They returned to the castle ahead of schedule. Nero felt bad for relying on Amaryllis for his purchases but it couldn't be helped. He was too lenient with his management of Essence, Crystal took a lot to level up to twenty in one go, and now he Essence he got from Holmes was gone. They went to the waiting room of the lobby, the one destined to visitors of the Count, to wait for Glom.

"Go on, use your Pouch. Let's see how it comes out," She urged him.

To summon an item with modifiers, one needed to be inside a Dungeon. There was no way around it. Almost all items weren't permanent without a pink [Permanency] card of adequate rank. Those without would disappear in one hour. Dimensional pouches, however, were the exception since they were permanent by default.

[Lesser Dimensional Pouch] - yellow Item. Requires +5 Willpower. Binds on summon.

"Don't put in a bag of holding."

Summons a lesser dimensional pouch permanently. It can store a volume up to [Reason * Willpower * Perception] (values without the limiter)] cubic inches. Requires a [Gadgeteer] to attach to a bandolier or belt. Drains 1 mana per day at midnight if not completely empty. Releases all content and dissolves upon the owner's death or if removed by the owner. A person can only have one dimensional pouch.

Nero activated the card and a rectangular pouch appeared. He changed to [Gadgeteer] and used [Essence Manipulation] to bind the crystals at the back of the pouch (converters now that he knew what they were) to his bandolier, granting the pouch the same indestructibility as his Arbitrium and bandolier.

"So, what's the capacity? You can check it in your Arbitrium," She said.

Nero checked on his device, turning the knobs and dials until he found the information he wanted.

Pouch Volume: 0 / 147798 in³. Max Dimension: 46 in.

"You can change the unit. I suggest cubic feet," Amaryllis instructed.

Pouch Volume: 0 / 85.5 ft³. Max Dimension: 3.8 ft.

Nero looked at the numbers and thought out loud. "My gun won't fit. It is too big."

That triggered a bout of spasmodic laughter from the pixie. Nero looked at her confused. After a few minutes rolling on the couch, she steadied herself enough to speak.

"That's what he said."

Nero blinked his innocence away and blushed. Of all people to say naughty things, Amaryllis was not the one he was expecting anything like that from. In fact, how did pixies...

"No. No, no, no. Wipe that thought away. I can see what you are thinking by reading your perverted face. You are too young to know. Pixies are born from flowers when a baby laughs for the first time, okay? Flowers and babies. Yes."

It must be a metaphor like what they heard about the farmer and the soil, Nero thought.

An awkward silence followed. Nero didn't have anything on him that warranted storage in his dimensional pouch so it remained empty until Glom arrived.

"Oh, you're there. Have you been waiting for too long? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing," Both of them answered the squiig at the same time.

"Well, I got your gifts here with me, Nero," Glom patted his own dimensional pouch. "They are rather big, so we must go somewhere else."

Nero patted his own, "I just got one of these. Well, maybe not one like yours, I got the yellow one. Besides, His Highness is using the shelter now. I can't access it."

"Mine is yellow too. Well, if you have it, that's way easier. Let's use that table, shall we? Could you remove the vase?"

Nero smiled. "Of course, we don't want to break anything."

Glom jumped on the cleared table and started to remove things from his pouch. It was something Nero wasn't used to. The first item popped on his hand, too big to fit in the pouch's opening. It was a spool of conduit. A big one. Glom explained.

"Here. This is white-grade conduit. The grade is not related to the card colors but it tells you how much Essence you can channel through them before they burn and leak. And probably explode. This one has a few miles of white-grade conduit, you can play a lot with this. Of course, you'll need the converters and controllers. I know you have the ones salvaged from the Arbitrium but save those for the blue or yellow projects."

"I guess that with this conduit I can only make small, non-powered contraptions."

"Right. Now, the converters, actuators, and controllers. These are all white-grade," He pulled crates of components from his pouch. Nero stored them as he showed them or the table would be without room. "So, you will use all of it, until only scraps are left. Hone your skills. Try schematics. Make silly contraptions. Once you are done with these white pieces, disassemble what you did and salvage to make new things.

"Only when you are completely out of options with these white ones, you will upgrade to this," He pulled another spool, smaller than the first one. "Green-grade. You can do something useable with these. In fact, white-grade conduit and converters are considered defective products. Good for learning, that's true. This one here is commercial-grade. Of course, there's also the converters, actuators, and controllers. Here, here, and here."

Nero was amazed at the gift. It would allow him to pass his time in this dull boring job. "This is amazing. Thanks a lot, professor!"

Glom watched the crates vanish into Nero's storage in silence. "I hope you know what to do with these," He said after a while.

"Of course. I'm drawing the schematics from scratch, right? I'm going to... need a frame, and probably some scrap metal. I think I can salvage some plates from the Arbitrii parts."

"Yeah," Glom said with a chuckle. "You might want this. A few sheaves of sheet metal. You have an anvil and tools, You can cut and shape these. Welding iron, and normal cogwheels of assorted sizes."

"It keeps coming..." Nero mused.

"We are all excited to have a new apprentice. And if you hone those skills to work with us back at the Lyceum, it will be very good to have you on the team, research assistant!"

Nero checked his storage, thankful it measured by volume and not weight. The white and green components used up half of his space. The delicate crystals were stored with tons of padding. and wrapped in cloth or paper. "Yes, We'll find time to go back to the Lyceum once this madness is over."

"But that is all I got for you. This here is from Bezzias," And he pulled another conduit spool, smaller than the green. Now that Nero saw the previous ones, he could see the faint blue ring at the edge of the spool.

"Blue?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Blue. Once you are done with the green and have nothing else to disassemble and scavenge from the previous two grades, you can try something with this one. Don't waste this. Blue is for adventuring gear. Make sure you know what you are doing. And keep what you build with these. We want to see and you'll probably be graded on the quality of your work!"

This time Amaryllis was the one to laugh. "Yeah, you got homework, boy."

Nero stored the conduit, the crystals, cogwheels, and the sheet metal. There was a bronze, copper, and steel sheaf. "Give professor Bezzias my thanks!"

"Yeah. Now, you aren't going to touch any of these components, including the white-grade ones, before reading these," Glom took a pile of books.

Nero's eyes went wide seeing the pile of books. That alone would take months to read. Maybe he should take a time-dilating vacation in a Dungeon. Again. No, not a vacation. But time constraints aside, that looked just like the gnome.

"Let me guess, these are from professor Tinkwezilsky, right?"

Glom smiled. "Yes. He was very strict with the list of books I should get you, and even tasked me with finding two others for you. I bought these. They are schematics compendiums. You'll find a lot of basic and intermediate schemes for most circuits and effects in there. Also some blank notebooks and paper. You don't need ink, good for you."

If the notebooks were out, he was probably done. Nero stored everything in his own pouch, watching the volume go up to almost sixty cubic feet. Nero didn't want to ask for more but also loathed to play the fool in front of his mentors. He still decided to act the part.

"That's more than enough, right?"

Glom smiled, his whiskers twitching and a whiff of mischief in his eyes. "Maybe... Is there anything else you need?"

Nero paused to think. "Actually, yes. Could I get another copy of [Essence Manipulation]? I think it will help my [Monster Tamer] build."

"What grade?"

"Any grade. Thing is, I can tame monsters if I overwrite the Dungeon's Essence with my lifeforce. I thought [Essence Manipulation] might tip the odds in my favor."

Glom scratched the underside of his muzzle and twitched his ears. "I think I heard something about that a long time ago. I can get you a white or green one by tonight. Great, that means going out into town again. People here aren't used to looking where they go."

"We can go with you," Amaryllis offered.

The next morning they took Glom to the train station and he got on a military train going to the capital with messages. The professor only got permission to be on the train because he took a job to activate one hundred new recruits for the army. The diminutive Squiig seemed exhausted from spending the night working for his train ticket. Things one took for granted evaporated in a crisis, Nero noticed.

A soldier held Glom's trunk and waited for their final goodbyes before the train wagon.

"You make sure to sleep during the trip, okay?" Amaryllis hugged him. "No staring at the armor plates from inside!"

"You are too mean, Amaryllis!" Glom protested and then joked. "I was looking forward to studying the grain patterns on the steel sheets."

Both laughed, their sharp shrills echoing in the otherwise empty platform.

"Professor," Nero called him with an envelope in his hand. "Take these notes to professor Bezzias. It is some notes from the five days we delved with our extended party. I noticed the Accolade rate was half what it should be for us."

"I'll hand it to him, thank you," He took the envelope. "Testing large groups in a Dungeon is problematic. They don't remain large for too long and the reports are unreliable. Especially when high-end loot is involved."

Nero made a wry smile. "I know that all too well."

"We all do," the pixie let out a sigh filled with sorrow. "Off you go, furriest professor. We'll meet for tea when I get back to the capital in a few days. I just have a delivery to make and I'll be free."

The minotaur King's castle. That was one thing Nero had to see. The train engine whistled.

"Professor, it is time to go," the soldier with his trunk said.

"Well, that's a farewell then. Good luck, Nero. And do read all the books before wasting the parts we gave you."

"Will do, professor. Give my thanks to Bezzias and Tinkwezilsky."

The squiig jumped up the steps of the armored wagon after the soldier. The conductor closed the door and the train departed.

"Let's return to the castle, the prince is waiting, "Amaryllis said with disdain at the royalty. She opened a wide grin and poked Nero's forehead. "Race you there!"

The fairy zipped out of the station. Nero sighed and set into a jog after her. He had no hope of winning against a high-leveled winged creature.

Prince Tyre's entourage left the city walls after crossing from the inner keep in a parade. The leonal man's pride wouldn't allow anything less than that. The townsfolk came in droves to watch and cheer, at least the well-to-do upper echelon did. The beggars, vagrants, and homeless were properly kept out of sight in their slums and back alleys of other districts. Nero walked at the back, a place where nobody cared to look because the main attraction was gone. It was good enough for him.

His shelter was completely taken by the prince. A massive tent was set near the lake with a veritable tent camp spreading around. Most of the acacia trees to the side and behind the prince's tent was pruned down to make room for the tents. A wooden gatehouse sheltered the stone arch Nero created to hold the exit portal. He could make the portal open anywhere but didn't share that information with them. Anyone trying to enter the shelter would find himself inside a murder cage.

They dug holes for latrines in the far corners of the shelter and other holes for refusal and trash. Nero groaned as he imagined the trouble to clean up a month of offal from a hundred people. Maybe the shelter could absorb it but at least they limited their digging to the downwind side.

He droned along with the marching soldiers of the prince's personal support squad, where he was stationed as a civilian expert. Nero had the pleasure to meet his assigned caretaker and the prince's steward, Sir Mayleefa. The massive buffalo beast-kin was eight feet tall, as tall as the prince when standing his full height. He had coarse brown fur running along his arms and the back of his hands and wore a butler suit with armored plates. He had a full beard that wouldn't be hated in any dwarf's face, two horns a span long and floppy ears spreading out from the sides of his head. His face was a bit on the rugged and rough side but otherwise the same as every beast-kin.

Behind him, a wave of jeers and boos arose. Near the gate, they were joined by a battalion of prisoners destined to mine the Dungeons around the army campsite for supplies, equipment, precious Essence, and other cards rattled their chains as they moved along their keepers. That's where Valanaegornif found his new assignment. The elf Captain was very, very disgusted he was shoved into the prisoner warden position, another factual and visible proof he was out of favor with the prince.

Watching the otherwise dignified, arrogant, and haughty elf scowl and squirm was the silver lining Nero found in this whole crappy job.