“Guys, what you’re suggesting is nonsense” - I began my persuasive speech before two dozen of the most active representatives of the Association. - “What wooden crafts? What weaving of bast shoes? Have you ever seen a pig in real life? Do you know how much it shits? Although I generally support the idea of developing agriculture. So, the main principle of our future business should be the provision of services. The fact is, we don’t have factories, machines, steamships, or anything else. Essentially, we have nothing at all. The only thing we can offer is our labor, our hands. Do you agree with me?”

“Well, yes… We agree… That’s true” - the crowd buzzed, nodding in agreement.

“Great! And if we discard all marketing nonsense and politically correct heresy, what remains is that to truly profit from our labor, we need to produce something useful. Something that will always be in demand. And here comes an interesting topic – assembly. We can buy parts and assemble equipment from them. You’ll be surprised, but many world-renowned ‘manufacturers’ of household appliances don’t produce anything at all. They buy ready-made components from other companies, then assemble and sell them. The only equipment needed is presses for making metal sheet housings. But as far as I know, we have such equipment, though it might need some investment in repairs.”

The crowd hummed in concern, pondering my idea.

“To avoid losing money, I propose starting to assemble equipment in small batches. This will slightly increase the production cost, but on the other hand, we won’t need to feed a bunch of directors and shareholders. All the earned money will go to us, and you’ll be surprised how much profit a washing machine actually brings. To be sure we won’t fail, I suggest spending a couple of weeks researching the market and compiling a list of goods in demand by ordinary people. Meanwhile, I’ll use my connections to find people willing to help us by supplying key parts and components in small wholesale batches.”

After a couple of hours of empty talk, the crowd finally agreed with my arguments and happily dispersed to their homes, pondering the organization of the world economy. But I perfectly understood that such methods wouldn’t achieve quick results. No, maybe if we honestly engaged in such activities, we could create a good company in about five years, but I needed results not in five years, but in a couple of months. The Game wouldn’t wait. Therefore, I needed that magical way to get rich quickly, which all Dockers dreamed of. And I had such a way.

Over the past time, I had studied literature on the laws of physics in this world and was now almost one hundred percent sure that technology based on Ancients technologies would work normally here. All these technologies were in my head, so there was a real way to translate them into ‘iron’. True, the local civilization was very far from the Ancients in terms of development. But here I could be helped... by the Tinkers!

The local capes, engaged in developing various equipment, were not scientists or engineers. They were wizards and enchanters, creating all sorts of nonsense suggested to them by the shards. And their equipment worked only because the shards ‘pedaled’ it. But anyway, a techie could build a machine that would produce another machine, already working without any ‘magic’, which could produce the equipment I needed from the Ancients.

In general, the task was not simple, but I had one techie in mind who could solve it. It was about Leet, a local villain involved in petty thefts and large entertainment shows. At the moment, I had sufficiently ‘tamed’ my shard to perceive the surroundings within a hundred meters. This was much less than Taylor’s insect control distance, but my perception was not limited to the senses of insects.

So, I got into my ‘spy’ minivan and started driving around the Docks, where Uber and Leet’s lair was supposed to be. After a couple of days, I found the place I needed. Moreover, there were a couple of capes there right now, so I decided to visit them without delaying this matter.

Parking around the corner, I put on a motorcycle helmet with tinted glass and walked to the entrance to the basement of a dilapidated building, where I simply rang the hidden doorbell. Unfortunately, no one heard me because at that moment two fools were sitting with headphones on and playing a computer game. So, I had no choice but to use my superpower to carefully ‘cut’ the locks and open the now unlocked door.

Then I went down to the basement, passed through the ‘game room’, tracked where all the wires led, then approached the right place and unplugged the cord from the outlet. The monitors the two avid gamers were staring at immediately went dark, and a deadly silence settled in the headphones.

“What’s up, guys?” - I asked the attendees.

They didn’t react to me, continuing to stare at the dark monitors.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“No-o-o-o-o-o-o!!!” - Leet yelled, his voice filled with universal disappointment. “We had just beaten the hidden boss of the eighth level, and I didn’t save!”

“Life is pain” - I noted philosophically. - “But shock therapy is our method.”

“You! You did this!!!” - Leet shouted, seeing the power cord I still held in my hand. - “I’ll kill you!!!”

“Calm down, your progress is not lost yet” - I raised my hands along with the cord. - “You have independent emergency power for the system units. So only the monitors and sound amplifiers turned off. But if I don’t plug this cord back in now...” - I meaningfully shook the ‘hostage’ in my hands.

“Who are you?” - Leet cried out, while Uber suspiciously glanced toward the desk drawer where something resembling a gun lay.

“My name is Black Cloak” - I introduced myself.

Silence fell for a few seconds.

“You don’t have a cloak” - Uber finally pointed out the obvious. I was wearing an old worn-out suit, and only the motorcycle helmet ensured my ‘anonymity’.

“I know. So, are you ready to discuss the hostage’s fate?” - I waved the cord.

“What do you want?” - Leet asked, rubbing his face wearily.

“I want you to become a proper tinker, capable of making anything any number of times, and...”

“That’s impossible!” - The tinker interrupted me. - “O-o-o, my hidden boss of the eighth level...”

“It’s possible” - I objected.

“That must have been a record... What did you say?”

Leet turned abruptly and immediately forgot about the unsaved game.

“I can help you overcome the limitations of your ability, and after that, you’ll become the best tinker on Earth.”

“What? Repeat!”

“You’ll become the best tinker on Earth.”

“No, I mean the beginning of your sentence. Limitations?”

“Yes, about the same as the Manton Effect, only of a different nature.”

“And what do you want for that?” - we moved on to bargaining.

“For you to make the equipment according to my blueprints.”

“If you have blueprints, why don’t you make it yourself? Are you a tinker?” - Uber intervened in our conversation.

“No. And these are not your tinker blueprints, but real blueprints of real equipment that works without your magic.”

“All my equipment works without magic!” - Leet protested. - “I’m a tinker! It’s science!!!”

“That’s why your ‘scientific’ inventions don’t work properly. And in general, I’m the specialist in developing abilities here, not you. So, do you agree?”

“Yes!!!” - Leet shouted.

“Good. And while we’re making the training schedule, Uber you can go and fix the door” - I issued the order, plugging the cord back into the outlet.

“What did you do to it?” - the ‘errand boy’ villain spoke up.

“Nothing special. Broke in. Replace the locks, and it’ll be as good as new.”

“Did you try ringing the bell before breaking down the doors?” - the guy asked gloomily, heading for the toolbox.

“I tried” - I grinned maliciously. - “But you didn’t hear the bell.”

“So, what about the training?” - Leet interrupted our bickering.

“First, you need to do a hundred push-ups every day.”

“Really?”

“And a thousand squats.”

“Uh... why?” - the future genius lost all his enthusiasm.

“To keep bad thoughts out of your head. The less you think, the better the assembled equipment turns out.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Calm down! Don’t panic. Do you want to become the best tinker of all time and nations?”

“Yes.”

“Then stop talking! Private, ten push-ups! And while you’re doing them, list all chemical elements with a valence of minus three.”

In general, the brainwashing began successfully, and I gradually started training Leet and his shard to bring the characteristics of the equipment they produced to the requirements of the technical task.

The next two weeks I was almost constantly busy. During the day, I visited Leet and taught him to control the shard using the same method I used. In the evening, I ‘took Taylor for a walk’, making her harass various small fry involved in robbery and drug dealing. And at other times, I trained myself, bringing my ‘black mist’ to the level of a cheat uber ability.