With his work over, the dark elf packed up his belongings and began to drag the pile of enchanted items back to the campfire, seeing that Quentin was still sitting there. The wannabe paladin looked up at him and the armour pieces in his hands.

“Have you finished?”

“Yeah,” the dark elf nodded. “It’s time to turn in for the night.”

“You better get some sleep. You look like you could fall over at any moment.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Regis sighed weekly as he quietly dumped the first half of his work, snapping Osmond’s old cane so it could be thrown on the fire.

He returned to his temporary workplace and took his cloak off from the dirt wall and dusted it off. As he was hauled over the remaining enchanted equipment, about to get his share of sleep on the ground beside the others, a slight sound caught his ears. Looking to the side, he noticed Letty slightly shivering as she was sleeping atop a spread out piece of fur. With a sigh, Regis walked over and covered the wood elf with his cloak before returning to the piece of rag meant for him, pulling it a few steps closer to the campfire.

“That was kind of you.” Quentin commented with a half-smile as the dark elf sprawled out on the rag.

“Night.” He said before falling asleep in mere moments after laying down.

Hours later a gentle shake woke up Regis, along with the sight of Osmond crouching beside him. The pale skinned youth’s coal black eyes stared back at the dark elf as he slowly got up.

“It’s almost sunrise,” Osmond said. “The seventh guard squad’s captain told me wake you up. He wants to talk to you.”

“Alright, just give me a moment to get to my senses.” Regis yawned as he got up from the ground, followed by a slew of cracking and popping sounds as he stretched his limbs.

He looked around in the still relatively dark clearing, noticing a group not far from him. Walking closer to the small crowd, it turned out to be a gathering of the leaders of the warbands present.

“Took you long enough.” Marcus said with a smirk as he waved closer the young spell weaver.

“Maybe if he wasn’t playing with those weird lights all night, he wouldn’t have overslept.”

“Yeah,” another mercenary harrumphed. “It’s a small wonder you didn’t bring down an army of fallen down on us with your lights.”

“I’m pretty sure that the sentries would have noticed them in this dead forest,” Regis shot the loud mouthed mercenary a glare. “And besides; enchanting isn’t exactly the most subtle craft. I did my best to dampen the light, but since you lot took over that shack; I had to make do with what I’ve had.”

“Alright, that’s enough arguing,” the well-equipped guardsman sighed as he looked at the gathered men and women. “I asked you to gather here in order to talk over today’s plan. According to the boatmen, we could push forward another three stops today, if we can keep yesterday’s pace. However, we would likely reach the third one just before sundown. That would leave us with little time to set up defences for the night. Since we’re a large group, this requires a unified decision. Should we push for the third stop, or should we stick to the second one?”

“I say we’d best push towards the third one,” one of the battle-scarred women spoke up first. “If we keep dallying around, there might not be anyone left to save in East Fork by the time we get there.”

“It won’t help them shit, if we die during the night to some monsters’ ambush because we didn’t have the defences ready.” Another mercenary argued, a few people nodding in agreement.

“Regis,” the guard captain called out to the dark elf. “How long does it take to get that wall of yours up around the camp?”

“That depends on the size of the place,” the young spell weaver answered. “If it’s similar to this one, then I could do it in about an hour and a half at worst. If it’s larger…”

“Then we’ll stick closer to the pier,” the soldier noted. “We can keep watch while you work your magic, but we must have that wall. Even if it’s small, it’s at least waist high, so it would stop most ordinary enemies for a short while.”

“Can’t he just make them larger?” One of the men asked, earning a head shake.

“Spells have limits. It grows every time I reach a new rank of mastery over it, but for now, that’s the max.”

“Some wizard you are.” The mercenary scoffed, earning an empowered glare from the youth.

“Could you say that again?” Regis stared at the man with his eyes glowing as arcane intimidation flared up on instinct.

The bulky warrior stumbled back, forcing his gaze away while panting.

“I…”

“That’s enough,” the guard captain growled. “The last thing we need is for you lot jumping at each other’s throats. So; are we heading for the second or the third stop?”

“Third.” The dark elf spoke up after a sigh as he tried to calm down from the sudden flare of anger.

“Second.” Two mercenaries said in unison, but the rest of the leaders seemed to agree that the third stop was a better goal.

“The third one it is.” The guard captain said, adjourning the meeting so that they could return to their respective groups.

Regis turned around and walked back to his companions, finding most of them already awake. Amanda and Quentin had already adorned their enchanted armour, helping the others do the same. Khan was still snoring beside the dying campfire, unwilling to get up like the rest.

“So, what was that all about?” Amanda asked when she noticed the dark elf’s return.

“It was just a quick meeting to decide how far we’ll row today. Apparently, we could push forward three stops if we keep yesterday’s pace.”

“Great,” Khan finally sat up with a yawn. “More rowing.”

“The boat won’t go upstream on its own,” Quentin pulled his friend up onto his feet. “At least we’ll get two stops to rest this time.”

“That’s one good thing about it at least,” Amanda said as she lifted her two-handed hammer. “Did you?”

“Just give it a swing and a bit of arcana.” The young spell weaver nodded as the woman hefted the weapon up for a mock attack.

As the hammer began to move downwards, the heavy bronze head burst into flames, turning it into blazing force of destruction as it broke the air in front of itself. Sophie jumped back in fright as the hammer struck the ground with a low booming sound.

“Damn.” Fabien spoke up first, whistling in appreciation of the morning attraction.

“Damn, indeed.” Amanda agreed as she swung the now flameless hammer over her shoulder.

“It’s fine and all,” Cruz said with a smirk as she spun her double mace staff around. “But look at this bad boy. I could smash so many heads in with these.”

“Glad you like it. I hope the added weight isn’t too bothersome.”

“It’s perfect,” the wood elf smiled as she did a few practice swings to illustrate her attacks. “I’ve found the old version too light anyway.”

“Um… Regis,” Osmond cleared his throat while circling around the steadily decreasing pile of armour pieces. “Where’s my cane?”

“About that,” the dark elf scratched his head. “I snapped it in half and tossed it into the fire.”

“What,” the pale youth turned towards him with an exasperated expression. “What am I going to fight with then? I know it wasn’t the best weapon around, but I still need a…cane.”

Osmond’s anger died in a moment’s wake as Regis handed over the new cane with a proud smirk plastered over his face. The pale young man couldn’t speak a word or even swallow his saliva as he stared at his new weapon.

“Is this my…”

“Yeah, it’s yours. I’ve made it yesterday after seeing how crappy your other cane was. It has the full package, including an imbedded shadow crystal, a sceptre rune formation, increased durability and a rapier weapon-shift with increased sharpness.”

“Wow,” Osmond stuttered. “I mean, thank you! I’ve figured you would add a bit of this and that, but this is beyond anything I’ve expected. I mean; rosewood? Where the hell did you even get something as cool as that?”

“I got it from the wood pile beside the campfire,” Regis admitted. “Khan or Quentin must have found a couple of branches while gathering firewood. It looked nice and after identifying it, I didn’t have the heart to let it go into flames. It would have been too much of a waste.”

“Yeah. It looks really good. The grains are perfectly visible even after you’ve infused it with bronze.”

“Alright Os,” Cruz jabbed him in the side. “Don’t get all sappy on us over it. I know you have a cane fetish and all, but try to keep it under control.”

Osmond rubbed his side as the others tried to stifle their laughter after hearing Cruz’s offhanded comment. Under the pale young man’s will, the cane began to shape-shift, taking on the form of a broad bladed rapier. Everyone watched with rapt attention as the weapon finished changing its shape, their eyes focused on the skull styled cross guard and cup hilt.

“Nice,” Khan nodded. “We have a pirate amongst us now.”

“I’m not sure Regis was thinking about pirates when he made that thing.” Valerie snorted as she took a closer look at the blade.

“Well, it does remind me of those pirate flags from the movies.” Sophie agreed with Khan from the side.

“I’ve figured since Osmond is a bone puppeteer, it would suit him well to have a skull and bones styled weapon,” The dark elf said as he rummaged through the small pile. “Also; I know your sceptre is still useable and all, but I figured you could use something that’s a bit of a higher quality.”

He handed over the sceptre he made to Letty, the wood elf girl taking the finely carved weapon with slightly shaking hands.

“Is this for me?” She asked with a soft voice as her fingers brushed along the surface of her new weapon.

Letty held the sceptre closer to take a better look at it, admiring the finely made wooden spiral around the green crystal. Osmond stepped beside her while whispering a short arcane incantation and his eyes glowed up for a moment.

“Flora rosewood sceptre. It’s definitely an upgrade compared to your old one with a decent enough damage for a wooden weapon. It looks nice too.”

“I don’t have the materials for further enchantments right now, nor any nature element related runes, so it’s a bit basic,” Regis sighed. “We’ll also have to figure out how we’ll upgrade it further without using metals in the process.”

“It’s already perfect,” the wood elf shook her head as she got to her senses. “Thank you! I didn’t think you would make a new one for me. I don’t even have anything to pay you for it.”

“I didn’t ask Osmond to pay for his cane and I definitely won’t ask you to pay for the sceptre either.”

“Does that mean I won’t have to pay for the swords either?” Khan asked as he tapped the pair of bronze short swords he got from Regis back in Hunor.

“As long as you promise you won’t randomly start to squeal like a dying pig while we’re on the boat.” The dark elf teased his companion, earning a stifled chuckle from most of the group.

“I told you; it’s traditional throat singing!” The Mongol youth harrumphed, but he did agree to tone it down in the end.

“Now that we sorted out our new or improved equipment,” Fabien plopped down beside the reawakened campfire. “How about we get some breakfast? I’m pretty sure we’ll head out within the hour, and we won’t really have time to eat while rowing the boat.”

“Agreed.” Quentin agreed to the infernal’s idea with the rest of the group joining.

“You’re not coming Regis?” Amanda noticed the dark elf sitting down a bit further to their left.

“I didn’t have the energy to check my progress last night, so I’ll do some inner organization.” He answered before closing his eyes for meditation.

He soon began focusing on his soul-space as if he was repeating a mantra. A moment of weightlessness later he opened his eyes again, finding himself in front of his own statue. The braziers on both sides of the statue burned bright and as he stood back up, the large tome greeted him from atop the small podium in front of the sculpture. Regis stepped closer, opening the thick ornamental book with a thought. As it flipped open, his character sheet appeared on the first page.

{Name: Regis ???}

{Title: Beginner staff wielder}

{Race: Dark elf/Sun elf/ Human}

{Age: 19}

{Amaranth: 7830}

{Caste: commoner}

{Path}

Neophyte spell weaver

Trainee fighter

{Craft: Unrecognised}

{Attributes}

•Allure: 15

•Deftness: 18

•Erudition: 21

•Faith: 8

•Luck: 12

•Might: 17

•Mind: 17

•Physique: 17

•Spirit: 18

•Willpower: 21

Health/Arcana/Stamina

{38/38}{69/69}{39/39}

{Status effects}

None

‘It looks like my arcana pool is getting pretty close to the max.’ He mused as he saw the numbers representing his mystical reserves. Nothing else really changed on the character sheet, so he turned the pages towards the one recording his skills. Much to his surprise, both his infusion enchanting and staves skills were ready for an upgrade. It seemed that all that frenzied crafting pushed him to the point where he could finally choose a specialisation. As for his combat skill; it was about damn time he got that one to a higher mastery tier after all the fighting and yesterday’s torturous training session with Dana. Regis focused on his enchanting skill-line first, ready to see what it held in store for him.

{Infusion enchanting}{Specialization pending}

{Graft lasting runic enchantments into objects by focusing your will and arcana to infuse the items with elemental energy or the essence of raw materials. Every level decreases arcana cost by 0.25 %. Every tenth rank grants a minor perk. Every twenty-fifth rank allows you to choose a specialization.}

{Arcana cost: varying}

{Cost reduction: 6, 25%}

{Skill mastery: 25/100}

{Mastery progression: 30/30}

It was indeed on the verge of a new rank, but he still had to make the important decision regarding the path his craft would take. As he focused on the part that mentioned the pending specialization, the ink of the page began to shift, revealing three possible choices for him.

{Accessory enchanting}

{The art of subtle infusions allow the enchanter to graft runes onto small objects such as earrings, necklaces and rings. Create jewellery that grants power, or talismans that bestow abilities and skills upon their wearer. Each accessory can only hold a single infusion.}

{Efficient enchanting}

{Efficiency is key in the world of crafts where every speck of arcana must be utilized for the best result. An efficient enchanter is capable of doing more with less; each infusion costing 20% less arcana than it would otherwise.}

{Fast-paced enchanting}

{Efficiency is key in the world of crafts where every spare moment must be utilized to the fullest. A fast-paced enchanter works with a frenzy and speed unmatched by his concurrency; each infusion taking 20% less time to form than it would otherwise.}

The choices were presented, yet it wasn’t a hard decision to make. Regis picked the accessory enchanting specialization without a moment of hesitation. Creating enchantments faster or for less arcana was tempting, but the possibility of opening up an entirely new path won with an overwhelming force.