The First Legendary Beast Master

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Karl began the lesson. "Now that you both have the crafting skill. I will go over the basics with you. We are going to make rings that can store mana and increase Skill Power. Those will be the staple of our shop, so I want you both to learn how to make them right away."

He wrote the rune on the chalkboard on the wall, including notes about stroke order and direction with depth changes, then gestured to the pile of wooden rings.

"As Miss Loros got an early start, I will demonstrate one before you both make plain rings to practice on." He added.

Loros gestured to the side of the table, where dozens of ring blanks in various sizes were already made. They had only been roughly shaped into circles, and Karl realized that she had cored the same stick to make two different ring sizes from the same disc.

Very efficient use of materials.

Karl carefully carved the inside of the ring with the runes for Mana Storage and Increased Skill Power, then placed it between them.

"See how the string of Runes is placed? Evenly spacing them around the ring creates a more even activation with less chance of overloading a material that is being enchanted to near its magical limits.

Now, this wood is capable of taking a Royal Rank charge, and neither of you can manage that, so slight errors in spacing won't be a major issue.

For the first attempt, you will do them on the outside, not the inside of the ring. Trust me, it's much easier to carve the outside perfectly.

Just draw them on with a pencil first, then carve the runes."

After a few minutes of examination, both Apprentices were satisfied with their understanding of the process, and they began working on the runes.

It was slow, even on the outside of the simple ring blanks, but speed would come with practice, and they needed to get the runes perfect in both shape and depth.

Surprisingly, they both got it right on their first tries. Perhaps that was the advantage of having skilled sculptors as apprentices?

"Now, focus on your skill and begin enchanting the rings. Wendy, you're more powerful, so you can go all the way to Commander Rank. The practice will help you both grow your magical strength." Karl instructed.

Loros didn't seem upset about the difference, even though Wendy was still a child. She had long since accepted that her bloodline had limitations, and unless she could break them, she would never be moving past Ascended Rank.

Slowly, the colour of the runes changed as they upgraded the rings. Silver Ascended Rank from Loros, and Golden Commander Rank runes from Wendy.

"Perfect. Now, give them a light buffing and put them to let them bond with you. The first item you officially make as an apprentice should be for your own advancement." Karl insisted.

A second later, both of them were wearing a simple wooden ring on their hand, and staring at it with great pride.

"Perfect. Now, you understand the basic concept, so we will up the difficulty a little. I want you to take one of the ring blanks, polish it, then carve a design that will go around the runes before you enchant it.

That is the standard that others will want for even a basic purchase.

It can be scrollwork on the edges, a full design with the runes carved into the back, or you can even cut and polish some of these flakes of mana jade from yesterday's work as semi-precious stones and make it a decorative ring for those who prefer not to wear metal bands."

That would keep them busy for an hour or two, Karl decided as he went back into the house.

The shelves had been slightly rearranged, and a small selection of items obtained from the Giant Wars had been added to a cabinet on the right as you came in the door. It was a bit of a grab bag of randomness, as opposed to the more uniform crafted items, and it would catch the attention of customers on their way in or out.

Most of the team was inspecting the new shop, while Davis created a basic pricing guide for the items that were in the shop by quality and Rank.

That way, if someone else was making a sale, they didn't have to go to him to get a price to tell the customers.

The rear area of the shop, by the kitchen entrance, was separated by a divider wall the same height as the cabinets, giving them somewhere to work, and a place for the shop safe.

That was an item that Karl hadn't thought of, and the place marked for it was empty.

But after a moment's thought, he realized that this issue had already been solved when Mage Jones had enchanted the building.

The safe was just tucked under one of the cabinets, and when Karl focused on it, he could see that it was linked to the {Darklight Host Guild Bank, Drodh Branch}.

"The safe is over here. I will add you all as users, so you can use it for transactions." Karl explained, when he realized that nobody else knew where it was.

"Oh, alright. That works as well. Now, were you going to designate this location as an official store belonging to the Guild Branch?" Davis asked.

Karl focused on his System Interface.

Sure enough, there were Guild Options there, and one of them was the Guild House.

Karl chose his current location, and a message came up in his interface.

{Guild Branch Location Selected. Please add Guild Members to the Branch.}

Karl frowned, and looked through the Guild member's menu.

{Grand War Champion} Karl

That was the only name registered to this branch of the Darklight Host. The rest of his core group were members of the Guild, but not assigned to a Guild House or location.

Karl chose the rest of the group, then sent Guild invites to Davis, Loros and Wendy.

The Appraiser looked startled. "Sir, are you certain? Guild slots are limited. You don't need to add a mere employee such as myself."

Karl smiled at Davis' expression. "I am certain. The manager and chief appraiser is a trusted position, and even if the branch doesn't hold much clout in the city, you deserve the status."

{Guild Skill} Inactive

{Guild Bonus} Inactive

{Guild Perks} 50 Luck for all members

It wasn't much, but Karl assumed that it would grow.