The old workshop was even more rundown up close. Dust coated every surface, and the air was thick with the smell of stale clay and cold ashes. Leon, however, saw past the decay to the potential underneath. He placed the heavy pouch of 100 silver coins into the old man's trembling hand.
"The workshop is yours for the week, young master," the man said, his eyes still wide with disbelief. "My wife, Elspeth, and I will stay out of your way."
"Actually," Leon said, "I have a task for you both, if you're willing. I'll pay you an extra 10 silver for your trouble."
The couple exchanged a hopeful glance. "Anything, young master!" Elspeth replied eagerly.
Leon gave them a small list. "I need some simple clay molds, spherical ones, about this big," he said, making a small circle with his thumb and forefinger. "And some basic tongs. Also, could you hire a few of the neighborhood children? I need them to collect the finest, whitest sand they can find from the riverbank. Fill ten large buckets for me."
The old man, whose name was Gerold, looked utterly confused. "Sand, young master?"
"Just trust me," Leon said with a reassuring smile.
As the old couple hurried off, eager to complete their well-paying task, Kira materialized beside Leon. She floated around the dusty workshop, her nose wrinkled. "This place is so dirty, Leon! What are you going to do here?"
"I'm going to build a small fortune," he replied, already inspecting the old kiln. It was cracked and crumbling in several places. He placed his hands on it, channeling a minute amount of his Titan's energy—not enough to be noticed as magic, but enough to feel the structural integrity. He spent the next hour subtly reinforcing the weak points with packed earth and his own immense physical strength, patching it up until it was sturdier than it had been in decades.
By midday, Gerold and Elspeth returned, followed by a gaggle of excited children carrying buckets filled with fine, white sand. The old couple had also procured the tools he'd requested. Leon paid them the extra silver and sent the children on their way with a few coppers each for their hard work.
"Now, the final ingredients," Leon murmured to himself once he was alone with Kira. He ventured back into the Sunwood Forest, easily finding the specific type of deep green moss and the dark, juicy berries he remembered from ancient texts.
Back in the workshop, as dusk began to fall, the real work began.
"What is all that for?" Kira asked, watching him crush the berries and moss into a strange-smelling pulp.
"A secret recipe," Leon said with a smirk.
He fired up the kiln. Instead of using bellows, he simply stood before it, his hands outstretched. He focused, drawing on his Titan cultivation to precisely control his body heat and channel a steady, intense wave of thermal energy into the kiln. The interior began to glow, first red, then orange, then a brilliant white-hot, far hotter than the old kiln should have been able to withstand.
Kira floated back, her amethyst eyes wide with amazement. "Leon! What are you doing? I've never seen magic like that!"
"It's not magic," Leon said, his focus unwavering. "It's control."
He began feeding the pure white sand into the crucible inside the kiln. Under the immense, controlled heat, the sand began to melt, turning into a thick, glowing, honey-like liquid. Molten glass.
Using the long tongs, he carefully poured the liquid glass into the spherical clay molds. Once they were full, he plunged the searingly hot molds into the quenching solution he had made from the moss and berries. The workshop filled with a hissing steam.
"This is the most important part," he explained to the mesmerized Kira. "The rapid cooling in this specific solution is what will make them flawless."
He pulled the first mold from the solution. It cracked open from the temperature shock, revealing a perfectly clear, small glass sphere. It was beautiful, but it lacked life. "Perfect," Leon thought. "Now for the demonstration."
"Gerold! Elspeth!" he called out. "Come see the fruits of your labor!"
The elderly couple shuffled into the workshop, looking nervous around the glowing kiln. They stopped short when they saw the perfectly clear bead in Leon's hand. "By the spirits," Gerold breathed. "Is it a crystal?"
"That is still not finished," Leon said calmly. "Now, watch closely."
He held the bead between his thumb and forefinger. "This is my signature." He channeled the smallest, most insignificant wisp of his dark, necrotic energy into the bead.
Gerold and Elspeth both gasped as the clear glass bead suddenly came to life. A soft, internal luminescence pulsed within it, like a captured star. In the dim light of the workshop, it looked as if a tiny galaxy was swirling within the glass.
"Is... is that a jewel?" Elspeth whispered, her hand covering her mouth in awe.
Leon smiled and gently placed the bead in her wrinkled palm. "What do you think?"
She held it up, her eyes reflecting the swirling light within. "It's… it's beautiful! I've never seen anything like it!"
Gerold, the old craftsman, took the bead from his wife, his professional eye scrutinizing it. He turned it over and over, his expression one of pure, unadulterated shock.
"I've been a craftsman for sixty years," he said, his voice trembling with emotion. "I've seen enchanted gems from the capital and dwarven jewels from the mountains. I have never, ever seen anything like this."
He looked at Leon, his eyes filled with a new kind of respect, bordering on reverence. "Young master... what do you call this?"
"We'll call them Stardew Beads," Leon said.
Gerold shook his head in amazement. "Stardew Beads," he repeated. "And you made it in our Klin?"
"Yup." Leon replied nonchalantly.
"Unbelievable. The ladies in the capital… the travelling merchants… they will pay a fortune for this. A real fortune. Master, you might have stuck gold! How many can you produce?"
"Actually, I can produce quite a few. But, the value lies it its rarity. I think that for now, I will only produce a few. By the way, can you get the required approvals to set up a small shop in the market?" Leon asked, eager to sell the first of the Stardew Beads.
"Of course. I will immediately go and arrange for a space in the market. We should be able to set up in a week."
Okay, a week it is, then.