Chapter 6

"The total will be 87 Dollars."

"Here you go, keep the change!"

"Thank you, have a great day!"

Mikey waved the ecstatic War Mage who walked away with his brand new Mikey Refurbished Mechanism(MRM), a surprisingly popular avenue of wealth that opened up due to people wanting their old items repaired and improved rather than purchasing new goods. Saved Mikey the trouble of dumpster diving to get the item later.

His Financially Successful Chuckling was interrupted when something pulled on his sleeve.

Glancing to the side he saw Ishtasa glaring at him while nudging at a clear glass jar with the word 'Tips' written on the top. The jar had a cartoon version of Ishtasa surrounded with carrots drawn on the side.

Mikey tightened his grip on the crisp bill as he matched her glare while saying in a petulant tone, "No. I already bought you something just yesterday, this tip is mine."

The small bunny rapidly thumped her leg against the wooden countertop in agitation.

"You scratch that counter and you’re paying for it," the Large teen(the capital L is intentional) said as his face gained an ominous look on top of his insidious salesman smile.

Ishtasa stopped her tantrum, but she still pouted maliciously. She is a very expressive rabbit.

Closing the register, the boy leaned on the counter and looked at his partner, "Also, why aren't you wearing the uniform I made for you? Show some pride! You are part of Moon Mechanisms now, you’re the face of our brand. How else are people supposed to get the full brand experience?"

There was a heated glaring contest between the two but eventually Ishtasa bowed her head and scurried to the bedroom.

She came back carrying a bundle of colorful red and white cloth, and with Mikey's help she was dressed once more. She was dressed in a tiny shrine maiden outfit, with red hakama pants, a white haori, and some tabi socks. There was even a small hole made at the back that allowed her fluffy white tail to peak out.

So maybe Mikey hadn’t really outgrew his miko phase but cuteness is a weapon to be used against any customer.

"There, now anyone would pay that extra 20 dollars just to meet you, you adorable little thing," Mikey gushed as he went to scratch her under the chin only to nearly lose the finger when she got annoyed. "Ow!" The rabbit turned her head to the side, a sign that Mikey took as her being embarrassed.

It had been a week since he had met Ishtasa, and a lot had happened.

Thanks to Kris, he had finally gotten the technique that would boost his productivity through the roof. Through a similar process as the reflection summoning he could use dirt to form a statue of himself that could move autonomously and most importantly didn’t need wages. He would usually summon a couple every morning to man the shop, while he either trained outside or made more products for the shop in his room. The only real downside was that each Statue took a tenth of his total mana and they tended to imprint a piece of their creators personality which caused them to take liberties with how mikey worded their tasks. So, he would usually wake up in the middle of the night and make them before going back to sleep to replenish his mana and then order them to take careful notes of all activities and sales when he wasn’t watching.

The extra help had come just in time since Kris and Ana had come back the next day with more Wolffriend family members. Kris had opened the family accounts to get a large number of Chastity Rings and canine armor, as well as some supplies.

Kris had called a meeting when she got back to the family compound to show off her purchases and from what mikey heard it was quite a thing to see. Many of the elders were interested in the various potions and pills that could get them the edge they needed to leave retirement. The current war mages were interested in the weapons and armor, while their canine companions looked at Kurofuwa with awe and envy, complimenting his fierce appearance before demanding their partner buy them some armor as well.

The smile on Mikey’s face when he saw the crowd of people the next morning could have lit up the tent by itself. The entire day had been hectic and Mikey had been forced to spend the entire day in the forge while his Statues manned the shop and took down the different orders. At some point it had turned into a full family barbeque outside with someone bringing party supplies from the compound. They partied the day away, many using their newly purchased weapons in spars tearing up the practicing ground even further, Mikey knew his deposit was gone but at least he could have hoped before this. He used all that growing resentment to pound the metal even harder even as the smell of cooking meat made his mouth water.

That day, he had made enough sale that Madam Chaska’s visit look like a blip on the profits chart. Even today he’s still working on filling the orders that had been made from then.

Thankfully the number of customers over the last week had dwindled down to give him more time to finish his work. Self Statue technique for the win.

With the extra money he had gotten he was finally able to give his shop the branding like he saw in all those super smart businessman videos. He called his business Moon Mechanisms on account of his shop's specialty, talismans blessed by the sky spirit, and MMMs created by him. A picture of Ishtasa dressed as a shrine miko was the official logo since adorable-ity equals profitability in money math or so Mikey says.

Mikey gave a sigh as he dreamed of the day when his small makeshift shop would become the leading authority in all goods throughout the entire world, then he could retire to a tropical island resort and spend his carefree days away from all the danger that would inevitably happen in this fictional story-like world.

Seeing a Statue leading a customer to one of the display cases he decided that he was in need of a break. "Come on Ishtasa, I think we can leave this to my constructs," he said as he picked up the rabbit in his hands before exiting the tent.

He was dressed in a Mage style kilt and fine silk shirt covered by his favorite coat. They were custom made from the best materials possible to help push the expensive branding Mikey was hoping for.. The seamstress practically had to tear Mikey's fingers off the dollar bills with how expensive it was. Mikey cried himself all the way home but it was all worth it in the end.

Among the first branch shirts and pants Mikey had made, these had some of the best abilities with the shirt being fireproof and the pants increasing his leg speed.

As he had guessed, the better the material, the better the chance for it to be strengthened to a higher level, especially if it was made of natural materials like silk that held history imprinted on them. The large flowing clothes not only helped to make him look more important, but it was also great in concealing all manner of hidden items on his body. Being the cautious person that he was, he still wore enough armor that he wouldn’t be taken by surprise again including chainmail shirt underneath his coat and solid steel plates around his shins and forearms.

Reaching into the sleeve of his robe he pulled out a ring and removed the objects he had stored inside. With a simple wave of his hand a white marble table was placed on the grass. He brought out a chair and some snacks before sitting down with Ishtasa.

"I can't wait until I have my own shop, then I can finally start working for real." Mikey said.

The fluffy bunny looked at him with bored eyes as she munched away at some baby carrots.

"You’re right I should live in the moment. Go with the flow and just get my little slice of home. Nothing crazy but something worth doing." Mikey continued as if Ishtasa had said something.

"I see, I see," Mikey agreed with his delusion while nodding his head, "that's a good point. Why dream at all if you can't dream big! Okay Ishtasa, new plan! We buy a large deserted island, build a resort, and then with careful marketing we start a chain of luxury hotels in every country until we take over the world!"

"You know, this would be much easier if you could talk," the chubby boy said as he opened a bag of chips and began to shovel them in his mouth with a depressed sigh.

While Mikey contemplated making some friends so he wasn’t talking to animals all day, in a tower overlooking the city a slightly more serious scene was taking place.

"Here is the report, Chieftain," a man wearing a war mask in the shape of a bird said from his kneeling position as he placed the folder on the aged Mage's desk.

Chieftain Bearden leaned backwards in his chair as the long years he’s been in office weighed down on him he closed his eyes and took a long drag of his pipe before exhaling. "You have done well Hawk, you may return to your post."

The member of the Chieftain's personal mage force(aka a Totem) disappeared without a trace.

The Seventh Chieftain since the great disaster that founded Cahokia, having retaken office when the Ninth and Eighth fell in the terrorist attack eight years ago was old. With magic there were many life extending products but they could only do so much for someone over 200 years of age. Although he considered himself a spry 140 year old, reality liked to differ.

He opened up the manila folder to see a collection of pictures showing a plump teenage boy doing different activities. Behind that was several reports explaining the circumstances of the photo to give the chieftain a good idea of what they observed.

A little over a week ago, he had received a message from Madam Chaska with a request in protecting the boy in question and a clear warning he should not disappear to be a part of one of his successors experiments. It was an overt warning since the newest Madam knew of his disliking of his old student’s programs. While they may have been necessary for the time they were not now and as such have been abolished. Leaving only the possibility that she noticed some dissidents in his leadership attempting to continue them without his awareness. Measures will have to be taken.

While the letter had come as a request but, he knew very well that it was intended as an order. The Sovereign had been more than generous after the terrorist’s attack, the trade goods that Cahokia had promised to pay to him were put on hold until they could get back on their feet. It was for that same reason that Cahokia hadn’t gone to war with the terrorist group that sent the living disaster at them. They had barely begun paying back what was owed for the relief provided by the U.S. this year. The City-States accountants were already being worked to death trying to make the budget work. That was the issue with secret programs and disappearing funds.

All of that good will however would disappear faster than a pile of meat in front of an Uentillie if they were to deny his wife a simple request.

He had his best Totems watch the boy at all times while an investigation took place to see why the Madam had taken such a liking to the boy.

Despite how jolly the Madam seemed, there was a reason why she was made the Sovereign's wife when there were much more beautiful candidates. She possessed a sharp and analytical mind that was perfect for politics. The only reason why the current Sovereign was still in power despite his fickle and indecisive nature had to do largely with the fact she had crushed every possible opposition with ruthless political tactics. It was safe to assume that she was the one that ultimately made the decisions. Underestimating her was only something fools would do, as was the reason why he was investigating this case. If she had already laid claims to the boy, then Bearden needed to know why.

Two months ago after a sudden collapse the boy seemed to make some big changes according to the caretaker at his apartment. Maybe a near death experience shook up his priorities. Although old Jack noted he seems to have no sense of taste. Odd? Bearden thought as he stroked his goatee.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

His teacher says he lacks interest in spell forms preferring to rely on pure mana manipulation and the librarian notes his preference for history and medical texts. Maybe he’s aiming to be a healer of some sort. The Chieftain noticed in musing.

Finally he took a flier from the pile of papers, it was one of the original fliers that Mikey had made.

"Now the only problem.” Bearden muttered.

He had already sent a group of Totem to search the inside of the boy's apartment for any clues. They found a manner of different tools used for crafting but nothing overly dangerous, although his tidiness is a little unusual for someone his age.

The only things that were out of place was a home-made shrine set up in one corner of the room and the large amount of mana residue inside of the bathtub.

He had sent a few mages to the little shop the boy seems enamored with to gather some intel, and what they had brought back was startling to say the least. The research and development department was stumped by the items that were brought and had only made progress reverse engineering the simplest with a guess at permanent mana enhancement. The more dramatic of the R&D were ready to jump off a cliff once the pills were brought in.

From the sales reports given to him by the local shops, it was clear that Mikey had been buying up ordinary items and somehow enhancing them.

He had some Peshlakai, a Nibillian family renowned for their spiritual sight, try to peek into the tent to see if they could find the exact process used but all attempts seemed to be futile. Their Spiritual sight was somehow blocked, by nothing more than by what seemed slips of paper with some writing on it. At first he thought that the boy had acquired some Runic tags that were powerful enough to block it, but looking at the pictures he could tell that they weren't runes or written spells at all.

Maybe one of the foreign magic systems was at play here. Bearden surmised, his own expertise falling into elemental manipulation rather than the esoteric.

Taking another page from the pile he read it in a fraction of a second, a skill developed through countless hours of paperwork, and moved on to the next.

He snorted while rolling his eyes. Many of the people he sent to buy something wrote less than flattering things about the boy. There were all manner of names that they used but some of the ones that frequently showed up were: black hearted, silver tongued, greedy, piglet, greedy pig, money grubber and so on. His accounting department will have to stomach a few more expenses it seems.

So it would appear that the boy either has developed some new special technique to enhance regular items utilizing foreign spell systems or more likely, he has some sort of Nibillian ability involved with the manipulation of mana. Oh my, how the times have changed, The Chieftain concluded in his thoughts.

Placing the last of the papers back in the folder he stood up to stretch his legs. Walking toward the open window, he once more cursed himself for retaking the position of Chieftain. It was a beautiful day, and he wanted nothing more than to spend time with his grandson at the park or maybe enjoy a bowl of spaghetti with his pseudo-grandson Atlas. Unfortunately, there was still work to be done if he wanted to maintain these times of peace.

"Hawk. I have a new mission for you."

Back at Moon Machinations Mikey was having a problem.

"They're getting smarter," a worried Mikey commented as he dropped a small green gecko into an oversized fish tank before hurriedly closing the lid. The lizard standing on its hind legs just like a certain insurance commercial.

After the events of Ishtasa, Mikey had taken to booby-trapping his stash of mana dust but it was like a certain blue crystal substance from a TV show in his past world for these mutated animals. They would not stop and despite what a certain vet might think he is not a drug dealer.

Usually Ishtasa was the one to take care of them in exchange for a treat, but this latest attempt had caught his interest. The darn thing had waltzed into the shop on two legs before taking out a sewing needle strapped to its back before roaring in challenge and leaping at him from the entrance, Sparta style.

Mikey was so dumbfounded that he didn't even realize he had grabbed a boot and thrown it at that gecko-thing until it was too late.

Thankfully no one else was in the shop at the time, he couldn't have people spreading rumors that he was being challenged by small bipedal reptiles after all, it would be bad for business.

"I really wish I knew where these things kept coming from. If I had known that the dust would have this effect beforehand, then I wouldn’t have just thrown it down the drain." the boy said in frustration while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Turning to leave, he called out to the small rabbit, “Come on Ishtasa, stop bugging the weird lizard-thing.”

While Mikey was climbing out, Ishtasa was having a silent staring contest with the mutated gecko. Then her expression changed into one of extreme arrogance as she looked down on the small reptile behind the safety of the strengthened glass cage.

She turned to leave but not before throwing it a smug look and a visible snort as if to say, What did you expect from a weakling.

The gecko started pounding on the glass in response trying to let his anger be known.

Mikey worked hard manipulating his mana to the extremes to try to get it to imitate the spells he would see around him all the while not aware that they were using techniques they had practiced for years to get their mana into the spell forms needed to use the correct concepts. While no one else could use raw manipulation like he would because of how his sight worked, he just wouldn’t put in the effort to account for all the concepts tied into using a catalyst, preferring to try to force the effect through sheer will and giving up where that failed.

He had grown his mana reserves to first level mage after all the stress he put on his mana veins trying to fill the orders of last week. After creating the constructs to man the shop in the morning he would take some mana pills to restore his mana and begin Strengthening the next batch of equipment before passing out, then he would wake up in two hours and begin the process again, only stopping when he needed to eat or make more pills.

He had already lost 7 pounds from all the effort he had put in. Thankfully all of that hard work had paid off and he only had a handful of custom orders he needed to make before he could go back to enjoying himself.

Taking out a slip of white paper he placed it on the counter and coated it with a thin layer of mana. Taking a deep breath he tried to levitate it without actually touching it.

From all the sales he made with the Wolffriend Nibilian Family, he had acquired a rather sizeable amount of money and spell books. While he wasn't interested in learning the more destructive spells, he was on the lookout for those that would increase his chances of survival in the world. He almost shed a tear or two when he finally managed to obtain a copy of the Run Away Technique, the best escape technique in his humble opinion. While he knew that he would never come close to the same mastery as experts like a certain Joestar, he hoped that he could at least be competent enough to escape the average Third-level mage.

He was even able to get some spell form exercises from the Nibilian Family.

With furrowed eyebrows, the pudgy teen tried to levitate the paper tags into a circle and found it was surprisingly easy.

"Let's see, the scroll said that I should picture myself picking it up, almost as if I had an invisible hand."

Again, prior training helped in this regard, because he just relied on his training with the basic reflection spell to picture another arm.

With bated breath, the paper finally began to wobble before finally raising a few inches from the counter's surface.

"I did it already?" Mikey said, confused. The scroll said that it would usually take months of practice to master this move, but he had only been at it for a couple of minutes. "Perhaps I missed something?"

The technique was a basic one that many Nibilian Family members knew about since it formed the basis of many techniques but it was only used to practice forming the shell of techniques around an object that they’d pull a concept from to impress in their mana and then preform a spell with. However with no object it was just a fancy way to float paper.

"Did I perhaps get cheated, and only handed the first part of the technique?" Mikey said with a frown.

With a bit of more practice, he managed to get three slips of paper to orbit around his head like the rings of saturn.

"Looks like three is my limit." he said to himself.

Giving a disappointed sigh, Mikey released his control on the paper and they fell back down to the counter.

Signaling a Statue, he headed towards his bedroom to check on his latest experiments.

To the side of the small enclosed place was a set of 11 small potted plants showing different levels of growth.

Picking up a spray bottle and his Mad Science notebook from his nightstand he began to record his observations.

"Experiments one through eight are growing at an increased rate with each having a pinch of dust sprinkled on the plants every day. Experiment nine has had a full cup of dust poured on it daily and is nearing ready to fruit. Experiment ten and eleven, the controls, are growing as predicted." he said as he took out a measuring tape and began to measure the size of all of the stems.

A week ago he had gotten the idea of planting strawberry plants in order to find out more about the capabilities of the mana dust. It had only been 8 days but almost every single seed had matured into a 2-4 week old plant. The control group, which didn't have anything added only now started sprouting as was the norm. From this he could conclude that mana dust definitely had a large impact on plant life, not just animals.

I wonder if the fruit would be special. Would it be safe to eat? Could I make a pill out of it? A fruit smoothie sounds really good right now. he contemplated before noticing Ishtasa trying to nibble on one of the plants containing the mana dust. Quickly shouting at the dust addict, "Ishtasa! You stop that right now! I already gave you some dust this morning!"

Ishtasa looked like she was considering her options, dust or no dust, before deciding she had a problem and chuffing angrily at his direction and jumped on his bed.

Seeing as he was already in his room, he took out the pill furnace and began the process of pill refining. He was constantly experimenting with new plants and techniques, trying to find new combinations. He would fail about 97% of the time, even when he used good luck talismans, but with every success his recipe book was slowly getting bigger.

Almost half his income was devoted to researching pills and elixirs while the rest was used to buy new equipment or improving his shop. Expansion was his goal, so that meant that he couldn't afford to waste all of his hard-earned money on frivolous things like he wanted to.

He spent the entire day cooped up in his room, leaving his statues to close up the shop for him.

Before using up the remainder of his mana in Strengthening MMMs, Mikey made sure to leave a plate of hand made pancakes in front of the newly built shrine he had made for the sky spirit. He offered a quick prayer and fell asleep as soon as his mana reserves dropped to zero.

The next day Mikey was sitting perfectly still on top of the man-made lake in a meditative pose. Ishtasa was on the shore observing him with a bowl full of ripe lettuce leaves since she didn't want to get her fur soaked.

With his eyes closed the young Mage School student breathed in a calming breath and slowly all outside influences began to disappear one by one.

He began to leak out a minuscule amount of mana from his mana veins near his fingertips then his finger then his palm.

Taking another calming breath, he focused specifically on hands while trying to memorize the position and feel as the mana traveled from his reserves through his mana network before finally being released from his hands.

With every inhale and exhale he would release or cut back the flow, trying to make it second nature. As a blacksmith and as a person it could be said that he valued precision above all else.

While strength did play a part in molding the metal, without precise hammer strikes it would be the same thing as a monkey hitting it. Before he left the orphanage he remembered Ned, another guy there who would treat Mikey like his little brother and really helped him get out of his hole after his parents died. They would watch forging shows together and Ned would get so excited talking about how he was going to forge something just like that. Always saying precision matters more than strength which is why the young guys always lose in the shows.

Mikey smiles fondly at the memory of his older brother figure and thinks it was probably Ned leaving the orphanage that caused him to leave the orphanage as well through the scholarship.

Taking a bite from the sandwich that one of his constructs had made for him, he glanced at Ishtasa who was currently eating a salad made of fresh greens topped with some crushed nuts and berries.

"Would it kill you to do something productive? All I've ever seen you do since arriving is eat and sleep. If you aren't making money, then you're wasting it, and I won't have that you hear. So either do something, or else I'm going to have to cut back on your meals!" Rubbing his chin in a thinking position he thought out loud, "Three carrots a day should be plenty."

Ishtasa growled at him, which was more cute than anything else, before crouching down as if getting ready to pounce on him.

A knife fell into his awaiting palm from the depths of his sleeves, which the young boy waved menacingly in front of him, "Oh! You want to go!? Bring it you little furball? I've been meaning to see if I could make a lucky rabbit's foot, maybe then you might actually make me some money!?"

The rabbit saw the glint of greed shine through the slit like eyelids that showed that he was actually considering the idea.

She backed down quickly and used her more powerful technique, the Adorable Attack. Throwing herself on her back she exposed her white fluffy belly and looked at him with a set of big round innocent eyes as if trying to say, you wouldn't hurt someone as cute as me, right?

Mikey's response was a deadpan expression before placing the knife back in its hiding place. "Whatever. Knowing you, it might actually cause me to have bad luck."

He was just going to take another bite when he saw someone walk into the clearing. This person wore a blue tracksuit, was shaved bald, and had the longest eyebrows he had ever seen. He looked like one of those ancient Chinese masters who had fallen on hard times, got kicked out of the house, and owed a lot of money to some gangsters.

In front of his shop was none other that the Beast, Marcus Altaha.