Standing in a certain part of the barracks, two gasping boys took several moments to stabilize their breathing.

Nora also noticed their condition, dusty uniforms, and had some ideas about why came here. So, she gave them several moments to recover their breath.

"So, why are you here?" asked Nora, looking at them.

Inhaling another long breath, Theo raised his glance and looked at their captain.

"Captain, we came here with a certain question in mind,"

Her brows furrowed when she heard him, and dissatisfaction appeared on her face.

Noticing the change in her expression, Theo hurried to add.

"It won't take long, captain," said Theo, watching after the changes on her face.

Nora spent several moments, looking at them and guessing why they came to her.

"Fine, go ahead," said Nora, "If it's because of the attitude you got on your 1st day from your new comrades, then you came to the wrong place,"

"No, it's not about them," added Theo, "It's about a part-time job which we want to do after our main duty,"

Her brows rose a bit when she heard his answer.

'Something new' muttered Nora to herself.

"A part-time job? Here in the expedition camp? Do you need additional work as water porters?" asked Nora, looking at them.

Theo and Leonardo were quick to shake their head.

"We are looking for the job that can help us earn merit points," explained Leonardo, looking at Nora, "Not the job where we will further exhaust ourselves."

A smile appeared on her lips.

"Isn't your new payment enough?"

"It's good, much bigger than we had when we were candidates, but it's still insufficient. We saw several unique things we want, and need a lot of merit points for that," explained Theo.

Hearing his explanation, her smile widened while she was reminiscing several similar moments from her past.

"Fine," said Nora, "Since you have spent so much time looking for me, I can give you several pointers,"

Both boys smiled when they heard her agreement.

"First, what do you know or can do? Don't spend my time telling me about your work experience, I want to know whether you know anything in craftsmen spheres,"

"I learn blacksmithing back in the city, and already know hundreds of ores and can make basic works with my skills," explained Leonardo.

"I learn alchemy, and already know hundreds of different herbs, plants, and their properties," said Theo.

Nora didn't react when she heard about Leonardo's skills, but a certain flame appeared when she heard Theo.

"Are you ready to do anything for the merit points?" asked Nora, looking at Theo with a small smile on her lips.

Almost immediately Theo felt that something was off when he saw such a quick change in the mood.

"Depends on how much I would get, type of the job, and my chances to return alive,"

"Can you already create an energy shield?" asked Nora without, taking her glance off Theo.

"Yes," said, Theo, creating a thin energy shield around his body as proof.

"Good," said Nora before, looking at Leonardo and Theo.

"Indeed I know a blacksmith and an alchemist that would be glad to get a helper. They will pay you much less than they pay for the official helper from the army. Are you ready for that?"

"What do we need to do?" asked both youths.

"Nothing special. You will just have to prepare certain materials and help them with their own research,"

"That's it?" asked Theo, while his guts were already crying at him that something was off.

"That's it," said Nora, moving her glance back at him.

"However, before I tell you where to go, let's first discuss my share," said Nora with a sly smile on her lips, "I want 1/5 from your daily income,"

Dissatisfaction appeared on Leonardo's face and he would have said something if not for Theo's hand that stopped him by landing on his shoulder.

"Can you guarantee that we will get that job?" asked Theo, looking at her.

Expecting such a question, a smile appeared on Nora's lips.

"I can promise that they will agree to evaluate you because you came with my recommendation. Whether you get the job or not depends solely on you." said Nora, looking at them, "However, if you get it, you will earn much more than on the jobs you find yourselves."

Pondering for several moments, Theo eventually nodded when he remembered about the urgency rarity of those affinity-increasing resources. If they appeared not at the expedition camp, but in the city, a day would be enough for them to disappear.

Spending several moments to talk with Leonardo, Theo turned back at Nora.

"Fine, we agree. Where should we go?" asked Theo.

"Good, just tell them that I sent you for the part-time job, both of them are a bit strange, and have some problems with assistants. However, they are good guys, so try to get along with them," said Nora, quickly explaining where to go and watching after their disappearing backs.

"Don't get killed," muttered Nora before turning towards her barracks.

***

It didn't take long for Theo to reach the place Nora was talking about. However, the closer, Theo got to his goal, the more alarms started ringing in his head. He was already at the edge of the rear camp and started doubting if he made a mistake on his road to Nora's friend.

However, Theo just couldn't give up and decided to at first check look at that place she was talking about and return to her if he fails to find it. After passing another row of buildings, he finally arrived at the quite desolate area. It was literal wasteland inside the expedition camp! There was only a lonely building in the center of it while the closest building was eighty meters away from it.

A glance was enough for Theo to realize that his part-time job would most likely be unique.

Approaching the building, his alert about his new job only got stronger and stronger while he concentrated his attention in case of danger. As if supporting his opinion, something happened when was ten meters away from his goal.

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*Boom*

The sound that usually appeared from the blast resounded from the direction of the building.

Immediately, creating an energy shield first, Theo stopped for a moment, looking at the same building in front of him.

A moment later, his brows rose when he recognized the sound.

Though it was weaker and was a bit different, Theo would easily recognize this sound even if he was a mile away. It was the sound that appeared only when a magic cannon was used. Back in his previous life, there were many battles, when similar sounds resounded across the battlefield. He was a true expert when it came to them because his enemies always tried to bombard him first, using them.

Just as he wanted to enter the building, he heard another sound from the same direction.

"Maul, come here, move your ass," cried an unknown male, "Be quick and prepare for the next trial. Attempt number 5399, another failure!"

"You stand here, I will go check the building's condition," said the same male.

Leaving the building, the man stopped, looking at Theo.

A thirty-years looking male in a cloak appeared before Theo. The man had long yellow hair, tall and fit body, and the monocle on his right eye.

"You?" asked the man with a clear question in his eyes, "Nevermind, get out of the way,"

A moment later, the man passed through him and started checking the building's condition.

Seeing the man, it wasn't difficult for Theo to get several ideas why Nora called him a bit eccentric and he already had several ideas why his new job would be dangerous.

It wasn't his 1st time when he met similar people. He knew about such type of people that were true fanatics to something. And, the blast he and the short conversation he heard already gave him an approximate idea of what he will be helping with.

Smiling, Theo got intrigued and quickly entered the building while the man was outside.

Entering the building, Theo quickly noticed a cloud of smoke that was coming from a certain direction.

Following the smoke, Theo passed by several rooms with a unique medicine smell and entered into the big hall from which smoke was coming.

The 1st thing that caught his glance was a magic shield in from of him, which was blocking most of the hall.

Just a glance was enough to see that the magic shield was filled with black and grey smoke and it was slowly passing through it.

"Who are you?"

While he was looking at the shield a question bumped at him.

"I repeat, who are you?" asked the same voice.

Moving his glance, Theo saw a puppet with blue flames in its eyes that were looking at him. With each new moment, new layers of armor appeared on it, and several seconds later, there was already a big armored puppet that was looking at him, ready for battle.

"This is the last I ask, who are you?" said the puppet, creating a long sword in its right hand.

Snapping back to reality from his surprise, Theo hurried to introduce himself.

"I am Theo, Nora sent me, I am here to get a part-time job," quickly explained Theo.

At first, the puppet didn't react, but several moments later.

"The hell, you created shield then? Don't you know that ordinary people don't enter with one while entering into an unknown building? If you were on the south, it would be already enough for many to consider you as their enemy."

Smiling and touching his cheek with embarrassment, Theo wanted to quickly explain why he activated his shield just in case, but the man already returned.

"Relax, Maul, can't you see, he is not one of those bastards. Forget about them, they would never find us here on the north," said the man, looking at the puppet.

"You had similar thoughts back then," said Maul, but quickly transformed back into his initial body condition, leaving only an iron sword in one of its hands.

"Anyway, stop wasting your time, go prepare the next sample, we can still test several samples before the evening," said the man with a wide smile on his lips and fanatical light in his eyes.

Maul released a tired sigh before returning to the things he was preparing before.

After finishing dealing with Maul, the man immediately became serious and turned and looked at Theo.

"How long do you study alchemy?"

"One month,"

"What?" asked the man while his brows dumbfoundedly rose.

"Though I recently started learning alchemy, I already know hundreds of plants and herbs and their properties that are most commonly used in alchemy,"

The man touched his chin, pondering about Theo's words.

"Will you recognize them just by name?" asked the man with a doubt in his voice.

Theo immediately nodded when he heard him.

Seeing his reaction, the man smiled before taking several plants from his space stone and showing them to Theo.

"What are they, and how can we use them?" asked the man, giving the plants to Theo.

Theo spent several moments, pondering and looking at the plants before a smile appeared on his lips.

"This is the "Mountain sunflower", the plant that can positively affect battle energy users, it's one of the common ingredients for basic pills, this is crystallized monster's blood that looks like a leaf, it can help warriors increase their physical strength, it is also one of the common ingredients for basic pills."

"Good, that's enough," said the man with a smile on his lips, "you have passed the trial, and can help me with my work from the army,"

"I am Edward Elric, you can call me Edd." said the man with a smile on his lips, "This is Maul, my assisting puppet,"

"Theo," said the youth, looking at both the man and the puppet

"Nice to meet you, since Nora sent you, and you indeed have the knowledge, let me quickly explain to you what you will have to do here as my assistant,"

"First, you will have to organize all the herbs and plants, the army gave me the assignment to create hundreds of basic pills. You will just have to group ingredients for each pill and leave them in my alchemy lab. There you will also find detailed sheets with a certain proportion of ingredients. Can you do it?" asked Edd, watching after Theo's reaction,

Theo just nodded confidently and continued looking at him.

"Second, you will have to help Maul with my research, and do everything to help me," said Edd with a smile on his lips, "If you do these 2 small requirements, you would get 500 merit points for your work."

Hearing such simple requirements, and remembering about the blast he heard, it became clear that there must be a certain problem or nuance with the 2nd condition.

"Sir, what do you mean by the help for your research? What should I do? Is it dangerous?" asked Theo with a serious expression on his face.

"Well, you will just have to control the cannon, and help me with the work before the main trials," explained Edd with an innocent smile on his lips, touching his cheeks in the process.

In short, he was trying to do everything he could to make his offer look safe while Maul just shook his head, watching after this scene.

"Stop telling that crap, haven't you forgotten what happened the last time you lied to your assistant," cried Maul at the Edd, "Isn't your current fame enough for you?"

"You ..." started Edd, but was interrupted by Theo.

"How dangerous is it? And what would happen if I get harmed in the process?" asked Theo, looking at him.

"Well, you can break a bone or two, or get other injuries, but don't worry if you agree to help me, you will get special armor and get several healing pills each time after the trial," said Edd with a smile on his lips, "If my pills won't be enough, I can promise that an army priest will heal you,"

Pondering about his words, and thinking about all cons and prons, Theo sighed before nodding and looking at him.

"Fine, now tell me more about your research,"

Edd's smile widened while Maul noticed that the fanatical flame in his master's eyes intensified while he started beating the floor with his head.

"Instead of telling, it would be better to show," said Edd, activating something.

A moment later, a magic shield disappeared, letting all the smoke move further. At the same time, other mechanisms got activated and several wind currents moved all the smoke away before they reached Theo and others.

Soon, the rest of the hall appeared before Theo. A damaged cannon near the edge of the magic shield together with some other damaged objects appeared before him.

Just a glance was enough for Theo to see that the cannon that appeared from the smoke looked different than the magic cannons he got used to. Besides, he didn't notice any chanting on its surface. It was an absolutely different weapon!

Moving his glance at the metallic targets at the opposite end from the cannon, Theo only got more convinced when he saw the difference, it was much weaker than the magic cannon.

However, Theo didn't show any reaction on his face and hid the fact that he understood what Edd was trying to do, and looked at him with a confused expression on his face.

"Theo, this is the 1st alchemy cannon, my masterpiece that will push forward explosion arts all over the Continent!" cried Edd with a fanatical expression on his face, "This is the 1st alchemy cannon that works fully on the alchemy and soon it will compete against magic cannons."

"Those heretics will soon learn the true power of the cannon, created by the real believer of explosion art! And, you, Theo, have the honor to help me with my noble work!" explained Edd with fanatical flames in his eyes.

However, Theo couldn't be called an experienced person if he didn't notice a speck of hate behind those eyes when Edward was telling him about those heretics.

Theo continued to listen to him and turned to look at Maul that closed his face with both of his hands as if he was dying from shame.

Releasing another sigh, Theo finished creating his opinion about his new mad boss before looking at him.

"So, I Edward Elric, the only true alchemist that values the noble art of blast than anything in the world just can't live without creating my own weapon to show the real weapon which will show the whole depth of the explosion arts," explained Edd with a clear fanatical light in his eyes.

"This is the person who ended up sealing me!" muttered Maul to himself.

Getting tired from listening to his preaching, Theo cleared his throat.

"Fine, just tell me what to do, I don't want to know about your research anymore,"

Edd smiled when he heard him.

"Right to the deal, I like it. Theo, go, take those targets and replace them with new ones. Maul, why are you wasting your time, watching after me, haven't I told you to prepare for the next trial?"

In such a way, while Theo started replacing old targets, and listening to Edd's commands, his 1st day of work for the badly famed "Blasting alchemist" started.