A Hammer of Many Means[Crafting]

Job Name: A Hammer of Many Means
Job Rank: B
Job Location: Reim
Job Reward: 15k Huang |200xp [Magic Smith's Hammer 2nd Function Added]
Job Prerequisites: Magic Tool Researcher
Job Overview: Now that the Magic Smith's Hammer has been given the power of Molding magic it could aid Zion in his crafting. Zion knows this will not be enough and focuses on his forte, Strength Magic to guide the design of the magic tool's second function.

Zion left the workshop with the wooden sculpture of a fox and the Magic Smith's Hammer in tow. He already had an idea of what he wanted to use for the hammer's second magic circle, but first he wanted to put the idea into practice. A kick of stormborn winds erupted from the storm kitsune's feet and carried him skyward out of Reim and towards the south. The magician's flight ended far from any city or town in the middle of a large hilly field. It was nice and remote so he wouldn't have to worry about bystanders getting hurt.

The fox carving was placed onto the ground and then tapped with Zion's wand. A swell of life magic filled the sculpture and caused the wood to grow with new life. Though it kept the shape of a fox sitting upright there was now fresh bark covering it and a small canopy of leaves formed from a tangle of branches that had grown from the fox's back. The social spell grew the wood fox into a 3m tall statue of nature. This would be the target for testing out the spell for the second magic circle.

The silver haired magician already knew what kind of spell he wanted to use. The hammer of his was to follow Zion everywhere, that includes into the fires of battle. He could use the molding strike in a fight, but that was a situational magic with limited usefulness. The hammer would need something else in order to present a serious threat to his enemies. Strength Magic was his choice of type due to his own familiarity with it and the simple application required to deal damage.

Using his spell Increase as a basis, Zion focused magoi into the hammer and commanded the rukh to make it expand. The red metal and crystalline resin almost seemed to shatter as cracks of light spread all across the hammer. The light filled the space between fragments without any gaps and expanded outwards while maintaining the same shape. The handle of the hammer remained normal where Zion's hand gripped it, but the rest swelled in size stretching to reach 2m in length. The head itself had grown to have a face of 3.5m in diameter. He hefted the massive hammer and smashed it down towards the fox-tree with all his might.

The expanded hammer crashed into the fox shaped tree and caused some of the branches at the back to collapse, but the fox itself stood proud, its mischievous grin mocking him for not having crushed it. Zion frowned and released the spell allowing the hammer to return to normal. His wand snapped out to tap the fox statue on the nose and those crushed branches soon grew back, the tips blooming swiftly with leaves once more. The magician then returned to his spot and began again. Just increasing the size of the hammer didn't mean its mass went up. He stood there in silence and though about how to solve the problem of lacking destructive force.

Before making another attempt Zion remained silent with his eyes closed and went over solutions for the lack of force in his mind. After a few minutes his eyes shot open gleaming with enlightenment. If there as a lack of force, why not make up for it with the magic? The principles of Increase were applied again. Once more, the hammer grew to gigantic proportions. But this time he worked in the properties and commands of Bullet as well. Strength magic surged around the face of the hammer and reached a critical point just as Zion swung the hammer down.

BOOM

A blast of air spread out in every direction as a large plume of dust became visible from the road to the capitol 600m away behind the hills. The hammer shrunk back to its normal size and Zion swiped his hand causing the dust to blow away in a surge of stormwinds. The fox-tree that had stood defiantly before his first strike now spread across the earth in a paste of splinters. The symbol of "Calamity" had been imprinted into the ground at the bottom of a large crater that had been left in the hammer's wake. A smile bloomed on the magician's face as he nodded in satisfaction. The destructive force was much more to his liking now.

Zion returned to Remano around nightfall after adjust his spell through a few more test trials. The storm winds that carried him through the air reflected the storm kitsune's excitement. He rushed back to the workshop without delay and entered the familiar dark room with a swipe that activated a magoi powered light. The excited researcher sat down at his design board and immediately took up his feather quill to put ink to the page lest his epiphany leave him. This time the magic circle development went much smoother. Compared to the molding magic which commanded three types of rukh at once, the second circle only had strength magic. This was one of Zion's highest affinity magic types to boot!

With the air of an expert, the researcher scribbled away onto paper filling out a circle with the formula for his spell. A few hours passed and there were at last three circles before him with two others on the floor behind him crumpled up into balls. After all that effort he still ended up scrapping two of the formula designs. The remaining three all used his spell as the basis with slight tweaks here and there. But just because they passed his theoretical judgement, that didn't mean he was settle on either of them. Now it was time to test each magic circle.

It was too dangerous to directly apply the circles to his hammer for testing. So instead, Zion molded three replica hammers made from similar materials. The first circle was added on and Zion activated it with eager hands. The circle lit up and the tool swelled with magoi as its size swiftly expanded. Strength rukh swelled at the hammer's face and the symbol for calamity began to form. But right at that moment the growth should have stopped but instead continued without slowing even a bit. The test hammer grew out of control until Zion cut the magoi and used a shrinking spell just in time to prevent the enlarged hammer from destroying his workshop by expanding through the walls or ceiling.

Clearly he had botched the first part of that circle's foruma by failing to command the growth to stop. An amateur mistake. Zion laughed at himself for his how earlier hubris and shook his head before moving on to the second prototype. This one also seemed to be effective. but once the Calamity seal formed trouble once more arose. The strength magic that made up the seal would just stay stuck to the expanded hammer instead of firing out and causing a large impact like it was supposed to.  This left one more circle. Zion placed it onto the last test hammer and wondered what would be wrong with this one. Would it explode this time? Maybe heat up and catch fire? At this point he already expected the worst and praised himself silently for having made the test hammers much smaller to save on materials.

Circle was put to steel and magoi filled the lines with magical power. Strength magic flocked over and expanded the shape of the test hammer greating. The concentration of strength magic at the hammer's face then grew and shaped itself into a cap of solid magic with the character for "Calamity" embossed onto the cap forming a sort of seal. The test hammer was swung down at the work table and stopped its physical form. But the seal kept going and shot down into the work table with a loud boom. Splinters scattered as a large hole was punched into the sturdy wooden work table. Success! Without any flaws too!

Zion smiled brightly and began to move with a pep of joy in his step as he set out to apply this circle to the real thing. The Magic Smith's Hammer did not even need Zion to cast his own spell. The magician merely activated the first magic circle and molded in the engraving for the second magic circle. Zion left his workshop and took to the sky as he poured more magoi into the hammer. The magician summed forth the calamity seal magic and just as intended the Magi Smith's Hammer grew in size. The seal formed at its face and Zion swiped towards the sky. The seal projected upwards and split a low hanging cloud apart.

The light of the magic circle died down and Zion looked at the hammer with pride. This was the completion of his greatest tool yet. Zion would mark this day down in his hard at the beginning of his path. Before he wandered towards a vague sense of "greatness" but now he advanced towards the title of great magic craftsman with large strides.

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WC: 1500+/1500