Chapter 49: Blowing Stuff Up

  Crafting a skill was pretty straightforward when I had a book to go by. Madam Hurst was very curious about the books. She refused to believe I got them from the public library until she saw the stamp on the inside cover.

  “And how do you access this special section?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “There’s an empty shelf, and an orangutan gave me the books I needed.”

  “An orangutan?” she repeated, bewildered.

  I nodded. “You can always ask Miss Lavender. She’s the librarian who showed me how to use the special section.”

  “Lavender who?” Madam Hurst asked. “I’ve never heard of such a woman.”

  “Uh,” I stammered. I wanted to say Lavender in the red dress because I didn’t know her last name. “She didn’t tell me her last name. Sorry.”

  “And you say she’s a librarian?” she continued the interrogation. “That’s hardly a magical job, and books of real magic aren’t permitted in public libraries, magic or non.”

  I nodded. “Do libraries have fake magic books?”

  Madam Hurst chuckled. “Yes, they are called fantasy novels. Are you sure you know nothing more?”

  I nodded and continued working on the parchment.

  When it became apparent I wasn’t going to give her any more information, she crossed her arms. “Well, I’ll just have to look into this for myself.”

  The first attempt with the Manaforged Parchment didn’t exactly give me what I was going for.

  Skill: Mana Link

  Ability Scroll

  Created by: Evans

  Warning: Skill can be used one time.

  “Here,” I said, handing the scroll over to Madam Hurst.

  She held it up and looked at it. “Is this the skill we agreed on?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I confirmed.

  She frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”

  I stopped what I was doing to stare at her. “Nothing. It’s the Mana Link skill just like I promised.”

  Madam Hurst nodded and took the scroll to her office. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “Don’t worry,” I called after her. “I’m not lying.”

  I worked in silence for a while when she didn’t return. Since I was still learning, I continued my practice on the Mana Link skill. Infusing the parchment with my own mana removed one restriction and added another.

  Skill: Mana Link

  Ability Scroll

  Created by: Evans

  Warning: Skill can only be used by the creator.

  I supposed that was a good thing, but would it allow someone else to use it if it was attached to a creation? I spread all three books out in front of me, trying to find the solution. There had to be a reason the orangutan assigned them to me.

  In the end, none of the books held the answer. Madam Hurst returned a short while later with a pair of kids. “This is John and Barbara, some of my most promising students. They’ve heard a lot about you. Would you mind if they observe for a bit?”

  “Observe?” I asked, wondering if tinkerers had a skill similar to mine.

  “This is the grade one prospect?” Barbara asked. She was several years older than me with auburn hair tied back in a braid. “I don’t see what’s so special.”

  Madam Hurst waggled a finger. “Observe and then form a hypothesis.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the girl droned, still not looking very impressed.

  “How’s the project going? Is there anything we can do to help?” Madam Hurst asked, turning her attention back to me.

  I sighed, releasing all of my frustration in a single breath. “I don’t get it. None of these books says anything about applying my skill to anything.”

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  Barbara smirked. “Aren’t you supposed to be a genius? You haven’t made anything yet, and you’re already complaining that it doesn’t work.”

  I frowned, holding up a stack of parchment. Then I saw what she was getting at. The skill scrolls were only half of the equation. I looked around, but there was nothing suitable for what I wanted to make.

  “Do you have a box I can use, and maybe some other supplies?” I asked hopefully.

  The kids looked at Madam Hurst, who nodded. “I’ll allow it. Come with me to the work floor.”

  John, who wore thick glasses and had cropped brown hair, hung back with me as we walked to the elevator. “I heard you turned down your contract with the tinkerer’s guild. Why? Did someone make you a better offer?”

  I considered my answer, as I was sure Madam Hurst was also listening. “I don’t want to limit myself to just tinkering. The offer is great, but I don’t want to make a commitment like that. I’m currently learning to cook, sew, and blacksmith. One of these days, I’m going to convince Miss Drips to teach me Alchemy. I couldn’t do any of that if I’d taken an exclusive contract.”

  “That’s stupid,” Barbara announced, slowing down until she was beside us. “Everybody knows tinkering is the best trade. We can make anything, including all the things you want to learn other crafts for.”

  “Oh yeah?” I asked, trying not to be too petty even though she was annoying me. “How do you tinker food? Or who’s to say you can’t make something better by knowing more techniques? My class doesn’t focus on any of the crafts, but helps me make all of them better. I need to learn the basics since I don’t have the right classes.”

  “That sounds tiresome,” John said, stifling a yawn. “Why put yourself through all that work? Wouldn’t it be easier to pick a trade and focus on it?”

  I shrugged. “Sure, sometimes. But I also want freedom to learn other things. Maybe I’ll come back to tinkering in the long run, but if I did that now, I’d be behind all of you because I don’t have the class. Besides, I think I’d have regrets if I picked just one.”

  “What makes your class special, anyway?” Barbara asked, rolling her eyes. She recoiled slightly when Madam Hurst gave her a look. “What? Everybody wants to know about the boy who turned down the grade one contract. You said I’m your brightest pupil and you only gave me a grade three contract.”

  “Don’t feel bad, Barbara,” Madam Hurst soothed the girl. “There is a lot more at play when it comes to making offers than mere potential.

  “Then why offer me a grade one contract?” I asked. “I always assumed it was some kind of plot.”

  She shook her head. “It was nothing of the sort. I still believe you’d make a fine addition to the tinkerer’s guild. Even without a contract, we can still have a fruitful relationship.”

  “That depends,” I said. “I’m not going to stop training at the shopping arcade, and we both know everyone there has a black mark.”

  Madam Hurst laughed. “And who do you think sent you there? I personally have nothing against them. In fact, you can tell Chen he is welcome here at the tinkerer’s guild anytime he wants to join. These kids could learn a lot from him.”

  “Ah,” my mouth hung open, and I was dumbfounded for a moment.

  Fortunately, we arrived at the massive hall in the basement that served as a thousand workstations for all the tinkering students. Madam Hurst led me to a rather large, well-organized workstation. “This should do, right?”

  “Why does he have to use my station?” Barbara whined, glaring at me.

  “You wanted to observe, right?” Madam Hurst countered. “What better place than here. Now, Oliver, what do you need to get started? You said something about a box?”

  “Yes,” I replied, desperately trying to decide what else I’d need. “You don’t happen to have any magic bags lying around, do you?”

  “Those don’t grow on trees,” John supplied helpfully. “If they did, Barb and I would have one.”

  “Oh,” I replied, glancing down at the bag on my hip, and then at my shadow. “I wonder if I can make another one.”

  My shadow nodded in reply and held out a hand. I decided to be generous and handed it a silver. Everyone watched in shock as the silver vanished and a single strand of inky black hair appeared in its stead.

  “Where did that coin go?” Barbara asked, rubbing my shadow where the coin had vanished after I picked up the thread. It paid her no mind.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I replied.

  “He has monster vision,” Madam Hurst explained. “You kids would do well to learn from his example. There’s a whole world of opportunity out there, if only you know where to look.”

  The kids watched in silence as I used the shadow thread to create a second magic bag. Madam Hurst paraded a variety of boxes by the workstation until I settled on one about eighteen inches cubed. That gave it just enough room to do what I needed…hopefully.

  The next step was to create a skill scroll for the skill I actually needed: Mimic. I grabbed a fresh sheaf of parchment and imbued it with my mana. Then I carefully followed the instructions from the book and set the Mimic skill into it. Once that was done, I held up the bag and the skill scroll.

  Analysis: To enchant a skill onto an object, create an eight-pronged ritual around an octogram. Infuse them all simultaneously.

  Your Research skill has increased: +1 (21)

  I sighed and glanced at the pristine counter in Barbara’s workstation. “Uh, do you mind if I draw on this?”

  “What for?” she asked, crossing her arms.

  “I need to create a ritual octogram,” I explained. “It’s kind of complicated, so I need a lot of space.”

  “Come with me,” Madam Hurst said.

  We followed in silence, and I wondered if I was in trouble for something. It became obvious that I wasn’t when we arrived at a large open area with dozens of students performing various experiments.

  Madam Hurst cleared her throat and spoke loudly. “I need everyone to wrap up your experiments. We need the space. You’re welcome to watch if you wish.”

  There was some grumbling, but eventually, the students cleared out, and I had more space than I knew what to do with.

  “What do you need?” Madam Hurst asked.

  I decided the best location for the ritual was the floor. “Some chalk will probably do.”

  They supplied me with a selection of chalk. It turned out to be a good thing because I had to create eight different complex ritual diagrams, all spaced evenly around an octogram. I marveled at the fact that the designs were significantly more intricate than anything I’d created before. I made each ritual a diagram a different color.

  A fairly large audience had gathered by the time I was ready to activate the ritual, and I wasn’t entirely sure that was a good thing. Still, I was eager to solve the problem, so I touched my hand to one of the ritual circles and applied mana, trying to spread it around to all of the diagrams. That was the last thing I saw before my vision swam.

  “Quick, someone get an elixir,” I heard a voice in the distance shout.

  Where was I and what was I doing? Was it time for breakfast yet? Everything felt…wrong. My head throbbed. My body ached. Even my eyes refused to obey me. The next thing I knew, someone splashed me in the face with ice cold water.

  “Back up,” the voice continued. “Give him some room.”

  I groaned. That was an improvement. At least my voice worked. I took a deep breath and redoubled my efforts to open my eyes. Slowly, light returned to the world.

  “Are you alright?” Madam Hurst asked as several hands helped me sit up.

  The first thing I saw was the remnants of my magic octogram. The ground was gouged in the middle…right where I’d placed the magic bag and the skill scroll.

  “Oh, no!” I exclaimed so hard my vision blurred. “Ugh. What happened?”

  Madam Hurst replied. “Chaotic feedback. That’s what happens when a ritual fails. How do you feel? We are fetching you a healing potion, but it’s important to look at what went wrong. You won’t get another chance to learn from this.”

  Something told me things blew up regularly in the tinkering workshop.

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