Walking through the city streets, Sol kept getting recognized by others constantly. Thankfully, now that a few weeks had passed, they no longer surrounded him. Instead, the ones who recognized him would whisper among themselves.
Though they were whispering, Sol was able to hear them clearly, and they all generally said the same things.
"Isn't that Sol?"
"Where is he going?"
"What's he doing?"
They always asked the same questions wherever he went. It was an odd feeling for him, as even an unremarkable thing like walking through the city became a memorable moment that they would tell others about.
'Should I use the Deceiver's Earring?'
Sol decided against it. He had no real reason to hide from them, even if it made him slightly uncomfortable. He reasoned it was best to keep that for when he truly needed it.
Soon, he arrived at his destination: Gearworks. Upon entering the store, he found it was extremely lively. Good-looking shopkeepers were tending to the adventurers and merchants until one of them spotted Sol. The shopkeeper passed the client he was tending to another coworker and went to greet Sol.
"Good evening, Sir Sol. Are you here to meet Mr. Fabio?"
Sol nodded. "Can you check if he is busy?"
"You know he will always make time for you." The shopkeeper gave a polite bow before leaving to the back of the store to notify his employer.
Not long after, a jovial voice was heard.
"If it isn't Sol! How are you?" Fabio greeted Sol with a giant smile on his face.
"Great, and I can see the hired help has relieved your stress."
"By the gods, it sure has. Don't think I could have managed any longer on my own."
Before the tournament, Fabio didn't have any employees, but because of Sol's performance in the tournament, his shop had quickly become a popular store for special weapons and tools.
If the Lipon was the reason many initially came, the other wondrous items he made were the reason they stayed.
Fabio gave a look around his store before giving Sol a smirk. "Follow me! I have something to show you."
The two headed to the back and entered what looked like a small storage room. It had shelves of items that couldn't fit in the store without causing clutter. Another door was at the back of the storage room, and heading past that, they entered Fabio's workshop.
Originally, there was no storage room, but with more customers, he quickly kept running out of his more popular products, so he sectioned off a small area of his workshop to store inventory. The walls were not necessary, but Fabio still wanted to maintain his workshop's privacy, even from his employees.
Fabio led Sol to a table that had one Lipon on it.
Sol grabbed it and looked it over. "Is this—?"
"Yup, the Lipon 6.5!"
"6.5?"
"Well, the improvements in this version were mostly quality improvements. New mana lens that slightly increases the power amplification and a scroll wheel that can control flow to amplify or reduce the size of the weapon. It's not big enough of a change to call it 7.0."
"That's still great! It feels better to hold as well."
Fabio nodded. "I got some input from other adventurers as well. There are other improvements I want to add, but each subsequent addition becomes more difficult than the last."
"How so?"
"Well, I have to be extremely careful with each addition to not interfere with the other mechanisms. With every new addition, that means another thing I need to account for. But on the bright side, I made a more streamlined version for regular customers."
Lifting the Lipon in his hand, Sol asked, "Is it any different from this one?"
"It's a more simplified version without all the bells and whistles. It doesn't have functions like the increased pattern slots, as I heard most adventurers would only stick to one anyway. I'm not gonna complain though; it's easier to make and requires less materials."
Sol was about to place the Lipon back on the table to shift the conversation to something else, but Fabio stopped him.
"Take it. It's yours."
"Are you sure? How much is it?"
"Nothing. You saw how packed it was in there. That's all because of you."
Sol had indirectly brought the short man more profit than he could dream of. Fabio's pride would not allow him to ask for more money from the young man who had already made him rich. Sol wanted to still pay for the man's work but didn't insist as much this time around. After all, he still hadn't even filled the 100 cartridges he bought last time.
"Thanks. I actually came here today for a different reason. Do you think you can make something with this?"
From his spatial ring, Sol retrieved a black root. Its mere presence made the surrounding area darker as light was sucked into it.
Fabio's jaw dropped upon seeing it. It took him a few seconds to regain his composure.
"Is this what I think it is?" In awe, Fabio reached his hand outward. "Can I see it for a moment?"
Sol nodded and handed the void root over. With the root in his hand, Fabio took it to a nearby workstation with a lot of tools. He pulled a multi-lens apparatus over the void root and inspected it.
Like a child who had obtained the toy they always wanted, Fabio inspected every angle of the root, from the top that condensed a high amount of energy to the tips at the bottom that sucked in the light.
Lifting his head from the inspecting equipment, he commented, "Not only is this a legendary grade void root, it's even in perfect condition. How did you get your hands on this? Did a high-ranked knight give it to you as a reward?"
Sol shook his head. "No, I've had it for a while now. I think it was a week before the tournament."
"AND YOU KEPT IT FROM ME THIS ENTIRE TIME?!"