No Need for a Core?

Kazue watched with close attention this time as Mordecai assembled the staff. ‘Tricky’ was underselling it, though she felt that she could get it down with some practice. And he was taking his time to show her the process instead of using the templates he’d already created. The first part was the design, of course, you had to know what you wanted exactly. The math he showed her to calculate the precise layout of the studs of different materials was far less complicated than the spatial stuff that had made her itch. Then once you had the exact schematic in mind, you take the formulas for the materials you were going to use, and you filled the appropriate sections of the schematic with the representation of those formulas. This meant that the more materials and the more complicated the materials and their formulas, the harder it was to hold everything together at once. Then you fill it with intent and mana.

Mana would bring it into existence, intent would affect its magical properties. Some forms of intent were straightforward, such as the intent of an item being loot or being dungeon items not intended to be removed, such as the table he’d crafted. They each had their own pool of mana to draw from and different limitations in what they could do. Other aspects of intent were more subtle and less predictable, such as the intent he’d asked her to focus on, the intent of this being also a gift of love for her mother. And his own intent was a trickle of mana to keep the wood alive despite not being part of a tree. The staff finished manifesting but he gave her a mental nudge to continue focusing her intent on the staff with a trickle of mana, and she could feel him doing the same with his intent.

The next part he explained out loud, giving Moriko and Aia a chance to be drawn into the discussion about the staff that now lay across their laps. “Now, the reason for the complicated design ‘just’ to present this selection of knobs at the ends has to do with the presence of the correct amount of mass of each material. If you could simply stick a few small studs of cold iron and silvered steel through the end of the staff and be able to beat up faeries and lycanthropes alike, there are plenty of crafters skilled enough to make such an item. But every material with a mystic effect like that has a resonance of its own. To create an impact with the effects of more than one material, they have to be balanced and harmonized precisely. Technically, someone with the right materials, tools, knowledge, and experience might be able to balance two or three materials, but it would take an incredible amount of tedious work to fine-tune the materials while bringing them together, and the bonding between them would never be as complete as what a dungeon can make. The ability to make true seamless composite materials, where they interlock as tightly with each other as the materials interlock with themselves, is essentially limited to beings who can directly create matter. Outside of dungeons and beings with at least a touch of divinity, it would take an incredibly talented specialist mage to do it. If I was going to try to find one, I’d start with the elves.” He paused in consideration, then looked to Aia, who shook her head as she understood his silent question.

“No, that sort of study is for the halls of academia. Druids, priests, and sorcerers are the sort you are most likely to find in the clan. With the occasional witch or such.” She added with a smile, considering the talents of her own chosen heir.

Mordecai nodded, then continued. “There may be others, dragons who studied crafting and creation perhaps, but they will be rare and without the particular magic-rich environment of a dungeon it will be much more expensive and time-consuming. Amongst the mortal, or at least not divine, creatures of the world, creation is the unique specialty of dungeons.”

Everything he was saying made sense to Kazue, it entirely lined up with her experiences. But it was bringing up the question of ‘why’. Unfortunately, that did not seem like the sort of question that was going to have a quick and clean answer, nor did she have any idea if Mordecai knew the answer, so she decided to refrain for now.

Moriko sighed. “Man, I really want one of those as a Bo Staff. I wish I could claim dungeon items too.” Kazue and Moriko felt a sudden wash of smug amusement from Mordecai, and they both gave their husband a suspicious look. What did he have in mind?

“About that.” He began, then looked to Aia. “Matriarch, I’d like to discuss a trade with you, though forgive me for doing this piecemeal. I’ve been experimenting with a concept, and I need to do this right. First, there is a type of magic item I would like to study for a project of mine. There are several forms of containers to produce endless amounts of water or other liquids, a useful survival tool. However, there are a few variants that are also designed to be able to push forth a high volume, high-pressure stream, making them simultaneously useful as a backup weapon or a digging tool for soft ground, and the occasional firefighting. How many staves would be required to compensate for one of those.”

Kazue pondered what he was asking, and felt a little tug at her attention. There was a swirl of mana beginning to form between them, and she realized she’d felt a smaller, simpler version of whatever was shaping here when Mordecai had conducted trades on their behalf before. What was he up to? She saw Moriko peer around him to give Kazue a questioning look, and she just shrugged.

Aia shifted her body language and expression, considering the question from the point of view of the clan's needs. “Given the limited availability of these new, valuable items that may be able to bear interesting enchantments, I would say six of them. Four as regular staves, two in the form of a Bo Staff. That is what I will accept in return for a high-pressure decanter.”

That mana was condensing and pulling in even more energy as Mordecai spoke again. “I agree to that offer as the first part of our bargain.” Kazue watched as part of the swirling energy suddenly locked into a distinct pattern. “Now, given the condition that you are in the possession of those six, how many more would you want in order to enchant two of the ones you already own, say a bo staff and a mage's staff suitable for a psychic, and trade them back to the dungeon?”

Aia narrowed her eyes as she thought, and Kazue’s core began to itch again. Eventually the matriarch replied “Four more of each style.”

“So eight unenchanted staves in exchange for two enchanted ones of the same style. Agreed?” Mordecai pulled his necklace out of his shirt. “And to be clear, this is considered a mutual promise.”

The matriarch hesitated a moment to consider everything, then nodded, rose from her seat to walk over to them, and extended her hand to shake his. “Agreed.”

The moment the two shook hands, that energy Kazue had been watching solidified into a symmetrical pattern, then split in half along the axis of symmetry. One half sank into Aia, the other half flew up into the ceiling to sink into the core and bind itself there.

Mordecai sighed with relief and sank back into the couch. “Excellent, it was accepted. I knew I could do it as two separate transactions over time, offering the second only when the first was completed, but I wasn’t sure if I could combine them like that.”

“I am surprised to hear you are still learning new tricks like that” Aia said as she returned to her seat. Moving would have been tricky for Mordecai or Kazue, as they were still maintaining their trickle of intent into the staff while keeping contact. Then she paused as a thought caught up and she looked sharply at Kazue. “Psychic? Bah, no wonder we never had any luck figuring out her magic. I can’t recall there ever being a psychic in the clan before. But then, her father is a human, so that might explain it.”

Kazue perked up at the mention of her dad. “Oh! I didn’t think to ask before! Do you know where he is? I sent a letter to try and chase down his caravan, but I didn’t know where to start so just listed a set of his stops that I know.” Her father had a general pattern but altered it to accommodate what he believed was going to sell well in a particular market, taking on one-time purchases in addition to his steady trade items.

Aia swore softly. “I didn’t think to locate him after your mother got her letter from you, she was too excited to think straight and it was all I could do to keep her from rushing here immediately without even packing travel supplies. Which means he probably doesn’t know you are reincarnated yet. Your mother found him in time for your funeral, and they were both a mess, but one can only mourn for so long before you have to start living your life again, so he made his way back to his caravan about a month ago. So I’m sorry, I have no idea if your letter has reached him yet or not.” She grimaced. “As soon as she realizes that she forgot to make sure your dad knew, she’s going to want to go rushing off. Let’s try to keep her in for the night so she gets some proper rest first at least.”

Kazue nodded mutely, tangled up in a web of emotions. She hadn’t dwelled on her parent’s grief before, mostly because it hurt too much to think of them hurting like that, and she wished she could just fly to her father and tell him it was actually OK. But she couldn’t, so she took a few slow breaths to calm down and cleared her throat. “Well, what’s next on the agenda?”

Mordecai kissed her forehead. “Not much for a little bit, though it looks like they are starting to pull themselves together again. We should see some excitement before too long.”