After Chris and Amelia's confession or whatever that had been, Chris felt his cheeks red with embarrassment. He had never been in a relationship before and the emotions he felt right now were overwhelming. It was hard to think straight. This must be how it feels to fall in love. Not like love-love, but a strong infatuation that could grow into true love, he corrected himself.
Chris walked circles around the house, one lap, two laps and then on the third lap Amelia came out and joined him.
"There is something else I need to talk to you about. During the last few weeks when you were working at the village, I have been digging around for more information related to the prophecy and demon summoning. However I could not find much at the temple. I need to go to the town of Harborton. The fastest path leads through the forest and still takes about four days. Would you come along and protect me?" Amelia said the last sentence with a very innocent look on her face.
"I have seen your magic, so I don't know if you really need me, but I would happily go with you. If necessary I will guard you with my life!", Chris replied with an overly serious expression.
Amelia chuckled and led Chris to an empty field. "You should try something from your new spellbook before we leave. Perhaps it will aid us on our journey."
"It could take a while to figure out these new spells. When do we need to leave?", Chris replied.
"We should leave as soon as possible. I suggest that we prepare today and leave first thing tomorrow."
Chris nods at Amelia and tries to remember the basics he had read in the spelltome. It explained that there are three levels of energy crafting. The first level is to create something from energy that would disappear after a while once the energy dissipates. The second level is to reshape materials and potentially imbue them with energy for added magical properties. The third level is to create material from pure energy.
Chris had already memorized the steps for level one. He decided to try conjuring a blade, potentially a dagger. It would depend on how much energy he managed to draw forth and how well he could stabilize it.
"I will try to form a dagger out of energy.", he said to Amelia.
Chris started channeling energy into the palm of his hands until two balls of energy formed. He then brought his hands closer together and joined the two energies. Then he started to drag the energy out in both directions to form a long rod. Once he had a rod about a meter long he gathered some more energy and started reshaping the rod. First he created a handle to grip, then he moved to form the edge.
Amelia looked at Chris in awe. On his first try he had formed not just a short dagger, but a full sword. The details were getting clearer, but she still didn't see what kind of sword he was making.
"This is a sword inspired by an ancient technique from my world. It is called a Katana. A mastercrafted katana wielded by a master is said to be able to cut through steel without damage to itself.", Chris explained while he was working on the last details.
"It is hard to grasp the fact that you have created something so intricate and detailed with your energy. I am certain that this will prove useful on our journey. You should continue practicing your skills while I prepare supplies for us."
Amelia walked away in her long white robe. Chris watched her go and couldn't help but wonder what she looked like underneath the robe.
Once Amelia was out of sight Chris thought about his newfound power. He had actually managed to create a sword, but a lot of questions were racing through his head. How draining would this energy crafting be for him? He didn't feel very tired now, so that was probably a good starting point. How long would the energy last? What could he do with it? How efficient would it be in combat? Were there any weaknesses?
He certainly had a lot of questions. Chris thought to himself, the only thing I can do to figure out my capabilities with this power is to try it out more and so he would spend the rest of the day practicing.
Chris tried crafting an axe and went to cut down a tree. It was like cutting through butter. He managed to take down the tree in seconds, but then the axe disappeared. It seemed as though the energy dissipated faster when used or faced with resistance.
He tried crafting another axe, but focusing more energy into it. This time he actually felt a bit drained from the process. He tried taking down another tree with this new axe, it was just as easy as the first time and the axe was still strong afterward. He managed to cut down five trees with the new axe before the energy was spent and so was he. This was a great step forward, but he would need to rest for a moment before trying again.
During the rest of the evening Chris managed to craft a bunch of other shapes, including darts, daggers and shields of different shapes and sizes. Afterwards he felt completely drained, exhausted both physically and mentally.
Chris slowly made his way back to the temple to get some rest. The feeling of lying down was fantastic. Moments later he was fast asleep.