Chapter 124: Engraving Spells

After all that fascinating story about the difference between humans and elves, Next, Tristan went to the second room of the Shrines.

The room was bright, illuminated with a stunning, massive crystal floating right in the middle of the room. It was around one meter in diameter, and the glow filled the room with a beautiful, calm blue light.

"This is the memory crystal." The elder said. "For thousands of years, the Vanyar elves have stored their knowledge there. Even if they are no longer with us, what they have discovered in their lifetime can be found there."

Though the Vanyar Kingdom possesses massive wealth, easy access to resources, and a highly competent military force, the crystal was the real treasure of the kingdom, containing almost four thousand years' worth of knowledge created by the Vanyar elves.

"How does it work?" Tristan looked up and down at the crystal. "Do we touch it to receive a spell?"

"No." The elder shook his head. "Only selected elders are allowed to access the crystal. Every once in a while, when elder elves create new spells or perfect old ones, they would touch the crystal to store the knowledge inside to be handed down to the next generation. Other than that you will need special permission before able to access the memory crystal"

"Then how would the other access the spell then?" Tristan asked

The elder replied "Passing down knowledge is an entirely different matter, though…" and escorted Tristan to the next room. The place was narrow, and three elders sat at their tables while concentrating on pieces of parchment in front of them. With a quill made of massive white feathers, they wrote down the spell on the brown parchments that looked like it was made from animal skin.

"This is the engraving room, where we create spell scrolls."

Tristan remembered about the parchment he bought in the Erantell Academy. It seems that they were made in this way.

The elders would take the knowledge stored in the crystal and with the quill-like artifact, they would write down the spell, engraving the parchment with spiritual energy with each letter they wrote down.

Tristan looked at the piles of parchment stacked on the floor and on the tables before asking. "There are a lot of parchments here. The Vanyar doesn't seem to have many members."

"Most of those are ordered by the Arcadians." Serene spoke up.

Serene explained that once every few months, the Vanyar would send an envoy to the Arcadian City, directly to the Capital City, and through the magic ministry of the Arcadians. That's when they usually discuss trades. When the trades finalized, the Arcadians magic ministry would distribute the parchments to all the Arcadian cities.

"Whoa, those things are expensive… You must have made a lot of money selling those."

"Not really, we didn't trade in coins, and the Vanyar has no use for them. Look at the items next to the quill."

Tristan looked at the table, and saw piles of crystal stone in many colors. Some looked cloudy and dull, like it was deprived of power, while others shone bright and set itself apart from the others in the same pile.

"Those are spirit stones." The elder explained. "They are very rare, and very valuable. In order to do a successful engraving, energy from the stones is necessary."

Not many elves possess the talent to do an engraving, and even among those who do, they would only be able to engrave rank 1 to rank 3 spells. An elf with the ability to engrave a rank 4 spell was considered an artisan, and they would be sought after by many. But then such elf still needs acces to the memory crystal to create the scroll.

"Therefore If anyone wishes to learn higher-ranked spells, they would need to get access to the Memory Crystal, but it's easier said than done. Not just everyone could have permission to access it, and the learning process won't be as easy as reading the scrolls."

The trip was quite an eye opener for Tristan. Now, he knows more about the trading relationship between Vanyar and the Arcadians, and from there, he might be able to glean what other kingdoms' relationship with each other looks like.

The time for learning is done. It's time for him to ask what he came here for.

"I am currently learning Katra. Is there any way to learn it through these scrolls?"

The elder was silent for a moment before shaking his head. "No, unfortunately, there is no such scroll, but learning more spells and getting used to casting spells were proven to help in developing the Katra. As with any other method, though, the result will vary between elves. What works for one elf might not work for another."

"Well then," Tristan shrugged. "Can I have a few fires spells to learn? A few rank 3 ones will do"

The elder didn't answer right away.

"If it's about the coins, I am sure the queen would provide them." Tristan shrugged nonchalantly and smiled at the elder before glancing at Serena. He hoped she would go along and nod, but the woman merely turned away. Before her face was out of his sight, Tristan saw her face turn red, but was it anger or embarrassment? He couldn't really tell. Maybe a bit of both.

Tristan decided to check his leather pouch, quickly counted the coins and asked while playing with the pouch. "Alright then, I have some gold right here. Show me what kind of fire spells you have?"

Yet again, the elder turned quiet in bewilderment. This time, Serena took the chance and spoke up.

"Did the lessons on elven history and society go over your head or did you forget to bring common sense today? We the wood elves don't do fire spells and also, the elves dont trade in coins."

Tristan sighed and rubbed his head, There are piles upon piles of scrolls here, yet he could not learn any of them.