Chapter 23 – Materials

“What’s in the third chest? Well, that’s an interesting one.” Chatfield placed his left hand on the top of the chest and looked at Sal meaningfully.

“You should think of it as prototype materials. It’ll be much more useful for when you have your tracker completely built. I got my team to get small shards of every possible material we have access to in our stores. From our previous conversation about your tracker helping identify materials, and your Mythcrafter ability only being able to use things that you’ve interacted with before…we came up with the idea to expose you to all the materials we had on hand and some materials that we could source in the future. My hope is that it will expand your capabilities and allow us to come up with good Synergies and combinations for the armor sets.” Chatfield opened the third chest and pulled the lid back.

Sal instinctively moved closer to have a better look as Chatfield pulled out each individual tray. There were at least thirty tiny shards of varying colors, secured by a piece of fabric against a plush white cushion. Some of the materials looked to contain elements like fire, water, and lightning, and glowed or sparked erratically as they moved.

Chatfield gestured at the placement of each of the materials. “Be careful not to mess up the order. Some of them react to each other, so they need to be kept at a distance for safety. Otherwise, they could cause an explosion, burn through the table, or something else ridiculous.”

After a few more moments of Sal looking at each of the pieces, Chatfield picked the trays back up and started to reload the crate.

“Anyway, this will only act as a distraction for now. None of this will be useful until you have your tracker completed, so we should focus on that. Have you run into any other issues since we last spoke?”

Sal tore his eyes from the last tray and glanced up at Chatfield with a smile. “No issues, so to speak. Unless you count the ongoing torture that Lars is putting us through with the gauntlet?”

Chatfield didn’t look amused by the comment, so Sal moved swiftly on. He was learning that Chatfield had certain moods, and that there was a nice guy lurking somewhere underneath all the professionalism and sense of duty.

“I went through the different sets for the armor, and it looks like my designs need a production method for the Crafters to replicate them properly.”

Sal expected Chatfield to be somewhat disappointed but was surprised when he responded with a smile.

Chatfield opened the second crate and lifted out a breastplate. Without saying a thing, he slid it across the table to where Sal stood. It was immediately recognizable as one of the pieces from the designs he had put on the Credit Store, and his Appraisal ability confirmed the quality instantly.

Name	Rookie Breastplate (Set 1/4)
Origin	Crafted
Age	New
Grade	Common (Upper)
Dimensions	Chest 42 inches | Neck 17.5 inches
Materials	Infused Iron | Reinforced Bovine Leather
Attributes	Defiant: Shirt negates piercing and blunt damage. Synergy: Abilities are shared among set items.
Abilities	Defiant | Synergy
Power Source	External Essence
Evolution	No
Quality	Perfect
Condition	100%

“You had this made? Even without the production method?” Sal asked in confusion, which elicited a chuckle from Chatfield.

“Yes. My team doesn’t need production methods. Any self-respecting Crafter should know how to create a product from an immaculate blueprint. I’m guessing you’ve gotten complaints from first-year students? It makes sense for them not to know their arse from their elbow, at least for now. Most Crafters who use essence can skip the hard parts, but the ones who are learning everything from scratch have to learn every single thing the hard way. For our plan to work, we’ll need to give them a production method, but that’s where Forge comes in. He can reverse engineer literally anything, so we’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Sal nodded slowly as he turned the breastplate over in his hands. “Why do you have this with you? I thought this crate was materials your team thought I might need instead of the ones I requested?”

Rather than answering, Chatfield withdrew the remaining parts of the armor set and placed them on the table. When all the pieces were out, he reached toward the bottom of the crate and picked out a leather-bound folio. He placed it to one side and then reached back in to withdraw a stack of metal wafers, which gave off an ethereal white glow. It looked like they were emitting a tiny coat of mist that hung above the surface, swaying ever so slightly as they were placed on the table.

What followed was another stack of what looked like red glass, all cut in different sizes, from long and wide at the bottom, to the smallest shard at the top. Sal was so absorbed in the blood-red material that he was startled when Chatfield closed the crate and lifted it off the table to place it on the floor. When he straightened back up, he slid the folio closer to him and flipped it open.

“Doctor Ameye was kind enough to poke a few holes through our concept. He’s the United Guilds Association’s top-ranked Crafting expert, and has a similar ability to you. His maxed out at Legendary grade, but the things he’s accomplished have been nothing short of extraordinary.

“Apparently, the evolutionary trait that you tied to the sniper rifle is only compatible with weapons. It won’t have the same effect on armor sets, unless you add a method for essence absorption. Doctor Ameye suggested that we incorporate some of these runes but insisted that it would be highly improbable that they’d work with lower-tier materials. If that’s the case, then it will just increase our initial costs. The United Guilds Association and Hunter Bureau are behind this project completely, so we’ll make it work no matter what.”

Chatfield slid a few of the pages across the table and Sal saw that they were all runes. His eyes weren’t picking up anything from it, so he placed the piece of paper over the breastplate in front of him, trying to recreate the moment where the sniper rifle blueprint overlapped with the blueprint for Blink’s dagger. The result was instantaneous as his Mythcrafter ability flared to life. The lines from the rune replicated themselves across the piece of armor, and failed rapidly again and again until they found a position that fit. Sal encouraged the ability to move into the concept stage, to see what it would be like, and his eyes flickered as the information shifted immediately.

“Looks like this rune allows for damage absorption? It’s not actually an evolutionary rune, though?” Sal asked curiously as he glanced up in confusion at Chatfield, who sifted through the different pages.

“Ah, my mistake. They all look the same. Here, try this one?”

He slid across another page, and Sal picked it up before looking back down at the folio.

Chatfield shook his head as he packaged them all up and slid the entire folio across. “I don’t know why I’m trying to make sense of them—you can take the lot. Doctor Ameye drew them up specifically for you and wished you the best of luck with it. He’s an incredible person to have in your corner, so I hope you’ll put his rune designs to good use.”

Sal faltered at those words, with his Mythcrafter ability deactivating as he looked up at Chatfield in shock. “You’re saying that he created these runes? I thought all runes were copied from portal artifacts.”

Chatfield nodded as he gestured at the folio. “Yes, all of them were crafted by him. He’s a realm apart from the other Crafters in the United Guilds Association, but is fiercely reclusive. Insists on working solo, but gifts us with his designs every now and again. Our train network wouldn’t exist without him, and our barrier technology was vastly improved because of his contributions. Most of his time is spent on hunting down rare materials for his workshop, so we see him infrequently. He was thrilled to find out about you, though. I told him about your tracker issue, and he laughed.”

Chatfield smiled as he gestured at the blood-red glass on the table. “Apparently lord crystal is good, but scarlet screen is unparalleled.” He gestured at the misty shards of metal. “And scarlet screen has a number of Synergy bonuses with moonsilver, especially when they’re being used for information gathering. They’re ridiculously expensive, but Doctor Ameye said they were a gift. He’s included a few runes for the tracker, too.”

“He could have just made it for me.” Sal laughed as he shuffled through the pages for the runes. It didn’t take him long to see a rough blueprint that was accompanied by a barely legible scrawl. Sal tilted his head to the side and read through it, wondering whether it was anything to do with the production of the tracker.

Moonsilver is perfect for essence management. It naturally absorbs environmental essence, which is what makes it such a rare material. With such little space to work with, you need to prioritize the surface area of the tracker, and not needing a self-sustaining rune is a godsend. It provides a minor calming effect, which is excellent for concentration, meditation, and resisting fear-based attacks. As an evolutionary component, it would easily pave the way to Legendary grade.

Sal looked to the next paragraph on the other side of the page, curious to know whether it had anything to do with the scarlet screen.

Scarlet screen is typically used in equipment designed for information gathering, because it’s simply the best material for what it does. It can pierce through any barrier and pull information. A child with scarlet screen equipment could see the full statistical breakdown of a commander variant through twenty layers of essence barriers. It detects information and ignores whatever guards it. It has a terrifyingly fast calculation time, if synced with a powerful enough core. My advice would be to use at least a Rare grade of core if you’re going to create something at the Uncommon level, but if you can manage to make something with scarlet screen and moonsilver that turns out to be anything less than Rare, you’re a more skilled Crafter than me.

“What do you think he means by this part?” Sal asked Chatfield as he read the last part of the paragraph aloud.

Chatfield clicked his fingers as though he had just remembered something. “Ah, yes. Doctor Ameye mentioned that your idea to make a low-grade item and have it evolve to something greater was excellent. It’s a method he uses quite regularly, but he said the limitation is the components. Some of them just can’t be made into low grades. I think he’s insinuating that the combination of scarlet screen and moonsilver will naturally end up as a Rare-grade item. Getting it lower would mean that it has further evolutionary capabilities, right?”

Sal nodded as he lowered the page and looked at the materials again. “I’m happy to use these and the designs he’s given me, but I don’t think it’s going to turn out great. If my craftsmanship is bad with this, then it just won’t work. Is that what he meant about it being a Rare grade?”

When Sal looked up, he saw that Chatfield had his head tilted to one side as he tried to read one of the sheets of paper. Chatfield didn’t answer, so Sal looked back down to the page and studied the mock-up of the blueprint. It was different than the tracker blueprint that Sal had created from Quest’s device.

When his Mythcrafter ability looked at the drawing, it was just the perfect amount of information to flood his brain with a new design. The materials on the table lit up in his vision and he could see an orange glow emanating from them, highlighting them as Legendary grade. It was a lot to consider, and Sal was a little frustrated with his ability for being unable to identify the traits. So much of the design was blocked from him because he didn’t have a high enough understanding of the materials. He needed the Analysis ability to properly inspect them.

Sal turned to where the first chest rested on the table. An idea popped into his head. “Did you bring the materials I requested so I could make a prototype tracker? I’d be able to use it for Analysis, then make a better one with these new materials…but it seems like such a waste.” He grimaced as he touched the scarlet screen and looked back at Chatfield.

This time, Chatfield acknowledged the question and shrugged. “You requested materials, and I got them for you. The moonsilver and scarlet screen are from Doctor Ameye, so you can do what you wish with those. Might be worthwhile to make your prototype as intended, and apply your learnings to crafting the tracker that the doctor designed. He’s unparalleled in his field, so I highly doubt he’s steering you in the wrong direction.”

With a brief nod, Sal opened up the first crate.

Chatfield dragged a stool closer to the table and took a seat. He watched Sal intently as he placed a stack of lord crystal on the surface of the table, followed by several refined ingots of hellfire titanium. When Sal glanced up at Chatfield, the lecturer just gestured for him to continue.

“You’ve got everything you need, right? Don’t mind me. I just want to see a Mythcrafter in action.”