Magic Made Simple

Chapter 11: An Inevitable Problem

Unfortunately, I was not able to make detergent with mana-festation. After getting healed by Jeremy I'd gone down stream of the river near camp to wash off the robe. I had tried for a few minutes to make the cleaning substance, but found that I was completely unable to. I could make a puddle of mana that acted like a fluid, but whenever a drop broke off from the greater whole it just fizzled out of existence. This had led me down a bit of a rabbit-hole of testing the limits of the skill, and what I found was actually pretty interesting.

Any weapon I made with the skill was made entirely of one material. I wasn't actually sure what that material was, or if it was just mana in its purest form, but by all accounts it acted like a metal. I could make soft materials, like I had when I'd conjured a pillow a while back. The skill seemed to understand my intent when making an item. This had naturally led to seeing just how much my intentions effected what I was creating, and as it turns out it governs pretty much everything about the item.

I could make floppy swords, a blanket that was really flexible yet very heavy, a dense brick of mana that was extremely heavy, and I was even able to make a small cloud of mana that quickly dispersed and disappeared.

Sadly, I wasn't able to make any chemical compounds or anything else of that nature. Anything I made was made up of the same magical materials, and while I could change its physical properties I couldn't make anything like acid for example.

After I'd finished up testing what exactly I could and couldn't do with the skill, I'd gone back into camp to grab something to eat, but was cut off when Blair had spotted me entering camp. She had stopped what she was doing and ran right up to me.

"Did you find any strong monsters?" She asked, hopeful. That hope quickly faded when she saw that I was not dragging the carcass of a beast behind me.

"I did, but none that would have been good for armor making." I say.

"What did you find?"

"Kobolds."

She glares at me. "Those are perfectly fine for armor making. Their scales probably could have made something sturdy." She finally seems to notice the robe I was wearing and grabs the sleeve, inspecting it. "Where'd you find this?"

"It was worn by one of the kobolds." I say, gently tugging my arm back down to my side. She lets go of the sleeve and lets me reclaim the limb.

"If you find anything else like it, bring it to me."

"Why?"

"So I can study the craftsmanship. It would probably be pretty useful for you if I could make more things with enchantments like that siphoning one you got there. By the way, do you think you could turn that off? It's making my mana regenerate way slower than it should."

"Oh, sorry." I say, though I didn't know how to turn it off. I instead dump mana into it until it is full, but even then I can feel that it is drawing in mana from her and refilling my own reserves. I just take the robe off, hanging it over my shoulder instead. "Is that better?"

"Much. Now go and bring me something to work with!" She announces, before marching off to get back to her work.

The one to find me next on my quest to find food was Roderick, the head guard of the camp. This was my first time seeing him since I'd watched him and his team take out a goblin city. It felt like it had been forever ago, but in reality it had only been a few days.

"River, do you have a second?" He asks, talking quietly.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Come with me. I don't want anyone else hearing this."