Thao looked like a kid going to the candy shop as he led Hugo across the city. He kept glancing over to the crossbow and grinning. After a twenty minute trip through the city, the barrier sentinel showed Hugo a store with a stylized hammer and sword on the front. Inside there were rows of weapons and tools. Hammers and saws sat opposite swords and shields. It seemed high end, but it didn’t seem like anything was runed. Hugo could tell this was one of those stores where the proprietor lived above the shop. There was a small office in the back, which is all that a formation mage would need to create their products.

With an eager voice, Thao called out, “Huong, my favorite cousin. I have a fantastic opportunity for you.”

“I am your only cousin in town, I can’t help but be your favorite. Who is this lovely lady you have brought me? She would make an excellent shopkeep, just stand there and look beautiful to draw in customers,” Huong said and stepped out from behind a counter.

“I am far more than eye candy, little man. I am a formations mage,” Hugo said.

“Happy to meet a fellow practitioner,” Huong said, “Is this one of your creations?” he said, gesturing to the crossbow.

“Yes, it’s a heavily modified crossbow. Your cousin mentioned you might be interested in buying the design. It can send quarter pound bolts nine hundred yards. The magazine below the stock holds up to six bolts at a time, and this lever here means that I can shoot all six of them in less than five seconds,” Hugo said and pointed out the different features. Then he slung the crossbow over his shoulder by the strap and pulled out his diagrams. “These are instructions on how to make your own. Each part is sketched out and I have written out my own fabrication calculations.”

Huong reached out to take the papers. Hugo tucked them back away and said, “I would only hand them over after you agreed to buy them, of course.”

“Of course,” Huong said and tucked his hands behind his back, “What elements do you use?”

“The crossbow is made with an alloy of titanium and mithril. The stock is orange osage wood,” Hugo said and pointed out the parts.

“Oof, mithril. Definitely don’t have that element. You don’t look like one of the metal guild’s lackeys, how did you even get approval for it?”

Hugo smiled, “Don’t worry about that. You don’t need mithril or even titanium to replicate the design. Looks like you can fabricate steel, I am sure that would work just fine. Your crossbow would just be a little heavier than mine. The power comes from leaf springs just like a regular crossbow, so you can replicate that in steel, no problem.”

“How do you translate the energy from the springs into the in-line bowstring and not lose massive amounts of power? And don't the tight curves put a lot of stress on the pulleys? How do you account for that?” Huong said.

“Well, there is a reason you are paying for the designs instead of just making your own after a glance at mine,” Hugo said.

“Right you are,” Huong said, “I am certainly interested in buying your diagrams. Are you offering exclusive rights on the design?”

Hugo thought about it for a bit, “One platinum for the diagrams and help creating your own version. Three platinum for exclusive rights.”

“Platinum? You are expecting platinums for a bit of paper?” Huong said. He took a step back.

Hugo stood there silently. Thao spoke up, “Half pound bolts are incredibly heavy, cousin. Most arrows are a fraction of that. This crossbow has to have a massive draw strength to be able to send a bolt nine hundred yards away.”

“I don’t need your help negotiating,” Huong said crossly. Thao held up his hands and backed up, “My cousin seems to be enamored with the power of your weapon, I want to see that in person before I even consider paying a platinum. There is an archery range just down the block, do you mind if I try it out there?”

“That’s just fine,” Hugo said affably.

“Thao, watch the shop,” Huong said.

Hugo couldn’t help but smile that the overly eager sentinel was being left behind. They arrived just as the range was closing for the day, but Huong knew the owner so he convinced them to leave it open for them. Hugo fabricated two bolts, bottoming out his mana. He had a massive mana pool, but creating things all day had used it up. Hugo loaded both bolts into the magazine and handed the crossbow over to the shopkeep.

Huong took the crossbow and marveled at how light it was. It was large in his human hands, but still easy to cock. He sighted downrange at the target sixty yards away.

Before the shopkeep fired, Hugo said, “At this range, assume no drop.”

Adjusting his aim, Huong fired. The bolt pierced the center of the target and completely disappeared. A large crack sounded. Huong quickly pulled the reloading lever and shot again. This one shot through the target as well, slightly to the left.

After the second bolt was fired, the range owner came out and yelled at them. The bolts had gone through the targets, through the sand backstop behind it, and cracked the stone walls behind that. Huong quickly promised to pay for the damages.

“Alright, your design is useful, I will grant you that,” Huong said, “But I don’t know how it will work in steel. It will take hours of recalculating just to start on the fabrication. And with the number of parts here, it would take me four days of mana just to fabricate it. If it doesn’t work right, then it’s another week of tweaking the design. That’s a lot of time and money to invest on something that might not be as effective in steel.”

Hugo just nodded along. If the man wasn’t interested, he wouldn’t be coming up with problems. “Sounds like you want it to work. It would be a fantastic seller if you got it to work right, huh? It’s a compact design that anyone can quickly learn how to use. Massive power, fast and easy reloading. Much easier to aim than a bow. How much do you think you could charge for one?”

“I don’t know, there are a lot of factors that would come into play,” Huong said.

Hugo continued, “Let’s be pessimistic, say it only goes for thirty gold. Do you think you would have at least four customers that would want one? Know any sentinels or harvesters? And after those four customers bought their crossbows, don’t you think at least some of them would send more people your way? Come on. You know this is a money maker. Your only decision is whether or not you want to have an exclusive on the design. How much are you spending today? One plat or three?”

“I can’t pay three platinum today. That’s just ridiculous. And I was thinking the non exclusive design should go for fifty gold. That’s a lot of money. I can even give you referrals to a few shops, you could have your three platinum within the week.”

“No, I am getting a platinum for the designs. Whether it is you or someone else. Once any formation mage sees this baby in action, they will hand over the money, easy,” Hugo said. He turned and started walking out of the archery range.

Huong followed him out and said, “If I do this, you gotta promise me you won’t sell the design to anyone on this street. Sell the others in the rich part of town, or take a train to a different town.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Hugo said. He wasn’t particularly invested in staying here, so if he exhausted the local demand for his crossbow designs, he wouldn’t mind traveling around to other cities. At this point, it seemed like riese from Ettel had given up searching for him.

They walked back to Huong’s shop, the Hammer and Sword. He wrote up a contract for the sale and Hugo signed it as Lina. Huong walked back to his safe while Hugo chatted with Thao. He was excited about getting his own crossbow. He seemed sure that his cousin would make him one as a thank you.

“Bit of bad news, Lina. I don’t have enough on hand. I only have eighty-seven gold on me right now. I can get you the remaining thirteen gold, but you would have to wait until tomorrow. Do you just want to come back then and we can complete the sale?” Huong said nervously.

Hugo shook his head, “Nah. Let’s just figure out something right now. I’ll take the eighty-seven and something else in exchange.” He started wandering around the shop. There were plenty of useful tools and weapons. None of them were particularly appealing. Hugo could create whatever he wanted and didn’t see any designs he hadn’t seen before. Then he had an idea and pointed at Thao and said, “How about you take me on a quick harvesting trip? We can go out until I hit rank thirty-two or until we get thirteen gold worth of mana stones? Huong here can give you his first crossbow as payment.”

Huong nodded along and said, “I was going to charge you forty gold, so that’s a good deal.”

“You were going to charge me forty gold? Your own cousin? That hurts man. Right here,” Thao said and punched his chestplate. He turned to Hugo and said, “Yeah sure, I can get my squad to give you the full royal treatment. We can leave as soon as jerkface here gives me a crossbow as strong as yours.”

Hugo smiled. They added that to the contract and Hugo gave Thao his contact details at the Gilded Lily. Hugo handed him the diagrams and walked Huong through the design with his working crossbow as a guide. He went over how the cams multiplied the force the gears were putting on the crossbow leaves. They had to go over that part twice, but eventually he got it. He even gave Hugo a suggestion on how to improve the design. It was a little panel that covered the trigger when not in use. This crossbow was incredibly powerful, and this would prevent accidental shots. Hugo resolved to add it to his own design.

It was almost dark by then, and Hugo invited them to dinner. Huong said it wasn’t right for him to pay, and insisted that Thao pay instead. The three of them had a great dinner at The Startled Drake, they had troll meat lasiniai and silke su pomidor made with kraken. It was spicy and delicious. Hugo resolved to set aside more of his money for monster meat meals. They were delicious and filling in more than one way. The meat had trace amounts of mana and helped refill his mana pool faster. He already had twenty points by the time dinner was done.

Afterwards, he headed straight back to the hotel. He planned on writing up a few more diagrams for his crossbow. Tonight he was going to celebrate. He planned on spending all eighty-seven gold tonight. He already had ravim, he was going to add some expensive spirits and meads to the mix. The casino was calling his name. Maybe he would even pay for some company tonight. There were a few companion girls that worked the casino floor that he had his eye on. He shivered. Maybe not. He wasn’t sure if he wanted his first experience to be as a girl.

As he walked up to his hotel, a riese woman stepped out of the shadows and said, “Lina?”

“Yes?” Hugo said. He didn’t recognize whoever this was.

She was heavily armored. She pulled out a crystal stiletto dagger and said, “Lina of the Brambled Woods. You need to come with me.”

Hugo swore out loud. A mercenary sent by Ettel royalty or a zealot for The Mother had found him. He had no plans on going anywhere with her. He looked over her shoulder and said, “What do the two of you want with me?”

The mercenary glanced over her shoulder to see who he was talking about. Hugo took the opportunity to bolt. She shouted at him to stop, but he didn’t even look back as he ran for a nearby alley. Before he could get there, he heard a whistle. Instinctively, he threw up a barrier behind himself.

The barrier shattered with a tinkling crack less than a moment later. At the same time, Hugo felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. As he ducked into the alley, a few more whistles and shattering sounds rang out. Hugo looked down at his shoulder to see a crystal poking out through the flesh. It had gone all the way through him. The mercenary was a crystal formation mage, and a high ranked one if she had that much strength.

He was unarmored, injured, low on mana, and the mercenary was definitely stronger than him. Hugo swore again.