Then Lucille gestured to the open doors. “Shall we have a look then?”

They stepped through and found themselves on a small ledge bordered by a metal handrail. They blinked as they got used to the darker area, and Sedric’s expression twisted up in confusion.

“Why is it empty?”

Lucy gazed at him for a moment. “I said that card would be used to buy all your equipment. What did you think that would mean?”

“Oh… right,” he said, going silent. He leaned over the side of the railing to look down. “It’s big though.”

The room itself was grey, the walls made of smooth solid stone like concrete. There were a few round ceiling lamps providing light from the roof, and the walls had a few lamps inbuilt as well so they weren’t sticking out. The room was actually tiered, and had two stories. They were on the top story, and the bottom one below them. The small ledge they were on had a staircase coming off one side to get to the bottom, while the other side had a small walkway guarded by another handrail that led one to the opposite side of the room that contained the top story. The top story was only half the size of the bottom one and was more of a balcony, so someone could look down and see the bottom floor if they wanted to.

Lucy also leaned over the railing to allow Scytale to look. “There were three equipment warehouses near the central training zone, all empty, and so I decided you could use this one for your crafting. With this much space, it means you can have every single possible type of equipment you need, and enough space to craft your own.”

She looked at him. “This is why I suggested you stay here. Your workspace would only be a short walk away if you were here.” She smirked. “Let’s not forget you’d be eating for free and the same high quality food as me too.”

His eyes widened and he gulped. “You mean… food like temporary stat boosters?”

She smiled wider. “I’m talking about the permanent stat boosting foods.”

Which I can't have, because I'm only Rank-0.

She turned away as his eyes grew larger and started walking down the stairs. Scytale climbed onto the railing and slithered down it in his own fashion. She turned around. “Aren’t you coming?” she said to him. He quickly snapped out of his daze and started following her down.

“The mana-circle on the doors is triggered by detecting your mana signature. I haven’t yet keyed it to yours, so before we leave, I’ll get that done," she explained, stepping onto the stone floor. She gestured to him to follow her as she walked to the area under the top story overhang.

In this area, there was a large wooden bench, and two boards on two walls of a corner. On was made of cork, to pin paper on to, but the other was a big blackboard. She reached into her pouch as Sedric looked at the rest of the room, which had areas for him to hang tools, and metal shelves along the walls. It was clearly not as empty as he thought, but he wasn’t able to see this area because of the top story overhang. She pulled out a tall rolled up piece of thick parchment paper, then unfurled it after untying the string around it. She placed it flat on the wooden bench. Sedric leaned over to have a look at it curiously, while Scytale used his wings to give himself a bit of lift to jump onto the table.

“Can you tell me what this is?” she asked, pointing to the blueprint. The parchment was covered in complicated black lines and small, neat print. As they watched, some of the lines and script moved and shifted as mana flowed through the ink, revealing layers to the paper that weren’t there originally. It moved in a cycle, showing one part of the blueprint after the next, and then reverting back.

Sedric rubbed his chin as he looked at the blueprint, frowning slightly. His fingers tracked the curve and length of the lines. “I think this is… an alticator, judging by the three different forms the layers show. And…” he moved his hand to trace the outline of a strange screw shape tipped by a thin point. “This is some sort of… carving tool? It doesn’t seem to inject any sort of substance though, so the device isn’t a type of binder pen. Besides that though…” he shrugged with an awkward expression. “Sorry, it’s too complicated.”

She nodded and picked up the parchment, walking over to the cork board. “Well, that’s fine. After all, I know what this is.”

He hesitated. “Wait, so you didn’t want my help to find out what it is?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No. I did say I would be giving you the blueprints, right? This is closer to one of the devices of the Coalition than a proper magic item though. It’s still within your capabilities to make,” she said, pinning the blueprint up with some small tacks.

He frowned. “I’ve never seen a device from the Coalition. I have no experience with that.” Then he looked up. “Wait, make?”

“Yep. This is your first long-term task from me,” she responded, smiling brightly.

He became incredulous. “I literally just told you I can’t understand it! What are you expecting from me?!”

She smirked. “If you can’t understand it, then you’ll just have to learn it from me.”

He stared. “From you,” he stated flatly.

She tilted her head. “What, did you think you get a day off on Saturdays after having a brief meeting with me? Sorry, not happening.” She pointed a thumb back at the blueprint behind her. “But don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. After all, I created this once.”

“There is no way,” he said, disbelieving.

She sighed and gestured for him to come forward. She pointed to a corner of the parchment. “Read that,” she said blandly.

He squinted until he found what she was pointing to. “Lucille A. Gold… croft…” he murmured, his eyes going as wide as saucers.

“Even if you’re dubious that I created the blueprint, unless a User alters a design so much it’s basically a new item, then they can’t create one, so this has to be enough proof,” she stated. “Doesn’t matter what you think, I’m still going to be teaching you.”

She went back to the bench and leaned against it with her arms crossed. “Also, this isn’t supposed to be used for anything else but crafting. This tool is to make your own equipment. Eventually you’ll come to a point when current tools either aren’t accurate enough or aren’t specific enough for your use, and then this will help you create custom equipment. You won’t need it for a while yet, but it will be a good training tool for you to understand the concepts I’m trying to show you.”

Lucy had based the concept off of a 3D printer. Although this one used hand controls to utilise different arms to construct the design, as crafting with mana added a big level of complexity to the situation. It would be good to show him basic mechanics though, before she could then teach him better circuitry with enchanting.

He opened, and then closed his mouth. Then he groaned. “I just- ugh, fine. You’re the boss, so whatever. Got anything else you plan to teach me?”

“I do actually. I plan to teach you a few skills,” she told him, fiddling with the piece of twine from the parchment in her hands.

Sedric came up to the table and slammed two hands flat against the bench as he leaned on it. “Skills?” he asked wearily. “Plan on giving me faulty skills that make me waste my lifeforce or something?”

“If I wanted to create a suicide bomb then there are far better people for the job,” she responded nonchalantly, without looking up. “Scytale, for example.”

“Just because I’m enjoying the warmth of these mana-lamps, doesn’t mean I can’t hear you!” he yelled from his corner of the bench, swaying in front of one of the white lamps on the wall. He sneezed.

Lucy ignored him as she turned to the bemused crafter and gazed at him intently. “I know exactly what is required for the final item I want from you, and as you are now, you. Do. Not. Cut. It. Take what I’m offering. It’ll help you after the contract ends.”

He sighed and ran his hands through his dark brown hair. “I just don’t know why you’re investing so much in someone who will leave you in the end. It feels wasteful.”

Wordlessly, Lucy reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out her black card. She held it up for him to see, and they stared at each other.

Sedric broke eye contact first. “All right, I get it!” he said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “You’re rich and don’t care. Sheesh. Stop making me feel dumb. I don’t get why I’m getting treated like this.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “You don’t feel like an 18-year-old at all.”

“I’m not,” she said. She got up from leaning against the table.

“Wait, what-”

“Contact my aide Vincent for any further details,” she cut him off, feeling a bit cheeky. Vincent would probably get frustrated and a bit anxious about the fact she told Sedric to talk to him, and start panicking under the pressure of not knowing what he’s supposed to say. He might get mad if he discovers Lucy didn’t really care if people knew she wasn’t truly 18, but still put him in that situation. She didn’t care too much about her regression either. She only needed two particular connections hidden.

She started moving towards the staircase. “It should be lunchtime soon. Let’s head up and key in your mana signature," she said to him.

Scytale lazily nodded as he slowly stopped swaying in front of the light and slithered down to the other end of the bench to climb up her arm. Sedric still look exasperated but sighed when he realised he wouldn’t be getting an answer from her anytime soon. They went up the stairs and Lucy paused him to get him to inject some mana into the door’s mana-circle after she had activated it. Then they left for the nearest elevator.

…

“It seems you’re enjoying it,” Lucille said, watching Sedric wolf down his roasted meal with wild abandon.

He looked up and blinked. “Ish very goom,” he replied with his mouth still stuffed full. He swallowed and repeated his sentence. “It’s very good.”

“I think I can see that,” she responded, rather dryly. Scytale was next to her, coiled up as he digested his much smaller meal.

Sedric had noticed that fact and raised an eyebrow. “Surely you need to eat more than that, even if you’re small for your sub-race.”

The snake didn’t look up. “Not really. Magical beasts can sustain themselves on the ambient mana of their surroundings if they have good control and a good mana environment. We eat to increase our bloodline strength and purity more than anything. I had some compatible natural treasures a few days ago that I’m still digesting and purifying, so it wouldn’t be good for me to eat much of this high quality food in case it decreases my bloodline stability.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Sedric stabbed his fork into his meal again. “Why would you want to have high bloodline stability? Is it bad to have it low or something? Like, does your bloodline change?”

Lucille and Scytale looked at each other for a moment, then looked back at Sedric. He blinked at their reaction. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

Lucy took a sip of her water. “In this context, it’s not bad, but don’t ever go asking that to another magical beast. While it’s not exactly offensive, it is something they tend not to speak to other races about.”

Scytale raised his head to gaze at Sedric with his golden eyes. “If our bloodline stability drops too low, we turn into monsters.”

The brown-haired man’s mouth opened and closed. He looked at them both, trying to see if they were joking. They were not.

“Like, actual monsters? The ones covered in festering growths and lumps and stuff? The ones which hate every sentient being?” he asked them, stunned.

“I don’t recall hearing any other definition,” Lucy replied wryly. “I hope you understand why a race already known for being very aggressive and violet would want to stop the other races knowing they are at risk of turning into the enemy of all the realms? Even now, they still struggle to overcome the stigma of being uncivilized beasts after hundreds of thousands of years.”

“Well, uh… yeah, I can understand that…” he mumbled, suddenly looking sorry. Scytale placed his head back down, but explained for the man.

“It’s not a well known fact in the other realms. For us, it’s part of our life, and we can talk about it just fine. It’s just not a pleasant topic. But it’s a bit of an unspoken rule to not discuss this to anybody that does not have a major relation to magical beasts. We can discuss it with our bonds and the beast-blooded, who do not suffer from the monsterification process like magical beasts, but otherwise we don’t discuss it openly with the other realms.”

He opened his mouth and yawned. “It’s mostly a sad topic for us, because sometimes our new young are born as a low-ranked beast, and because they lack the sentience to control themselves when it comes to valuable natural treasures, increasing their bloodline instability, they often become monsters. We have measures in place for that occasion.”

Sedric hesitated, a forkful of food halted before his mouth. “Then… why would you tell me this?”

“Because I think you’d be too dense and ask another beast, and get killed from it because of your idiocy," the snake responded with snark. “You should thank me, I just saved your life.”

“Hey, saved whose life?! Listen here you-”

Lucy sighed as the two of them began to bicker back and forth. She looked around the rooftop.

The rooftop itself was rather large, covering the entirety of the Headquarters’ main building roof, and filled with a blossoming garden. As it was used as a venue for hosting events, many marble gazebos and silk curtained walkways decorated it. They were currently eating beside a small fountain on an outside table. The structure of the Headquarters was rather interesting.

Lucy had heard that the Founder had originally wanted a normal house, but then it was decided that when the Founder obtained the Gilded Dome plane, they would create the central area for the Faction at it’s very centre. The Headquarters' main building occupied a large rectangular area, just a tad bit too long to be a perfect square. Outside the Headquarters' building was a larger area that bordered it with a wide strip, forming the impression of a square within a square when seen from birds eye view.

It was this wide, green outer strip that held the gardens of the Headquarters. The reception hall had direct access to the main street of the Gilded Seat city, as half of it was not part of the main building of the Headquarters. But on either side of the reception hall building were two gates that enabled access to the gardens. The front half of the garden section was like a noble’s stereotypical idea of a garden, with lots of hedges, marble fountains, and flowering plants. The half of the garden area that was at the back of the main building though, had the Pavilion.

The Pavilion itself was a semi-enclosed sheltered area, with sliding glass screens and outdoor lounges, an area to keep cool and out of the sun. It had three sections that came of the long rectangular area at right angles to extend along either side of the main building. What was interesting was that the Pavilion was two-storied. If Lucy looked over the side of the rooftop to see the building, she could see a series of repeating gridlines over the top, and the sheen of glass revealing the artificial biomes that Scytale had gotten his cold in. It sounded like it would clash with the marble and gold theme of the main building, but the plenteous elegant glass structures and decorations and glass-themed bottom story of the Pavilion meant the entire building seemed more like an ostentatious, very large crystal showpiece of some kind. The glass fountains that were inside the artificial lake surrounding it also presented this image.

She turned back to the two others at the table when they began to get more animated in their arguing. Scytale just had this personality where if you didn’t learn to put up with it or find some weakness of his to control him, he would aggravate you to no end. Lucy had long gotten used to it, but now the fluffy snake had found a new target.

Sedric was scowling at the silver snake. “Well, if this bloodline of yours is so great and all, then why are you a midget?”

“Don’t test me you mere crafter!” Scytale told him grandly. “For this is not my true form! In fact, I shall reveal myself to you in my full glory right now!”

Lucy rolled her eyes as the snake on their table raised himself up with his wings spread out, and with a glow of yellow light, his metre-long body began to grow. Slowly, his coils thickened and he lengthened, his outspread wings gaining width and height as he activated his Primal Descendant ability, increasing his size by x3. He flapped his white-gold plumage proudly as he waited for their reaction.

“Skulker is still bigger than you,” Lucy stated flatly.

He reared up and bared his fangs in outrage, hissing. “He’s huge for his age!”

“He’s average.”

“Now you’re just making things up,” he grumbled.

Sedric put a hand on his chin. “Well, I guess I can see how your scales and feathers could be impressive.”

Scytale and Lucy turned to him in slight shock, confused about why he was saying something nice about the snake. Lucy wanted to know what the catch was.

“But,” he continued, “It’s not really anything great unless you fly. Can you actually use those wings?”

……and there it was.

Lucy decided to sit this conversation out as she sipped her water like she was Switzerland. Although she felt like nudging Scytale a bit, because his suspicious silence was not helping his cause. Before she could do so, Sedric opened his mouth, so she sighed and resigned herself to avoiding the crossfire.

“Well?” the brown-haired man said, cocking an eyebrow.

Scytale shuffled his wings a bit as he started to shrink inward. “Um… there are… complications… surrounding this issue and I don’t really feel up to answeri-”

The other man leaned forward with malicious glee on his face. “Oh really… complications, are there? I think there’s something else going on here though…” Sedric said, a grin slowly widening on his expression.

Scytale shrunk down further. “N-no, there’s nothing else that coul-”

“You’re hiding something,” Sedric interrupted, his eyes narrowed. “You don’t want to tell me something.”

Lucy evaded eye-contact when Scytale turned to her for help. She was the epitome of neutrality, a calm land of political disinterest, completely uninvolved with anything and-

“Aha!” Sedric suddenly shouted, jumping up from his seat to point at the silver snake. “You’re afraid of heights!”

Scytale was flabbergasted. “……what.”

In her personality analysis of him, Lucy had been starting to think that this new crafter of hers had a strange instinct for things. Such as how he had been unconsciously trying to avoid attention and had been subtly testing her. She had thought she needed to revise her impression of him… but now it was for an altogether different reason. This guy may have intuition… but he was completely off the mark when it came to acting on it.

“Don’t you dare deny it!” the young man said to Scytale with utter confidence in his voice. “It’s obvious you’re trying to avoid flying because you’re scared!”

“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Scytale told him flatly. “Your confidence is utterly unfounded.”

“Now you’re just being defensive,” Sedric said, sitting back down to cross his arms smugly.

“Of course I’m being defensive!” Scytale yelled, incredulous. “I have literally just finished telling you I come from a clan of tree snakes! We thrive in high places!”

“You also told me you were overprotected by your clan due to your size, so you tried to escape and nearly got eaten by a sleeping crocodile because you were distracted and climbed into its mouth, which was how Lucille saved you,” the man pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “I bet you haven’t even touched a tree.”

“You’ve taken that story waaay out of context,” Scytale said to him, shrinking back down to his normal size.

“No I haven’t,” Sedric responded.

“Yes you have.”

“No I haven’t.”

“Yes you have!”

“No, I haven’t. It is perfectly relevant-”

“No it isn’t! In the first place, I told you my overprotection was having guards surround me all the time, which-”

“Ah, but you didn’t say you had touched a tree! See, I was righ-”

“Who hasn’t touched a tree?!? I’m obviously going to ignore such a stupid statement!”

“It’s not stupid, and you’re still just being defensive. Unless you prove me wrong, I will still continue to believe-”

“Argh! Listen, I literally just told you there are other issues surrounding this that-”

“Like being terrified of heights?”

“No! …wait, I get it now. You’re projecting! You’re the one who's scared of heights!”

“H-Huh? W-wait, that’s not-”

“Don’t you dare deny it!”

Lucille let out a long groan while leaning back in her seat, pinching her nose bridge, as another round of bickering began. She rubbed her temples and scowled. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and slammed two hands down onto the table.

“Would both of you Shut. Up.” she growled at them. The intensity of her glare made them both awkwardly look away. They went silent for a moment.

Sedric opened his mouth first. “He started it by calling me dense.”

“False accusati- oh, wait, I did actually say that," Scytale muttered sheepishly.

Lucy ignored her bond to whip her head around and direct her glare at Sedric. He flinched.

“I can’t even believe I have to say this, but may I remind you that the person you are arguing with is a 15-year-old. Sedric Ferin, how old are you?”

Scytale looked at her with narrowed eyes and communicated through their bond. ‘Hang on Lucy, I’m not actually-’

Scytale. Please, for just one, blissful moment, could you be silent?

‘Um. Okay.’

Clearly he had felt something through their bond because he agreed very easily. Lucy sighed and looked at Sedric.

“Ferin, how old are you?”

He looked down and grimaced. “…..1.”

“I can’t hear you,” she stated blandly. “Speak up.”

“…21,” he told her reluctantly.

She raised both her eyebrows. “That’s a 6 year age gap. The difference between a 12-year-old, and an 18-year-old like myself.”

He shrunk down in his chair as she turned to Scytale with narrowed eyes. “You.”

He hid his face with his wings so she couldn’t see him. She glared at him, letting him feel the full intensity of her emotions through their bond. “Stop giving in to your instincts.”

Sedric furrowed his brows in confusion. “Instincts?’

“Indeed,” she said with a dry tone. “There is a reason why the serpent clans are famous for their cunning. They have a desire in their blood to rile another up to poke for weaknesses, and often try to sow discord among clans. In Scytale’s case…”

She looked with narrowed eyes at the snake who was peeping through his feathers. She turned back to Sedric. “He’s also just a brat, which makes it ten times worse.”

“Hey, I was okay with what you were saying up until that last bit…”

Her glare shut Scytale up. Then she sighed and pinched her nose bridge. Scytale, I really need to point something out. Sedric is over two hundred centuries younger than you.

‘Well, maybe I did get a little carried away… or maybe a lot…’

You did, but that’s not my point. She raised her eyes to look at the silver serpent who had stopped hiding behind his two large wings. I can feel through the bond that your emotions have become simpler, and stronger. You didn’t act like this at all before we died.

The snake raised his head and blinked at her. ‘Actually, now that you mention it…’

You’ve become emotionally immature, and now have the self-control of a 15-year-old. It must be a side effect of regressing to a young body.

‘What?! Why are you fine then?!’

Because my soul is already within the transition layer between the physical realms and the spiritual realm, I can pseudo-simulate the Rank-3 ability to have perfect control over my body. You haven’t done that, because it was useless to you as someone with a smaller soul, so the perfect control didn’t carry over to the new timeline.

‘Ugh.’

This interaction only took a few seconds through their bond, so for Sedric, they had only been silent for a short moment. He sat a bit straighter in his chair and looked at Lucy.

“I… actually have a question about your plans for me,” he told her, looking thoughtful.

Lucy sipped her drink. “Yes?”

“On the contract, there was no mention of any duties such as going to events as your crafter or taking the examinations to earn a higher ranked crafter title,” he said. “Am I just going to be crafting?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Remember, we signed a non-exclusive contract. Sending you to events just to brag about you would be a strange decision. It would be like placing a gift before my competitors, as I can’t prevent you from crafting for others.”

“Uh.. right. That makes sense,” he said, scratching his cheek. “But what about the examinations?”

She eyed him for a moment, then placed down her drink. “I don’t care about the examinations. That is because the connections of high ranked crafters can’t help me.”

Seeing his confused expression, she placed her arms on the table and looked at him. “There is a reason why I contracted you, an accessory crafter. I could technically create the item I wanted using the aid of any of the other crafting classes. But they don’t have the adaptability I want. My item will be very complex.”

Sedric frowned. “Aren’t accessory crafters even more restricted than the other crafters?”

She shook her head. “Absolutely not. Sure, the items themselves have limitations on them, like not being able to boost attack or stats, but a sword is only a sword, while an accessory can be all sorts of things. I’m not talking about jewellery here.”

“Not… jewellery?” Sedric responded, looking even more confused. “But that’s literally the definition of an accessory, isn’t it? Necklaces, rings, bracelets, anklets, earrings, maybe a crown or tiara?”

“A magic item is called that because it can either cast spells or skills,” she stated. “What form it takes is up to the crafter’s own ability. Even a swordsmith could craft an accessory if they tried.”

“But I can’t imagine an accessory being anything other than jewellery,” he said, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

She grinned. “And that is why I will be teaching you. For example, what if there was a way to make magic items connect to each other?”

“Connect?” he asked.

“Yes. Crafting magic items that function in such a way that they lead to forming a giant interlocking network to create a much more powerful and large function,” she said.

“For example, a network that would allow everyone within a certain radius to talk to each other regardless of distance,” Scytale piped up.

He looked between them both, wondering if they were messing with him. “No, but-” he paused, and rubbed his chin. “I suppose if there was infrastructure in place… but the different sizes of the arrays would create conflicting spellwork- engraving might reduce that however…” he looked up, raising an eyebrow. “How large a radius are we talking?”

She smirked. “You also seem to be under the notion magic items need to remain a certain size. Or that they have to be permanent objects," she added.

Scytale looked at her with his golden eyes. “You mean… like bullets and shells? Don’t tell me you plan to introduce guns?”

She gave the snake a funny look. “Obviously not. The scaling difficulty of their crafting would make them redundant for anyone Rank-3 or over. If I was going to create a weapon, I’d begin with an electromagnetic railgun, then take it from there.”

Sedric just looked back on forth between them both, utterly bemused. “I have no clue what this ‘electromagnetic railgun’ of yours is, but I just want to say, wouldn’t these ‘connectable’ magic items of yours be closer to artifacts? To create something like that, you’d need an artificer.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Why would I need an artificer?”

“Uh… to create something of sufficient power? I don’t think half of what you wanted could be done without the weird magic of artifacts,” he responded, confused on why she asked him that question.

Lucy had an odd expression on her face. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but artificers don’t make artifacts.”

Sedric stared. “They… don’t make artifacts?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

He stared again. Then he became incredulous. “They’re literally called ‘Artificers’! How could they not make artifacts?!”

“They don’t make artifacts, they ‘develop’ them,” she stressed.

“I don’t see the difference,” he stated flatly.

“Well then, I better explain,” she responded. “What artificers do, is turn magical items into artifacts.”