After the incident with the Seekers, we decided against getting a workshop. I had already made my money back and broken even. Once Tom got back, Hruk assembled everything, and we sold them, we’d make a hefty profit. If things didn’t resolve themselves by then, we hoped to move onto another city. The Bergen Mountains didn’t just house Schwartzberg, but several dwarven villages and towns. After taking care of the champion, we could always move our operation elsewhere.

While waiting for Tom to return, we rented the stall to a local cook. She sold pastries and other baked goods to the merchants and shoppers. Times were tough, so we didn’t ask for the standard flat rental fee. Instead, I used Print to draw up a contract, giving us five per cent of her earnings. She was more than happy with the deal and the system ensured she wouldn’t cheat us. We weren’t out to make a profit off her, just make enough to pay taxes on the stall.

Print has progressed to Novice Rank 6!

Much to my disappointment, I failed to get Brokering Mastery to the Apprentice Rank, even while haggling over possible bulk orders with a small mercenary guild. I expected the milestone to get me a tidy chunk of Charisma. When the attribute hit the twenty mark, I had gained the scaling trait Acknowledged By Mana. I hoped hitting thirty would upgrade it to the next stage or unlock a trait slot and let me pick something new. Their passive effects proved more useful than spells and skills, and had saved my life more times than I could count.

Now, while waiting for Tom, we had a few days with little to do. Given our sudden sale following the incident on the docks, would likely attract suspicion. Apparently, the guild was out hunting for anyone selling materials off the ship’s inventory. The vessel sank not long after we fled with the aetherite chest and fire-focused aether crystal. The Seekers had used divers to retrieve the lost merchandise and a good chunk of it had gone missing. They blamed the Thieves’ Guild, and there were bounties for anyone with the organisation’s mark.

We stayed in the inn and out of the public eye. Hruk busied himself, making stencils of the rune scripts and Mana circuits for each of our three signature devices. That way, once Tom arrived with the delivery, we could speed up production. Meanwhile, I busied myself with a new oddity: The black-as-night stone that our stolen aetherite had encased.

Unrecognised item.

Strange. My memory banks don't have records of such an item. It clearly houses unusual mana and is likely artificially created away from my all-seeing eye. Perhaps its not of the disk.

Discoveries regarding the item will result in rewards in the form of achievements or Mastery experience.

The system's message caught me off guard. When I shared it with Hruk, he shared his surprise too. It had birthed multi-coloured luminous veins in the aetherite but remained smooth and colourless on its own. The alien object had captured Hruk’s attention for a while, but he had enough to distract himself. Since I had nothing to do, I focused all of my attention on the oddity.

My first instincts told me to probe it with Mana Sense. When I did, the space around the stone appeared to warp and shift, but I failed to discern a mana type. Then, I coaxed a strand of mana free of my well to tease the stone, and the energy disappeared into the smooth, lustrous surface. An invisible force wrenched the magical power out of my control and sucked it into the black surface. However, Mana Sense detected no changes within the object.

Curious, I tested other mana types. The Mage Hand provided Manipulation-attuned man's without a focus. The stone consumed it, but then rejected the energy from the Bracer of Draconic Smoke. Then it turned away the Wand of Shaping's mana, too. Intrigued, I poked the stone with mana from Hruk's prototype devices. The stone rejected lighting-focused Creation mana from the hot plate and light ball. However, it accepted the flask and bauble maker’s frigid energy.

“What rank is your Mana Sense, Hruk?” I asked.

“Journeyman almost Adept,” he answered.

“Do you see anything different about the stone after it absorbed mana?” Hruk glanced at the object before returning his attention to the work at hand "It takes unfocused and ice-focused mana, but nothing else," I told Hruk. "Do we have any other types that we can test?"

He didn't reply straight away, focusing on his stencil. Then, after finishing a long string of runes, he looked up at me.

"Have you tried your relics?"

"Nope. I'm a dumb arse."

The Shadow Mantle's mana refused to bend to my will, no matter how much I tried. Instead, it used darkness-focused Creation mana, which only produced squirming shadows. They occasionally stilled to help me blend with my environment, but my will and Mana Control had nothing to do with it.. So, I didn't bother with it and used Sasha instead.

When I poked the stone with Life Mana, it sucked on the force hungrily, and I had to struggle to break the connection between them. The act left me breathing heavily and my temples throbbing. Mana Sense didn’t detect any signs of life from the object and I detected no thought or emotion from it either. Meanwhile, the object drank Mind Mana smoothly, like it was a fine glass of wine that needed to breathe.

"It accepts Life and Mind, too," I said, furrowing my brows. "Reckon it's alive?"

"I'm not sure," Hruk replied, joining me by the window where I sat conducting my experiments. "Unattuned, Life, and Mind would make sense for a living entity, but that doesn't explain why it accepted cold-focused mana. It's an odd object indeed."

You’ve helped the system gain a better understanding of the strange object, confirming their suspicions. It isn’t of native to Arena Disk. You deserve rewards for your efforts.

Mana Sense has progressed to Journeyman Rank 2!

Mana Manipulation has progressed to Journeyman Rank 2!

Mana Wielding Mastery has progressed to Journeyman Rank 2!

Loreseeker has progressed to Apprentice Rank 0!

Intellect + 2

Arcana + 1

Brawn: 7

—STR 4| VIT 10

Control: 20

—DEX 23| ARC 16

Wit: 23

—INT 18| CHA 29

Traits:

Coward’s Brand | Facts Begin With Fiction | Arcane Strings | Acknowledged By Mana | Sharing Traits | Druidic Inclinations | Spirit Sense | Royalty Fees

The slew of upgrades caught me off guard. I didn't think I had made a valuable discovery, but the system clearly found the uncovered information valuable. I hit the stone with Identify again, but got the same results as before.

"Something happened?" Hruk asked, registering my wide eyes.

I nodded, listing the progress. "We need to go out and celebrate. Not just this, but our sales too. People love your work, Hruk. I think that's worth a good meal.

Hruk appeared hesitant. "You want to go drinking, don't you?"

"Is that so bad? A pint or two of mead will go a long way. Tom showed me the best places while we were selling the booze from Dil's Nook."

"I think I'd rather work."

"You know Elena was sweet on you, don't you? If you had loosened up with a drink, you two could've had fun."

"But we did," Hruk replied, grinning.

"Shame on you for not telling me about it then." I chuckled, not bothering to hide my surprise. The orgy in Grog's Table must've given him the confidence he needed to approach and proposition people he found attractive. "Can we please go to the pub, though? Just for a bit. If I don't get out of this room, I'll go mad."

"Fine." Hruk sighed, putting away his tools.