Triple Strength

258. Sharp: Wiremu.

The next few days were relaxed travelling with the Caravan. I would spend most of the night with Mayakku, exploring the slave bond. Early morning and late evening, I would go out hunting with Tatu, and his sister, the elusive Nne, joined us. Nne also wants me to teach her how to bond. Her role was as a scout, and she had the class. She is looking for a bond to help her in that role.

Our wagons are filling up. Spiders, snakes, scorpions and I even dug up a fire ant nest. My Pain and Poison Resistance were the key there. We did find a Fennec Fox, and they are cute. I haven’t found any Desert Vipers like Tāoke, but we did get a Copperhead and a couple of King Cobras. I have stayed away from birds for now, but a bird might be good for Nne. Tatu has been the key to helping me keep them fed, I think his Animal Handling Class is benefitting greatly from this.

Tabitha and Modrica should have been back last night. Težka is not upset, so I shouldn’t worry.

Mayakku and I think we have narrowed down the flavour of the Slave Taskmaster. There are three main flavours. Toil and exertion. Dominance and control. Submission and obedience. Our problem is we have no idea how to enchant to create those flavours.

“Walk me through the Sharp Enchantment and how it works,” I asked Mayakku, trying to get some understanding.

“Enchantments by nature change the flavour of Spiritual energy.” She grabbed a piece of wood and, with practised claws, sketched what seemed to me to be a complicated diagram. “This is where the Enchanter inputs Spiritual energy, and this is where it is stored.”

I understood that much, “And the amount it stores depends on the spiritual material used here.”

“Yes, but the material also affects the efficiency of the spiritual flow.”

“So from this part on, it is where the enchantment starts changing the energy,” I asked.

“Yes, but it is also affected by the Spiritual Material used. This is just a piece of wood, so the enchantment will break it, but if we were to use some of your Granite, it would affect the enchantment with the properties and weaknesses of the material.”

“But isn’t the purpose of the enchantment to change the spiritual flavour?”

“Yes, but it is using the enchantment material to do that. Therefore, your granite would make the object we want to sharpen harder but more brittle than if we used other materials. Liquids won’t work at all with this enchantment.”

“So we need the right Spiritual material as well.”

“Yes and no. These flavours are very different to any I have used before. I don’t know what the right material is, but I do know the wrong material won’t work.”

“Ok. What is the next part?” I was trying to puzzle out the rune.

“This is where the enchantment shapes the spiritual energy into the flavour we want. These parts add a cutting or slicing aspect.”

“So what are these then?”

“They define where the sharpness, or cutting energy, is to go. They control the flow and amount of energy. The energy will always be stronger near the rune so that a longer blade will have these spaced along it. It is affected by the efficiency of the material. Tabitha’s Blacksteel knife is the most efficient material for this type of enchantment I have ever seen.”

“So we just need to concentrate on the material and this part where it changes the energy?”

“No. You want the energy from your enchantment to empower a ritual. To imitate the energy of a journeyman-level Slave taskmaster, we are going to need efficiency, power and direction. You have ritual diagrams on the hands and feet of the slave, a different diagram on the head, and a third diagram on the heart. Those are where the energy has to be directed. Six different points and doing it through an enchantment means you don’t have the control the Slave taskmaster would have. You might need six different enchantments all powered together. And I have no idea about the control and flow requirements.”

“They might be sequential rather than all at the same time.”

“They might, but we don’t know that yet.”

“Would Barbra know?”

“Probably, even though she is not at that level yet. Would she tell us?”

“We will see what Tabitha can get out of her when she returns.” I suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand. I looked at the tiny rune on each knuckle. “These are different.”

“Yes, Flesh Enchanting has some significant differences from normal enchanting. When I first enchanted the sharp rune on Cōmpēṟi and myself, I did it on the claw itself. This sharpened the claw, but nothing else and claws grow and get damaged and break. Now, I do it on the knuckle, which gives the strength of the bone to the claw. It is a more complicated rune in a small space but doesn’t break or wear off. The energy input is from us, the living person so that simplifies that part.”

I compared the rune on the wood to the one on her knuckle. I had to use my Telescopic Sight to magnify it, I have no idea how she carved it. The first part was simpler. The changing runes were the same, but the flow, control and shape differed.

Control. Dominance and Control. “Could we use the Control symbols somehow as one of the three flavours?”

Mayakku stopped in thought. “Maybe?” She thought some more. “Not that one,” she mumbled. Then she looked at me, “I am going to need to try some different runes,”

That was my cue to exit. Time to go hunting. Hunting is when I let things mull in the back of my mind and ferment. I should have opened a brewery. Hunting is good for me. Today, we will hunt for food rather than capture, and this open desert is good for my archery. Tāoke joined me. We left Tatu behind and loaded with hunting gear and water canteens. Water canteens were actually optional since Tāoke and I got Lava Bodies. Drinking water doesn’t consume Spiritual Energy, and it is very satisfying.

It's time to stretch our legs. We set out at a run. The sunset was about two hours away, and the caravan would get back on the road. We would catch up eventually. I am never lost with my Mapping Skill.

As I ran and Tāoke sat curled on my shoulder, I examined the landscape with my Telescopic Sight. There is a trick to using it on the move, as you mustn’t lose a sense of your close surroundings. It took a number of falls and collisions before I got the hang of it.

Evening is a time for the larger animals to emerge to forage and feed. We had just passed a line of cliffs, and they rose into steep hills, so that was where I headed. The vegetation was dry grasses and cacti. The larger animals travelled long distances looking for water. I think there will be cougar and bobcats in the hills feeding off the antelope herds. I am not there for them, I aim to hunt what they hunt.

I am mainly going to the cliffs for the views. My Telescopic Sight is great, and I am really enjoying using it in this area. The sunsets are fantastic as well.

Monsters are rare here as finding food is difficult. There are rumours of Sand Elementals in the deeper desert that span kilometres. The rumours indicate a number of Rock Elementals had also been seen. My Granite Sense tells me Rock Elementals are more common than the rumours say. Rock Elementals are not always large and bulky, although I did sense one, which was basically a mountain. Some Rock elementals were small. The one we killed north of jern was not large, but it focused on Spiritual jewels and materials. Our portion of that formed the starting coin for our fortune. Mine anyway. Tabitha stole hers.

After an hour's run, I found a shady spot just below the lip of the cliff and sat down to watch the landscape and enjoy the peace. Tāoke slithered off. I could sense some other snakes nearby, but I was not particularly interested. What I wanted to look for was a different type of elemental that you rarely see. The main source of energy in the desert is the sun. This gives birth to Light Elementals, and the best time to see them is at dawn or dusk when the light changes. Apparently, they can be quite spectacular as they move between their forms. I don’t know if I would see anything from here, but it was a good spot and worth a try.

That makes me wonder why I haven’t encountered any light affinity users here. These would be Tabitha’s nemesis. This would be the place for them, both people and monsters. I wonder what abilities such a monster would develop. Possibly opposite abilities to Tabitha. Shining instead of hiding. Sight abilities, and I know you can focus light into a weapon, but I don’t know how. That is the extent of my Lore knowledge. Tabitha would find it difficult fighting one during the day, and the reverse would be true at night. I need to keep that in mind.

The sun was setting, and Tāoke’s bond energised. I concentrated on what he was doing. Huh! He is mating with that Desert Viper. Now, that could make for some interesting offspring. Should I capture her and see what sort of snakes are produced? I am tempted to just leave her in the wild and let nature take its course.

A flash caught my attention. It was like a rainbow exploding in the sky. That was amazing. This is a very rare sight. There were smaller bursts of exploding rainbows as the Light Elementals changed forms for the night. Wow. I sat back to just enjoy this light show. So worth it.