Happy with my new skills, I headed toward Elfael's shop, intent on getting the maps as soon as possible. I passed by a few players that were coming back from the town's outskirts. Most of them were arcane disciples like me. It made sense considering the spire-elf race was very suited to the class. I tried examining them and saw that most of them had reached level 2 or 3 while I was experimenting with the dummies. They sent uninterested looks at me, ignoring me after seeing that I was still level 0 and didn't even have my staff anymore.
The town was still as busy as in the morning, but many of the item sellers were packing up to let more food stalls take their spots as the sun was beginning to set. I bought a few skewers for 2 copper pieces and ate them on the way. I tried out mana shaping, trying to make spheres, cubes, and pyramids of mana. It felt different from when I cast mana bolt. The conjure mana was warm and gentle and didn't hurt me in the slightest. I made a ball and played around, throwing it up and catching it absentmindedly.
I arrived at the shop and entered directly, the bell on the door ringing as it closed behind me. Elfael was painting on a large canvas. I glanced and saw the cross-section of an immense tower. He finished the part he was focusing on before raising his head, looking toward me.
"Ah! Young lady, I am glad to see you back. I received my weekly delivery of materials an hour ago. Follow me. I will show you the workshop in the back."
He stood up, tapping his paintbrush on a pallet making all the remaining paint vanish into thin air. He invited me to the other side of his counter and led me to the back of the shop.
In the workshop, a large wooden desk was surrounded by many shelves. Most of the shelves were stacked with books, colorful plants and roots, and jars of pigments. On the left, a locked cabinet displayed strange materials, metals of changing colors, and various monster's body parts. Elaborate and dusty glassware was stacked behind the desk. It seemed like Elfael had an entire alchemy or magic workshop crammed into this little room. There was a small table with a simple chair on the right.
I looked around, dumbfounded.
"Do you really need so much equipment to make maps ?"
He smirked, pride filling his eyes.
"Yes and no... I do need many things, some of them exotic, to make the different inks and supports used for my maps. But I also dabble in alchemy and enchanting. I made the planosphere I showed you this morning myself, with help from a smith, of course."
He gestured me to the small bare table and opened a drawer, getting a goose feather, brushes, a few pots of colored inks, and a stack of parchments.
"These are pre-drawn maps, my assistant already drew them with a pencil, but they need to be inked properly. I can not ask too much of a novice like you so. You'll simply need to follow the lines and paint them in a similar way to this model. As agreed, I will give you enough supplies and allow you to copy the two maps you wanted to buy once you are done inking 5 of these maps."
"Is it possible to learn alchemy or enchanting? "I blurted, still standing next to the desk, the maps nearly already forgotten.
He laughed, pointing at the worktable. "Let's first ink the maps. I might show you something if they are to my liking. Curiosity is a nice quality, but don't let it distract you from your engagements."
I tried to focus again on the task at hand. I took the first map and inked it as best as I could, following the already drawn lines and using another finished map for reference. In spite of my character's agility, giving me a steady hand and precise motions, my first try took me around 1 hour. It didn't look too bad, but it wasn't as good as I wished. Elfael still accepted it but mentioned that it was the bare minimum.
"Ding! Lifeskills unlocked: Drawing. You've learned the most basic artistic skill.
I took another sheet of parchment and copied the same map again. I completed the next one much faster, taking only 30 minutes. It was as if someone was holding my hand and guiding them. The sensation of simultaneously being the one deciding of my movements and having my hands guided felt alien at first. The difference between this map and the first one I made was like night and day. I kept working without disturbing the old elf that had brought his easel and was adding floors to the tower on the canvas.
Two hours later, I finally finished the last map.
"Ding! Drawing reached level 1!
I finally took a look at the description under the Lifeskills tab.
Lifeskills:
Drawing (lvl 1): Drawing speed and precision are improved as long as you have a clear image of what you want to draw. Increases the success rate of other Lifeskills by 10% if drawing is involved in the process.
Wasn't a 10% increase a bit too much? Did it mean it would double the success rate of other like skills when maxed? Or maybe it was some sort of prerequisite, and the success rate of any drawing related task would be very low without the skill? That would make sense, but there was no way to know until I got such a skill.
I brought the stack to Elfael that examined them. I only realized then that it was night already and that we had been working with a single candle lightening the room. The farther away from the candle, the duller the colors looked. This made me remember that elves had night vision and could see in the dark way better than humans could. They wouldn't see if there was no light at all, but a candle was enough for us to see properly.
Elfael gave me a thumb up.
"Except for the first one, all of these maps are pretty good. I didn't think you would work that well. It's getting pretty late. Do you want to copy your versions now ?"
I nodded
"If you're okay with it, I'd rather continue and finish tonight."
"Don't mind me. I would not have given you the options if I didn't want you to."
He opened a drawer from his desk and took out a fire-red feather and new ink pots. The inks were glowing slightly, giving a mystical aura to the glass bottles. He scoured into the drawer and finally drew two sheets of grey paper.
"Use this, take this as a bonus for a job well done."
I delicately took the feather. It felt warm in my hand. The light of the candle was reflecting on it, forming moving patterns of flames. I didn't dare ask if it was what I thought it was.
It took me another hour to drawn my two maps of the Spire plains and of Elvenheim, Elfael watching above my shoulder, making sure I wasn't screwing up with the expensive materials.
Just as I thought I was done with the last details, he took the feather and drew runes I had never seen before. Oddly enough, I could figure their meaning. It was a simple phrase that even seemed a bit cheesy.
'May the holder of this map always find his way.'
He gave me the feather back.
"Copy the same thing on the other map. I told you I was going to show you something."
I copied the line, looking curiously at the runes. He picked both papers up and laid them on his large desk.
"These are Elven runes, I could have used dwarven runes or something else, but you should understand these. Stand next to me and follow my instructions."
He placed his hand on the short phrase.
"Place your hand on your map like I did. Good... now try to visualize the map guiding you toward a destination of your choice. Anywhere is fine, but it is better if it's something simple. Imagine you can never get lost as long as the map guides you. Then when you are ready, try to push your mana inside the paper slowly. You need to feed it enough mana but not burn or tear it. I gave you paper made from a Manabark tree to make this step easier. It is sturdier than normal parchment and is absorbs mana naturally."
I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the map guiding me. I couldn't help but think of this children's cartoon that was still airing when I was a kid, even though it was already more than 50 years old then. I willed my mana out slowly, in the same way, I used mana shaping. I felt my mana gathering around the runes on the paper. After a few seconds, I felt that the entire phrase was "full" and couldn't absorb any more of it.
"Ding! Lifeskills unlocked: Enchanting. You've learned to imbue magic on items.
I opened my eyes and took the map in my hands. In addition to roads and points of interest written on the paper, on the town of Tornala, there was a dot with a small arrow pointing south. I turned around, and the arrow changed direction, pointing north. The map was showing my position and orientation.
I looked at the ancient elf, not knowing what to say. He shrugged and smiled.
"Don't worry, it is just some simple enchantment, the inks and paper you used are not that valuable. As long as you do not try to steal my phoenix feather, I would not lose too much with this transaction. It is always nice teaching curious and hardworking youth. Now go, I do not need a lot of sleep, but I still like to spend the night in my bed."
"Yes, you're right. Thank you, Elfael, and good night."
I kept the maps in my arms as he led me to the back door. He closed the door behind me. I ended alone in the alley, smiling as I looked at my skills again.
Lifeskills:
Drawing (lvl 1): Drawing speed and precision are improved as long as you have a clear image of what you want to draw. Increases the success rate of other Lifeskills by 10% if drawing is involved in the process.
Enchanting (lvl 0): Allows you to imbue materials with mana and increases enchantment success rate. Many enchantments are based on runes or drawings.