Chapter 1

Kreuzan’s Job Shop

The Engineering City of Verith in the Province of Rork

Myles sat in a corner of a job shop bent over an aether forge. Sweat dripped down his brow despite the blizzard raging outside. The latest order was a set of 500 small cogs. Apparently one of the local manufacturer’s machines had broken and they could not make the piece without it. Myles looked around at the rest of his crew as they bent over another three forges. In the distance, other crews could be heard carrying out their own tasks. The shop, Kruezan’s, as it was called was always busy fulfilling miscellaneous orders from the local manufacturers.

“Look lively Mylo! Looks like management is on the floor today.” Myles turned back to his half-completed cog; the metal having cooled slightly. Myles reached out and pulled a lever down once to stoke the flames. The cogs were somewhat tricky to hammer out due to the complex design and the need for uniformity. Myles pursed his lips in concentration, ignoring the sweat as it dripped down his forehead. Blow after blow, Myles carefully pulled the metal into the shape of the cog. With a quick comparison to the blueprint that he had hung on the wall beside him, he grinned with satisfaction and plunged the hot metal into the trough he had prepared.

As Myles set the cooled cog into the product bin, he risked a glance behind him. A tall woman who Myles knew to be Julia Kruezan, the owner of the shop, was guiding a well-dressed man through the cluttered shop floor towards them. Myles silently thanked his crewmate for giving him a heads up. The last thing he wanted was to be caught unawares when the boss was showing around what was almost certainly a potential client. Myles was about to start on another cog when he was interrupted by a shout from Miss Kruezan.

Myles stopped with his hand half inside the bin where he had been about to pull out a new ingot. That could not be good. The boss was as famous for her high standards as she was for her ability to jump in with any crew at a moment’s notice. Myles immediately dropped what he was doing and turned around to face the boss and her unknown companion.

“How can I help you Miss Kruezan?” Myles asked respectfully. Miss Kruezan remained silent as she approached, rolling her eyes as she pulled her companion away from nearly running into a vat of boiling oil. It was only when she had dragged the gentleman to stand right in front of Myles’ forge that she decided to speak further.

“Mr. Habe, this is the promising young smith that I mentioned earlier. His name is Myles Redman.” Mr. Habe stepped up closer to Myles as if to look deeply into his eyes.

Stretching out his hand, Mr. Habe suddenly straightened up. “It is good to meet you Myles! It is always a pleasure to meet young men and women who are talented beyond their years. To think that a 16-year-old would be operating a forge with such efficiency. Incredible! Simply Incredible!”

Myles shook his hand quickly and then took a careful step backwards. Myles had never been particularly enthusiastic when meeting new people, but he did not want to offend a potential client, so he offered his best attempt at an enthusiastic greeting. Judging from Miss Kruezan’s amused expression it was clearly a little forced.

Fortunately, Mr. Habe did not seem put off by the forced response. He reached into the bag that he wore over his shoulder before realizing he might be acting rudely and glanced up at Miss Kruezan for permission. A quick chuckle and nod gave Mr. Hape all the affirmation he needed, and he pulled a piece of paper out of his bag, groaning from the strain of standing up. The paper appeared to be a blueprint of a similar style to the one that Myles had hanging up on his forge already.

Feeling a little relieved now that he was back in his element, Myles reached out for the paper. “Do you mind if I take a look at that sir?”

The gentleman gave an enthusiastic grin and handed the blueprint over. “My friend’s nephew is going to be joining the railway soldiers soon so I thought I would give him a gift. Miss Kruezan was kind enough to recommend your services. I’ve always found that tools that have a special story to them always seem to perform better.”

“That sounds great sir! Have you already discussed a timeline?” Myles was barely holding back his excitement. Individual commissions came in from time to time, but they had all been assigned to the more senior craftsmen. This must mean that he was doing well for himself.

Mr. Habe seemed confused by the question. “I actually rather hoped that you could do it in front of me.”

Myles was taken back by this request and was about to say that forging a unique item was a rather slow process and it would probably be quite boring when Miss Kruezan decided to interject again.

“Of course! I’m sure that you will be able to enjoy the show!”

Myles tried and failed to avoid turning to her to give her a look of incredulity. Having no other choice and being in unfamiliar territory now, Myles decided to start commentating what he was doing.

“The first thing that I do when I look to start forging something is look at the blueprints to understand what I’m making.” Myles glanced down at the blueprints and gave a small wince. The blueprints outlined various moving parts that seemingly had to be sized correctly to join together at certain points. As a whole, it was fairly obvious that it was designed by an aether engineer. Each of the parts was to be made of a specific metal. Myles had been told that aether engineers were so specific since they had to deal with properties other than just the physical ones. For example, the forge he used needed a special metal that was better suited for fire mana. None of that was the issue though. The issue was that it was way too complicated for him to be able to even start gathering the materials he would need without an hour of study. Myles almost threw his boss another look but was able to stop himself this time.

“Is something the matter?” Mr. Habe seemed genuinely curious about the process, so Myles decided to stick with his commentary idea.

“The blueprint is fairly complicated since it was designed as an aether device. Each part requires a specific metal. It looks like the…” Myles stopped momentarily considering what to call the bit he was referring to, “…primary blade sickle’s retractable tip is made out of basium.” Myles almost stopped right there. He seriously wondered how anyone could possibly use a weapon this complicated without cutting themselves to ribbons or considering this was an aether weapon probably also catching themselves on fire while simultaneously freezing themselves.

Instead of stopping, Myles continued his commentary. “Unlike the tip, the primary blade itself is made of tachium, the secondary blade of farium, and the hilt of…” Myles looked at the blueprints in alarm. The hilt was made of a metal called channium. Myles was not an expert with knowing anything except for the physical properties of metals, that was not his job. That said, Myles had worked on enough aether related pieces to know that engineers tended to use it for conducting mana. If it were used as a handle, uninsulated as it was, it could deal serious damage just from picking the device up.

Myles decided that he should probably point out what must be a huge error. “Mr. Habe can I ask you how confident you are in the engineer who designed this?”

Myles did not get the reaction he expected. Instead of looking concerned, Mr. Habe was literally dancing with delight. Miss Kruezan also let out a relieved sigh as if she had just heard great news.

Stopping his dance, Mr. Habe gave a quick bow. “I apologize for my rudeness, but I had to carry out the test without you knowing you were being tested.”

Myles stared blankly back at him still confused.

“I am a recruiter for the Veridian family. They pay me to find top talent in unexpected places. I was hoping that you have the potential I was looking for and it seems I was right.”

Myles steadied himself on the table. The Veridian family. If that was the same Veridian family as the one that ran Veridian Enterprises, then he was being scouted by the biggest manufacturer in the entire province. Why would they want him though?

“You seem a little confused. I noticed an irregularity in the books of a manufacturer and ended up discovering that the unusual spike in profits was caused by higher-than-expected part yield. Meaning that they had fewer defective parts than they expected. I traced that work back to you and I decided to test you to see if you have what I’m looking for.”

“What was I being tested on if you don’t mind me asking?”

“The biggest problem that most aether engineers have is seeing past what they are supposed to know to find what they need to know. The fact that you questioned those blueprints means that you have the nature of a successful aether engineer.”

Myles almost started jumping up and down at the implication. As a smith, Myles could be considered a skilled laborer, but he was still a laborer. He did not have the resources to get an education either, so, he was unlikely to ever be able to find a better job. Besides that, Myles had…kind of started idolizing aether engineers recently.

“If you are willing, I would like you to accompany me to my office to go over the details. Your boss,” Mr. Habe nodded towards Miss Kruezan, “has already given you leave to accompany me.”

As they left, Myles could not help but return all the confused waves he got with a smile.