The Systemic Lands

Chapter 163: Day 351 (3) – Enchanting And Crystal Type

The next three swords were finished with the brown slime crafting crystals. I began to inspect them one by one. The active enchanted sword first. It didn’t do anything, and I couldn’t activate the enchantment, since it needed channeling, whatever that was. Not surprising. The ability was increased force.

I picked up the passive blade and swung it around in the air. I should have increased force, but nothing. I picked up a spare blade and pushed the two together. What happened was really weird. I was pushing with the same strength, but the enchanted blade was winning against the unenchanted blade. There was more force being added after the fact that wasn’t coming from my arm or gravity.

I adjusted the effort I was putting in and moved the two swords about in front of me. It was one of the trippiest things I had ever experienced, where my body was telling me one thing, but reality was telling me another.

“I need a volunteer,” I said. No one spoke up and I rolled my eyes.

“I will,” Gerold finally spoke up.

“Stand in front of me, hold out your arms. I am going to push on your arms with the flat of the blades.” He stood up and walked in front of me. He held out his arms and I laid the flat of the blade on top of each, not pushing down.

“Which one you feel is heavier?” I asked.

“The one in your right hand,” he replied. I nodded at that. I set the unenchanted blade down on a table.

“Now grab the blade in my hands, carefully. I won’t jerk or move the weapon,” I said. He nodded and reached out to grab it.

“Heavier? Can you tell its enchanted?” I asked.

“No. No knowledge like the other enchanted weapons. It does feel heavier though.”

“I am going to let go now. Ready?” I asked. I didn’t want to accidentally cut his hand since he was holding the weapon by the blade.

“Ready,” he replied. I let go of the sword’s hilt. Gerold jerked a bit back.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The weight decreased, and I can tell its an enchanted weapon now.”

“Alright, now I am going to grab the hilt.” He nodded and I carefully took the hilt. The weapon felt heavier. “I am letting go, you can adjust your grip,” I said. I let go and he took the weapon by the hilt. He quickly maneuvered it away, so it wasn’t angled at me.

“Once a person is linked, which is confirmed by instantly knowing about the enchantment, then they are the owners of said enchantment. Someone here must have energy sense. Can you sense anything?” I asked.

Gerold spoke up. “Nothing much. There is something there in my senses. Beyond a regular blade, but the feeling is incredibly weak.” I nodded at that. A couple of soldiers repeated what Gerold had said. There was no difference between the type of enchantments as far as energy sensing went.

Like a very blurry shadow or the weight of a feather was the most common description of the feeling. I picked up the counter enchanted sword. The effect was just as trippy. While I had no issue moving it, when other people pushed against it, either with their bodies, or another weapon it was like pushing through water. They were hindered, and their force being applied was reduced.

It was the inverse of the passive effect. Using another blade at the same time like I had with the passive enchantment, was an experience. I could feel the weight of what was placed on the blade. So, the weight wasn’t canceled. But forces outside of my hand on the hilt had trouble moving the weapon or exerting force on it.

The wolf and small wolf crafting crystal crafting process was started on the remaining weapons. I took a seat back at the table with a headache slowly starting to form. I knew that the Body stat was generating and nullifying force. But, seeing something like that in action was like the Carbonaro effect. Where a magician makes a member of the public think they are losing touch with reality and question everything they know.

That was how the enchanted swords made me feel, especially the force swords. I tried to think how combat would play out? Blocks wouldn’t be easier, with the counter force enchantment, but the resistance to movement would throw off a human person expecting the blade to be pushed back more easily.

Then with the passive force enchantment, it would mean heavier blows. Attacking would be stronger, since blocking didn’t impact the blocker like the counter enchantment did. Well, neither enchantment affected the blocker. The passive enchantment, created a heavier impact. The counter enchantment created a greater resistance to movement.

However, the counter enchantment did not nullify an attack, only how much a weapon was forced back. So, armor, would still allow damage to be transmitted, but less impact. It would make for a good enchantment on a shield, maybe.

No matter what, a lot of practice would be required to learn how to adapt to the enchantments. That was one thing the enchantments didn’t provide. An innate understanding of how to use them with the item in question.

After another 100 minutes, the last two rounds of enchanting were finished. The enchantments were exactly the same as the brown slime. That confirmed that enchantments were based on alignment type, not monster type. That was weird since the brown slimes gave off thorny roots when cut. That lasted about 100 seconds. There was that 100 number again, but the relation between seconds and minutes was 60. I shook my head and focused on the issue of type.

We would need to work out the full chart and how combinations worked. Everyone sat back down at the table once everyone was done checking out the enchantments. There was silence while people looked over at me. “We don’t need a lot of level 1 crafting crystals. Outfitting gear with them has limited value at this point,” I finally said and then continued speaking.

“We need more information and higher level enchanting tables to work out how level 2 crafting crystals enchantments work. Also, we need to have a single dedicated person doing research and managing this building. They would do the enchanting. Basically a city employee to manage and keep track of the process. Keeping track of all the information, won’t be simple. Clarissa, can you find and vet someone.”

“Yes Champion Michael,” Clarissa replied.

“Good. If people want to purchase Processing Rods and do enchantments, they are free to do so. The city won’t be funding any research in this direction for the time being or enchanting gear.” Gerold was about to speak but I raised my hand, and he quickly closed his mouth.

“This can change, but we need more information before we invest in a sub-optimal direction. People need to practice fighting with these weapons, to see if there are issues. Being thrown off in the middle of combat, is far bigger downside than the upside of enchanted gear. Also it is a quick way to die if you aren’t trained in the use of an enchanted weapon. Gerold?”

“If we invest crystals, we can speed up the research effort. If we find the right combination, it would be a huge boon,” he said with some vigor in his voice.

“The city funds will be focused on investing into buildings and their upgrades. Not into more research. If the RMPF wants to fund research, they are welcome to do it out of their share of the budget. Enchanting research is open to the public, but everything will go through our person we hire. The information will be lightly classified to get signed off on before release, but I don’t anticipate needing to keep it a secret. Anything else?” I asked. No one said anything. I stood up. I would be doing some research and then going to bed early.

It was nice to be able to just give orders and expect them to be carried out. I didn’t have to wrangle everyone. I knew Clarissa would handle the follow up. She had been doing a great job so far. Now my mind began drifting to the second round of testing I needed to perform. This was part of crafting crystals had the chance to be much more interesting.

I left the Enchanting Hall, Clarissa moving in front of me to show me to the lab. There were still more tests to perform. “Excuse me.” There was a person dressed in gray clothes, about middle age, a bit heavy set, so a new arrival. “Are you in charge?” I looked at Clarissa who just shrugged. She clearly didn’t know the person. I also noted that the blue guards that normally accompanied Clarissa hung back while I was walking with her.

“I am Champion Michael. What is it?” I asked. If there was a problem with the city, might as well hear it, but I was already a bit annoyed. I had been looking forward to the upcoming testing I was about to do.

“Well, you see, I am a state senator back in the US. I was hoping we could work something out.” An actual politician! The odds of that were remarkably low. Now I was slightly curious. What did he think he could bribe me with? I wasn’t against the concept of bribes, but I doubted he had anything useful to offer.

“Like what?” I asked curious what he was going to ask for.

“Well, once this is all sorted out, I can scratch your back. We will eventually escape this place. You get my drift. I was hoping for a position in the city.”

I paused to think about his request. It was very reasonable. He did deserve a position working for this city. I knew just the role I was going to appoint him to. I smiled at him, and he nervously smiled back. “I have need of someone with your skill set. In fact, this position is perfect for you. No hunting monsters and it comes with great benefits.” In fact, it was a sign of the Almighty System that someone showed up at right this moment. It almost made me start believing in a higher power, or just the stupidity of people. Hard to tell which I should go with.

“Oh, perfect. I won’t let you down.” I started walking and he caught up. Don’t worry, you won’t let me down. “My name is-“

“That can be sorted out later. For now, you need thank the Almighty System, our lord and savior.” I was just killing time, and seeing how much nonsense he would agree to before realizing he had just ended his life. Still, he would progress my understand of the Systemic Lands, for science!

“Um, the Almighty System?”

“You don’t know? It is the thing that brought everyone here and controls the store and the pillars. It sees all, knows all. Kind of like a demented Santa Claus fused with a gacha mobile game. Oh, Almighty System, please deliver wisdom and intelligence to your loyal subjects, even if they aren’t stats. Amen.”

“Um, amen.” I just smiled and kept walking. I noticed Clarissa hadn’t said anything. I suspected she knew what I was going to do. We reached the lab. I noted the guards with blue uniforms outside. There were no windows. Clarissa talked to the guards then we were led into a lab.

“So, what job were you thinking I should perform?”

“Just relax and sit on that chair in the corner for now. When you are needed, I will tell you.” I looked over everything that had been set up.

“Anything else Champion Michael?”

“Arrange dinner in my room once I am done here. I will eat alone. Will have breakfast with the staff you hired tomorrow.”

“Very well. If you need anything or need me. Speak to one of the guards outside. The mess will be cleaned up by the staff once you are done.” I nodded at Clarissa and she left. She clearly knew what I was going to do. I closed the door behind her.

I went to one of the tables with clear bowls of water prepared. I tossed a blue slime crafting crystal into one. I then poked the water. The entire thing melted, bowl, and part of the table. The entire process made a mess. Interesting. The politician was making noise behind me, but he could wait until I was ready. I got another bowl and tossed in a brown crafting crystal this time.

The water exploded outwards, getting me slightly wet. I also felt a force push against me and the rest of the equipment rattled around. I was careful not to swallow anything. I got some prepared crystal powder and went to a new table. I made a circle I put a blue crafting crystal in the center. I poked the circle of powder.

The crystal glowed, the crystal powder was consumed, and then the crafting crystal melted straight downwards through the table. It melted a bit of the floor and then it turned to dust.

I repeated the experiment with a brown crafting crystal. Only this time, I carefully focused my thoughts on how much energy I was putting in. The crystal began to glow, but didn’t trigger. Another trick of the Ritualist’s worked out. Priming his crystals to perform remote summoning or hybridization. I had been thinking on this a lot. Glad to see one of my ideas worked. I stepped back and there was still a mental link. I focused and the crystal activated.

A force pushed me back and I could hear the table beneath it groan. The effect quickly came to an end like the blue crafting crystal and turned to dust, which then disappeared. That was some very good data. It was clear that activated crafting crystals concentrated the effect, while trying to turn them into powder, wasted a lot of their juice or energy. A focused effect versus an unfocused effect.

“What is this place? What are you planning?” I looked at the scared man who was staring at me with wide eyes.

“Oh this. Well, this is a research lab. Since you bothered me, you kindly volunteered yourself to assist me in my research.” Purgatory didn’t need politicians. It had one Supreme Leader and a bunch of people working for him, which was more than enough. Anyone directly working for me had to have some kind of self-preservation and sense, like Clarissa.

“What kind of research?” I smiled at that question.

“The important kind.” I turned away and went to another table. I then began to repeat my tests with blood powder. The results were the same as the regular powder, but I felt I could sense the crystals before their effects ran out.

While I was pretty sure what would happen. I just wanted to be sure. I got a flask with blood powder diluted into water. It was nice having everything prepared like this so I could quickly run through experiments without a care in the world to get answers quickly.