In less than five minutes, I watched as a pile if scrap was transformed into a magical automaton by its creator, Tamril. Metal shaped with magic, components remade and repurposed. The result was a man-sized automaton, armed with a mace and shield, trundling across the arena.
Seeing someone creating what was effectively a golem with a mix of enchantment and mechanics so quickly was amazing, but it was nothing compared to his opponent. Saheeli Rai made the metal flow in her hands, ignoring the use of tools as she literally grew razor bird after razor bird, components incorporated flawlessly into the metal to create constructs that looked almost alive.
Smiling, Saheeli shifted a bit to the side and flicked her hand.
Five birds took wing and flew at the other automaton, dodging beneath its clumsy blows. They converged on it, wiggling into its chassis and ripping vital components to pieces.
I mostly ignored the battle itself in favor of observing Saheeli Rai. The dark skinned woman dressed in flowing red and blue silk, wearing what seemed to be a twisting metal corset, her hair set up with similar metal strands. She was having fun, molding another bird between her fingers. Watching her work, I activated the spell that would let me see magic.
Energy coursed through her hands and into the metal. In response, the metal flowed, for lack of a better word, guided by the magical energy. The growth was almost crystalline in appearance.
What was even more amazing was that while Tamril made his automaton first, and installed the component and enchantments after, Saheeli was weaving her enchantments into the creation of her… creature. It wasn't even a automaton anymore, not really. It grew into its own creature, with mechanical components serving as its organs and enchantments for its neurosystem.
She was amazing.
Saheeli's victory was announced as Tamril's automaton collapsed. She smiled, raising her hand in victory before walking out of the arena.
Quickly getting up, I started to make my way through the crowd. I had to talk to her, learn to do what she does.
The crowd was all moving towards the exist and kept getting in my way. Fucking move, humans!
Fuck this.
Instead of moving towards the exist, I turned right and vaulted over the railing down into the arena, landing from the five meter drop.
Getting up from mu crouch, I saw a group of five people looking in my direction, pulling a cart along with them filled with shovels and brushes and such.
"Uhm… are you okay? I'm not sure you are supposed to be here." The first of the men said with a frown, a shovel resting against his shoulder.
"Sorry, got a bit crowded up there," I said, brushing some dust of my shoulder. "I'll let you get back to work. Which way to the exit?" He pointed over his shoulder and I nodded, "Thanks," before quickly heading in that direction. The exit was a lot more straight forward than I thought at first. A tunnel and then stairs up to a gate that lead onto the street.
Of course, as it turned out, I didn't need to rush so much after all.
Saheeli was standing surrounded by a group of kids, signing autographs. I… suppose some things may be universal when you are a rockstar of sorts.
I relaxed slightly as I joined the group, waiting for my turn.
She looked to be enjoying herself, joking and smiling. Hmm, she was good with whelps. As Saheeli handed one book back to a girl looking about ten years old, she glanced in my direction before doing a quick double take. Our eyes met for a second and she momentarily smiled before she returned to signing books.
Waiting until everything was finished, she extracted herself from the crowd and I walked over to her, "Miss Rai. My name is Atregos, I would like to talk to you if you have a moment."
"Atregos," she said as she regarded me, "an unusual name. Almost as unusual as your hair."
"I'm not local," I said with a smile. "I am most curious in your art, how do you do it? Can I learn how to?"
Saheeli frowned slightly up at me, "You are an artificer?"
Nodding, I sighed, "I am. Unfortunately, nowhere near as skilled as you are. I would love if you would be willing to at least point me in the right direction."
The woman regarded me for a moment in thought before she nodded, "I do happen to have the rest of the day free. Come on, let's find somewhere to talk. I know a place you can buy me a drink."
Nodding, I moved along with her, "How do you solve the metaconductivty problem when shifting the metal while layering the enchantments? I never got that to work, I had to work the metal and then layer the enchantments to retroshift the metal into a malleable state for a arcanoshiftable reformation after the main enchantments were already on the metal."
Saheeli blinked at me, "You found a way to induce permanent malleability shifting in metal without using an enchanting matrix to constantly regulate the material shift manually?"
I shrugged one shoulder, "Well, yeah. Honestly, it wasn't that complex, I used it in several objects. Mostly I found it most useful when you need an object to change mass and shape on the fly. I used to have a weapon like that, I could shift it from a dagger, to a spear and to a warhammer and anything in between."
She gaped at me, "How did you solve the metal fatigue caused by constant material shift? I never got it to work, I always have to work the metal directly and use hinges and joints for my craft."
"I didn't." I answered with a grin, "I bypassed it. The shift of the material constantly repairs the damage."
"…Of course! The metal fatigue would only set in if the metal ever fully solidified between!"
"Yeah. You need to keep it in a semi flux state, keeping it only mostly solid."
Saheeli slowly nodded and took my hand, shifting course and pulling me along, "Come on, forget the bar, we are going to the workshop. You are showing me how to do that."
AN// Big thanks to Interregnum for betaing this part.
