Uh, some early notes just to mention I went back through the previous chapters and straightened out the Weapon forms. I somehow did not keep them consistent throughout the entire fic, but that should be fixed. Also fixed up some spelling mistakes, as well as sorting out methods
Anyways, back to the regularly scheduled chapter.
After being kicked out of the room where Feibyn was working, the group of five began their walk back up into the castle proper.
It was only once they were halfway there that Kurose finally spoke.
"So, you're the Jewelry Tool Hero, right?" Kurose asked slowly, earning a sigh from Matthias.
He didn't know why Matthias was sighing, but he continued on. "Do you-"
"If you are gonna ask about me making some accessories or anything, I'm afraid you are all out of luck." Matthias said plainly, interrupting Kurose.
"Why? Is it a lack of materials, or-"
"Nope, none of that." Matthias cut him off. "I just have absolutely no idea where to start."
"Huh?" was the only sound Kurose could make at that moment.
How could he not know how to make Jewelry? He was the Jewelry Tools Hero!
"Yep, I'm absolutely useless at it. If I put in the time and effort? Sure I could probably make decent at best accessories and all that, but…" He shrugged, as if he didn't consider it important enough. "I might as well leave it to the people who do it better. Like Tommy here."
"Yup! Miss Feibyn knows a little bit and has been teaching me what she can!" Tommy spoke excitedly. "It also means I have access to her forge, so I can make better Charmes when I get the materials!"
Eorna perked up at that, and began to talk to Tommy in a hushed voice, whilst Kurose continued speaking to Matthias.
"Huh. It's just that someone from Ortensca said that if we want something done quickly, it's probably best to come to you for jewelry and all that." Kurose spoke.
"Common mistakes, don't worry about it. Past Jewelry Tools Heroes probably leaned into it for some cash, or just wanting to make stuff, but I didn't really see any point, and I had other things to worry about." He answered with a shrug.
"I see." Kurose spoke with a nod.
"Oh yeah, I'm gonna take you two to a few people a bit later, when everything is less busy if that's alright with you? You two can copy some new weapons, and Sera, you can pick up a new weapon if you want."
Sera shook his head. "I'll be fine with what I have." He answered. "I only got it recently, and it is still in good condition after the wave."
"If that's what you want. Then you can stay here, I guess? Hell, that could actually be better. I could get some of the royal guards to train you a bit, if you don't mind."
"I would be happy with that. If it means I can help out some more, then I'll do it." Came Sera's answer.
Matthias nodded at that, already speaking to himself about plans.
Something tugged at Kurose's armor, and he looked down, seeing Tommy looking up at him. "Mister Kurose?"
"Just call me Kurose. What's up?" He asked the kid.
"Eorna said you don't know how to make your own Charmes yet. Is that true?"
Kurose looked towards Eorna at that, who was refusing to look at him as Tommy spoke.
"...It is." He spoke after a moment of silence. "It's mainly because I haven't learnt the language yet. I have the tools for it, thanks to my teacher back in Ortensca, but I didn't get to learn from him for very long." He explained.
Tommy frowned at his words before a determined look appeared on his face.
"Then I'll teach you!" He declared. "If you are the Accessory Hero, you need to at least know how to make your own Charmes!"
Kurose blinked at that, looking down at Tommy.
"He makes a good point. Plus, I can't really think of a better teacher. He's pretty much self taught, despite everything." Matthias spoke up. "If I were you, I would accept it."
"Really? Kurose asked in disbelief. "You can't think of a better teacher than Tommy in your entire country? And what do you mean 'despite everything'?"
Kurose just couldn't believe it. Why would a kid be the best teacher for him? It's not that he didn't appreciate it, he just didn't see how Tommy could be the best choice. He was a kid after all.
"Well, it's not like there's a ton of wizards in Palinfa." Matthias began. "The few we have are pretty secretive, or are in the service of other nobles, who likely wouldn't give out their services without compensation."
Matthias skilfully ignored the last part of Kurose's question
"But still, surely there's someone else?" Kurose asked him.
Tommy pouted at that. "Is there something wrong with me teaching you?"
"No!" Kurose spoke quickly. "There's nothing wrong!"
"Then I'll teach you right now!" Tommy spoke with a smile.
"Ah, actually, can you hold on for a moment? I wanna give out the gems out real quick. No doubt you are going to want to improve your best weapons." Matthias pointed out.
"I'll wait then Father." Tommy spoke politely, earning a laugh from Matthias.
"Well, I remember some gems which gave specific boosts, if that's any help." Kurose spoke with a nod, offering his assistance.
"Fantastic. Let's get to work." Matthias spoke with a grin.
After sorting that out, Kurose was guided away from the group by Tommy, and led to a separate room.
The room was rather clean, with the exception of a few burn marks on the floor and against the walls. He was curious about them, but he didn't ask as he was led to a table by Tommy.
"So," The kid began slowly. "What do you know about Charmes?"
"Uh…" Kurose tried to recall everything that Woodrow had told him, but found himself coming up blank for the most part. Not much? I know how to actually use them, I remember being told there were a lot of wizards, at least in Ortensca, that moved to using wood rather than paper, but that's about it?"
"I see…" Tommy spoke with a hum. "It's better than nothing. I'm assuming you actually managed to produce a light for the first time?"
"..." Kurose didn't answer, and that only served to make Tommy more curious.
"Well, my teacher may have skipped a few steps? He just started me off with a basic spell so I could level up a bit."
"Huh. I wasn't even allowed to do a normal spell until I could write it properly for myself!" Tommy complained, pouting once more before sighing. "It's fine. You can use Charmes at least, it's just actually getting you to make them."
Tommy opened a drawer beside him, and pulled out some stuff. He seemed to be looking for something, but before Kurose could offer to help, it seemed he had already found what he was looking for.
"Ah ha! Here they are. I'm glad Emily and Father never threw them away."
Kurose looked over, noticing a list of what he assumed to be letters, written in faded ink on the piece of paper.
"This is what I used when I made my first Charme." Tommy explained to him. "It…didn't exactly go well, but I was at least able to get it to activate."
"I see. I still don't know the language, but I guess I can look it over."
"Huh? You don't know the language? Then how are you speaking to me?" Tommy asked in confusion.
"Because of my weapon. It auto translates-" "anything that is spoken, I forgot. Father always says how useful it is for meetings with other leaders." Tommy finished what Kurose was saying with a sigh.
"Either way, it should be easy to understand with a bit of practice. This is essentially the alphabet, so you just need to practice it." He spoke with a nod.
Kurose had an idea, but he wasn't actually sure if it was going to work. If anything, it would just make it easier for him to understand it at the very least.
"Well, can I ask for your help then?" He asked Tommy, who nodded slowly.
"Sure, what do you need me to do?"
"Well, if you can pronounce each character from this list, I can write my own world's language next to it, so it's easier for me to understand."
"That could work. It also means I could learn the heros language!" he spoke excitedly. "Let's do it!"
Kurose was glad that at least the characters were pushed together to make words. It meant that he could at the very least translate stuff, even if it would be hard work.
With that, the two got to work for the next hour, with Tommy sounding out each character, and Kurose wrote them down in his own language.
By the Time that Matthias came to collect them, Kurose had an incredibly basic understanding of the language, or so he believed.
If he had his list with him, he could probably translate something, even if it would require him to look between the sheet and whatever he was translating consistently. Even then, it was likely there would be a few mistakes, but it was a start.
Tommy had insisted that he keep the sheet, saying that he should practice it on his own to make sure he doesn't get anything wrong, Kurose had accepted it, folding it carefully and putting it into his bag. He had also said that he would be showing Kurose the basics of making Charmes later, which Kurose was looking forward to.
Tommy however, had looked a bit nervous at it when he realised Matthias had heard the end of it for reasons unknown to Kurose. Tommy looked at his father in concern, as if waiting for him to say something, but all Matthias had done was smile and direct a thumbs up towards his kid.
"Right. Ready to go get some new weapon forms? Not sure if any of them are gonna be fantastic, but the more forms you have, the better in my eyes."
"Yeah I'm ready. Tommy, didn't you mention wanting to come earlier?" Kurose questioned him, getting a nod from the boy.
"Yep! I wanna see you copy some new weapon forms! Have you unlocked the necklace yet, like you said?"
He checked it quickly, confirming he had. He hasn't used any of the methods on it yet, and it could wait until later.
"Yeah, I have. I'll transform it for you after I have copied a few weapon forms." Kurose spoke with a smile.
"Great! I wanna see what sort of accessories you can turn it into! Father is limited to stuff made with making jewelry in mind, so he can't copy regular hammers and all that."
"He's right. I can't copy general use anvils, only jeweller anvils which sucks, but it's still decent. Not like I actually use them commonly." Matthias spoke up, answering in Tommy's place.
"Huh, that's odd, but I guess it's sticking with your weapon." He spoke with a shrug. "Where are Eorna and Sera?"
"Eorna was exploring the castle last I saw her, no doubt she will be taking you around at some point to show off some stuff. And I left Sera with a few of the royal knights. They are giving him a basic rundown on how to use that spear he has. He seems determined to stick with it, so might as well have him learn to use it properly."
Kurose nodded at that. He was happy that Sera was being taught to use his weapon properly, but Sera still seemed confused. As if the man himself didn't know what he wanted to do.
He hoped that his friend would figure it out soon, for his own sake if not for anything else.
As they walked, Kurose spoke up. "Y'know, it seems a bit odd to me that Masterwork said it increases the cap of other methods."
"How so?" Matthias asked, his hands in his pocket.
"Well, it just seems like it gives the Jewelry tools an unfair advantage, knowing methods can be shared off the bat. Especially since you had no method to increase the cap of."
Matthias hummed, but nodded his head. "I mean, yeah, but it also said that I could share methods in my help menu. Only issue is there weren't any other heroes to get methods from." He spoke with a shrug. "Plus, I didn't have my method early on, so even knowing that, I couldn't have done anything."
"Didn't have your method?" Kurose questioned with a frown. "What do you mean by that? And what do you mean it said you could share in your help menu?"
"It just wasn't there." He explained. "Said nothing about Masterwork, Gave me everything else though. Told me about sharing methods between heroes, but not my method. I was confused on what sharing even did, because I didn't even know what a method was.""
"Then how did you find it?" Kurose asked. "And do you think there could be more methods that are missing?"
"Doubt it. The books we have tell us that Lesser weapons only hold one." Matthias spoke with a shrug. "As for where I found it, it was in the mountains, when the Vekstone was active. Named by a past hero supposedly. There's 3 doors, but I could only get through one by showing it my weapon. Inside was a stone tablet that I could read. Not much of importance there, but it contained my method at least. Gave me a nice little boost."
"Vekstone? Stone tablet?" Kurose was getting more and more confused, and Matthias only gave him a smile.
"Don't worry about it, I'll explain it a bit better eventually. I plan on taking you up there at least. Probably whenever we go to the dwarves." He spoke with a shrug.
"Alright. I'm looking forward to it then." Kurose responded with a nod.
It didn't take them long to get to the entrance, and Eorna was already there, waiting for them.
"Kurose! How did the Charme stuff go?" She asked excitedly.
"It went well, got some sort of a plan down, thanks to Tommy helping."
"Great! Thanks for helping out Tommy!" She spoke, high fiving the boy.
"No problem! I said I would, didn't i? He's a quick learner!"
Kurose simply stared at the both of them, a small smile on his head at their excitable interaction.
"Come on, you lot. Let's get going." The older hero spoke with a smile, seeming to feel the same way as Kurose.
They all left the castle quickly, with Eorna and Kurose moving closer to each other as they slowly made their way into the city.
"Kurose, the castle is massive! Much bigger than the one in Ortensca!" Eorna spoke excitedly.
"Bigger? You think it has secret passageways like Ortenscas?" He still remembered the prince mentioning them, and he was curious about them.
"Maybe! Wanna go exploring some more when we get back?" She asked him, the excitement still clear in her voice.
Kurose agreed with a nod of his head, and Eorna let out a cheer.
"Just make sure to be careful, alright?" Matthias spoke from ahead of them. "Don't destroy anything you don't think you can replace."
"We won't! I just wanna show him some stuff when we get back. Oh yeah, what's the plan for tomorrow, and the day after?" Eorna asked curiously.
"Well, I was thinking that tomorrow, you lot can just relax, yeah? You've been hiding and all that, you managed to deal with the wave perfectly fine, you just need some downtime. Whilst you are doing that, I'm just gonna take a trip over to the mountains, set up a Traversal spot, and the day after, I will take you as far as I think you can handle, if that's good?"
Kurose and Eorna nodded at that, whilst Tommy seemed happy to be included.
"Probably nothing you can't handle up there, except Fangyuts which come down to hunt, but I doubt we will run into one." He continued on
Kurose simply nodded. He had absolutely no idea what a 'Fangyut' was, but he was going to ignore it for now. He would learn about it whenever he learnt about it.
"Also probably get you some sand from the hourglass, so you can actually use Traversal skills when you reach level 50. And…" He trailed off with a sigh.
"Damn. a lot of work to ensure you are all up to it. Gonna need to make a list from what I remember, and crosscheck with the both of you to see if you have got the equivalent of my skills or not."
Kurose and Eorna simply nodded along, following behind Matthias as he listed off stuff he needed to do.
Once they finally entered the city itself, a few people turned to face them, each of them holding curious looks.
"Isn't that the King?" "And his son! Who are the other two with them?"
Soon enough, a crowd had gathered, following behind them as they made their way through the city. Kurose felt a bit nervous, with all the people watching them, but didnt say anything, opting to try his best to ignore them.
It didn't take them long before they entered a building, with Matthias saying a quick thank you to the person who opened the door for them.
In the back of the room, there were three people. Two of them were bent over a table, organising accessories, ranging from amulets, rings and the like, whilst the other was laying out daggers.
"Your Majesty!" The person laying out the daggers spoke. Her words caused the other two to jump up.
"Thank you for doing this on such short notice." Matthias spoke, nodding to each person in the room.
"It's no problem, truly! We are just glad to be able to assist the heroes."
"Of course! Plus, it helps that you are covering our losses for the business we are losing for being shut right now."
Matthias laughed at that, even as the person who said that was punched in the shoulder.
"You can't just say that!" Their partner whined, only causing the man to laugh harder.
"Don't worry." Matthias waved off their concern. "I already know I was asking a lot for you to set this up. Go on Kurose, Eorna. Just copy everything there and sort through it, yeah?" He motioned for them to step forward, and they did.
Eorna split off immediately, looking over each of the daggers, making polite conversation with the person there.
"Accessory Hero, it's a pleasure to meet you." The man spoke with a smile, holding out his hand.
Kurose took it, shaking it with a smile, even as the woman beside him greeted Tommy.
"Thank you for all this." Kurose spoke honestly.
"It's no problem! As I said, I'm just glad we could help out the heroes. Me and my wife didn't exactly expect to be asked to assist, so we are more than happy to help. " He spoke cheerfully.
Kurose nodded, "Do you mind if i…?" He trailed off, and got a nod in response.
"Please, do whatever you have to."
He took hold of the first thing he saw, and copied it immediately.
Promise Ring (Tier 0) 0/10
Equip Bonus: +4 defense
Kurose looked it over for a moment, curious about what exactly a promise ring was before shrugging. It wasn't an interesting weapon form. Most of his other weapons were much better than it after all.
He put it in the back of his mind for now, gently placing the ring back down before speaking to Tommy.
"Hey Tommy, you wanted to see the Accessory swap forms, right?"
Tommy looked up to him, nodding excitedly, and he smiled, swapping to Stymphalian Parasol, before cycling through the weapons he had gotten from the wave.
The two behind the counter also looked on in curiosity, watching as Kurose changed weapons.
"Even after seeing his majesty transform his weapon, it's still amazing to see…" The lady spoke with a smile.
"Indeed. It truly is an amazing sight." Her husband spoke with equal amazement.
After Kurose had cycled through the weapons, Tommy seemed satisfied. "I see. The Accessory certainly has a lot of forms. I think it can probably transform into a wider variety of things than even fathers weapon can! Though, if fathers weapon was called 'Crafting Tools' I'm not sure who would have more variety of forms…" He trailed off.
Kurose shrugged off the odd thing Tommy had said. If it was called Crafting Tools, then it would be an entirely different weapon than it was now. There was no use thinking about what ifs for the weapons after all.
After that, the rest of the time was spent copying new weapon forms. Whilst a majority of them were simple stat boosts, only one ended up giving him a skill.
Obsidian Rose Hairpin (Tier 0) 0/10
Equip Bonus: Skill; "Pinpoint"
He still didn't know what a majority of the skills he had gotten from the wave let him do, but he was still glad for more skills.
The only issue was that the name of the skill gave him absolutely no idea what it would do. At least with something like Acid Spray, he could get a general idea of what it would do, but with Pinpoint, it offered nothing.
He moved back to looking at the new weapon form, swapping to it and spinning it in his hands as he looked it over.
As the name of the weapon form suggested, The main part of it was, as well as the outside of the rose, was made of obsidian. The inside of the rose was a dark red, similar to that of an actual rose.
He looked over to Eorna, watching her still talking away with the lady presenting the daggers to her. He could imagine it in Eorna's hair, the only issue was he wasn't sure if she would like it or not.
She had not shown any interest in having accessories for the sake of it. But then again, they didn't really have a chance to even consider it with their funds.
He looked back towards the hairpin in his hands, and he already knew his mind was made up.
"Are you willing to sell this?" Kurose asked the pair, bringing their attention back to him.
"Hm? Absolutely. Why, you have someone in mind for it?" The man spoke with a grin.
Kurose avoided his gaze, not willing to admit he wanted to buy it as a gift for Eorna, but the sparkle in the man's eye made Kurose feel like he already knew.
"Stop it dear." His wife spoke with a sigh. "You're going to embarrass him! Just let him buy it already."
Her husband rolled his eyes playfully, but nodded. "Alright, alright, I'll stop. That'll be 45 Serena please." The man spoke with a smile.
Kurose quickly handed over the money as the man put the hairpin into a small pouch, handing it over to Kurose.
"Make sure to surprise her, alright?" He spoke cheerfully, winking at him.
Kurose pretended he didn't hear the man, but the grin he was shooting at him made it obvious he wasn't fooling him.
"You two finished?" Matthias asked, standing up from where he had been sitting.
"Yep! I've got a few new skills, so I'm happy! And all of these daggers are good!"
"I got something interesting." Kurose answered with a nod.
"Fantastic. Thank you again you three. Really do appreciate it."
They all spoke easily, waving off his thanks and saying it was no problem.
"Might want to go out the back though, your Majesty." The person who had been giving Eorna daggers spoke. "I'm sure you and your small group were not unnoticed coming here."
Matthias nodded at that. "Forgot about that. Well then, thank you again. Now let's get going, you three."
After saying goodbye once more, Matthias took them out back, raising his hammer as he did. "Traversal Hammer!"
After getting back to the castle, they were given free reign to do whatever they wanted for some time, with the promise from Matthias that a servant would fetch them when it came time to eat.
Tommy also split off from them, saying he wanted to get everything in order for the Charme he would be making later.
"I'll be in the same room as last time!" Tommy spoke with a smile. "If you get confused, just ask for directions to the practice room, all the servants know where it is!" He said before quickly running off.
That left Kurose and Eorna to stand in the hallway. They looked at each other for a moment, and Kurose debated whether or not to give her what he had bought before she spoke up.
"So, get any cool skills or weapon forms?" She asked curiously.
"Just one. What about you?"
"Yup! I got a few cool weapon forms! They have some interesting effects, but the stuff from the boss is still much better." Eorna spoke.
Kurose nodded at that. "I still have a couple, but there's one or two I have no idea about."
"Really? Well, do you think they will destroy anything?" She asked curiously.
He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "By the names of them, I don't think so." He answered.
"Well go ahead, try them out then!" She spoke with a smile.
Kurose nodded, swapping to the Stymphalian Parasol before speaking. "Erst Ring"
He summoned the ring onto Eorna's finger, and she lifted it to examine it.
"Huh, it's odd, but it doesn't weigh anything, but its giving me a small stat boost. What else is it supposed to do?" She asked him, getting a shrug in response.
"No Idea. I used it once, but didn't notice anything different. I'm going to try something else, if that's fine?" He asked, getting a nod from Eorna.
"Sure, go ahead! I'm curious!"
Kurose nodded, taking a moment. "Exchange"
The basic ring on Eorna's finger changed into the Promise Ring that Kurose had copied earlier, for no particular reason other than it being the ring he had copied most recently.
Eorna let out a small noise of surprise, moving the ring away from her face.
"Anything different with it?" Kurose asked her, unsure of why she had made the noise.
"Y-Yeah. It seems like the ring is boosting my stats a little bit more since you used the skill., but that's it."
"I see…" Kurose spoke quietly. "Is it because it's a different weapon form? Could I buff specific stats by putting specific rings on people?" He questioned quietly.
"Um… Kurose? What did you say this ring was called again?" She asked weakly.
Kurose finally looked up, only to notice that Eorna's face was red, something he found cute, but he didn't understand why she was.
"It was called a Promise Ring, why?" He asked curiously.
Eorna let out another noise before speaking. "Do you know what Promise rings are for?"
"No?" Kurose said slowly, feeling as if he had just made a mistake.
He quickly dismissed the skill, fearing the worst, and Eorna looked away once it was gone.
"Well… Promise rings are…" She trailed off, mumbling as she looked at where the ring had been.
"Can you say that again? I didn't hear you."
"Promise rings are given as a sign of commitment to a relationship…" She managed to get out.
Kurose blinked at that, letting it sink in for a moment.
"Ah…" He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that, so instead of facing it head on, he turned around.
"Well, I'm supposed to meet with Tommy soon so see you later!" He spoke, quickly walking out into the hallway.
"H-Hey! You can't just give me a ring then leave! Kurose!" Eorna cried out.
After a while, Kurose found himself sitting in a chair beside Tommy. He had explained the entire thing to the young boy, and Tommy had nodded along to it.
"So…" Tommy spoke slowly. "You and Eorna aren't together?"
Kurose put his head on the table and groaned. "No, we aren't. It was an accident."
"I see." He replied, nodding slowly. "Well, it seems like you didn't know what it was. Did you explain that to Eorna?" He asked.
"I said I didn't know what it was to her, and she explained what it meant."
Tommy hummed. "Well, she likely understands it was an accident, but just in case she doesn't, you could always speak to her later, and say that it was not your intention perhaps?" He suggested.
"I… Yeah, I'll do that later." He spoke with a sigh.
"Well, now that you're done with your crisis, wanna see a Charme be made?" Tommy asked cheerfully.
"Sure, go ahead." Kurose responded, turning to watch Tommy.
It would be nice to have something else to focus on, just to get his mind off of that for now.
Tommy lifted a few tools from another drawer, along with placing a wooden disc onto the table.
"Right, So to begin with you obviously want a wooden disc like this, at least for a Mega Charme." Tommy spoke as if it was obvious.
"So, what do you need for other tiers?" Kurose asked him.
It was one of the questions that Woodrow had said he would answer, but without him here, it seemed Tommy was the next best choice.
Tommy paused what he was doing, thinking it over. "Well, for Giga, it's still wood, but it has small chunks of metal in them. A majority of that wood is usually exported from the Dwarves, but Father set a few of their saplings up around the castle once I started learning." He answered.
"Trees with metal in them?" Kurose questioned. "That doesn't seem like it would be good for the trees."
"Well, they don't grow as tall as normal trees, probably due to the metal, but other than that they are perfectly fine. They don't affect the soil around them, and the wood isn't good for just making Charmes. It's pretty good for making shields and all of that. It makes them more sturdy." He explained with a smile.
Kurose nodded slowly. "What about other tiers?"
"Well, there's two other Tiers, those being Terra and Zetta. Terra Charmes are made of Mana rich materials. Anything that's been soaked in Mana long enough, or metal. Metal is usually the more common of the two, due to some other stuff I'll talk about later." He explained.
"Right, before I start talking about Zetta Charmes, I'm going to make a basic light Charme, and I want you to pay attention to it as well, alright?"
With that said, Tommy slowly began to write the words onto the wooden disc, speaking as he did.
"Zetta Charmes are the strongest Charmes, made only from metal collected from the Firrnost tree, at the lowest parts of the dwarven mountains. They can only grow deep underground, so I haven't seen anything about them. All I know is that the metal is collected every few years, and is sold off for ridiculous prices to the wealthiest." He explained, continuing to inscribe the words onto the wood."
"I see." Kurose spoke slowly, keeping an eye on Tommy's progress. "So I'm assuming Zetta Charmes are rare to see then?"
"Incredibly so. I myself haven't seen one, but it's not really something you brag about having. The auctions for the metal are done anonymously, and delivered to whoever brought it with no one else knowing. It's to stop anyone staging 'accidents' and other similar things to get their hands on it."
"So Charmes are the only spell casting for us?" He asked as Tommy finished up.
"Yup! Apparently, according to the history books, there was vocal spell casting ages ago, but it died out due to the ease of use Charmes provided."
"That sucks then." Kurose spoke plainly. "Why would they just let a way of using magic die out?"
"I have no idea. I assume it was because they likely had to learn more, whereas compared with Charmes, as long as you can direct your Mana, you can use it." He answered easily, picking up the Charme. "This should be done, but I'll… I'll test it before you do."
Tommy stood up, moving to the center of the room. He took a breath, looking towards Kurose nervously.
Kurose gave him a thumbs up as encouragement, and Tommy gave him a small smile before finally speaking.
"Light: Mega" Tommy spoke slowly.
The Charme began to glow weakly in Tommy's hand, but the boy did not look pleased. Instead, he seemed resigned, and Kurose found out why a moment later.
The Charme glowed flared up in Tommy's hand, causing Kurose to cover his eyes with his hand to try and see. As soon as he did, the sound of something exploding rocked the room, and Kurose moved his hands, spotting Tommy slumped against the wall.
He rushed over to him, but Tommy waved him off, as if used to it.
"What was that?" Kurose asked after Tommy had stood up on his own.
He didn't get an answer for a moment as the boy wiped at his robes, several small bits of wood falling off of him and onto the floor.
"It's fine, it happens all the time." He spoke with a frown.
"What, Charmes just explode?" Kurose asked in disbelief. "Doesn't exactly seem like it should be a normal thing. Did the Charme have a crack in it or something? Or-" He was cut off by the boy shaking his head.
"No, nothing like that." He answered with a sigh. "It's just me which causes that. If you had tried to use the Charme, it would have been fine, but since it was me… well, that's the result most of the time."
"How?" Kurose asked him once again. "You did nothing wrong, you said so yourself, so what's causing it?"
"Something a doctor said was a genetic disease." He spoke plainly, looking away from Kurose. "Any Charme I try to use ends up supercharged most of the time, and whenever they do get supercharged… well, you saw the results."
Kurose took a moment to take it all in before sighing. "Well, is there any way to treat it? Any sort of medicine?" He asked.
Tommy shook his head in response to that. "Father did look for something. He thought that Irminsul Draught might be able to help, but the Dwarves rarely produce it due to the time needed, and how complicated it can be to make."
Kurose looked at him blankly, not understanding what he was talking about.
"Oh, you probably don't know what Irminsul Draught is." Tommy spoke, upon seeing Kurose's look of confusion. "Think of it as a much better medicine than healing salve. It's said to be able to bring someone back from the brink of death, but it is ridiculously hard to make." He explained easily.
"So, what's stopping him other than the price? That can't be it, can it?" Kurose asked him.
"The dwarves aren't the fondest of the Jewelry Tools at the moment, mainly due to my father's predecessor. They barely allowed him access to the activation event, and that was only because they owed a favour to the royal family."
"I see." Kurose spoke, thinking it over. "And what if I were to ask for some? Do you think I could get some?" He asked, getting a shrug in response.
"You could, but I doubt it would go far. A majority of the currently existing Irminsul Draughts are kept secured, and even if you did wish to buy some from the dwarves, it's doubtful whether they would actually sell it to you, not when they could make more money elsewhere."
Kurose nodded his head, letting out a sigh. Of course it wouldnt be easy.
"You could always go to the auction, but whether you would get invited is a different matter. Plus you would need the money to actually buy stuff…"
"The auction?" Kurose spoke with a frown.
"Its a collaboration between some humans and dwarves." Tommy began to explain. "Every year, they set up an auction for the wealthiest people to buy stuff. The stuff changes every year, but its all highly sought after things."
"Like that Irminsul Draught?"
"Yes, along with rare weapons, books written by past heroes, all of that sort of stuff. Father did say there was other stuff, but I shouldn't hear about it yet."
"Huh. I see. But what's to stop people from just… raiding the place, and taking everything?"
"It's simple. Everyone who attends the auction is required to bring their own guards. Those guards then form into one large group, with the goal of protecting the perimeter of the place. And even if that fails, they have their own elite guards on the inside to stop anyone getting past. Even if that should happen, they would need to get onto the stage, take the thing they came there for, and then get back out, without dying, or losing the product they came to steal."
"Yeah, I can see why people don't do it now." It seemed like more effort than it was worth to even attempt to raid the place. "Is it always in the same spot? Because if it is, it seems like they could set stuff up beforehand."
Tommy shook his head. "No, its different each year, and people only find out when the invites are sent out, which gives people very little time to plan stuff out."
Kurose nodded his head at that. It seemed odd, but he didn't have to bother himself with that. In the first place, he wasn't the sort of person they would think of as a client. He didn't have ridiculous amounts of money, he couldn't use rare weapons on account of the Accessory, and he had other stuff to focus on.
"So, what do you know about the methods?" He asked Tommy, changing the subject.
"Huh?" Tommy seemed confused at the sudden change, but still answered anyway. "I know my fathers method. He said he shared them with you and Eorna, right?" He asked, getting a nod in return.
"Yep. You wanna hear about mine, and how they work?"
Tommy looked at the broken disc in his hand, and set it down before nodding.
Kurose found himself answering question after question from Tommy for the rest of that evening, from how he decided what gems to put into each weapon, whether he had purposefully tried failing an enchantment to get a better one, and how much stronger Magic Reinforcement made his spells.
Whilst he couldn't answer all of them, mainly the ones relating to Magic Reinforcement, Tommy at least seemed happy with what Kurose could answer.
[Accessory World Info]
This one will be focused on the trees with metal growing in them. These trees, given the name Ebonferra, are highly sought after. Mostly grown in the dwarven kingdom, they can be bought for a high price, and the cutting will be moved to whatever location the buyer wishes.
These trees are Hyperaccumulators, meaning they can store high amounts of metal. Whilst most trees absorb some metals from the soil, these trees can absorb a hundred times more than is typical for other plants.
This make them great for both shields, due to having them be more reinforced, as well as a source of viable Giga Charmes for any Charme users.
[End of Accessory World Info]
Woo I'm back, and ready to continue with the fic.
Eorna being a good friend and enlisting Tommy to assist Kurose in making Charmes, woo for Eorna. Also Kurose actually learning the language.
Not really much else to say, so until next time, I suppose.