Chapter 76: Moon Forge

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The Moon Forge was a powerful tool of the elves that could absorb the power of the moon to create new artefacts. Although it was called a forge, it could also be used for enchanting artefacts, which was it's main use anyway.

After a while, Glorfindel arrived with a bunch of bracelets in hand, and put them down while saying, "Those are Mithril Bracelets. Mithril is a metal lighter than steel but much stronger because it is created through the absorption of magic. It is the most magic sensitive metal I know of."

Edward nodded and thanked him, he knew Mithril was a precious material. However, as he looked at the bracelets, he noticed, "There are six of them?"

Glorfindel explained, "The White Council is currently sitting in Rivendell, meaning Saruman and Lady Galadriel are here too. If you only give gifts to a few people in front of them, you might make a bad impression. But you decide whether you want to create some for them."

Edward raised an eyebrow, and after a moment asked, "What do you think of the White Council? Of it's members I mean."

Glorfindel chuckled at the question, "Well, there's me, I can't really judge myself. For the other members… The White Council was first created back in the Second Age, by the previous wielder of your spear, the High King Gil-galad. However, it was Lady Galadriel who took the initiative to create a new one for the Third Age."

"So she is the leader? Last leader was an elf, it would make sense for her to lead."

Glorfindel shook his head, "She wanted Gandalf to lead the Council, for his great wisdom and unmatched power. However, he refused, and Saruman was quick to propose himself for the position…"

Edward smiled at that, "So you are telling me that Saruman is not to be trusted."

"I didn't say that. I think that if Gandalf is closer to the elves in temperament, then Saruman is closer to men. It's not against you…"

Edward shook his head, "I perfectly understand, no need for explanation. I know more than anyone what a man can do. Since that's the case, I won't make one for Saruman, I'll craft two for myself. I don't think there's a need for Saruman to know about the gifts though, so could you pass the gifts to Lady Galadriel and Lord Elrond for me?"

Edward wouldn't normally just take Glorfindel's word for truth possibly offend someone like that, but Edward also knew from the movies that Saruman wasn't a good guy. He didn't know exactly how many years he was before the events of the movies, and although he was probably bound to change them with his presence, he would rather not give Saruman, and by extension Sauron, another weapon.

As Edward separated the beautiful Mithril Bracelets and was about to start working on the first one, Glorfindel asked, "You know the forge charges itself with the moon's power and can be used during the day right? There wasn't really a need to wait for the night."

Edward shook his head and replied, "I didn't start so late because of the forge, it's because I find it easier to work at night."

Rune Inscription, or Enchantment, was an art he learned from Merlin, and because he did not use Magic in the same way as Merlin did, he had to adapt and even create some techniques for himself.

And after months of hard work now, he had devised a technique he deemed even superior to Merlin's. It wasn't that his skill surpassed Merlin, but simply that he had means unattainable by Merlin.

Edward first started by enveloping the bracelet with his Spiritual Energy, and then carefully started engraving runes in the metal. It took quite the brunt to directly use his Spiritual Energy to carve onto Mithril, but his precision was far more precise, and it was vital for the next step.

Moreover, as he carefully carved the runes into the magical metal, he felt his Spiritual Energy regenerate at a quick speed. In the past few months he had noticed a strange phenomenon he couldn't explain. During the day, his Chi would regenerate faster, while during the night it was his Spiritual Energy that would recover faster.

Or rather, it was under the sun and the moon that his two energies would recover faster. He still didn't know what exactly was the cause for this, but ever since he discovered this he started making his artefacts under the moon, which on Earth wasn't a problem since he could simply teleport to a different time zone.

For the bracelet, before long, all the necessary runes were carved, but Edward wasn't done.

Edward commanded the nearby space energy and poured it into the runes, empowering them. Edward had started with a very small amount because of his small reserves of Chi, but as the Space Energy entered his body, he immediately felt another energy enter his body and offset the magic.

He looked down and was surprised to find that the energy stored within the Moon Forge was helping him resist the magic. However, his Chi did not seem to like the Moon Energy, but thankfully it simply shied away from it, it still continued helping him.

Since the forge was helping him, Edward gathered more Space Energy through the fragments of creation, and displayed an impressive feat of magic as he created his best magical artefact so far.

On the side, Glorfindel was looking at the scene with shock. The Moon Forge was glowing with a soft blue light, protecting Edward and the surroundings, while a stream of dark blue energy was pouring from the void into this realm, first going through Edward's body before entering the bracelet.

Finally, after a few minutes, the process ended, and in front of Edward was a changed bracelet. The silvery Mithril bracelet now had runes that shone with a profound blue light.

Edward grabbed the bracelet, and smiled before tossing it to Glorfindel, who carefully received it. He could feel a strong power course through the ring, he had seen stronger artefacts, but this one was unique.

Edward informed him, "I quite outdid myself to be honest. This bracelet has a space of 1000 cubic meters, it's a square so 10 by 10 by 10 meters. I also fixed the initial weight problem so that whatever you put in there will have it's weight nullified."

Glorfindel, who had some understanding of magic himself, asked, "How? Mass can't just disappear."

Edward smiled, "A mix of science, magic and my understanding of space. Although mass can't just disappear, it can be ignored if there is no gravity to influence it. The space in my bracelet wasn't really cut off from the world, the passage between the two was simply shrunk to the point it couldn't be seen.

"For this bracelet though, the space inside has become truly independent, so no force outside the ring affects the objects inside, other than the other objects. Basically, whatever you put inside will have it's weight nullified. Well, other than bracelet's own weight of course. Also, I set a compartment spell so the objects inside wouldn't crush each other and remain separated. Well, you decided how to arrange the things inside, all you need is a mental command."

Glorfindel put on the bracelet, impressed by Edward's creation, and asked, "How do you use it?"

Edward explained, "Here's the only drawback from the loss of weight and lost of connection. For my ring, I only have to touch an item to get it in my bracelet, but because your bracelet's space isn't connected to the world, I had to install another spell to move objects in, and the easiest way to do so is to move them through portals."

He took out a shirt he had in his shirt in case of emergency and said, "Here, try to put this in. All you have to do is to will for it to enter."

Glorfindel received the shirt, but he kept looking at it, not forming any portal. After a few seconds, Edward asked, "You can't do it?" Did he mess up somewhere?

Glorfindel got out of his daze and asked, "What is this? Where did you find such craft?"

Edward scratched his head as he finally understood why Glorfindel entered a daze, he had just given him a shirt from Earth, of course he would be surprised.

"That's a shirt from my home. If you like it, you can keep it… Here, keep this too, or just the shirt would look weird." Edward gave Glorfindel the rest of the outfit, and Glorfindel thanked him before trying to put them in his bracelet.

As the portal opened, Glorfindel gaped in shock, "It latched onto my vital energy!" The portal itself was quite small, and blue in color. He put the clothes inside, and watched as it closed itself.

Edward nodded and explained, "In my world enchantments are usually carried in the same fashion as in your world, the runes would draw their power from the surrounding magic. However, my runes are a little different, they draw their power from me, placing a burden on me but strengthening the enchantment.

"Because my power is currently sealed though, I can't bear the burden for so many artefacts, or they would have to be very weak, and they would probably stop working once I return home, so I tweaked it for it to draw it's power from the wearer. With this, not only is the effects of the ring enhanced, once it has latched on you no one else will be able to access what's inside."

Glorfindel looked at Edward with a stunned expression and said, "I'm starting to believe you are actually strong without those seals."

Edward feigned being offended, "I thought the bond we forged was special, to think you wouldn't believe me… My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined."

Glorfindel, not understanding the earthly reference, only smiled and asked, "Is there anything else I should know about this bracelet?"

Edward nodded, "I initially wanted to add a feature that could act as a kind of shield, so that any attack would first be diffused into the bracelet's space, but that was too hard to incorporate, the portal makes it impossible and even if it could I wouldn't want it to damage whatever is stored inside."

Glorfindel nodded, finding the idea interesting but knowing too it would be difficult to do. Edward continued, "As for the last effect, it is quite hidden. Here, press on the first rune from the left."

Glorfindel raised an eyebrow and did as he was told, and the moment he did the runes flashed with green before turning back to blue. Glorfindel looked at Edward for an explanation, and he happily provided it.

"I don't know about you, but I've always wanted to use this to store food, it is the most convenient. But if the food goes bad after a few days, then it would become quite useless. Hence, I added a time enchantment. Stopping time is usually very difficult, maybe even impossible, but since this is a whole other space and much smaller than our world, handling time in there is easier."

Glorfindel asked, "So pressing this rune stops time inside the bracelet?"

Edward shrugged, "Not really stop, but slows it down so much it is not too different from freezing time, a year outside would be a second inside, so even if you have a warm meal inside you have a few decades to eat it. And if for some reason you want time to pass faster inside the ring, press it twice, and a second outside will be a year inside. If you want time to go normally, touch the last rune."

Glorefindel gaped, "That's… amazing. Can it store people too?"

"Well, it can store anything made of matter, but anything that enters would be killed for a variety of reasons. I still need to work more on it."

"And you are simply gifting this to us for a good impression?"

Edward laughed, "I'm gifting it to you because you're my friend, but yes, I would like to be friends with Lord Elrond and Lady Galadriel too. United before darkness, right?"