Laurence looked at the gems in front of him. There were ten that he could use as enchantments, but only one he could make a weapon out of. A large sheet of salamandrite had smashed in front of him while he was exploring the cavern and the stones he had salvaged from the accident were paltry. If he could have used the entire sheet he could have made something incredible, but instead he would have to make a knife.

After thinking about what he wanted the knife to do he set it down in front of him and began to change the shape of the gem shard. He ran mana through his fingers and projected a knife-edge out of them, then proceeded to whittle the shard into the shape of a needle blade. Once he felt the blade itself was complete he constructed a solid hilt, but left a small centimetre long hole in the middle and at the base.

The vessel was finished but Laurence was not done with the knife. He began channelling copious amounts of mana into the blade. On the outside the knife looked no different, but in his mind’s eye Laurence could see the molecular makeup of the knife. Laurence began colouring the molecules black and white, forming the glyphs needed to imprint his will upon the knife. It began shaking in his palms, the tool vibrating with excess energy. It was the first time that the boy had tried to make a weapon this way, and it took far more concentration and fine control than he was used to. He had nearly lost control of the flow of mana five times already, which would have made the tool explode and rendered his work useless. Sweat dripped down his forehead, rolling onto his nose as he focussed. He wanted to get this right the first time, but it was unbelievably hard. It was the combination of everything he had learned up to this point and the key to him improving.

As he focussed a thin band of black began appearing down the centre of the blade. The blade began vibrating even harder as the band reached the three holes in the hilt of the dagger. It split and wrapped round each hole before reconnecting and moving further down the weapon. The vibrations became so hard that it almost jumped out of Laurence’s hands. The band was growing quickly, but it was painfully slow to Laurence. Everything had seemed to slow down as he cut out all outside stimuli. There was only the boy and the dagger, the glyphs and the target. He could feel that the blade was almost complete, but the whole process was draining his mana far quicker than he thought possible. Most things he had done with mana took barely any from his reservoir, but trueforming drained it in mere minutes.

Laurence had reached the last stretch but there was very little mana left in his system. He reached the tip of the blade and began pulling the dregs of mana in his system out to finish the job. He began shaking and his vision blurred but he was not going to give up. As the last glyph came down he swooned and collapsed. He was not unconscious, but he could not move, and could barely think. Eventually his mana reservoir began drawing in mana from the outside world, and Laurence was able to regain some semblance of control over his body again. He felt Yun licking his face and heard him whimper. The thought “Brother, why do you do this?”

Laurence began circulating his mana to the inner flame formation once again and power flooded back into him. When he could finally move again he said “It’s so I get better at my skill. Father always taught me that a person should only do something if they intend to be excellent at it. I intend to be the best at understanding this book, no matter what.”

Once Laurence had recuperated he took a look at the knife. It was complete, and the moment someone injected mana into it, the weapon would belch flame out of its tip and elongate its range instantly. It allowed for a smoother control of the elements in these gems that Laurence could find everywhere, and Laurence’s plan with the knife was to make it a very special weapon. He took three more gemstones and whittled them down into two pins and a marble. The first pin was a piece of «Tornado Diamond», which Laurence quickly injected his mana into and turned into a key piece for the knife. He then took a nereid aquamarine pin and turned it into the second key piece. The final gem, the marble, was a stone of treantite. This piece was special, and would be where Laurence tried his first enchantment. To enchant was to inject the nature of a book into a weapon. In a person who had skill with the book it would either allow them to use the book at a slightly higher tier of skill or it would allow them to use the special ability of the book at a reduced mana cost. In a person who did not know the book it would allow them to use the special ability at a base level.

Laurence took the gem and placed it against his book of creation then began forcing his mana through the gem, into the book and then back into his body, circulating the inner flame formation at the same time. Supposedly the stronger you were, the quicker you could enchant an element, but it only took Laurence ten cycles of the inner flame formation to finish the gem. Floating inside the marble lay a small hammer, of the same ilk as the one on Laurence’s red book. With this ready Laurence knew that everything was prepared. He took one of the strips of the Orik left over from the skin that he had cured, and began wrapping the leather around the hilt of the knife. Once he had reached the end of the leather strip and made sure that the leather itself was all secure, he formed three holes in the leather and stuck the pins inside. Finally Laurence inserted the marble into the hilt and smiled as the weapon in front of him was completed.

He looked at the completed knife and smiled, rather proud of himself. “Is it done?” Said Yun.

“It is little brother.” Laurence replied. “I think we should finally get moving now. I took an entire day to prepare this knife, the worst part is I am not even going to use it.”

“Why? Why make it?” Yun was confused.

“Simple. To make myself better at my craft. If I want to become the best creation immortal I have to practice and apply my knowledge. Unapplied knowledge is wasted knowledge, and I don’t want to waste the book.” He put the knife on the floor in the middle of the cavern. “I’m sorry knife, I leave you here in the hope that someone finds you and names you. You’re going to find a good home someday.” He stood up and looked at his brother. “Shall we have a look at the rest of this cavern then, Yun?”

“Yes!” The wolf barked.