Chapter 35 - Preliminary Survey

Guy's method of research was to work from the top down. After determining the endpoint, he would map out the required prerequisite topics by working downwards. This would narrow the field when he finally started to research and would greatly reduce the chances of going down unnecessary rabbit holes.

But before that, Guy felt it would be more efficient to run a preliminary survey. This was basically like a surface scan of publications to find out if there were already specific examples that conformed to the search criteria. Back on Earth, technology had advanced sufficiently that if anyone was attempting to start a new project, there was a high chance that something similar was already available on the internet.

Guy believed that since the field of enchanting has existed in this world for at least 5000 years, there must be some publications that could address his dilemma.

The end goal for him was to enchant some form of a weapon that would assist Markus in casting ranged spells. An obvious starting point would be to determine the weapons that already conformed to that requirement. However, when Guy started his search with that parameter he was immediately stumped.

Unlike alchemy, medicine, beast taming, and other licenced professions, enchanting was special in that there wasn't a fixed methodology when it came to it. There could be countless ways for an enchanter to create a weapon that could summon a wave of fire, just by varying the type of enchantment, gem selections, embedding format, weapon material type, inscription ink composition, and so on.

These variables would effectively change the efficiency, efficacy, functionality, and even aesthetics of the enchanted weapon.

This inherent variability in enchanting was a headache for Guy because apart from the small selection of books that covered the basics, almost the entire library was filled with books that were isolated case studies or process journals that described a renowned enchanter's attempts at creating an enchanted item.

It could be analogous to if Newton had published over a hundred journals describing the gravitational interactions between different household objects and the Earth, instead of a small handful that culminated his theory on gravitation. However, Guy realised that this comparison was flawed, in that gravitation could be generalised using the scientific process as it was a consistent phenomenon. But mana tended to screw things up big time.

Guy summarised it through the principles of combinations and permutations in mathematics. Imagine that given a complete deck of cards, we have to form a hand of five cards. A combination is defined as a set of unique selections you can make from the deck of cards to form a hand. In that, the order of selection is irrelevant, only the content of the hand matters. However, a permutation also considers the order in which the selections are made. Therefore while we can form exactly 2,598,960 combinations of a five-card hand, given that a hand of five cards can be ordered 120 different ways, there are actually 311,875,200 unique permutations.

With the advent of mana in this world, even if the enchanted fire sword had the same combination of components, there could be infinite permutations, all of which would result in some variations in the final product. And each of these variations warranted documentation, which resulted in a highly padded book repository.

Thankfully, searching through these books for specific examples wasn't that huge of an issue because the repository had a comprehensive sorting strategy in place and a searching index that could magically direct you towards a shelf with books matching your search parameters. The index resembled a regular book, however, its page's were all empty. When someone used the quill next to the book to write in words that corresponded to a topic they were interested in, the ink marks on the pages would magically morph into coordinates of shelves or rows that matched those words.

The index is a Legendary grade enchanted item, albeit one of the most basic of its kind, and is present in all the renowned Smithing and Enchanting Guilds across Gaea. It contains multiple enchantments as well as a nascent will that learns and grows through repeated use. To an extent, its behaviour mimics the adaptive algorithms and models that underly modern search engines on Earth - it was like a magically supercharged search engine. Guy was enraptured by how the item worked, but he couldn't afford to waste time following that tangent!

Guy approached the index and started by writing in: "ranged", and "spell casting". To which the index spasmed and threw up multiple pages worth of directions.

"I guess the search was too broad," Guy said while smiling bitterly. After waiting for the index to erase itself, he wrote in additional keywords to narrow the search. Including "ranged" and "spell casting", he also wrote "multiple spells", "active-type" and "low cost".

He had multiple reasons for using these parameters. First, the enchanted item must accommodate multiple spells, otherwise, Markus would have to switch between enchanted items in the middle of combat. That wasn't safe and was therefore unfeasible.

He also included the keyword "active-type" to ensure that the enchantments were conjurable or triggered. That is, when activated, the enchanted item would trigger a spell or conjure a phenomenon. This is opposed to the "passive-type" enchantments that are always active and constantly affect either the item, the user, or the surrounding in some way.

Finally, Guy didn't have much to his name. He could borrow from Al and pay it off later, but honestly, Guy wasn't confident about it. And so, he needed to find a solution that could accommodate multiple castable spells while remaining affordable.

As Guy thought about it, he shook his head in disappointment. For an enchanted item to cast multiple spells it would have to be a Unique grade. That automatically made things difficult because one, it would use a lot of resources to create and two, it would be difficult to make. To put it in context, creating a Unique grade item was the passing criteria for a 2-star enchanter's license.

And much like he had predicted, the solutions that were provided by the index all corresponded to Unique grade enchanted items forged by others.

Another problem that Guy identified was that in none of these case studies was the enchanted item capable of casting more than two ranged spells. Based on the explanation provided in those books, it was because embedding multiple gems with active-type spells could damage the item through mana corrosion. That is when a large quantity of mana is forced to flow through narrow channels multiple times.

Therefore, Guy scrapped this search and pondered for a while. Evidently, his search could be narrowed further to meet his needs.

After a while, Guy wrote in a new set of search parameters into the index. Including "ranged" and "spell casting", he wrote "active-type" and "low cost", however instead of multiple spells he wrote in "variable enchantment".

Guy realised that he could go about the problem with a different approach. Rather than searching for items with enchantments that were static, was it possible to have an enchantment that could change depending on the situation? Something similar to his modular spells?

He posited that someone must have already tested out this line of inquiry, and his search confirmed that proposition by providing him with a single case study in which a group of enchanters tried to create an enchantment that could change depending on the need of the mage. The book went into a lot of detail about their thought process and their choices, but in the end, they arrived at a single conclusion: It wasn't a worthwhile endeavour.

Their enchantment worked by having the ink that was engraved into the gem morph into the spell constructs that the user wanted. The result showed promise, however, they couldn't make it take the form of more complex spells. They considered experimenting further, but they quickly realised that beyond a certain point the spell constructs were so convoluted that the mage couldn't mentally form it inside the gem. They would have to give it their full attention or else it would mess up.

Guy was overjoyed at finding a lead. Even though the enchanters chose not to pursue it any further, the mere fact that it was possible to create a variable enchantment was akin to a bright light at the end of a dark and seemingly endless tunnel.

Therefore, Guy updated his plan of action and set this variable enchantment case study as his end goal. Using that, he worked backwards and mapped out everything he would need as a prerequisite.

As he stared at the blooming mind map in his RoK, his eyes stopped over one particular checkpoint, and his brows scrunched up.

Enchanting consisted of two parts, the first was smithing, which involved making the item to be enchanted, and the second was enchanting.

Although Guy didn't have any hands-on experience from his previous life, he admitted that he had a perfunctory understanding of smithing. However enchanting was a whole another deal. It was completely novel to him!

He knew that if he wanted to create the variable enchantment he would need to have the basic knowledge of this topic. And so Guy got down to researching it.

What he found through a precursory search was that enchantments were added to weapons by embedding mana gems on them.. And not just any regular mana gem, but ones that were inscribed with the enchantment you wanted.