When his mana was back, he walked back to his construction site. He wanted roughly three-quarters of the building to be the bathing area giving a solid landing surface to get out and dry off. It was time for him to discover another spell. He needed magic to dig down and remove the dirt. The best way was for him to just make the earth melt back into itself, for lack of a better description. Since this one also needed to be scalable, the same approach was used as discovering the last one.
He started by making a hole that was five-foot square and two feet deep. Once that one finished, he expanded it and pushed again. One more time at what he thought would be the maximum size he needed and the spell snapped into place.
Congratulations, you have discovered the Earth Magic Spell: Excavate. You have gained 250 experience in Earth Magic for discovering a known spell.
Spell: Excavate
Requirements: Earth Magic
Mana Cost: 10-50 MP
Cast Time: 2-5 seconds
Description: Removes the dirt in a specified area. The size affected by this spell ranges from a 5’ square to a 15’ square and up to 4’ deep depending on the amount of mana used.
Mastery Level: 1
His original spell had managed to clear a bit of the area. He ended up having to cast the spell a few more times once his mana was back. The final dimensions of the bathing hole ended up being a large rectangle that was thirty-two feet long, eighteen feet wide, and started at two feet deep and gradually deepened to four feet deep.
He didn’t want the entire thing to be too deep. There were going to be kids who would need to bathe, and he didn’t want them drowning because it was over their head. He also knew four feet was plenty deep for a grown adult to get washed up.
The next step for him was going to be to transform the bottom and the sides of the whole area to solid stone for the bathing area. He thought about using his Transform Earth: Stone spell to change it all, but the size affected by that spell was so small it wasn’t feasible. His Raise Stone Wall spell was now so large, due to his talent increase, that it wouldn’t work as well. He had to create magic designed primarily for building walls, and it was the perfect chance for him to make a scalable one.
He started on one of the walls of the excavated area and focused on his magic. He would have to go through the motions as if he was going to raise the earth and then convert to stone even though he only needed the conversion. This spell would do him no good if he had to pull up the dirt first and hold it in place while casting the second spell. He needed it to be all one spell-like he did with his Stone Wall spell.
He envisioned an area that was four-feet square and one foot wide. He changed the thickness of the spell as he made the area larger so the wall could be changed up to two feet thick. This would allow him to build thicker walls for the ground floor and thinner walls for additional stories if he ever needed to make taller buildings. When he had managed to transform the initial size, he increased it two more times before he finished the spell.
Congratulations, you have discovered the Combination Spell: Stone Building Wall. You have gained 250 experience in Earth Magic and Fire Magic for discovering a known spell.
Stone Building Wall
Requirements: Fire Magic and Earth Magic
Mana Cost: 15-60 MP
Cast Time: 10 seconds
Description: Creates a stone wall of variable size. The size of the wall can range from 4’ square and 1’ thick to 12’ square and 2’ thick
Mastery Level: 1
This spell would significantly speed up his construction efforts. He waited again for his mana to recover. It took three spell casts on each long wall to cover the full distance and twice on each end wall for a total of ten spells. He would be able to build an empire overnight if not for the problem of his mana. He quickly discovered this spell could be turned flat and cast as a foundation as well and was able to cover the entire bottom of the excavated area in another six spell casts. Some of those casts cost more or less mana than others based on the size he had to stretch it to.
He was able to adjust the wall to any size he wanted if the dimensions didn’t surpass the maximum for the measurements. For instance, he could make a stone wall that was twelve feet long, one foot wide, and three-feet-high, but he couldn’t stretch the twelve-foot length any father even though he hadn’t used as much stone in other directions.
Congratulations, you have reached level 11 in Earth Magic. Increases the effect of your earth magic spells by 30%. Moving pretty fast. Keep it up.
This did not deter him at all. With the bathing area completed, he raised a smaller section on the shallow edge of the bathing area to act as a step.
Congratulations, you have reached level 9 in Fire Magic. Fire Magic spells now have a 24% increased effect. Count on warmth to keep you alive.
When he stepped back out onto the flat earth above the bathing area, he set to work, making the solid landing stone for the rest of the building. There was a three-foot section on each side of the bathing area and only a two-foot part in the back, which left his landing as a fourteen-foot long section of stone that was twenty-four feet wide. He was able to do the back corner sections in an L shape with his spell, so he was able to complete the entire landing surface in eight casts.
While waiting for mana, he determined he was going to make the walls the full twelve-foot high just for flair. He wanted the building to look grand and imposing. It was going to be the first high-class building in the village, after all. It took him twelve spell casts of his spell to raise a twelve-foot tall wall that was two-foot thick around the entire outside of the building, and he fused it to the outside edge of the foundation to make them all solid and immovable.
He debated what to do about a roof when he decided to leave the bathing area open to the outside. It would give people a pleasant view of the stars if it were night time, and when it rained, the water could run in and refresh some of the water in the bathing area with fresh water. He was going to have to make small drain holes in the stone bathing area so the water would leak through the stone and into the dirt if it were overfilled, but that was simple.
He could just use raw mana and cut those in as he walked around. He made a circuit of the place and cut in small drain holes around the top edge of the entire bathing area and even cut a handful into the landing area as well.
While he didn’t want to put anything over the bathing area, he did decide he was going to put a roof over the landing side of the building. This was going to be another flex of his raw mana. He pulled up dirt and transformed it to stone as it flowed in a gradual arch over the foundation side of the building. It created a beautiful half dome cover on that side of the building. The doorways he had added into the walls when he had cast the spells on the front were tall arched doorways. There were two of those doorways in the front of the building.
Arthur took a good look around the building and was impressed. He stood in a building of solid stone that was rather massive in scale, and he had created it all from barren land in half a day. A few finishing touches were considered, and he cast a few more stone wall spells to add some benches along the walls of the landing.
He also raised some vertical walls near the edge of the bathing area that were two feet thick at the base but only one foot thick at the top, which made a natural shelf for people to place towels and soaps on.
The building itself was ready to go except for two main things. The first was it needed the filter system Arthur planned on putting in, and the second was it required a metric shit-ton of water.
Arthur made his way over to the blacksmith shop and grabbed his tube he planned on using for a water filtration system. The sapphire chips were still in their pouch, inside his bag. He also made sure to grab the awl and the small hammer he would need for his enchantment. He let Rowan know he was borrowing the two tools for a bit and made his way back to the bathhouse.
He made it back to the bathhouse and started planning the filter. There were a handful o
f people wandering around the area and gawking at the large bathhouse from the outside. No one had tried to come into the building yet, so he didn’t have anyone in his way as he started working. The thing that worried him was this was going to be more complicated. There would have to be one set of symbols that would do the primary function, one set to set a delay, and the final part of drawing in latent power to keep the spell powered longer without him having to personally recharge it. He also had to hope the sapphire gem would work like he thought it would.
He embedded one small chip into the metal spot on each section he had planned to use. He then got to work on the script. For the first section, he started with moderate, power, heat. He then put a second section that consisted of weak, power, and delay, but he added two other symbols to it that meant ten and minutes. He hoped that the part would cause the ability to only activate every 10 minutes.
The final set of symbols was to help keep the magic recharged. He used the symbols for weak, power, mana, and draw. The hope was this would gradually draw in small amounts of mana from the surrounding area. There was the consideration of making it a moderate level power but was worried it might start pulling out mana from the people bathing while they are in the pool. It may do that now, but he wasn’t concerned about a small draw.
He did the same enchantments on all three sections for the mana draw and the delay, but the primary enchant was different for the other two parts. The middle section used moderate, power, regulate. The idea for this was to bring the water temperature back to a comfortably warm level. The final part was weak, power, rejuvenate. This section was used to restore minerals to the water that had been burned out by the heat. The liquid couldn’t be allowed to get stale and lose its nutrients.
He was slightly worried since he hadn’t used a moderate power enchantment before, but he was going to give it a try. He pushed power into the first set of runes, and he immediately dropped 120 mana. Damn, that surprised the hell out of Arthur. He was both scared and happy at the same time. The initial power drain frightened him, but he realized that the spell took half of the mana cost upfront and then spread the rest out, so he should be fine. He kept pushing and finished the enchantment.
Congratulations, you have reached level 4 in Enchanting. Your enchantments have a 9% decreased mana cost. Making something useful for once?
Iron Bathhouse Filter First Stage
Durability: 75/75
Rarity: Uncommon
Quality: Well Crafted
Weight: 4.0 kg
Traits: A tube of iron enchanted to heat up items that enter it to a heat hot enough to purify. This is the first of 3 stages in this item.
Charges: 60/60
Regeneration Rate: 1 charge per hour
The item appeared to be correct as he looked at it. The charges disturbed him, though, because he had hoped that with the sapphire, it could store more power than that. He knew it couldn’t regenerate enough mana on its own to stay charged, and he’d have to charge it from time to time, but he didn’t think it would run out so quickly. A closer look at it determined why. It wasn’t using the gem at all.
There would be a quick fix to this, but he had to inscribe a symbol directly onto the gem. The trick here was going to be using a thin solution of coal and water to draw the runes and let the magic burn it in. The sapphire was too hard for any of his tools to engrave.
Arthur wrote the symbols for power and storage on the gem and then pushed his mana into it. The power sucked out of him in a rush, and by the time the spell finished, he had used 120 mana. The symbols burned into the gem, and the whole enchantment flared to life.
Iron Bathhouse Filter First Stage (Sapphire Storage)
Durability: 75/75
Rarity: Uncommon
Quality: Well Crafted
Weight: 4.0 kg
Traits: A tube of iron enchanted to heat up items that enter it to a heat hot enough to purify. This is the first of 3 stages in this item.
Charges: 1000/1000
Regeneration Rate: 3 charges per hour
That was much more like it. The gem seemed to be the key to the storage, but it had to have its function defined. He was pleased that not only did it significantly increase the number of charges, but it also increased the rate which they naturally recharged. That would be much more manageable.
The same process was used to do the other two sections. Arthur thought about doing the gem at the same time but thought it might drain too much mana and cause the enchantment to fail. They were completed in two separate steps to play it safe.
The filter was now completed, and he was ready to get it installed. He laid it along the back wall and covered the device in a small stone bench using raw mana to protect people from touching it. This gave the back section of the bath a slightly elevated arc seat in it for people to sit on while bathing. He made sure to cover each end of the tunnel with a stone grate to prevent people from getting into the filter and getting harmed.
The only thing left was to get water into the building. Arthur considered trying to make a bit of an earthen ramp to the closest well but decided it would be a waste of time. Daniel should be able to find some people to fill the bathhouse up for use. He just didn’t have time for something so tedious right now. His time and mana could be spent doing much more important things. This would be an excellent job for some people without the skills to earn some food. He reflected back on the work for the morning and saw he had gained 1,260 experience in Enchanting, 3,600 experience in Fire Magic, and 4,000 experience in Earth Magic. The ground flowed by quickly as he made his way back to the inn. As usual, he was able to find the man in the kitchen.
“How are you doing, Daniel?”
“Doing fine, Arthur. Just trying to get some meal prep done. You finished up already?” He asked.
“Yeah, there is a brand new, beautiful, stone bathhouse that is almost ready for use. The whole place is complete and ready to go, it just needs to be filled with water. Think you can find some people around town who would like to earn some food for a bit of labor work? There are other things I need to work on instead of hauling water.” Arthur said.
“Damn, that was fast. I’ll get some people on it now. That should be a big help to the village.” Daniel said.
“I have faith my enchantments will work, so it should stay pretty warm and clean all the time without anyone having to interfere too much.”
“That is even better. Maintaining a small tub here and trying to keep it clean and warm is a great effort. Having a place for the entire village would be great. I shouldn’t have any trouble at all finding people to work on it.” Daniel told him.
“Do you need anything here before I head over to see Rowan? I plan on finishing up some stuff I was working on yesterday.”
“Everything is fine here. There may be a few work orders left, but nothing that can’t be seen to later today.”
“Alright, I’ll see you later,” Arthur said as he turned. He headed to the storage room and grabbed some of the leather that Corianne had brought him yesterday. The central area of the inn came into view, and he waved at Paula while passing her. Passing through the front door, his path led him straight to the blacksmith shop.
Upon arriving, he saw Rowan hard at work as usual. It looked like he was working on a farming tool, but it was early on, so he couldn’t tell exactly what it was. He made his way to his small spot in the shop, where he tended to work and set the leather down. He walked back into the small storage space and pulled out the pieces he made yesterday. He needed to get them finished so everyone would have some essential protection and so Samson would be an absolute nightmare to deal with.
There wasn’t a sewing needle to be seen, so he found a small scrap of iron laying around and picked it up. It was big enough to make a few, so he pictured the design he wanted. He used a modern style design but made sure to keep the eye larger so the thicker thread could fit through it.
Picturing the pattern in his head, he made visual repre
sentations of multiple of these within this one small chunk of iron. Six of them should suffice for this chunk of metal, so he tossed it in the forge for a few moments to heat up, pulled it out with his earth magic, and cast his forging spell. He watched the line of power pass through the block as the metal flowed, and six perfectly formed sewing needles fell into his palm.
Mage-crafted Iron Sewing Needle
Durability: 50/50
Rarity: Uncommon
Quality: Well Crafted
Weight: 0.1 kg
Slot: Crafting Item
Traits: A sewing needle, created with magic, and made of iron.
● 10% increased speed while sewing
Being able to make things this small gave him hope for much more intricate things in the future. The big hurdle now was being held back by iron. Once he advanced enough, he could devote some time to working on a method of refining the metal into steel before they used it. He knew the process behind it but was sure it was going to take trial and error to get it right.
It was time for him to complete the pieces he started yesterday. He began with the bracers. Making a leather liner for these pieces was quick. A part of the leather slightly larger than the metal with the correct rivet holes was cut to size. He completed the first one rather quickly. Mainly because he decided to use a little brute force magic to get it done. The leather was to shape, and he sewed a top and bottom strap on to it quickly. At this point, he figured out it was missing clasps to hold them. Another small piece of iron was found and tossed into the forge. The beauty of being able to create it all with magic meant he could make real buckle style clasps. He used the metal to make a bunch of heel bar-style clasps that were so common on belts on earth. Then grabbed another hunk of metal to make the small metal pins in the center that inserted through the holes in the leather to secure it. He used his magic to heat the end of the metal pins and wrap them around the bottom bar of the buckle, and they were good to go. He sewed one of these with a short leather strap to the other side of the bracer lining and put it into the metal casing. He used some more targeted Fire Magic to heat the metal rivet studs and used raw Earth Magic to put force on the rivet end and flatten it over.
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