, he was infinitely more capable than any of them could ever be now.

He had already delved into the very essence of weaving, glead its secrets, and grown capable of creating unique enchantnts instead of copying the ones provided by the Spell — therefore, he did not need to follow soone else's blueprint, or be limited in what he could build by the shape of available blocks.

If he was correct, then his current level was akin to the most revered rank among the forgemasters — the Spellsmith… or maybe even already beyond that.

If not, then it was going to be soon.

Sunny smiled politely.

"What about the Spellsmiths, then?"

Master Alice glanced at her partner, then shrugged.

"Those are very few. All of them are mbers of the Valor family, and most are direct descendants — the children and grandchildren of the Warden. This guy here is a rare exception, since he is at best a very distant cousin to Princess Morgan… oh, and to you too, Princess Nephis!"

She bead at Nephis, then sighed wistfully.

"Spellsmiths… can imbue armants with mystical traits and enchantnts directly, without having to copy them from sowhere else. I'm not really sure how it works, but their Aspects are all rather unique. They also possess a wealth of knowledge, the best equipnt, and receive the most resources. Well, no wonder — after all, the senior and most distinguished Spellsmith of the royal clan is the King himself. His craft… it's on a different level, entirely. Almost miraculous."

The petite woman glanced at Master Snow and added in a slightly embarrassed tone:

"This guy can explain better. He'll be done with the current task in a bit, and then, you'll be able to see a demonstration."

Sunny nodded. He had surmised that Master Snow was the kind of artisan who got completely absorbed by his work — so, it wasn't wise to try to distract him now. If anything, he was surprised that Master Alice was so accommodating.

There… she was staring at them again, wasn't she?

His smile almost faltered.

"I have a couple more questions, if you don't mind."

The petite woman shook her head energetically and picked up a second bone arrowhead.

"Oh, of course! By all ans. Anything you want, Master Sunless... I an... no, n—not anything! I didn't an it that way..."

Sunny stared at her for a mont while considering his words.

"Forgemasters can also create Echoes, can't they? I've seen a few."

Master Alice nodded with relief.

"Y—yes — in theory. And we do, sotis. Forgers can create very crude automatons, while Spellsmiths can create true artificial Echoes. The process is not much different from forging mories, just… way more ti-consuming. It can take a senior Spellsmith an entire year or more to craft a single Echo. By comparison, dozens of mories can be crafted in the sa span of ti. So, artificial Echoes are quite rare. They are mostly forged out of curiosity, for research, or to test yourself."

Sunny nodded. It made sense, sowhat. Echoes were never equal to the original, so arming Awakened elites well was a more efficient way of spending resources.

And then, finally, the last question… not the most important of them, but one of great interest to Sunny personally.

"And… the nas. Who cos up with the nas for the forged mories? And the descriptions?"

Master Alice seed a little surprised by the question.

"Uh… excuse ?"

Sunny leaned forward.

"Well, you know. This bone arrowhead you made into a mory. Did you give it a na? Sothing like, I don't know… [Bonehead]? [Bone and Arrow]?"

The petite woman gave him a strange look, then shook his head.

"Oh, no… the Spell nas them for . So of the Spellsmiths have the ability to na and describe their creations personally, but most don't."

She lingered for a mont, then added politely:

"If you are curious, Master Sunless, I can check…"

The petite woman turned her head and stared into the air, clearly studying the runes.

"Huh. That's strange…"

For a mont, Master Alice had an incredulous expression on her face. Then, she shook her head with a hint of bafflent.

"The Spell seed to have nad it… [All Aboard]? What does it even an? How... embarrassing..."