Advanced Enchantment Techniques 3 – Break

“Catherine what are the three steps of Enchantment?” Uklag asks suddenly. He has spent the last few minutes silently standing around. “Infusion, Source, Condition.” Catherine answers the question “Yes, and once an Enchantment is complete what did I tell you?” “Only Infusions can be added, Source and Condition will always stay the same.”

“Exactly. Now, take everything you have learnt.” Uklag grins broadly. “And toss it into a fire. What have I taught you are the rules for novices, once you reach my level, you likely never will but you can hope, you can break them. Now showing it is really unspectacular so just take my word for it.”

Catherine looks confounded. “What exactly are you breaking? The rule about Charge or Condition?” “Everything.” Uklag states, that doesn’t help her student at all and he sighs at her continued confusion. “Okay, look at my staff.” They both do. “This thing is enchanted a total of eight times. As I have explained to you once before I have achieved that by using different parts of the staff, namely the lines of metal, for different enchantments. That is a workaround, achievable by most Enchanters.”

Uklag raises his staff a bit. “But very few of the enchantments I have used are normal. The flame uses a dual source, making it so that it consumes more of the charged energy depending on how much I Cast into it. Then there is the water shield that is linked to the ice spell but has several conditions to meet. While the water shield will activate when fire is sensed or a projectile above a threatening speed, the ice will only activate once the projectile has pierced the water shield. There are many other conditions in place to ensure my survival.

There is also my secret weapon with triple source, but telling you about it now would be boring.” Catherine looks satisfied by that explanation. “How exactly is a triple source impressive though?” Dorian asks, “Besides the obvious ‘it is hard to do’ part.”

Uklag raises an eyebrow. “Think about it. The staff is absorbing a bit of my energy each moment I hold unto it, only so much I don’t really notice it. Each passing moment it gets a bit stronger and charges itself. Then once I put an actual cast into it and fulfil the condition it will not only release the power of the spell I used but also all the power I have but into it consciously and passively. Parasitic, Charged and Cast Source all in one glorious spell.”

Catherine smiles at the thought of the destruction that would cause. “How do you do it thought?” she asks, her master has only explained the ‘what for’ not ‘how to’ until now. “As you have just seen magical matrixes consist of several lines of magic. You have to manually repurpose each of them. That means you have to find out what each of them does, how rerouting them has an impact on the whole and the likes. It takes an annoying amount of time and re-does to get it right. Which is why it is next to impossible without the talent to see the magical flow.”

The listeners nod. They might never be able to use what they have learnt today but as mages all of them share a common thirst for the ‘how’s’ in the world. However that is all Uklag will tell them for today. “And with that the lesson on Advanced Enchantment is over, I will set up my ‘tent’ now.” He says and wanders out, Catherine in toe.