The home that was Elias's could only be described as a giant cube of concrete. Next to it was another cube with a door on the front, but don't be deceived. The workshop wasn't the smaller one. Actually, it was around twice the size of the other.

The door of the larger block hung open, free to the outside world. In Ciel's old life, Elias's workshop would've been the garage of a home, its door opening by rising upwards instead of sideways. Elias's car was parked further from the workshop for this reason.

From seeing Elias's home, Ciel may have been tricked into believing that was what all homes in the Interstellar looked like, but she wasn't. That's not a compliment on her intellect, rather it was because the two concrete blocks stood out like sore thumbs in the suburban environment around it.

As Ciel walked toward the workshop, she caught sight of an old man working on a circuit board connected to a large robot. At a second glance, what the man was working on wasn't a large robot, but a Technoid. It wasn't in its resting block form, rather it was expanded and the man was putting pieces of it together.

The old man heard her footsteps as she walked into the workshop.

"Get out and let this old man work," he said. Then under his breath, Ciel heard him follow it up with "these nasty kids." She smiled. She supposed she was a nasty kid too.

"Sir," she said, after noticing he was contemplating over a set of wires, "try using a B7 cord instead of an 86."

"B6's are better for connecting power sources, why would I use a B6?"

"Well every part of the machine uses power, does it not?"

Even though the man objected to using a B6, Ciel still watched as he reached for a cord not too far, replacing the 86 with it.

"It's a specific kind of power they transfer. And I don't need it gaining more electricity than it should be."

Ciel didn't respond. Instead, she watched as Elias checked how much electricity was running through the wires. His eyes widened as he turned back to look at her. A bright smile adorned his face.

"Ciel, nice to meet you," he said, "I'm Elias."

He paid no attention to the fact that she was a child.

"Would you mind helping me with this before dinner?"

"That's what I'm here for."

"Wonderful!"

He turned back toward the Technoid.

"So how was your trip?" he asked as he placed a plate over his wire set up.

Ciel relayed to him the past few days, only excluding Alice's kidnapping. She'd decided to take that to the grave.

"Alice," Elias said, "She's quite like her mother. By the way, A2 or A5?"

"By the Atherian Principal, two A2s lining the sides with an A5 over."

Elias followed her instructions, "When Alice was just a child she told me she wanted to be a superhero. She'd probably gotten the idea when she found out I was a Void. A7?"

"A7. You were a Void?"

"Yes, my parents always wanted me to become a Void after they saw my brother become one," Elias sighed, "what they never realized was that Leonard probably became a Void to escape them."

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"You and Leonard are brothers?" Ciel asked, passing a wrench to Elias.

"Specifically, we're half brothers. Our mother first married Leonard's father, a beastman, but divorced him and married my father," he said, "as you know, Leonard has the head of an alligator, making him a halfling, and our family doesn't particularly like halflings. So I ended up being their pride and joy. Leonard became a Void to escape them, and when our family saw that he could do it, they pushed me to become one too."

Elias grimaced, "I quit maybe thirty years ago? It was around the time Alice was born. Fled here to avoid them. Unfortunately, while Balen is outside the area of places they'd look for me, it isn't a particularly accepting place of technology."

So that was what the "nasty kids" comment was about. Elias probably had had kids vandalizing and attacking his work for ages. She wondered who his family was to force him into such a sorry state.

"I remember the day Alice told me she wanted to become a Void," Elias said, "she told me she wanted to become a hero and save people like me. Hah! I hadn't been saving anyone but myself. Still, even if becoming a Void wasn't what I wanted to do, I wouldn't stop her. I think it was when she met that girl, Midnight, that it all went downhill though. Ciel...my daughter has a bit of a hero complex. I wouldn't hold it against her though. Ah and the A9?"

"Should go over the A2s."

"Perfect. Onik, I know Onik. I bet she chose Onik because they're a community that has a lot of protection against beast attacks so they have a lot of security."

Ciel didn't tell him that Onik was only chosen by chance. She also didn't tell him that even with their security against beasts, the pirates had still been the cause of dead littering the streets and homes being destroyed.

"I think we've done enough today," he said, putting his tools down, "why don't we get something to eat. I'll have Alice show you to the Community Center tomorrow morning."

They decided on a schedule. That evening, Elias had been testing how much more efficient he'd be with Ciel's help, and with six months until she had to leave, he figured he could just have her spend every other day working with him.

"I'm not very well known," Elias said, "working in Balen, I don't have many resources or clients, but I make do. This is my first big order, so if I manage to complete this, I should have plenty to work with in the future. The issue is that the person needs the Technoid to still have some effect without magic around it."

"Why?" Ciel asked.

"Not sure," Elias said, "I'm just the mechanic, so I'm not supposed to ask."

Client confidentiality.

"They came to me because no one else would take the order. Ancient mechanics have been long phased out, so not a lot of people kept up to date with them," he took a swig of water, putting it on the table with a smile, "but I have. Not to your level, of course, but enough so that I could probably finish the order in a year or two, so I took it. I didn't think it'd actually take some problems that have never been solved though, that's why I sent a request to the Voyager Association."

"Anyways, back to your schedule, every other day should work. I can take the cost for the pod rental and Virtual World out of your final reward so you can learn while you're here. Also, since the Technoid still needs some magic to operate, you'll learn some stuff about magic circuits too. You're doing all this to aim for a school, right?"

"Yep," Ciel answered.

"Which one?" Elias asked.

Ciel's face went blank. Actually...she forgot to ask.

"It's fine if you don't know," Elias said, "since you can just enter general admissions and get assigned to a school. The only two that have their own applications are North Star and South Star."

"Are the schools affiliated?"

Elias thought for a moment.

"Supposedly, the founders of the two schools were twins who were separated at birth. One was raised in the north, one in the south. The one in the north was raised in a poor family but managed to rise up through the ranks in the military by their own ability. They founded the academy North Star which is for kids who manage to get in through pretty extreme tests. They only qualify to take those tests if they score perfectly on the general admissions test or are recommended by a supervisor. On the other hand, the twin raised in the south ended up under the care of Verlin Habert. He ended up valuing money over many other things, and people can get in by buying their way through that school. Still, it's one of the top in the nation due to the influx of donations. Rich students aren't rich for nothing, they have pretty famous alumni as well. The two twins met as they were founding the schools and in honor of their familial relation named the schools North Star and South Star. Now they're just famous for their rivalry though."

"Who's Verlin Habert?" Ciel asked. She felt like she'd seen that name somewhere.

Elias gave her a strange look.

"Why, he's the creator of the Virtual World."

It took a moment to register in Ciel's mind. No wonder the founder of South Star valued money over talent. He was basically raised by the money-making god.

Ciel scratched the top of her head, "How do you know so much about the two schools?"

"I was a student at South Star," Elias replied, "Leonard went to North Star."