Born in apocalypse

Moments after his mana entered the staff, the core that was placed into the staff glowed for a very tiny fraction of a second.

Getting its signal, the core began to channel its mana into the wood through runes. Everything went well for about ten seconds, and Zola thought this might be it... but.

Zapppp!

Suddenly, the staff began to burn. Within moments, there was nothing but ashes left on the table.

"Ouch! This wood couldn’t handle the power of this core on its own; I have to add something that might be able to lower the power level of the core," Zola thought as he looked at the failed product in front of him.

The wood-burning problem hadn’t been a problem when he was using tier 1 core. On the contrary, the tier 1 core wasn’t even strong enough to power the rune, and thus in the previous crafting, Zola would use two tier 1 cores instead of one.

Fitting those two cores into a single staff and making it work was even more challenging, and that was the reason he had demanded tier 2 cores this time.

Without a second thought, Zola blew the ash away and brought out another chunk of wood. It didn’t take him long to carve out a staff-shaped material from the chunk.

"Let’s start from the very beginning..." Whispering this, he gets to work once again.

Half an hour and a lot of patience later, all the carving had been done. There is now a hole the size of the core present in the wood. Runes have been carved as well.

Looking at the hole, Zola picked up a new core instead of using the one he had just used.

"So, what could I modify here... that would force the core to magnify the given mana instead of sending its own? If it won’t send its own mana, then the wood would not burn like that." Zola began to think about the item that could help him achieve this.

"If I add a layer of resistance rune on the core then it should be possible... but that thing is just impossible," Zola thought with a saddened face.

The reason adding a rune directly to the core was impossible because the moment one would try to write anything the core would just soak all the pure mana inside of itself.

This was the reason why, after writing the rune, he had to wait for a few more minutes before placing the core in the hole.

Even after this he wasn’t demotivated and continued to ponder. After thinking for a while he finally came up with an idea that might just work.

’Why not just add a layer of something on top of the core... that would surely break the connection between the core and the rune. ’

Before he could celebrate his findings a problem occurred,

"But adding a layer of anything on the top core would just lower its efficiency... unless the material is a superconductor of mana." Thinking this, Zola began to frantically search his workshop.

"Not this... Not that... that certainly won’t work either..." One by one Zola began to reject each and every material from his warehouse.

A frown appeared on his face as he realized that there weren’t any materials in his warehouse that were super conductors of mana. The only thing that is remotely closer to that is the wood he is working on.

To use that wood as he envisioned, he had to turn it into paper first... which would take a long time as well.

It’s not that Zola was afraid of spending his time to create that... it’s just that at this point, he wants some result... a result that he could show to his people and his majesty to prove his worth as well.

"Sigh! I guess I have to take a long route... his majesty have to wait a few more days to hear some results." Sighing, he began to walk towards his chair and sat on it.

Dipping the quill in the pure mana, he tried to write something on the mana stone... as expected, the result was what he had expected.

’I guess I have to consult with Zain and have to find a way to craft papers as soon as possible.’ Thinking this, he closed the lid of the jar.

Knowing there was nothing he could do except wait, he leaned back to relax. Looking at the ceiling of his workshop, he began to remember his days on this island.

’How the time has passed...’ he thought as he remembered how he was just a weaponsmith in his tribe a month ago.

Despite having a very much love for his craft, there wasn’t much he could do while being in his tribe. Zola was sure that his life would end crafting spears, bows, and tools like that... But,

But everything changed when the cosmic evolution happened.

On the second day of the first quest, he got the class [Blacksmith] which later evolved into [Magic Weaponsmith]. With this class came many new opportunities for his future... that he didn’t know even existed.

"How far have we come..." Zola thought as he remembered fighting monsters on the second quest... their departure for the second quest... meeting with Dhruv... who is now their lord. And most importantly...

"Becoming a monster... Who would’ve thought that we would become a monster," Zola whispered as he remembered his first day on the island.

"Monster... monster..." While whispering these words, he suddenly realized something.

"Wait a minute... WAIT A DAMM MINUTE," thinking about something, he directly got out of his chair and began to run in a particular direction. After running for a few minutes, he finally reached the place.

Looking at the warehouse in front of him, he tried to enter it. Before he could take a second step, an ice shield appeared in front of him.

"L-let me enter it..." Zola said as he looked at the Crystalline undead beside him.

Instead of answering anything, the undead remained standing still for a few moments. After a five-second delay, he finally opened his mouth, "What are you doing here at this hour."

Even after spending an hour in the workshop... the clock had only reached 5 am, which was still very early.

"Sorry for interrupting you, my lord... but I need to go inside there..." Knowing that through his undead Azarex was talking, he carefully began to explain why he needed that thing.

"Okay... it is extremely cold inside, be quick..." Saying these words, the undead let him enter the room.

"Thank you..." Zola pushed the door of the warehouse as he took his second step.