Questionable Origins 1 (1/2)

“Sorry to say, but I wasn’t able to complete the order quite to your… specifications,” Nao said matter-of-factly.

“What? Why not?” Fizzy asked in a confused manner.

“You told me you wanted ‘Recall and a few other things,’ then left the castle before I realized the work order you filled out also asked for Increased Weight.”

“So?”

“So?! Space and gravity are opposite elements! Seriously, how do people keep forgetting that? Anyway, bottom line is I can’t put Recall and Increased Weight on the same item without something breaking, so I ended up dropping the second one.”

“You have to be kidding me. That enchantment was supposed to compensate for the fact that it’s much too light for a hammer!”

“It’s your own fault for suddenly dropping by out of the blue with a last-minute job. Besides, if you’re planning to use magic to cover up an item’s faults, you need to consult an Enchanter before you started making the thing. Not weeks after it’s already done.”

The object these two were arguing over on this fine morning was Fizzy’s new weapon, which she had made as a replacement for the high-tech wrench she lost during a failed Quest. The golem had naturally omitted the part where she made it inside a dungeon using materials a shapeshifter had teleported in from another continent, but she wasn’t lying about the gist of it. She didn’t want to board the ship to Atica unprepared, so she had Nao enchant it literally the day before she had to leave along with the Morgana household. Which was in a few hours from now, meaning it was far too late to be making any corrections.

“The good news is,” Nao continued, “that I managed to figure out a workaround. I figured you wanted something to give the hammer some more ‘oomph,’ so I put Impact Amplification on it instead. It’s a force-type enchantment so there were zero compatibility issues with Recall.”

“… Impact Amplification? That’s a thing?”

“It is, though not a very popular one since it doesn’t have the added benefit of increasing a blunt weapon’s inertia. However, that won’t be an issue for someone with your, um, unique circumstances. Your mithril frame is many times heavier than a regular person’s body, so you should do great so long as you put your entire weight behind the swings instead of just using your arms. Which I assume you already do anyway.”

“Hmm? You actually have a surprisingly good grasp of how momentum works, don’t you?” the golem remarked. “Didn’t expect that from a spineless wimp who’d never swung a mace in his life.”

“Magic exists to subvert the natural laws, after all,” the wolfkin said with a wry smile. “Can’t do that unless you know what rules you’re supposed to be breaking.”

“I guess that’s a point. Anyway, can I get my weapon back now?”

“Of course. Just as soon as you pay me.”

It was only natural that Nao had requested payment for his efforts. Not only did he have to use his own materials, but had to work on it throughout the night to get it ready in time. In fact, he hadn’t even gone to bed yet when the golem barged into the workshop just minutes ago. Frankly speaking he wouldn’t have even taken the job if it wasn’t doing it as a favor to Keira, so charging only twice his normal rate seemed more than reasonable under the circumstances.

Fizzy reached into the Bag of Holding strapped to her thigh and took out a Minic-sized strongbox containing the agreed upon amount. The Hero of Magic accepted it and opened his Item Box, allowing a solid mithril hammer to emerge from it. It had a relatively plain shaft that was about a meter long with a few short cables sticking out of it and a rubberized grip at the lower end. The head was an irregular cone shape, with a wide, circular and flat face on the front and a spiky electrical coil on the back end. The middle bit that connected these parts to the handle was blockier, with a circular dial in the middle to indicate the charge level of the built-in Direct Impact Lightning Discharge Oscillator. Overall it was a weapon that looked either like a long one-handed hammer or a short two-handed one when Fizzy held it.

“To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually started working on it,” Nao digressed while handing over the weapon. “It looks odd, but the workmanship is exquisite. The mithril accepted the Recall enchantment with such ease that I initially thought it had fizzled out and failed to take.”

It was quite fortunate he succeeded on the first try too, as preparing all the magical reagents needed to permanently bind that spatial magic to an object took three hours to prepare.

“I thought mithril was supposed to be easy to enchant anyway,” Fizzy remarked while looking over her creation.

“It is, but this thing was something else. In layman’s terms if imbuing a mithril item with Recall was like threading a needle, yours was closer to throwing a rock down a well. I’ve only had the pleasure of working with such excellent bases five or six times before.”

“Well, you know me,” the golem said smugly. “Being made of mithril does let me cheat a bit when forging the stuff.”

“I can imagine. I honestly wish you’d brought this to me sooner, or at the very least let me hang onto it for a bit so I can test its limits better. Especially that device you’ve built into the head.”

Nao’s curiosity had gotten the better of him and he tried testing out the hammer’s Direct Impact Lightning Discharge Oscillator by charging it with his own magic. It was a one-time cursory examination that taught him two things. That its destructive potential was far beyond any similar magic items he’d seen, and that electrifying a metal hammer while holding it with his bare hands was a terrible idea.

“That’s not going to happen. Ever,” the golem rejected him. “That component is almost entirely encapsulated in mithril. I can repair and maintain it easily enough, but not if you shatter it into a dozen pieces because you went overboard with one of your ‘tests.’ Or do I need to remind you what you did to Keira’s dagger two years ago?”

“… You two are never going to let me live that down, will you?”

In truth that unfortunate event was arguably just as much Boxxy’s fault as it was Nao’s, but the latter had ended up taking most if not all of the blame.

“Heh,” Kuro chuckled from the corner of the room. “Given your track record, I’m surprised this fortress is still in one piece.”

“Not helping, Kuro,” Nao grumbled.

“I disagree.”

“Just to be sure, do you have a report on how my baby turned out?” Fizzy interjected.

“Of course, I do. I actually had a feeling you might have your doubts considering I had to improvise a bit, so I had a representative of a local Enchanter’s guild appraise it on my behalf just before you arrived.”

Nao rummaged through the mess on the nearby desk briefly before producing an envelope bearing an official-looking seal.

“You know,” he smiled while handing it over, “just in case you wanted an unbiased opinion.”

Though the Hero of Magic was a Scribe and perfectly capable of appraising a magic item he helped create, doing so was generally seen as a bad idea. No artisan could be trusted to give an honest evaluation of their creations whenever money was involved, and anyone who insisted otherwise was either a fool or a conman. Even if unintentionally, it was possible their personal bias might skew the results either because they thought too highly of themselves or were overtly critical of their own faults. Indeed, Nao getting a third party to double-check the fruits of his labor was not only a matter of professional courtesy among craftsmen, but also common practice.

Something that Fizzy was keenly aware of, which was why she wasted no time in ripping open the envelope and reading through its contents.

Inspected by Xacc of Clan Vass, Head Scribe to the Verdant Mist Guild

As requested by Nao Shoki, Hero of Magic

Novaspike

A one-handed war hammer forged primarily out of pure mithril by Fizzy Rustblood. Its flawless craftsmanship combined with its high-grade materials allows it to withstand immense impacts without suffering a single dent. The weapon is relatively lightweight for its class, reducing bludgeoning damage dealt. This flaw is alleviated by a mysterious device of unknown make and origin built into the weapon’s core, allowing the weapon to both absorb and discharge vast amounts of lightning.

Type: War Hammer

Quality: Masterwork

Offensive Ability: A-

Defensive Ability: C+

Durability: A

Magic Amplification: +10% All

Enchantments: Recall, Impact Amplification, Greater Cold Resistance

Estimated Value: 1,700 GP

Though Recall had been the main point of having Nao pull an all-nighter, Fizzy had requested two simpler enchantments to go along with it. One of them was Increased Weight, which the wolfkin had explained was a no-go, and something to help defend against her Bane. She was therefore quite happy that Nao had managed to fit a Greater tier resistance effect on it. This translated into a 15% reduction to damage taken from that particular element, which would overpower and override the vast majority of other similar enchantments. The only way she could get more was if she found a piece of equipment with Major Cold Resistance, but those were typically limited to items ranked Artifact and above.

As for the 10% Spell boost, that was there as a result of the excellent mana conductivity of pure mithril and the Masterwork craftsmanship of the weapon. Fizzy certainly wasn’t going to complain about this extra boon, though she did take issue with other parts of the Item Appraisal.

“‘Mysterious device of unknown make and origin?’ What kind of hack did you find to inspect my masterpiece?”

“Can’t really fault the locals for not knowing anything about Artificers,” Nao shrugged. “Your craft has zero presence in a place like Velos, after all.”

Indeed, the high humidity, rampant vegetation and overabundance of pollen and bugs made the continent an extremely hostile environment towards delicate devices and complex contraptions. And since the golem’s primary Artisan Job wasn’t all that relevant to the natives, it was only natural their Scribes would not be able to offer an in-depth analysis of her work. The only reason Xacc of clan Vass knew this hammer housed a device of any type was because Nao had told him about it. When faced with something so completely outside his understanding, it was only natural he’d resort to flowery language like ‘mysterious’ and ‘unknown.’

Which was not the case when it came for the names of the weapon and its creator. Nao had, at Fizzy’s behest, imprinted those on the item itself as something called ‘meta-magical data.’ It was like a label that could be easily read by another Scribe, but was invisible to anyone else. The article’s name, Novaspike, was derived from the spike-shaped component built into the weapon’s back end, which was commonly referred to as a nova coil by Arclight Artificers. Its function was to extend the range of the golem’s Static Field Skill, allowing her to ‘throw lightning’ up to a distance of about three meters. It wouldn’t do as much damage as a point-blank zap, but the extra range more than made up for it considering weapon reach was something the shorter-than-average Paladin often struggled with. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say the nova coil was arguably the most prominent part of the weapon.

It also made for a much more respectable namesake than the hammer’s other key component.

“I suppose it can’t be helped if these meatbags are too dumb to recognize greatness when they see it,” Fizzy conceded. “Anyway, mind if I take your Recall enchantment for a test run?”

“Could you not do it in here?” Nao stopped her. “People are already complaining about the weird smells and noises coming from my portable enchanting station. The last thing I need is you breaking a wall or something because of an over-enthusiastic swing.”

“Ugh, fine. I’ll be back if I have any complaints.”

The mithril golem left Nao’s chambers and walked briskly through the mostly empty halls of Castle Arin, which had become the wolfkin’s semi-permanent place of residence. Once she made it to the courtyard outside, she scanned the area for a suitable target and spotted some kind of colorful bird flying overhead. Deciding it was worth taking a shot at, she gripped her hammer with both hands and channeled her mana into charging its brand-new Recall feature. When she was done she spun around horizontally with it and launched it at the unsuspecting bird with a cry of ‘Hammer Toss!’

The pure white weapon took on a distinct red glow as it spun wildly towards her intended target, making it appear more like a glowing discus than a hammer. It curved upward unnaturally as it tore through the air, hitting its target and turning it into a cloud of red mist and rainbow-colored feathers without slowing down in the slightest. The Martial Art wore off a few moments later, causing the weapon to stop spinning and start falling just before it safely teleported itself back to Fizzy’s open palm.

“Huh, neat,” the golem commented, ignoring the startled soldiers and adventurers around her. “I just wish there was a better target around here…”

She eyed one of the Inquisition griffins flying off in the distance, but decided it was best not to aggravate those people just for kicks and went on her way. Once out of the fortress, she shifted into her Assault Mode and used its Jump Jets to dart from treetop to treetop, allowing her to rapidly traverse the Velosian jungle. She wasn’t quite as fast as a full-grown griffin, but it would still get her back to Oar’s Rest well before her ship was slated to depart.

More importantly, it gave her the opportunity to test her new hammer out on trees, rocks, orcs, hydras, and other suitably sized targets. Even with her lighter and physically weaker frame, the addition of Nao’s Impact Amplification made it so things she hit would either explode into a red mist or be launched into the air in a rather comedic fashion. And that was only assuming they weren’t weak enough to get straight up vaporized by a fully-charged DILDO burst.

As she got closer to the shoreline around Oar’s Rest, Fizzy began to catch glimpses of a naval armada anchored just outside of the port town’s bay at the apex of her jet-propelled jumps. A total of seventeen ships were ready to depart for Atica, with two more being loaded with passengers and cargo at the docks. The golem had to regretfully pack in her jump jets and proceed on foot now that she was back in civilization. She made her way over to the pier and joined Boxxy and its three pets aboard the S.S.S. Teresa’s Judgement, the same vessel that they arrived on.

The convoy set off from Oar’s Rest at noon, beginning its two-week journey across the treacherous Shimmering Ocean. The return trip was rapidly proving to be a lot less harrowing than the first one, as the large number of ships actively discouraged random monster attacks. Unfortunately, the size of the naval procession did little to soothe the savage weather, so it was hardly an uneventful voyage. The ships still had to contend with massive waves, powerful winds, impenetrable fogs and terrible thunderstorms on an almost daily basis. Yet this turbulent climate was a much more forgiving opponent than the ocean’s aquatic beasts.

In the end, the naval convoy managed to reach the northwestern continent without suffering a single casualty, which was the measure of an exceptionally successful voyage. The ships began splitting up and going their separate ways once the shores of Atica came into view. Though they traversed the Shimmering Ocean together for the sake of safety, they each had their own final destinations. It wasn’t until the evening of the fifteenth day since leaving Oar’s Rest that Teresa’s Judgement arrived at Ambershore, the Alliance port it had left from over a month ago.

“Ugh, finally,” Keira grumbled. “I don’t wanna see another ship for as long as I live.”

“Are you sure it’s just the ship?” Rowana asked with a concerned tone.

The two of them were currently atop the vessel’s deck and leaning on the wooden railing as they waited for it to pull into port along with most of the other passengers.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been really tense and on edge these past few days, but you weren’t like this during the trip to Velos. Isn’t there something besides travel fatigue that’s bothering you?”

“Rowie, you’re overthinking things,” the catgirl reassured her. “I’m just bored out of my skull. There was, like, nothing to bloody do during the entire trip, and there are only so many laps around the deck I can make before I start going a bit crazy. I’m not saying I wanted monsters to attack us, but it would have at least broken up the monotony of it.”