historical

“So this is why you invited me along, Sir Vahn. I understand your good intentions, but you don’t need to worry about my equipment,” Astoria politely turned down Vaan’s good intention and said, “I will find a replacement myself.”

“Will the replacement be Rank 4 anti-magic quality or higher, Headmaster Astoria?” Vaan casually glanced at her.

His question quickly put her at a loss for words.

“Rank 4 equipment isn’t easy to come by, Sir Vahn,” Astoria wryly smiled and said, “And they are definitely not cheap. Furthermore, these two purple ingots are not..”

Astoria suddenly paused on the two Rank 4 purple metal ingots.

She did not remember such pure purple metal among the existing types of Rank 4 metal or alloys.

“Why do we need to consider costs when we are making the Rank 4 metal ourselves? Rank 3 equipment is too lacking,” Vaan smiled before he asked Sacha, “Do you have spare minerals to spare, Lady Sacha? I’ve brought some from the wasteyard, but it won’t be enough for a full armor set.”

“I do have a collection of minerals in my storage space, but I don’t know if the quality is high enough to be part of the Rank 4 you are making, Vahn,” Sacha replied.

“I will determine if they can be used or not. But generally, if there’s enough variety of materials, then the rank quality will not matter too much,” Vaan spoke confidently._.

At the same time, Astoria became certain that Sacha was able to make the two Rank 4 purple metal ingots due to Vaan.

It also explained why Wise Scholar Sacha was excited to see Vaan.

A new formula for a Rank 4 metal is not a small matter in the world of Artificers. Anyone who could produce Rank 4 metal would be valued, even by Artificing Maestros.

Alas, Vaan could not enchant his own artificing products. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to become a Rank 4 Artificing Maestro himself.

‘No, with Teacher Raphna’s terrifying learning ability, as long as magic technicalities did not hold him back, he could have even become a Rank 5 Artificing Doyen, the top of the field,’ Astoria sighed with regret.

If the limitations of a man did not bind Teacher Raphna, he could be a great witch and Doyen in every field of study.

‘Sir Vahn, you never cease to amaze me. Not only magic theory and potioneering but also artificing? Is there even anything that you don’t know?’

‘Voice transmission magic?’ Vaan glanced back at Astoria with a smile before he replied without sound from his mouth, ‘Of course, there are also things that I don’t know.’

‘Such as?’

‘I don’t know about things that I don’t know.’

‘..’

Astoria read Vaan’s lips and fell speechless by his response.

‘Am I wrong?’ Vaan casually glanced back at Astoria with a teasing smile as he followed Sacha to her mineral storage area.

With all his accumulated knowledge, he could be considered a jack of all trades. The only way to do his learning talent justice was never to stop learning new knowledge.

Nevertheless, Sacha quickly brought him to a drawer and pulled out a spherical spatial-type magic tool.

After she activated it on the ground, a spatial door appeared, leading to a separate room as big as five workshops combined.

“This is quite the high-quality magic tool you have, Lady Sacha. It must have cost a fortune,” Vaan casually commented.

“Hah, don’t tease me, Vahn. This belongs to the academy,” Sacha wryly explained before she said, “And these materials are all provided for the students’ practical lessons in artificing.”

“Expending academy resources for personal use isn’t punishable?” Vaan asked.

“It is if I don’t pay for the loss out of my pocket,” Sacha admitted before she reassured him, “You don’t have to worry about the fees, Vahn. I will cover all of it. Take it as my student fees for learning artificing from you.”

“..But aren’t you broke after buying the Atomic Visualizer?” Vaan raised an eyebrow.

Sacha was taken aback for a moment before she was completely gobsmacked by the reality of her situation.

“Oh, that’s okay.. I can go into debt,” Sacha said.

Astoria’s lips twitched when she heard that before she said, “That is totally not okay. How can we ask the person we seek favor from to go into debt for us?”

“Since the equipment is for me, I will pay for the cost of materials,” Astoria decided in a non-negotiable manner.

She also understood that Vaan wouldn’t change his mind about making Rank 4 equipment for her. Thus, she could only accept to respect his good intentions.

That said, even if she paid for materials, she felt like she would still be indebted to Vaan further.

“I won’t need a full armor set; just enough for my chest, back, hands, and feet up to the shin will do. Too much armor affects my mobility,” Astoria mentioned after Vaan acknowledged her decision and started browsing the mineral storage space.

“Got it,” Vaan nodded.

Seeing quite the range of materials, including monster parts and minerals from Gehenna, Vaan thought about a few combinations to go about creating Rank 4 metal.

After he took Astoria’s elemental attribute into account, he collected black iron, carbon, manganese, silicon, meteorite iron, tungsten, obsidian crystal, dark ores, black beetle demon shell fragments, and a single black demon horn.

“We’ll repeat the same process as last time, Lady Sacha. I take care of the base production, and you handle the enchantments.”

“Alright, Vahn. Leave it to me!”

After he received Sacha’s enthusiastic reply, he started scraping some powder off the shell fragments, demon horn, and other minerals he only required extremely small portions of.

At the same time, he mentioned the exact weight of each material for Sacha to take note of.

Before long, he fired up the furnace and commenced the smelting process, mixing all the materials in a single large foundry ladle.

Even without a deep knowledge of artificing, Astoria could guess the final product’s color.

“Won’t the Rank 4 metal turn out black?” Astoria asked curiously, finding it strange for the Battle Maiden of Holy Light to wear black armor.

“Yes, black is good at absorbing light,” Vaan calmly nodded.

“If the product turns out the way I want it, you should be able to further raise the defensive properties of the Rank 4 armor with your Specialized Magic, Light Solidification, Headmaster Astoria.”

“I see,” Astoria paused for a moment before her eyes slightly widened. “But doesn’t that mean..”