Jacob knocked on the door of Luis Albert's office. They had expanded the place with the help of Earth's Mages to fit more furniture, maps, and tools. Now, you could live in it.
Luis Albert was alone, reviewing some documents he had been writing by hand when Jacob entered with Juliet.
"Jacob," Luis Albert nodded toward him.
"Principal," Jacob bowed a little as a sign of respect.
Even though he hadn't liked the man at all in his past life, he wanted to show the respect he had developed for him.
"So, I have my drafts for the Contribution System. The thing is," Luis Albert looked troubled, "making copies for it without a copier is going to be a great pain."
Jacob nodded.
"There is a way to produce electricity with Formations, principal," Jacob started, "it's not easy, but it can be done."
"Really?" Luis Albert was surprised.
"Absolutely. We'll start working on it as soon as we distribute the first copies of the contribution system. For now, though, I can make your copier work, and a laptop too if you need one. I'm sorry I couldn't do this before, but it requires great Qi and Mana manipulation – as you know, my injuries were severe."
The principal did not look troubled at all. On the contrary, he was beaming at the chance to write something on a spreadsheet again finally.
"I'll transcribe the list and start making copies immediately."
The principal might not have been the best warrior, but few people could compete with him in making neat spreadsheets. And that was on a global scale.
"Are you better now, Jacob?" the principal asked after a few minutes.
Jacob was readying the brush he had made from Demonic Beast fur and took out a small jar of blood from a satchel by his side.
"My wounds are mostly healed, but I will need some time more before engaging in direct fights. So for a while, it will be impossible for me to fight at my full potential," Jacob said with a grimace. "But at least I'm alive, principal. That's what matters."
Luis Albert slowly nodded while a frown clouded his face for a moment.
"Jacob, may I ask you a question in private?"
Juliet had said nothing, but she had plopped in one of the seats alongside the wall. Now, Jacob gestured toward her to leave them alone for a second. She begrudgingly got up and complied.
Is he going to ask me to bring Frederick back to life?
"Is it possible to bring someone back after they died?" Luis Albert asked.
"There are ways to create Undeads. But there is no way that I'm aware of bringing back those who died with their minds still whole. Some Revenants among the Undead keep part of their memories and keep cultivating, but they naturally hate the living. So, not really."
Jacob had volunteered the information he had. He could have hidden the notion of Undeads, but he wanted to be honest with Luis Albert. The man had already lost a son. Jacob didn't want to make him even more paranoid by lying to him.
"I see," the man nodded curtly. It was clear that not even him had placed many hopes on it.
"Principal, if I may," Jacob said while moving toward a laptop on the corner of his desk, "there is something we could do."
The man's ears perked up at his words.
"Just give me a minute here, and we can talk about it."
Jacob started putting Inscription Patterns all over the back of the laptop while starting them up with his Qi.
Should I have told them that I had just forgotten about electricity?
He had forgotten to prepare for electric apparatuses. He had been so busy with healing and creating new Alchemic concoctions that he had not thought of making at least some electricity come back.
It would be a massive pain if they wanted to power the whole St. Peter, including the extended parts of it. No one could compare their Inscription Pattern knowledge to Jacob's, not even in his old life. He could easily move the necessary energy for Electricity without the need for new cables underground. However, he would need time for that.
Well, plans for the future.
He went to the copier and made the same Inscription Pattern. It was a simple Energy Gatherer Inscription Pattern with some restrictions to avoid frying the devices.
Jacob had done this a thousand times in his old life.
"Ok, we are done with the laptop and the copier. You should be able to print them out without a hitch. Try turning them one."
Luis Albert moved behind his desk to power up the laptop.
Windows noise made him jump in place.
"Oh!" the man exclaimed with a big smile.
"Principal, if I may. I think that I might be able to do something. Of course, it's not going to bring Frederick back. Nothing will. But I can manipulate my Qi very finely. I can make him a statue as big as the David and more durable than steel. It would be something that Frederick would like, and we could ask people to start telling the story of his sacrifice. Maybe we could even write it down in some chronicle."
Luis Albert slowly nodded to the suggestion.
"A book?" he remembered catching Frederick reading fantasy books till late a couple of times. He had never made much of his weird passion and mostly ignored it. Luis Albert hadn't liked it, but his son had been a great athlete, and he could close an eye on something like that.
"I think Frederick would like that," the principal suddenly shut his eyes, contracting his eyelids tightly.
"I think so too. If you can arrange for someone to write down the story, I'll be happy to help them with a recounting of his battle."
Jacob saw that the principal still had to open up his eyes and decided to leave the man alone with his thoughts. Maybe it would help him process his grief maybe.
Nonetheless, he will need time, Jacob thought.
"I'm going now, principal. I'll take the draft with me and send it back if I have any comment on it."
They already shared many memos over it, and Jacob doubted there would be much work left to do.
"Thanks, Jacob," he heard Luis Albert almost shattered words.
What made Jacob smile was that the principal had not thanked him for the work on the Contribution System.