There were three enchanting supply shops on the main campus, and one in the “old university” area nearer to the tower. Of them, the ones on the main campus were all similarly priced. The one in the old university was more expensive, but had a broader variety. Apparently, climbers often sold their findings from the tower there, and the shopkeeper resold them at a profit.
I spent the most time in that old university shop, the “Climber’s Court”. The title came from the place’s function as a meeting place for Climbers, as well as serving as a general store for supplies needed for tower expeditions. Almost everything there was outside of my price range, but I spent four silver sigils on a lesser mental mana crystal in exchange for permission to copy down the runes on the magical items that were being sold there.
The shopkeeper, a retired climber named Lars Mantrake, was happy to regale me with the stories he’d heard from the adventurers who sold him the items — or, in some cases, the ones he’d picked up personally as a younger man.
He had a lot of inventory. That meant a lot of runes to copy.
I could have found most of the same runes in the books in the library, but there was a big advantage to studying them on actual items. By looking at the items with my attunement active, I could see the exact proportions of mana that were used in each individual rune. That made it much easier to conceptualize than just looking at “22.7 units of gray mana” in a stuffy tome.
By the end of that week, I’d managed to recharge my shield sigil by transferring mana out of the lesser mental mana crystal I’d purchased. It was a huge victory for me, the first time I’d successfully moved mana from something other than myself into an item.
Somehow Jin, being the creepy and amazing guy that he was, seemed to know about it immediately. He confronted me after classes at the end of the week.
“Corin. You have been studying creating magical items.”
I nodded. I was an Enchanter; it was a safe admission.
“I’d like you to make some for me.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. Commissions? I hadn’t even made an item on my own yet. “What sorts of items?”
He handed me a list.
There were nearly thirty items on it.
“Uh... I know I owe you a couple significant favors, but this may be a little bit beyond my abilities.”
“Why is that?” he asked, brow furrowing. He didn’t look angry, just some combination of confused and frustrated.
I wasn’t exactly going to admit I hadn’t managed to make an item completely by myself yet. That, while perfectly reasonable at this point in the year, sounded embarrassing in my head.
“I don’t have anywhere near enough materials, nor the means to afford them,” I said instead. That was just as true.
“I can secure materials. What do you need?”
That warranted raising both eyebrows, but quickly turned my attention back to the list.
Item that allows for creation of aura of shadows.
Item that allows for invisibility at will.
Item that removes sound from movements.
...
It wasn’t exactly how I would have would have listed things, but I understood the goals, at least.
These were not exactly simple things to build.
I read a little further, beginning to sense patterns.
Item that allows for the projection of an illusory self.
Item that allows for the detection of invisible targets.
Item that enables the wearer to see through walls.
Item that allows the wearer to see in the dark.
Most of the items were themed toward subterfuge and detection, but some of them were awfully specific. Specific like the kinds of things you’d be expected to demonstrate in a class for a certain attunement.
I folded the list. “You want to be able to fake having other attunements.”
“Yes.”
I was surprised by the confirmation. “...Why?”
“I’m taking the classes for three different attunements,” he admitted. “I must successfully meet the requirements for each of them.”
Well, that certainly helps support my “Jin is obviously in Spider Division” hypothesis.
It was tempting to ask him about Spider Division more directly, but I decided that it was probably more polite to be more discrete, at least for the moment. He would have volunteered that information if he’d wanted to.
I raised a hand to my chin, considering. “This is so you can keep it secret which attunement you actually have?”
“Good,” he said, voice wry. “You understand.” His lips twitched upward, but only for a moment before he looked away.
Well, I understood what he was going for, but I still didn’t understand why he needed to do that.
Something about his searching for Spider Division, maybe? I’d almost forgotten about that in the face of the much more serious problems at hand.
I tried looking at his aura with my attunement; I couldn’t resist. All it took was a blink.
Nothing. No aura.
Was it possible they’d let him into the school without an attunement?
I doubted that very seriously.
That meant he was either already wearing an item that blocked my vision — very possible — or he had an attunement that did the same. The Shadow Attunement, maybe.
“Okay. You said you could get materials, but this is going to require a lot of them. Some of these enchantments are not going to be trivial, and I may not be able to complete them all immediately. I don’t even know if they’re all possible at my level of expertise; some of them might be Carnelian-level or higher.”
“I understand,” he replied. He looked me in the eye, and his expression held something like relief as he said, “I trust you will complete this to the best of your ability.”
I... still hadn’t accepted, but sure. He was so earnest with the request that I couldn’t really refuse. “If I write down the materials that I need for each of these, you can get them somehow?”
“Yes,” he replied simply.
“How?”
He folded his hands in front of him. “My family is Dalen.”
I’d figured he was from another kingdom from his appearance, but that didn’t explain the resources in itself. “I’m not sure I understand. You’re from Dalenos. ...Why does that matter?”
He shook his head once. “No. House Dalen.”