Now to figure out how I'm going to hide this tattoo, Lucius thought as he looked into the mirror. If people find out, there's going to be a lot of commotion from everyone.

He tried puffing up his clothes in a way that would hide the tattoo, but after moving for a little bit, it would just fall back down to reveal the tattoo again.

Why couldn't the tattoo be somewhere that's less obvious? Lucius sighed. Maybe on my arm or leg or somewhere that I could easily hide.

Another idea came to mind. He went into his mom's room and grabbed some of her makeup that was a similar color to his skin tone. He applied it over the tattoo, hiding it.

Well, that worked pretty well, Lucius said. I should take some with me just in case. He divided what he could into an empty makeup tin and put a small brush inside. He dropped it into a plastic bag and stuck it into his pocket.

Eza was resting on his bed, staring at Lucius while he was concealing his tattoo. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Tattoos are not natural things in this world," Lucius said. "In fact, my family or I could be arrested if they found out I have a tattoo. That's why I'm keeping it hidden until I turn eighteen next year."

"That's a good idea. Sorry that I put the mark in such an obvious spot," Eza apologized.

"It's no problem. I only need to conceal if for around a year," Lucius said. "Wanna come meet my family?"

"Sure," Eza said and hopped to Lucius.

They went out to the kitchen, where his sister and his mom were eating breakfast.

"Mornin'," his mom said through a mouthful of food.

"Good morning," Lucius said. He seemed like the only one that was awake. His sister had dark bags under her eyes and his mom looked like she wanted to go back to sleep after she ate. "I got a pet yesterday."

"Can you take care of it without making a big mess?" His mother asked.

"Yup! It won't be hard!" Lucius responded.

Especially since it's intelligent and I can properly communicate with it, Lucius gladly thought.

Lucius set it down and went and grabbed breakfast. When he looked back, it looked like his sister found some joy in it. She was petting it while eating, and it didn't look like Eza minded.

Lucius smiled.

After he ate his breakfast, he went on his computer. He loaded up one of his games, a sci-fi first-person shooter. He didn't play many video games, but he did pay occasionally.

As he was playing, he thought about how the technology worked. Ammo was a big restriction in combat, and reloading wasted a lot of precious time.

It would be really cool if I could make a weapon that didn't rely on ammo, Lucius thought. He was thinking about it when an idea sparked in his head.

He quit his game and grabbed a piece of paper and pencil.

For the bullet part, I could have a Mana Crystal absorb a crystal, then put an AE Crystal on another end. It would launch it at a high velocity. I don't need to shoot crystals; I could fire what the expel, Lucius thought as he sketched a design for it. I can figure out what crystal it would absorb later.

For the body, I could use Brightmetal-if I have any. If I want a strong weapon, I could make multiple barrels since all that would be inside the barrel would be an AE Crystal. I could make something where the Mana Crystal would be spinning pretty quick and constant so it would be automatic. It would be too wide for a normal gun, so I could make it into an arm cannon.

For the inner mechanisms, I could have an AE Crystal in each of the barrels and Mana Crystals right behind all of the AE Crystals. To keep it spinning, I could... uh... erm.... make a continuous circuit with crystals to keep them all spinning. If I want to use it, I could pull a string or something that would spin a Mana Crystal infused with a Wind Crystal, then that would hit an AE Crystal which would hit two crystals. One would be the Mana Crystal in charge of producing the bullets, the other could be facing the opposite direction. It would be a Mana Crystal with another Wind Crystal that would turn the starting Mana Crystal, and the cycle would just repeat itself. Yeah, that should work. Might work, Lucius theorized.

I'll just set these aside for now, Lucius thought. Making a refrigerator should be top priority right now. He grabbed more paper.

"Eza?" Lucius asked. She was still being hogged by Lucius' little sister.

"Yes?"

"Is there such thing as something that cools down the place around it? Something like ice that won't melt."

"Let me think," she said. She went quiet for a little bit. In the meantime, Lucius on his computer and searched up how fridges worked.

But it was confusing. It was by far the most confusing topic he tried to wrap his mind around. It didn't matter how many times he read a page over or how many web pages he went to, he couldn't understand it. However, he did find that silver is an extremely good conductor of heat.

"There is the fang of the snow baboon that is constantly radiating chills, even after it is removed from the body. There is also an ore called Cooling Ore that will cool down its atmosphere at a crazy extent. If you rest it outside, say, at around fifty degrees, it will drop the temperature to around ten degrees." Eza finally responded.

(AN: Note, this is in Fahrenheit.)

"Ooh. Where could I get that?" Lucius asked.

"Most alchemy shops sell it," Eza said. "Also, the school can probably loan you some if you can't get your hands on any, but I recommend you go to shops if you want a new one."

"Alright. I'll head there soon," Lucius said. He finished the design for the fridge.

It would be encased in a layer of wood, and underneath would be a thick layer of Blackmetal. Two side walls would have indentations that would contain a total of two Cooling Ores that will bring the temperature down. Lucius figured that it would be enough to keep food from perishing.

Lucius set the papers in front of him and turned his attention to Zenos.

Lucius woke up and went straight to his workshop. He looked at what materials he had. He about seventeen chunks of Blackmetal, and he estimated that it would only be enough for about one side of the fridge. He needed a lot more, plus, he also needed Cooling Ores. He also wanted to start building his weapon, so he needed more materials.

He headed to the storehouse and dug around to see if he could scavenge any materials. He dug around in a bin full of crystals, being especially careful not to break any of them, and found useful things. He found plenty of Mana Crystals, Wind Crystals, AE Crystals; he had enough to finish a prototype and a final design. Digging around in another bin, he found a few pieces of what he thought were Blackmetal, but it still wasn't enough. Wood wasn't a problem, as the town still had a massive stockpile from clearing out the forest before the Voxis Kingdom waged war.

After depositing all the useful materials in an empty bin, he grunted as he lifted the box up and carried it to his workshop.

Making wheels would be extremely good, Lucius thought as he began to just drag the box. I feel like making something like a bearing would be weird. And difficult.

As he dragged along, he passed by the mysterious seeds that he found. They finished sprouting and it seemed like they were growing at a slow yet steady pace.

Careful not to drag his cargo over the plants, he made his way to the workshop. He slid open the door and set the box down. Wiping the sweat from his face, he grabbed his pistol, katana, his pack, a decent amount of money, and left. He grabbed two pre-imbued Transportation Gems- one led to Trupe City, the other lead back to Baylight- and cracked one at his feet. He was engulfed in blue smoke as he was transported to Trupe City.

Once it cleared, Lucius got his bearings on where he was and headed to Market Square. He arrived and looked around for an alchemist shop. He found one and entered.

The interior looked like a witch house. There was a big cauldron, potions of multicolored liquids; anything that you would think that would be in a witch shop. Lucius carefully looked for the Cooling Ores.

After browsing the sections, he found them. There were several pieces of Cooling Ore with the price of twenty-five Orbs each.

That's actually pretty expensive, Lucius thought grimly as he grabbed two off the shelf. He looked at more shelves for Blackmetal.

He quickly found them amongst other metals, such as Brightmetal, Steel, and common iron. Unlike the Cooling Ores, Blackmetal was much cheaper. They were only five Orbs for a decent size ore. Lucius grabbed a bunch of those. He also grabbed alloyed Brightmetal, which cost more, but Lucius needed them.

He paid, put the ores in his pack, and left the shop. His pack was heavy from the ores, but he wouldn't have to walk far. Just far enough to use the Transportation Orb without being seen.

Lucius approached to gate to the forest. The guards were monitoring the crowd that was both entering and leaving. The guards winked at Lucius, as he was the one that took down the Grade B monster, and let him through. Once he was a distance away from the city, he threw the Transportation Gem at his feet.

Lucius headed to his workshop with his materials and set them down. He removed everything from the pack and set it out on a table.

In total, he had enough ores to build the fridge and had enough Brightmetal to build a prototype for his new weapon, if his estimates were accurate.

Without further time to waste, Lucius began the build the fridge. He lit a fire, tossed in some Fire Crystals and stabbed the heated edge of his katana in to get an extremely hot fire, and put the Blackmetal in a Brightmetal container to melt.

Once it was a raging goopy inferno, he carefully removed it from the heat and poured it into a rectangle of extremely damp dirt.

Unlike normal dirt, the dirt on Zenos was far more resilient and didn't start combusting if it was heated to high temperatures. It was able to hold molten Blacksteel until it cooled. He repeated this process to form two squares and four rectangles of molten Blacksteel.

He couldn't do anything with it while it cooled, so he moved his focus to the Brightmetal. He had no idea how he was going to shape the metal into an arm cannon. He had the shape, but there was no way to make the shape; he wasn't skilled enough with metal to do it, plus he didn't have the proper tools.

Lucius went outside to take a breather, making sure to keep the door open, and thought of some ideas.

He could dig an indentation in the ground and fill it with molten Brightmetal. However, it would take a really long time to dig out the indentation he wanted.

So, he just worked on the inner mechanics. After spending some time cooling outside, Lucius went back inside the heated workshop and dug some materials out.

On a slab of wood, he began laying out the innards. Three AE Crystals spread an equal distance apart with an empty Mana Crystal behind them. He put another empty Mana Crystal next to it and put the Wind Crystals into position.

The final layout wasn't that big, but it was a lot bigger than what Lucius planned out. Along with the shell, it would be massive and bulky to wear and use.

So, Lucius spent the next hour experimenting with different setups for the crystals. It took some time, but he got the layout tighter and more compact by tinkering with the Mana Crystals.

It turned out that the Mana Crystals were highly moldable. Lucius was actually able to cut and reshape the crystal using his katana, and after letting it absorb a crystal, it produced the same effect. Since most of the mechanics relied on Mana Crystals, the bulk of the innards were just those.

However, he couldn't infuse an AE Crystal with a Mana Crystal. The Mana Crystal would just shatter in his face when it tried, so he gave up on that. Nonetheless, he managed to get it to a decent size that wouldn't be too heavy or awkward if he got the shell big enough.

Whew, Lucius thought as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. The cooling metals were beginning to harden, but it still dumped loads of heat into the workshop. Lucius thought of making an entire new ventilated room for cooling metals so that the main part wouldn't become an oven. Now for the biggest challenge. How am I going to mold metal into a shape so specific?

He pondered it for a while before an idea sparked.

Why don't I just go to a blacksmith or something and have them make it for me? Lucius thought. They can probably make one without problem since they have magic and the proper tools at their disposal.

Lucius drew the design on a scrap of wood and headed down to the village. Most of the population was out, running shops or working. It was nearly noon.

Lucius headed to the blacksmith that Talis owned, the beast man that gave Lucius the piece of Brightmetal. He opened the door, felt the familiar heat blast, and entered.

"Ah, Lucius!" Talis called out. He was tending the fire with an air pump and adding fuel. "What can I do for you today?"

"I was hoping that you could turn a piece of Brightmetal into a quite complicated shape for me," Lucius asked. He showed Talis the design.

"It might be doable..." Talis said as he looked at the designs and measurements. "No, never mind. Not for me at least. I don't have the proper tools to make something that small with those holes."

"Alright," Lucius said. "Sorry for taking your time."

"No problem," Talis said as Lucius was leaving. "Hey, make sure you bring some of those tasty fruits over sometime!"

Lucius cracked a big smile. "Don't worry, I will!"

Lucius went and grabbed his gun. He would take his katana, but it was currently covered in molten metal. He couldn't bring it with him before cleaning.

He grabbed some orbs and threw a Transportation Gem at his feet. He was transported back to Trupe City.

Back here again, Lucius thought and headed to Market Square. He headed to the shop "SMITHING AND METALS" and pushed open the door.

"Oh, it's you again!" The clerk said and waved. "The only one that returned conscious after the Grade B monster attacked."

"Is that known everywhere now?" Lucius groaned.

"Pretty much," she said. "Don't tell anyone that I told you this, but there is another rumor about how you were the one that injured everyone, killed the Grade B monster, and used magic to escape with it."

"That's a load of horse shit. I can't even use magic!" Lucius exclaimed.

The clerk laughed, but abruptly stopped when she realized that Lucius was serious. "For real?"

"Yeah," Lucius said. "I have zero magic power, and I'm not even exaggerating."

"Well... that puts a new light on things," the clerk said. "Where did the beast go then?"

"I'm not sure," Lucius lied. "I left to tell the guards in a rush, but I didn't take anything with me."

"Oh," the clerk said and scratched her chin. "Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I want a design like this made," Lucius said and handed her the paper. She looked it over.

"This is odd, but I can make it pretty quick. How soon do you want it?"

"As soon as possible. How fast do you think you can make it?"

"In a few hours," she said. "Are you supplying the materials?"

"Yeah," Lucius said and pulled out the alloyed Brightmetal. "Would this be enough?"

"Plenty," the clerk said. "That reduces the cost and my troubles greatly, so thanks."

Lucius paid in advance.

"Thank you," she said as she slid the orbs in a drawer. "I recommend you don't wander off far because it won't take long."

"Alright," Lucius said. "I'll see you then!" He left the shop and went around.

He ended up in a library and read about many things while he waited.