Professor Wanemyre opened a desk drawer, filled to the brim with cheap-looking pendants.
"We buy them in stocks, just like the rings." She said picking one at random.
"The only way to differentiate the various rings is by the stones embedded within. Red for dimensional items, blue for tier 1 magic storing rings, yellow for tier 2, green for tier 3. Tier 4 magic storing rings and above are not available in the Prize Hall.
"As it is, it's just your average silver pendant." She placed it at the center of the innermost magic circle. After that, she called for help via her communication amulet and waited for her assistants to come.
"Fun fact: dimensional amulets are usually preferred to dimensional rings since most mages prefer to have as much magic storing rings as they can. We have as yet still not discovered a way to use something other than rings for instant casting."
The door to the classroom opened, admitting a man and a woman dressed like the academy's staff. They took their place beside the magical circle and started to chant the same spell.
With each cast, the space within the circle was filled with pure non-elemental mana. At one point the mana was so dense that the air inside started to crackle and pop with power. The energy then became dense enough to lift the amulet up off the table.
"To use a blacksmith analogy, the circle acts as a magical furnace, holding the stored mana within and saturating the item that has to be enchanted. The circle must be perfect, or the mana would leak, leading to a defective product." She explained.
"The higher the mana density one creates, the better the item will be. But that also means that the Forgemaster will consume a greater amount of mana for the enchantment.
"If the forgemastering spell used is weaker than the mana accumulated inside the circle, it will have no effect. A true Forgemaster must always be aware of their limits, balance is of the utmost importance in our line of work.
"If the mana density is too low, the item will be useless. Too high, and it would cost so much that it would be outside the market value of others, unless you do it for yourselves, of course."
When the assistants stopped chanting, Wanemyre stepped forward, gesturing for the students to move away. Then, she started casting several consecutive spells, both her hands and voice almost never stopped.
One by one, the runes that Lith had drawn between the circles, started moving from their original position, taking place around the amulet. They formed an energy sphere, absorbing the mana from the surrounding space and injecting it into the amulet.
When the last rune completed the sphere, all the available mana had been compressed to the point of being barely able to enclose the pendant.
With a final spell, Wanemyre fused the sphere with the amulet. The runes shined on its surface for a few seconds before disappearing forever. Only then did she take the amulet in her hand, showing the class the result of her efforts.
"This little thing here is a top-quality dimensional amulet. Its value is about 340 points in the Prize Hall and above three hundred gold coins, if you were to buy it with cash."
The idea of so much money condensed into such a little thing made even those born into wealthy families gasp in amazement. It was enough to build a manor and buy its land. Furniture and pieces of art to furnish it would take at least another amulet, though.
"Now, here a few things that the books don't explain, and that you may have missed during the whole process. I'm especially referring to those that paid more attention to my chest rising and lowering, rather than to my brilliant performance."
She glared at some of the male students, whose faces turned a bright shade of purple while squealing excuses and apologies. Lith felt compassion for them. If it was Nalear instead of her, he would probably be in their shoes.
The female students, instead, made fun of them, calling them perverts and other non-endearing terms. Professor Wanemyre was fuming, there was only so much she was willing to bear, even from teenagers.
She took pride in her talent and deep expertise, being treated like a slab of meat was the worst insult anyone could do to her. She covered her chest with her arms before taking a deep breath to calm down, in order to continue.
"Not everyone is able to become a Forgemaster. That's because together with the War Mage, ours is the specialization that requires the greatest mana capacity.
"While for a War Mage it determines how much destruction they can bring, without a huge amount of mana a Forgemaster cannot create the most powerful enchanted items in our repertoire.
"Mana capacity is needed not only to overcome the high mana density required for a great item, but also because every single rune requires its own spell to be engraved in the object.
"Each spell is relatively simple and short, but you must be able to cast them in rapid succession without delay. This is required because as soon as the magical furnace is loaded, the mana tries to escape, and even a perfect circle can only hold on for a while.
"Usually, after ten seconds the circle destabilizes, and the mana begins to leak. This means that I had to cast thirteen spells, one for each rune, plus another to permanently imprint the energies in the amulet, for a total of fourteen spells.
"Each of them was able to overcome the mana density, and I had to do everything within ten seconds, or I would have just wasted a lot of mana for nothing.
"Bear in mind that once an object is saturated by mana, if the forgemastering process fails, it cannot be repeated. The energy remnants from the previous failure would still linger, making any further attempt a waste of time.
"Even this castle is the product of the work of countless Forgemasters. Every single stone has been enchanted, before assembling them as you see it today. Otherwise it would be impossible to imbue something this big with magic.
"And that is just the first requirement. The second is that a Forgemaster must be a jack of all trades, no matter if they are a master of none. In my line of work, I need to be proficient in all the six elements.
"You will also need patience, love for research, and a strong build. Manipulating this magnitude of energies is not something pipsqueaks can afford to do, not without incurring permanent damage that would accumulate over time"
Lith raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"I can understand most of the items I saw in the Prize Hall, and link their properties with the six elements. But I don't get how Warp Steps and dimensional items work. What element they belong to?"
"Excellent question. The answer is: to all of them. The only force that can bend space and time is gravity. Powerful Forgemasters of the past discovered that air and earth magic are the bare minimum to create such powerful gravity.
"But to stabilize it, to make such items not only reproducible but also to allow fine control over them, all the elements were required. It's a field of research that has never gone dry, there are still so many things to explain."
'I think I understand.' Lith thought. 'They need the electromagnetic waves from the lightning to resonate with the gravity pull earth magic generates, and enhance it to bend time and space.
'Fire and water magic probably allow them to avoid side effects, like the formation of vacuum, overheating or freezing while creating such powerful gravitational force.
'I can't even fathom what darkness and light are used for, though. They didn't exist back on Earth, science can't help me with them.'
During the rest of the lesson, Professor Wanemyre proceeded to explain how they would manage the rest of the course. She wouldn't allow any of them inside the training hall again until they had learned the theory behind forgemastering.
Having students messing around with magic circles was too dangerous since high-density mana was highly volatile and could cause huge explosions, if not controlled properly.
After that, they would need to memorize all the basic runes and how to combine them, until being able to produce all the basic enchanted items.
Only those who passed all the tests would be admitted to the fifth year, learning how to add multiple properties to a single item.
By the end of the lesson, Lith was fuming like a volcano, ready to explode.
Being in the first row, helped him to better understand Professor Wanemyre's teachings, noticing the finest details about how to draw runes.
At the same time, though, he was also able to feel the pressure coming from all his classmates standing behind him.
In normal conditions, he would find the idea of being surrounded by strangers disgusting, hearing their whispers, and being subject to their glares, yet he would bare it all.
But since his mana core and body were at odds, constantly fighting and messing with his mind, it was much harder for him to control his reactions and hide his emotions.
It was Solus' voice and presence that helped him ignore them, using their bond to soothe his most violent reactions. In the last two hours, though, they had been separated.
And now Lith was forced to wait for her outside the training hall, since the Master Alchemist lesson had yet to finish. It was really irritating for him, standing alone in a crowd for the umpteen time since his first life.
Even during high-school Lith had always been different from his peers, focused on paying the bills instead of goofing around. Seeing their carefree attitude, how easy it was for them to relax and make friends, made him green with envy.
Suddenly, the Alchemist training hall opened, and a small insect came out of it, reaching Lith's leg unnoticed and then turning into a liquid, going back toward his hand.
'Sorry it took so long, but everyone asked so many questions that the Professor forced everyone to stay behind. Want to grab something to eat?' Solus asked.
'Good idea' Lith's anger dissolved like snow on a warm spring day.