"Well. This isn't normal at all. It's much better, I didn't need to spend the whole night of it, but not even remotely normal." Memnol thought in the workstation portion of his Magnificent Mansion spell, looking at his newly made pair of Gloves of Continuous Scholar's Touch. They only took him, as he noted looking at his scroll's clock once he was done, about 48 minutes to make. This was far less than the 8 hours he was expecting, even being an Efficient Wondrous Item and Construct Maker. "Another pleasant change in this world's weave, precision in crafting time, as well as being based on material cost,"

Some of you may be wondering, as you rightfully do, where did he get the materials to make that? To which I say, the Epic Seed Conjure and the Minor & Major Creation spells do explicitly state that anything made with them cannot be used for epic spell research, material components, or crafting and Polymorph any Object cannot transform anything with intrinsic value.

The Transform Epic Seed, however, has none of these restrictions. That combined with an empty mansion room with a large basin for water, a single casting of Frostfell shaped by a Master of Shaping just to be safe, and a single Perfect Polymorph can net you an entire basin of any solid or liquid material that isn't inherently magical. Of course, most of the time a small jug to convert into spellbook ink is enough, but hey, Wizards.

That trick combined with using a Limited Wish to duplicate any desired spell up to a certain level, rather opened up one's crafting options to 'Whenever I so please'.

With the gloves done far earlier than he anticipated, he slipped them on over his rings and stepped out of his Mansion and saw, looking almost directly at him, a dark-skinned man with reddish hair who was just slightly taller than Memnol. Making the connection he ordered his two guarding IA's to get back in the Mansion immediately.

"Ah, hello there," Memnol said, hoping to distract him while looking more closely. After noticing the purely white eyes Memnol continued, "Wait, Pardon me for the bluntness but, are you blind?"

"Yeah," Fox said, pulling a book off of the self and opening it, looking in, "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Memnol said, "I was simply curious what would bring a blind man into a library of all places. I'd guess your team?"

Fox nodded, "Yeah," then flipped a page.

Memnol said, "Also, again pardon me, but that book is upside-down."

Fox said, his face entirely straight, "It's the same to me either way,"

After a second, Memnol's normal look gave way to a crack, and he started lightly chuckling, which soon caused Fox to join.

Memnol extended a hand and said, "Memnol Elodyr, First Year General Reserve."

Fox, putting the book back, though still upside down, shook the gloved hand and said, "Fox."

Memnol nodded and said, "Well, it was pleasant to meet you, good evening,"

Memnol started walking off, making his way towards the theology section, when Fox said, "Before you go, I need to ask for a bet, was that robe made with actual silk?"

Memnol said, "Yes, yes it was and is,"

Fox groaned, having lost that bet, and said, "Well, you mind telling me who made it, My team leader wants to know."

Memnol said, "I am the one who made all of this. If they'd like anything from me, do let them know that I am willing to take a job, but I can't exactly sell too cheaply for obvious reasons. Again, good evening to you." He walked off again, intent on reading at least one bookcase of the section over the hour.

Around 20 minutes later, as Memnol had just read book 203 and was considering just what he could get away with if these books were accurate on the deity situation, Coco Adel had walked over and yelled up at him in a questioning tone, "Hey, Fox told me you made all that yourself,"

Memnol kept going through the books and yelled back down, "That's correct, who would be asking?"

Coco said, "Coco Adel, Fashion guru! He said you were taking commissions,"

"Possibly," Memnol said, "If you can afford it. Do you want appearance only or function too?"

Coco said, "You can do both?"

By this point, their back and forth had attracted the attention of the librarian who soon shushed them, prompting Memnol to stop at book 217 and come down the ladder.

Memnol said, considerably more quietly, "Of course I can, I just need to know what it ought to look like and what you want from it, then I might be able to get you a market price and we can work from there."

Coco said, "Oh, It's not for me, I'm getting it for a friend. Rough first day back, so we'll go to check with her now. Unless you're more interested in looking at more book titles?" The end being rather sarcastic.

Memnol said, "No, I'll be right along,"

They had walked for a good few moments before reaching a table where the rest of team CFVY sat, Velvet was looking down at a textbook, "A Modern History of Remnant: V1", with Fox nearby half listening to his scroll by some earbuds, and Yatsuhashi was sat down, eyes closed as he meditated.

Coco said, "Yo, Vel, I'm getting you something nice and it's on me, no Ifs ands or buts! Tell him what you want and what you want it to do, he says he can do both."

Velvet looked up and said, after a brief pause, "Um, Coco?" Coco looked at her, "He's the guy,"

"The one who messed up your day?"

Velvet nodded, and Coco continued, "Same one who left behind those weird sketches?"

Velvet nodded again. Coco whirled in place and glared at Memnol, "Alright, explain. Now."

Memnol said, a look of (entirely fake) embarrassment on his face, "Oh, yes, I suppose we got off on the wrong foot," "Five mistakes so far," "I had never encountered any Faunuskind before, and my curiosity can be insatiable at times,"

"But did you have to be, like that, about it? And seriously, these?" Velvet asked, taking the sketches out of a nearby bag.

Memnol said, "In hindsight, no, I'll admit that. To give my side, you were, and still are unless someone would like to make some big reveal, the only member of Faunuskind I've met. As far as the sketches, I was simply wondering how in the world the second set of ears would connect if they weren't vestigial,"

"That, almost makes sense," Velvet said.

After a moment of silence Velvet said, pushing one forwards, "It's this one, by the way."

Memnol said, still faking embarrassment, "Oh. Thank you, Ms. Vel."

Velvet laughed a little, letting some of the tension fall away, "It's Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina. You're the Reserve student, right?"

Memnol said, "Yes, Memnol Elodyr, grand to make your acquaintance Ms. Scarlatina."

Coco said, "Well, Vel may be being nice about this, but I think a discount of around, say, a hundred percent for this is the least you can do, right?"

Velvet said, "Coco-"

"Ah, ah, ah. Let me do the haggling,"

Memnol said, "I suppose a free commission in exchange for forgiveness is reasonable, so long as what you ask for isn't overly excessive. I accept." He looked at the two, "So, what would you like?" Internally he rather disliked this arrangement, but he didn't want to risk having words with Ozpin or any of his other new superiors, so he went along with it.

Velvet said, "Well, I don't know, what do you think Coco, you're the one who would be paying after all?"

Coco said to Velvet, a mischievous look on her face, "Well I say you need some jewelry already, and I'd quite like to see a ring on you."

Velvet sputtered for a moment before saying, "A ring sounds nice. Maybe something, defensive?"

Coco said, "I don't know if he can manage that on a ring."

Memnol said, pride flaring up, "Pardon me, but are you trying to doubt my crafting skills?"

Coco said, "No, no, not at all."

Memnol said, "I know exactly what you're doing here."

Coco said, "And?"

Memnol said, "Hook, line, sinker. I'll have it in four days, maybe three."

Coco said, "Good. Be seeing you then,"

Memnol said, "Good evening to all of you as well,"

Memnol walked off, directly back to his Mansion and, within five minutes, had begun work.

----------------------------------------

The next few days were mostly normal, as normal as Beacon tended to get. Classes went on as normal, and the moment he knew what textbooks he had to know Memnol had gone and read each of them 5 times with the Scholar's Touch gloves. Team RWBY had gone through the incident with the Boarbatusk in Professor Port's class, which Memnol didn't bother interfering with in the slightest, though he did give a polite enough greeting to Ozpin as he passed by him in the hall. Combat classes went normally as well, with nothing much to note aside from the travesty that was the Jaune vs Cardin fight.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Four days later on Friday however, Memnol walked into the dining hall during lunch, mildly notable as he had managed a slight reputation for almost always being seen in the library, and he paced around looking for any member of Team CFVY. He did manage to find Velvet, though she didn't seem in the best spot, given that three out of four of CRDL had been bullying her. Memnol approached and, having foregone sleep for the past few days using Limited Wishes to remove the fatigue, abandoned any particular subtly by tapping Russel on the shoulder mid-insult and saying, "Excuse me, I need to step by."

Russel said, "Walk around then, just cause you're cool with Cardin doesn't make you cool with us."

Sky said, "Unless you actually sympathize with that freak?"

At this the three started laughing again, and Memnol said, deadpan, "Wait, you consider that," he gestured to her ears, "Freakish?"

Dove said, "'Course we do, 'cause she is!"

Memnol said, "Look, I need to attend to business, so again, if you could kindly step over for a moment."

Sky said, "Why don't you make us?"

Memnol said, incredulous, "You, You're joking right? Are you utterly certain about that request?"

Russel said, "What, chicken?"

Memnol said, more to himself, "By the Nine you are." He spoke up, "Okay then! I am going to ask one more time politely,"

Memnol cast one of his silent Limited Wishes and then asked, "Kindly leave the two of us be."

All of them looked at eachother, shrugged, and walked off a touch grumpy, while Memnol thought, "Praise be to Mass Suggestion, perfect are thee at winding down morons."

Memnol looked at the now surprised Velvet, failing to notice some of the nearby tables also gone quiet after that, and said, "Now that that's over, here." He held out an intricately engraved platinum ring, though the platinum was actually just a thin layer over the main iron band. "This is what's known as a Ring of Force Shield, allow me to demonstrate."

He slipped the ring on to no visible effect, until he knocked his knuckles against the invisible shield-shaped force effect and said, "It's invisible, indestructible, weighs nothing, and is activated mentally, here." He handed her the ring which she put on, uncertain of if it would work even when she tried to will it to work and said, "I... can't tell."

"Did you will it to activate?"

"Yes?"

"Hold your hand up, like this,"

She did so and said, "Okay-". As soon as she did so, he punched the thing with his full effort. Velvet, while mildly startled, didn't feel anything at all, but she clearly saw his fist suddenly halt. Memnol said, while shaking his hand from the punch, "It's active, deactivating it is the same process,"

Velvet looked at the ring and said, "What should I do if it runs out of Hard-light dust?"

"Don't worry about that. If it stops working somehow, try moving sixty feet from where you were standing and try again, or come to me."

"Okay," After a brief pause Velvet continued, "Coco told me not to ask, but I want to know, how much would this normally be?"

Memnol, doing some math in his head in a fraction of a second thought, "If she wants to feel indebted, then who am I to stop her.", and said, "I'd say roughly the equivalent of three point zero seven million Lien at market price, based on the value of one hundred and seventy pounds of gold if you'd like to check the math yourself,".

At this Velvet looked at the ring, then at Memnol, then the ring, and managed to squeak out, "Thank you," Before walking- jogging off to find her team.

Memnol decided that, since he was in the dining hall already, he may as well pick up lunch there instead of the mansion. Once he had done so he saw Ruby beaming and waving him over eagerly and sat down with the teams, where almost all of them looked right at him. Once he noticed he just asked, "What? Do I have something on my face?"

After a second of silence Weiss said, "You just gave away a supposedly three million lien ring! How can you possibly afford that?!"

Memnol said, waving a hand in the air, "The Art."

Weiss let out a sound similar to a slowly deflating balloon as he just ate among the group in silence. Partway through lunch once normal conversation resumed, today Jaune was insisting he was just pals with Cardin, a realization passed through Memnol's head, "I was wearing three rings, and all of them worked."

Memnol smiled suddenly as he ate. Ruby noticed this and said, "Something good happen?"

Memnol said, "You could say that. At least for me," He thought, "Wait, why am I letting this show? I spent two years in a Vecnan cult, praise to the whispered one, during my younger years and now I'm slipping this badly? It's mainly been right here too, so it's either location, food, or people."

Memnol got up once there was a lull and said, "Well, it's been nice eating amongst you all again, but I will be going for now. I'll see you during Ms. Goodwitch's class."

For most of the rest of the day before and after combat class, Memnol would be found in the library 'reading' through every book he could find that might be related to Remnan property law. He kept looking through them until he felt one of his pockets vibrate slightly, and checked it find a message from Ozpin,

"You have an assignment, see me in my office immediately."

----------------------------------------

After sending the message Ozpin got up from his desk, and opened the window to let in a little black bird, which soon asked, "I don't get it, you haven't done anything like this before, so what's up?"

Ozpin replied by displaying a holographic chessboard that seemed to be partway through a rather odd game, based on the number and location of each of the pieces. He removed a white bishop and put it aside,

Qrow said, "I know, I messed up and-" He stopped dead when Ozpin added an extra king and colored it grey.

Qrow breathed in, long and deep, before letting his breath out at once in a sharp sound, "Shit. This good or bad?"

"I'm not entirely certain yet."

"You're not certain, yet you've just let them waltz around Beacon for a week?"

"Yes, I have let them 'Waltz around' on my home ground, where I can constantly keep an eye on them, as they are surrounded by not only trusted and veteran hunters, but are also, by their own admission, very aware of who has been providing food and shelter to them."

"Fair enough. You trust him Oz?"

"I believe I can trust what he'll do."

"Meaning?"

"Throughout his entire stay here so far, he hasn't broken any rules."

"Is that it, Oz? That's pretty basic. Didn't think you'd be the one grabbing at straws," Qrow grabbed his flask and started taking a good drink from it.

"Allow me to rephrase, he has not broken any of the most obscure rules found in the online student handbook, has followed the exact instructions of any staff members the moment they were given, and just moments ago before I sent the message calling him to my office he was looking at Legal Encyclopedias,"

Qrow nearly choked on his drink, coughing for a moment before saying, "I didn't know Jimmy had a kid. Right, that's explained, now what did you call me in for?"

Ozpin said, "I am about to give him an assignment as a reinforcement to a second year search and destroy in Patch-"

"And all first years need a hunter leading their assignments, you seriously want me on chaperone duty?"

"He has respected the authority of anyone directly associated with me, but I need to know how far that goes."

"So, instead of all the clean-cut people he knows are with you, you're going to see how he handles working with… Well, me."

"Yes, in essence. You two will be deploying tomorrow."

"And tonight?" Qrow said.

Ozpin pulled a set of keys from his drawer and tossed them over to Qrow.

"The break room couch again, where did our marriage fall apart Oz?" Qrow asked, sarcasm dripping, before he took another swig.

Ozpin sighed and said, "Also, Qrow?"

"Yeah?"

"I imagine it would be easier to believe you weren't so directly associated with me if you weren't still in my office once he gets here. I'm sure that your nieces would be glad to see you in the meanwhile."

Qrow said, his mood more somber, "You suggesting or telling?"

Ozpin said, "Beacon is safe, Qrow, I've dedicated my life to that, and will continue to do so."

After a long pause Qrow sighed and said, "Thanks, Oz. Cheers," He held his flask up.

Ozpin held his mug just off his desk, and soon both were dry.