I doze off on my table. Then, a stinging pain hit right in the middle of my brain. It feels just as if yesterday I just drank three bottles of whiskey and blacked out from alcohol poisoning. The pain is not comparable to my previous head injury, but still, a headache is a headache.

“Milk?” Rachel offers as she stands right next to the table. She has two glasses in her hands.

“Thanks,” I say. I put my hand on one of the glasses and drink the whole glass in one single gulp. I think it makes the pain a little bit worse, but I doubt it has something to do with the effect of the milk itself. Still, I appreciate my sister's good gesture.

“Designing something? Was it Albert’s homework?” She asks.

“More or less,” I shrug. “This headache won’t stop, will it?” I ask my sister.

“Well, what is happening to you is mana exhaustion. C’mon, let’s call Rosa, or get you to her house,” my sister says.

“I’m fine,” I say.

“Fine? I doubt it. Still, let’s get you the green elixir,” She says.

Oh no. Not that thing. My pain will be gone, but I won’t be able to eat anything all day long. The bitterness is unworldly. My sister grabs a bottle of that elixir and put it on the table. She then mixes four drops of it into my milk.

“Drink up,” she says.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I ask.

“Yes, drink it,” she shrugs and puts the milk on the table.

I drink the milk in one gulp. Even then, the bitterness is still inside my mouth. The whole content of the glass travels through my throat, and into my stomach. It feels nauseous, and now, I get the worst of both worlds.

Well, not really my right to complain, I guess? The headache slowly disappears, but really slowly. What time is it anyway? The sun is already up in the air, so I think this should be around 8.00 A.M or so if not more. Still, I am happy when I look at the blueprint on my table. Rachel goes out of the room, leaving me in my demise.

[Level Up!]

[New Ability Has Been Unlocked]

Huh? Two screens appear right in front of me. The screen then disappears. What just happened? I open my status window as usual. Something indeed has changed.

[Helen]

Race: Angelic Wolf-kin

Level: 2

HP: 100%

MP: 100%

Class: [Materialmancer]

Skill: [Material Manipulation I]

General Health Status: [Mana Exhaustion] [Light Headache]

[Quest {1}]

Yes, the only thing that I notice is either the light headache or the fact that there is finally a notification on my quest terminal. I press the quest terminal, and a new quest appears for me. It turns out, the rewards are one of the solutions to one of my concerns.

[First Rifle]

Successful firing test of an AR-15 style rifle [0/30]

Reward: Creation of Metal Alloy

Ok, that’s my goal, so it’s quite convenient. Truth be told, I like the creation of alloy. Perhaps, an aluminum alloy will be more useful for me. But first, I need aluminum. Other than that, I also need to create a brass shell. Well, the bucket list is long.

I open the [Material Manipulation I] menu to see what has changed. Nothing has changed yet, but instead of a list, there is a tab group and a tab. I press the [Tab Group A] and another message pops up in my imaginary screen.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

[Now you have the ability to rename and group several blueprints at once.]

There’s also a pen icon right on the side of the name of each blueprint. There is also a plus button on the bottom of the [Tab Group A] button. I press the button and another tab group appears. It’s called [Tab Group B]

I press the button and move object 3, object 4, and object 5 to [Tab Group B]. I press the pen button on the side of [Tab Group B] and a keyboard appears at the bottom of the screen. Now the status screen looks more like a computer with a holographic keyboard. I press the key, and it feels just like pressing a real keyboard with actual resistance.

I rename [Tab Group B] to [5.56x45 NATO] and name each part as cartridge, primer, and bullet. I might want to re-engineer the bullet later so it can use a copper jacket and lead core. However, for now, a lead bullet will do since I don’t know how to make that without anywhere near a furnace. I close the menu after that by pressing the X button.

Someone knocks on the door. I walk to the door with a strong headache. Larse stands in front of the door in his usual attire. “Miss Helen, Albert is waiting for you outside,” Larse says as he bows down a bit.

“Thank you,” I reply.

What Albert is doing in here? He was dead sick ever since three days ago, and I doubt someone who is as sick as him will go here. I’ll better go see him then. I walk out of my room and into the front door of the mansion. Walking out of the front door, the sick Albert is standing there.

It’s rather comical if you ask me. She’s literally coming here with a blanket still wrapped around his body and a really running nose. “Young miss, I apologize for my despicable appearance, but is your father inside? I need to speak about an urgent matter with him.”

“Albert, you look so unwell…” I want to say that he looks like a p.o.s, but then again, I am not older than 10 years old. He will scold me.

“Yes, I apologize, but I have something for your father,” he says.

Then, a somehow heavy footstep comes from behind me. It is my father, in his usual formal clothing, walking to the front door to greet my mentor. He immediately looks at Albert with concern and invites him inside. Meanwhile, I am just waiting at the front door. So, what should I do now?

Well, time to return back to my own room, or at the very least, take a shower first before going back to the library. I rarely interact with the village people. More like, since I have no memory of the village people, I simply don’t have a reason to go, unless…

“Hey, want to walk to the village?” Rachel comes out of the mansion.

“Hmm?” I mumbled and nod to her. “You look different.” He’s not in her sleeping dress, replaced with a white shirt alongside a brown skirt that goes as far as only barely above her knees. Is that how she usually dresses? Or is it because I notice her more in her labcoat more than anything?

“Well, I am thinking of buying candies or something. Want to tag along?” Rachel asks.

“Sure, I guess?” I shrug.

“Hmm, would you kindly change into something other than that?” She points at my sleeping dress. I go back to the mansion, to clean myself and to change into something cleaner. Something cleaner is something similar to the dress that my sister wears. A long-sleeved shirt, with a blue skirt, but with a blue cute little bowtie.

===

The village is not as backward as I initially expected, or is it because I read too many fantasy stories where the villages are always pointed as a somehow poverty establishment that I thought like that? The peasants, sorry, the villagers, are living quite well around this estate, at the very least. They aren’t starving, they aren’t ridden with disease, and they aren’t barbaric either.

“Is this the work of our father?” I comment as I look around the village. Houses with one floor or two are scattered around the center of the village, with most of them opening a store for someone to visit or just straight ordinary wooden houses.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asks me as she looks towards a general store located right in the center of the village. The center of the village is a circle with a fountain in the middle of it. Behind the fountain is the general store that Rachel gazes at all the time.

“I mean, I never expect people to live this well,” I say.

“Father says the happiness of people correlates with productivity. The happier they are, the more productive they become,” Rachel answers as both of us walk into the village. Multiple guards, either holding a musket or a rapier, greets us, by either saying hi or waving their hands.

“Miss Rachel, what a great day, isn’t it?” A villager greets Rachel.

“It is, how are you doing, miss?” Rachel asks.

“I’m doing fine, thanks for asking. Send my greeting to Viscount Ferrett,” she says.

“I will, thanks.”

Looking at the number of guards and villagers ratio in this village, I have the conclusion that my father puts control in this village by keeping the villagers happy and content. It’s a good thing, considering that fear is not a sustainable method of maintaining control among the populace, just ask any authoritarian government around the world.

Eventually, we arrive at the grocery store, which sells bread and salted foods among other things such as vegetables put inside the shelf. Of course, there are also sweets kept inside a jar that is sealed with rubber. The moment I step onto the smooth stone floor of the store, I know that the villagers have enough money to actually buy something, even judging from the painted walls and other blings.

“Ah, Miss Rachel, sweets, as usual?” He asks.

“Yes, caramels, as usual,” Rachel answers the old man, probably way older than my father, but still, he still has hair, that’s for a starter. And caramels? That’s quite a good candy, to be honest, and not something I expect from regular people’s general store.

Still, what interests me is across the street. There’s a material shop there, ranging from roofs to tiles. There are also some metal ingots on the display. Hmm, does Albert go to the material store to buy some materials?

“Rachel, can I get some of your money?” I ask.

“Why?”

“I want to buy some things,” I answer.

She then gives me 10 coins in silver color, “That’s 1,000 Uralis for you, don’t waste it all in the same place, though.”

“Gotcha, thanks.”