Arthur stumbled out of the elevator, holding himself to the wall. Even if he felt like he would pass out at any moment, since he was already aboveground, he wanted to at least reach the engineering workshop.

  As he walked with difficulty through the prison's hallways, he could hear the Archive typing away, in the back of his mind. He wanted to understand the specific reason as to why his body was completely drained of energy.

  And for that purpose, when asking the Archive to compile a list of even vaguely related information, he didn't ask for it to be summarized. He needed to know exactly how dangerous it would be for him to use Ark in his conditions, and how he could avoid the same from happening in the future.

  ‘Maybe, the Apothecary's Archives can give me something…’

  He weakly flicked his wrist. A sharp pain ensued in his chest, and instead of the iteration he was hoping for, a flickering text window appeared before his eyes.

  [Arthur Luria's body is currently overloaded. To avoid damage to his mind, the Archive's processes must be kept at a minimal consumption rate.]

  He blinked his tired eyes a few times, reading the message that quickly disappeared. After sighing, he shook his head and kept walking. He fully understood what the Archive was trying to tell him with that message.

  The last time he overused his Gift, he ended up with an extremely intense headache, feeling as if his head was on fire. Considering that was the result of only the mental strain, he didn't want to see the results of adding physical strain into the mix.

  ‘That’s why it's taking so long, hm.’

  He glanced at the flickering windows surrounding him, faint words typed out in dim light. If he remembered correctly, Gifts also required Ark to work, even if the consumption was minimal and passive. Even if he didn't know how to manipulate that energy, he could still manage to activate the Archive.

  That's how minor the consumption was. And yet, as he was in that moment, his reserves were so low even the Archive had trouble working correctly.

  Arthur let out a tired sigh, and kept walking. He had enough strength in his legs to walk upright without using the wall as a support now. For now, he would just go to the engineering workshop, waiting until the Archive finished writing what he requested.

  ‘Now, where the hell is the workshop…’

  Those weren't his only worries. Even despite the exhaustion in his body, now that he was above ground, he needed to focus on reaching the workshop. He had no idea how to reach it from the elevator, considering he didn't have many chances of leaving the medical bay, during his time there.

  He remembered the way to the medical bay, and how to reach the library. However, he only knew how to get to the workshop from the prisoners' side of the facility, and he didn't have any intention of going there.

  'Well… Not now, anyways.’

  There was something that he had to do involving prisoners, of course, but now wasn't the time. He felt guilty for not trying to reach out to Ayn at all during those days, considering he seemed to be close to his body's old owner.

  With any luck, he would meet him at the workshop during working hours, considering he worked there as a Moonstone sculptor. Arthur stroked his chin, although he hadn't given it much thought, he wondered whether he could pick up a job as a Moonstone evaluator to make some extra money.

  He didn't really need it for anything in particular at the moment, but he believed it was better to have money ready in case the situation arose. Especially considering he was dirt broke at the moment.

  “Haah… The problems just keep piling on and on.”

  He let out an exasperated breath, before glancing around himself. He had absolutely no idea where he was, completely lost. If only that place had some maps, or markers to make navigation more easy.

  After walking down the hallways and turning some corners, he managed to reach the medical bay, through what he could only see as a stroke of luck. He still didn't know how to reach the workshop, but at least it was a familiar place.

  Right as he passed the door, he saw it open from the inside. He immediately turned around, staring at the figure that left the room. A perfect opportunity to ask for directions.

  “Um, sorry, do you know where the engineering workshop is?”

  The figure stared at him dumbfoundedly for a moment. She was a young girl, most likely not too much older than his current body.

  Her hair was red and decently long, although kept in a braided ponytail. Her forehead was almost completely showing, only a single hair strand present on it, with the rest of her hair slicked back.

  She was wearing a long sleeved linen shirt covered by an apron, alongside work trousers and boots. On her hands were long, skin tight gloves. Arthur glanced at them for a moment, and on the back of their palms, he spotted symbols and glyphs.

  ‘Magic gloves?’

  “Uh, yeah. I'm heading there right now, actually. You can tag along, I don't mind.”

  “Oh, that would be great then. Thank you.”

  He smiled at her. Her confused look turned into an amused one and she started walking, after raising an eyebrow. He followed closely behind her, and despite not being able to see her face, could tell she was smirking, probably intrigued by him.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “So, kid.”

  She turned her head slightly, looking at him.

  “Engineering, huh? Aren't you a bit too young for that?”

  Her tone was mocking, but Arthur could tell it as mere banter. She was looking him up and down, as if examining him.

  “If you're asking whether I'm too young to understand engineering, I assure you that's not the case. I'm quite an expert, in fact.”

  Although that only applied to the engineering he was used to in his world, it wasn't a lie. He had already guessed that most of the engineering done in that workshop was related to Gemstones and magic, but if the theory was similar at all to the one he knew, he would fit in quite nicely.

  Not to mention, his eyes were supposedly perfect for examining magical items such as Moonstones. She let out a laugh, at his response, feeling the hidden hostility in his voice.

  “Now, now, I didn't say that, did I. I was just curious. What are you, first year? Second year, at most. Most kids your age prefer workshops like Practical Combat Training, or Tyrfingrs Testing, don't they?”

  ‘Ah.’ Arthur looked down in embarrassment, as she explained. He didn't catch the second workshop she mentioned, but he wasn't familiar with the term. Of course, he had no way of knowing what was popular with the cadets.

  “I'm… A first year, I suppose. You could say I have a special situation.”

  “Is that so?”

  She turned around while walking, once again sizing him up with her eyes. She stroked her chin with her fingers, before moving her hand towards her eyes. She touched the tip of her index with her thumb, putting the formed circle over her eye, and closing the other one.

  “Say, you wouldn't happen to be the elf that Mr Sol brought in, would you?”

  Arthur froze for a moment, staring at her, wondering how she knew about him. Seeing his reaction, she smirked.

  “Right on the money, aren't I? You know, I've actually been looking for you.”

  A bead of sweat ran down his face, as she kept slowly walking forward. What could she want from him? How had she heard about him? The woman stopped, turning around and looking at him.

  To his surprise, she didn't seem angered, nor did she have some scheming expression, like those Sol would show him. Once more, she was just confused, and tilted her head at the boy, who became even more confused.

  “You coming or not?”

  Her words snapped him back to reality.

  “Uh, yeah, sorry. You've been looking for me? Why's that?”

  He was slightly less anxious about the answer, considering how easygoing she seemed. She didn't mention she was looking for him as a threat or as some sort of warning, but rather, she just wanted to tell him.

  “You're the guy that had a Moonstone blow up in his hand, right? I just wanted to check up on you, since it's technically my responsibility… Well, anything that happens in the workshop is my responsibility…”

  She sighed and dropped her shoulders. Once more, Arthur could empathize with a worker with too much on their plate.

  His eyes suddenly widened, as he came to a realization. According to what she said, she must have been the head of the workshop, if it was her responsibility.

  “You're Miss Gunnhildr?”

  He asked with a surprised look on his face, tilting his head slightly. She seemed to jump at his words, turning around with a disappointed look on her face.

  “Just… Just Gunnhildr is fine, please… I'm not that old yet…”

  She let out another sigh, continuing to walk forward. Fantasy world or not, no one liked to be perceived as older than they actually were, especially amongst young people. She couldn't have been much older than his body, although she was probably a late teenager.

  He chuckled quietly, covering his mouth with two fingers, and walked up to her side. Her eyebrows perked up, glancing at him.

  “I'm Arthur, by the way. Arthur Aerhius.”

  He offered her his hand, and she grasped the handshake. With a playful grin, she strongly shook his hand, rocking it up and down.

  “Well, you already know me, seeing as you know my name. Local engineering workshop head, genius developer of Gemstone appliances, and some more titles that I can't bother remembering, Gunnhildr!”

  For a moment, it felt like Arthur's heart had received a squeeze, a jolt of pain running through his being. He ignored it, and put on a smile.

  “Why are you headed to the workshop, anyways? Want to make some money? I've heard Mr Sol recruited some cadets for a program, or something… What, does he not pay you enough?”

  He shook his head.

  “No, nothing of the sort. Ah, I've worked there, though. I just had some free time on my hands, and was curious to check out the workshop.”

  “You did say you fancy engineering, didn't you.”

  She placed a finger on her lips, recalling the first words he said to her. Arthur winced, his expression akin to that of a person in pain. He took in a deep breath, repeating over and over in his head to just ignore that feeling.

  “Something like that. You see, I suffer from amnesia, but I still hold some knowledge about engineering.”

  That amnesia excuse was coming in handy, as always. He could have just told her that he enjoyed engineering, of course, but he didn't want to. He would rather resort to the explanation that he had some memories about that topic.

  He was reluctant to say he enjoyed practicing engineering, and he was reluctant to have someone recognize his talent on it.

  “Ah, so you're trying to figure out your past interests, something like that?”

  She questioned him with a smile, and he nodded, trying to hide his feelings on the matter. This was nice, he didn't even have to make up an excuse, she was doing all the work herself, and he wasn't going to complain.

  They kept walking towards the workshop, leaving the navigation to Gunnhildr and chitchatting. At one point, she turned towards Arthur once again.

  “Now that I think about it, during that incident…”

  He froze for a moment, but forced his tenseness to disappear. He was pretty sure that she wasn't going to be hostile towards him, being scared was of no use. He was interested in what she had to say though.

  “Yes? What about it?”

  Maybe she was simply one of the people that recognized the talent hidden in his sight, considering she knew Sol, and wanted to recruit him into the workshop as a Moonstone evaluator. Not that he would have minded, really.

  “You did an incredible job on that Moonstone, you know? Even if it… Blew up soon after. I caught a glimpse while you were working on it, those were some high quality cuts. Do you have some sort of sight-enhancing Gift?”

  Arthur smirked internally, at his successful prediction. Though he wasn't sure yet whether his ability to see Ley Lines was a result of his Gift or not, he did possess that ability.

  “Hm… I'm not sure, actually. I could see the circuits inside the Moonstone… Something along those lines.”

  Gunnhildr squinted slightly at his affirmation. Such a slight movement that Arthur almost missed it. Did he say something wrong? Maybe she already knew what his Gift was somehow, and had caught onto his partial lie.

  That suspicious expression disappeared quickly, replaced by an interested smile.

  “I see! Those cuts must have been too good for the Moonstone, huh? Guess they couldn't handle you!”

  She let out a laugh, and smacked Arthur in the back. He jumped forward, and reciprocated with an awkward laughter.

  His eyes glanced around the two of them. He could see a door in the distance, with a sign above it. The words ‘Engineering Workshop’ were neatly painted on it, a clear indicator that they had arrived at their destination.

  “One more thing…”

  Arthur turned towards her, raising his eyebrows as she started opening the door. Light and heat trickled out from the empty spaces between the wall and the entrance.

  “There was another elf with you, right? He tried to run to you, I think, as soon as he saw the explosion.”

  His eyes widened, as the heatwave coming from the inside of the room hit him. She led the way, entering the workshop, and gesturing for him to follow.