Chapter 61: Forging Power

While everyone was bustling about since morning, I, too, was moving around busily.

From today, I was planning to try making Magic Artifacts myself. My head was full of the basic knowledge.

I had bought and read ten books, and now all that information had become Skills.

But since this was my first time trying it directly, I was feeling nervous.

“First of all, what’s generally possible is probably accessories, right?”

It was Smith who had come early in the morning.

He wanted to quickly butcher the Ogre and Troll corpses and use them to make items.

But before that, he asked if I could make accessories, like rings or necklaces, and he said he had a few already made, which he then brought to me.

Of course, I bought them at a reasonable price.

There were too many good items to just accept as gifts.

For instance, there was a necklace that could be sold right away—a necklace set with a Ruby, and another with a beautiful Sapphire.

They were two necklaces whose gems alone could fetch a high price if sold immediately.

He also gave me a few rings.
The rings were of a decent size, each with a small gem set in them.

They were all valuable items in their own way.
Especially the ones with gems were even better.

“That way, it looks stylish, and thanks to the gems, it’s easier to contain mana, too.”

That’s why I paid their full price, and now, I began crafting.

The process was simple.

I just needed to imprint the magic I wanted onto the gem, then use a Magic Stone and Magic Circle to maintain it on the item.

The reason I was so confident was because I’d done this a lot. Of course, that was in a game.

Even in the game, if I followed the same process, the item was made, and sometimes I’d get a high-ranking item by chance.

“Alright, should I start with something easy like the Shield magic?”

I planned to make the most basic and common Shield magic as my first piece.

I spread out a large sheet of paper on my desk and drew a Magic Circle on it. At this point, pure mana was used to draw the Magic Circle.

Of course, you couldn’t draw a Magic Circle with mana alone. You had to move the quill pen and use mana to draw the Circle.

Once the Magic Circle was drawn, I took one of the Magic Stones stacked to the side.

“Magic Stone Dismantle.”

To make a Magic Artifact, I used a Skill that breaks down Magic Stones into powder.

This was a Skill I acquired after reading those ten books.

-Skill ‘Magic Stone Dismantle’ has leveled up.

Just doing it once increased my proficiency and the Skill leveled up. It wasn’t just the lowest grade—it turned a low-grade Magic Stone into powder.

The powdered Magic Stone piled up in my hand.

I took a handful with my other hand and sprinkled it over the Magic Circle.

Sasa-sak. Uuuuuung.

The sound let me know that the Magic Stone powder had been properly absorbed into the Magic Circle.

Now, I just had to place the ring at the center of the Circle and set the Skill to be imbued as the final step.

“Shield.”

The Shield magic flowed right through the Circle and seeped into the ring.

Paat.

With a sudden burst of light, the Magic Circle vanished, leaving only the ring behind.

-You have successfully created a Magic Artifact.

-You have obtained the Great Achievement ‘I’m a Magic Artifact Maker Too.’

-All stats increase by 1.

It was a Notification Window telling me that the process had completed successfully.
I immediately picked up the ring and checked its properties.

-Ring imbued with Shield.

-Grade: Normal

-Durability: 100/100

-A ring that allows the user to use Shield once per day. 0/1

You must periodically recharge its mana.

“So ordinary.”

It really was a Magic Artifact as simple and basic as could be.

This wouldn’t be worth much.

Both the amount of materials and the Skill imbued were nothing special.

“Well, at least I’ve definitely proven the concept. This is just the start.”

I was filled with determination.

Next, I took out the second ring.

This time, I was going to imbue it with the 3rd-circle attack magic, Fireball.

Just like before, I drew a Magic Circle, sprinkled Magic Stone powder over it, and placed the ring in the center.

Now all that was left was to imbue it with Fireball.

“But, you know…”

At that moment, an idea struck me.

What if, before creating the Fireball ring, I increased the amount of mana consumed?

“Would Fireball’s power increase? Or would it create an entirely different effect?”

Curious, I decided to try it.

“Fireball.”

Instead of an ordinary Fireball, I kept pouring in mana.

However—

The Magic Circle began sucking up my mana.

If my body was a soda can, the ring was the straw, and the Magic Circle was slurping away nonstop—that’s how it felt.

I just watched quietly.

The Magic Circle kept devouring my mana, and after a while, it disappeared with a bright light, leaving only the ring.

I picked it up.

-Failure.

-Grade: Normal

-Durability: 77/100

A failure.

“Huh?”

I was flustered by the sudden message of Failure.

“For what reason? What happened?”

While I was panicking, a Notification Window popped up.

-You have failed to create a Magic Artifact.

-You have obtained the Great Achievement ‘Failure is the Mother of Success.’

-All stats increase by 1.

As a bonus for failing, the reason for failure is provided.

The amount of Magic Stone powder used was insufficient.

“Aha!”

It was a kind Notification Window, for the first time in a while.

Thanks to it, I now knew what to do and what I was lacking.

“So that’s why people say making Magic Artifacts eats up Magic Stones.”

Even now, I had a rough idea, but I still didn’t know exactly how much mana required how much Magic Stone powder.

I’d have to try it a few more times to get it exactly right.

For now, I could only keep repeating the process.

“This time, I’ll increase the amount of powder and add a moderate amount of mana. But what Skill should I use?”

Looking at my Skills, they were almost all attack magic.

For support magic, the only thing I had was the Recovery Skill I bought recently.

I had five rings left.

I planned to make them all focused on attack magic. At least, in this Nation, where there were many wars, these would sell better.

“Let’s try again.”

Once more, I went through the process from the beginning.

I drew a Magic Circle, sprinkled Magic Stone powder on it, placed the ring, and used Fireball.

Uuuuung.

The Magic Circle responded, and just like before, my mana was drained.

“Let’s try channeling in about as much mana as it takes to make three Fireballs.”

That’s how I adjusted the mana.

Paat.

Just like my first successful attempt, the ring was left alone after a flash of light.

-You have successfully created a Magic Artifact.

And a Notification Window confirming my success.

-You have successfully created an Intermediate Magic Artifact.

-Proficiency has increased.

-Your Artifact Creation level has increased.

It wasn’t just a normal success; it was a definite success Notification Window.

‘Nice!’

I picked up the ring and checked.

-Ring imbued with Fireball.

-Grade: Rare

-Durability: 100/100

-A ring that allows the user to cast Fireball three times a day. 0/3

-You must periodically recharge its mana.

“This…”

It was excellent. At this level, I could sell it for a decent price.

All that was left now was to finish the remaining four rings.

I had enough Magic Stone.

All I had to do was make them.

That’s how I spent my morning, making rings.

***

In the afternoon, I spent time teaching the slaves.

As Arnold had said, the groups were now newly reorganized, led by the most skilled ones, and they were sparring with wooden swords.

Logging work was finished for now.

We had prepared enough lumber, and if more was needed, we could go out and cut more anytime.

There was still plenty of timber left in the mountains.

Of course, it was best not to cut down too much at once, so we needed to regulate it, but according to Karl, Heather and Hardid were secretly hinting that they wanted to clear out that mountain.

Since they said so, it was basically confirmed.

No, I’d permit it.

There must be a reason.

I trusted their judgment.

Leaving thoughts of the mountain behind, I looked back at the slaves’ sparring.

Normally, two groups sparred while the other four waited.

The sparring itself was important, but Arnold said that observing and learning from others was just as important, so that’s how we did it.

The two remaining groups patrolled the territory and checked over the completed logging sites.

Patrolling the territory really just meant walking around it once, so there was no problem, but when going out to the logging sites, we always had to be on guard.

Monsters could pop out at any time.

The slaves had definitely grown a lot.

I focused on the slave I’d especially kept an eye on.

-Name: Slave Number 58

• Race: Human (Slave)
• Level: 54
• Stats: Strength 3, Stamina 7, Intelligence 1, Magic 1
• Loyalty: 100
• Skill: Darkrai Swordsmanship (Lv. 10)

His Swordsmanship skill had increased tremendously.

Considering the other slaves had a Swordsmanship level of 5, he had grown twice as much.

Plus, his previously lacking stamina had gone up, and so had his strength.

He’s worth nurturing, isn’t he?

That’s what I thought, and I tried to come up with a good method.

It wouldn’t be fair to just give Aura Techniques to whoever I liked.

Teaching it to everyone would be inefficient, and Aura Techniques wouldn’t be effective for those whose Swordsmanship level was still low.

You needed a certain amount of skill and basic technique to learn Aura Techniques.

Teaching Aura Techniques from the start was like giving steak to a beast that couldn’t even chew.

Wait, there is a way.

A good idea came to me while watching the sparring.

We could have an 80-person Tournament.

The skilled ones would definitely stand out, and if the prize was Aura Techniques, they’d work even harder for it.

So I called Arnold and told him my idea.

“That’s a great idea, my Lord. In fact, I was about to suggest it myself. It will definitely ignite their motivation further.”

“Then let’s plan to hold it soon.”

The exact date wasn’t set, but we could finish it before I left for the Capital.

Once I got back, I could reward the winner and teach them Aura Techniques.

“By the way, how are your two sons doing, Sir Arnold?”

They seem to be adapting well now. As you instructed, I’m teaching them Swordsmanship and having them work on the basics.

“When you think they’ve got the basics down, bring them to me and I’ll teach them Aura Techniques.”

Thank you.

Now that I thought about it, Arnold’s family had moved to my domain, but I hadn’t seen their faces since the first day.

“By the way, bring Amy with you to my house tonight. Both I and Jenny want to see her.”

Understood.

That adorable little lady was probably the most bored.

Having moved to a strange place with no friends, it must be tough for her.

Judging by her personality, though, she probably wouldn’t mope about just because she had no friends or nothing to do.

Thinking of her cute appearance from before, I smiled softly and turned back to the slaves’ sparring.

That’s when I saw Kaishu running toward me.

“Lord, you have a visitor.”

“Hm? A guest?”

“They say they’re from the Adolphe Company.”

A very familiar name.