Everyone agreed with the sentiment, heading down to the reception area where the piles of arms and armour awaited them. In the meanwhile, Regis stepped beside the door that lead into the enchanters’ room and placed his hand on the right side of the door frame. The familiar set of runes on the frame glowed with a green light that held up the barrier.

Using the tried and proven method of pulling apart the rune of connection, he made the wall of light disappear. As the door opened, the sight of a spacious room greeted him. It had a similar set of furnitures as the alchemy room, except the tables had far fewer beakers on them, leaving plenty of space for different sized carving tools and the like.

The cabinets beside the wall held wooden vial racks with glass tubes in them that contained different coloured liquids. Regis walked beside one of the tables to examine the tools that alchemic enchanters used to make engravings on the items they wished to enchant. ‘I guess I won’t need any of these.’ He thought to himself as he walked over to the cabinet, pulling out one of the vials. The young spell weaver pulled the cork out, taking a whiff of the faintly glowing yellowish liquid. A heavy earthen scent struck his nose before he cast charlatan’s wisdom on the vial.

{Earth crystal solution}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Crafting material}

‘So this is the goop they pour is into the engravings to empower the enchantments. Interesting. I guess I lucked out being able to infuse my enchantments directly.’

“How do you like a place?” the familiar voice of Osmond pulled the dark elf out of his musings. “Is it any good?”

“You’re asking the wrong person,” Regis turned around to see the pale youth walk into the room. “I never had to use any of these, so I can’t tell whether they are good quality or not. You are more than welcome to try them out though.”

“Maybe once we settled down and have the time for it. For now, I’ll leave the runic tinkering to you. Anyway; where do you want these?”

“Just put them down beside the first table. I need some space for the recycling procedure as well. Have you decided on switching any off your gear out?”

“I did find a nice black robe on that necromancer, although you’ll have to take its sleeves off first.”

“I can do that.” The spell weaver nodded as Khan and Sophie appeared in the door, both holding a small pile of loot.

“Regis,” Khan spoke up near immediately. “Could you enchant this pair of iron short swords for me? My bronze blades seem to be outdated compared the weapons our enemies use nowadays.”

“Sure thing,” he nodded. “Any special requests while you're at it?”

“Just make them sharp and sturdy. Oh, and if you could add some fire power to it, that would be nice.”

“Fire enchantment it is.” The dark elf nodded.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to deal with all of these and still have time to enchant our gear?” Fabien asked as he entered the room with the rest of the gang.

“I should be done with the recycling in an hour or so,” the spell weaver stated. “The enchanting will take a bit longer. Just put aside whatever you want to keep for yourself. Also; does anyone have any special requests?”

“I’m fine with the previous set of enchantments,” Cruz said as she unceremoniously dropped the pile of armour she held on the floor. “Could you infuse my staff with iron though?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem. Do you want any elemental damage added while I’m at it?”

“Not for now,” she shook her head. “I’ll think about it once I tier up.”

“Anyone else?”

“I wouldn’t say no to some added lightning damage for my sword.” Fabien placed his two handed iron blade on one of the tables.

“Can you strengthen the elemental damage of my whip?” Valerie inquired as she touched her bronze coloured weapon.

“Not yet,” the spell weaver shook his head. “Maybe once I’m better at enchanting. I could infuse your whip with iron though. And I could also put a universal damage enhancement rune on it.”

“I’d love that darling.” The infernal woman accepted the offer as she handed over her whip.

“I also have the rune of light now Quentin,” Regis turn towards the paladin. “In case you want your weapon boosted a bit.”

“Well, if it’s not too much for trouble. You already have your work it out for you from what I can tell.”

“One more enchantments won’t really make a difference, so don’t worry.”

“Alright everyone,” Amanda cleared her throat as she placed her personal selection of side arm and armour aside. “Let’s give our resident enchanter the space he needs to do this thing.”

“What about you Mary?” The dark elf asked from the young woman that was about to leave without saying anything.

“What about me?”

“Well, there’s plenty of spare equipment here and the world outside is dangerous, so you might as well pick something for yourself. We have iron and leather armour, robes and all kinds of weapons. If you want, I could even craft a sceptre for you.”

“Thank you for your offer, but I really don’t want to to impose you. And besides; you wouldn’t find me useful in a fight.”

“You don’t have to be a fighter to have a proper equipment,” Quentin stepped beside the hesitant woman. “As Regis said, the Shardlands is a dangerous place. Having something to protect yourself with is a must, even if you decide to walk on the path of crafting or to pick up a background support class.”

“Just pick whatever feels natural,” Fabien advised. “Since you’re an earth mage, I’d suggest going with the robe and a sceptre combo.”

“Maybe a leather breastplate for added defence,” Sophie added as she turned toward the spell weaver, handing over a long iron dagger. “I thought about what what you all said during today’s fights. It’s for the best to have a sidearm in case I run out of arrows.”

“Smart choice,” he nodded. “If I might suggest, I learned the rune of air today. It might not deal direct damage on melee weapons beside some added sharpness, but it’s supposed to increase the power and speed of bows. Maybe you should consider it.”

“I...” the sun elf stammered for a moment in surprise, but she quickly made a decision in the matter. “That would be great, if it’s not too much of a bother.”

“Could you guys and gals stop being polite when it comes to enchantment requests?” Regis looked at his companions with a slight frown. “Yes, it’s time consuming and tiring, but so is every other craft. I’m not offering to spruce up your gear out of the goodness of my heart. You get better equipment and I get to raise my crafting skill. A better equipment will help to stay alive longer, so you’d get to pay back for the enchantments when you can. It’s a simple as that.”

“Well, if you put it that way,” Osmond cleared his throat as he handed over the robe he took from the necromancer along with a leather breastplate and his empty knapsack. “These definitely need a couple of upgrades. Spell caster equipment tends to have shitty armour values.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” the dark elf promised with a smirk. “It will cost you a lot eventually though.”

“Just put it on my tab.”

“We have tabs?” Khan asked slightly confused.

“Don’t worry Khan,” Valerie chuckled. “It will only cost you an arm and a leg. You can grow those back.”

“Very funny.” The bladedancer grumbled as he looked down at his regrown hand with cold sweat drops rolling down his back.

“I think I will go go with the robe and the sceptre as Fabien suggested,” Mary’s words stopped Khan and Valerie’s bickering. “And that leather chest thing as well.”

“Okay.” Regis nodded as the others picked out the armour pieces meant for the young woman and put them on the pile of soon to be enchanted equipment.

“I guess all that’s left is to say goodnight.” Sophie concluded with the others wishing the same for the dark elf before they left the room.

‘Finally, some peace and quiet.’ He thought to himself as he looked at the sizeable pile of loot. After hastily putting together a work plan for the night, Regis kneeled down at a larger clear area at the left side of the room where he touched the floor with his right hand. Thin blue lines of light began to snake out from beneath his palm, slithering across the ground to form the familiar transmutation circle meant to recycle objects.

This time however it was not a temporary magic circle, but a genuine ward that would linger until he himself decided to erase it. He repeated this with the other two transmutation circles before finishing the preparations by creating the magic circle that was meant to charge clear quartz stones with elemental energy. With the four wards placed down, the work could officially begin.

First he separated the armour pieces by material. The youth spent over half an hour switching between recycling the damaged equipment pieces for leather and meditating to replenish is spent arcana. Once he turned the sizeable pile of damaged armours into neat sheets of pristine leather, he turned his attention towards the bronze and iron equipment.

Well over an hour later the dark elf stood up to stretch his legs and clear his mind after taking a quick look at the pile of metal ingots that now took up far less space than the pile of looted equipment did. ‘I take it back,’ he thought to himself. ‘This took a lot longer than I expected. I wonder when will Fabien bring up the... oh.’

As the young spell weaver turned toward the door, he noticed a small clay cup and pot placed on the table that was closest to the door, along with a plate that held small pieces of cooked ham. ‘When did those get here?’ He asked from himself, realising that the infernal youth had already brought up what he promised without him even noticing it. Looking out the window, Regis could just barely see a thin red line along the horizon where the sun recently vanished.

The dark elf let out a sigh before he returned to the task at hand. He now had a large amount of resources to work with when it came to the more mundane infusion enchantments, but he lacked the elemental stones needed. For the next hour and a half he fell into a cycle of quartz crystal growing, elemental infusing and meditation. Of course, he created a handful of arcanite stones as well in order to be able to do the universal damage increasing infusion and the rune of holding too

He took a couple of small breaks to drink some tea and snack on the cold cooked ham from time to time which he found to be an interesting combination. When he thought to have enough elemental stones, the young spell weaver turned his attention to the equipment pieces selected by his companions. ‘Let’s start with the armours.’ Regis decided as he brought them over to a still empty area of the room where he plopped down with Fabien’s new scale mail chest piece.

One after the other, the familiar enchantments of armour and durability value increasing runes got infused into the breastplate, along with a lightweight rune and a bunch of trash quality elemental resistance enchantments to provide some extra defence. When he was done, Regis cast charlatan’s wisdom on it before letting out a low whistle.

{Iron scale mail breastplate}

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour value: 40}

“Not bad,” he admitted to himself. “Not bad at all.”

After gaining back his spent arcana through some meditation, he repeated the same enchanting process on everyone else’s equipment, spending almost 2 hours on buffing up their armour. The one he had to work on the most was the former knight’s armour set.

First, he used the transmutation circle to replace the family emblem with the symbol of Saintess Elora, making it clear which of the saints Quentin followed. After that, he began the arduous task of linking up the pieces using the altered runic structure mentioned in the enchanters’ tome before spamming the same set of runes on the entire set. The end result however was more than worth the trouble as he cast charlatan’s wisdom on it.

{Warden of light helmet}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour Value: 30}

{Warden of light pauldrons}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour Value: 30}

{Warden of light breastplate}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour Value: 50}

{Warden of light vambrace}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour Value: 30}

{Warden of light gloves}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour value: 30}

{Warden of light tasset}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour value: 35}

{Warden of light cuisse}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour value: 35}

{Warden of light greaves}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour value: 30}

{Warden of light boots}

{Item rarity: uncommon set}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 9}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 125/125}

{Armour type: heavy}

{Armour value: 25}

{You have successfully created your first ‘linked set’ enchantment made from five or more equipment pieces. You have unlocked the ‘Set-infuser’ infusion enchanting side path.}

{Your erudition and mind got permanently increased by 1.}

‘Not gonna lie; this is one damn good set.’ Regis admitted as he looked at the armour with a smile, knowing that he earned a fortune on it thanks to the Heart’s acknowledgement. A cup of reheated tea and a slight yawn later the dark elf was ready to take on the numerous weapons that silently screamed for his attention.

The first weapon to get enchanted what is own staff, which he believed to be in a dire need of an upgrade. Using several iron ingots and elemental stones, he managed to turn the brass coloured staff into a metallic grey one that now had ‘well-made’ durability and ‘weapon shift’ runes, along with an ‘ordinary’ ranked spell focus enchantment on it to decrease the cost of any spell by 10%. He also added the ‘trash’ ranked universal damage increasing rune into the staff’s repertoire to further strengthen the weapon. Charlatan’s wisdom reassured the dark elf that his spruced up staff could definitely be considered as a serious threat.

{Soul-bound sunstone bladestaff}

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{Item quality: well-made}

{Greater enchantments: 3}

{Lesser enchantments: 2}

{Durability: 150/150}

{Damage: 42}

{Arcana cost reduction: 10%}

‘It seems that infusing the staff with iron really was worth it for that eight point of damage increase, not to mention the 2 points added by that universal damage rune. I should really start thinking about specialising in an element though,’ He considered. ‘If nothing else, the added elemental damage would certainly be welcome. Then again, there’s no reason to hurry. I’ll see if it’s necessary after I tier up my melee fighting class.’