Arcane Innovator

"Wait... I think I already have such a gem in my collection...!" I exclaimed eagerly.

Lily, who was still explaining about the gem's properties, promptly stopped and looked at me in annoyance.

"Ah, sorry... I just remembered something," I quickly apologized with an awkward smile.

My master sighed and continued. For now, I decided to focus on Lily's lesson, as there will be plenty of time to fetch my gems later.

It was a very interesting topic, indeed. When a monster dies, there is a small chance that the residual essence inside its body will condense and subsequently harden in the form of an essence gem. They are extremely rare, and in order to form, they require a significant amount of residual essence to be present in the body; thus, they are usually found only in the bodies of very powerful monsters.

Their primary use was as a power source for artifacts and powerful enchantments. Not to mention that they could apparently also be used to strengthen the bodies of magi themselves. But Lily didn't go into much detail about it, as it is apparently a very advanced subject, so I would learn about it sometime later in the course of my studies.

They came in various shapes and sizes, so in order to standardize them, they were organized into several tiers, which are: Petty, Minor, Exquisite, Great, and lastly, the Legendary tier.

Every increase in tier means that the gem can hold exponentially more essence, which consequently means that the high-tier gems are also exponentially more expensive and precious.

'Hmm, I wonder to which tier my gems belong...' I thought excitedly. Apparently, it was the job of an Artificer to sort them out. I also learned that there is even supposed to be an Artificer right here in Ereneth, although I have never had the opportunity to meet him.

Artificers were another auxiliary magic craft alongside the Alchemists and Arcane scribes where those with insignificant magic talents could find their use. The main job of an Artificer was the crafting of artifacts, but they also appraised and traded essence gems.

After Lily finished her explanations, I couldn't help but smile as I promptly excused myself and hurried to my room, where I kept my own essence gems hidden inside a secret cavity beneath the floor that I myself created during the mansion's reconstruction. It was for the exact purpose of hiding my most prized possessions.

I carefully took out the unassuming pouch from its hiding place and emptied its precious contents into my hand. I gently caressed the three small gems as the light softly reflected from their pristine surfaces, each sporting different colors.

'So which one should I use?' I wondered with furrowed brows. I took out the smallest one, which I had obtained after fighting the bear-like monster all the way back in the Forest next to our village.

'Hmm, this should be enough...' I thought as I quickly put the other ones back into the pouch, which I then returned to its hiding place before returning to the study. I was hoping I would be able to use the bigger ones for something more momentous than a simple preservation spell.

I then proudly presented the essence gem to Lily, and I could clearly see that her indifferent face for the first time broke into a genuine surprise.

"...It's so big." She said with wide eyes. She ran her fingers gently over the surface as if it were an ancient artifact.

'Well, of course it is! It is after all one of my most prized possessions.' I thought with a proud smile.

Luckily, Lily didn't ask where I got it, and I was fine with that, so I took her straight to the basement into my makeshift laboratory, where I showed her the infusion vessel on which I wanted to perform the spell.

Lily simply nodded with a deadpan expression, apparently not in the least interested in what I was doing here.

'Huh?' I blinked a few times, looking at Lily's indifferent face. 'She really doesn't care...?' I thought incredulously. Then I couldn't help but laugh. 'So all the time I spent coming up with credible excuses was for nothing...?' I shook my head dejectedly.

But then I looked at Lily again, and my appreciation for her increased sharply. 'She really is the perfect worker... She does what is asked of her and never asks any questions.' I nodded with pleasure at how well things were going.

Lily, meanwhile, produced a small pouch with an unknown substance. She then procured a short mahogany wand out of nowhere and gently lowered its tip inside the pouch.

In the next moment, I was left staring at her with an open mouth as she began slowly raising her wand, to which a trail of golden dust was somehow connected.

She then started drawing intricate symbols in the air with the golden dust. As each individual symbol was completed, it briefly shone and proceeded to fly toward the wall of the infusion vessel.

Soon, they began to form an intricate magic circle. After it was done, Lily took out the essence gem before also touching it with the tip of the wand. The gem started shining and, like a magnet, stuck itself right into the center of the circle. The whole circle then shined brightly for a fleeting moment before slowly dimming until it was barely noticeable.

Lily looked at it briefly, and then she nodded with what seemed like satisfaction. "...It's done."

'Wait... that's all?' I thought after I composed myself from my awe, I paid her so much money expecting it would take a long time to research the inscription, and she simply went and did it just like that? 'Well, never mind, at least it is finally done...'

I then went to examine the magic circle in question. I ran my fingers across the symbols, which were perfectly inscribed into the metal surface of the vessel and were almost unnoticeable.

But what was very noticeable was the low hum that emanated from the circle, and the air itself was teeming with energy—a clear sign that the enchantment was working.

As I walked back to my room, I almost couldn't contain my growing excitement over the fact that nothing was stopping me from starting a full-scale production of the potions. Now, the final piece of the puzzle left is hearing back from Dominic...

***

It took almost a week until I received the message I was waiting for. It was just a simple piece of paper with an address and a time of day without any kind of signature. But I knew very well who sent it. 'Finally...' was my only thought as I went to quickly change into my plain clothes and head into the city.

When I arrived at the appointed location, instead of a familiar figure of Sam, there stood two menacing-looking men with broad shoulders and rough faces. They didn't say a single word; instead, they gave me a simple jute bag and motioned for me to put it over my head.

I smirked as I decided to entertain them. 'Fools...' I thought as they led me through the dark alleys. Even without my eyes, I could see perfectly well thanks to my magic sense.

The night air was cool and crisp, and the sounds of our footsteps echoed loudly across the empty streets. To my surprise, they didn't take me to the slums as I was expecting, but rather to an old warehouse in the craftsman's district.

Although I was unfamiliar with this part of the city, thanks to my magic sense, I could at least tell in which direction we were walking. Not to mention, I could sense anyone who might lurk in the darkness, so I would be able to quickly react to any unexpected situation.

About half an hour later, we finally stopped at a peculiar building. At first glance, it seemed abandoned, but it had light shining out from under the worn-out door on one side of it. After giving each other tense glances, the thugs promptly removed the bag from my head and gestured towards the door.

Taking a deep breath, I steeled my resolve and opened the old creaking door, which led to a large room where I immediately recognized Dominic's domineering figure standing in the center. But then I slightly furrowed my brows as beside him stood an unfamiliar man wearing fine merchant clothes, and both of them were surrounded by many guards armed to the teeth.

I couldn't help but smile with amusement, as they must now consider me quite a threat to warrant such precautions. 'Not that it would help them very much,' I thought as I closed the distance, coming within the circle of light created by the several torches placed around the warehouse.

The merchant looked at me appraisingly and said with a raised eyebrow, "So this is that wondrous child that you discovered?"

Dominic turned his head toward me and began laughing, "Hahaha! That's exactly him..." He then looked at me directly and addressed me with a vicious-looking smile, saying, "So you weren't a simple errand boy after all..."