"Check the fourth weapon cabinet for that particular magical long-spear, and get the time he's taking it out!" The Master Smith yelled to the apprentice with an overzealous voice, his morning just starting.

"Yes, Master Smith!" The attendant bowed before running off to the store room. In the time it took the first attendant to run to the store room and back to the check-in counter, two more attendants came to ask about certain weapon locations.

Within the store room, rows upon rows of cabinets holding every type of weapon one could think of lined the walls. In the main area, forges were placed in a circular pattern in the middle of the room, a cemented brick vent placed in between all eight in order to get rid of the smoke from forging.

As the Master Smith placed the work-piece into the forge, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a figure dressed entirely in black. Recognizing it as someone from the Curo family, the man closed off the forge quickly, removed his thick gloves and nodded his head in the man's direction.

"Greetings, Master Smith." The man nodded back and unfolded several pieces of paper from his breast pocket.

"Greetings, what are those?" The Master Smith took the papers, looked them over carefully and splayed them out on a desk when he was finished.

"Request designs from the Grand Mage himself. Ideally he requested them to be completed in a week, but we are confident you can deliver in four days with the right resources." The man in black repeated word for word the message sent from the head of the Curo family.

"I will have my three apprentices take a look and choose the ones they can do, and I personally will complete the rest. If you could tell the Grand Mage I have been working on a special weapon just for him as well, that would be appreciated." The Master Smith motioned for three attendants who were sitting around playing a game to come approach him. "Go get my three apprentices!"

"Yes, sir!" All three attendants bowed quickly before rushing off, eager to finally have something to do.

"I will relay the message to the family head. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave." The man in black slipped back into the shadows he had appeared from.

If one was to look on at the event that transpired, they would assume it had been perfectly rehearsed dozens of times. The fluidity of the actions between the Curo and Smith family showed just how deep their relationship truly was. There was no hesitation between command and action, which beautifully showcased the functionality of the Private Sanctum.

The three apprentices were awoken from their individual rooms ahead of their normal schedule, which caused them to be a little absent-minded when they arrived at the forging room.

"Listen up you idiots! We got a direct order from the Grand Mage himself. We've already seen some of his creations put into action, so we know they need to be top quality. There is a total of twelve different weapons here, and we need to complete them in three days!" The Master Smith began yelling at the apprentices when all three of them had finally gathered.

As soon as the words 'Grand Mage' were uttered, the lazy and droopy demeanor of the three were quickly replaced with fervor and excitement. All the skilled workers understood that making something for the Grand Mage directly was the ultimate test of your abilities. With the apprentices now at full attention, the Master Smith showed them the twelve designs and had them each pick out three. When they had finished choosing, they were allocated all the resources necessary to make the weapons with haste and efficiency. Polishers were on stand-by at all times, ready to finalize the work of the apprentices so that they could move on without hesitation. If any of the apprentices needed a break for food or recovery, a temporary replacement was given direct and exact orders so that production did not stop.

With the apprentices beginning their work, the Master Smith started his as well. He went back to his forge, took the heated metal out and began re-shaping it into the image he pictured in his mind. The mallet swung from above his head, striking the heated metal perfectly and rhythmically. The familiar sounds of metal striking metal continued for hours at a time, until a long curved sword gradually took shape. Though the metal appeared thin, one could tell at a quick glance that it was immaculately made and could withstand the rigors of combat quite easily. The Master Smith handed the worked metal to his personal polisher, a man he had known for his whole life and was also his best friend.

"Ho ho... Quite a beautiful scimitar you made." The polisher held the blade with both hands before readying the wood to make the handle.

"This is going to be presented to the Grand Mage. It has to be perfect." The Master Smith wiped the sweat from his brow before clasping his massive hand on his old friend's shoulder. "What do you think we can do for it?"

"If I had the exact hand measurement for the Grand Mage I could make a handle that perfectly suited him, but since he is still growing it would be best to make a handle made for a young adult. The pommel should be something like inlayed diamond or ruby. The wood shall be made from the ever-growing oak." The polisher pushed away the wood he had previously taken out when he assumed it was a regular weapon.

In a small container, 4 pieces of oak thick enough to be fashioned into handles were taken out and carefully inspected for flaws.

"This one will do nicely, I believe." The polisher handed the ever-growing oak piece to the Smith for confirmation, before taking it back and beginning his work.

Satisfied with the work the polisher was doing, the Master Smith ordered one of his personal smithing apprentices to go get the ruby from the jewelcrafters and began working on the Grand Mage's designs.

In another part of the Private Sanctum.

The morning work of the jewelcrafting 'guild' was already in full swing by the time the apprentice arrived. Besides making ornate jewelry for trading with Paradiso Rosso and the Bastion of Hope, the jewelcrafting guild also took private commissions and accepted all requests on behalf of the Private Sanctum. Despite dealing with expensive gems and 'priceless' equipment, no crafter was richer or poorer compared to another. They all did similar work, with only small differences due to experience.

At the counter, a thirteen year old girl sat on a stool while thumbing through a book on different gem cuts. Though she was trying her best to memorize the different types, each design was intricate and the patterns each had their own description. Every once in a while a jewelcrafting apprentice would come by and show their particular cut to the girl, and she would find it in the book to compare.

When the Smith apprentice arrived, the counter girl finally had something to do. She waved at the apprentice and opened the book for gem retrievals. Finding nothing in the notebook, she smirked and closed the book again by the time the apprentice arrived.

"Hello, I need to speak with the head of the jewelcrafting guild!" The apprentice placed the sigil of the Smith on the counter.

"This alone is not enough to speak with the head jewelcrafter. You need a letter of reference at least." The counter girl feigned ignorance as she slid the sigil back toward the apprentice.

"Master Smith has tasked me specifically with retrieving a ruby for the pommel of the Grand Mage's weapon. Get the head jewelcrafter." The apprentice did not dare to mess around, considering the importance of the request.

The counter girl looked visibly frightened as she jumped off the stool and ran to the head jewelcrafter's room. Despite having no recommendation letter, if she was to refuse and it turned out to be true, the consequences would befall her and her family.

She banged on the door to the jewelcrafting room before entering hastily. Sitting at the end of the room with her own specialized desk was the head of the jewelcrafter guild.

"Amila, what do you want. It better be important." The middle aged woman was precisely carving the gem in accordance with a request placed by a member of Paradiso Rosso.

"Master, please advise me." The counter girl explained the exact situation, and spoke the exact wording of the apprentice.

When she was finished, the jewelcrafters all stopped their work to listen to the response of the head jewelcrafter.

"Crubraum, take this letter and confirm with the Curo family. We are going on the assumption that this is in fact true. Amila, bring the apprentice in here." The head quickly drafted a letter to be presented to the Curo family requesting confirmation of a specific cut for the Grand Mage.

Amila raced back to the counter and told the apprentice to follow her. She lead the way to the room where the jewelcrafters did their work. When they arrived, the apprentice quickly bowed to the head of the jewelcrafters and presented his Smith sigil.

The head jewelcrafter accepted the sigil and requested more information from the apprentice.

"The Master Smith requested a ruby to be inlayed into the pommel of the Grand Mage's scimitar. The size can be no larger than 4 kalacs (centimeters). Any cut is acceptable in accordance with what you believe is best." The apprentice did his best to convey the urgency and thoughts of the Master Smith, since the Master was too busy making weapons to stop.

"Why have you not got a recommendation letter?" A small vein appeared in the head jewelcrafter's forehead as she swept through the available rubies.

"The Master Smith has received a direct order to make twelve weapons for the Grand Mage, delivered by the Curo family. If he falls behind he will not make the deadline set in place." The apprentice quickly explained the situation over at the forging room. "Everyone is working non-stop to get these weapons made for the Grand Mage with the highest quality, including the Master."

"I understand the situation now. Does it have to be a ruby or can it be another gem?" As she perused the many drawers, she could not find a suitable ruby to cut.

"The other recommendation was diamond." The apprentice thought back to the conversation between the Master Smith and his polisher.

"I have a very rare gem taken from the deepest part of the mines, I think now would be the perfect time to cut it and have the Grand Mage use it." The head jewelcrafter went back to her desk, and opened up a jewel encrusted box to reveal a beautiful black and red gem.

When the gem was removed from the box, the jewelcrafters all gulped down fresh saliva as they looked at the beautiful swirls of red mixed with black and a tinge of purple.

"What is it?" The apprentice could tell that the gem was unique, and a weird aura was slowly taking over the room.

"Not sure yet, but if anyone can figure it out, it would be the Grand Mage. This design will be my masterpiece." The head jewelcrafter pointed to the two jewelcrafters at her side. "We are going with a magna design, Castion and Blane will be assisting me. Everyone else get back to work, only notify me when Crubraum returns with information."

"Yes, Master!" The jewelcrafters went back to work with a revived sense of accomplishment and expectations.

"You, follow me." The head jewelcrafter pointed to the Smith apprentice as all four of them went into a back room specifically made for designing special gems.

Closing the door behind her, the head jewelcrafter got into position and mounted the gem on a metal plate.

The Smith apprentice looked on quizzically.

"Castion will lead, Blane will assist." The head gave precise orders as she withdrew a small wand from her pocket and began to chant.

"Yes, Master." They spoke in unison as they too withdrew small wands.

"Spellweaver word. Wind cutter." Castion chanted first as he slowly began sending out waves of slicing winds.

Slightly behind the first cast.

"Spellweaver word. Protection of the Wind God." Blane chanted second as he placed a barrier between the wind cutter spell and the four people in the room.

Lastly.

"Spellweaver word. Control." The head jewelcrafter took control of the wind cutter spell path, allowing her to begin cutting into the gem with precision while not needing to maintain the actual spell itself.

This particular three man setup was created by Willem in order to create a more perfected military strategy. While observing the Mages in the Army, Willem quickly understood that the Mage spells would often veer from target as they were cast. To combat this, One Mage would cast the spell, and the other would guide it to the enemies. A third Mage was introduced to ensure that their would be no backlash and injury to the Mages by creating a barrier between the spell caster and the spell cast.

This method was quickly adopted by the Mages even outside the Army, as it allowed them to work in unison to accomplish many things.

"Amazing..." The Smith apprentice was unsure of how to describe it, but the practiced and perfect synergy of the three jewelcrafters was on a level he rarely had a chance to see.