The main hall is mostly cleared out within the hour. Those guild members not keen on doing the adventuring work themselves, because of a lack of levels or a general distaste for violence, have taken the remaining plates and utensils and food away, saving the latter for a future meal and washing the former for the same. Seeing all the work they’re doing, keeping up the hall and handling logistics and finances and donations and such, really makes Lindsey’s comment about medics and chaplains and support staff hit home.

  Back when we were on base with Nicholas, Alexey, and everyone else, there were never more than two or three teams of six to ten people actively patrolling the wilds at any one time. But the base itself had well over a thousand people, most of whom I’d never even said hi to, let alone had a conversation with. And when the folks at the university were helping me build my arm, there were over a hundred people helping out with various parts of the project. Including but not limited to the folks getting forms signed and documents submitted to get the approvals from the hotshots in administration and finance.

  Goddesses above, I thought high school had a lot of paperwork. I can only imagine what crazy paperwork would have awaited me in college. I’m thinking ‘swimming in a pool filled to the brim with all the worksheets and essays and tests and approvals and who knows what else’. And that’s just the stuff I can think of! Going to have to upgrade that pool to ‘Olympic sized’

  I continue my etching on this ring, and Chloe seems content to rest her head on the table beside me and watch. Her hand idly encroaches upon my hip, sending a shiver right up my spine. She looks so coy, so demure as she watches, but her intentions are crystal clear.

  I take it and give it a quick squeeze and take a moment to get lost in those soft, inviting eyes of glowing, molten butterscotch, reciprocating the gesture with a few seconds of my [Ethersight] before I fully focus back inward, back on the task at hand.

  I’ve already added the first two glyphs, [Attraction] and [Ether], and a quick glance over them reveals no damage to either over the course of the meal. The next glyph I need is the [Everywhere] glyph. This one is a weird one, all things considered. It’s not quite ‘everywhere’ in the sense of ‘all points in space and time simultaneously’. Rather, the specific variant I’m using is more akin to ‘Don’t discriminate with respect to position in space’.

  Ideally, I would like to use some more specific glyphs, to specify ‘take from the ambient Ether in the space around us, but don’t take from any equipment, people, or otherwise.’ That would also require about eight more glyphs and three dozen linking runes to write all that out, far beyond my capabilities as a [Mechanist]. And as a first approximation, this variant of [Everywhere] is acceptable.

  I slot it in, and the array is starting to take shape. The next one is [Compression]. [Condensation] might be an appropriate name for the shape as well, in the sense of ‘take from the surroundings and condense down into a liquid’ just as water vapor undergoes condensation to become liquid water. Considering it’s doing something similar, I agree that [Condense] is a better name for the glyph after all. I make a quick note in my sketchbook before I begin tracing it onto the ring.

  The last two I have to do together, before linking that pair to the quartet of glyphs already etched into the ring. [Absorption] on its own would cause the ring to continually absorb Ether like a canister. However, owing to the shoddy design and poor materials, I doubt it’s capable of holding more than a few units of Ether before the entire ring cracks from overuse. And worse, I fully expect that certain accessories can break if specifically targeted by an enemy’s attack, if they are used wrong, or if the crafter of the accessory exhibits piss-poor performance due to a lack of prior proper planning. Hence the importance of prototyping and refinement of process, to prevent such precarity.

  Finally, [Impulse], directed inward, toward the center of the toroid shape, to allow the ring’s bearer to better draw the gathered Ether into themself. I combine the [Impulse] and [Absorption] runes together, specifying that the bearer of the ring is meant to be the one absorbing the accumulated Ether, rather than the ring itself trying and failing to do so. Possibly with explosive results.

  Now for the linking, and this time, I have to be careful. The glyphs are likely to be self-sustaining once they’re all in place. Or at least, they should be, assuming my current conjectures on the matter are all accurate. Careful and quick, which is a recipe for disaster if I’ve ever seen one.

  A deep breath, then another. My internal [Ether] is thirty points from maximum. I take a short break to maximize the time I can spend under [Bullet Time]. A nice drink of water as well.

  “Hey, Chloe?” I ask. “Can you use your [Angelic Blessing] on me? I’m about to do some really intricate crafting, and I think it’ll help.”

  She grins. “Hmm… Okay, but in order for it to take proper effect, I’ll have to administer the spell lip to lip.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Wait, you’ve never had to do that before!”

  “Oh? You seemed so enthusiastic about it yesterday.” Chloe licks her lips.

  I nervously chuckle. “Oh no, this is such a terrible fate,” I begin in a comedic monotone. “I am now forced to kiss the lips of my best friend, whom I am now dating. Woe be unto me, for I have been beset by the most tragic of outcomes.”

  I oblige her request, and feel a surge of energy enter my body as our lips touch. My focus surges, and with newfound energy from Chloe’s blessing pulsing through my veins, I activate my [Bullet Time] and get to work.

  I start by drawing the linking runes I need, specifying that the accumulated Ether built up by the first set of glyphs is to be expelled outward by the second, in a form that can be absorbed by its wearer. Things are going well, everything seems to look like it’s in the proper positioning, and–

  Damn, my [Tinkerer] skill is screaming murder at me. Something is very definitely wrong here. The ring is getting hot and… Ow! My index finger starts throbbing from the small burn. But my mechanical hand seems fine to continue working for the time being. And the added dexterity of movements from my practice exercises is paying huge dividends. I grip the ring with my thumb and ring fingers, using my middle and index fingers to do the remainder of the sculpting.

  Fifteen seconds of apparent time have passed, seven from the perspective of the outside world, and my [Ether] is dropping like a rock. Something is wrong, but I decide to relegate my investigation of the matter to my subconscious while I finish the remainder of the runes and sluices. My hope is, by letting my mind multitask to some limited extent, I can better conserve the remaining minute I have in this accelerated state.

  Once I’ve got the sluices in position and ready to activate, I realize the problem. I’m simply absorbing too much ambient Ether due to the nature of the [Everywhere] glyph, causing excess energy to build up in the form of heat. I add in a couple of weakening runes to the [Attraction] glyph. Once the last is slotted in and linked to the glyph in question, the ring starts to cool down.

  I take another drink, then give things a once-over as my [Bullet Time] deactivates. I’m sweating profusely upon both my face and my palms, something Chloe notices as she wipes the former off with a damp paper towel. I’m feeling some minor Ether strain setting in, but compared with what I had to deal with yesterday, I hardly feel it.

  “Did it work?” Chloe asks.

  “I think so. But there’s only one way to find out.”

  She holds out her hand, daintily extending her ring finger forward, but I shake my head to stop her. “Me first, to make sure this isn’t going to explode on contact.”

  “Fine,” she says with clear reluctance in her voice.

  I slip the ring on my right hand and activate it. A bit of pressure and warmth comes over my hand, as though it is being enveloped in a warm, weighted glove. No pain, and the heat isn’t bad enough to burn. Just, pleasantness. My eyes close and I tip my head backwards and enjoy the sensation as a handful of System notifications pop up inside my eyelid.

  [Your [Bullet Time (Rank II)] has upgraded to [Bullet Time (Rank III)].]

  [Your [Basic Glyph Manipulation (Rank IX) has upgraded to [Basic Glyph Manipulation (Rank X)].]

  Darn, I mutter. No notification that the Skill has maxed out, and no free stat points for doing so. Glyph Manipulation must take a lot longer to master than Ether Manipulation does.

  [You have equipped a [Flawed Ring of Regeneration].]

  [[Flawed Ring of Regeneration]: A shoddy attempt at a [Ring of Regeneration], one of the first accessories sculpted by an amateur would-be craftswoman. It is made of improper materials, built upon an inelegant glyph array, and might just backfire on its wearer. Somehow, against all odds, though, it manages to be functional, though not to the extent of a proper version of the same. Restores its wearer’s [Ether] at a rate of one point per five seconds. (In addition to its wearer’s normal regeneration rate.)]

  Once again, the System sees fit to taunt me for my lack of experience as a [Mechanist]. I dismiss the insults and focus on the stats. One point per five seconds is twelve points per minute, or seven hundred and twenty per hour. With a [Mind] stat of 85, my natural regeneration is eight hundred and fifty points per hour, meaning this is good for about an eighty percent increase. And that’s just with the flawed variant. Just how good is the regular version? Double? Triple? More?

  “Looks like it did work,” I say. “The System description does say that the ring might just backfire on its wearer. I’m not sure if there’s a real risk of that happening, if that’s some outside potentiality, or if it’s just there to scare us into not using the accessory. I’ll leave the decision on what to do with it up to you.”

  She extends her hand and smiles, wiggling her ring finger. And I’ve no choice but to oblige her, slipping the ring on. It’s cheap, gaudy, and utterly unpresentable to even the least distinguished of company. But even so, she looks at it, and me, with the most captivating smile and the most loving eyes upon her face. And I can’t help but melt before her gaze.

  “Thank you, Sera,” she says. “I love it. I love it so, so much.”

  “I’m glad. By any chance were you able to find me any other rings to work with?”

  She hands me a pair of matching silver rings, each inlaid with some beautiful calligraphy. I notice on the inner band that they are labeled as being made of sterling silver, which I suspect is going to be a significantly better material for crafting than copper, iron, or other base metals.

  “Kristil gave these to me. They belonged to Caroline, but she says she’d rather you use them if you can. She wants you to, in her own words, ‘help me get those damn cultist bastards who took my cousin!’”

  I smile. “I would love to. If you wouldn’t mind letting her know that I’ll get to work on them straight away.”