Louie threw the keys to Isaiah, "Maybe now you can figure it out," he laughed, "We can get into manufacturing mana vehicles if you manage to." Isaiah caught the keys and unlocked the vehicle with a light smile.
He spread his mana, the road was silent as usual as Isaiah inspected the formation, since now he had read a bit of advanced formation knowledge. He knew why he couldn't figure out its inner workings for the past few days; the reason was that it was simply hidden by another formation. If he wanted to ever steal the actual information, he would first have to crack the formation that hid the main one.
Thinking back to what was said back in the office made Isaiah thoughtful, "I should find a way to get my hands on the library of formations the government has in their hands." The government not only created formations but also collected them. While Isaiah was confident that given enough time, he could come up with those formations himself, he found no need to reinvent the wheel.
He moved his attention back to the encryption formation. Despite spending the entire ride focusing his thoughts on it, he still couldn't reach any understanding of it, not even a general one. This actually made Isaiah more curious. He noticed that this encryption formation was different from any other formation he had seen to date; it was as if it had the signature of the vehicle's brand. This made him question how wide the path of formation was. Would two formation masters' understanding of formations eventually cross, or was there more to formations than he first thought?
Soon, the Silver City peeked its head behind the mountainous road. The moon hung right above it, as if it was also captivated by the beauty of the city and couldn't bear the city not shining with the sun gone. The city kept shining under the gentle moonlight, giving a completely different feeling from when the sun was basking it. Unlike its usual feel of oppression and brutalism, it now had a solemn and gentle feel.
Seeing the captivating scenery made Louie reach into his pocket. He took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one of them, inhaling its smoke deep down into his lungs. With an exhale, without even taking his eyes off the city, he asked Isaiah, "Do you smoke?" Isaiah shook his head, "No, I do not. I like my lungs as they are." Hearing this made Louie laugh, "We are Rank 1s; you can afford to relax a little. Also, make sure not to tell your aunt about my occasional smoking." He put the pack back into his pocket, enjoying the one he had already lit.
Isaiah arrived in front of his apartment. He got off, then threw the keys back at his uncle, "Take care, uncle. Send my regards to my aunt." Louie caught the keys using mana, "Take care, kiddo. Don't forget you are invited to dinner tomorrow night. Your aunt would kill me if you don't show up." With that, he drifted off.
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Isaiah faced his apartment. He decided to skip checking on the café for now and went directly up to his apartment. He took off his clothes; his wound had already healed due to his Rank 1 constitution. He took a quick shower, then got into fresh clothes. He sat on his chair, took out a pen and paper, and started drawing. He didn't draw anything complex, just the simple "Light Formation" he had done before, but this time it would be powered by a mana gem.
The hard part was sourcing the said mana gems; they were beyond expensive. He would need a stable source of mana gems for the future, while he could buy a few shards now since he had the money. To open the casino, he would first have to buy the property, and renovate it, which was surprisingly cheap due to the benefits of magic, then he would have to come up with a "Mana Detection Formation" and source the mana gems required for it.
Only after all that would he be able to start operating the casino. Obviously, the mana gems would run out after a while, but he could simply buy more with the money the casino generated. The problem was sourcing the initial required amount of mana gems.
He shelved that thought for now; he would talk about it in more depth with his uncle tomorrow, even though he doubted his uncle had many connections regarding mana gems. It was better than nothing. The reason he thought his uncle lacked the required connections was simple: Louie himself had told him. His business didn't rely on formations and instead opted to use mages for the creation of his goods. This, while increasing his production cost, made his goods luxury goods. Coupled with his brilliant marketing, it created one of the city's most popular and sought-after luxury brands.
Isaiah turned his attention back to his formation drawings. He didn't manage to get done until sunrise due to all the information he had to learn and process before he could even start creating the said formation, however simple it might be. When the sun had risen, on paper stood the first part of the formation. There was no official name for it in the government files, so he decided to call it the "Mana Cable Formation." This formation's whole purpose was to draw mana from the mana gem and pass it to the main formation, this would end up in two rather simpler formations rather than one complex one which would have to handle both functions.
He also tried to replicate a simpler version of the encryption formation he had seen used within the vehicle, but no matter how he went about it, the formation he tried to encrypt would have some kind of issue. It was evident the mana of both formations interacted with each other in a way that was not intended.
He stacked these papers, putting them to the side. He looked at the sun basking his room with a golden hue through his window. It had been a while since his transmigration, and his days had been filled with exploration and research, not to forget business, which he had missed doing. "I have a lot to uncover in this new universe." While the most pressing one was the casino and the formations required for it, he decided to find out about methods to enter Rank 2 after that or at least progress within Rank 1.
Most Rank 1s never entered Rank 2 due to their lacking talent in mana, lack of understanding in mana, and lack of resources, which Isaiah was also in that camp. So, unless he went to find a different way to enter Rank 2, he would be stuck at his current Rank until death. As someone with grand ambitions and a thirst for power, he couldn't afford such a thing.