CH.86 Making magic stones

CH.86 Making magic stones

I got a little sidetracked from my original objective. I was going to work on the magic stones, but then the realization about wasting resources kicked in. Wasting... I guess I wouldn’t have wasted anything even if I waited, but if I do end up getting Master of Oz tomorrow, I would have had to wait a day to summon one of the two fusions.

Luckily that distraction with St. Joan didn’t take much time, so I can get started with the magic stones.

“I hope you’ve rested enough.” I said as I pulled a card from my storage. “Dark Sage.”

Unlike his younger self, who used a card like a door to step out of, he rose from a card that was in line with the ground. An older man in a purple and black robe. He was sitting in a meditating posture and was holding a giant staff on his lap.

“Aa, Master.” He said with his deep voice. “You have called on me. How may I be of service? Would you like to begin your journey into the depths of sorcery?”

“Hello to you as well, Dark Sage. Have you rested enough?” I asked him.

“I had enough rest. If I rest longer, I might never wake up.” He joked. I guess he is up for it.

I went through my fanny pack and got out the two bracelets and the two monster cores. I placed the bracelets onto a table.

“I need you to convert these monster cores into magic stones.” I told him.

“Oh, the gift for your lady friend. Of course I want to help you make it.” He said jokingly.

“...she isn’t my girlfriend.” I said back.

“Oh, I see. Well let’s set that issue aside for now and work on these cores.” He said as he was looking at the cores that were in his hand. When did he get them? They were in my hand.

“Don’t look so confused.” He said as he noticed me looking at the cores. “I’m a sage with a thousand years of experience. Something like this is simple for me.”

... Yeah, I guess it would be.

“You know you could have just asked for them.” I told him.

“I could have, but it will take some time to convert these.” He said as he was looking at the cores. “We might run out of time if we play around too much.”

“Really? Then go ahead and start.” I told him.

“Oh I won’t be doing it alone.” He told me. “I’ll have you help.”

“Help? Why?” I asked. What can I do? I have no experience.

“Master’s completely neutral magic will create a combination with my dark magic that will make the stones more flexible. That way if you were to grant another attribute to your girlfriend, they would be better. They will also be easier to get used to, if they boost her magic as a whole, and not just dark magic.” He explained.

...did you have to call Alice my girlfriend? Again. How do you even know about that? Laura? Is this your fault?

(Don’t blame me for everything, Master.) Laura complained. (You should remember that you summoned him before he evolved and he has memories from that time.) Laura added.

(I’m sorry.) I said to Laura. (I just thought you told him.)

“Well, let’s start.” I said to my summon. “What do I need to do?”

“So how do we do this?” I asked. “And can we take a break if something happens?”

She came to get me for something? Is it tea time?

“Sorry, but I need a little longer for this.” I told her. “I’ll come as soon as we finish this.”

“As you wish, but who is he?” Jenna asked.

“Just leave!” I said, getting more agitated.

... Why did I snap like that? Are my thoughts getting darker? Is the dark mana affecting me? If it is, I’ll need to be more careful in the future.

“Sorry.” I said to Jenna, as she seemed genuinely scared by my outburst. “Just give us a little more time.”

“...yes.” She said weakly before leaving the room.

... What was that? Even if I yelled at her she shouldn’t have gotten that scared. I hope that was just an isolated incident.

“We are almost ready.” Dark Sage said to me. “Just a little longer.”

I focused back on the task at hand.

“Good, the cores are ready for the next part.” Dark Sage said. “I’ll just compress them down. You should let go of them now, Master.”

“Sure.” I said as I took my hands away from the cores. The cores were shining with energy. They remind me a little of the rogue core from the dungeon. But the light these have is more violent, uncontained. Perhaps that rogue core was a monster core that had some amount of mana in it, but it hadn’t reached the critical point.

I heard Dark Sage mumbling something akin to a spell chant, but I couldn’t make out the words for it.

Then I saw how the cores compressed down. The ping-pong ball sized cores shrunk down, until they were about half their original diameter. Their color also changed. The shining cores that started out with a reddish-brown color, were now dark with small white cross shapes, or perhaps star shapes. I think polished obsidian is similar, but then again, I’ve only seen polished obsidian in a video and never live.

“The stones are complete, Master.” Dark Sage said to me. “Please bring over the bracelets for them.”

“So it was a success.” I said as I walked over to the table where I laid the bracelets. “Can you really do the rest as well?”

“Master, I’m a sage. I’ve studied for over a thousand years. Making magical equipment like this has been a part of it.” He told me.

“I guess I shouldn’t doubt you.” I said to him, as I handed the bracelets over to him.

“I might be old, but with age comes knowledge.” He said as he received the bracelets.

“I wasn’t commenting on your age.” Honestly I wasn’t. I just have no clue if he would know the techniques of this world.

A little spell later, the stones had been embedded into the bracelets. The spots designed for them were way too large for the stones we made, so he had to change the design of the bracelets a little. I think they might be better this way, as the stones aren’t as large as the slots were. Did Bakula sell us the wrong stones?

“Master, you need to unsummon me now.” He said as he handed the bracelets back to me.

“Yeah, we did spend a long time on the bracelets. Thank you. I’ll call on you again.” I said as a card appeared under Dark Sage.

“I’ll be waiting.” He said as he sunk into the card.

I quickly returned his card into the collection, put the completed bracelets into my fanny pack and left the room. They are waiting for me, after all.