Chapter 104: The Artifact

Kothar looked at the innocuous artifact in his palm with wonder, all this time, what he had thought to be random spatial fluctuations just to the nature of the artifact were in fact far more.

Narrow tendrils of purple Spatial mana wormed their way out of the artifact, in a barely noticeable web, all around it, and upon reaching certain points, all the narrow tendrils would all gather together and burrow into thin air, like hundreds of tiny worms digging for food.

This was the first thing that Kothar had discovered about the artifact.

The artifact was finding areas of space, which, for lack of a better world, were far 'thinner' than others, and this was how it managed to transport Kothar from Eclat to Idwa with only his paltry supply of Spatial mana. 

Furthermore, without years of research or pre established information of where a plane was, a Spatial Mage or anyone seeking to teleport from one plane to another would struggle to travel. However, the tendrils that found narrow areas of space, would not only find locations where portals would be constructed far more easily,  but the tiny tendrils would also act as a kind of anchor to the plane that the portal would lead to. 

The artifact anchored the portals all on its own, and it took all of Kothar's willpower to not test his theory, as he could see a thinner region of space, and he knew for sure that if he channeled his Spatial mana through the artifact right now, he would surely end up on a new plane.

Kothar suspected that Krieg used the Spatial rift as a makeshift beacon, that would create an area of spatial disruption that Krieg could sense from planes away. But such a technique seemed reckless and wasteful, since Krieg would not be the only one who would be able to sense the fluctuation of Spatial mana.

Kothar also remembered the bare room that had been under the rift, and it seemed likely to him that Krieg was mediating beneath the rift, using the Spatial mana and fluctuations from the rift to accelerate his progress.

Surely, if Krieg was so desperate to obtain the artifact, it would have a similar use. After all, it was already able to do everything else that Krieg's Spatial rift could do, and more.

The artifact, much like Krieg's Rift, allowed for one to discover new planes that they had never visited without prior coordinates, but unlike Krieg, Kothar had far more input on what would happen with the portals.

And he could easily return to the plane he had recently left as well as use a minimal amount of mana to travel away.

But he was far too scared of the repercussions of interrupting Silane during her hard work, and if he wanted to see the ship he had dreamed of for so long finally assembled, it would be best for him to wait for her to be done.

The artifact didn't only help in traversing from one plane to another, but holding it while he cast regular Spatial magic drastically reduced his mana consumption. 

This benefit, along with his Mana Storage Unit for his Lightning Mana, meant that Kothar would easily outmatch any other mages of his level in terms of mana reserves, and along with his close combat ability which counterattacked the naturally weak defense of Spatial and Lightning Mages, Kothar was well prepared for a fight.

Now that he had puzzled out some of the uses for the artifact, Kothar decided it was time for him to fashion it into a necklace. He should've made some kind of receptacle for it  long ago, but until now, he hadn't seen it as anything other than an oddity and a nuisance.

Kothar walked through the short passageway which led to the room he had created specifically for storing ores and refined ingots, and picked up an ingot of silver that he had refined and a smaller ingot of Titanite to alloy with it.

Kothar took a wooden frame that he used for making molds, and filled it with a fine sand, then he sat down and began to craft the individual components for the necklace. 

He would create large heavy links that would be durable enough that he had no need to fear the necklace being lost. 

He carved a diamond shaped housing that would clutch the deep black stone with four large, heavy prongs, with a cut out at the back that would ensure the stone remained in contact with Kothar's skin.

An hour later, he had finished carving the basic shape for the necklace, then, he pressed these into the sand, creating an impression of all the components' in the sand, before placing another wooden frame over the top, to fully capture the shape.

After this, holes were run through the top layer of sand, through which the molten metal could be poured through.

Then, Kothar took two crucibles, one larger one for the silver ingot, and another smaller one for the Titanite. The Titanite was already an alloy, but from his knowledge from the Alliance, he was sure it would create a strong alloy with the silver, while not wasting a larger amount of Titanite that would be needed if he were to make a pure Titanite necklace.

Kothar placed the large crucible in the forge, and heated the other with a jet of pure plasma, Titanite required a far higher temperature to melt.

Once the metals had melted, he poured the Titanite into the melted silver, and watched as the dull gray Titanite mixed in with the bright, glistening melted silver.

Once the alloy was mixed, Kothar stepped over to the mold, and poured the shining molten metal into the mold, and steamed hissed out of the venting holes as he poured it in.

Now he just had to wait, Kothar sat down, and began to gather mana, actively meditating on Atla was like meditating for 10 times as long on Eclat, and his body drunk up the mana like a thirsty camel.

A few hours later, as the fires within the hollow had dimmed, Kothar stood up and stretched, the necklace had cooled, it was time to see how it had turned out.