While Raze gazed at the magical robe, he began to reminisce about his days of studying when he had learned about the creation of magical items.
Creating a magical item was usually a rather intricate process because there were several components that needed to be in place for it to work. Firstly, a magic formation had to be created, and depending on these formations, they would yield different effects on items.
Moreover, not all items could have the same formations applied to them. In this case, there was a lot of trial and error, and errors were costly because the materials would still be used up.
Other factors that needed to align were the Star magic of the user and the quality of materials. Since Raze was a 1-star mage, he could only employ 1-star formations, and given he only possessed a basic beast crystal, or as they called it in this world, a basic power stone, it could only be used for 1-star formations.
So, the mage's level, knowledge of higher formations, and the quality of the power stone used on the right equipment all had to be there. A significant part of being a skilled and gifted mage was one's dedication to research and studying, something Raze had done abundantly, maybe even more than usual, as it had propelled him to become a 9-star mage.
There was even more to creating magical items than this, though, and that was the type of magic used. Although the formations added basic effects from the crystal, the type of magic would slightly alter those effects.
For instance, if a health potion was created with the same formation and crystal but with light magic in one instance and wind magic in another, the two potions might have different effects. The one with light magic might heal more, while the wind magic potion might restore health and enhance the user's agility.
This was precisely why it was essential for mages not to focus solely on one attribute.
However, Raze only possessed Dark magic, which had its unique effects. The formations he had used would give items the effect as if a tier-2 or maybe even a tier-3 formation had been employed, making the items more potent than others. The downside was that all the items were cursed, and the cursed effect could change each time.
[Basic Cursed Magic Robe]
[The magic robe can be concealed within the current user's clothing and summoned at will.]
[The magic robe is capable of lowering the user's visibility (with increased effectiveness at night).]
[The magic robe can store items in a separate space. The stored items cannot be larger than the robe itself, and each item stored will occupy a certain amount of storage space.]
"The third effect, storage, is what I was aiming for. If I'm going to continue gathering power stones, then I need a place to hide them so that the same thing that happened last time doesn't occur again," Raze thought. "The other effects are additional, though. I originally chose a robe because I wanted to conceal my face when encountering more people and sneaking around, but these additional effects might come in handy."
Taking a deep breath, it was time to read what the cursed effects were because it was quite possible that they would outweigh the positive effects, making it better to just throw the item away.
[The robe is bound to the user and cannot be used by others.]
[Once a week, the item must absorb one Basic Tier power stone.]
[If no power stone is given, then one item will be taken from the storage at random.]
[If there are no items, then the robe will destroy itself.]
Raze scratched his head furiously. Why, out of all the possible effects, did the robe have to have this type of effect at his current stage?
"Why, out of all things, did it have to be a crystal? If I hadn't used dark magic, then it wouldn't have had any of these effects. I guess it's not too bad; I could just take all the items out once a week and throw a stone in there or something. That should work, right? It depends on where I am and the situation I'm in."
The good news was that, based on the information provided, the crystal in the robe would require feeding in a week from now.
Now, three crystals remained that he could use, and he already had an idea of what he wanted to do. Searching around, he found an alchemical bottle with a cork on top. It was clear and see-through. Next, he went to the sink at the back of the shop, which was more of a plastic tube embedded in the wall connected to who knew what.
The flow of water was blocked by a small plastic cap that needed to be removed to let the water flow. Raze recognized it from his time at the temple, where they used similar caps to clean dishes.
After filling up one bottle with water, Raze did the same with another, leaving him with two filled bottles.
Returning to the magic circle drawn on the ground with the available chalk in the shop, he adjusted the formation, placed one of the bottles in the center, and activated the circle with magic again. The liquid inside illuminated before turning into a dark blue color, almost purple, indicating that the item had been successfully created.
[Cursed Basic Mana Potion]
[Will restore the person's mana to its maximum capacity for 1 minute.]
Reading this, Raze didn't know whether to laugh or cry. A normal mana potion would have restored a portion of one's mana permanently. In this case, the mana restored was the entirety of the user's mana, but it would last for only one minute, rendering the effect short-lived.
The reason Raze wanted a more basic mana potion was so he could hunt for longer periods in a shorter time frame. For a mage, mana was their lifeline. There were superior potions at higher tiers that could provide unlimited mana use for a certain duration, but it would be a while until he acquired one of those.
He repeated the process with the second bottle and received the same effect, but it made him wonder as he looked at it.
"What would happen if a Pagna warrior took one of these? Would it restore their Qi?" Raze pondered. "Their cultivation techniques based on Qi were able to increase the strength of my magic core, so maybe if they took this, it would have a similar effect. In the first place, Qi and Mana seem to be the same type of energy; the difference lies in how a person uses it."
The issue was, having used one power stone to create such a potion, Raze didn't want to give it away for free, especially considering its effects.
Finally, Raze held the last basic power stone in his hand. "I'll be keeping you," Raze said with a smile.
"It looks like I'm going to need more stones to reach the next Star level, and they're quite useful in this world as well. So I guess I'll be going back to that place again," Raze thought.