“You spend half a day ruining a dozen perfectly prepared items and you crafted that?” the weird three-question mark man says, looking over my shoulder, several rods in his arms.

“It came out pretty good,” I say in my defense.

The look he gives me tells me he probably doesn’t agree, and then he asks, “Did you send the weapon away through your skill? It felt different this time.”

I just shrug. There is no sense in explaining; the system will censor it all and make the man go blank.

“So what is your plan?” I ask him.

Seeing that I don’t intend to answer, he doesn’t push, “First, we proceed to my workshop where I can make some better items. Then we will head towards the control room.”

“Not to the core?” I ask.

“Not unless you have a death wish.”

Then, before I can answer, he places three more rods and turns to me once the mana radiation lessens further. He hands me one of the unused spears near me, “Do it again.”

I decide to play along and do just that. My skills activate, and I start over again.

Then I feel a slap on the back of my head. My body is strengthened, my mana regulator turning a big part of my mana pool into reinforcement, yet it still makes me flinch.

Before I punch the man, he says, “Try it again, and don’t be in such a rush to change the item. Examine the pre-prepared pathways and feel the intent of the person that created that spear.”

He just snorts as he watches me glare at him, “You can try to punch me later if you want to. So?”

Instead of fighting, I send my senses through the item and get to examining it.

“The item you hold is something someone spent hours to create. They spent their mana to do so. They thought about how they wanted this item to look. The materials, rare or not, were carefully picked and smelted in an effort to realize their fullest potential. For all of that to happen, they had to study lifetimes of research authored by our predecessors and distributed by our teachers, a lot of people had to search for the materials, and a place had to be created to make it all happen.” He continues to observe my attempts. “So the least you can do is to pay a little bit of respect to the item in your hands, no matter how minuscule it might look to you.”

“I don’t agree,” I say, pausing my work on the item.

“Explain,” he asks me with interest.

“Items aren’t important. It doesn’t matter if they’re epic, rare, arcane, or something higher. Sure, it’s fine to use them, to hold them, or even be in awe of them. Maybe they’re useful, or maybe you learn something from them, but that’s it. You can’t rely on them too much or they’ll slow your growth. You can’t tiptoe around them, worried about damaging them because someone put effort into creating them.”

“That’s a very cynical way to look at it, but it also says a lot about you.”

“Sure.” I send my senses through the unfinished spear and examine it. “You told me to think about the intent of the creator of this weapon. But all I can see are useless pathways. The spear is pre-prepared so it constantly pulls bits of the user’s mana to sharpen the blade. Sending more should cause it to extend and become even sharper.”

My skills activate, and I scratch some of the prepared pathways, change others, and straight up block some more. “Like this, the finished item would become low epic at most and prioritize ease of use and reducing wear.”

The pathways I inscribe are much uglier, harsher, and more direct. They use more mana and require more from the user.

I turn to the man, “It's an item prepared to be pampered. A spear used by someone who prefers ease of use and looks over functionality. Someone who rarely bothers with combat. It's a toy, not a weapon.”

The inscriptions I create are more taxing to use but they allow more mana through. They allow the item to take damage over time. It's like removing fail-safes, even at the cost of the weapon’s lifespan.

I don't do it this way to improve the item’s rarity and price in a shop. No, I would do it this way even if I intended to use it or to give it to someone else.

Weapons are tools.

I pause for a while and turn to the man again. He returns my gaze and then nods. It's not in agreement but in understanding. Then he turns back, and I continue what I'm doing.

Multiple hours later when the weapon is ready, I sell it, gaining 2,200 more shards. Right after, my duplicate and I send a few more items to the bunker and wait for the man to finish his work before moving deeper into the station.

Meanwhile, our round of the tutorial has gained a new Beyond explorer.

Beyond 6/10 > Beyond 7/10

Gareth - woah, a new one has joined us, hello friend!

Tacita - (;-_-)ノ

Great, another troll.

Gareth - hello, Tacita, I'm Gareth, and I hope we get along!

Tacita - ʅ(°_°)ʃ

Grumpy - ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡ !!!This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Tacita - (☉_☉)

Grumpy - ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ

Tacita - ╭(°ロ°”)╯

After that, the messages end, and I’m left wondering what the hell just happened.

The used-to-be-dead man finally finishes his work and puts a chestplate on. The metal is still red-hot, but he ignores the heat, and it doesn't even touch his clothes. Once again, I notice a distinct lack of enchantments.

Then he hands us a few more rods, and we grab the ones we placed and head deeper into the bunker, following the man.

“Maybe we should at least ask him for his name,” I tell my duplicate.

“We can call him Bob.”

“That's what we called the arcane archer from the 4th floor. Maybe Dave?”

“Dave sounds good. Are your anchors still on his skin?”

I nod, “Two of them. I don't think I would be able to teleport him, but I could slow him down, and we could run. Other than his high constitution, he doesn't seem that strong. Maybe he is just the Absolute's personal blacksmith or something.”

Duplicate agrees, “At least two emblems from the Absolute, and the way he talks. Dave probably used to be an important person. He kind of reminds me of Cael.”

“I think all craftsmen are like that.” I cut off when Dave stops and places the iron rods in the hallway and one on the opposite side.

Then he turns to one of the doors and channels his mana into a mana stone set just over the frame.

Nothing happens, so he repeats it again and again.

He seems surprised, so he examines them and then, with a sigh, turns to me. “Please give me my wife's arm and bracelet,” he says.

It takes a moment for me to realize what he means by that, and I look at the severed arm we were using for unlocking the door and then at the man.

He shows no emotion, and when I hand him the arm, he takes it, and a moment later, the door opens.

He returns the arm without me asking, and enters the room, places the rods, then while my duplicate and I examine his workshop, he heads to a mana crystal in the corner of the room.

The room is massive, even bigger than the enchanting facility we came from. But this workshop is an unorganized mess. There are tons of materials scattered about, dried-up trees, suits of armor three times my size, chunks of stone as big as cars, and mana crystals.

There is no system, that I understand, to it, but at the same time, it feels cozier than the organized layout of the other facility.

“You two, come here,” he gestures to us, and after exchanging looks, both of us head to him.

He points at the pillar made of mana crystal, “Can you activate it? It should be connected to the core. The core is leaking and that’s what’s causing the current mana levels, but this crystal should still be getting some mana.

I don't bother asking him why he doesn't do it himself and only slightly examine it, but I don't find anything. So while my duplicate keeps watch, I delve deeper, using my skills to examine it and finally recognize the problem.

“It's physically cut off from the core and the system of this station. Probably some kind of manually initiated failsafe or something,” I explain.

He sighs as if he had expected but hoped to avoid, and then examines the rods we are using, “We have an hour or two before these rods become useless, and then a similar amount of time before the amulets fail. You can grab whatever you want, and I will point out some things I need you to move to the place you call the bunker.”

“Isn't that your workshop? Why would you give us these things?” the duplicate asks.

“Just do what I said.” The man we’ve decided to call Dave then ignores us and starts creating a pile of items he wants to bring with him.

As if planned, we step out of his workshop towards the rods he placed. As he said, they seem to be weakening, and a quick examination reveals some sort of corrosion on them.

Our [Mana Domain] activates, along with [Resonance] as we use [Infusion] to make the process even more seamless.

Then we take a step and pass by the rods.

Immediately, the pressure assaults us. It feels as if the mana crashes against us in a series of rhythmic waves, attempting to pass through our domain and Mantle.

It's incredible.

Even after a hundred years, the core of this Veil Ignition Station is still releasing so much mana. A core filled by Champion Niall, as Dave said.

Leaving anchors behind the rods, we take a few more steps, making sure the amulets the man gave us don’t interfere, all in order to test our skills.

It all feels a bit like [Dawn], the skill Champion Tristan, used while being manipulated by the Mind Mage emperor, at the end of the second floor. A skill powered by The Sword of Aeons, the greatest mana battery in that world. And with that, he alone wiped out nearly all of humanity on his planet.

[Mana Domain - lvl 34 > Mana Domain - lvl 35]

[Infusion - lvl 24 > Infusion - lvl 25]

Then, after giving our all for a moment we find ourselves pushed back behind the rods.

Returning back to the workshop, he welcomes us, and his weird senses examine our activated skills.

“So, you even have a Domain-class skill,” he notes and then points at the pile. “With the help of this, I can prepare something better so we can head deeper.”

“What is a Domain-class skill?” I ask, ignoring his items. When he gives me the look, I add, “We will move your things if you answer.”

Dave almost seems like he wants to ask something but decides against it, “I keep forgetting how little you know. Within the many classes of skills, there are domain-type skills. If mastered properly, they can be some of the most terrifying. For learning more, find yourselves a disciple, candidate, or Champion. Now move these.”

He doesn't say anything else and looks in the direction of the core of the station.

After that, we take our time, we examine the place, and move items until our mana takes a big hit. We also head back and examine some of the rooms that are further from the core. There, we find more corpses, even corpses of the monsters my Duplicate sent through to find out if the Gaiathra would notice them. The monsters are as dead as the humans we find.

The man seems to recognize some of human and when he kneels down in front of the corpse of a little girl, we leave him alone.

Soon, we feel heat fill the tunnels as he activates his emblems, and when he rejoins us, nothing remains of the bodies.

We return to the bastion, and I hand him the severed arm and bracelet.

He stares at it for a moment. I just wait patiently until he grabs it. After taking off the bracelet, he heads to the pile where we put other corpses, ready to examine them.

My clone and I leave to do our stuff, and soon flames light the tunnels of the Bunker as well.