The Black Iron Glory
Chapter 84

Chapter 84

New year brings Borkal back.

The four of them were now united again, but they still had nowhere to go. Winter is in full swing and everything is frozen in, the roads, the lakes, the forests, the fields, everything.

The second moon finally exploded, and with it melted big. What was ice the previous month, was now muddy, and everyone was still trapped. School began on the fifteenth of that month. Fourth, all of them are now 17, beginning their third year in high school, their final year.

They will be adults in the eyes of the crown from the day they graduate that fall, and Claude will lose the privilege he enjoyed as the responsibility of his father, the former president said, he would really be another farmer.

The children's parents completed their plans by the third month, and Captain Altroni prepared to depart for Nubissia for his survey.

Claude crossed his first major hurdle on the magic path in the fifth month. He ended up becoming a first rank magus rune. After much deliberation, he decided to follow the steps left behind by the Landes and become a single ring magus rune. Landes did not use all of his basic spell slots for alchemy spells. There was one combat spell and a mental spell, which was still somewhat suitable.

The 27th of the 5 Calendars of Holy Light is the Day of Restoration. It fell on Wednesday, so the boys got a midweek break. The four boys went to the lake to fish, but returned empty-handed.

Captain Altroni returns on the 3rd of the 6th, but the Red Sea Shark is in a bad way and will need repairs months before he can climb into the sea again.

Morssen held a banquet for the return of his friend and secret business partner, where everyone ended up getting drunk again. However, a verbal brawl occurred late at night, and everyone left on somewhat sour terms.

Claude heard everything from his attic. The captain did find a new, safe route to Nubissia, and the plan demanded they report the news to the king and wait for their reward. He also brought other news. His route passed through the territory of the Alliance, when the five nations allied against Aueras came to be known. It was safe with only a large escort.

Nubissia has recently begun to produce more of the essentials needed by large populations. Thus trading these commodities became much less profitable than before. It was not enough to pay for the escorts needed to travel along the new route. That said, large trade fleets may still turn a profit because they can pool resources to get smaller escort fleets per ship than smaller fleets need.

That's the crux of the problem. Reporting it now would yield nothing but credit. If they took the risk with their own route, in secret, however, they could make a lot of money, if they survived the trip.

They finally decided to put off telling anyone for a year. They will use that time to test the water, literally, and see what gains they can make, then tell the crown.

Claude didn't think much of it. It was his father's business, not his, so he had no business to interfere. Even if his father wanted to be rewarded for finding a new route, it wouldn't be that easy. The kingdom would first have to send its own fleet to survey the route and it would take at least two or three years. Even if he became an honorary noble and Claude could gain dignity status automatically, it would still take at least three years, and Claude would already be serving in the military.

He was more concerned when he could become a one ring magus rune. Carving out a rune formation within his hexagram was no easy task. Landes described the entire process in great detail and noted the key points, but Claude had already failed several times.

Most of the time, he used all of his mental strength, making his face pale and giving him a worn expression. His mother even thought he had an illness and wanted him to go to the pharmacy. Fortunately, the old man said that he was not sick, just resting quietly.

Claude's fist twitched furiously and he almost punched the old man. Fortunately, he held back enough to just glare at it; better his pallor was mistaken for the result of over-enthusiastic battering of a stick rather than some taboo magical activity. The former only caused ridicule, the latter to execution.

At least the old man had the right to crap about feeding properly rather than telling his mother what she told him. However, she had to go and ask him to give her some 'masculinity-enhancing' supplements'.

On the way back, Claude decided to set aside some time to study herbs, at least until he could make a basic potion. That's a good way to make money, or he could sell it for a bargain and cut that business.

It was the only problem he encountered. A few months later he finished carving out his final formation and became a single ring magus rune.

Captain Altroni departed for Nubissia again with several other ships on the 25th and 8th.

Half the town was on the docks, cheering goodbye, though only a few people knew where she was sailing. Most outsiders believed that the trip was bound to fail because they were carrying common items the destination was unlikely to aim for at the price the captain needed to make a profit.

Claude was not present. He was fully focused on familiarizing himself with the seven spells he now had. One of his more pleasant discoveries was that the Magus Hand was much more useful than just in experiments. The only drawback was his range; the completer could only reach five meters outside of his body. He had also yet to master the multi-tasking required to operate more than two hands, so when he operated the Magus's Hands, other than being able to manifest only two manifestations, he lost the use of his physical hands.

If Landes is right, and it's been right this far, that'll change when he gets his second ring. Landes' second master's spell was Mind Division. His name is rather clear. The initial mastery would have Claude split his mind in half, allowing him to control both his manifestations and his normal hands.

Claude spent most of his free time training with the Magus Hand. He lay on his back and used his manifestations to manipulate various objects in his room. The room was not that big, so he could reach every nook and cranny.

She especially appreciated that she did not need to bend over to tie her shoelaces anymore, or sweep the often dusty floor, packing her belongings under her bed, she said, or get up to take a glass of water from his desk or return it after a sip. However, he had yet to master how to dress and undress. The manifestation disappeared as he consciously moved his body part.

Claude was quite content that he had found a use for spells that were not recorded in the diary. Then again, he thought Landes would have thought of this use if he had not been respectfully dedicated to his study of magic. Magic, to Landes, was too honorable to be used for such menial tasks, so the thought would never even occur to him.

He also spent some time training with the Eye of Appraisal and found other uses for the spell as well. He once used a spell to focus on the small gap between the beams of his room roof, and saw insects creeping on his lips, which he quickly crushed with manifestation.

The Eye of Appraisal, like the Magus Hand, only works on objects within five meters of it. And, at least for now, it could only focus its vision on enlarging something that it was focusing on. It did not really give him information about the object as he expected based on his experience with the same skills in the game and s. Damn, it's useless!

Fine Control is a great supplement for Magus Hands. He uses it to turn one of his manifestations into a magic ramrod, which makes the reload of his gun a little faster. It would make his life much cheaper in the future since he would not need to buy any more tools.

He had yet to do anything with Decomposition and Reconstruction, as he had no alchemy ingredients to try them on. He tried a thing or two, but nothing happened. He spent half an hour staring at the two pencils like a fool trying to fuse them, only to find the only thing he combined was his saliva and shirt.

Magic Missiles and Mental Shock have not been tested. They would make too big a fuss to try in a populated area, so they would have to wait until he could get out of the city for a while.