Arson and Acu were led further into the workshop. Arson’s mind raced. Everything within caused him to rethink the limits of tinkering as a whole.
Many of the products being made or developed took his mind toward mischief, while many others made him contemplate how he could increase the quality of living in Maelstrom, the orphanage, and any other realm or plain he spent time within. He could tell that Magnus didn’t want to answer his questions at first, but the more interest he showed, the more open the woman became to his prodding.
“How is that even possible?”
“Look at the tree’s branches, child, they have lines of runes on them that are duplicated on the roots that grow below. The limbs dig down to the core of the realm into the network called the rhizosphere, wrapping around dormant seeds, before pulling them to the surface for the branches to replant and infuse with mana,” said Magnus after Arson inquired about a tree with leaves that shone like the sun.
“Isn’t that dangerous though, some plants are extremely volatile in nature; from what I’ve learned the O Horizon or surface of a realm is supposed to suffocate plant life that disturbs the natural balance of the eco system, and the tree roots defensively push down seeds that are voracious in nature to keep balance within delicate vegetation processes, right?”
“Ha, you're smarter than anyone else this idiot has brought here it seems. To answer your question, yes, it is dangerous. The tree is connected to an array that identifies the seeds pulled, and any with potentially dangerous qualities are either stored, or grown in dimensional pockets that we can keep separated from a realm's soil altogether.”
This continued, and Arson marveled over a series of lock picks that molded to locks, using runes to sense vibrations to both determine when the picks were on the verge of breaking, and automatically fixed broken picks within locks. The entire unlocking of anything the device was used to open, completed by simply pushing the key shaped construct into a lock's opening.
He couldn’t help but think of his secret want to see inside the large bank, forcing his mind to move on. There were far more interesting creations and constructions within, and he didn’t want to miss a thing.
The walk ended up being rather long, but Arson enjoyed every step, all while being irked at the steady increase of his trial completion counter.
I’m beginning to wonder if this happens to every one of the tested trial takers, or just me?
“Shall we take the train, sister?” asked Merlin in a whisper that Arson had by then determined was as loud as she was willing to speak. Magnus nodded, smiling back at Arson in a way that he never expected from the woman, a semblance of excitement peeking through her callous visage.
Arson immediately knew why once they arrived at the train. Or whatever the contraption they headed toward was supposed to be, as Arson had never seen a train with seats that required mechanical bars to lower over a person’s head, tightening with an ominous clicking as his chest was slightly compressed, pressing him into his seat.
Arson wasn’t worried when they all sat in the train car, having had been on the flying railways of Maelstrom’s own transit system in the impoverished sectors of the city nation. Until he noticed that Acu, was sweating, and not in the way that someone did on an exceedingly hot day, but instead his master was now sweating in a way that people did when they were scared for their lives.
“What’s wrong, Ma—“
The words were stolen from Arson’s chest. The train car connected to absolutely nothing, rocketed forward, shooting into the sky with a zero to maximum speed level of acceleration that took Arson’s breath away, twisted his bowels, and made tears leak free of his eyes.
He screamed in both dread and delight as a grand view of the workshop was given to him through the windows; both the sisters screaming in their own levels of excitement as if they too were experiencing the explosive levels of speed for the first time as Arson was.
He looked in every direction he could, his mind taking in every aspect of the workshop offered by the view; using his vault of a mind to keep every astonishing detail for later use.
The train slowed after a while, and it wasn’t until it landed and their group got off that Arson noticed that the train ran on rails; the system of tracks building itself from light in what felt to Arson to be instantaneous. He was only able to notice what was occurring underneath the train car when he closed his eyes, using his Closed Eye Dominion to watch the train disappear into the distance. The single train darting off into the skies, connecting to another flying section of train seamlessly and without decelerating in the slightest.
It wasn’t until they once again started to walk that Arson saw a worker in the distance, assuming that Magnus and Merlin were the only individuals inside the workshop, only to see more and more people the closer they got to their destination.
They headed directly toward a series of rooms that Magnus described were used for experiments and product development. The rooms were rented out to scientists, rune crafters, and tinkerers alike. Any with the want to build, create and innovate welcome to rent space from small to large.
Arson’s jaw dropped as their group walked past a large open room where just under a dozen alchemists fought a massive alchemical fire. No noise came from inside, but Arson could tell the group was all screaming in panic while using every tool at hand to try and drown the flames in suppressive materials.
“Should we do something to help…?”
Magnus kept walking as if she hadn’t heard Arson, but Merlin sighed before she stopped and turned back toward the room’s entryway.
The moment the woman walked inside a burst of sound came from the rooms, all the panicked yelling rushing out to meet their ears.
Merlin simply lifted a single hand and closed her fingers as if she was telling a child to stop talking, and the flames vanished in a blink with a hiss.
Arson was shaken by how simple it was for the woman to stop the violent incidents continuation, wondering why she hadn’t stepped in to help from the beginning; then quickly realizing that if every problem in the countless number of rooms needed to be solved by Magnus or Merlin that they’d probably never have a moment of freedom.
Merlin walked out of the room, and Arson heard momentary clapping until the sound was taken away once more by a grid of runes that lined the open doorway, Arson becoming more familiar with the runes being used as they flashed during Merlin’s entry and exit.
“Come now, we don’t want to fall behind,” said Merlin, Arson bowed before rushing to keep pace.
She’s shorter than me but moves so quickly…
Arson closed his eyes, trying to figure out if the woman’s speed was being affected by runes; his Closed Eye Dominion showing him that the woman’s feet weren’t even touching the ground as she levitated, gliding effortlessly just a few inches from the floor.
Figures…
Arson wanted to do the same, but knew his mana pool wasn’t nearly as large as the woman’s and his own efforts when using mana to fly were exceedingly expensive.
"I’ll have to ask her if there is a more efficient way to fly when I have the chance," thought Arson to himself, gaining the sense that they’d arrived and the opportunity to do so then was gone.
“Come in…”
The deep voice was heard by them all, and Arson had to look to see if the runes that suppressed sound in the labs was active. Surprised when he saw the same runes lit and seemingly working perfectly fine.
When they entered the room and saw a man even more giant than Acu, sitting in a floating cathedra Arson’s numerous mental questions died, and were replaced by many new inquiries about the person before them.
The man’s giant physique was that of a warrior; his arms displaying many scars and even burns, which made Arson wonder if they were from combat or experimentation.
His long curly hair may have once been an afro, but had long ago grown too long to not be weighed down by gravity; the ends of his hair disappearing into the folds of his armless toga and pants.
Arson closed his eyes to look over the runes he could see both inside and on the surface of the man’s clothes, but was dazzled when the runes shifted forms constantly and even blocked his ability from viewing the symbols accurately. A fog of ambient mana being used like a barrier to block him and anyone else trying to view the man’s creations.
Woah…
He opened his eyes to see the man looking up at him. A scattering of floating microscope lenses of various sizes no longer moving to support the man while he worked; all the tools moved aside to allow the man’s golden eyes to focus directly on Arson.
“Interesting,” said the man Arson assumed was Osiris, the very man they were there to visit. Arson looked the man in the eyes, and they stared at one another for an incredibly long period, Osiris looking Arson over from head to toe.
Arson wished he’d been wearing his own runic clothing, for the first time in his life feeling naked without the crafted gear as the man’s eyes seemed to see right through him.
“What do you think of this formation?” asked the man looking directly at Arson as he lifted a tower shield from his workbench with a single hand, showing the inside of the defensive equipment.
The art on the front of the shield had been like that of a painter’s masterpiece, displaying a battlefield filled with bloodshed and violence, but the true magnificence of the project was shown once the man revealed the opposing side.
There Arson saw runes so small that he felt he was looking at the inside of a book that used impressively dense text to fit an enormous amount of content on a single page. He had to close his eyes to gain a complete image as his vision alone wasn’t powerful enough to look at more than any one section of the formation at a time.
Even with his eyes closed, he was forced to break down all the information that was being sent into his brain. The formation did not one action, or even a dozen, but instead, hundreds of abilities were inscribed into the interior of the shield, giving the equipment a countless variable of capabilities.
“I don’t know what to think of it to be honest, sir. It has elemental functions, transformative qualities, absorption and regenerative details, some sort of learning function, which I didn’t think was possible unless a piece of equipment was living or inhabited by a soul or enchantment parasite, another system built in to scale with the user that locks skills within the shield until the user can properly handle the power being used, and many more things that I truly wish I understood... Can that thing eat abilities?”
The man began to laugh heartily, finally looking away from Arson, and toward Acu.
“I see why you brought him, boy, this youngster has an eye for this. Makes me wonder if the blood of a tinkerer runs in his veins.”
Osiris looked back to Arson smiling as he nodded.
“Yes, child, my shield does all of those things, and many more, are you familiar with battle shields?”
“No, sir, what exactly is a battle shield?”
“It is as much a defensive piece of equipment as it is an offensive one, you wouldn’t be interested in learning how to build and use one, would you?”
Arson glanced at the shield that had been turned around once more, showing that the art on its face was in motion like a movie, and he couldn’t help but nod vigorously, wanting to know everything about the marvel in front of him.
“Good, come back to me when you have free time. I am sure this one here has you busy doing whatever it is that bowman do…”
Arson looked at Acu, before looking back to Osiris, nodding once again as he responded.
“Yes, sir.”
“Hmm, never before have I seen him take on a student so easily, must be getting soft in his old age,” said Magnus in a whispered grumble, making Arson wonder how old Osiris was.
He doesn’t look any older than Acu, but I guess that is relative of the powerful.
Arson couldn’t even tell if those around him were cultivators, as their bodies seemed to operate without mana, but Almarine didn’t give off a single tinge that her body possessed mana. Arson knew otherwise.
Maybe they know how to hide their auras?
“I will bring him back after our training after sunrise, as he will also be training with Master Breaker of the Stealth Guild at night,” said Acu, gesturing toward Arson with a grin. Arson feeling that the man was proud of him somehow, but he was unable to understand what would fill the bowman with pride, as Arson hadn’t done anything but speak his mind.
“I’d heard this whispered by one of my workers and thought this to be nothing but rumor,” said Osiris.
“Wait, the runt training with Breaker is him,” said Magnus in shock.
Acu nodded, chuckling.
“Yes, I was surprised too, but not after our training session this morning. I’ll be even more surprised if a few of the other guilds within Origin don’t try to recruit him soon, not that I would stop him from joining any of the more illustrious groups in our humble city.”
"If only I could do that and more," thought Arson, unable to not give his trial counter a glance within his Overlay.
“Have you taken him to the dojo quarters?” asked Merlin, speaking up for the first time since they’d entered.
Acu shook his head before he seemed to think the question over, momentarily staring at Arson.
“No, but I’m sure he’d be suited to Rebellion and his acolytes, aren’t they training in the sunken city with the monks of the depths currently?”
“Yes, they bought breathing apparatuses but a quarter fortnight ago,” answered Merlin, and Acu smiled.
“I’ll have to add that to our list, teaching him how to fire underwater will be perfect to give him more power and precision with the bow.”
The four in front of Arson all smiled and nodded seemingly to themselves in agreement.
I’m starting to feel like an experiment, these people aren’t trying to find my breaking point, are they? I just wanted to prove myself skilled enough to break into a bank without being caught… but now…
“I don’t have a choice in this do I?”
Arson spoke aloud, but the four continued talking about him as if he wasn’t there at all. Anastasia’s laugh drew his attention away from the chatter, making Arson look at his laughing AI.
“No, my boy, I don’t believe that you do!”