"Material restraints always get in the way huh?" I muttered with a sigh.
Flammel chuckled "True but skill also plays a pivotal role. For example someone who could barely write a rune without error and certainly not very small wouldn't be able to make full use of rarer materials even if given an endless supply." he said calmly.
I nodded in understanding before he continued.
"Moving away from that and back to your lesson it's quite clear to me that runic inscription and utilization aren't aspects I need to waste any time on. This saves us time. What you will need to learn however is how to actually add magic to the runes and thus permanence. This step can be accomplished via several methods. The first is the binding method by which one uses an external substance as a binder to solidify the magic into the runes. This method was the one you saw me utilize. In my case I use powdered fake philosopher stone as my binder of choice. You will need to decide on your own preferred binder however as obviously mine won't work." he explained calmly.
"What all works as a binder?" I asked with a frown.
"That's the interesting part, anything capable of channeling magic. Blood from magical beast is the most commonly used binder though. Dragon blood specifically is an excellent binder." he explained with a smile.
"That's kinda gross." I said with a grimace.
"Only before the binding is complete. Whatever binder was used is absorbed by the artifact once the process is finished so it's perfectly clean in the end." he explained with an amused expression.
"Is that why the runes vanished?" I asked curiously.
"Indeed. The idea is simply that the material that fills the runes gets turned into the material of the artifact. For today you will be using dragon blood to bind a few incomplete artifacts I prepared for this lesson. The process as you saw is to fill the runes before channeling your magic into the entire artifact in a smooth and even manner." He said before producing several plates of iron with runes covering them as well as a jar of blood and a paintbrush.
I looked over the runes carefully and quickly figured out what the enchantment on these things were.
"Shield enchantments? Awfully large for starter artifacts aren't they?" I asked confused by this.
"The point is not for you to complete them all at once but to get used to the process." he said with that usual tone one gets when teaching someone.
"Makes sense." I nodded and pulled ones of the plates to me along with the blood and brush.
I popped open the jar and grimaced slightly as the pungent odor of dragon blood wafted out and filled my nostrils. I powered through it and picked up the plain wooden handled brush and dipped it's hair tip lightly in the thick liquid's surface. I gently wiped the excess on the lip of the jar to let it drop back into the dark red liquid and moved my hand over to the plate. -
Contrary to how it might seem at first glance this was not an easy process. You needed to coat the entirety of the runes without any blank spots which required a careful use of pressure and replenishing the "ink" being used. It took me close to an hour to fully fill each rune and had to wipe off the excess that got outside the runes. Flammel watched over my work with a critical eye and gave advice when he noticed the spots I was struggling with.-
"I'll have to add calligraphy to the lesson plan. While you have done well for an amateur it's fairly obvious you have no technique with a brush. Your control over your muscles are quite incredible but it isn't enough. Still I'd say you've done well enough that the enchantment should hold. Go ahead and try channeling your magic into it. Remember, smooth and even flow. A slight hiccup will ruin all your effort." he said seriously.
I took the criticism and had to agree with it. Control wise my movements were fine but I was simply unfamiliar with using a brush and lacked any technique that would make my work flawless.
I failed in the end.
Channeling raw magic was a lot harder than you'd think. Doing so perfectly smooth and evenly took herculean effort. The fact I had never needed to do it before meant I absolutely flubbed the exercise. The plate that was glowing from my magical transfer flat out broke into pieces as the flow deviated and certain runes got more energy than others.-
"You did well all things considered. In truth most wizards would fail just as you did. It's incomparably rare for spells to require such precise magical control after all." he said reassuringly.
"I don't mind. I am here to learn after all, failure during this process is only natural." I said not overly affected by my failure.
The rest of the day was spent with me hunched over the other iron plates carefully filling the runes with dragon blood and then trying to successfully enchant at least one of them. Not that I managed it as at the end of the day all I had to show for my efforts were a bunch of broken iron fragments and a headache.-
Dinner was when I was formally introduced to Perenelle Flammel, Nicolas's wife. She much like himself was a skeletal figure of a woman. Her hair long since turned silver with age and tied back gently in a bun to keep it out of her face. Even while being so old you could make out the high aristocratic bone structure she possessed that hinted at her being quite the beauty once upon a time.