I became a legion lich

103 Enchantment

‘Good job.’ Athos praised Emilia and sat down properly, interrupting Treevor’s endless rant.

“Yes, I agree with you, but our time is limited and I need these usable and enchanted weapons ASAP, so get to work.” Athos spoke.

“I will, but I need access to my mana for that. Would you be so kind?” Treevor pointed to his own body which was still standing in the same position as before.

“You can get back into your body with no problem. The currents are no longer forcing you back into your body, so it should be possible for you to leave and come back whenever you want.” Athos spoke disinterestedly, massaging his temples.

Treevor didn’t much like the lack of confidence in Athos’s voice, but it didn’t do any good to keep stalling. He returned to his own body, his empty eye sockets glowing for a second as he straightened up.

“Damn, this body feels like shit. How do you deal with it?” Treevor asked uncomfortably, touching his own body here and there, not enjoying the sensation at all. The darkness in his body replicated every physical or mystical sense that Treevor was capable of feeling, but the sensation that passed through was something artificial.

“It’s normal for me, as it was for Emilia back here. You’re just feeling weird because your mind is still intact. With time, you’ll get used to it.” Athos said trying to comfort Treevor, but those words only scared him. Treevor just sighed and focused on the work in front of him, trying not to think about the future.

“So what kind of enchantment do you want? The weapon obviously has a high affinity for darkness, but I know very few darkness runes, so I can’t guarantee the effectiveness of the final product.” Treevor took the sword and used death vision to assess it.

“Can you only create enchantments of darkness? Or can you create enchantments from other elements?” Athos asked as he perked up.

.....

“If I had the right materials, I could even add enchantments from other elements, but with what I have on hand, only darkness and corruption would be possible.” Treevor could see that Athos was a little disappointed by this, but there was nothing he could do.

“How about just strengthening the raw power of the sword? Corrupt enchantments that improve weapon effectiveness in general rather than special abilities. My cast speed is high thanks to my mana body and what I need is a weapon to that I can fight at close quarters.” Athos suggested, surprising Treevor.

People usually wanted weapons with flashy effects or enchantments that covered their weaknesses, so Athos’ request sounded strange to him. Treevor knew that weapons made of magic wood were a little softer than weapons made of metal, but they had better magic conductivity and could be better powered by the wielder’s mana, so there wasn’t much difference in the end.

“Are you sure about that? As a runesmith, I must say this is a waste.” Treevor tried to change his mind.

“Hmm...so how about an energy drain enchantment? One of the biggest weaknesses I’ve noticed in skeletons is that we can’t heal without making our bones brittle. Draining the enemy’s vitality would solve the problem.” The skeletons didn’t have any fat that the cure could consume, so it was natural for them to get weaker as they took damage.

Athos was a little better off than the others, thanks to his skin that would heal any wound he suffered, but even that would have limits. Draining the enemies’ health would partially solve this problem.

“That can be done easily.” Treevor nodded and got to work immediately.

‘It’s best to let him work for now, my runesmith classes can wait until I settle down somewhere.’ Athos thought, not wanting to get in the way. He took a new weapon and started corrupting it.

They continued to work silently, while Emilia just watched. Athos took approximately an hour to corrupt, while Treevor took an hour and a half to enchant each weapon. Athos used that half-hour gap to regenerate Treevor’s mana while he worked, so neither of them had a second of rest. They took until dawn to corrupt and enchant all the swords that Athos brought to try out.

Athos and Treevor looked at each other satisfied with the feeling of accomplishment, as Emilia finally let Sevenus and the other skeletons in and they left all the weapons they had collected from Treevor’s arsenal before turning and leaving.

“...” They didn’t say anything for a few seconds, just looked at each other in despair. A certain feeling of companionship formed between them.

“Let’s take a break, okay? Even though my mana is full, I’m dying of a headache.” Treevor practically begged.

“I was about to suggest that.” Athos readily agreed. He circulated mana to lessen the headache, but he still felt exhausted.

“Emilia, how much time do we have?” Athos asked, too tired to think.

“It’s been 6 days since the master attacked the city and was killed in the process. The messenger should be halfway to the nearest town by now. It should take approximately 8 days for him to reach the nearest town, 7 if he force the horse to exhaustion. After that, the noble of the city will inform the country and send aid to the city, mainly supplies and soldiers to normalize the city.” Emilia informed.

“I must have about 3 weeks then, I think.” Athos did the math, but Emilia refuted him.

“Master, I believe things are not that easy. All wealthy nobles have magic items for long-distance communication and nearby cities and strongholds must have been informed. If that happens, our chances of conquering the Platinum Fist fortress are null.” Emilia expressed her concern.

Athos thought for a while, but decided that Emilia’s worries were unnecessary. “Even if they are informed, the fortress soldiers will be on guard against a mage trying to escape and infiltrate the fortress, but not in their wildest dreams would they expect an undead army.”

“But I agree that if possible, it’s best that they not be on guard against anything. We’ll try to advance our plans and be ready in less than a week.” Athos said and Emilia nodded happily.

“In that case master, I believe it’s best to get back to work as soon as possible.” Emilia said sweetly, making Athos and Treevor groan in frustration.

“Speaking of which, what are we supposed to do about that glowing willow? It’s going to take almost a full day to corrupt something that size and even longer to enchant it again.” Athos suddenly remembered and spoke to Treevor, trying to procrastinate.

“If possible, I also want to recover it. Half of my amber eye was left in the glowing willow in the form of an amber gem and I want to recover it. When you turned me into an undead, the crack in the amber eye closed and I hope to do the same with the other half.” Treevor said hopefully.

“How exactly do you manage to split your amber eye?” Athos asked something that had been bothering him for some time.

“My amber eye is just condensed energy. When I create my avatar, amber energy flows into it and allows it to physically interact in the same way as pure mana.” Treevor explained.

“I see. But wasn’t the other half of your eye cracked? After a day all the energy must have dissipated.” Athos spoke.

“No need to worry about that. One of the willow enchantments connects the gem and absorbs its energy to power the enchantments, but it also fed the gem with energy from the environment while I wasn’t fighting. The energy leakage and recovery should be canceling.”

“We were supposed to camp outside the city. We’ve been going out of town and back so many times I’ve lost count.” Athos complained, but got up anyway.

“Oh.” Athos exclaimed, but it was too late. The hive hawks surrounded him and tried to get his attention.

“I hadn’t seen all these birds when I arrived. Did you hunt them when you left, boss?” Treevor asked confused.

“Yes, they are hive hawks. They have more than enough numbers, so they’ll give us a ride there.” Athos said and immediately half the birds surrounded Treevor. They started to fly up and Treevor started screaming in panic.

“Hi, put me down now! Get me down!” He started waving his arms in panic, only to freeze like a statue in fear of falling.

“Are you afraid of heights?” Athos asked in disbelief.

“I am half plant and half elf. Humanoid beings are incapable of flight while plants are rooted in one place for their entire lives. Therefore, flying is something that is not in my nature.” Treevor tried to explain logically, but Athos just laughed at him.

“Of course, of course.” Athos spent the rest of his short trip mocking Treevor, the latter too preoccupied with not dying.

“We’re finally here.” Treevor muttered gratefully, fending off the hawks from the hive as if they were his sworn enemies.

“You were right, Treevor. The amber gem is the same.” Athos woke him from his stupor, looking curiously at the still half-transformed willow. No matter how many times he looked at it, it was always impressive.

The only difference Athos could make out was a thin thread of amber energy running down the willow’s trunk, but the gem was as strong as it had been the moment Treevor parted from him.

“Now that I think about it, I’m going to have to corrupt this whole willow tree, aren’t I?” Athos muttered as he finally realized his mistake, his eye sockets looking emptier than ever.