Chapter 166: A Steady Increase (1/2)
The magic theory instructor mentioned much of the same information Johnathan had put out. It seemed that the campus was quickly being warned of the coming conflict, and yet classes continued as usual. Mike found it rather strange. After all, the same students sitting around him and taking notes on stability of elemental energies in unnatural environments were going to be fighting on the front line in the near future. It was surreal when he thought about it.
Shaking his head, he returned his attention to his current project of copying down Conjuration chants from the borrowed library book. Much like the one on Elemental Magic, it consisted of a limited number of chants with long sections detailing how to properly put them to use. However, this particular tome only contained 12 individual chants, which he'd finished before the class was even halfway over.
Now he was left wondering how to spend the remaining time. Listening to the lecture was an option, but he quickly grew tired of the dry manner in which the professor taught. He understood why such a class might be important to future researchers, but a fundamental understanding of the way magic worked wasn't necessary for the majority of students. They just needed to know the best way to put it into practice.
[I suppose the same could be said for most sciences back on Earth, but they still taught them in school.]
Sighing, he decided to occupy himself with attempting to unlock Scrivening. He pulled the required materials out of his bag, earning a few questioning looks from his classmates, and opened his grimoire (journal) to the place he'd copied down the details on the skill. As far as he could gather, it was simply a matter of charging the ink with mana, and drawing the runes for a given spell onto the future scroll.
After selecting an appropriate sheet of paper, and mixing a quick batch of ink using the specialized charcoal and mana cores he'd powered earlier with a little mana infused water, he began the process of loading the enchanted pen.
This proved to be far simpler than he'd thought. A built-in reservoir with a lever created a small amount of suction that drew the ink in, trapping it in place. Really quite a neat design. It reminded him of a old fashioned fountain pen from Earth.
Now ready to start, he took a moment to think about what to make. Figuring that a light spell would be the least likely to backfire in a horrible manner, he started drawing the arcane runes in the way displayed by the guidebook. Thankful his Communication Magic did the majority of the translation work, meaning he simply had to focus on keeping his hand steady.
The process required a great deal of focus, since a slight error in the structure of one of the runes could lead to the scroll failing, wasting the materials and mana.
Despite that, he found the act of Scrivening quite soothing. There was a meditative quality to it, which made the time pass quickly. Before he knew it, Mike was done. A newly formed scroll of a basic light spell he came up with, laid out in front of him. It created a small glowing orb that followed the caster until its mana had been expended. While his ring obviated his personal need for light, he figured it could be helpful to his allies when operating at night or in underground locations.
Looking over the finished product, he felt quite proud of himself. It was a little rough around the edges, but it had an elegance to the runes that was pleasing to the eye. He used Appraise to examine his new creation.
----------------------------------------
{Scroll of Lantern Light}
Magic Item (Tier 1, Rank 4)
A scroll of the Lantern Light spell. It creates a small globe of light that follows the caster, providing illumination. Reduced from Tier 2 due to a flaw in the Scrivening process, lowering its mana efficiency.
----------------------------------------
While his face crimped a bit at the last line, Mike nevertheless enjoyed the act of creation. Scrivening was more straightforward than Alchemy, and he felt that, with a little practice, he could become quite good at it.
Quickly scanning his [Status] he located the new entry.
---------------------------------------
- Scrivening (Tier 2, Rank 1) -
The art of drawing arcane runes with mana infused ink to create scrolls. Provides a minor system correction to act of Scrivening. Higher levels of skill increase the mana efficiency and potency of inscribed spells.
---------------------------------------
[There's not much to that description, but I suppose that's alright. Its a fairly simple skill once you have the basics down. I wonder how valuable scrolls are. Maybe this could be a good source of income, assuming I even need such a thing anymore.]
Guessing that he had enough time and ink left over for one more scroll, he decided to try something more common. Settling on his old standby of Fireball, he started working.
Perhaps because of his new skill, he found himself falling into something of a trance during the Scrivening. After a few minutes, he had finished and was once again looking at a new scroll. This time, the number of mistakes had been reduced. He figured that after a few more tries he could make one without any inherent flaws.
-------------------------------------------
{Scroll of Fireball}
Magic Item (Tier 1, Rank 5)
A scroll of the Fireball spell. It creates a small flaming projectile that will explode with great force upon contact.
------------------------------------------