"What's going on over here?" an exhausted Runar, who had just gotten a stern talking-to from Mary, pushed his way through the crowd of people in front of him. Mary was following closely behind, though her eyes were curiously landing on all the other nearby stalls as well. Since everyone was standing around a particular lot, everything else was free and you had a good view of whatever they were trying to present. Though, even the people manning those stalls seemed curious about what everyone was looking at.

  Before long, after pushing further through the crowd, Runar and Mary at least managed to hear what was happening. A seafarer's tune was being played, and people were loudly exclaiming their amusement and joy at what they were witnessing.

  With a click of his tongue, Runar pushed his hand under his jacket and wrote a rune with his finger. A piece of paper fell down onto the ground, quickly taking the form of a small mouse that was rushing through the crowd, dodging past their feet. The paper mouse perked up its head once it got to the front, and through its 'eyes', Runar was able to see the plastic bricks in the form of a ship floating on waves of even more plastic bricks. Immediately, Runar was trying to figure out what exactly it was about this that excited everyone so much. It seemed to be just some kind of simple auditory telekinesis spell, nothing more. Of course, there were some unique parts about it, but it wasn't anything all too special. At least, it wasn't special enough to justify a crowd like this.

  While Runar was trying to analyse the system through the eyes of the paper mouse, he noticed that the small familiar was suddenly picked up off the ground. Ryan had picked it up and was staring at it, "Just come through to the front instead of doing stuff like this, Modak can explain how it works if you want to know."

  Taken aback, Runar tried to peek over the heads of the people in front of him, soon seeing Ryan standing there and looking over toward him. By squeezing past the side, Runar and Mary were soon able to get into the lot, where they could not only see the magic from up close, but could even hear how it worked directly from Modak.

  "So, you made this?" Runar asked, cupping his chin curiously, "I guess this was the project you mentioned to me about storing auditory magic?"

  The orc smiled lightly and shook his head. Because of the overwhelmingly positive response, all of the stress that he felt earlier just melted away at least temporarily, "No, this is completely synthesized magic."

  Runar closed his eyes and laughed for a few moments, "Synthetic magic, sure, good one."

  Ryan threw the paper mouse back over to his uncle, "He's telling the truth, you know? It's not storing anything."

  Stopping in his track, Runar opened his eyes again, looking at the orc with a suspicious frown, "Are you serious? That's not possible, you need the mechanics and control of a physical body to be able to do something like that," he pointed out, completely trying to deny Modak's claim, "I guess it's possible to get results that are similar to that of certain spells through magical engineering, but this isn't that. A regular spell is being cast through bardic magic."

  Hearing how critical Runar was, Mary hit him on the arm, "Oh, what do you know? Stop being so bothersome."

  Ryan grinned, "I know he looks like a good for nothing, but Runar was actually a 'prodigy' that entered the Magic Tower at... what was it, fifteen?"

  Narrowing his eyes, Runar looked back at his nephew, "Fourteen, actually."

  Modak looked at Ryan nervously, glancing over at Mary in the process, "Erm... does your mother..?"

  "Oh, yeah, don't worry, I told her last night. She doesn't know everything, but we'll fill the rest in when it comes up," Ryan explained, turning back toward his mother, "So yeah, Runar actually does know quite a lot about magic."

  "Yes, which, again, means that I know for a fact it's not possible to synthesize magic. Because of the nature of rune magic, which is able to be expressed even by people with little magic if they know exactly what to do, I studied this sort of process while preparing for even my First Circle thesis," Runar crossed his arms, glancing over at the machines, "So what are you doing to make this happen, then? Are you using a technomancer's mana as a conduit?"

  Modak frowned lightly, "Are you accusing me of fabricating all of this right now? I'll have you know that this is all genuine. You can check the mana batteries that we're using, they're the standard purified mana containers that are standard for any magical engineering process."

  "Fine, then convince me. How does this whole thing work?"

  The orc let out a long groan, "Fine. To simplify the process... I altered the original code that translated soundwaves into mana waves to instead give it a three-dimensional pattern that's adjusted to the thickness of the mana tape I'm using, to account for the multidimensionality of spell circuitry. That pattern is then placed onto that mana tape through an extremely high-frequency mana emitter, which I altered to imbue the more malleable qualities of aura into the mana in the process. The mana is then released from the tape and translated back into soundwaves within the speakers, and in the process are imbued with the corrected mana patterns, which, due to the effects of the infused aura qualities are able to perfectly fuse into the physical sound vibrations."

  Runar, whose face was smug when Modak started talking, continued to drop more and more as he listened, "That's... all? That sounds so simple, but..." his foot began to tap on the ground, "... it could actually work if... and also if... No but in that case you would need..."

  "If you want, I can show you the papers that I wrote. All the data," Modak said, crossing his arms, and Runar immediately nodded his head.

  "Please do, because if you can actually mechanically manipulate mana in this way, then..." Runar grinned lightly, "Our family found itself a true prodigy."

  The two went off to a table in the back, where Modak quickly went to show Runar all the documents, leaving Ryan and his mother alone again. Mary was just staring at Runar, confused.

  "So... he worked for the Magic Tower?"

  Ryan shrugged, "I don't know about 'worked for'. I think it's a bit more complicated than that. The Aglecard family and the Magic Tower apparently have a cooperative relationship, but I doubt they'd let the head of one become a direct part of the other. That would sort of skew the power balance. Or something."

  "... Are the Aglecards actually that powerful?"

  "I guess so, yeah. There's... a lot of stuff going on that I don't really understand quite well yet either, but just know that the family has their hands in basically... everything," Ryan tried to explain, though he knew that it definitely wouldn't help Mary really understand. But since Ryan himself had no real idea of how far the Aglecards' influence stretched, there really was no way for him to properly explain it to his mother either.

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  A few hours later, Ryan, his mother, and Runar headed back out to take a look at the rest of the stalls. The crowd that had gathered in front of the lot was still massive, but had calmed down at least a little bit. Modak was taking a break, sitting on a chair in the back of the lot. Dozens of mages of the tower had come by to question him about what he had done and how this process worked, and he had shot all of them down. Sure, he told Runar, but it was easier to trust him not to misuse or steal that technology than it was to trust the mages currently working at the tower.

  Either way, the biggest challenge was yet to come. Modak nervously checked his phone, biting his nails. He was suddenly so nervous that even Marge noticed.

  "What's going on? Everything is going well here, so what's with that face?" she asked, and Modak let out an awkward laugh.

  "I, well... My parents and siblings are coming by soon, and... I just don't know what they're going to think," Modak rubbed his neck nervously, "My dad is honestly not a huge fan of magic. You know, just that old orcish mindset, I guess."

  "Don't worry, I understand. Historically, cyclopes haven't been the most pro-magic either. When my parents learned that I was interested in magic engineering of all things, they weren't all too happy about it. But at the end of the day, they understood. They saw my love and passion for it, and came through," Marge explained, placing her large hand onto the orc's shoulder, "I'm sure if you show them that this is what you love, they will get it. Plus, my kids are coming through soon as well, and I can't have my boss be so mopey, now can I?" the cyclops slightly laughed, and Modak slowly nodded. He stood up from the chair and straightened the tie to the suit he was wearing.

  "You're right. I'll just show them everything and try to make sure they know that I really care about this," Modak smiled lightly, and almost the moment he said so, he spotted a small group approaching. At the front stood his mother and father together, looking around like fish out of water. Behind them were Modak's siblings, as well as Liam. Liam and the twins had become friends at school, and the twins invited Liam to join them for the day, apparently.

  Nervous, Modak stepped up toward them, forcing a smile onto his face, "Mom, dad! I'm so happy you could come! Let me-"

  "What are you wearing?" Modak's father looked him up and down with a slight scoff, "Why would you be wearing a suit? Did someone die?"

  "... I'm just trying to look presentable, okay?" Modak tried not to drop his smile, even when he noticed his mother just roll her eyes at his father's question.

  "So what are you doing here, sweetheart? Are you selling something? Some kind of food?" his mother wondered, looking around, "Do we order through this tablet, or do we tell you?"

  "Order? M-Mom, no, I told you guys about this, I'm presenting the project I've been working on for the Magic Tower."

  "Honey, I'm sorry, but I thought you were joking... I mean, you don't even have mana, so how could you be working for the magic tower? Do you see how that's a bit confusing?"

  Modak closed his eyes and took some deep breaths, "Yes, sure. But again, as you see, I'm in the Magic Tower's area, so... yeah, I work for them. I can show you the rest of the proof later," Modak explained, forcing his smile to stay on his face. Soon, his older sister came up to the table.

  "So, what's all this about?" Kora asked, "You built... speakers?"

  Since his sister was taking over a little, Modak suppressed a sigh of relief, "Right, sort of. So, do any of you remember me working on those small mana cassettes? I've been working on them for a while, so I'm sure I brought it up at least once. Anyway, using that as a base, I was first scouted by Miss Boreard to create a method to store auditory magic. Basically... chants, or bardic magic, all that kind of stuff. But as I was working on that, I realized the opportunity for something else. I figured out how to... make magic from nothing. Basically, spellcasting without a caster. And this is the first part of my presentation."

  As Modak explained, he could tell that his siblings, as well as Liam, seemed pretty curious, though his parents were confused. Rather, they were close to suspicious.

  "Without a caster? How is that supposed to work? What's next, cars without a driver?" Modak's father scoffed, shaking his head.

  Modak frowned lightly, "Uh... you know, self-driving cars are a thing, but that's beside the point. It's still being controlled by someone, like, I created all the tracks that define the magic signature. But rather than the mana being transformed and altered through a person, it's done through machines."

  As he was talking, he notices Liam walking over to the tablet, tapping a particular one of the songs displayed on it. Medieval music started to play as the bricks started rearranging themselves, and the young vampire stared at the view in front of him excitedly.

  "Whoa!" the twins said in unison.

  Pock, one of Modak's brothers, snapped a few pictures, "You made this happen? That's pretty cool."

  The forced smile on Modak's face slowly grew more genuine, "Thanks, I appreciate it. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out other ways to cast spells mechanically. Right now I'm working on a proposal for a way to construct synthetic magic circles, though I'll have to work on my First Circle thesis before then... this whole thing is kind of a stepping stone, so-"

  "First circle? What are you talking about?" his father asked with a frown.

  "You know... First Circle. To become an official 'Wizard' of the tower. Then Second Circle, Third Circle, and so on," Modak explained, and his father groaned.

  "I know that, son, but why are you talking about becoming a Wizard? You're a mechanic! An engineer!"

  "... A magic engineer, dad. I would actually be one of the first magic engineers to become an official Wizard if things go well. And well, Miss Boreard is the sponsor of the project and agreed to being my mentor for the thesis, so it looks like that's going to go well..."

  "And who is this 'Miss Boreard' that you keep talking about?" Modak's mother asked, shaking her head, "What is she thinking, putting ideas like that into your head. I don't know what kind of tricks you're playing here, but you're not a wizard, Modak. You're an orc, a true orc!"

  Immediately, Modak's facade dropped, "What are you even talking about? I've always wanted this. And now that I finally get there, you start acting like this?"

  Modak's parents looked at each other for a moment, and then back over to their son. His father stretched out his hand, placing it onto Modak's arm, "Son, we... just never thought you would get to this point. Your very being rejects mana... magic. We figured you would burn yourself out on this game sooner or later, so-"

  "Game? What the hell are you even talking about? Does this look like a game to you?" Modak asked, pointing at the castle currently being constructed out of the plastic bricks. His mother sighed lightly.

  "Truthfully? It does just look like you're playing with some toys, son. Please, just stop with this nonsense and forget about being a 'Wizard'. Your father needs your help in the garage, so-"

  Modak laughed in disbelief, "Are you kidding me? Do you know how hard I worked for this? For you two, for them-" Modak pointed at his younger siblings, "And all you can do is try and tear me down again? By all the fucking gods, could you really be any more selfish?"

  "Selfish? How dare you! Do you know what we sacrificed to raise you and your brothers?" Modak's father raised his voice, slamming his hand onto the table in front of him. The people in the crowd behind them started to listen in on the conversation, because of course they did.

  "That doesn't give you the right to try and decide what's the right thing for me and my life."

  Modak's mother shook her head annoyedly, "We better talk to that Boreard lady. If she thinks she can brainwash you into abandoning us, then she's never met an orc mama."

  "No- Mom, please, you can't do that, she's-"

  "What, some fancy schmancy magic lady? So what! If she won't let you come back with us, then-"

  "I just told you that this is what I want!" Modak followed after his mother as she pushed her way through the crowd, as if trying to search for 'Miss Boreard', "Just calm down and listen to what I'm telling you! I want to keep working at the Magic Tower! Do you even know how monumental this discovery is? Dozens of mages came up to me today to congratulate me! People that treated me like dirt, like less than a person just because I don't have mana! Even they can see that this is special, that I am doing something special, so why can't you?"

  Modak's mother stared him in the eye, scoffing, "Orc blood is wasted on you."

  Stopping in his track, Modak looked at the back of his mother, disappearing in the crowd, "... If that's what you think, then... I..." he stood there, quietly. He didn't know what to do; his mind had practically just burnt out. He could see his father push past him silently, just looking at him with the same kind of disdain that his mother did.

  Soon, Modak managed to get himself to turn around and walk back to the lot. And there, he at least had some people waiting for him. With his older sister holding him, Modak stepped into the back of the lot, just reeling in what just happened.

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