Arhan sat down slowly, his slick dark robes flowing around him as he settled into his chair. He needed but a moment to study the cool lump of metal, before his ring slowly expanded outwards in a glowing halo of black energy; a sure sign that he had begun to work.

He sighed a slow breath now, reaching forward toward the irregular material with both hands, lending all of his concentration to the single purpose of focusing the black ice. And focus it he did. As Arhan’s eyes closed, the halo of dark energy formed into a thin sheet, flowing down his fingers to the metal, enveloping it in a slick wave.

To the young technomage, the black ice was an extension of himself: he could feel everything through it. The crystalline structure of the metal itself, the tiny impurities, the shape it started as… everything he needed was available to him then, and even with his limited preparation, he knew he had gathered more than enough power to bring this creation to life.