Elias sat at the small wooden desk in his dorm, tapping a piece of charcoal against the parchment in front of him. The faint glow of the Academy's floating lanterns cast shifting shadows on the walls.
His magic was worthless. His combat skills were nonexistent. His status in the Academy? Rock bottom.
But that didn't mean he was helpless.
"Alright," he muttered to himself. "Let's start from the basics."
If he was going to survive in a world that revolved around magic, he needed something that could compensate for his lack of mana. Something that could let him compete with spellcasters on their level.
His fingers tightened around the charcoal as he started sketching his first blueprint.
A glove—no, a gauntlet.
A tool that could store and manipulate mana, even if he couldn't generate it himself. A device that would allow him to absorb magical energy, redirect it, and even enhance his physical abilities.
The design came naturally to him. He had spent his life tinkering with machinery, solving engineering problems. This was just another puzzle to crack.
But there were issues.
Problem #1: He had no resources.
Problem #2: He had no tools.
Problem #3: He had no idea if this would even work.
Elias exhaled, leaning back in his chair. "Alright. Step one: get materials."
A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.
Elias turned to see Lira Valcrest standing in the doorway, arms crossed, eyebrow raised.
"Should I be concerned?" she asked.
Elias smirked. "That depends. How do you feel about helping me steal school supplies?"
Lira sighed. "I knew I was going to regret talking to you."
Scavenging for Parts
The Academy had an entire building dedicated to magical crafting—where students experimented with enchantments, rune-weaving, and artifact construction. It was also off-limits to first-years without permission.
Elias, naturally, didn't care.
Lira, however, very much did. "This is a terrible idea," she whispered as they crouched behind a stone pillar near the workshop storage room.
Elias peeked around the corner. "Relax. We're not stealing. We're borrowing."
Lira scoffed. "Right. And when we get caught, I'll be sure to remind the guards of that."
Elias ignored her and slipped inside.
The room was dimly lit, shelves stacked high with arcane scraps—broken wands, cracked runestones, discarded mana conduits. Perfect.
He grabbed a damaged spell core, a few metal plates inscribed with faded runes, and—his jackpot—a mana capacitor, slightly cracked but still functional.
"Got it," he whispered, stuffing the parts into a satchel.
Lira, still standing at the doorway, sighed. "I swear, if we get expelled—"
A voice suddenly echoed from the hallway.
"Who's in there?"
Lira's eyes widened. "Oh, great."
Elias grabbed her wrist. "Time to go."
They bolted just as a lantern-wielding instructor entered the room.
Lira hissed under her breath. "I hate you so much right now."
Elias grinned. "That's fair."
The First Prototype
Back in his dorm, Elias spread the components across his desk. Lira sat on his bed, arms crossed, glaring at him.
"You owe me for that," she muttered.
"I'll buy you lunch," Elias offered.
She groaned. "Fine. Now please tell me you actually know what you're doing."
Elias held up the mana capacitor. "In theory? Yes."
Lira threw her hands up. "I hate that word."
Elias got to work.
He reinforced the metal plating, re-aligned the runes, and installed the capacitor into the gauntlet's wrist compartment. The device was crude—held together with mana-thread and sheer stubbornness—but it was something.
Now came the hard part.
Testing it.
Elias strapped the gauntlet onto his arm and exhaled. "Alright. Let's see if this thing works."
Lira leaned against the wall. "If it blows up, I'm leaving."
Elias flexed his fingers and activated the absorption function. The runes glowed faintly, the gauntlet humming as it pulled ambient mana from the air.
Lira's eyebrows shot up. "Wait. It's actually—"
Suddenly, the capacitor overloaded—and the entire thing sparked violently, sending Elias flying backward into the wall.
BOOM.
Lira winced as smoke filled the room. "You absolute idiot."
Elias coughed. "Okay. Minor adjustments needed."
Lira sighed. "I hate that this keeps working for you."
Elias grinned despite the pain.
This was just the beginning.