The contraption created to test the enchantment looked rather strange - a metal chalice covered in painted runes was standing on a large wooden prefab magic circle, slightly modified to suit their purposes.
"Maybe I should explain how it works first." Calen gestured at their creation. "The base is a very simplified version of the main array, just the barrier without all the bells and whistles - we connected it to the chalice which plays the same role as the altar in the temple, it will be filled with divine power to activate its function."
Cassian inspected the model.
"Why didn’t we do something like that in Greenheart?*
"Because there we were essentially just copying the design from the temple, just filling a few blanks when it came to connecting it - here we had to almost completely redo the pattern to change its function."
"So it works differently than the ones in the temple and Greenheart?"
"Yes, those two exist to keep any malicious energy out of the the barrier by filling it with divine energy, but that part is already covered by Sylara’s power, our task is to block all instances of the divine power we’re using, coming in or out."
"Are you going to test it with the piece we scavenged from the dagger?"
"No, that would be reckless and pointless." Martha shook her head. "We’re not sure if we can split or transport the power between enchantment, and we couldn’t test it since no one here has access to this domain."
"Fortunately, Your friend has his own piece of a domain that we can test it with." Joel smiled.
Calen walked up to the chalice and put a small flame inside, just enough to fill it without overflowing.
He then stepped back and said to Joel:
"Okay, activate the barrier."
The older man produced a nut-sized blue crystal and put it in a special indentation on the prefab. When magic entered the circle it quickly lit up, and created a small dome covering the entire thing.
As the magic and divine power mixed, the barrier’s colour slowly changed - unlike the temple’s which was bright and golden, this one was more metalic and darker.
Calen gathered small ball of flames in his hand and sent it forward.
When the fire crossed the threshold, it instantly dissipated, not leaving a trace behind it.
"It works." Martha didn’t smile, but there was satisfaction in her voice. "I think we can take it from here, we’ll clean up the design and send it to Geo, so that he can delegate someone to implement it."
"You won’t be making it yourself?" Elira questioned.
"Of course not, we have more important things to do, and even a monkey can copy runes from a blueprint." She shooed them away. "Now go, we still have actual work to do."
On their way back to the fortress they filled in the gaps in the story that Maya told Alison.
"To think Lady Sylara’s grandfather was in there all this time..." Alison chuckled.
"Speaking of her, do you know what she’s doing now?" Elira asked. "She just sort of disappeared once we left the tomb."
"She’s studying the book she got from the Fool." She eyed Cassian and Isara. "I can see you also got some gifts from him."
"I asked to get the same one he gave to Sulara." Cassian explained. "Isa got his entire inheritance."
"Not like I asked for it." Isara shrugged.
"Aren’t you apprenticed to an archmage?" Alison cocked her head. "I thought that it was frowned upon to look for outside knowledge without your masters explicit permission."
"Once again, I didn’t really look for it - but the multiple masters thing is contentious in the community, some are very possessive of their successors, while others share them freely, and Alarion never minded sharing, in fact he actively encouraged it."
"Huh." Alison grunted. "Anyway, the two of you also got some additional rewards from the Fool, right? Maya couldn’t stop bragging once you left."
"We did, be we haven’t opened them yet - did she?" Elira asked.
"Yeah, she got an infinity sheath - an insane coincidence if you ask me."
"That is an oddly specific gift for her." Cassian agreed.
Maya took joker arms with her everywhere because she often forgot her weapon or went to places where she shouldn’t be seen with one. Infinity sheath was a perfect solution to that problem - a knife sized leather holder that could host up to three weapons, while appearing completely empty.
It required mastery in spacial magic to create, and was therefore very expensive and rare, It was probably the only copy currently in existence.
"It’s not that odd." Elira shook her head. "Antonio seemed to be aware of her entire history, he likely just gave her an appropriate gift. If I had to guess our gifts likely won’t be as fitting, since they’ll be based on just a few days of observation."
"I mean, you might as well just check now." Calen pointed out.
Elira and Cassian looked at each other, and took out their respective pouches - they were smaller than a fist, which meant they likely contained expansion magic.
The alchemist was the first to open the satchel, when she fished out the object inside, the pouch disappeared into thin air.
"I... have no idea what it is."
On her palm laid a perfectly circular, smooth onyx pebble, no larger than a coin.
"You got a rock?" Cassian frowned.
"Obviously not Cass." Calen rolled his eyes and approached Elira. "Can I?"
She nodded and handed him the pebble.
He accepted the dark stone, summoned a small golden flame at the tip of his finger, and then touched the rock with it.
The onyx surface became brighter and brighter, until it started emitting soft light.
"Ha, I was right!" He aimed the pebble at the ground, and discharged the power inside in the form of a light beam.
"Abyss splinter..." Isara whispered in amazement.
"What’s that?" Alison and Cassian asked in unison.
Calen have the stone back to Elira and explained:
"It’s an extremely rare gemstone capable of absorbing any form of energy in ridiculous amounts - essentially it’s a replacement for Elira’s source oasis, if Sylara charges this for her she won’t need a recharge for months, if not years."
"He must have had one hidden away somewhere, he wouldn’t have been able to create one, especially not a one this big." Isara commented.
"My turn, I suppose." Cassian sighed, and flipped his pouch upside down, holding it a good distance from himself.
And it was good that he did, because from the satchel a torrent of metal and other raw materials flew out, making a rage pole on the ground.
"How did you know to avoid that?" Calen questioned.
"A hunch." He shrugged, but his eyes were drawn to something at the top of the pile.
"He left you a note?"
Cassian wordlessly picked up the strip of paper, and read the words aloud:
"Your current blade is too weak, if you want to survive in this world you’ll need a stronger edge."
He stood perfectly still for a moment, just retracing the words with his eyes - Calen knew how proud of his weapon he was, and was a bit worried about his reaction to this information.
Fortunately, he only sighed and proceeded to pick up the raw materials, and look for something to transport them.
That was when Calen noticed something.
"Those aren’t materials for forging a new sword, but rather reforging an old one." He pointed out. "Far too little raw ore, and too many magical ingredients - he’s expecting you to claim some sort of an artifact, and make it your own."
Cassian raised an eyebrow.
"And how in the Sun’s name would he know something like that?"
"Beats me." Calen shrugged. "But he was an archmage who observed the entire infected world for centuries, I’m sure he knew something we don’t.*
Alison approached Cassian and handed him a linen sack.
"Here, it’s meant for evidence, but I doubt we’re going to run into an active crime scene this close to the fortress."
He thanked her, and quickly packed everything into the bag she provided - once he was done he threw it over his shoulder, ready to walk again.
"Do you know what will be our next task?" Isara asked Alison.
"You’ll be working with Tiana, I’m not sure what exactly you’ll be doing, but I believe that it’s a project involving improving communication and trade with other human settlements."
Isara remembered something.
"Speaking of other settlements, people in Greenheart told us you have and ambassador from the Order, but we haven’t seen him yet - did they return home because of the conflict everyone is talking about?"
"He’s still here, in fact his teacher told him to not come back for now because of the mess the order is in." Alison smiled. "And you’re in luck, Alfred is one of the people working with Tiana on the very project you’re being assigned to."