You have leveled up.

Your level has increased from Level 4 -> Level 5.

Jack was unusually jolly after an effective day at work. He opened the info panel to have an overview of his stats.

Name: Jack Corvus.

Race: Human (Enhanced).

Age: 10.

Rank: Herald, Level 5.

Faction: Nightblade, Warrior, Maester, Artificer.

Strength: 40.

Agility: 18.

Spirit: 49.

Remaining Stat Points: 14.

Remaining Skill Points: 16.

Jack contemplated the numbers. For now, without apparent usefulness, his points were yet to be distributed. Resolving Thomas’s problem, or using it to buff himself, was one way, but still, after much thinking, even with his Crusader cheat, his current financial state didn’t allow him to acquire the necessary ingredients to perform Potential Awakening. That was yet to account for the penalty of using the ability above his current ranking.

Another reason for Jack to be conservative with his points was the demanding nature of his leveling up. Half of the experience bar before level five was already filled by defeating the bandit boss. Now, though hard he had tried, Jack reckoned without performing extraordinary feats, it might take months for him to fill it up again, so it was best for him to use them reactively.

Putting those thoughts aside, Jack turned his mind toward his next plan: dealing with Dan Herring for Light Essence. Identification Lens would be a perfect item to support Bastian during his upcoming endeavor. With it, detailed information about items could be accessed from a distance.

Jack had managed to learn about the Artificer teacher’s location, thanks to Meinhard, and went straight for it.

To be fair, it was more of a private laboratory than a home for living. The building was situated on the remote western outskirt of the town. Its structure seemed to resemble cubic blocks stacking on each other, installed the upper ones of which were various devices pointing outward, such as antennas, lightning rods, and a maze of pipes and tube ways pumping out colorful smoke.

Jack frowned at the disgusting smell that caught his nose, even though the building was still a distance away. It was no wonder it had to be isolated from residential areas.

Jack approached and saw a rather modest sign with two simple words: Dan’s Office. He quietly questioned whether or not the name was due to his sense of superiority or just simply because he was too lazy to write his full name out.

Under the sign was a small red button sticking out of the wall. There was no entrance around, just a bunch of no-less-red arrows pointing directly at it. Jack hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should press or not. Most certainly, it wouldn’t be your typical doorbell; the reputation of the man who owned the place guaranteed that.

Jack bit his lips, straightened himself, took a deep breath, and pushed it with his finger. he quickly used his Nightblade skills to create as much distance as possible. It was daytime, so its effectiveness wasn’t much. Still, he couldn’t be too careful.

Boom.

The sound came out from a small hole that had just opened right next to the button, shooting out a wave of small fireworks, which was followed by a piece of paper protruding out. Jack carefully walked through the mess to come close and read it.

“I’m currently not at my office. You may wait or leave.”

Damn it, Jack cursed. Was all of that necessary?

The note rolled itself in like a party blower. The hole shrank and disappeared as if it hadn’t been there at all.

Jack sighed and decided to wait for Dan Herring to return. He reckoned to experience this nonsense once was enough.

The most sought-after Artificer in Oxdale returns at dusk, seeing Jack meditating on a rock by the roadside, about which he couldn’t care less, and went straight for his office.

“Hello, teacher,” Jack called him out from behind.

Dan Herring was genuinely startled, for he was a Crusader, after all, but failed to sense Jack’s appearance. As he began to shift his focus toward the boy, Jack had already normalized his aura. Dan squinted his eyes at the little student about whom he hadn’t forgotten.

“Jack, right? What are you doing here?” Dan unenthusiastically asked.

“Have you figured out the problem with the orb?” Jack went straight to his point, seeing Dan’s unwelcome attitude.

“What if I say I haven’t? Have you?”

His bald head shone with the reflecting light of the setting sun, though not as bright as the gaze he was giving Jack right now. The student scratched his head and bashfully said.

“Oh, well, let's just say I have something in mind. I don’t have a definitive answer, but instead, something else that can work as a… reference.”

Jack hadn’t actually found anything relating to Dan’s invention except for an item called Projection Plane, which had similar functionality but lacked the mobility and convenience of the orb. Jack reckoned they couldn’t be too different in terms of mechanism, so he expected to get some value out of this information.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Dan sighed; the desire to see off his uninvited guest returned to him.

“Go home then. I’ve already got that figured out.”

Jack was a bit disappointed but quickly pulled out his trump card.

“I also had ideas to upgrade your projection orb,” Jack said. “Here’s the design.”

Jack took out a scroll from his inventory, playing the game he had once done with Bastian.

The hairless teacher smiled, still with his half-hearted attitude, a bit interested in what Jack had to show.

“And I should believe the words of a ten-year-old, claiming, as a matter of fact, that he has the answer to my improvement demands?” Dan asked, stretching one side of his lips.

So you do have demands for improvement, Jack thought with a spark of cheer. Dan must have said it for a reason.

“Why don’t we discuss more inside?” Jack straightened himself with a new burst of confidence. “You have nothing to lose, right? I don’t see any other guests today. Five minutes is all I’m asking for. You wouldn’t want to regret it later on, just because you missed out on something out of this world by not giving your student five minutes, would you?”

The other end of Dan’s lips was also stretched into a smile. Jack’s overly self-assertive and confident attitude fascinated him. Either the boy was absolutely nuts, or he actually had something in mind; Dan reckoned he could use a little entertainment for this uneventful afternoon of his. Worst case scenario, he would have himself a freakshow.

“After you,” Dan signaled to Jack.

The interior wasn’t as much of a mess as Jack had initially imagined but was actually more on the organized side. The first section of the house reminded him of the corporate conference rooms where he had had his interview back on Earth. Two lines of chairs were arranged carefully on both sides of a long glass table. With his Artificer knowledge, Jack realized the surface of the thing could project holograms. Along the wall hung pictures, the faces in which Jack couldn’t have the slightest idea about. Further to the back was a set of stairs leading up.

Dan sat himself comfortably at the head chair, one hand on his chin, the other knocking its fingers on the glass.

“So, let’s begin!” Dan commanded.

Jack wanted to make his point while standing, but on second thought, felt the need to assert himself a little more, so he picked up the one closest to Dan. Looking back on it, the only thing he had achieved by doing so was to make a laughing stock out of himself with his childish body on an oversize seat.

Dan hid his frowning, still leisurely watching Jack turn into a joke.

“I reckoned you must have thought about the item’s application already,” Jack began, “so I’ll go straight to my idea. What if you attached it to a small controllable flying device? Now, you can create mobile illusions and distraction for something like a surprise attack.”

Although he didn’t let his real expression be known, Jack was hitting the spot on that one. As a premium projection device, trickery was its most prominent implementation, for the quality of its image was much more realistic than your typical hologram devices. Still, implementation had never been simple. Dan and his colleagues had been marinating some ideas, weaponizing it was among them, though no solid approach had been put forth just yet.

“Anything more interesting?” Dan continued with his superior tone.

Jack sighed, letting his irritation out.

“I called it a drone,” Jack explained, “an object the size of your palm, with optional utilities such as mechanical firearms or weapons. You can then connect them with a centralized control system and fly them around. Combining this with your invention and no one will know if a bird or a deadly weapon is hanging on their head.”

Dan changed his posture. He leaned forward, clenching his hand together on the glass surface.

“And you have the design for this… drone?” Dan asked.

Jack put the scroll on the table, rolling it between his hands.

“It’s yours, for a fair price, of course.”

Dan burst out laughing.

“Money’s not the problem, kid. How much do you want?”

“Yeah, money is good and all, but Light Essence is what I came here for.”

“Huh, that’s quite a price to ask for!”

“Just mutual benefits.”

Jack pushed the roll of paper toward his counterpart.

“You can estimate its value yourself,” Jack said.

Dan Herring frowned, unsure of Jack’s intention. He had shown himself a competent enough negotiator thus far, but giving a senior Artificer your design was beyond any reasoning. With just a glance, Dan could potentially memorize and copy its core features in his head.

“A sign of goodwill,” Jack answered Dan’s gaze with a smile.

As Dan spread the scroll on the table, he was dazed by the amount of information, as well as the comprehensiveness of the design. Even the minor details were thoroughly explained with scribbles of notes and tips, and the edges were filled with theories on how to synchronize it with other items.

The eccentric Artificer teacher was absorbed into the drawing, so much so that he almost forgot Jack was sitting next to him.

Feeling like he had given the man enough time, Jack cleared his throat.

“So…”

Dan broke out of his thought flow and quickly rolled the paper into his inventory ring as if he were afraid Jack would change his mind.

“Five crystals of Light Essence,” Dan said.

Jack leaned his head, appearing to contemplate. The offer had already surpassed his original price, but he reckoned a bit of bragging wouldn’t harm.

“Well, I guess I will have to take the loss on this one to strengthen our future cooperation,” Jack said smilingly.

Without hesitation, the teacher took out five pure white shards and gave them to Jack.

The boy received his payment, then snuck a small piece of paper into Dan’s hand.

“What is this?” Dan asked.

“Just some notes about potential bugs and how to deal with them,” Jack winked.

Dan opened it and didn’t need much time to understand what Jack meant. If he had just taken the design for himself, cast the boy out, and pretended none of this had ever happened, it would be obvious that nobody would question his claim over such a comprehensive and advanced masterpiece. Unbeknownst to him, however, the drones would be constructed with a seamless self-destruct mechanism that would destroy itself to the material, namely Light Essence. That would surely take a piece out of Dan’s reputation here in Oxdale, an opening that many would gladly exploit, including the kid himself.

Dan laughed even harder this time, the sound echoing through his own house. Though, that barely budged Jack.

“I really like you, kid, really.”

He didn’t bother asking about any other potential problems that Jack could potentially put into the design. Dan was a decent enough Artificer to figure them out, if any, later on. What piqued his interest was Jack’s message itself. The kid was not someone to be trifled with for sure. Had Dan blindly followed the blueprint and just “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Jack would surely have it his way.

“I leave now,” Jack stood up and took his leave.

Dan followed and opened the door for Jack. As the two were standing by the entrance, Dan leaned forward and stared at Jack.

“If you hadn’t been Bastian’s apprentice, I would have taken you under my wing!”

“Oh, all of this was thanks to Bastian,” Jack prevaricated.

“Is it?” Dan smirked, turning inside his house. “It’s a shame that you have followed that grumpy, grimy, cantankerous old man. I wonder how many people in Technopolis will laugh their ass off, knowing he has someone with your talent as an apprentice.”

The door closed before Jack could respond.

Technopolis?