I walk out of the police station, being held up for quite a while to tell them of that girl’s seeming disappearance. She should be alive and well, but I can’t say that for sure, so I figured notifying the police might be a good idea. The response was basically ‘Thanks, but- wait what?’ so I’m glad I called the next customer on the list and told them I would be delayed or have to cancel.

At least spotting and identifying the birdkin form should be easy enough, should it come to that. Other than that they have her ID and whatnot. Turns out, though, that she is not actually 18, as she told me, but 15. Once it came to light that she was using a fake ID they took things a bit more seriously.

The next customer is slightly annoyed because of the delay, but seems understanding when I said I had to report something to the police, so the transaction goes smoothly. The rest of the day goes by smoothly, and around noon the next day I land by Karma’s house (which sounds really weird to say, but I looked it up, and it is a real, if rare, name).

We greet (as you do) and then go over his progress in regards to changing his habit. It is as they say: Old hobbits die hard. When it comes to what he wants for the day, he practically demands to see the spearstaff.

I take the spearhead from my bag and unwrap it, then withdraw the staff/shaft from the cloth sheath. The head goes on the shaft, and with a touch of magic the wood expands and holds it in place. When I hand it to him he’s already frowning, and it gets worse as he looks over it.

“What is this even! Why isn’t the head smooth, and what is it even made of? The edges are dull, and why is there no pin, the head is going to come off if you use it! The balance is all wrong, and the grip is terrible, far too smooth!”

I look at him as he catches his breath, “Woah, did it insult you or something? I mean, it’s not great or anything, but it’s the first real thing I made, after some shabby practice swords! There’s no pin because I’ve seen images of historical spearheads without them, and it didn’t come off when I used it or anything.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just… so many flaws, man. It’s real good for a first attempt, but…”

And then we devolve into a heated discussion about said flaws, and I several times have to catch myself from becoming defensive and instead listen to the feedback of someone who is more knowledgeable than me on the topic.

After discussing that we get down to business and continue where we previously left off on the topic of magical crafting before we got sidetracked. He complains about not being able to easily regulate the temperature, but I point out that all he needs to do is open the vacuum bubble. I don’t know how you’d know if it is too hot or cold or whatever, though.

We get onto the topic of making something together, and each making a video about it on our own channels, and that seems like a pretty good idea, but somehow it morphs into having a more permanent business partnership, where we could combine his physical crafting and metalworking skills with my magic skills to make some really good stuff.

That also seems like a good idea. But he could also be employed under my company, essentially forming a US branch. That’s… also an idea. I will need to do some research to find out if that is even viable.

In a cooperative effort to stay somewhat on topic we turn the conversation back to making something together. As for what, we quickly turn to the nearest common topic, specifically the spearstaff. I mean, if he finds so many flaws in it, how about he makes a better one? Mostly him, though I will help, and we’ll consider it a form of tutoring.

“So how did you make it?”

“It’s a while ago, and I’ve gotten better, but the short version is that I took some steel-”

“What kind?”

“I dunno, I smelted it from some scrap which seemed to be of the same type. Anyway, I smelted the metal in a vacuum furnace and imbued it with a lot of mana, which got me [Imbuing: Energy Alloying] and created the manasteel the blade is made of.”

“Are there other energy alloys?”

“Uhh, probably. The most basic usage of the ability is to imbue molten metal, and if you do it right, whatever you imbued it with will become a part of the metal, as opposed to… It’s hard to explain, but regularly imbued metal is more superficial than energy alloys. I’m not sure if you would consider it different to use Water on steel or Earth on steel, even though the results become different.”

From there we discuss the combinations I have tried and some suggestions he makes. I have experimented enough to do some educated guesses, but that’s about it. Lightning-copper is amazing for conducting both mana and electricity, but other than that and pure manasteel you just get (metal), but with properties of (affinity).

Next I explain the process I used to for the blade, from making the rough shape by directly manipulating the molten metal, to letting it cool and hammering it against the makeshift enchanted rock anvil. As I explain he becomes more and more conflicted; on one hand it’s damn impressive what I, as a newbie, managed to do, but on the other hands, it’s not exactly surprising that there are, err, some flaws.

In any case, he decides that he’ll have to start by learning more about energy alloys and getting the correct kind of steel, which I point out is kinda cheaty, but on the other hand, yeah, that would be a good idea. But if he’s going to properly research and plan, then it’s not exactly fair to compare it with the spearstaff.

We both agree that having a more scientific understanding of energy alloys would be great, but the vacuum furnace is not very reliable in terms of controlling the heat. With that in mind he suggests to make a magical furnace, and it should be easy enough to either augment an existing one to use magic for some key bits or make a new one from scratch.

Relegating the casting to artifice will mean a more consistent output, and you can still get the benefits of fueling it with magic, and also keep the heat contained to just the furnace itself. We talk it over and decide to first just upgrade his existing equipment and then use what we learn from that to build a proper magical forge from the ground up.

So we get to work looking over the equipment he has and talk about what can be upgraded or augmented by mana, and how to do so, after which I set up some makeshift magical slabs for testing, and he makes a knife to show how that’s usually done, since my knowledge of blacksmithing is self-taught and… incomplete, at best.

I have to continuously tweak the magic, oftentimes manually casting spells because we didn’t think of adding them, but I am mostly a spectator. While it is fascinating seeing him work, it becomes really boring with the bits that take a while, and when it’s time for me to go there is still plenty of small, but time-consuming things to do left.

Either way, we wrap things up with a discussion of what will happen next. Which is: He will make blueprints and plans for the upgrades (and a first draft for the ground-up forge) and then gather the materials while I continue travelling around, then we meet back up in two weeks to upgrade the forge and set up a mana collection array.

I am surprised to find what appears to be invitations to not one, but two talk shows and one… TV debate? I almost trash them out of hand, but I guess I should at least read the entire things. And then I look further into them.

So the debate is because of my ‘expert’ status again (and probably because of my, uh, high profile), but seems okay; they even state outright they will reimburse me for my time. Of the talk shows, some research tells me that one of them I’m not going to, and the other fails to give a compelling reason to come.

Okay, so positive reply to the debate, decline the nope-show, and reply to the other that I would likely be able to join, but will need more details. And mention that I keep the schedule full for a week or so ahead of time. They don’t need to know about my planned break days to convince me to come.

I really should’ve realized it, but apparently the invitation was more of a ‘some time within the next half year’ kinda thing. The debate is a bit closer, the day after I upgrade Karma’s forge, in fact. Until that point I don’t have anything special. Well, if you ignore the fact that I fly around and sell magical goods and services for a living.

It’s been half a year, and apparently this is normal now. That… that’s kinda amazing, actually. The adaptability of the human mind… Anyway, I do my routine which would seem fantastical to myself as much as anyone else less than a year ago, until I again land by Karma’s house.

I find him in his garage workshop with someone else, standing over a table with what I assume to be the blueprints he made. Noticing me, he waves me over and explains them from the beginning to end, and then we discuss it a bit to tweak a few details and add some more in a couple of places.

And then we get right to it, starting by him making a couple metal plates to inscribe magical formations onto while I work on enchanting and inscribing some of the other materials he obtained and make a control mechanisms. Once the plates are done, I inscribe them too, and time flies past until it’s all done.

Naturally he immediately wants to test it, but it needs power. For that I set up a mana collector in his house, and connect it to a ‘charger’ with seeds for a couple mana crystals. Once they grow he can power it with those crystals, but for now he needs to manually draw power from the collector to the input for the forge.

It does work, though, and the first product in the upgraded forge is a batch of Lightning-copper, to be used in components for the ‘magiforge’. As I work the aspects for that I get an idea, and so the next thing we make is a small batch of copper, which I imbue with Water while manipulating it with Fire and Metal.

The result is, as I hoped, copper which is even easier to bend and flex, but interestingly it seems to also have reduced the melting point quite a bit, with the copper being liquid until it reached about 500℃. That’s half of the normal melting point… I wonder if you could do the opposite to some normally room-temperature gases.

Well, at least we know you can apply some kind of logic to making energy alloys. Karma seems really hyped about the possibilities there, and I guess he would be. I steer him back to the topic of the magiforge, as there is a few thing I don’t understand about his plans.

Soon it becomes clear why that is: He wants to build an entire workshop, with several furnaces and bloomeries (the things where you smelt ore) and several machines and whatnot. That’s going to cost quite a bit, but that’s why his buddy is here; they will share the cost (and use) when it is done, together with two other people who couldn’t get here today.

I arrive at the location for the debate a few minutes before the stated time, and get a rundown of how things are going to work and all that yadda yadda. The debate itself I have no part of, being there to answer questions from the politicians, but as my frustration slowly increases, I want to scream about how they’ve already chosen two opposing positions and are really just entrenching themselves.

I mean, I knew the US had a two-party problem, but what the F, they seem to be arguing against each other ‘just because’, as it looks to me like their goals are not actually mutually exclusive, they just argue against what the other says on principle.

So when someone leaps up on stage the first thing I feel is a sort of relief that they shut up for a moment, as my position here is ornamental at best. Surprise catches up as they yell something about being unnatural and an affront to god and pulls out a pistol. Especially when they turn to me.

Why me?

Time seems to move slowly as they raise the gun, and some part of my brain nods in satisfaction as I reflexively raise my defences, made specifically with guns and other physical attacks in mind.

Bang!

I feel a spike of pain as it impacts somewhere around my lower left side with a distinctly non-organic sound and bend over slightly, covering my face with a hand and magical (but, my drowned-out rational mind say, probably useless) barrier.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

I feel the bullets impact, but they hurt less and less. Arm. Hand. Chest. Head-

I blink the lights out of my eyes, and upon realizing no more shots are coming, look up and punch into the air. My assailant, however, is thrown backwards as if punched by a superhero in a movie, and by the time he skids to a stop, security is upon him.

Someone speaks to me, but I hardly notice, spreading my mana thickly in the nearby area as I look around for more potential threats. Statistically unlikely, says that little rational part of my brain.

Naturally, I don’t see anyone else moving to attack me, the breath I let out sounding sharp through my chitin helmet.With that, my rational mind is let back into control, and I withdraw most of my mana, no reason to make people feel uncomfortable.

Oh.

The person who asked if I’m okay, one of the politicians, lowers his outstretched hand with a shudder. He looks over me as he repeats the question.

“I think so. Let me just…” just revert my form and get rid of the metallic armor plates. As I do, a few stuck bullets fall to the floor with little ‘plink’ sounds. I look over my body with all senses, and come to the conclusion that all things considered I’m doing rather well from being shot repeatedly at point blank range.

“I’m bleeding from the first hit, though.” And it hurts when I move. I apply some extra healing with my hand and let out an “oh” as the magic pushes the bullet out of the wound. It doesn’t take long to stop the bleeding, though I should probably see a doctor. Actually, by the time I got to them the wound would be all knit together, wouldn’t it.

Naturally the debate is put on indefinite as soon as some semblance of order returns, which is around the time we realize the bullets are made of silver of all thing. What, he thought I’m a werewolf or something? I mean… No. I’m not.

After that it’s all boring procedures to handle the aftermath, during which I do see a doctor, but with the skin healed they can only really poke it a bit. The area is pretty sensitive right now, and more than a little bit sore, but the wound was only something like a centimeter deep, so the doctor just tells me to be careful with it and see a doctor if it starts to hurt or anything.