Sariel found himself in the System's domain once more.

"You! That imperia generation was rigged, wasn't it? It felt like my brain and body were being filled with lava!"

"That's what happens to everyone who learns to generate imperia. It isn’t as painful for actual Slayer trainees because they undergo intense heat training to prepare for that moment."

Bullshit… he thought. Maybe the power would be worth it, but the pain was like hell itself.

The System continued, "Of course, the first time is the most painful. That's because imperia flows through the body via two vessels, known as the imperia system."

He was taken aback. "I don’t get it. Why would that explain why it was so painful?" he asked, still suspicious.

"The imperia system is only formed after someone generates imperia for the first time—if they survive the intense heat, that is. The vessels are made of a denser form of imperia, aligning with your entire skeletal structure and connecting to a part of your brain. Through those vessels, imperia is naturally channeled. You won’t have to worry about the pain of imperia generation anymore."

"How can I trust what you're saying?" he muttered.

"You are not the only person in the world. You can ask others."

"What if you're somehow influencing those I interact with?"

She laughed. "That would be amazing, wouldn't it? But I can't. I guess you would just have to trust your instincts."

There was a silence for a while. He wasn't sure what to believe.

She then suggested. "You could try generating imperia again and see if it burns like it did."

"Fuck you."

She smiled. "I'm just giving you options, my dear."

He shook his head then asked her, "Are you bothered by me using Gyaksu's system?"

"Why are randomly asking that?"

"The Imperia conversation isn't getting to nowhere. And now I'm curious if you're going to try to fuck me over out of something I can't change."

Whether he used the leveling system or not wasn't much of a choice.

"No, I'm not. They are biological, non-sentient. I am not biological; I am sentient."

"I see..."

"But of course, you don't trust me."

"It's hard to."

"Paranoia is often unhealthy..."

"It isn't paranoia if I have a good reason to be concerned."

She didn't reply and the time counted down until they could no longer interact for the night. A total of thirty seconds.

The night passed quickly, and with daybreak came hunger. Sariel got up and made his way to buy some bread, then headed to see the rune guy.

There were more of those Silverback hunters doing trades.

“All that meat in such a short period?! Isn’t your sector the farming one? You expect me to believe you raised that many animas and matured them so fast?!” The same man who bought carcasses from Sariel shouted while interacting with a silverback hunter.

What was the big deal here?

The hunters responded confidently, "Our boss has a secret technique for raising animas."

Sariel wouldn’t have been surprised if it involved illegal methods. Perhaps a lot of steroids.

***

Sariel arrived at Dandy's uncle's workshop and knocked the door

Unlike yesterday, it took about ten minutes for the door to open. The man towered over Sariel, who wasn't short but not tall either.

The man's outline was still white, which was a relief to Sariel.

He stepped aside. "Come in."

Sariel entered.

“You might want to take a shower; you smell,” Soria commented.

Going days without showering would do that. “Right. Where’s the shower?”

He pointed downstairs. “Just walk straight down the stairs and take a left.”

Sariel nodded and followed the instructions.

He wondered if he was putting too much trust in outlines. But for the most part, they hadn't let him down. What happened last night was strange, but he hadn't been in danger.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The place was well-made. On the outside, it seemed to be constructed of concrete and aesthetic stones.

He opened a door that had a 'washroom' sign on top of it.

He took a quick bath in a basic wooden tub set in a stone room. The tub was filled with warm water drawn from a well, heated by a fire underneath. After undressing, he stepped into the tub, enjoying the warm water.

Using a bar of homemade soap, he scrubbed himself clean, then rinsed off with water from a ladle. He dried off with a rough linen towel and stepped out of the b

There were clothes outside the door. It seemed Soria had placed them there. He put them on. They were a little big, but good enough.

He returned to the floor where Soria waited, his hair still slightly wet.

“By the way, there's a plate of food on the table,” Soria told him.

It seemed this area was for workers to eat, prepare for work, have lunch, or clean up after finishing their day.

Sariel took a seat at the table with the plate of food. It was a lot of pasta, vegetables, and meat. It smelled pretty good, though not as good as Lilan's mom’s soup.

He ate it all in a single minute.

After he had finish eating Soria called him, “Let's start working on a project.”

"Yeah."

They moved downstairs.

As they moved through the hallway, Sariel noticed over fourteen employees cutting large, hard crystals.

They were all working in small rooms, each filled with various tools.

Sariel asked, “By the way, are you helping me because of your nephew? 'Cause you're really nice. Most people who know about me aren't.”

“I have dealt with my fair share of strange individuals.”

"As strange as me?" Absurd.

"No. But a certain guardian angel told me to be nice to you. I was supposed to hire you before."

Sariel wondered who it was. Then he asked, "Neil or Natasha?"

“Supposed to be a secret.”

It made sense that Neil would ask him to, Sariel thought. There wasn't any confirmation it was actually Neil, so he didn't bother asking the man further.

"So how much work do I have to do before you give me a weapon?"

"Hmm. Not much."

That wasn’t a clear answer...

They entered a workroom. On an iron table sat a huge red crystal block, likely weighing around five hundred pounds.

Soria placed his hands on his waist and asked, “So, we have to cut from this. We need a small stone from it, something that can be embedded into an object made to harness its power. What do you think is the first step?”

Sariel had no idea. How could he? Soria was clearly trying to develop his critical thinking skills—this was part of the learning process.

If he had to guess, Sariel thought, “Measure how much needs to be cut, then proceed to cut it?” It seemed like the basics.

Soria nodded with satisfaction. “Good guess. Oh, by the way, these are called runestones. Only when they are cut and refined do they become runes. Anyway, the first stage is called the planning stage. You need to figure out the best possible shapes to minimize waste and maximize the use of the rough stone. For that, we take measurements and use them to sketch how we want the rune to look after cutting.”

He handed Sariel a measuring tape and led him in taking the runestone's measurements.

After taking the measurements, they divided the numbers by 50 and sketched using those figures. The sketch included perspective views from the front, top, and side. They made multiple changes to the sketch; much of it didn’t meet Soria’s standards, and Sariel’s drawing skills were lacking, requiring him to erase and redraw several times.

Once the sketch was finalized, they used a marker that emitted a bright light to mark the runestone.

Soria took a tool from a long wall shelf, which held many other tools. The tool had a compact, sturdy design with a rotating abrasive disc perpendicular to its handle. He gripped the cord attached to it, his forearms and back muscles bulging as he prepared himself, then pulled the cord back vigorously, as if intending to rip it apart.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

Sariel wondered if the tool might explode with him so close.

The tool made rapid, explosion-like sounds before the disc started spinning at deadly speeds.

“It’s a very expensive tool, but it makes work fast,” Soria said, handing it to Sariel. “Just follow the markings.”

It was heavy, but Sariel managed to hold it. Though intimidating, he took hold of the handle and the second handle above the disc and began cutting the huge runestone. It cut easily, like a knife through butter. However, he couldn’t follow the markings properly, so when he finished, the result looked very rough.

It wasn’t his fault; his hands were shaky, and this was his first time using the tool.

Red dust was blown out of the room by a fan attached to the wall.

Soria towered over the cut runestone, examining the job Sariel had done. “Not too bad for your first time.”

Sariel thought Soria was being generous; the stone was so jagged it didn’t look like it had been cut by a sharp object.

“Well, it’s not a big deal,” Soria said, grabbing another tool. This one also had a disc, but it was designed for grinding stones rather than cutting, evident from the different appearance of the disc and the iron guard around it, which made it unsuitable for sawing.

Sariel spent nearly two hours grinding it down. To ensure he was doing a relatively decent job, he used a rune as a reference; thankfully, there were many discarded ones in the room.

When he finished, Soria returned to check Sariel's results.

He held the stone in his hand, rotating it to examine every speck. “Hm, yeah, you have a little talent for this. In a couple of weeks, you’d be good.”

Sariel was surprised by the compliment, thinking Soria was getting a bit carried away.

He had no intention of staying longer than necessary. “It sucks I won’t be here long enough for that.”

“Hah.” Soria flicked the stone at him. Sariel rushed to catch it.

When Sariel caught it, he was reminded of how heavy the stone was for its size—ridiculously heavy, probably over twenty pounds.

“Why is it so heavy?” Sariel wondered if the stone was just insanely dense.

“The more energy it contains, the greater the weight,” Soria explained, pulling a pouch from his pocket. “Make three more."

Sariel took a deep breath. "Right."

Six hours passed.

Sariel powered the machine off, his face slick with sweat. "I think I've reached my limit."

Soria nodded, impressed by his work. They all needed some polishing, of course, but they weren't too bad.

"Good, good. I’m guessing you want your weapon now? If you do more work, I could make you a better one."

"Now, please. I'm afraid I'll end up spending days here."

Soria sighed and tossed him a small scabbard. Sariel caught it and pulled out a dagger.

It was small but much heavier than it appeared. He would have preferred a longer weapon, but he supposed this was what he got for his lack of patience.

Though, he felt stronger just by holding it. Not in a figurative sense—literally stronger.

“Yeah, it is illegal, but whatever,” Soria said casually.

"Wait, how?"

"You need a hunter's license, but don't worry too much about it. Just don’t let people see the rune."

"Wouldn't you get in trouble too?"

"I know influential people. I'm okay."

"Well then, I'll take your advice. So what's special about this knife?"

"It boosts strength by a very low percentage. If I made it with a stronger rune, it would be too heavy for you."

"So it's a good thing I didn't have patience, huh."

"Sure..."

The two made their way upstairs.

On one shelf, a shiny gauntlet caught Sariel's eye.

He asked, “How much for that one?”

“Way too much for you. Besides, it’s too heavy for someone of your level,” Soria replied.

"In the future, I think I might do some work for you in exchange."

"That would cost you six months."

"Never mind. I'll pay for it."

Soria smiled.

Sariel opened the door and waved goodbye. "Thanks a lot, and tell my secret guardian I said thank you."