Crystalsmithing

**Crystalsmithing** is the art of refining mana crystals and harnessing their power, turning them into all-purpose tools. No specialization is needed to become a Crystalsmith, as any mage can become one as long as they have patience, precision, and steady hands. Crystalsmiths earn a good living, since mana crystals are highly volatile and the more powerful the crystal, the higher the risks.

Embedding mana crystals and infusing multiple enchantments is part of the 5th year curriculum at White Griffon Academy.

## Cutting Crystals

Cutting mana crystals reduces their sizes while increasing in power and quality. Fake mages use the Scope spell, which allows the caster to distinguish the single crystals that compose the crystal mass, and mana blades to separate single crystals from the cluster. The next step is the hardest, which is cutting the crystals into a usable form. Since the mana in bigger crystals is scattered along the whole structure, the cutting process compresses the mana crystal, making its power more focused and easily accessible to a good craftsman. The Scope spell relies on the caster's mana perception and is needed to see the key points and make the mana composing the mana blade as thin as possible to properly stimulate the crystal's structure, making it slowly collapse on itself.

Cutting high tier crystals requires the Crystalsmith to be able to perceive their unique mana flow called **Mana Breath** clearly enough to follow its movements and cut the gemstone accordingly. The Breath has no fixed route and moves at an irregular pattern, speed, and even size variation. The density of the mana blade must be kept constant. If too much focus is on the Breath, the mana blade will damage the crystal, and if the crystal receives too much damage, it will explode. Moreover, as the crystal shrinks, the Breath's pattern becomes more erratic.

When a white crystal is cut, the world energy its compressed to its utmost limit and can be used to accelerate the growth of surrounding crystals and help them absorb world energy more easily.

## Refining Crystals

Instead of cutting along a magic crystal's lines, Awakened can use Invigoration to see cracks instead. By using the mana blade on the cracks, they can recharge low quality crystals or increase their purity by one tier after providing them with enough mana. As soon as the cracks absorb a certain amount of energy, they disappear and further attempts to refine them will fail. The cracks are the spots from which the crystal absorbed the surrounding world energy when it was mined, meaning it had room to further develop.

## White Crystal Enhancement

A truly powerful Forgemaster can imbue **white mana crystals** with their own willpower and enhance a single element. The more the element is enhanced, the more it stands out. Changing a crystal's color doesn't weaken it in the least; on the contrary, it gives them incredible powers. An artifact with white crystals (such as the Sword of Saefel), each enhanced with one of the six elements, bestows upon the wielder control over all the elements in the form of Domination. A Forgemaster can make a green gemstone by adding their own life force, but this would make the artifact unusable to anyone but themselves. Adding life force to a crystal is not only incredibly difficult due to its inanimate nature, but it also creates a permanent imprint.

This high grade Forgemastering technique works the same way as Spirit Magic - both Spirit Magic and white crystals use all the elements as their own, making the mage or the gem akin to Mogar itself. They possess all the elemental properties and it's up to the mage to enhance what they want to create the same effects of hexaelemental spells. Spirit Magic comes from a mage's own mana and it naturally obeys them; doing the same to a white crystal is akin to forcing a powerful mana core to shape its own Spirit Magic according to their will. First, they must learn how to gain absolute control over the crystal's mana flow and then become skilled enough to manipulate the world energy as if it's Spirit Magic, which it's not. It's an extremely difficult technique and no one without a violet core can even attempt it.

Spirit Magic loses all of its versatility if applied to an artifact - if it is programmed as a barrier, it will only be a barrier. Enchanting an item to produce the Forgemaster's Spirit Magic is impossible without applying a white crystal turned green. They can only craft artifacts capable of storing their Spirit Magic in a specific form with specific properties and they can never be changed.

Enhancing an elemental aspect in a crystal worked exactly like doing the same in a Spirit Spell, just hundreds of times harder. Even if a Forgemaster has a natural affinity to the element they are trying to enhance as well as Domination, the process is still difficult. The perfectly balanced flow of world energy inside a white crystal is akin to a great wall that resists any attempt to change its structure. Every element overlaps so perfectly that even discerning a single one from the others requires great focus. On top of that, unlike a real wall, altering the flow of any element causes the others to reject the external influence as if when a builder tries to remove one of the stones on top, the rest of the wall grows a leg and kicks him away.

The Forgemaster must seize control of the world energy stored inside the gemstone with Domination, forcing a single element to stand out. Once the Forgemaster takes a hold of it, its energy is amplified by the Forgemaster's own. The other elements become incapable of recognizing their counterpart now that it is tainted by the Forgemaster's energy signature and rejects it, making the gem color turn into a muddy color of that element. However, unless the Forgemaster manages to establish a new balance, the moment they take their hands off the crystal the world energy goes back to its original state. Domination is used again but on all the elemental aspects, forcing them to stabilize in a controlled manner. Then, the Forgemaster must infuse the entire gem with their mana to lessen the rejection of the single element. A successful procedure is marked by the the turbid single color turning into a clear color that reflects every single ray of light.

Spirit Domination can be used to enhance an element in a crystal and make up for a lack of mastery in that element. A combination of Spirit Magic, Crystalsmithing, and Dominance opens a path toward success that very few can use. However, Dominance isn't really necessary to get the job done, more a crutch that helps the mage. Using Domination in this manner is very demanding as it drains both energy and focus in a matter of minutes whereas the regular method can be practiced for hours.

## Spells

### Scope

Elements: Earth/Light

Similar to a diagnostic spell, it allows one to distinguish the single crystals that compose the mana crystal mass. It lasts as long as the caster keeps spending mana.

## Royal Crystalsmith

**Royal Crystalsmiths** are Crystalsmiths at the service of the Kingdom, with a stable income.

## Royal Prospector

**Royal Prospectors** are Crystalsmiths as well as skilled Wardens and structural engineers. They use arrays to detect the presence of enemies and crystals alike. Thanks to earth magic, they can safely dig new tunnels or expand the natural network of caves. Then, it becomes the miners' job to dig around according to the information provided by the Prospectors. Prospectors are also responsible for removing asperities in the ground and make it coarse so to provide a firm foothold.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 183: Once More, With Feeling
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 199: Unexpected Guest
3. ↑ Chapter 184: Once More, With Feeling (2)
4. ↑ Chapter 227: Mana Breath
5. ↑ Chapter 1269: Solus’ True Power (Part 1)
6. ↑ Chapter 254: Learning (Part 2)
7. ↑ Chapter 1146: White Cores and Crystals (Part 2)
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 1335: Artificial Mana Flow (Part 1)
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 1619: Life and Death (Part 1)
10. ↑ Chapter 1620: Life and Death (Part 2)
11. ↑ Legion on Discord
12. ↑ Chapter 1004: Clever Plans (Part 2)
13. ↑ Chapter 1005: Talent and Experience (Part 1)