Old Tobias thought for a moment then picked up his stylus and wrote down a rune on a parchment and showed it to Chronos.
"This is the rune for water. I don't have a water elemental method or technique, watch what happens when I try to charge it."
Power flowed into the rune causing it to glow momentarily then it began flickering before it lost all power and the rune suddenly changed shape.
"Flickering and rune warp is the best result you can expect from a failed rune. Other effects include sparks flying off the rune, the item warping or breaking, and even explosions from an overload of energy. In order to solve this problem, enchanters in the past invented the charging lattice and reservoir crystals."
He pointed at the lattice of rods and wires with crystals hanging on the wall above them.
"Using those we can apply a rune and charge it with the elemental power that we lack. We do so by carving the runes then hanging the item on the wires and then we place the crystals on top of the rods allowing the power to flow from the crystals into the rods and finally down the wires, which aligns the spirit with the item, and into the runes."
Chronos rubbed his head as he took in everything he had just been taught.
"So, to enchant an item I need to know the runes, have a compatible material, and also have the right type of power to charge the rune with. With all these requirements it's no wonder people think becoming an enchanter is hard." Chronos mumbled.
"While that is true the requirements for low level skills to become enchantments is not very high. Using the rune for water as an example once more you could easily write that rune on nearly any material and have it activate, it just won't activate at full power unless you have a material that resonates with the power of water.
Any skill at or below the third rank can be applied to most materials unless it is a special rune or power you're trying to recreate. It's only when you start working with fourth rank runes that you have to focus on acquiring the appropriate materials and even then it's usually just an elemental gem or metal that is needed." Old Tobias explained.
"Then what happens when you use a higher-grade material with a lower-grade skill?" Chronos curiously asked.
"Most of the time nothing happens and it activates like normal, however if you write the rune perfectly the power of the skill will be boosted to the same level as the material. Hm, we've covered nearly everything you need to know about the basics of rune enchanting which brings us to anchor enchanting.
Anchor enchanting is using a material in order to write the rune. Unlike with rune enchanting where you write the rune and charge it with power in anchor enchanting you use a material that already has the appropriate power to write the rune. It is more dangerous than regular enchanting as the rune could activate halfway through, but it gives a stronger effect to the completed item."
Picking up the hammer and gesturing at a high-form crucible in the corner of the room that Chronos hadn't seen when he entered, he continued.
"I use that anchor crucible to prepare runic materials and once they are ready, I put them on an engraving template called a blank. While it's still hot, I use this resonance hammer to stamp the runes onto whatever I'm working on. With the rune being stamped on in one go there is little to no risk of it activating halfway through the process.
This makes it hard to create unique items but for a military enchanter it vastly speeds up my work reapplying runes to swords, shields, and armor when they become broken or worn out." He tossed the hammer back onto the table.
"So, anchor enchanting is just for mass production?" Chronos asked.
"These days it's mostly relegated to mass production but for a skilled enchanter it can be used to work unique materials into a usable state. If you believe the legends, it was the first attempt at creating a method to make up for an enchanter's lack of an element but the difficulty of working with the materials and the erratic accidents that sometimes happen, make it hard to practice."
He pointed at the basic weapon rack sitting next to the charging lattice and said.
"To account for accidents, we use the stabilizing rack to suppress the enchantment until we can use the sigil compass and inscription lens' to make sure it won't explode when removed from the rack. We also use the rack to give powerful enchantments time to settle before giving them to the knight that ordered it.
Don't be mistaken by the basic appearance of my stabilizing rack. They can look like anything that can hold a weapon or armor from basic stands like this one to cabinets for clothing with multiple drawers and shelves. I just don't need anything complicated for mine. Any questions so far?" He asked as he shuffled things around beneath his table.
"Hm, yes. People below the fourth rank use glyphs but you haven't talked about them at all. Can glyphs not be used in enchanting?" Chronos asked.
Old Tobias looked annoyed, "What you call glyphs are actually lesser runes, they are similar to military shorthand. They're just barely similar enough to a real rune to be recognized and activated but they do so at a much weaker level than an actual rune.
They only exist because some arrogant idiot wasn't capable of using proper runes and wanted to sound impressive.
Relying on them makes it difficult if not impossible to advance once you're close to the peak of the third rank and you can't advance at all in the fourth rank unless you use real runes. I won't have any apprentice of mine using them so get used to using runes!" He shouted at the end as he took out two massive books and handed them to Chronos.
The first had [A comprehensive list of runic materials] written by Old Tobias on the front and the second had [Basics of runic language] Author unknown on it.
"The first book is my personal records for various materials and how they react to different runes while the second is for studying the runic language. It has 376 different runes in it and how they work together. Memorize both of them within three days." Old Tobias demanded.
"Yes sir." Chronos stood to leave but was stopped by old Tobias's voice.
"Where are you going?"
"Home to study?"
He frowned, "Come over here, we're not done yet. Now I want you to create an enchanted item before we finish today. Do you have an idea you want to test?"
"Making my first enchanted item? Well, I should make something simple like a sword that's enchanted with [Aura Edge]...Actually, let's be a bit ambitious here." Chronos struggled with his inner thoughts for a few moments before deciding.
"I want to enchant a sword with [Sever]."
"[Sever]? Never heard of that technique. What does it do?" Old Tobias eagerly asked.
"[Sever] is a spatial attack that can cut through almost anything."
Standing up, old Tobias stomped to the door, yanked it open, and yelled. "Someone bring me a spare sword blank."
Chronos gave him a strange look. "You don't have spares in here."
"I did but one of my past experiments sent them through the roof. After that the commander forbid me from keeping spare weapons in my room."
Ah, Chronos could understand that. He had similar experiences while training his skills and it explained why no other enchanters were near old Tobias's room. If a chain reaction happened it could take out the whole ship.
A knight passed a set of spare swords to them and old Tobias carried them to the table. Picking up his stylus he passed it to Chronos.
"Write the rune arrangement on this parchment first. I want to see what it looks like."
Chronos wrote down the runes only to have the parchment suddenly be cut in half when he was almost finished. Old Tobias picked up the two pieces of parchment and studied the rune for a moment before pointing at a swirl halfway through.
"You spun the directional swirl the wrong way. That might work when using the technique but when enchanting it causes the cut to appear inside the paper instead of outside of it. Change the direction of the swirl and try again."
Nodding Chronos picked up another parchment and began writing again. When he finished the edges of the parchment were suddenly cut but the parchment remained in one piece.
Looking at it closely, old Tobias nodded, "Good, the cuts are from your power affecting it unconsciously. You're going to need to learn how to keep your power controlled while enchanting or you'll break a lot of items. Now dip the stylus in this ink and write it on the sword. The ink will slightly eat into the sword, turning it into an engraving."
"No need." Chronos said and cast [Sever] on his finger.