Once he was finally back in his room, Karl sat down at the small table and took out the four bracelets he had purchased from the market.
"Oh, did you get us all gifts?" Dana asked.
Karl smiled. "If the Runic inscription works as well as I hope, not only did I get you gifts, I might have found a good way to make money here. Did you all learn anything today? I see that you have the window open."
"We learned a bit about the city, and that there is a holiday upcoming, but nothing too extreme. How did the delivery go?" Dana replied.
Karl laughed at the memory. "Very well. The city government paid us well for the charm, and they've already started using it. The only condition was that we should refuse if ever the Governor's daughter comes to request a similar service."
With that explanation, Karl began to plan out the carvings for the first of the bracelets. Skill Power and Mana regeneration would stack up quite well. But Remi had a better idea. She had found a set of descriptions that could be translated to runes that should allow the item to store mana as well as helping to regenerate it.
That was an interesting concept, and it would put a lot of reliance upon the actual item, as the Runes themselves did not store the mana. However, according to the description in the Inscription tome that the Blue Dragon Acolytes had provided, an item should be able to store two seconds worth of its maximum mana flow without affecting the function of other spells put on the item.
That was for Inscription, which was similar, but not the same as Runecrafting. It should be a good enough baseline for his next attempt, and even if he misjudged, he could either stop early, or simply replace the item. They weren't that expensive.
The basic inscriptions wouldn't take long for Karl to do, and he didn't want to overdo it when the primary purpose of the bracelet had now become a reserve mana storage device. It might only be enough to cast eight or ten spells at moderate output, or fewer than three full output spells.
But the bracelet would refill itself, and given time, it would provide more free energy.
Karl finished the runes on the inside of the bracelet, and then began to upgrade them.
From Common to Royal, the process went smoothly, but as soon as the runes changed to the rich amethyst of Royal Rank, Karl felt the matching streaks in the stone begin to leech mana, saturating the bracelet.
If he pushed harder, it would almost certainly explode. But with the enchantment at Royal Rank, and the mana storage Runes included, the bracelet contained a significant amount of power, in addition to the Skill Power and Mana Regeneration effects.
"Dana, try that on and let me know what you think." Karl handed the bracelet over, confident in its worthiness, then began to make another one.
The final three bracelets were finished in a matter of minutes, all at Royal Rank, and the ladies now all had matching accessories.
Lotus was smiling like she had just won the lottery.
"This is enough stored mana to cast a Resurrection spell. If I keep this in reserve for the worst-case scenario, I will always have enough mana available to bring a fallen comrade back." She explained.
Tessa nodded in agreement. "This would be enough mana to put up Holy Weapon and Holy Armour spells on an entire five hundred soldier regiment. Truly fantastic."
Dana nodded in agreement with the assessment of the power, but she had another idea.
"We should get more of these. Or possibly rings made of the same material. You could make enough for us to get all the resources we need to keep pushing for the Monarch Rank that way.
Or, enough to buy them for Remi to grow more and make us what we need. I know that it's cheating, in a way. But if we can combine strengthening potions and some trips to the Dungeon, we might be able to reach this place's power standard." She explained.
Karl nodded. "First, we will need to see what magical items are going for here. The jewellery itself was cheap, so I don't know what the upgraded ones will go for. After all, there is a Royal Rank dungeon here in town, so there should be a steady supply of Royal Rank items available for sale."
Not long after, they went down for lunch, intending to check out the shops down the main street that Karl had noticed. But first, Karl needed to get some information.
"Innkeeper, do you know where we might find some Royal Rank accessories?" He asked.
The Innkeeper frowned. "Good luck with that. There are a few shops near the dungeon that resell them, but most of the ones that come out of the Dungeon get sold to exporters. They ship them all over the country, and south to Lared.
Besides, the Dungeon has only been open a year, and accessories are a one in a thousand drop. Hardly one in five gets a weapon, but armour pieces and potions are fairly easy to come by in the shopping district."
Karl nodded. "Thanks. That changes our shopping plans for certain. But we're going for lunch, is there anywhere you recommend? Perhaps somewhere with cake?"
"If you go east to the river, down through the Fool's Walk district, there are all sorts of fancy cafés and shops. The boardwalk runs most of the way to the wall from the port. It's impossible to not find somewhere with good food."
"Not that your food is bad." Karl added, making the Innkeeper laugh.
"No offence taken. My food has always been more popular with guards and sailors than young ladies with a sweet tooth."
It was only a few minutes walk from the hotel to the river, and Karl easily led the group to the boardwalk. There, the crowds of the city began to thin, replaced with couples casually walking, and joggers exercising on the open wooden walkway.
"Now, where do we start looking for lunch?"