Mythshaper-Chapter 46: Band of Protection

Chapter 46: Band of Protection

My eyes immediately darted around the workshop, searching for the gift. It shouldn't be anything large—if it was, I would have noticed it already.

While I was busy looking, Mum shot a telekinetic string of essence to open the desk drawer and yanked a small wooden container into her palm. She opened it to reveal a thin silver-chained bracelet of simple design, but when my Fractal Sight focused on it, I knew immediately it was anything but simple.

Ignoring the material—which I deemed to be celestial silver—I immediately noticed the complex rune formation embedded within it. One of them I recognised, the same Kinetic force Shield formation that I had been planning to implement in Eran’s shield. But this was so intricate that I failed my Fractal Sight, barely managed to pierce through it.

I was utterly dumbstruck at how she had managed to engrave so many runes within such a small object. And then there were the faux essence threads, exactly two hundred and fifty-six in total, each link in the chain, forming a weave so immaculate and so convoluted that it might induce a headache if I attempted to understand it.

Thankfully, I was yanked out of Fractal Sight by the cheerful voice of the Spell.

[Artifact: Band of Protection]

Using masterful crafting techniques, this artifact was created for the sole purpose of protecting the wearer.

Grade: Elite

Enchantment:

Essence Shield: Can conjure a shield of powerful kinetic force.

Autonomy: Detects danger to the wearer and conjures a protective shield automatically.

Evolution: Absorbs essence from the wearer and the environment to catalyse upgrades.

“Give me your hand,” Mum said.

I obeyed unwittingly, listening to the Spell’s view of it. She clasped my wrist and locked the silver bracelet around it, and only then did I come out of my stupor.

“You’ll need at least one essence thread to bind it to yourself,” Mum said.

Considering how low I was on essence threads, she probably made sure it required the fewest number of threads, one, to bind it. However, what interested me more was the other function. How did she integrate something like the autonomy function?

“It’s not perfect," she said, "but it’s the best I managed with the materials I had on hand. Now, if you give me the phoenix pendant Emi gave you, I could make something even greater.”

If she could create something as impressive as this bracelet, I had no issue handing it over. I reached for the pendant, but she stopped me.

“No, not yet. I need to plan and design what to make first.” She smiled.

"Why didn't you let me see the process?" I asked. "You never let me see how you created an Artifact."

If I didn't know better I'd think she was deliberately withholding the information.

"The whole process was long, took over twelve hours," Mum said. "Honestly, you'd have been bored to sleep, seeing me try and fail with those faux weave. Besides, if I let you know, I wouldn't get to surprise you know."

She hugged for an extended moment.

"Why the gift now?"

Mum provided no answer, but I could tell it was related to the danger I was exposed to in the wilderness. Even though I came out without a scratch, what happened with Priam deeply affected her.

“For now, let’s test the bracelet.”

I nodded and channelled one of my essence threads into the bracelet. It already had an external essence source built in, and could store essence within. It could work with my essence as well, though binding it would be necessary for that functionality.

Honestly, even after reaching sixteen essence threads, I felt that binding even a single one would disrupt my practice. Eight was the bare minimum for elementary shaping. Only telekinesis could be worked with an odd number of threads, but that wouldn’t be particularly powerful.

For this reason alone, I hadn’t yet bound the Aetherbound QuillPen.

“You’re hesitating to bind it,” Mum noted.

I nodded.

“You can leave it as it is for now. Autonomy won’t work efficiently without binding, but it will still function.”

“How does it even work?” I asked. “Is the bracelet alive?”

Mum shook her head. “No matter how strenuous and long it took me to create it, it’s still just a tool. It constantly detects the aura surrounding it and flares up when it senses danger.” She peered at me. “Sounds simple enough?”

It sounded simple, but it still gave me pause. “How can it detect aura when I can barely feel it myself?”

“It’s the faux essence threads,” Mum explained. “Now, mind you, it’s far from perfect. The shield may flare up during sparring unless you have an essence thread bound to it at all times to imprint your will upon it.”

That was going to be a problem. But with a little tinkering, I could probably find a workaround.

“Now, about the testing…” Mum said as golden light flared up in her palm, but before I could glimpse what she was doing with it, the colour winked out.

Without warning, a translucent barrier flared up before me as an invisible force crashed into it. The shield withstood the blow completely, but what truly shocked me was the invisible attack Mum had just thrown at me.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“What… how?”

“You’ll be able to do it too,” she said with a smile. “It’ll take a few years and a rank or two of advancement, but honestly, it’s nothing too useful.”

I tilted my head, considering. “You divided transference essence from your essence composition, didn’t you?” I asked. “And used that transparent essence to form a force attack.”

Mum scrunched up her nose. “Good job guess, but I’m not going to teach you how to divide your essence. Not now, not anytime soon.”

“Why?” I made a face.

Mum inhaled deeply, her chest rising before she released the breath in a slow exhale. “Tell me again, what’s your current training regimen?” she asked. “Make sure to list it in order of priority.”

I gave her a look, wondering where she was going with this. After a moment of thought, I began counting on my fingers.

“For now, runes and artificing take the highest priority.”

“Because you want to be good at it swiftly to craft gifts for your aunts and friends.”

And for you and Father too, I thought inwardly, but only nodded outwardly. Mother was right. There was something fun about surprising someone with a gift.

“And how many hours do you practise it every day?”

“Mhm, about two hours on average,” I said meekly.

Mum snorted. “How much time did you spend on it today?”

I muttered an answer, my gaze shifting towards the clock.

“What was that? I couldn’t quite catch it.”

She had heard me, of course. She just wanted me to say it aloud.

“…About four hours.”

She cocked an eyebrow at me.

“Four and a half,” I muttered. “Fine! Almost five hours. But that’s just today! I hardly practised while Rose was here, so I needed to catch up on my schedule.”

She sighed and shook her head in resignation. She gestured for me to continue.

“Second is my shaping skill,” I said, “and essence unification.”

“Which is because you want to…”

“I want to go to the Oracle Academy,” I told her, “and I want to fly.”

Mum gave me a perceptive glance but kept her silence.

With Split Focus, I could train Essence Unification passively for hours. Although it didn’t contribute massively to the Way, I still gained a points from it daily, along with a couple more from my hyper-focused sessions in the morning and evening. I was not far from reaching the 500 hour mark in it.

Shaping practice varied greatly. If I were attending the institution, I would mostly run hurdles, practice my balance, and work on earth and wind shaping. However, on a rare day like today, I'd barely practise at all.

Honestly, my grasp over any element other than wind had stalled. Unless I somehow managed to double my number of essence threads, any improvement in the other elements would hardly be worthwhile. Investing some points in Arcane Attributes might help, but that would only increase efficiency, not power. The other thing I could practise now was conjuring two elements together. Rosalyn showed me the way.

“And then the sword practice,” Mum added, tilting her head. “So that makes about ten hours of practice… and I’m sure I’m forgetting something.”

She was, though most of what she missed were my leisure activities—like cultivating lettuce with Eran. I swear, it was purely recreational. The two unallocated points I would receive in a few days were merely a bonus. Truthfully, my other practices could be called recreational too, if only they didn’t require so much of my energy and attention.

“Now, does it feel like you have any time left to pick up something else?”

Well, put like that, it did sound like I had no time to practise anything new. But I was sure I could make space for it.

“I'm sure you can find half an hour or more to train it," Mum said, reading my expression, "but wouldn't that time be better spent with your other priority, now that you’re so close to becoming a Novice Artisan. You can easily pick up minor arts like that once you are higher in your path.”

It was kind of annoying how she was always so good at finding the reasoning. I sighed, but she was right. Dividing the essence types did nothing but open a way for another practice-- a practice I had no time for right now.

“Finish the shield you’re making for Eran. I can see you only need a day or two for it, and then you can move on to something for your aunts.”

My eyes flickered over the desk. Among the other little things I had created, my gaze landed on a pen. It was an early attempt to imitate the Pen of Never-Ending Ink.

Of course, I was nowhere near capable of fathoming what it took to create something like an Aetherlink—which saved all written information—but I felt I could craft the pen without that function and gift it to Rosalyn. She had seemed wildly impressed when I showed mine to her.

Regrettably, even without the faux essence threads and Aetherlink, the process was overwhelmingly delicate and undoubtedly beyond my current level. I had only needed to try once to realise that.

At least now I knew what I needed to make for Rose. It might take a season or two before I became good enough to artifice it.

“You sure you don’t want my help?” Mum asked hesitantly.

I shook my head. “I think I’ve found what I can make for Aunt Emi.”

Mum cocked an eyebrow, pressing for my answer.

“A paperweight,” I said.

“A paperweight?” she repeated.

I deemed that Aunt Emi already had all the artifacts and relics she needed, and nothing I could create at my current level of expertise would be of any real use to her. So why not give her something useful in a more mundane sense?

“You remember the elder tree leaf I received?” I said. “I planned to mould clear crystal over it to make a paperweight. It would look incredible, wouldn’t it?”

“Oh dear,” Mum said, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “It would look good. But, Pumpkin, have you ever considered that the leaf might be a highly essence-invested material?”

I hadn’t considered that. I knew it had a peculiar essence signature infused within it, but I had assumed it would wither away naturally over time. However, the last time I checked, the essence within it was as rich as ever, even though the leaf had been flattened.

“Will that be a problem?” I asked.

“You’ve been practising with mundane metals and materials so far, so you don’t yet know the difference between them and essence-based materials.” Mum gestured for me to sit. “You see, when it comes to essence-rich materials, there’s always a chance of obtaining something greater.

"Common materials can only take you to Common and, perhaps, Uncommon rank in the hands of someone experienced. But highly invested materials can take it up to Elite, perhaps even higher."

“Wouldn’t that be even better?”

“It would be,” Mum agreed. “But that’s not without a catch.

“You see, the higher the material’s quality, the higher the unpredictability involved in working with it. That’s why artisans catalogue materials to determine what they’re best suited for. Celestial silver is ideal for high essence transference, so it was perfect for something like the bracelet I made you. Cold iron is used for swords and shields or anything that needs to endure heavy impacts.

“But those are only middling among essence-rich materials, so their unpredictability is mostly within our grasp. The elder tree leaf, however? There are myriad uses for it… along with its huge realm of unpredictability.”

“What is it used for?” I asked.

“Primarily, to create essence tonic or elixirs for artificial awakening. Although it isn’t much compared to a highly regarded material like Celestine Glass, Midnight Iron, or Halostone, it’s still a restricted item, mostly because it’s intricately laced with the essence of the Oracle.”

“Then…”

“Of course, nothing will stop you from making a mundane paperweight,” Mother said. “Though it may come with some peculiar function.”

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

Financially, the optimal choice would be to refine it into an essence tonic, but that would destroy the beautiful leaf. I didn’t want that. Besides, I had no dire need for wealth. I barely spent the silver leaves Mum had given me.

The crimson leaf held a sentimental value.

I had received it the day my aunt had taken me as her godchild. That was exactly why I wanted to give it to Aunt Emi. Extracting its essence would strip it of its significance.

“The essence of the matter is that you want to make a gift for Emi,” Mother said. “That thought alone is enough. Whatever you create for her, I’m certain she’ll cherish it.”

But I wanted it to be something she’d use.

Perhaps it was my hubris to think I could create something truly worthy of a Magus, but everything I needed was already within my grasp. It was only my Class and understanding that were lacking. Frustration crept up on my body language as I fidgeted on the chair.

“I’ll ask again,” Mum said, placing a palm over my shoulder. “Will you let me guide you through what you don’t yet understand? I promise I won’t headbutt you into your creation and make it my project.”

I thought for a moment. If Mum were to make the item for me, I would've declined. But if she was offering full guidance throughout the process… the guidance of a true Runesmith...

“I’ll take you up on your offer,” I said, releasing the breath I had been holding. “But I have a couple of conditions.”