Weapons Workshop

Legend had it that in the Ancient Era, priests drew patterns of the starry sky on precious natural materials for divination. By chance, they created the first Fire Element Magic Glyph on a Magic Crystal and obtained artificial flame. For millions of years, people regarded this flame as Sacred Flame.

By the Dawn of Magic Civilization, Ancient Alchemists had successively discovered the Magic Glyphs of the Water Element, Wood Element, Earth Element, and Wind Element. Rather than drawing them directly onto Magic Crystals, they used Magic Metal to create Magic Items, while crystals served as replaceable sources of magic. This method greatly improved the efficiency of Magic Crystal use.

After tens of thousands more years of evolution and development, Mages could now draw dazzlingly complex Magic Arrays. Yet the foundations of all those arrays were still the five ancient Magic Glyphs that had been passed down through the ages.

When one focused on drawing Magic Glyphs, Spiritual Power underwent wondrous changes. That was how Mages came to be.

Magic Glyphs were the cornerstone of the entire human magical world.

—Excerpt from Overview of Magic Arrays

Wesley said that Professor Victor had recently become absorbed in his various experiments and had little interest even in teaching. It seemed everyone would have to rely on self-study for this year's Magic Array course. What he did not know was that the chief culprit behind it all was his janitor partner.

Every night lately, Donald had been studying material science with Victor. Surprisingly, the composition and chemical properties of most substances in this world were very similar to those on Earth. However, Donald had failed in his attempt to synthesize gunpowder, which disappointed him somewhat. Starting a few days ago, Victor had begun organizing and summarizing the experimental data, supposedly to write a lengthy paper.

During the day, Donald read through the book list Wesley had given him in the Library. The Academy's first-year courses were all quite elementary. Graphics, Magic Material Science, Alchemy, and the like were basically equivalent to the most basic courses in geometry, physics, and chemistry. What interested Donald more were the two magic courses, Overview of Magic Arrays and Introduction to Magic Models.

Though the five Magic Glyphs were extremely tiny, their patterns were not complicated. However, an individual Magic Glyph was so weak that it was only of any use when directly inscribed onto a Magic Crystal. With Magic Crystals so precious nowadays, such a practice was undoubtedly a terrible waste. Truly practical Magic Arrays were all extremely complex. For instance, a Fireball Magic Array required over a hundred Fire Element Magic Glyphs inscribed in Flame Gold. These glyphs had to be arranged according to special rules, and their density could not fall below a certain threshold.

By repeatedly drawing Magic Glyphs with various Magic Metals, a small number of people would naturally form the most basic Spiritual Elements within their spiritual worlds. Such people were considered to possess Magic Talent. However, drawing glyphs was extremely taxing on the mind. A moment of carelessness could drive an ordinary person insane; even Magic Apprentices could not devote themselves to it for too long, or they too risked a collapse of Spiritual Power. Thus, first-year Academy students had to practice drawing the Magic Glyphs of the Five Elements under a teacher's guidance. If they failed to condense a Spiritual Element of even one element within a year, leaving the Academy was the wise choice.

The Spiritual Elements unconsciously formed while drawing glyphs gradually accumulated, and the total amount of Divine Elements formed was called Spiritual Power. Individual Divine Elements, like Magic Glyphs, were almost useless on their own. Only by combining them into Magic Models within one's spiritual world could one possibly cast magic. The ability to construct complex models was closely tied to the number of Divine Elements one possessed. Therefore, second- and third-year Academy students devoted most of their efforts to drawing glyphs and accumulating Spiritual Power, hoping to advance to Junior Magic Apprentice as soon as possible.

Once a Magic Model had been constructed, it was the form in which magic was stored within the spiritual world. Once cast, Spiritual Power was consumed and needed time to recover.

"Water Wave, Flame, Branch, Hill, and the abstract shape of wind—these five basic Magic Glyphs must be the keys to opening the magical world." Donald vaguely felt there was something strange about these patterns, yet he could not explain exactly what it was. Perhaps that was the mystery of magic. Still, without a teacher's guidance, he did not dare take any risks. Besides, he did not have any Magic Metal to practice with.

I'll wait until Victor finishes his paper and see whether he can help.

At the beginning of November, Donald took advantage of the holiday at the start of the month to visit his younger brother Richard at the Knight Academy. When Richard saw his brother and learned that Donald had gone to work at the Magic Academy, he was overjoyed at the thought that they could see each other often in the future. The two told each other all about what had happened at their respective academies. It sounded as though Richard had adapted well to his new environment and was quite favored by the teachers, though Donald did not know whether Merkel had anything to do with that. Donald then remembered that he ought to pay Mr. Merkel a visit.

Merkel was unmarried and had no children. Rather than living with his family, he had settled down in the teachers' district near the Knight Academy. He was delighted to see Richard bring Donald over, treated them both to dinner, and arranged for them to stay the night.

The next day, Donald followed Merkel to the family's weapons workshop. Though it was called a workshop, it was already roughly the size of a factory in Richard's understanding. Dozens of workers bustled about inside the spacious building, and there was clearly already a concept of division of labor and cooperation. Four or five blacksmiths were specifically responsible for forging Thousand-Tempered Swords. Donald also saw the legendary Dwarf Fine Steel. It was indeed extremely hard, but it was resistant to high temperatures and difficult to process.

"I originally thought that if the Thousand-Tempered Sword had around half the performance of Dwarf Fine Steel and could sell for half the price, the profits would already be considerable. I never expected these mysterious patterns to be so sought after by the nobility. The initial sale price was almost higher than that of Dwarf Fine Steel Swords, and we still couldn't keep up with demand. We've been preparing to hire more hands lately, but I'm worried... These workers have served the family for many years and are utterly loyal. If we bring in unreliable people and the techniques get leaked, the losses would outweigh the gains. Oh, I got so caught up talking about this that I forgot the most important thing. Look, your creation has brought great profits to our family. Compared to that, Richard's expenses at the Knight Academy are nothing. This deal now seems far too unfair. So, Donald, I've decided to pay you another two thousand Gold Coins."

Had he not grown accustomed to the extravagance of nobles at the Magic Academy, Donald might have been dazzled by the temptation of two thousand Gold Coins. But now he knew that when it came to studying magic, two thousand Gold Coins were merely a drop in the bucket.

"Mr. Merkel, I am already very grateful that you helped Richard enter the Knight Academy. As far as I'm concerned, this deal is perfectly fair. But after hearing what you just said, I do have a suggestion."

"What suggestion?" Hearing Donald casually refuse such an enormous sum, Merkel's opinion of him rose another notch.

"I think I can try to increase your output without hiring any additional workers... by about double. If the attempt succeeds, I hope to receive twenty percent of the profits from the sale of Thousand-Tempered Swords as compensation."

"Double the output? What about the costs? How much would they increase?"

"The costs would barely increase at all."

"Good heavens, if such a thing is possible, forget twenty percent—even thirty percent would be fine."

"No, no, I only want twenty percent."

The two immediately struck a deal. Donald spent the entire day drawing more than a dozen diagrams, asking Merkel to have various parts made according to the blueprints in preparation. Before leaving, he also asked him to look after his younger brother and, if possible, send word to their father on Lant Island that he was safe.