The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [22] Wendigo Nightmare

There was only a few more hours of sun as Tanisha submerged the sixth blue steel ingot into the basin. So far, she had not successfully infused any of the ingots and her continuous failures were weighing on her. The problem came from her control of the ambient mana after she placed an ingot in the basin. She could hold the mana stable for a few minutes but not the hour or so she would need. The mental strain was getting to her and she knew that continuing would most likely lead to even more failures.

Last one for today. Joel said he could just reforge them so no harm in trying.

Tanisha knew there was something she had to be doing wrong. Infusion was a higher level craft than potion making. Well the skill level for entry was much higher. The two both required decades to become proficient and centuries to master to the highest level. Tanisha knew she was at the very beginning of her journey, but that didn't stop her from getting more and more frustrated at the continuous failures.

She licked her lips as she lowered the ingot into the basin. Instantly she felt the ambient mana be drawn into the reaction. She curtailed the flow of power with her Ringularity Sage Core, but the weight of the ambient mana seemed to only grow straining her domination of the ambient flow. She was sweating profusely as the seconds moved slowly by and she felt each and every one take it sweet time.

A minute past then two, then ten as she struggled to the point she had both hands raised on opposite sides of her body as if she were holding back two walls from crushing her. The mental and magical weight caused her to breathe ragged breaths as the buildup of ambient mana finally collapsed. In moments it flooded into the infusion basin ruining another blue steel ingot.

"Ah! What the Infernal Planes, really?" Tanisha said between frustrated and labored breaths. "What am I doing wrong? How is anyone supposed to do this?"

Tanisha carefully removed the ruined metal from the basin and began the draining process by manipulating the mana around the object. Once it was fully drained she looked into the bottles of perfectly separated blood and powder. Tanisha was not sure how the basin could separate things so accurately, but she was too irritated to think too long about it.

She conjured a liquid water construct, the element of her power that solidified mana in a way that acted and looked like water while at the same time being just her mana. It had advantages in combat over actual water in the fact an enemy mage couldn't seize control of it mid fight and attack her with it. The drawback was the far steeper cost in mana and longer time it took to form. She wasn't using it for combat right now of course, but it was also superior for cleaning. It would not rust metals, it was totally in her control and would dissipate into the ambient mana once she was done.

After storing the blood and powder in her necklace storage she disassembled the basin and put it away as well. Frustrated she plucked her maya pipe from the air and smoked the enigmatic energy. The maya interacted with her differently now as she no longer had the traditional maya channels. The maya acted almost as a miner digging new tunnels. Once those tunnels in her body were made seiðr expanded them moving into the new expanse while the maya was assimilated. The progress was slow and the sensation oddly relaxing which is exactly what Tanisha wanted.

Tanisha looked at the now seven ruined ingots that would have to be reforged to be useful. "I don't want to have to tell Joel I messed up so many times," she grumbled. "But maybe he has some insight he could share. Tomorrow. I am done for today."

Tanisha pulled on her bond with Bjorn; she knew he had been in combat a few times thanks to the flare and intensity of his emotions several times throughout the day. She felt he was on the way back which was good since it would be night soon. Hunter animals and familiars could be out past curfew as some monsters were only active at night and skinwalkers didn't usually target non-humanoids. She was not technically a hunter and she was going to take Joha's advice about staying away from the skinwalker issue.