Kennon looked around their tent, still lost in the dream. He looked at Bev. He didn’t need telepathy to know that she had the same dream as him. They had influenced each other's dreams before. But this time they weren’t even separate dreams. The dream’s impact was simply heightened by that fact.

  What would he do if he met Margie’s killers?

  A problem for another lifetime he hoped. For now they needed beds. With a quick meal of tiger jerky he got started on fully butchering the sun tiger with his new knife.

  They needed armor. This fact was perfectly clear in Bev’s mind. They were going to be throwing themselves at the jaws of death to gain power. As the blacksmith and enchanter it was her job to make sure they survived.

  She wanted to jump straight to making a shield for Kennon. But she knew he planned to be milling wood today. So the first thing she needed to make was a saw.

  She activated Tutor, in case it had any advice, pulled a lump of steel from the chest and started heating it.

  A saw intended for milling with telekinesis. What an exciting project! Using mana treated steel will make controlling it easier. You should also give it self powered enchantments. And self sharpening will be absolutely vital! Don’t want it to dull every few minutes do we?

  All good advice. Unfortunately none of it was blacksmithing advice. Maybe she should change her profession?

  I’m sorry. Profession and class can only be changed once a month. The boss wants people to stay fairly focused. Even if he does let them try new things. Though, you won’t lose any proficiencies or skills. I’m sorry I'm not more helpful.

  Well. that made sense. The primary system never let you change class at all. Though she did hear that hybrid classes opened up at level ten. She wondered if that would work.

  Naturally! Blacksmiths often hybridize into enchanting. Especially those using the growth system since they don’t have a good support network.

  Wait.

  “Is there something about the growth system that makes people more alone?”

  A moment passed. Then a minute. It seemed she would not be getting an answer there.

  The saw blade's basic shape was complete. Now time to add the teeth. This would be fun.

  It took Bev about five minutes to decide she needed an enchanted tool specifically to cut out the teeth. About half an hour to make that tool. And then she started to move forward again.

  With a sharpness enchanted chisel she cut away the edges of the teeth on the saw blade. It still took an hour.

  Sighing in relief when that was done she did some finishing touches. She spent thirty minutes making sure that the blade was completely flat, with no protrusions that would mess with the smoothness of the milled wood.

  Now, how was she going to sharpen it?

  Self sharpening, when combined with sharpness enchantments removes the need for manual sharpening at any stage. It’s really cool! Just make sure you mark the areas that are supposed to be sharp carefully. You don’t want a sharp handle do you.

  Bev felt the soar muscles of hours of grinding in the future vanish like smoke. And got started on enchanting immediately.

  Gather.

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  Sharpness.

  Maintenance.

  The runes were carved into the blade with almost no effort. The new pen made even a touch enough. And Tutor all but added a mental stencil over her vision. Tutor only bothered with the parts she hadn’t memorized. But that was more than enough.

  She then heat, and mana treated the blade, pulsed mana into the enchantments. And she was done.

  The entire thing came to life. She watched as the dull edges started to form a light powder of ground steel at a visible rate. She almost wanted to add self sharpening to everything from now on simply so she never had to do that step again.

  Saw blade(custom) - tool - T1

  A custom built saw blade designed for a specific purpose.

  This particular saw is the work of a novice smith.

  Not quite what she was hoping for. But good enough. Next up, a shield!

  Kennon had barely finished with the sun tiger when He felt Bev’s satisfaction at a completed saw blade. A moment later he held the blade in his telekinetic grip.

  There was already a felled tree. It was time to get to work. But while he did…

  “Tutor, you said you would teach me. What do I need to know?”

  Happy to be of service! First of all, you should practice free casting spells more instead of relying on inscriptions. I suggest never using inscriptions unless you are in a rush, or you have reached total mastery of free casting the spell without the system.

  Wait, what? Why would he do that?

  Practice makes perfect. And the entire point of inscriptions is to weave it once and be done.

  But, if it was done, why did he need to practice?

  All spells, and skills, are made from the same building blocks. Mastering low level spells teach you how to weave those blocks. Making it easier to weave higher complexity spells. I know you want to learn lightning bolt. Let me show you its form.

  At that moment an incomprehensible fabric of interwoven threads appeared in Kennon’s mind.

  He couldn’t imagine ever casting that! And it was supposed to be a T1 spell!

  It is intimidating. But look at the similarities to spark.

  Beside the monstrosity that was lightning bolt spark appeared. He had cast it hundreds of times trying to level it up. Though he had only actually weaved it a few times. In comparison it was simplicity itself.

  Let me highlight the overlap.

  At that three parts of spark lit up different colors. And the same colors. In the same shapes lit up in lighting bolt.

  Actually, it seemed lighting bolt was just a bunch of stuff added to spark. And a lot of that stuff was more parts of spark.

  You understand. If you could weave spark perfectly, and had it memorized, and understood it, you would be half way to lighting bolt.

  Kennon had never thought about that before. It actually made sense. He knew people could make custom spells by mashing other spells together. Looking at this he could see how that worked.

  Exactly. Spells are made by taking the “words” of magic, and combining them into sentences. In theory if you learned all the words, and all the grammar you could throw any spell ever cast, and many that were never cast. Although that is a goal beyond mortal capabilities.

  “What about ascendants?"

  The spells in his vision vanished. And not a word was spoken.

  Well. That would be hoping for too much. Wouldn’t it.

  The entire time they were talking he was working on the tree in front of him. The saw cut like butter. And telekinesis had none of the control issues of squishy meat limbs. So it was going fast, and well. They would have a cabin in no time.

  “Any advice about using continuous spells like this?”

  You are doing well here. Though, as opposed to the desire for perfect weaving, continuous use should be something that you can do without thinking. Making it as automatic as possible is good. You are also slightly ridged with your use. You should also never, ever stop gathering mana. Even when working below your regeneration rate you should always be manually refilling your core. To be a master mage you must be capable of gathering manually without thinking. Even while sleeping.

  “Gather while sleeping?”

  That is the goal. Casting while sleeping too. Though that may be too much for you at the moment.

  Casting while sleeping? He had never once heard of that. Tutor certainly didn’t settle for half measures. Kennon shook his head thinking about what a monster he would be when even Tutor agreed he was an archmage.

  He couldn’t wait.

  Thank you for sharing my journey. To help me walk it I have a set up. It is 20 chapters ahead and releases at the same time as the Royal Road chapters.

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