Chapter 48: Back to the Tinkerer’s Guild

  “You want me to go where?” I asked, dreading the thought.

  Mr. Yu sighed. “You’re too young to shun half the world. You have to remember, she’s the one who sent you to me. If nothing else, at least trust in that.”

  It was my turn to sigh, and I did so dramatically. “Fine! I’ll go ask Madam Hurst.”

  ***

  I simmered as I marched back to 22 Cortland Street. My rage toward the guilds began with how they treated Leslie, but I also didn’t like the way guilds did things. Why were there so many rules? I’d gone my whole life being told what I couldn’t do, and I was sick of it.

  Still, Mr. Yu had a point. Madam Hurst had offered me a tier one contract and even guided me to the shopping arcade when I explained to her what my goals were. She even gave me my first gold. That had to count for something. I hyped myself up as I rode the elevator up to her floor.

  The old lady at the reception desk raised an eyebrow when she saw me. “I don’t suppose you have an appointment.”

  “Uh, no,” I admitted. “But Madam Hurst will want to see me. We have an arrangement.”

  I figured it would be easier to get her attention if she thought I was here to appraise things. We had a deal, after all. The old lady nodded and got up from her desk, saying nothing as she went to get Madam Hurst. I took a seat and contemplated how I was going to go about making my request.

  “She will see you now,” the old lady waved me in when she returned.

  I still couldn’t get over the amazing things tinkerers made. While many of the creations on display caught my eye, I couldn’t help but Analyze one of them. It looked like a mallet attached to a spring.

  Whompmasher

  Grade: C

  Condition: 63

  Made by: Dorsey

  Flaw: Trim lateral edge by 12% to restore balance.

  While I had a basic idea of what it was supposed to do, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the odd naming convention.

  “Does that project amuse you?” Madam Hurst asked.

  I turned to find her standing behind me with her arms folded, so I gave the project another appraising look. “Actually, I was wondering why you develop such basic items.”

  She scoffed, though I could tell she was joking…mostly. “Every project holds personal meaning to its creator. You should be learning this from Chen. You do still intend to learn tinkering, right? If not, I’d like my multitool back.”

  “No, I’m still learning,” I backed off when she held out her hand. “I just came to appraise some stuff for you today.”

  “Is that so?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “I was starting to think you’d abandoned that particular commitment.”

  “No way!” I balked, realizing that’s exactly what I’d been doing. “I’m a man of my word.”

  Madam Hurst rubbed her hands together. “Excellent. Come, have a seat in my office while I gather some items for you to appraise.”

  I took a seat, and she closed the door behind her, leaving me alone in her office, which was filled with breathtaking views and a ton of interesting objects. While I didn’t see the Tinglestrumper, I did find plenty of other things that caught my eye. For one, her multitool was much more elaborate than mine. I hadn’t asked at the time, but I was starting to think she gave me a very basic one. She returned carrying a box of items just as I was about to reach out for it.

  “That, Sir, is not one of the things I want you to appraise,” she said, giving me a wink. “Besides, didn’t I already give you a multitool?”

  “How do I get one like that?” I asked. “I don’t mind paying for it.”

  She set the box down in front of me. “Didn’t you read the book I gave you? A tinkerer makes and refines his own tools. The tool I gave you was just to get you started. You will modify your tools as you progress in your trade.”

  I wanted to take my tool out right there and start planning some upgrades. The truth was, however, that I hadn’t used any of the things in the beginner’s pouch since she gave it to me.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  I spent the next several hours identifying items from the box. To my surprise, none of them ranked higher than B. Madam Hurst noticed my expression and smirked.

  “You didn’t really think I’d trust you with any more artifacts, did you?” she asked. “Not after how you claimed the last one.”

  “I’m paying you back for that by appraising things, aren’t I?” I asked.

  She sighed. “I suppose, though I’m letting you off easy. You know that, right?”

  “I do,” I replied. “And you have my thanks for that, but I need another favor.”

  Her eyebrow shot up. “Out with it. What’s the real reason you’re here?”

  I was slightly taken aback that she saw right through me. “Uh, I need to invent something to feed my friends. The directress of my orphanage isn’t taking proper care of them.”

  “You have money,” she said matter-of-factly. “Can you not make arrangements to solve that problem?”

  “I tried,” I was practically whining at that point, but I pressed on. “Miss Havasu gave the food away to fat businessmen.”

  She planted her hands on her hips. “What do you intend to do about it?”

  I had her. “I need to invent something that Miss Havasu can’t take advantage of.”

  Madam Hurst rubbed her chin. “That presents a variety of challenges. You need a way of storing food with some form of security attached to it.”

  “Yes!” I exclaimed, glad she was playing along. “I think I’ve figured out part of it. I want to use a technique I found in a book to transcribe one of my skills to paper.”

  “Ah!” she rubbed her hands together, a little too excited for my liking. “And you need me for supplies. That I can provide. The question now is, how are you going to pay me for my services?”

  I sighed, reaching into my bag for some coins. “Okay, fine. How much do you want?”

  She waved me off. “No, no. That won’t be necessary. I have something else in mind.”

  “More appraisals?” I asked hopefully.

  She laughed. “And give you even more responsibilities to shirk? I don’t think so. I want a second copy of that skill. I’ll provide the materials.”

  “A skill of my choosing,” I amended, as there was no way I was giving her anything useful like Analyze. I knew the one thing that made me desirable was the scarcity of my skills.

  She sat and clasped her hands in front of her. “How about you start by telling me about this skill you want to give me?”

  “Well…” I trailed off as I considered the possibilities.

  I wasn’t giving up Analyze. That skill was the core of my class and way too valuable to share, even for all the money in the world. Research felt the same. While I wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, it definitely tied in to what Analyze did. Mana Link was a powerful ability, giving me a way to link multiple people’s mana to power rituals I’d never be able to pull off on my own. Observe and Mimic were also skills I didn’t want to share. That was my way of hopefully learning skills from other classes. It was unfortunate that I hadn’t focused enough to learn any class skills, or I could have given her Innovate or even the Chop skill from cooking. The last skill, Repair, was something I hadn’t tried yet, and because of that, it wasn’t something I was prepared to share.

  Madam Hurst continued to wait with her chin resting in her hands and an amused look on her face. I finally took a deep breath and made my proposal.

  “I’ll make you a copy of a skill that allows you to link your mana with other people. That way, you can use skills or cast spells that cost more mana than you have.”

  Her face fell. “You are still so new at Tinkering. None of our skills relies solely on the mana we create. Sure, we occasionally make batteries and expend mana when we create new inventions, but I don’t think I’ve ever made anything that even got close to my limit.”

  I gaped at her. Some of my creations nearly bankrupted half of Layla’s Lackies. Perhaps I was unique in the fact that I could create rituals to get around having magic items or infuse armor way above my level by using the mana of high-level adventurers.

  She must have taken my silence as a negotiating tactic, because she stood and held out her hand. “Be that as it may, I’ll accept your offer. I am sure we can make use of your skill one way or another.”

  “Deal!” I said, clasping her hand.

  She led me to a workstation and had an assistant get the supplies I needed.

  Manaforged Parchment

  Crafting Component

  Info: Infuse parchment with personal mana for unique effects.

  Warning: Do not attempt to infuse Manaforged Parchment with additional mana.

  Your Research skill has increased: +1 (19)

  “What does that mean?” I muttered, wondering why it would tell me to infuse the parchment and not to infuse it at the same time.

  I found out quickly enough when I tried to infuse the first sheaf of Manaforged Parchment. It exploded.

  Madam Hurst managed to save the rest of the supplies while the occupants of several workstations around us dove for cover.

  “Was that supposed to happen?” she asked, rubbing soot from her brow.

  I sighed. “I tried to infuse the parchment.”

  She palmed her face and took on an exasperated look like my stepmother often had when I didn’t do my chores fast enough. “Isn’t that what you requested?”

  “Uh, do you have any regular parchment?” I asked sheepishly.

  With a snap of her fingers, her assistant ran off to fetch the proper parchment. I chose to Analyze the other items while we waited.

  Capacitative Ink

  Crafting Component

  Info: Ink designed to draw out the essence of the writer. Effect changes depending on the application.

  That sounded straightforward enough, though it didn’t explain what it meant by application. I hoped I could get some extra supplies to experiment with later.

  Soul Quill

  Crafting component.

  Info: Basic Soul Quill. Enhance with a wyvern stinger to purify mana draw.

  Your Research skill has increased: +1 (20)

  My skill, once again, insisted on magical components to enhance the usefulness of an item. Getting my hands on some was definitely going on the to-do list. The assistant returned with another stack of parchment, so I got to work infusing them.

  Madam Hurst watched over my shoulder as I worked on them. “How are you doing that without a device?”

  “Device?” I asked, perplexed by the question.

  She went back to her office and emerged with a crude box with wires jutting out. Thrusting it at me, she said, “This is what I’m talking about. You can’t just push mana into inanimate objects.”

  I suddenly remembered she hadn’t seen half of the things I had infused, so I took out a sandwich and quickly infused it. “Here, try this.”

  She looked at the sandwich. “This isn’t the time to be eating. What…why…how?”

  Her expression changed multiple times as she tasted the food, and realization dawned on her. “I didn’t know an application like this was possible. Still, how do you do it without an infuser?”

  I glanced at the contraption. It looked like it would contaminate the food just by touching it, let alone infusing mana through it.

  “I don’t know how I do it,” I admitted. “It feels the same as infusing a battery.”

  I then moved on to the next step while Madam Hurst devoured the sandwich.

  Discord Link

  Patreon for bonus chapters.