Beastborne
Page 31
Enchantment Discovered: Ossified Metal
By combining metal and bone, you have created a new element. Ossified metal has the strength of hardened steel but the lightness of bone. Applying this enchantment increases Damage, Durability, Lowers Weight, and makes the weapon exceptionally conductive. Conductive elemental effects are improved.
Improvement Statistics
Durability: B+
Damage: D
Special: B
So by adding an item, the shape and design of the weapon would remain the same at this stage but it could imbue it with an enchantment. Which made sense, considering the design stage was imbuement.
And by adding that same item, he was enacting an enchantment. Since the falchion only had one point for an enchantment, placing the shard of [Brilliance] within it to create Ossified Metal exhausted that enchantment point.
Which meant that there must be a way to have multiple enchantments.
Looking over his Inventory, Hal wondered what other types of enchantments he might be able to find. Simple trial and error could prove to be invaluable. Several items stood out as potentially offering an interesting enchantment.
His [Vials of Aberrant Blood], [Bundles of Crystalline Feathers], [Fragment of Flame], [Heart of Crystal], and his remaining [Empyreal Shardite] all seemed viable candidates.
And that didn’t touch on the obviously alchemical reagents in his possession.
Reaching into the weapon, Hal was able to pull free the shard of [Brilliance]. The bone falchion immediately reverted back to its old stats and appearance.
The highest potential among the items seemed to be the [Fragment of Flame]. Now that he knew for certain he could remove it - he seriously doubted he’d ever get another one - Hal placed the white chip onto the surface of the falchion.
After several tense moments, nothing happened. He pressed harder but it wouldn’t accept it. A prompt flashed across his vision.
Unable to accept secondary element. Skill too low.
So he could add another element, but only once his skill was higher? He wasn’t sure how it calculated his skill considering his Blades of Bone didn’t appear to be a crafting profession.
One after the other he tried the other ingredients but only three items worked. The [Heart of Crystal] was listed as simply incompatible. But the [Vial of Aberrant Blood], [Bundles of Crystalline Feathers], and the [Empyreal Shardite] all created different enchantments.
Unnamed Bone Falchion Design (Heroic)
Design Process: Stage III (Imbuement)
Damage: 34 -> 38
Crystal Lightning Damage: 10
Additional Effect: Poison
Bonus Points: 12/12
Enchantments: 1/1 -> 0/1
Toxic
Durability: 700/700 -> 300/300
Details:
Empyreal Shardite Edge
Compressed Bone
Aspected Core (Crystal Manashard)
Enchantment Discovered: Toxic
The [Aberrant Blood] infused within the bone has made the item toxic. Upon contact, there is a high chance that the target will suffer a Poisoned status effect, taking damage over time. However, such conditions are not suited for longevity and while the strength of the item is empowered, its durability is severely degraded due to the corrupting blood.
Improvement Statistics
Damage: C
Special: A
The [Aberrant Blood] caused his falchion to ooze a caustic purple liquid, which looked deeply intimidating. The weapon was also more organic, with veins pulsing with the poisonous material crisscrossing the boney matter.
His other two items created different effects, but no less interesting. The feathers made his sword impossibly light. A faint wind seemed to wrap around the blade, empowering its speed so what even a half-hearted swing carried the force of a heavy chop.
The spine of the blade took on the shape of the feathers, now turned into osseous facsimiles.
Enchantment Discovered: Swift
Crystallized feathers have imbued the blade with unnatural swiftness and lightness. Akin to a bird taking flight, the feathers increase speed, damage, and dramatically reduce weight. As a side effect, durability is lowered.
Improvement Statistics
Damage: C+
Special: A
As much as Hal liked the Ossified Metal enchantment, his favorite was the Mana Condenser. The [Empyreal Shardite] changed the entire weapon to look less organic and more crystalline. The bone took on the blue-to-yellow shifting hue. Its smooth exterior became glassy and angular.
But most importantly, Hal could feel a hollowness within the blade. With a thought, he could feed his MP into the sword, empowering it further and storing the mana for another time if he chose to extract it.
When it was infused with his mana, the crystalline blade glowed and hummed with an inner light.
Enchantment Discovered: Mana Condenser
[Empyreal Shardite] is a known conduit of mana and magical effects. Infusing the crystalline substance into the bone matrix creates a new element. One of crystal and bone. In the spaces between the hollowed cells of marrow, crystalline channels have grown.
These channels can not only accept mana to empower the blade’s damage but can also condense that mana at a rate of 2 to 1, due to the refined nature of [Empyreal Shardite]. This mana can be extracted for use later. The unfortunate side effect is the weapon’s weight increases dramatically.
Improvement Statistics
Durability: C
Damage: F - B
Special: A+
There’s no way I’m not picking that. Hal confirmed the addition of the [Empyreal Shardite], noting that it took a total of ten pieces to complete the enchantment.
The variable damage was an interesting twist. No doubt it was a reflection of its ability to use MP to empower itself. If he could store mana within as the description suggested, then he could deal increased damage so long as the stored mana lasted.
Or he could keep the mana in there to draw it back out instead of resorting to a potion or Assimilation.
Before Hal turned toward the bonus points, he looked over the blade one more time to make sure everything was correct.
Unnamed Bone Falchion Design (Fabled)
Design Process: Stage III (Imbuement)
Damage: 34 -> 34 - 45
Crystal Lightning Damage: 10 -> 10 - 15
Bonus Points: 12/12
Enchantments: 1/1 -> 0/1
Mana Condenser
Durability: 700/700 -> 750/750
Details:
Empyreal Shardite Edge
Compressed Bone
Aspected Core (Crystal Manashard)
Enchantment: Mana Condenser
[Empyreal Shardite] is a known conduit of mana and magical effects. Infusing the crystalline substance into the bone matrix creates a new element. One of crystal-and-bone. In the spaces between the hollowed cells of marrow crystalline channels have grown.
These channels can not only accept mana to empower the blade’s damage but can also condense that mana at a rate of 2 to 1, due to the refined nature of [Empyreal Shardite]. This mana can be extracted for use later. The unfortunate side effect is the weapon’s weight increases dramatically.
Improvement Statistics
Durability: C
Damage: F – B
Special: A+
Hal ran his fingertips over the flat of the blade, feeling the texture of the crystal. It rose and fell with an interesting wavy pattern that caught the campfire light in its dazzling peaks.
[Bonus Points]
Allocate points to desired stats in order to increase them when the weapon is equipped.
Core stats cost 1 point.
Resistances cost 2 points.
Defensive Stats cost 3 points.
Skills cost 4 points.
Free Points: 12
Bonus points were fairly straight forward considering the trial-and-error portion of discovering enchantm
ents. Though, now that he knew the various enchantments, he could apply them provided he had the items on hand.
Like learning recipes, they were stored for him. So that he didn’t need to remember every single ingredient that would be required.
Boosting any given skill 3 Levels was definitely something that caught his attention. But just like his Oath of the Brightking that gave him +5 Leadership, it didn’t award him another perk.
And while skills were powerful enough on their own, it was really hard to turn down 12 free stat points.
As a weapon he planned on improving whenever the chance came upon him, he could use it to shore up his weaknesses. Even if that meant breaking it down and remaking it now that he possessed a better understanding of the process. He doubted he would want any other weapon for any length of time beyond finding a way to infuse that newer, stronger weapon’s power into his own.
An idea struck him. One that seemed blatantly ridiculous at first but considering the way Aldim appeared to work, maybe there was some merit to it.
Creating bone with Blades of Bone in the manner that Hal was doing it seemed… unique. He got the impression that the weaponry was meant to be temporary and in the heat of battle. Similar to how he used it against the Manakeeper.
This felt… different. Like he was exploring something novel and new.
Moreover, the creation of bones and their inherent strength seemed intrinsically tied to the amount of MP spent on its creation. It stood to reason then, that 700 MP worth of creating a bone without any set features or use yet, a “blank” as it were, would be stronger than a 500 MP version.
He would need to thoroughly test the system, but if that was the case and bonus points were tied to the strength of the original product, then he might be able to game the system.
By allocating all 12 points to MND, Hal could increase his MP from his current capacity of 665, up to 725. The process to create a “blank” took about an hour, give or take. And with his higher MP regen, he’d have roughly 200 extra MP regenerated over that time frame, giving him a total investment of 900 MP.
If he was able to find a way to empower the weapon more, he might be able to bolster the MP boosting properties. Each item would have to be a sword, or perhaps an improvised weapon since those were the only two weaponry skills of note he possessed.
Those properties could be further boosted by using the Mana Condenser enchantment, allowing him to store even more MP. The process would be dreadfully slow but if it worked, he could potentially create stronger and stronger items.
By using a 700 MP weapon he might be able to create a 900 MP one, then use that 900 MP weapon to create a 1,100 MP weapon. On and on until either the bonuses stopped growing between each weapon or he hit some kind of limit.
Then, provided he had the time and the ingredients - as he only had 90 [Empyreal Shards] left - he could make a vastly superior weapon to his current one.
Given that they had many days of travel ahead of them and his “beard’s share” of the shardite was still unclaimed, Hal decided that would be his next big project.
51
Just as the first rays of morning peeked over the eastern horizon, Hal put all 12 bonus points into MND. He immediately felt the wellspring within himself deepen. His MP regen jumped up to 227.5/hr.
Seeing no further additions that could be made, he completed the third stage by pressing his palms flat against the handle on one end and near the tip of the curving blade.
Unnamed Bone Falchion Design (Fabled)
Design Process: Stage IV (Finalization)
Damage: 34 - 45
Crystal Lightning Damage: 10 - 15
Bonus Points: +12 MND
Enchantments: Mana Condenser
Durability: 750/750
Details:
Empyreal Shardite Edge
Compressed Bone
Aspected Core (Crystal Manashard)
Enchantment: Mana Condenser
[Empyreal Shardite] is a known conduit of mana and magical effects. Infusing the crystalline substance into the bone matrix creates a new element. One of crystal-and-bone. In the spaces between the hollowed cells of marrow crystalline channels have grown.
These channels can not only accept mana to empower the blade’s damage but can also condense that mana at a rate of 2 to 1, due to the refined nature of [Empyreal Shardite]. This mana can be extracted for use later. The unfortunate side effect is the weapon’s weight increases dramatically.
Improvement Statistics
Durability: C
Damage: F – B
Special: A+
After confirming that he was finished, the next and final stage appeared. Unlike the others, this seemed to provide him with decent information. There still appeared to be a good deal of exploration left to do, judging by the higher grades but he was happy to have some information without having to fight for it.
[Finalization Stage]
Using your mana to seal your creation, you are able to impart upon it a fragment of your essence. For every layer of mana, there is a very low chance for an improvement in quality and weapon stats. Various Grades of mana impart unique benefits.
The more layers of mana placed upon an item the more difficult it is to control the quality, resulting in Mana Feedback. A damaging and potentially fatal reversal of mana that can harm both weapon and creator alike. The more layers applied within the Grade, the stronger the effect.
Grade 1 (1-10 Mana Layers): Unstable Weapon
Mana Feedback Chance: 1%
Unstable weapons are exceptionally powerful but are disproportionately frail, resulting in an item with high damage but also a high chance for a permanent break.
Grade 2 (11-20 Mana Layers): Stable Weapon
Mana Feedback Chance: 5%
Stable weapons have a bonus to their durability and their rate of wear is slower than other weapons but they require routine mana infusions to keep the effect up.
Grade 3 (21-50 Mana Layers): Keen Edge
Mana Feedback Chance: 10%
Accurately placing dozens of mana layers allows the creator to imbue an unnaturally sharp edge that slightly extends beyond the physical location, resulting in cuts that appear to come out of nowhere.
Grade 4 (51-75 Mana Layers): Thievesbane
Mana Feedback Chance: 25%
Imparting so much mana to an item attunes it to the creator - or the owner of the mana if it is not the creator’s – making it impossible to be wielded by anybody but the individual whose mana is used to seal the weapon. Anyone attempting to wield the weapon will find it readily turns on the would-be thief.
Grade 5 (76-100 Mana Layers): Recall
Mana Feedback Chance: 45%
With an even greater portion of mana invested into the weapon, it is possible for the owner to both sense the location of the weapon and recall it to their hand from up to a mile away. Any farther than that and the owner only has a vague awareness of direction but not the exact location.
Grade 6 (101-200 Mana Layers): Extension
Mana Feedback Chance: 65%
Overflowing with mana, the weapon is capable of creating an ethereal extension. Using mana in this way allows the wielder to project their weapon at up to twice its size, such that a 4-foot blade could extend to 8 feet in the blink of an eye.
Grade 7: ???
Grade 8: ???
Grade 9: ???
Grade 10: ???
Hal had to stop himself from instantly trying for a grade 6 attempt. The risk was simply too high for him right now. Without a weapon nearly as strong as this one, he couldn’t afford to lose it.
Also, it might kill him.
He felt that mana feedback was a result of carelessness. With enough concentration, he could severely mitigate the risk. It wasn’t necessarily a matter of going slow enough, the mana had to be deposited in a thin layer. And that could only be done quickly.
Like painting, if he took too long to deposit his mana it would clump and run, leading to an i
neffective application that would go on to ruin any future layers he might make.
Every layer was built upon the preceding one. As he shut his eyes and focused, a stream of mana seeped out of his palms and into the blade.
The sword facilitated the movement of mana from one palm to the next, creating a circuit. As it did, a small amount of his mana was deposited evenly across the weapon.
But he couldn’t stop. If he slowed or paused for even a moment, he would ruin the whole thing. Like a thin imperceptible layer of lacquer, Hal continually pulsed his mana around the blade, sealing it and its magic within itself. It was an arduous process that took a surprising amount of concentration.
So attuned to the process and the weapon he created, Hal could feel every imperfection within the design. Every impurity stood out like a massive crack or bulge even though he knew by eye or touch it would be impossible to tell.
He only intended to get the weapon to grade 2 or 3.
Eyes closed, Hal was so focused that all distraction seemed to fall away. He fell into a deep meditative trance and by the time he realized he must have severely overshot his goal, he had already hit his 100th layer.
He could feel the straining buildup of his mana. Faint impurities in the way he did the first few layers threatened to break. It was that sensation of impending danger that snapped him out of the trance.
As he hastily completed the process to avoid a catastrophic mana feedback, he realized with a start that he missed breakfast. A plate of cooked sausages, cheese, and crusty bread lay cold on the small stool beside him.