Chapter 22 C.

Rachel came out from her back room looking as beautiful as ever. Her long black hair was pulled back in a tight braid and fell down the back of her school coat. She had the same long skirt with folded pleats allowing for ease of movement, and sensible black boots poked out from the underside of her skirt. Her school satchel crossed over one shoulder. It held all her enchanting supplies and was clearly a bag of holding.

“Ready for your first enchanting class?” She said brightly, the blue of her eyes dancing.

“Yeap, and lucky I have my own private expert.”

“I wouldn’t call me an expert by any means. Professor Trianna, now she is an expert.”

We walked out the door and made our way to the elevator arm in arm. “If she is such an expert, why is she teaching? We have a saying on my world, those who can’t do, teach.”

“That’s a funny saying. Well, I know she gets paid a lot; most of the teachers are extremely well compensated. She also gets to work on whatever projects she wants and can sell them freely. The school also pays for most of her supplies as well.”

“I guess with those benefits, it’s no wonder she’s a teacher,” I said while the gold cage door of the elevator opened onto the enchanting floor of the tower.

The elevator let us off in the center of a long hallway. Large arched stone doors we’re spaced evenly down the full length of the hallway. At the end of the righthand corridor was another much larger archway with double stone doors that were currently open. Both Rachel and I, still arm in arm, walked through the double doors.

The amphitheater was large, at least double the size of the other classrooms. Near the lectern, there was a small blackboard, and on the center of the wall behind it was a giant blackboard. The imperial flag hung above it, a golden eagle clutching the chains. The tiered seating held large tables with padded stools instead of the more comfortable couches and chairs of the other classrooms.

Rachel led me down a few rows to a table in the middle section of the seating. There were far more students in attendance in this class than had been in the alchemy class. The low thrum of noise echoed faintly, drowning out any coherent conversations. We took our seats next to one another, Rachel pulling out a well-used notebook.

We did not have to wait long for the professor to take the stage. “Right, settle down class and stand for the imperial devotion.” She said, her long red hair pulled in a bun atop her head. She was gorgeous and much more beautiful than any of the other teachers I had seen so far. She wore the same black throw-over as the rest of them, but instead of closing it, the garment was open, revealing the large swell of her chest and the curve of her body. She wore a tight black dress with splits of gold up the sides accentuating her hips. Her stomach was tone and flat. An elegant grace exuded from her like she was meant to be the centerpiece in a ballroom rather than teaching.

The class quieted, and we all stood reciting the devotion. “Eternally devoted, we stand with the Emperor, forever the Exalted, noble mages defend. Under Ack we obey, by Alleystra we thrive, by Sippsie we are pleased, and by Roxclou we are served.”

“Very good, you may take your seats,” Trianna said, the cadence of her voice having a tempting sultry air to it.

“Today, we will be going over mana variance in line diameter variation of enchantments.” With that statement, there was an audible groan from some of the classmates around me.

“I know, I know, I will remind some of you to keep your practices of Sippsie quiet for those who want to learn the information.” A slight chuckle went through the room as some of the female members of the class ducked under their tables.

“Enchanting can be done in three main ways. One; spectral inlay, two; engraving, and three; bonded etching. Each is fundamentally governed by the diameter variation inherent in the Logographic or ideographic morphology of the enchanting system used. There are many such systems, but using imperial standard is by far the easiest and uses the best application of many of these systems.” She paused for a moment and began to draw out a few basic parts of an enchantment that I could easily recognize. As she wrote on the small blackboard, the writing was amplified on the large blackboard behind her.

Rachel had turned to a section in her notebook and was reviewing the information as the professor spoke, “when dealing with the size of the stylizing, it is important to remember that the line size is governed by the whole size of the enchantment, and the ratios inherent to proper mana flow within a line segment. So, while bigger can be better, that is not always the case, as size used in the wrong spot or in the wrong way can have detrimental effects on the enchantment as a whole. As some of you in class may be finding out right now.” There were a few snickers from those paying attention.

“Now, if we take any enchantment either by ethereal projection or carved pathways and make the mana flow lines the same size, a middling effect is the best we can hope for. As the mana manipulated by the segmented torsion will be even throughout the whole of the enchantment. This is not optimal but can be preferred if an enchantment needs to be done with speed, such as during combat; the even line diameter will not produce the most powerful effect the enchantment might be able to under more precise settings; however, it is the most stable form of enchantment. Thus providing for the safest application of the mana flow variance. It is recommended that when trying out a new enchantment for the first time, the same line diameter is used throughout the whole of the enchantment to minimize the risks of overload, blowback, and other unintended side effects.” She drew out a simple enchantment that would stabilize the internal structure of an object, making it more durable. She deliberately made all of the lines the same size and put the same number, 1, next to each part of the enchantment.

From a special ring on her hand, she produced a few basic-looking daggers and a block of copper, setting them on the worktable in front of her. “For this example, I will be using bonded etching to place the enchantments on the blades, so an ethereal projection can be seen and the physical engraving.” She focused for a few seconds, and I turned on my mana sight. The same pattern she had drawn on the blackboard wove its way through the air; strings of light blue energy precisely danced in the air. When the pattern was finished, she lowered it into one of the blades that had been stuck point first into the table. The lines contorted of their own accord for a moment finding the proper place naturally within the dagger, then in a flash of blue, a small amount of smoke drifted up from the dagger, and the pattern had been etched onto the blade.

I was surprised to realize that this form of enchanting was what I had been doing naturally with my knowledge from the sea of chaos. Trianna continued, “now, taking all things into consideration, how do we decide what parts of enchantment to adjust to change the desired effect. If I were to maximize, let us say the mana inlet segment but did not change anything else, what might happen?” she held her hands together then slowly stretched them out before uttering one word, “BOOM.”

“This is a basic principle, tons of mana going in and nowhere for it to go creates an unstable build-up. A VERY IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP.”

Rachel leaned over and quietly whispered, “Whenever she says stuff like that, it means it’s one of the few mistakes that can get you kicked out of her class.” I nodded as I continued to listen.

“Now, if we are hoping to take this basic fortification enchantment and try and make it twice as strong, how would we go about doing that? first, we need to increase the mana inflow segment by 2.” She drew the same enchantment on the board this time with the line size variation added. “Second, the mana regulation segment does not need to be enlarged but fortified by a factor of three for the most stable enchantment. Any more than three times fortification and the segment will detract from the overall mana being put into the whole, weakening it. Third, the pathways for the effect matrix should be enlarged by 2.5, being half again as big as the mana inlet. This will allow for the mana to be metamorphosed into the proper effect while allowing for sufficient room for inherent mana instability and build-up. Fourth, the directional and replication line matrix should be 2.1-2.3 of the normal effect one wanted to produce. This allows for the outflow of transmuted mana to have the space to produce the effect at twice the power as desired and give a buffer for environmental factors. Any more than the 0.1-0.3 and the mana will naturally try and increase the effect past the planned amount, draining mana too quickly and destabilizing the enter enchantment matrix. Fifth, the directional exit line matrix and replication matrix can be fortified by a factor of 2, allowing for a more stable draw output from the enchantment.” When she was done and had the double strength fortification enchantment drawn on the blackboard, she went about using the bonded etching ability to carve the new enchantment on another dagger.

She took two small mana crystals and placed both in the pommel of the daggers. The was a faint flash of light as the crystals were fused to the enchantment. “Now, will test this.” She said, moving to place the daggers in a bench clamp. With each secured at an angled to the class, we watched as she bent each at a ninety-degree angle. The tool she used looked much the same as a torsion measuring wrench from Earth. I did not know the exact measurement they used, but it was clear that the plane dagger bent easily, while the one with the mid-level enchantment took about three times the pressure to bend. While the double fortified enchanted dagger took nearly eight times the amount of force to bend.

“As you can see, the power of an enchantment is not a direct correlation to the overall effect. These are standard legionnaire steel issued daggers, and while good, they are not the best. Still, however, you can see how the increase in the natural material and the standard craftsmanship made in the effectiveness of the overall enchantment. Materials and crafting quality are a lecture for another time, however. Back to line segments.”

She went on to explain how changing the size of the lines in differing parts could change the enchantment. By enlarging the mana intake by four, she overclocked the enchantment, stating that due to the rest of it being stabilized, it would not explode. When she bent the dagger, it took nearly 32 times the amount of pressure, but the mana crystal got burnt up in the process, crumbling to dust when the test was completed. When she changed the replication matrix to smaller, the enchantment did not cover the entire blade, breaking near the tip instead of bending. When the replication matrix was enlarged, the dagger began sparking, trying to fortify the air, causing heat to build up, and within a few moments, the dagger had melted to slag. When the directional line pattern was changed, it made the whole enchantment fail or turned the dagger into dust after a few seconds.

When she was done with her test examples, she finished with, “so, this is why line diameter variation is so important though it is basic. Experimentation with diameter should be well thought out before it is attempted, or a standard imperial templet should be used that has been tested and proven safe. And always remember when enchanting,”

The whole class answered, “Material variation, line stability, and crafting pattern stability.”

“Very good; now we will take an hour break if you wish and then go over to the workshops.” As she finished, she smiled warmly at some of the girls getting out from under their tables before she went through the back door at the rear of the stage.

Handkerchiefs were used to wipe mouths as the other male and female students got up and left. I watched, amused as skirts were adjusted and stains dabbed at. The nonplus attitude of the whole thing was shockingly funny, and I didn’t think I would ever get used to the sight during class or after.

“So, what did you think?” Rachel said, smiling broadly at me.

“That was informative, and I had no idea how small variations could change an enchantment so drastically. I have a lot to think about before I start making some enchantments of my own.”

“About that, if you want to go to the workshop, you should stick to the basic enchantments. If you do too much well, you will have the enchanting faculty breathing down your neck. The students sell their school crafts to the legion directly, you can make a few coins that way, but if you make your own enchantments and they work, you can make a lot of gold that way. If they think you have an aptitude for it, they will push you into enchanting more and more.”

“How long does the workshop last?”

“Well, it is open all the time, the class part will be from 13:00-14:00. Were Trianna will guide us in what we just learned.”

“Hum best I skip enchanting in the school workshop. We have a shop at our house to set up. Care to come out there today with me?”

“I would love to; that way, we can spend the weekend making enchantments.” Rachel and I walked to the elevator and rode it back to our apartment level.

“I have to go to the halls of Roxclue,” I said with no emotion.

“I know….”

Walking into the apartment, I left Rachel to go back to the enchanting workshop while I prepared for what I was going to have to experience next. I could already feel the stain forming on my soul.