Spell 21 : The Enchantrix

'Compression magic? Wait, that's not what I want to know about. I need to learn about st-'

'Yes, yes I know, boss, but steam engineering makes use of compression magic, and by learning compression magic, ya learning a whole bunch of new things!' Twiddlyfix took hold of the red glass I was holding and examined it. He held it up against the little bit of sunlight that permeated the ever-hanging canopy of leaves which covered the entire Forest.

'Look. Alchemy, tailoring, magic-smithing, enchanting and the likes of many crafting styles make use of compression magic. It was never really discussed about because nobody really understood why magical properties can be enhanced onto non-magical objects. Most engineers just accepted it as it is, and never questioned it. Only enchanters came ever so close to the topic for discussion. They being the closest to making use of magic to enhance non-magical objects.'

'Steam Society discovered, quite a long while ago, that magic can be expressed in arithmetic quantities. You can divide up magic into units, and separate them. Say, for example, with a certain amount of mana, you can create a single ball of flame. Use that same amount of mana, and you can create two smaller balls of flames. In fact, there is no limit to how much you can divide mana and magic. It just keeps getting smaller and smaller, until you have an infinite amount of insignificant magic. That much is self-explanatory.'

'Compression magic makes use of this. We engineers in Steam Society compress magic daily into extremely small amounts and store them in common mediums like this glass here. Because magic has been compressed, it is no longer dangerous. Compare a single ball of flame to many specks of little heat, for example. These little bits of magic lay dormant within the mediums we store them in, and they only turn volatile if we give them a little spark. That is why I told you that day when you left my shop that you would only find traces of magic when it is called upon within steam society. Everything, and anything we use in Steam Society makes use of compression magic.'

His eyes flickered from the red glass to mine; I could see a ghost of twinkle in them.

'It does not have to be steam energy; we only make use of steam in Steam Society because it is clean and expendable. I have never studied the field of magic that intensively myself, so I do not know how far one can explore into this. You are... Quite unlike many mages I have met. Perhaps, you will find something that no other magician can find.'

I never interrupted him, and just kept on listening. I got up from the bench and headed towards the door.

'Hey, sir, I told you everything I know! Least you can do is let me go!'

I ignored him and left without looking back. It was not purely intentional as my mind was preoccupied with everything that he had just said to me and I just got too focused, though I distinctly remembered him screaming for help somewhere in the back of my mind as I left. Oh well, at least Aeryssya's owl would have a toy to play with longer.

I needed a place to quietly think and experiment with the knowledge that I had just acquired.

Of course! Where else could I go?

And so, I took the familiar path towards Lydrassil, where the Grand Enchantium resided. Since I was here, I thought it would be high time to visit the place where it had all begun.

Lydrassil was not that far away from Aeryssya's home, so it was just a short walk. The outside of the garden was just as surreal as I had remembered it. I approached the steps and just as I was about to climb, I stopped myself.

Why bother climbing?

'Blink!'

In one moment I vanished from the spot I was standing on and materialised at the top of the steps. It felt like I was in two places at once. Admittedly, that was the first time I had came to use that ability and vertigo had me for a second. I recovered and went into the Enchantium, hoping that nobody had seen that embarrassing episode.

Nothing inside had changed, though there was something definitely off. The sadistic Leyla wasn't there at the receptionist table. She had been replaced by another Night Elf that I did not know, who looked at me with disdain until he saw the Mark I wore. His eyes widened in excitement; he almost could not keep his voice down, despite his position.

'Magi Crow! It's been awhile! I have always wanted to me-'

'Sorry, I'm kind of busy here today. Is Leyla in?' I cut across his babble. He covered his mouth with both hands and shook his head in embarrassment. I said nothing, and inclined my head.

'She has gone away with Archmage Ghanda and will not be back for at least a while. So they left me here to take care of the library in their stead.'

'I see.' I said, while looking around. Then my eyes fell onto a familiar looking object on the reception table. I walked over to it and picked it up. It was a portstone!

'Ah. That was left behind by Miss Leyla. She said you could use it to access the Master's chamber, if you wish.'

I activated the stone. The familiar sensation of going through a vortex of uncountable flying colours overwhelmed me as I flew through space and time... Right into the master's chamber. I gazed fondly at the furniture and all the little doodads that he kept lying around the place. They were always there observing me when I had training last time. But there was something missing. His wife's statue. It was gone!

I suppose Ghanda must be carrying it around with him somehow... Anyway, let's focus on the compression magic!

I sat down on the floor and took out all the glass and metals I had stored in my bag for Enchanting and Jewel-crafting. Though they did cost me quite a bit when I bought them, what I am about to discover can more than make up for it.

Based on what Twiddlyfix had said, when magic is compressed and stored in a medium, it becomes docile and harmless as well as being completely untraceable. Only a required 'spark' of some sort is required to trigger the dormant magic within. He did mention too, that it did not have to be only steam that can be compressed. Other forms of magic could be compressed too, though he did not have the magical means to try.

But I do.

And I had an idea that could potentially make me one of the most dangerous mages alive in the game.

Simply put, I am an Invoker, with the widest arsenal of spells available at my disposal. With Mana Manifest, I can charge these spells to their highest possible potential, but this always take up too much time. And time is always too precious in a battle to waste.

But what if I had already prepared these spells in advance? What if I had a stock full of spells all charged with Mana Manifest to their fullest possible output, ready to be unleashed onto the enemy?

So to begin, I tried using the principles that Twiddlyfix mentioned, which was to combine Enchanting with Fire Strike first. I failed miserably; the result was just simply me setting the entire glass on fire. Then I realised that I had completely forgotten the first step, which was to reduce the spell to its most composite form.

It was tough initially, because what I had learnt from Mana Manifest was to make my spells as powerful and as huge as possible, but this is an altogether different ball game. Though I still have to channel mana into my spells, I have to further use Enchanting to mold the spell itself into smaller and more manageable shapes.

It was the most challenging 4 hours that I had ever spent, and I had already lost 150 gold pieces just by going out and buying more glass, but in the end, I had succeeded.

*DING*

[p=center]You have acquired a new secret branch of Enchanting : Enchantrix!

With Enchantrix, you can now store your spells into magic-containing mediums for later use. To trigger the dormant spell within, you have to ignite the medium with your own mana. Or you could place a Seal on the medium and break it to release the spell within. Seals can be learnt from any spell-weavers or scribes in cities or towns.

Note : Mediums can generally store any kind of spells, but if your medium is weak, there is a chance that your dormant spell may just trigger on its own, so use weak mediums at your own risk. [/p]

This was epic! No... This was beyond phenomenal! I had just single-handedly, albeit with a little help from Twiddlyfix, created my own secret technique! Holding the glass that I had succeeded compressing Fire Strike in, I probed it with my senses but I could not detect the slightest hint of magic.

I was eager to try it out so I looked around. But there was nothing I could try it on, not even the stupid and irritating dummy that I had used for my training here in the past. Then I suddenly had an idea.

Cinders!

The little kitten walked out of thin air in front of me. She sat down and wiped her face with her paws. I knew this was beyond sadistic but at least she had Elemental Morph, so it should not hurt her at all. I hope.

I took about 10 steps back and faced Cinders. I took a deep breath and incidentally, I could not refrain myself from rolling the glass sphere that contained the Fire Strike in my fingers. Cinders just sat there and looked at me with dreamy eyes. That expression soon changed though, when I channeled mana into the sphere. The sphere dematerialised, and three fireballs formed! I launched the spell at her, and she immediately turned into a watery form, cloaking herself an entire shade of aquamarine blue. She absorbed the entire spell into her abdomen. Though I was sure it did not do any harm to her, she was angry all the same and hissed at me before vanishing into the Void.

Well, I would make it up to Cinders later. But for now...

I HAD DONE IT! COMPRESSION MAGIC WAS MINE TO CONTROL AND WIELD!

But, I knew I was still lacking something. I had learnt the secret to concocting magical bullets, but I still needed a gun if I needed to shoot these bullets. Or at least an ammunition magazine of some sort to store these bullets. This, I needed Twiddlyfix's help again.

I felt bad for the goblin as I left Master's chamber. I mean, he did screw me over back in Steam Society, but it didn't really warrant me a reason to keep him prisoner here as well. I did wanted to release him, but the Council insisted on meeting him. So there was nothing I could do.

I went back to Aeryssya's to find him sitting in the same corner with a helpless look on his face. There was a platter of food which he had left untouched next to him. He didn't even look up when I came in. I could see a faint outline of a bruise on his head, which I believed to be the place where the owl had kept playing with him. Though I was feeling extremely sympathetic for him, I still needed to extract another favour out of him.

'Twiddlyfix! I promise I will make it my dying wish to grant you your freedom back if you can perform this one last thing for me! Once the deed is done, I will ask the Council to let you go as soon as possible. This, I will not bite back on what I offer you now.'

The goblin looked up, and though he still looked a little defeated, he was listening.

'Look, I've mastered what you call compression magic. And I need something else. I need an equipment of some sort that can store these mediums which I can easily remove from also in the head of a battle as well. If you can make an attachment of som-' Before I had finished speaking, he had already interrupted me.

'Will a bracer do?'

I thought about it and felt it was a good idea. At least it was on my arm so I could remove the mediums easily.

'A bracer is fine. Just tell me the materials you need, and I'll go out and get them for you right now.'

He gave me a list of metals and tools that he needed, and I went off once again to the marketplace. I was back within half an hour with the items he needed and he started hammering away. I sat there and just watch him work. Hammering and tinkering away, he looked like a little kid all over again when he was making something. I suppose that was something all goblins shared; they really loved their engineering.

The product was finished within an hour. It was brilliant!

*DING*

[p=center]You have acquired a new Item : Twiddlyfix's Armlet!

Level Requirement : 100

Stats Requirement : None

This item is a Bracer type. Wear it as a Bracer.

This item has 10 available sockets, but only 6 are currently socketable.

| O | | O | | O | | O | | O | | O | | X | | X | | X | | X |

[/p]

Twiddlyfix looked at it fondly.

'I call it the Twiddlyfix's Armlet. I only managed to make 10 sockets, of which only 6 are open because I need more specialised tools if I need to make the mechanism work. You Elves really have shoddy parts. Look, the hammer's already broken.' Sure enough, the hammer he was using had already broken off at the top, so there was no way he could have continued working.

'So what you do is that you just have to insert a gem in here-' he took the red glass he took from me and inserted it inside one of the sockets. There was a sound of a click.

'And you're done. It's attached. If you wanna remove it, just take it out.'

I tried on the Bracer and to my delight, it was extremely light! It was as if I wasn't wearing it at all. I looked at Twiddlyfix with exhilaration, but he had succumbed back to his gloomy self, all excitement lost now that he had finished his product.

With this, all I had to do next time is to stock up my fully-charged spells with Mana Manifestation into glass or metal mediums, and then socket them into the bracer. Using Telekinesis, I can throw out these mediums at any time whenever I have to fight. Sadly, I can only stock up to 6 spells now, but it will have to make do.

Just then, the door behind me swung open. I looked behind and saw two High Elf soldiers.

'Magi Crow, I have been instructed by Lieutenant-Ranger Aeryssya to bring you and that goblin there to the Council meet. There was one urgently scheduled today upon your arrival back to the Forest. Please follow us.'

I looked over to the goblin but he just sat there as desolate as ever. I nodded over to the two soldiers and they came and picked him up by his armpits. Together, we marched on to where the meet would be, which was the Council room where we had the previous meet. All members were present, save for Ghanda, of whom I was representing. This time, however, it was the High Elf with the emerald eyes who was chairing the meet. He seemed to be a powerful person, because no eye looked away from him for a second as he stood up. And when he spoke, it was in a confident voice that held command. As though with an iron fist.

'For the benefit of Magi Crow here, I introduce myself here as Lord Ravenfury of Darkblade Hold. We are here today to discuss two matters. The first, will be with regard to the secret held by Steam Society with regard to their steam engineering. It was last agreed upon to send Magi Crow as a diplomat over there to negotiate trade routes, though in truth, he was there to learn their secret. However, due to certain misfortunes, he was detained by Steam Society and held prisoner until our Lady-Ranger rescued him. But it was not all in naught, for they had brought back with them an expert on steam engineering himself. We shall hear what he has to say. Bring him in.'

Twiddlyfix was brought in and he sat down in a chair brought forward by one of the guards. Though all eyes in the room were on him, he was undaunted and looked up. Lord Ravenfury cleared his throat and all eyes were on him again.

'Here is with us today Mr Twiddlyfix, a goblin engineer. He alone in this room holds the secret to steam engineering. With his ad-' He stopped talking and looked back at the goblin, who had stood up on his chair and made a noise with his throat. There was a fury in Ravenfury's eyes at being interrupted but he masked it quickly, though he was not quick enough for me. Several of the Council members looked angry while some looked amused.

'Sorry, Lord Fury, but I have no intention of sharing the secret of steam engineering with you or your people. But I do have something else in mind though. Would you care to hear it?'

'You dare to bargain with the Council? Remember your place, goblin!' Marshal Vult barked angrily. The goblin's reaction was merely a cheeky grin; it looked like he was back to his old self. I kept quiet though, and watched everything unfold.

'You should be reminded that at this moment now, Steam Society is looking into the matter of what Magi Crow was exactly doing in Steam Society. They only know that he was stealing something for me, and now that I am missing from their prison, their only conclusion now is that I am with you guys. As a result of that, whatever security they previously had would be twice as tight, if not three times as such. You will find no way of infiltrating their city again, much less to steal its secret. I, too, have no way of returning back to my home there. So instead, I beseech you to let me stay here as one of your chief engineers. I shall use the secret of steam engineering in my works to improve your facilities. I noticed that you have Arcane sentinels. That will be my first project. Kill me now, and you will find the secret of steam engineering lost forever. Let me live, and you will find many other benefits instead.' And with that, he sat down and folded his arms, a look of triumph in his face.

That goblin! I had not realised that he had been planning all this. I had to hand it to him though; this was an offer the Council could not refuse. There was something puzzling me though. Why did he agree to teach me compression magic when he refuses to share it with the Council? Something is amiss.

Lord Ravenfury stood up again.

'There is merit in his words, though it is highly irregular to grant him a place here in our sacred Forest. What does the Council say?'

Arcanist Ghud, the one who taught me those useful Arcane spells before I left for Steam Society, stood up.

'Before I begin, guards, can you please escort Mr Twiddlyfix here out of the room first? Mr Twiddlyfix, we shall decide on a course of action and we will give you an answer when we are finished. If you please.' The two soldiers who brought him in carried him out again, the look of defeat on his face was clear for all to see. It seemed like he wanted to be a part of the meet.

'Now, I believe we cannot ignore the fact that Steam Society is on very delicate terms with us right now. They cannot outwardly accuse us of sending a spy to their midst because they too have detained him on very unjust grounds. Conflict has risen, but it has not scaled to an all out war yet. I cannot stress further that we have already lost contact with Ghanda, and we will soon be losing Lieutenant-Ranger Aeryssya as well as Magi Crow when they leave for their quest to the Sands of Time. We are in no position to fight with Steam Society if they send their mechanical warriors over here. If we need to defend ourselves, we need this goblin's aid.' He finished speaking and sat down. This time, a young Night Elf lady stood up.

'But, are we to sink so low to ask help from a goblin? If word gets out, our reputation will be tarnished!'

'Do you care more about reputation or your life?' Said a High Elf with a long ponytail.

'Surely there's nothing they can throw at us that we cannot manage! Look, Lieutenant-Ranger Aeryssya and Magi Crow escaped with just the two of them against their city's defences!' Barked Marshal Vult again. Seriously, that guy sounded nothing more than just an angry grizzly bear.

I was surprised Aeryssya was just keeping quiet. In fact, she had already closed her eyes, but I knew she was fully awake and listening in. Lord Ravenfury stood up again, clearly wanting an end to all this argument.

'Magi Crow, you were the one who brought him here. Can you vouch for him?' All eyes looked on me. Aeryssya opened hers and stared at me as well. I pushed my chair back and slowly stood up.

Damn, why do they need to have such piercing eyes?! I need to find the game's designer and kill him!

'The goblin has betrayed me once back in Steam Society. It was the reason why I was caught in the first place. But it is true. We have no choice, just as Arcanist Ghud has mentioned. When I went over there, they are clearly using a branch of magic completely unheard of. It is completely untraceable. You know what that means; our Arcane sentinels have no way of defending against their mechanical warriors if they use a mass teleportation device. If we are to stand a chance against them, we need this goblin's advice. Goblins are motivated by greed; if we can pay him enough, he will not turn on us. We can grant him freedom here to experiment, but he must be carefully watched. Warn him also, that if he makes the mistake of contacting Steam Society even once, it would be off with his head. Goblins too are cowardly creatures.'

When I finished speaking, there was silence. Then, there was applause. Everyone seemed to agree with me, even Lord Ravenfury. He stood up again.

'I believe you have just convinced everyone on the next course of action, which brings me to the second agenda for today's meet actually. Though you have not really completed the mission you were sent on, your actions and bravery has brought us triumphs this time round as well. There can be no further questioning of your loyalty. Today, we are proud to induct you officially into the Council. You shall receive full benefits of being in the Council as we all do enjoy, but similarly, you bear upon you too the responsibilities of being a ruler of the entire Forest. All the citizens of this forest will look up to you. Everything you do will be watched and judged by them. Welcome to the Council!'

I could not hide my glee as I watched everyone stand up while applauding. This was a surprise. I had no idea they would still induct me, despite all the trouble that I had caused. Arcanist Ghud walked over to me and asked for my Mark of the Council. He took it and muttered a few words. There was a faint pink glow that emitted from the ring. There was also an amethyst studded to the ring with the design of a tree carved into it. He gave it back to me and gave his congratulations. I thanked him and equipped the ring again.

*DING*

[p=center]You have equipped a new Legendary Item : Mark of the Council!

This ring is proof that you are now one of the Council. The ability restrictor previously placed has been removed.

Stats : + 45 to all discovered stats, + 20% Spell Power, + 20% Attack Power, + 7500 Fame

Ring Ability : Teleport --> Forest of No Return

Cooldown : 2 Hours[/p]

I had no idea the ring's abilities were restricted so much! Previously, I was just wearing it for fun, but this would increase my abilities by leaps and bounds! With this, as well as compression magic, I was ready to face my next hurdle : the Sands of Time.

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