Jack went to his class. The teachers from other factions had returned to their duty, and luckily, today’s lesson would be taught by an Artificer.

Thomas and Agos enthusiastically ran to Jack’s side.

“Big boss,” Agos gave Jack a meat sandwich, “you look like you need some food.”

Jack received it and put it away for lunch.

“Fatino, that was strange of you,” Thomas mocked him, “you, giving away food?”

“Huh, only to those who deserve it!”

“Big boss,” Thomas said to Jack, “Are you alright?”

“Guess so,” Jack said, “But in the meantime, I can’t return to practice yet. Are you two still going to the training field every day?”

Thomas' face went down a bit.

“Me, yes. But not the fat one.”

Agos jumped right in the middle, giving Thomas a glance.

“My family didn’t allow it. They told me to befriend Patrick.”

“Mine too,” Thomas said, “but I snuck away anyway.”

“It’s okay,” Jack said, “Thomas should come to the field more often. And Agos, you can practice at home.”

“But the mana crystal?” Agos gave Jack a grimacing face.

Thomas gave Agos an angry look and slapped on his back.

“You greedy pig. If you want it, come and get it.”

Jack raised his hand up, stopping Thomas.

“You will have your crystals as long as you make progress.”

‘I will try my best to become as cool as you, boss,” Agos gladly said.

“Me too!” Thomas added.

Jack nodded. If he wanted to have any allies, he ought to start now. The houses were still on the fence since the principal was still supporting the Harper. Being one of the few Arcanists and Crusader rankers in Oxdale, Meinhard Honingman still had his own influence. If Jack managed to persuade the Horvath and Zorzi into siding with him, the pressure on the Harper would be alleviated somewhat.

Patrick entered the class as they were in the middle of their conversation, his face frowned upon seeing Jack. Having been scolded by his father, he intended to stir up something again but was stopped by the teacher pushing him on the back.

“To your seat, Patrick.”

The tidy slender middle-aged man walked into the class. His long face wore a pair of thick glasses. But, what stood out the most was his shiny bald head, reflecting the sunlight toward the student.

“Mr. Dan,” Thomas whispered into Jack’s ear, “Dan Herring, he’s kind of a….”

While Thomas was struggling to find the right word, Agos finished it for him.

“...weirdo.”

The class became quiet as Dan moved to his pulpit. Their faces frowned even harder than seeing miss Julia.

When Dan’s gaze fell upon Agos, it startled him. He tucked his belly in like a deflated balloon.

“You, come up here!” Dan pointed at Agos.

Agos walked up to the podium, shaking. His eyes seemed almost in tears.

“This,” Jack asked Thomas, frowning, “what is this?”

Thomas sighed, giving Agos a pitiful look.

“Mr. Dan here usually sees the class as his items testing lab. One day he invented some flying daggers controlled by whistles, so he told some unfortunate students to test with whistling to see if the sound differentiation system of the thing was working well or not. When the system turned out to be not working as intended, one of the kids almost got a dagger through his head.”

“Miss Julia was very cautious with her experiments,” Jack said, “Why isn't Dan afraid of the parents?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Cause he’s a weirdo. And, almost all the items and equipment here in Oxdale have his fingerprint on it, so, you know, unless somebody got really injured, no one would care.”

Jack wondered if Patrick's antenna device in Lavia Garden was also from this Artificer teacher.

Agos stood in front of the class, shivering and worrying about what would happen to him. Mr. Dan stood up, his hand waved in the air, slowly pulling out a yellow sphere and a small mana crystal.

A Hidden Inventory, Jack thought to himself.

The sphere taken out by Dan looked simple with a small hole on the surface. As he put the mana crystal into the hole, the sphere sucked it in and consumed it. After that, the teacher pointed the item at Agos.

The sphere vibrated and a small beam of light emitted from the hole toward Agos.

The students gaped at the position of Agos, where there was a thinner, neater, and more handsome Agos. Agos, who was the only one oblivious about all this, stood still as all eyes were on him.

“Do something,” Dan said.

Agos listened and waved his hand at others. In the eyes of the rest of the class, there was a boy with a charming smile waving and smiling at them. Small chuckles were coming from the girls as Agos’ face was all red behind the hologram.

“Hmm,” Thomas said, “Fatino can be that handsome?”

“What?” Jack responded, laughing, “I still prefer the fat Agos.”

Then, the light became unstable as the image surrounding Agos was split into inhomogeneous scattered rays of light.

The sphere inside Mr. Dan’s hand was shaking uncontrollably as it slowly left him and flew upward. The light from outside seemed to curve and gather around the item, creating visible light waves surrounding it as the object absorbing them became ever brighter.

Something clicked inside the sphere as a laser shot right at Agos' spot, piercing the floor between his legs and creating a hole big enough to look into.

Agos frighteningly stared at the hole, dropping himself to the floor. If that had hit him, it would have been a whole different story.

Jack frowned, seeing a teacher putting his student in such a dangerous situation. But, his attention was captured by a small white object lying on the ground among the scraps of what used to be the sphere.

“Light Essence?” Jack sounded.

“Yes,” Dan said.

The teacher was bending himself forward, whispering something to himself.

“Still lack stability; why? Mana balancing? Bad Light Essence? Technical errors?”

Jack felt like he needed to say something to catch Dan Herring’s attention, because he wanted to get his hand on the Light Essence, but his lack of understanding of what had just happened prevented him. He held his voice back and didn't want to force it. If this item was being used in such a casual experiment like this, maybe he could manage to get one from Meinhard.

But then, Thomas’s whisper stopped his flow of thinking.

“What a waste of the resources the houses and the town provided him. Though it is not particularly rare, Light Essence is still quite expensive, you know?. And Mr. Dan has just wasted a bunch of it.”

“Why did the houses supply him with essence?”

“Beats me,” Thomas shrugged. “Maybe the adult’s head is just as messed up as him.”

“How about your family? Do they take part in it?”

“No. Like the Harper, during the last Essence trade in Oxdale, we didn’t manage to get our share.”

Jack looked at the hole on the floor earlier. Light Essence could be used both as a projector and a deadly weapon.

Jack’s mind processed quickly and concluded that he needed to acquaint himself with Mr. Dan. Not only because Light Essence was going to be required for the Identification Lens but also to look into the behind-the-screen project between the teacher and the houses.

Identification Lens?

Jack immediately opened the item list in the system, an action which he could do with his eyes closed now. He searched for detailed information on the crafting process of the item.

He vaguely recalled a section of the instruction that mentioned Light Essence’s mana and light absorption stabilizing technique. If not well managed, the Lens could malfunction and temporarily damage the eye.

Just before Dan was about to leave the classroom, Jack finished his reading and opened his mouth.

“I think there are some technical errors with the sphere.”

“Oh?” Dan stopped, slowly turning his head toward Jack. “And why should I value a judgment from a student like you?”

Jack ignored the mocking and continued. He wasn't even sure if what he was about to say was the heart of the matter, but he had nothing to lose.

“Light Essence placed in a sphere will easily absorb mana and concentrate them into a beam to create the illusion of Agos. But I think the sphere itself was a problem too, as it stopped excess mana and lights from escaping. When they were reflected back, the Light Essence absorbed those unwanted energies in addition to the mana you have put in. Therefore, when the essence got hotter, it lost its balance, and the device went out of control.”

Dan rubbed his chin. The heat problem wasn’t something he hadn’t thought about, as today’s test had been about the special metal shell covering the device to see if it would help with heat exchange. Anyhow, an assessment like that from a student was quite impressive.

“Jack Corvus, right?”

“Yes, teacher,” Jack answered.

“Good, I will test it on you next time.”

Having said that, Dan went out of the room, leaving behind a gaping, eyes wide open Jack.

The hell?

Patrick burst out laughing as he walked toward Jack’s table.

“You idiot,” he said, “showing off before Dan is the stupidest thing you could have ever done.”

Some others also laughed at Jack’s action.

Jack himself slowly realized he had just forced it. Thomas had just warned him that the teacher was a weirdo.

It is what it is. Jack didn’t let it bother him for too long. Maybe he had to wait some more time for the system to fully activate, so he could access more knowledge to exchange with Mr. Dan and, hopefully, strike a deal for some Light Essence.

“Agos, Thomas,” Jack called out, “let’s go.”

Once again, he paid Patrick no attention. But this time, remembering his father’s words, Patrick held himself back from frustration.