Alastor kept preparing the Frost Spell Core into the early hours of the morning at his outdoor workstation. Getting completely lost in the process of carving sequences of Arcane Runes into the Magicite and became oblivious to the world around him.
Rubbing his bleary eyes he finished the final inscription upon the stone's surface. He stood and groaned as his back ached from being bent over his table for too long, and finally realised that the majority of the Minions that had been present had disappeared. The Elder Green Minion, Snake being the only remaining one he could see, puffing away at a pipe.
"Where'd the others go?" he queried, before letting out a yawn as exhaustion began to take hold. "Hell, how long was I carving those runes?"
"Mace took the others back to the castle, not a good idea to leave Minions idle for too long without any clear tasks or the promise of being able to break things." Snake responded before taking a deep draw from his pipe and releasing a puff of noxious looking green smoke.
"You were working on that lump of Magicite for several hours. You've got maybe two hours before Sunrise."
Alastor let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't suppose you'll help take everything back into the Shop before I attempt to catch some sleep before I need to open the store?"
"I'll put all the materials we brought back into the sacks, but you'll need to take them all inside."
"Better than nothing I suppose. Thanks."
Whilst the two worked to pack away everything from the Arcane Store's back garden, Alastor made a few enquires regarding information about the Overlords from the book Minerva had gifted him.
"Wait, the Overlord who slew the Forgotten God did actually claim His immortality for himself? I thought that was just a story to deter people from opposing or betraying any of the succeeding Overlords in fear they'd have to deal with him upon death"
"Although the Portal to the Infernal Abyss started collapsing as soon as that Fallen Deity choked on his last breath. The Artifacts back in the Dark Tower, prior to the Great Cataclysm destroying it, were still connected to him and the connection between them was still active. Hell we were seeing a live connection to him up until around fifty years ago, and even then it wasn't through his death." Snake chuckled "The connection merely switched off. Which has never been done. It's always broken, violently, upon death."
"How the hell were you showing a connection to him? Wasn't everything apart from the Minion Hives, a portion of the library, and some of Giblet's Blacksmithing equipment lost in the destruction of the Dark Tower?"
"Gnarl doesn't like to spread this knowledge around, but considering your expertise in arcane objects and enchantments you probably would have pieced this together yourself. We have a way to Monitor the Control Gauntlets. Each one has a crystal, binding it to the first person who wears it. Once worn, it will never work for anyone else whilst they live. Upon that bound persons death, the Gem tied to them shatters thus breaking the magic in the gauntlet relating to us Minions."
"So whatever Gnarl and yourselves have been using to keep tabs on all the active Gems for the Control Gauntlets, did not show the Infernal Overlord's one breaking, but the magic merely dissipating?"
"That's correct. Shortly after the Portal closed and trapped him, we saw the power of his Control Gauntlet expand beyond our ability to accurately measure. Shortly after his son caused the collapse of the Glorious Empire, we detected that his gauntlet had relinquished the ability to control us Minions. Yet we still could see his gem was functional and just as powerful, then fifty years ago his gem started sending pulses in varying patterns. It was a coded message of some form, but it wasn't in any coded language we knew how to translate. Then it simple faded away like a fire burning itself out."
"The connection definitely wasn't broken or forcefully severed."
Snake nodded and took a draw from pipe. "We studied it extensively. As far as we've determined, he attempted to pass a message along before making the magical binding drain like water from a leaky bucket."
The pair finished stashing the supplies within the building that served as Minerva's Home & Store as they concluded their discussion regarding arguably the most successful & powerful of the Overlord's even though they were not the most Evil of them.
"Thanks Snake. I appreciate the explanation."
"You're either going to becoming an Overlord, or serving one soon. Better to improve your knowledge sooner rather than later."
"That's fair…" Alastor let out a deep yawn. "I'm more or less dead on my feet, but going to have a small bite before I turn in for some day old bread and cold meat. You're welcome to join."
Snake gave him an assessing & amused look. "Hoping to bribe me for some more information?"
"Maybe, depends on what your allowed to share I guess. Honestly I just want someone to chat with whilst having a very late supper"
Snake decided to humour the young man and agreed to join him. During their shared supper, Alastor learned more about Snake and his role. How he was once an Overlord's personal Assassin when he was part of the Minion Special Forces teams before losing his arm to a rabid Panda Bear during one of the missions his group had been assigned to. Afterwards becoming the Spymaster for the Overlord especially after gaining his Spider Companion.
" Are there any Minion Special Forces teams active at the moment? Or have they been disbanded until the Hives are reunited?" Alastor queried
"Disbanded for now, but once the Hives are returned there should be at least 2 Elite Minions for each tribe that can be sent out as a Special Forces team." Snake chuckled. "We don't have one waiting in reserve or that can be recalled to make things easier for the next Overlord."
Alastor also chuckled at the comment. "As little as I'm expecting to get, I should probably try and get some shut eye." He advised.
Snake gave a curt bow. "Rest well, Alastor. You'll have various trials ahead as we assess you for the mantle." The minion spoke, as he used his tribes camouflaging ability to disappear from sight
"Take care Snake, and I'm aware."
Alastor opened the store a couple hours later than was usual, but no one had came to the store to make any new requests, and all the orders that had already been received had been completed and were simply waiting for collection.
The day was so slow, that despite still feeling exhausted from being awake for most of the evening, Alastor decided to double check his engravings on both his Fire Resistance amulet and the Frost Spell Core he had created the night before and after confirming they were as good as they could be, began looking through the other materials brought by the Minions seeking inspiration on something to keep him occupied and awake.
A sudden chapping at the open door broke him from his searching, turning to see who was entering the store Alastor felt his heart stop and panic attempting to overrun his mind. Standing at the stores entrance was a Brown Minion wearing a custom made welding mask and a forge hammer tied to his waist. The Minion had apparently dragged a cart stuffed with different forms of leather armour, some basic weapons and glowing crystals. Dragging this cart in broad daylight through the heart of town had resulted in most of the town following to see what was going on.
"Giblet is here with gems to charge Spell Core and to fit you for amour."
"Oh, of course. My Apologises…" Alastor began cautiously, desperately trying to figure out how to handle the situation. "I was under the impression our business would only occur during the night."
"You have Spell Core ready, yes?" When Alastor nodded Giblet continued. "Then why wait? Making Spell is part of test. Better to know if you Pass now rather than later."
Seeing a chance to create a cover story, Alastor began weaving some half-truths together in order to try and prevent the townsfolk from possibly assailing him.
"To confirm, when I have proven I can create new Spells for the Overlord, Thornhind will be safe from any negative influences within their Domain?"
Thankfully Giblet seemed to understand that Alastor was trying to establish an explanation for their interactions without revealing his candidacy for the Overlord's mantle.
"Yes, Yes, Thronhind will be spared if Alastor can prove himself useful. Also have promised armour as pay for fixing magic of lost Helm."
Alastor felt some relief as Giblet helped expand on the cover story Alastor had thrown together. "Shall we get started with charging up the Spell Core?"
"Yes, Does Alastor have space ready? Or does Giblet need to wait?"
"It'll only take me half an hour at most to set everything up. As it's a little more complicated to what I normally make, we'll need to set up a Arcane Circle to Bind it all." Alastor responded, seeing that although some of the townsfolk had departed there were still a fair number milling about and watching.
"Giblet, would there be any objections to the Core being charged out in the street? It would save us moving everything into the Store or out into the Back Garden."
"That's fine. You set up Runes and Circle, and Giblet will place objects in appropriate areas."
This was enough to make most of the Townsfolk that were still watching the exchange to leave. Not having an interest in watching Alastor messing around with Arcane Crafting, and temporarily having their curiosity satisfied. The few that remained were a couple of the town guards, some of the elderly townsfolk, and one of the waitresses for the tavern.
Alastor then began marking out a 5ft wide circle in the dirt road that lead from Minerva's shop to the town centre. Inside which various Arcane Runes were arranged in various interconnecting geometric shapes, with a space in which to position the various materials.
Pointing out which of the geometric shapes were intended for charging the Spell Core, and which ones were for Components to reinforce both the spells design & purpose. Soon both the Frost Demon Fangs and the Dark Elf Ice Magic Shard was placed within the Arcane Circle, surrounded by Light Gems and Dark Crystals. Finally the Spell Core itself was placed into the centre.
"Okay, that should be everything. Once I activate the Arcane Circle the Runes should infuse everything into the Core."
"How can we tell it worked? Will it make Ice or anything before I take it back for encasing in Statue?"
"If it's been done correctly, there should be some frost on the Core and maybe the ground… If it fails, then either obvious cracks should appear or the Magicite will break into multiple pieces."
"Violently break?" Giblet asked, an odd mixture of apprehension and excitement in his voice. Alastor attributed the excitement to the sheer spectacle that the failure could be, whilst the apprehension would likely be for the lose of such a useful resource.
"Honestly, I don't know." Taking a deep breath he placed his hands on the Circle and channelled some Mana into the Circle. "But let's find out."
The Runic circle began shining with power and the various geometric shapes flashed in an assortment of patterns as the Runes began siphoning energy from the Light Gems & Dark Crystals into the Spell Core, causing their inner glow to fade before the gems broke down into dust.
As the runes on the Spell Core lit up with the power being drawn into it, the Frost Demon Fangs and the Dark Elf Ice Magic Shard were converted into particles that resembled snowflakes. These Snowflakes then began drifting towards and around the spell core, before affixing themselves to the surface and melting into the Magicite.
Giblet giggled maniacally watching the formation of the Spell Core "It's Working!"
Alastor let out his own chuckle "It really is, and it's stable."
The Spell Core finished absorbing all the power and components being feed into it and released a soft pulse of power. Which instantly turned the Arcane Circle to ice, and quickly shattered and melted. Leaving only the Spell core itself as any evidence of the complex Arcane Crafting which took place.
Giblet ran up and inspected the Spell Core. "Core is good. You Pass our Arcane Crafting test." He then stashed the Core into a thick leather pouch which he tied to his waist. "Let's fit you for Armour now."
Author's Notes - Hello Readers, I hope you all are still enjoying this Story.
Sorry for how far apart some of these updates can be.
This chapter we got to look at Alastor's Arcane Crafting skills with the creation of a brand new Spell Stone, even if it still requires the Statuesque casing around it.