Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 227: Arc 4, Act II, - 72: Upgrades, People. Upgrades.
The twentieth floor. Chief Hernandeya walked through the wide open doors as the scent of metals permeated the vast interior, where their heads had to pull back to face the ceiling.
A white light seemed to emanate from nowhere, like a small Sun had been affixed like a chandelier. Customers sat facing members at desks, various items and objects in their midst.
"This is the Tools and Objects Department, my speciality. People come here to assess magical items, whether for their monetary value or to be sent to the Enchantment Department—which I am also a part of."
The chief put his arms out wide, tipping his head slightly and waving to his co-workers passing by. Jotou and Fumeko followed close behind, observing the ceilings that domed and the interior that all curved into a single door at the end.
"Do you also make stuff to be enchanted?" Fumeko queried.
"Depending on the ’stuff’, but yes. Sometimes we require the assistance of blacksmiths for weaponry and armourers for more complex designs.
Not everything can simply be enchanted; not permanently at least. Everything inherently contains mana, hence anything can be enchanted. However, depending on the materials and how much mana it inherently has, the enchantment may not last forever.
Metals and gems are much easier to enchant and their mana can be put in a sort of ’activated’ state shall we say. Many things can have inert mana; such as young kids with affinities that do not know it yet.
This department helps assess these kinds of things—specifically objects, not people. That is the service you requested today, isn’t it?" the chief opened the single door.
"Yes. Also, stuff to be made enchanted and repairs," Jotou replied.
"Come, come, let us discuss then." The deep charcoal desk rounded the back of the room, with a lavish seat behind it. A few chairs sat in front, likely for clients and visitors.
There were shelves of books, a couple of sofas and coffee tables. What took the gaze of them however, was the large curving window that watched over the heights of trees of the park behind—the sunlight fragmenting into the interior.
Jotou set the things she held aside and lifted her folded adventuring attire, to find the sheath in it before pulling out the Skyslayer and placing it atop.
The chief took a seat and swivelled in his chair, elbows on the table. A few contraptions and small engineering supplies lied strewn about the desk.
"First off," Jotou grabbed her adventuring attire and took a seat next to Fumeko. She traced her finger along the enchanted fabric, "I’ve sent this for repairs before. It’s enchanted, but I don’t really know how the process works.
Just some minor tears and scuffs," she handed it over. The chief examined the marks she pointed out. His eyes flickered in flame and her attire glowed red for a moment.
He smiled, "Shouldn’t be a problem, just some minor enchantments."
"Well I was hoping to get it more enchanted, I kinda needed an upgrade. Wait, what do you mean by minor? It’s supposed to be as good as heavy metal."
"I can see how that could be a technicality. The choice and combination of enchantments certainly deserves commendation to mimic higher level enchantments.
It’s not the same as plated armour and not as strong. There are cheap enchantments on this attire that can protect you and give comfort.
However, Pale-Protection is an intermediate level enchantment spell. This also has mild flame protections, waterproofing, Dust-Defy and Breathable; a couple expert level.
The ingenuity here is that each layer of fabric is enchanted in such a way where the enchantments can be stacked on top of each other. Economical sure, this goes a long way.
These seem to be bullet wounds; if shot through enough times it might as well be normal fabric. That’s the flaw in this. Enough jabs at the first layer, then the entire enchantment weakens. And you could have multiple layers, but a bullet would shoot right through.
Not to mention, any magic-related damage would have a much easier time breaking through. Also, this attire cannot at all protect you from being bludgeoned; concussions would still harm you."
"So... it’s not good and probably needs an upgrade?"
"If it has helped you this far then your skills have certainly aided you in the endeavour. We can replicate the attire and enchant it, sure.
Once something is enchanted permanently, it can’t be enchanted again with something else. That’s why all enchantments are placed before the finalization. Think of it as tempering a blade; it’s a little too late to change the fuller."
"Okay then... Any recommendations on enchantments?"
"We can replicate the ones made for comfort, that should be no issue. Perhaps, Mana-Defence at a grandmaster level? Projectile Guard would also be useful."
Fumeko’s eyes were darting around the room till they caught onto something. "Why do you need that?" she pointed to a rifle in the corner.
"Hm? Oh, the chief of the army has commissioned for enchantments on some firearms and bullets; mainly to deal some magical damage.
I’m tinkering with it. He requests to mimic the magi-technology that Burnetrout and Luxinor possess in some of their firearms.
Thing is, without proper blueprints, it’s less about magic and more so about intricacy. Mana dust is not the easiest thing to manage. A lot of things could go wrong with designs like these."
"Couldn’t you just enchant it? I thought anything can be," the brunette snarked.
"Ha! It can, but this is not something known throughout the ages. I would have to make a brand new enchantment entirely; perhaps something based off of enchantments used on bows and arrows. What else do you require?"
"I want this," Fumeko blinked and grabbed her clothes, "Enchanted; most powerful ones you got!"
The chief stared at the poofy-shouldered white shirt and pinafore... "If you want this design, sure, an armourer can mimic it. There are no components to make enchantments permanent on this."
"Yeah, yeah, make something new with it. Just don’t ruin it, I like that pinafore."
"Noted..."
"Then this probably needs to be mimicked too," Jotou handed over Asobi’s clothes. ’She tried coming up with designs and yet somehow it all ended up some sort of magician’s attire.’ "Spice it up a bit, maybe add some things too."
"Flexibility is preferred. I will be visiting the palace in a few days to take specific requests, I’ll bring designs and updates then."
"Had to schedule it after we scheduled this," Fumeko shook her head.
"Something cleared up in my schedule is all. What of this sword then?"
"Nothing really. It’s already enchanted, but if you wanna take a look at it for the sake of it. There’s an enchantment on it that makes it unbreakable; I was hoping to put that on the adventuring gear."
The chief examined it, his eyes flickering with flame once again and the sword glowed red. "Powerful... The blade itself is carbonized steel, but is coated in armite. The enchantment on it has been tempered over and over to get the effect of a higher level enchantment, like it was made by an inexperienced mage—clever though.
Armite is a soft alloy, but fortunately the enchantments on it remove that flaw; it’s an artistic blade. Given the enchantments, it could fetch I would say, anywhere from six hundred fifty to seven hundred armite."
Both their eyes bubbled. "You’ve been carrying around something that expensive!?"
"...It was Moren’s..." the blonde’s fingers started to shiver.
The chief chuckled, "The usage of it is the reason the price is even dulled. However, given your fame and a collector willing to pay, this could be worth much more; in the thousands even."
Fumeko nearly drooled. "Let’s not tell this to a lot of people, shall we?" Jotou raised a nervous brow.
"Do not worry, I don’t intend on telling anyone of this. Although, the Indestructible enchantment is made for firm objects; things that are not meant to change.
Metallic armour can use it, but the garments you requested are made with dexterity and flexibility in mind. They would feel like stiff fabric that cannot be shifted."
"I’ll leave it to the expert then. Tamara Palace’ll be paying for the expenses," Jotou handed the letter.
"I need this to be assessed too," Fumeko pulled out her dagger from her sock, unwrapping the cloth she folded it in.
The glossy magenta metal pinged onto the table. "It was made by a madman in a tent in the desert. He had no magic but this can cut through literally anything."
The chief stared at it before picking it up. He narrowed his eyes and leaned closer. Under the sunlight, the gleam of the metal wisped through the blade, like tiny bits of purple glitter all shifting within.
"Hm..." his eyes flickered in flame. "...There is a powerful trace of mana, but there are no enchantments. The base of the dagger itself is a type of spring steel, but the outer layer...
The outer layer has mana dust—purified—unlike I’ve ever seen. However, it seems to be some sort of mana dust and metal alloy I cannot comprehend... Curious."
He returned his attention to the two, handing the dagger back. "If I knew the process, perhaps I could ascertain how exactly it was made. It is the antithesis of the sword.
From what I can understand, based on my limited knowledge of magi-technology, this dagger has minuscular particles that are in constant motion, within the metal that is stagnant.
It’s an oxymoron objectified. In theory, the wielder must push the metal in order for it to take effect.
The tiny particles within, shred whatever it comes into contact with; the more pressure applied, the faster it shreds through. Like termites eating away at wood."
Jotou smirked, "You have a dagger made of constantly hungry termites that can eat anything."
"Don’t put it like that!"
"It’s very intriguing how something like that can be placed within an unshifting metal," the chief’s eyes darted to the ceiling and pondered.
"Something like that must have an expiration. If it’s made of mana dust, then it must be the fuel. Meaning eventually, this dagger will lose its lustre and with it, its ability."
"Huh!?" Fumeko slammed her hands on the table and stood. "Then how do I refuel it?"
"With whatever means this dagger was first made I presume..." Chief Hernandeya recoiled slightly.
"Mana dust," Jotou replied. "And you’ve been using it all over the place," her head turned to Fumeko.
"AHH!!!"
"Worry not... When the blade becomes duller, it means it’s losing its ability. This still seems very potent, I doubt you would need to ’refuel’ it for years to come, depending on the usage."
"Can you enchant it? With the Indestructible enchantment? Make it never lose fuel!?" Fumeko leaned forward.
"I don’t believe there is such an enchantment... However, the former can be done." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"Done!" Fumeko placed the dagger back on the table.
"Alright, that’s four hundred armite."
Fumeko gagged, "WHAT!?"
"The Indestructible enchantment. It is a grandmaster level enchantment after all. There are lesser enchantments that can give it the same purpose if you wish. Indestructible is for extreme cases."
"How much will that run us...?" Jotou cocked her head.
"Hm, around fifty to a hundred armite."
"Hell," Jotou muttered under her breath.
"This guy’s talking about armite like copper pieces; I bet Kor would at least give us a discount! I mean we are going to war you know! It’s orders from Tamara Palace itself!" Fumeko stood on her chair.
"Please get off the seats... I understand that you two have arrived from Kria. Kria’s prices are famously low, that is not the case here.
Even so, an enchantment like that, assuming there is an enchanter that can enchant it, would still cost three hundred fifty armite at minimum."
"We’re already commissioning adventuring gear, Tamara Palace might go broke if we do the dagger," Jotou reasoned.
Fumeko blinked back down and grumpily swiped the dagger back, "Hmph!"
"We’ll take our leave now, thank you," Jotou smirked and got up.
