This is the start of the new volume!!
****
"Thank you!"
"No problem. You are the last to collect the standard practice manual. Allow me to give you a simple explanation for it. It contains the basic mana practising technique to reach the peak Inceptor rank. Along with it, it contains the Psychic-Spell Glyphs available to the public that can be inscribed on your mind along with their prices. It also includes the relative magic courses available in the academy and a few recommendations of books by our renowned researchers. Hope you keep practising and enter the Magic circle soon and help the family grow. That's all. Thank you and have a great day!"
Kiel was dumbfounded as the receptionist finished.
Surprised by the new things you say? Hell no. He already knew all this stuff from the week-long training here. Spells… well everybody knows about them. So need for more description.
Spell glyphs are spells which can be inscribed in weapons and armours for instant spells without much preparation.
And spell glyphs are among the spells that can be permanently inscribed on the glabella, the elemental centre of the body. Usually, Tier-0 spells can be inscribed on the mind, as these spells are basically don't require any elemental affinity to cast and have a negligible mana cost. Anyone can use them as long as they awaken. But they are just basic spells with no firepower.
[A/N: glabella is the energy centre for storing mana. It is the part between the eyebrows to be specific]
Although they are not suitable for combat, they serve a more important function. Their runic forms can be glyphed on the mind without any after-effects, which is not in the case of higher tier spells as they can overdraft the mana from the mind and can even cause damage to the delicate inner tissues in the brain.
But by turning some of the tier-0 spells into glyphs, they can be activated with just a thought and can be very helpful in most cases; if the spells are selected carefully especially in the Inceptor rank. And the higher the mana aptitude, the more the number of spells that can be glyphed with the maximum being 3 in each rank.
So Kiel knew all that the lady talked about. What really surprised him was the work-ethic of the lady.
Even along the route, he took to come here was not that pleasant. The way to here was almost empty. It was almost evening and all the kids had gone home. Only a few instructors were along the way and it seems they recognized him for the accident today. But he quickly walked away from there without attracting many gazes.
This was rather normal. But from what he learnt about medieval magic ages from his different world, most were described as lawless and orderless societies where the law of the jungle prevails. So the polite work-ethic of the lady was unexpected, especially in such an enormous place. This may not seem much, but it still shows that laws are still prevalent here, although a little order is required.
From the knowledge of his previous novels, Kiel thought that these high working post ladies were all money-minded and haughty women who think that all commoners are below them and flatter those rich young masters. They are harsh to commoners and flatter the rich.
But it seems he was thinking too much. That was imagination while this is the reality. The warm smile and the long standard explanation which was really helpful for backwater and country kids, made him look at the people with all-new respect. Well ya, at least some were doing their job more than just properly.
"Looks like I need to change my viewpoint a little"
Kiel thanked her again and walked away from the WMMW gate, unaware of a few gazes still on him.
***
"Hmm?" Kiel was walking happily along the roads with a happy tune until the system disturbed him again. But he was already aware this time. After all, he was already habituated to the various AIs on him disturbing him every time and how he always muted them until something within his priority list.
"Oh, we are going to the Metalworks shop around here! I was always looking for this equipment, but aunt would always deter me to stay away from everything until my Awakening. Sigh! But finally, I can go there. And I am already late. Who cares if I am a little late. I am too lazy to come here again. "
"Patience my dear! Patience! Haste makes waste. As for what I want? Well, this world has no scientific progress at all. So I have to start everything from scratch. So you should wait till we get there."
Kiel walked on the dimly lit evening road while chatting with his system; sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning, although expressionless mostly. Well, they do tell the truth- time passes without even knowing in someone's company.
But unknown to Kiel, he was already branded as a mentally handicapped individual by those who could have the time to notice him walking around. Some of the beggars on the street even sympathised with him and were planning to make the kid join them, as such a cute kid would really rake quite a sympathy sum.
Walking about, Kiel suddenly recalled his conversation with the so-called god!
'Oh, ya scls94? I remember now. That Hide said that you were sealed until I fulfil some requirements. Now that I awakened you, was the requirement my awakening?'
'Then how?'
"But from what I read from most of the novels, they don't even require any mana! They are almost omnipotent! Some even know what is about to come to even issue missions!"
This time even Kiel was quite curious about these mysterious systems.
This time it was the system's turn to be speechless.
"… " Kiel didn't know what to reply now. The system was right. Those systems were only imaginations.
"So what's the difference?"
"Wait wait looks like we already arrived at the shop. Keep your introduction for later."
The system was indignant to clear herself from those lowly auxiliary systems. She wanted to clarify that her host should appreciate her more, for she was a Core system. But she decided to wait a bit more and see what was host was all about.
Kiel looked ahead to see a small store straight ahead of him. A thatched roof, unlike the concrete and solid brick stores neighbouring it. From the looks, it looked like it's business not so flourishing, which was kinda true. It was a small blacksmithing and weaponry store. Looking up it had a small store tag 'The Red Moon Metalworks'.
It was a strange name to Kiel. I mean even when there's an eclipse, the moons are generally light purplish in colour. Kiel had never seen a Red Moon before here. Well everybody has their own tastes, even if illogical.
But Kiel knew who was working here. He had been coming here for almost a week now. Why you ask? Well obviously to customize certain things. After all, what he wants can never be ready-made in this backward world.
He unlocked the door and moved inside. There was a tiny bell on top of the entrance, which rang when someone opened the door to inform the owner of the customers.
"Welcome! Welcome to our Red Moon Metalworks!"
It was night-time, so there was no one here now. The shop was vacant. But there was a wide variety of weapons, shields, armour and many other kinds of stuff on display.
"Hello, uncle Renma!"
Kiel quickly greeted the old man who turned towards him.
Renma was forty years old man with a big beard and a bald head. He was the owner of the store, and it was his aunt who introduced this old man to him. He was the older brother of Renny, who was also arrested with his father. Derek used Ranma's shop to sell his wares for a better price. So they knew each other well enough.
"Oh, little Kiel! Nice to have you here! Have you come for your orders?"
"Yes! Uncle, have they been prepared?"
"Sigh! Little kid, these things you want are really a hassle to find. It took me a lot of effort to collect them all. Come upstairs to receive them. They gave me a lot of headaches lately. "
Renma didn't wait anymore as he went up the stairs.
"Yes. Thank you, Uncle!"
Hearing that everything was amassed, Kiel became very happy. This was the first step to bring science to this world after all. So he just smiled like the little kid he was and followed Renma quickly.
"Here open that little box and take your toys from inside"
They reached the arctic and in front of them was many boxes filled with various unknown materials. Usually, Kiel would go on a rampage here. But he was not allowed to touch anything magical. But today was different. He was too excited to finally start his endeavour. So, he was in no mood to look at other things.
Opening the specified chest, Kiel quickly checked the interior. And yes there it was. The world revolutionising object from his previous world. Four cubes of 5cm of metals from this world, silver in colour and sparkling because of the excessive polish. Looking gorgeous to him.
Behold the MAGNETS!!
Yes, magnets. Magnets that gave rise to the era of electricity. Magnets that were the core elements of most of the affluent and luxurious technologies of earth. And the same magnets that will bring science to this world. Kiel picked up the four pieces of magnets stuck to each other and separated them from each other very slowly, experiencing the familiar force while taking them apart. He then brought them closer again to feel the strong force of attraction between and finally turned them to feel their repelling force. He then studied them a little and placed them on the ground to see their beauty from the top.
The four magnets were each at some distance from each other due to the repelling force from the same poles… yes, they were magnets. And strong ones at that. Kiel had never seen such strong magnets from his previous world. He had fiddled with all kinds of magnets in his prior life. So he understood the feeling of a strong magnet from the weaker counterpart.
Renma told him these were made the silver-iron. He didn't know what that was, but the field strengths of these magnets were enough to make his mouth drool.
"Hey kid stop playing with these toys. They are yours already. Play with them at home. Come here and help me to move your copper wires. They are heavy."
"They are not toys. They are magnets!!"
"Ya ya whatever! They are useless anyway. Only good for kids to play with."
Sadly it was like what Renma stated. This world didn't know their true value at all.
The so-called metal silver iron was useless to make weapons, even if mixed with other metals. Although they had a special property which attracted many to explore them, once they were melted to mould, they would lose their special properties.
Many tried for who knows how long, but they could not deal with this problem of the metal to make weapons at all. And even if some did manage to retain a bit of the special property, it would make the weapons so friable, that they would break after just a few battles. And moreover, it was just a tier-0 metal without any mana.
So the bigshots soon lost interest in this metal. And they were finally treated as waste metals. Now they were only treated as showpieces and for rich children to play with. But were still pretty cheap. Kiel could only sigh at the idiotic thoughts of this world. If you cannot make a sword from it, is it a waste?
Well, whatever. He would take advantage of their idiocy. Well, there were other things that he required too- the big bundle of copper wires and the copper-iron thin gratings were among the many things that he ordered. They were essential for his work.
"Sigh! kid here. See if this is everything?"
"Umm. Uncle, everything is here! But where are the fire and ice mana stones? And where are the used up mana stones that I received from other shops?"
"Ehh! kid tsk, you still have the guts to ask for them after making me go through so much.
Whatever they are in the two boxes over there. These are expensive stuff. These firestones cost 5 silver each and the ice-stone are even more expensive amounting to 10 silvers each. And they are just the lowest quality. You cannot even imagine the cost of the higher quality ones. Luckily we have a lot in store as we bought them in bulk for the hairdryer sale. Otherwise, I couldn't even afford my meals for you!"
Kiel didn't pay attention to the old man bickering. Although hearing about hair dryers didn't bring any good memories, he could not let the past affect his present. So he just checked the things to see where are they enough. And he was not interested in the ramblings of an old man.
After checking the two boxes, Kiel was satisfied. There were five firestones and five ice-stones in the smaller box, and the bigger box was filled with used-up mana crystals. Most of them were broken though. As they didn't contain any mana and were going to be mostly thrown away, Kiel got them for free from the neighbouring stores. Although, he had to explain his purpose that he wanted to play with them. And seeing such a cute little kid, who would doubt him?
Cuteness is justice.
"Thank you, uncle! there's everything. You were a great help. So send them to the inn later tomorrow." Kiel flashed a brilliant smile at Renma to show his appreciation.
Although Renma wanted to reprimand the little boy to not be wasteful, seeing the little kid smile genuinely after a long time, he could only shake it off.
"Well good for you little one, But what will you do with this stuff?"
There was a mischievous grin on Kiel's face this time.
"Generate ELECTRICITY!"