Nero stopped by Alma and bought as many cards as he could, including a blue-grade [Detect Plants], leaving a few million Essence behind. After returning to the lyceum and his shelter, Nero conveyed the final decision to the girls. They weren't going to do that stupid mission.

"I'm relieved," Serena sighed. "I don't want to work for or with Bast. Even though it was the prince that did it, the King was lenient with him. And flooding a Dungeon was not in my 'things to do before beheading' list."

"Well, that story is over," Nero replied. "We are going back home, Serena will meet my parents. Amaryllis is coming with us, but she won't talk about it anymore."

"I can't believe we left those cards behind. They were so enticing," Altia lamented.

"Nero did the right thing. These Classes were hand-picked for us. They were too good to be true. The whole mission was a trap. I'm proud of my little brother."

Nero raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd agreed to become the little sister."

"Yes, yes. Now, what about this baby? It's adorable!" She showed the non-combat crag turtle.

"Its name is Squirt. Oh, wait. Did you call Squirt 'it'? Are you sure it is not a girl turtle?" Nero said ironically.

"It is super hard to tell a turtle's gender," the nereid said. "Even for us."

Altia picked up the gray reptile. "Now, it is a very original name, husband. You called it Squirt because it squirts water. It is a turtle. So why not Squitur? Or Squitle."

"Squirtle?" Serena suggested.

"No. Faucet," Nero threw a worse in the mix.

"Nero, just stop. This is a boy and we'll call him 'Dave'," Alltia pushed her proposal forward.

"No. Why give the critters people names? He'll be called Mr. Pebbles," Nero decided. "And I'll stop calling the others badger one and two."

She finally agreed. "If that's what it takes for poor Maria and Bruce, Mr. Peebbles it is."

The next day they finally moved the rest of their luggage from Bezzias' mansion to the house-tree. Serena stayed in the shelter and Altia went to the alchemy and chemistry department for some classes. Nero was left alone with Glom in a room of the house-tree designed to be a workshop. They moved a few common tools and machinery like an essence-powered lathe from the laboratory. Nero would pay for their replacement later but now he had somewhere to work if he wanted to do some gadgeteering.

He still had to learn how. Nero was sitting on a chair in the middle of his humble workshop room, and Glom took the top of a workbench as his lecturing podium. The small squiig moved on his long rear legs, his long thin tail swaying behind him as he lectured his pupil.

"Welcome to gadgeteering 101, student Nero," Glom started. Nero had a puzzled face and Glom decided to explain. "You are learning, therefore you are 'student'. When you are aiding our research, 'research assistant'. It helps to get you in the correct mindset for the role."

Nero nodded. Glom continued.

"Gadgeteering is the art of creating devices that can channel and manipulate Essence to create the desired effect. But first, what is Essence?"

Nero had a pretty good idea. "Essence is the crystallized energy left behind by monsters when they die."

"You got it backward. When monsters die, they drop crystallized Essence, that's a fact anyone that has ever entered a Dungeon and returned knows. But what is Essence?"

Essence could be compressed into cards. Cards could be converted into items. Essence was used to power all of their devices and to create light, heat. Essence could be shaped into matter and some kinds of Essence constructs, like monsters, could become Essence again. Furthermore, he was sure mana was also an aspect of Essence.

"The energy of creation?" He guessed.

"That's a good definition. Not entirely complete, but a good one. Essence is the raw energy of the planet. It permeates everything, living, dead, or mineral in different quantities. You know it can power devices. What powers your Arbitrium?"

"I see. What we call lifeforce is also Essence?"

"Yes. Everything is Essence. Essence can be aspected. What a simple Essence lamp does is convert the energy from the crystals into light. Heat, movement. A healing potion forces your body to absorb a payload of Essence and convert that into blood and flesh. Mana is aspected Essence your Arbitrium converts from the environment and fuels your Skills. Anima is Essence in a very pure and concentrated format. Some people like to say that Anima is the soul of creatures, but we have no evidence that such a thing exists. Let the priests with their speculations.

"Essence can be organized or chaotic. Usually, in inanimate objects, it is not too organized, structured. Only the biological functions of higher beings like people or strong monsters can organize Essence into the energy we call mana, the Essence red crystals, or the Anima white crystals."

There was one thing Nero was very curious about. "Is it possible to make Anima crystals out of Essence crystals?"

"Theoretically? Yes. Nobody was able to, and too many talented people wasted years trying. You need a higher intelligence and an absurdly dense concentration of Essence to make an Anima crystal. Dungeon bosses have the highest drop rate of crystals. You killed enough to know it is a rare occurrence even with them."

"The grade of the boss raises these chances," Nero commented.

"Yes, and we know from our week draining Rafflesia from her energy that a grade is just a convenient way to measure the energy concentration on a grand scale. That's a good example. When people die inside a Dungeon, the Dungeon absorbs their Essence. We don't have the same structure as monsters, that's why we use mana and don't drop crystals."

"But both people and monsters can grant Accolades when they die. And it is easier to get an Accolade from people than with monsters. I think bosses have a higher rate of Accolade than ordinary monsters but getting one from people is easier."

Glom nodded. "That's because of an effect called resonance. Death causes the release of Anima into the environment. The Arbitrium absorbs that energy to lessen the burden maintaining your Attributes and using Skills puts on your lifeforce. When the resonance of the released Anima matches your own and the energy is above a certain threshold, an Accolade happens as the control crystal tries to compensate an over-strained aspect of your being by diverting more energy into that Attribute. If it can't pinpoint an Attribute that requires boosting due to overuse, it will then attempt to increase the overall level, as a higher level requires more energy to operate. But it happens because the device absorbed too much energy and needs to dump it somewhere. That's why the level comparison is so important."

That made sense, compared to what Nero experienced. "And higher-grade bosses grant more than a single Attribute point," He commented.

"Indeed it does. I believe that in your case, high-leveled monsters will also grant more Attribute points."

Nero sighed, not disappointed but dismayed at the memory. "It happened with people, during the mutiny."

Glom lowered his head. "A terrible truth. I bet you also heard rumors--"

"About killing knights and young princes."

"Yes. It is a sad truth."

It followed with a few more technical explanations about conversion rates, energy resonance, and esoteric concepts called 'frequency', 'harmonics', 'cosine', 'gradients', 'differentials', and other stuff. Nero barely understood them even with the power of the [Improved Math] Skill cramming the stuff into his head. Just to satisfy his curiosity, he measured his Reason strain with a measuring blank card. It was over 90.00%.

Finally, it was time for the practical aspect of the lesson. There were two crates full of looted Arbitrii from the raiders. Glom gave Nero one 'easy' assignment.

"Check your [Gadgeteer] build. We are going through the use o the skills. First, use [Structural Inspection] and [Essence Analysis] on each of them, and rate them from the most damaged to the most intact. Tag them with strips of paper and organize them."

Nero checked the Class build.

[Gadgeteer] - bound to Nero

Strength [+1]

Endurance [+1]

Agility [+1]

Dexterity [+4]

Reason [+4]

Willpower [+4]

Perception [+4]

- Special: Stability of all gadgets and parts created or in operation increased by 30%.

- Special: Durability of all gadgets created increased by 30%, damage to gadgets during operation reduced by 30%.

- Special: Damage received from explosions reduced by 30%.

- [Essence Analysis] - After 2 seconds of concentration, reveal the nature and amount of Essence in target object or aura at a range of Perception / 2 yards.

- [Tinker] - Greatly improves fine dexterity and ability to craft and repair machine parts. Requires tools.

- [Improved Spatial Perception] - Improves the ability to visualize objects and structures in three dimensions.

- [Improved Math] - Improves the ability to perform calculations and logical reasoning.

- [Essence Manipulation] - Spend 1 mana/hour to manipulate Essence in objects.

- [Structural Inspection] - After 1 second of concentration, reveal the durability, condition, and quality of an object or structural feature at a range of Perception / 2 yards. Double the speed of repairs.

He spent the next three hours organizing, cleaning, and tagging the devices. After he was done, Glom showed him how to disassemble an Arbitrium, by removing latches on the inside of the bracer, where the forearm of the wearer would be. That's why it was impossible to tamper with someone else's device. Nero's first task was to take apart the most damaged of the bracers.

"What the hell!"

Nero interjected when a veritable burst of cogwheels, coils, white filaments, and shrapnel flew at his face. By Glom's smirk, it was expected.

"We try to use standardized parts so they can be mass-produced for different devices, but the Arbitrium uses a minor spatial compression to keep the bracer lean. Nobody would want a four-inch-thick slab of metal wrapped around their wrist."

"And how do I avoid it from happening?" Nero groaned.

"There are two circles, one blue and one red on the underside. You need to use [Essence Manipulation] to connect these two. It will cause the spatial compression to tighten before opening the hatch and then slowly revert instead of an explosive burst like what just happened."

He raised an eyebrow. "And why didn't you tell me before?"

Glom's ears twitched. "Because now you'll always remember what happens when you forget. Pick up the parts that burst out of it and toss them in the scrap bucket. They are useful only for melting down. Maybe you can get a forge in here later. Or some metallurgy-oriented build to help you clean impurities out of the metals."

Nero knew from the start he would be doing grunt work as most craftsmen liked their apprentices to start humble. But he still didn't enjoy it. He scoured the small workshop, picking up all the tiny bits of metal and crystal that flew out. The strands were strange. They were clearly made of crystal but also were flexible. They couldn't be bent in two because they would break, but he could wrap them around his little finger and they would spring back to a straight position.

"That's a piece of a broken Essence conduit," Glom remarked when he saw Nero playing with the scraps instead of doing his job. "They draw the Essence from the power source to where it needs to go. All clockwork devices have them in great quantity. Start to disassemble the next most damaged Arbitrium when you are ready."

Nero opened the door leading to the outside and whistled. The sound was more to help him focus, as he didn't need sound to command his pets. Maria and Bruce arrived and he told them to stay under the workbench, fetch any parts that fell down and put them on a tray. He'd sort them later. He wasn't forbidden to use helpers and the badgers enjoyed playing fetch.

He disassembled the next, connecting Essence from his Skill to the terminals. The back panel came out but didn't explode. Instead, a block of components slowly lifted from it, something impossible without the spatial compression. Once the full four inches of components were outside, he disconnected the Essence. The whole thing came undone, and instead of exploding it spread over the workbench and dropping a cascade of parts down the sides. The badgers squealed in joy as they fought to fetch the most "drops" possible.

"I think it is a good time to let you know you have to keep the Essence running at least until you set the external bindings, or the whole thing comes undone," Glom said with a straight face. His large round ears were still twitching.

"Are you having fun, professor?" Nero asked.

"Maybe," Glom smirked. "Next one. Let me teach you where to insert the bindings so the whole thing doesn't come apart."

There were four spots where he needed to insert a thin and straight wire to hold everything together. The next one stayed in one piece or at least a single block of pieces. The next step was to invert the polarity of the Essence flow to make the block of parts sink back into the device. Nero noticed that the components became paper-thin as they sunk down and would all but lose one dimension while inside the Arbitrium yet work all the same. Glom proceeded to make him disassemble five devices and keep all of them fed with different castings of [Essence Manipulation]. It strained Nero's focus and it wavered several times.

"I'm impressed you can keep all five Essence flows at once but you do have a 30% bonus to stability while operating devices. Good. Now, We'll identify some key components of the devices."

The most important was the actuator cogwheel. It was a bronze cogwheel three inches wide and a quarter-inch thick with twelve crystals embedded on one side, half blue and half red. Essence conduits would feed Essence into the counter plate that held the axle and the reaction of the crystals to the Essence would cause the cogwheel to spin.

"This component exists in several sizes and is part of every contraption. Some that need a lot of power, has dozens, hundreds of them like your clockwork sword."

Next were the Essence converters. These came in several shapes and sizes, standardized as to the type or if they were input or output converters. They converted Essence into other types of energy and vice versa.

"Essence converters are the second-most important component. They can capture Essence and convert them into information, or output Essence into energy. For example, these," He showed some that looked like a flat ring with a very narrow gap about the width of a card, "Are used to read cards. Medium-sized Arbitrii has six of the standard ones, and a larger version mounted in the Class slot underneath the view plate. They move up and down when a card is activated, dissolving the card and absorbing the Essence into the system. The control crystal will then execute the instructions, be it to convert the Essence into an object like when you use a weapon card, or to modify its own systems by incorporating the Skill information. That's why there is a limit on the number of Skills a Class can have.

"Arbitrium made for smaller races, like mine, demand a different kind of converter for the cards. It is an expensive one but can activate cards on contact. There's some energy loss and it hurts especially when using item cards, but the items for us are smaller. Here, let me show you."

Glom took a white [Mace] card and placed it over the display plate. The card dissolved and a squiig-sized mace appeared in front of him. Then he continued with his lecture.

"Another type of Essence converters is in your rifle. These rings around the barrel, they convert the Essence from the bullet shell and what you feed on the internal storage into lightning. This lightning charges the bullet and also propels the shell through the barrel. There is a version that doesn't use Essence and instead relies on an explosive powder alchemists can make using sulfur and other materials, but the results are weaker than the one that uses pure Essence."

Nero understood. It also meant that if he could add some ice converters to his rifle...

"The Essence lamp then is just two sets of converters linked by a conduit, right?"

"And a controller!" Glom took a crystal slab. "Controllers are the third most important component, and the one no device can go without. What do you think would happen if a lamp was just two converters connected to one another. Forget the conduit for a moment."

"If it's a controller, I guess all the Essence would flow at once and the lamp would--"

"BOOM!" The squiig squealed. "Which is a good way to create makeshift bombs if you have the converters on you. It still might just explode in your face. Or to be more precise, explode your face."

Nero wasn't amused by the hazing but he would endure it. The subject was just too exciting.

"Good. Now, your task for the rest of the day is to disassemble the forty most damaged Arbitrii, separate and identify the parts. I have a guidebook here for you with the part IDs. I want you to separate the actuators, converters, controllers, by type carefully. Use that [Repair] Skill of yours if you see any of them badly damaged. Then you will separate the conduits. Don't bother repairing them or the ordinary metallic parts."

"Understood, professor. Thank you for your time."

Glom smiled, his whiskers twitching. "Don't worry. You can show me your gratitude by helping me activate the Arbitrii in the village we're visiting. The military is being a bitch to grant us a travel permit and I suspect they might waylay us to help them activate their recruits as well but that won't be too bad. It is time for lunch, could you open the portal for us? The cafeteria awaits! You need nutrition, you are going to spend a long session getting everything together."

"Yay!" Nero cheered without much excitement. It promised to be boring and costly. He'd burn a lot of gray cards to get mana for all that.

"Glad you are feeling the mood. I bet you are thirsty."

"Yeah, I could drink some water," Nero remarked.

"Not physical thirst," Glom rebutted. "I am talking about a more sublime kind of hunger!"

"Hungry for what, professor?" He asked, knowing very well the punchline was coming.

Glom laughter came as a squeak. "Hungry for SCIENCE! What else?"

"Gear upgrades?" Nero suggested.

"Yeah, that too. I guess."