[ Editors Note- Grimm: This chapter is a little bit of an info dump, so be prepared for that. Also, once again this story is a gradual build, and my brother and my I will not rush it as we find it fun to slowly up the stakes.
Also also, there will be harem elements so if that is an issue I do suggest you leave now.
Also also also, any stones and comments are much appreciated, and if you catch any mistakes let me know.
-Grimm ]
Two days, Erwin had been waiting patiently for two whole days for this very moment.
Currently, he sat upon one of the many metal stools inside what could only be described as a workshop; piles of random trinkets, metal scraps here and there, and tools that the previous canon Erwin most likely was working on.
However, that was not what had his interest, but the door to the workshop which opened and allowed a pot bellied man to walk in. A metal suitcase five feet wide and four feet across followed diligently behind him like a dog, hovering a foot over the stone floor.
The older man was bald, a beard that hid away his neck, eyes that were focused yet carried an air of mischief, and a tattoo that looked like a tire track going over the right side of his shining scalp.
Erwin watched closely, his eyes drawn to the suitcase that without issue found a place next to the work table, but then the next words brought him back to the figure before him.
"Erwin Everett, son of Eddie Everett. I knew that your Father's company was rich but he rarely paraded his wealth, to think that man had a castle, though it is small compared to some I have seen."
Erwin smiled, "Nice to meet you Horace Jewels."
The short man stopped, gave a small glance toward Erwin, then exhaled heavily, "Let me see what you have made, I will critique it, then we can make a few practice weapons that are relatively low maintenance. Greetings and small talk are only wasting time with the schedule we have.Now, where are your artifacts?"
Erwin shook his head, "I have yet to make any weapon artifacts, it is why I had my Father contact you."
Thankfully, he could be more direct, as from the tidbits of panels that were shown in Love and Artifacts of Erwin crafting, he seemed confident. Like a sports analyzer that would have unmoving conviction when it came to analytics and names, but would fumble the second he was given a biology question.
"The academy terms start in a month son, in what way can I teach you the art of crafting weapons in such a short time?"
Horace begrudgingly took a seat on the stool across from Erwin, grabbing a tube of liquid and swishing it around. The liquid went from clear to green, eliciting a small nod from Horace.
"It is why my Father is paying you so much, so um… please do your best."
Erwin noticed how he was talking too easily, so unfortunately he would need to reign in his assertiveness.
'Just enough to get what I need.'
Horace took a long survey of the workshop, huffed out a small breath, then settled his storm gray eyes on Erwin, "First, what do you know already, and what tier is your [Material Control] at?"
Erwin lost the smile he had been holding, the coming conversation going to be really hard to weave through, "Still at common, and to be frank, most of my knowledge on crafting artifacts is low, elementary even."
Horace sat in silence, well except for the timely scratch of his beard, and then the grunt he made in frustration.
"I guess the extra mares your Father gave me were not out of generosity, but because of how difficult it would be. Although, one thing I still do not understand is why you will only be taught by me in the morning, your father mentioning another tutor for the afternoon?What are they going to teach you?"
Erwin shrugged, "Combat basics."
Horace digested the words quickly, "Fair, never a bad thing to learn how to handle a weapon, and from your hands I can tell that has never even crossed your mind. Excuse my lack of ass kissing, but life in this castle must have been a great blessing and curse"
"I know." Erwin clenched his petite hands into fists. "I know how weak I am."
"Good, then we can begin.
To start off with what many know. Artifacts follow the same tier system as Sigils, those being [Common] white, [Uncommon] green, [Rare] blue, [Epic] purple, [Legendary] orange, [Ascendant] red, and finally [Sacred] rainbow. Each tier allows for more modifications and possibilities, A [Common] dagger may be a little sharp, but an [Uncommon] dagger will always be sharper, while a [Rare] one will allow for ranged attacks, the ability to generate poison, and or have a shield that protects the hand that wields it.
Anything is possible, all you need is a healthy dose of imagination and the right materials.
Also, at most one can only wield two artifacts, with each tier allowing another one to be added on. So for [Common] ranked adventures or knights, they can at best wield two, while [Rare] tiered can possibly wield four."
Erwin nodded along, a lot of what Horace had said he found out himself through his last two days of research. The tiers of sigils and artifacts were known from reading the manhwa, but one thing that he did not remember being mentioned was the limit on artifacts.
'Why can't someone just wield a plethora of high tiered loot and destroy anything in their path?'
Curious, Erwin asked just that, "Why can't someone wield a dozen artifacts right off the bat, would that not be the most optimal?"
Horace, snorting in what was possibly displeasure, responded, "That is common knowledge, but if you want the details then it's because artifacts need a portion of the mana pool inside the body to be used. At the [Common] tier your pool is small, so at most you could wield three, but then how would you power your Sigils?"
Erwin went deep into thought, crossing out the idea of using his Father's wealth to buy high tiered gear to just breeze through anything that stood in front of him, the idea was sadly trashed. He knew how important it was to divide your mana pool evenly.
Sigils, the mainstay power of this world, demanded mana to flow through specific patterns to receive a desired effect, and it seemed artifacts also took a permanent amount of that mana pool to operate.
'If someone had a mana point of ten, sigil use would need five, while each artifact wielded would take two from the original number. At the end, pay to win is not an option'
Erwin exhaled at the thought that this was going to be harder than he initially thought. A new world, tons of adventures to be had, but an equal amount of danger and the looming darkness of the unknown. He knew the major events that would plague the world of Albion, but that did not account for the smaller issues that could reap Erwin's life if he was not careful.
Time, Erwin needed more time, but he was not going to continue acting as canon Erwin any longer than need be. The thought of living such a hell would counteract the joy, or whatever he was feeling about being in the world of Albion.
He was stuck here for the time being, and unless he found the upgrades and cheats of the MC, then he would not rise to the top of the world in a few steps. There were certain objects that Erwin contemplated taking form the main cast, but then it would make them weaker, and if he wanted to live a somewhat peaceful life then weakening the ones who would confront the world ending dangers was a risk.
He was not going to do what many in his sitatuiton did, which was rob the MC of their powers, then be forced to intervene in every little conflict because said MC became nothing more than fodder.
Erwin wanted to see the world of the Beyond, and to do that he needed his own power, while allowing the main cast to keep theirs.
'There could possibly be cheats out there that the MC and his harem did not indulge in, but where would I even start. I can't spend forever looking in every hole and turning over every stone hoping to find something to boost my power. I need to create my own source, fuel my own ambitions.
Fuel… source of power… batteries.'
Erwin's eyes widened, and it did not go unnoticed by Horace.
"You got more questions?"
Erwin paused, contemplating whether to ask what he just thought of, or to keep quiet.
Steeling his resolve, and the possibility of seeing a path forward, he asked the question surfacing on the ocean of ideas he had been drowning in ever since he transmigrated.
"Batteries, can you use batteries?"
Horace raised an eyebrow, "As an artifact, perhaps if it was small enough, compact, and did not take too much mana to use. Although, most gates could just be taken down by disassembling any wards shielding the thing. Battering rams, you sure think a little too big, anything not able to be wielded on the body is called a Contraption, we can cover that if you so desire."
Erwin smiled, so wide that it threatened to pass his ears. If he could make mana batteries, it could supplement the usage of a mana pool. Of course he would need to experiment, learn to store mana in the first place, and then learn how to send the stored mana to an artifact to be used.
"You sure like battering rams, you smile like my mother who caught me in a lie."
Dismissing Horace's comment and donning his facade as canon Erwin, he looked away and forced himself to blush by thinking of embarrassing things he did when he was younger.
"Sorry, I got carried away with my own thoughts… Can we get started on crafting?"
Horace narrowed his eyes, "Well, you know the basics, and anything you don't know I can fill in as we go, now, let us start with your Evolution Trait [Material Control]"
The suitcase that had been idly floating next to Horace opened up to reveal dozens of bags of different materials. Some sacks had purple crystals, others metal rods, a few wood planks and sphere, and other assortments of things.
Horace snapped his fingers, and a bag from the suitcase disappeared, reappearing in his hands as he let the contents fall to the wooden table as he turned it over.
"Now, Evolution traits are like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. It comes naturally, just like breathing, but just because you can breathe does not mean you are doing it correctly."
The fat man took a single piece of freshly cut bark that looked like any old bark taken from a regular tree and handed it to Erwin who was patiently sitting and watching.
"Now, make it float."
Erwin blinked rapidly for a second, not sure that it could be that easy. He knew Evolution traits were the true advantage that each class gave to its weidler, and that without it classes were for the most part useless. Basic Traits would never improve, so Erwin's [Common Copper Skin] would forever be stuck at the lowest tier.
Evolution traits however, could improve infinitely, or well to the known ceiling of this world [Sempiternal], which was a tier that even Horace did not know of. Only those at the strongest percentile would discover it, so it was not common knowledge to most if not all.
Erwin knew from his future knowledge that at the moment no one in existence has reached the level, not until Hal Haywood opened up the Gate of Eden, which was canonically five years from now.
Focusing back on the task at hand, Erwin tried his best to make the piece of bark float, but to no surprise it stayed firmly on his open palm.
"What am I doing wrong?"
Horace frowned, "Do you not even know about mana injection?"
Erwin recalled it being mentioned a few times in the books he read the last two days, but he was focused more on what his class could do and the possibilities rather than the basics, because that was what Horace was for.
"God above, you do not, I should be getting another thousand mares for this, but it is quite simple. [Material Control] works alongside mana injection. You inject your mana into any material that has been refined, and if your mana quality is good enough you can control it. Watch."
It took only a moment for the man to grab one of the many pieces of wood, the air to fluctuate, and the bark to flash with an aura of white before going back to normal.
Then, the wood floated up, and began to orbit around Horace's head a few times before resting on the table.
"Though the distance is at most two yards, it will be the primary way of making weapon artifacts. Now you do it."
Erwin nodded, closed his eyes and looked inward. In the very expanse of darkness, a measly azure pool spanning maybe ten feet could be seen. Focusing hard, he drew out a river to flow from the pond, the flow of mana tracing up his arm and meeto a little resistance at the tips of his fingers.
With another push however, the mana seeped into the bark, and just like when Horace did it, the entire thing flashed white for a second before returning to regular old wood.
'Interesting, the flash of color indicates [Common], and is this my first encounter with magic? Cool.'
Erwin watched in pure awe and bliss as the wood slowly floated out of his grasp and into the air.
The feeling of the bark was different than just touch, as if he understood the properties of the material and its possibilities. The bark gave him the sense of sturdiness along with the feeling of being lightweight. A material that was super light, and gave some semblance of protection, nothing more and nothing less.
"Each material has a speciality, but with anything in the common tier it's nothing worthwhile, only in the higher ones do things get interesting." Horace gestured toward the floating wood. "Now, everyday till the academy starts you will need to try to inject mana into the tier above whatever your [Material Control] is at, meaning that for now focus on [Uncommon], which is as far as you will go in the span of a month. "
"Understood." Erwin simply responded as he made the wood rotate around his head like Horace did, the feeling so alien yet completely natural.
It was exciting beyond belief, to do something so magical, despite the fact it was limited to materials and not just anything in general.
Thinking more on the fact he had a weakened version of telekinesis, Erwin wanted to test its capabilities. Not now when there were more important matters, but when he had private time to do so he would.
He was beginning to form a long list, and it was going to only get longer as time went on.
Firstly he needed to understand the key components of his class, wield it better so he could start catching up to others who were currently eighteen and have been training since they gained their class at sixteen. He would need to be clever, so next he needs to dive fully into the idea of mana batteries, ways to abuse his [Material Control], and get ready to start his first semester at an academy that would throw him to the wolves in the name of getting 'stronger'.
'I will not hide, I will not bide my time, I will not wait. This new life, no matter if I chose it or not, will be lived the way I want it too. Naive? Probably. Better than acting gay for almost twleve hours a day? Definitely.'
"Now, we make a dagger." Horace snapped and a bag full of simple iron ingots was emptied next to the pile of wood and bark.
Erwin focused, and along with Horace guiding him, the next few hours went by in practically a blur.
In the end, the simple dagger Erwin held could be summarized in a single word, misshapen.
The curve of the metal was just wrong, the bark had cracks and the wood beneath it was no different. Sharpness was a far cry from the blunt edge Erwin ran his finger along, and the weight distribution would make scales runaway in horror.
It was downright atrocious, but surprisingly Horace gave it a nod of appreciation, "Better than my first, I never even explained the part about fusing the different hardness of materials, but somehow you just figured it out."
Erwin blushed and looked away, "Thank you sir."
Horace gave him a side glance before continuing, "To give you a quick summary, wood would be classified as resilient hardness, most metals are at rigid hardness, and anything above that is crystal hardness, and below resilient is just soft."
Erwin mentally wrote it down, then taking another moment to look at the god awful knife he had now placed on the table, he noticed the handle was actually sharper than the blade itself.
'How awful'
Unfortunately, timed seemed to have slipped away from the two, a knock on the door and the appearance of a certain old butler alerting Erwin it was time for combat training,
"Do I cancel your combat training young master or-"
"It will be fine Charles, I will be changed and at the courtyard in a few minutes." Erwin responded with a weak smile.
Charles stood there with an aggravated look, wanting to insist that learning combat for a -Magical Crafter- was pointless but alas, his love for the Erwin was too much, eliciting a small frown before he disappeared.
Erwin gave a small bow to Horace who did not seem bothered by his quick departure, only a word uttered from his lips.
"Tomorrow."
Erwin nodded, turned and left, following the folded tablecloths back to his room. He changed into a simple sleeveless white shirt and slacks that were apparently the closest thing he had to workout wear.
'Come to think about it, most of the formal wear here is of the Victorian era, the dresses of women not revealing anything except their cleavage, while men wear fancy suits, top hats and fedoras.'
Begrudgingly, Erwin would have to get used to the fashion of this world, unless he went and made his own, which was feasible but farther down on his lists of many things to do.
He headed toward where he would meet his combat teacher, letting his thoughts roam back to his time on Earth.
Although he was keeping himself away from such heavy things, a smile did appear as he let the joy of not being in client meetings and having to scan through hundreds of emails come to him.
If he kept thinking of the positive things, then his mindset would not slow him down, and maybe when there was a resting period between the dangerous and world ending arcs of Love and artifacts, then just maybe he could dig up the emotions he had buried at the moment.
'Later,' was all he thought as he finally found the small dirt courtyard that the guards used to work out and practice their Sigil use. They had been told to use the other one as this one was now exclusively for Erwin, which he would not complain about one bit. Most of the castle was occupied by the workers and their families, as owning a castle was one of the few things you could do once you were rich in this world.
Maybe a boat would be next, but everyone knew the oceans in the Beyond were ten times more frightening than land. At the very least you had enough space to usually move around in, while at sea you had best protect your boat with everything you had.
There were only three natural lakes in the human realm, and the three main academies surrounded them, using them for practice so one could understand naval combat to some degree.
Dropping his thoughts and focusing on the only figure in the clearing, Erwin had realized the man wore the same simple silver armor of the guards, which was not surprising as Charles would never allow an outsider with real weapons to come close to him.
Despite the fact that no one would really want to kill him except for competitors, and even then there were probably easier ways than trying to bribe a combat tutor who inherently would care about their students.
"Hello young master." The simple guard smiled and gave a curt bow, his shaggy black hair falling down as he did. "My name is York."
Erwin looked away, playing up the act that he was awkward as he fumbled over a simple hello.
York rose to a staggering height of 6'5. But Erwin was able to meet him on eye level thanks to the power of BL. York seemed to blush at their eye contact, and Erwin noticed such a thing immediately.
'No way right?'
Erwin did not dwell on the fact York would steal glances at him as he spoke about their future training, "I will teach you the basics of combat, how to instinctively react and when to attack or defend. However, sigils will not be covered, as your Father is paying too much for your academy enrollment for us to do it ourselves and-."
York stopped talking as he forcefully looked away, "Ah um, young master can you stop staring, it's hard."
Erwin almost choked, "It's hard?"
York nodded, "Yes, to focus on anything, you are very handsome afterall."
'Oh thank god, I thought he meant- nevermind.'
"I apologize, can we please start sir?"
York nodded, "Un, now grab one of the wooden spears over there and we can begin."