Jack of All Trades, Master of All

Triopals

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Herald: nbd000.

Archon: Morninglight.

Five hundred mana crystals were the amount Jack had spent this month on his research. 

Sitting in a fifty-meter square room, almost empty, save for the mechanism before him, the tediousness of his work was all the more evident in his blackened eyes. Memory entertained him a bit, vaguely remembering the mundane days of his college project back on Earth. Hard he had tried, meals he had ignored, and nights he had skipped, yet, the result hadn't yet satisfied him. Theoretical estimation could always use some more variables to complicate itself.

Jack slapped himself on both cheeks, forcing his eyes open.

“Experiment number twenty-two,” he said, adding fifteen mana crystals into the feed entrance of the mechanism.

If this one turned out like the previous twenty-one, Jack reckoned he would have to put this project on hold. It didn’t mean he would give up, for he could come back to it later on, but rents and bills were piling up, and the last of his saving was gone. Only now did he realize how costly crafting professions were. No wonder Bastian could never get himself anything better than that run-down of a place, despised charging his customer like a mad man.

The crystals ran down the tubes, during which they were cracked and shattered by tiny moving spikes, releasing the mana smoke that was sucked into a small orb in the middle of the whole thing.

“Ten percent loss, as expected,” Jack said to himself.

The content of the orb was then pushed into the premade medium. The Electric Monster Core lowered its energy output, reducing the heat and barely keeping the whole system working.

The mana smoke went through a membrane before entering the herbal mixture.

“Another fifty percent loss,” Jack said unenthusiastically, “as expected.”

Jack took out one last crystal and placed it into a mold right next to the Monster Core. 

This better work!

The crystal was cracked, its energy absorbed directly into the Core. In a blink of an eye, an electrical field was released, creating a mana dome much like the traditional spirit barrier. It covered the medium and slowly shrunk back. Efficiency-wise, Jack wouldn’t rate this one too highly. Still, it did its job.

“Twenty-five percent recovered,” Jack mumbled. “Does that mean… mean…,” his eyes brightened up. “A success?”

A mechanical arm sealed the jar, then put the product on the table to the side, completing the process.

Jack quickly walked forward, holding the precious result in his hand. It was a glimmering blue color, just as good as his first hand-crafted five-times-enhancement attempt.

“YESSSSSS!” Jack couldn’t help yelling and lifting both of his feet off the ground.

Looking around, seeing the scraps and junk of the past month, he held the jar even tighter. Then, the final explosion of exultation came with the System’s notification.

You have earned experience from crafting Lesser Mana Potion.

“YES! YESSSS! YESSSSSSSSS!” Jack yelled as if he had never yelled in his life.

Proven, his theory was. He had successfully utilized the System’s features and knowledge to create the ultimate weapon: a source of passive income and experience. It reminded him of some silly idle games he had once played where he could level up without doing anything.

Jack delighted himself with a dance and a song, no background music required.

“Jack?” Dean concernedly called out from outside the room, “are you alright?”

“Better than ever, Dean!” Jack answered without stopping his laughter.

His mind quickly shifted toward other intentions. With this project a success, he would be able to accelerate his growth by focusing on other matters. Envisioning five, or even ten, of these working at maximum capacity and the experience it could gain for him, Jack was on cloud nine. With levels also came stats and skill points for him to use. Perhaps, somewhere in the Crusader part of Artificer, Jack would find more solutions to enhance his materials, cut down costs, and maximize his profits.

Jack opened the door to see Dean, who couldn’t be more concerned about Abraham's sweet little boy. Seeing the kid’s wide smile comforted him somewhat.

“Here,” Jack gave Dean the Mana Potion, “give it to Abraham and tell him I did it.”

“You did it?” Dean said in absolute surprise, which quickly turned to astonishment. Nobody had seen Jack suffer during the last month more than this wholehearted assistant.

“Well, it seems like you have to work even harder tomorrow,” Jack winked his eyes.

“I’ll inform Abraham right away,” Dean didn’t mind expressing his pleasure. He had been rewarded quite handsomely while working with Jack.

“Oh,” Jack bit his lips, hesitating his words, “please tell my father to pay in advance, you know.”

Dean winked, gathering stuff into his bag.

“Oh yeah, there have been quite a few students and families returning from Mocester,” Dean said as he was about to exit.

“Yeah, so?” Jack indifferently asked.

“The Horvath kid is among them or something. I remember seeing you two hanging out with each other a lot, right?”

Jack went to Rolerra schoolyard as a few parents were exchanging words with the teachers about the course after failing Koisine academy. Thomas was standing with his father, who was talking to Juan Scaro of the Warrior faction. All he could do was keep his head down and let the adults make the arrangement. 

Traditionally, senior students after graduation can attend tutoring sessions with a specific teacher. The door to Kosine might have been closed for them, but with a decent and wholehearted tutor, a bright future was still there for them to take. Of course, such a comprehensive, detailed, and rather effective teaching method couldn’t be available for all. Juan was, therefore, always on the top of the priority due to the Warrior’s easy accessibility, as well as high job demand here in Oxdale. Parents flocked to make themself acquainted with the teacher, hoping to have their child accepted. 

Jack spent quite some effort waving his hand to catch Thomas’s attention. The Horvath kid was surprised to see Jack at the schoolyard. Seeing his friend’s artificial arm, Thomas had so many questions to ask but didn’t dare move his feet.

Jack, realizing the situation, signaled to a nearby stone bench. He then walked there, sat down, and waited.

It wasn’t until fifteen minutes later that Thomas managed to sneak away and went to Jack.

“Boss,” Thomas called out as soon as Jack was in range, ‘why are you still here? Fatino and I have been looking for you everywhere in Mocester. And your arm, what happened to your arm? And why is my father keep telling me to stay away from your ‘losing house’?”

“Now,” Jack pointed to his side, telling his friend to sit down, “one question at a time.”

Thomas listened, his eyes still attached to Jack’s brown arm.

“Stop staring. It gets tickling!” Jack jokingly said.

“Alright, alright. What’s going on?”

“Yeah, well, my family was attacked and robbed. I was captured, so no Mocester for me. The ‘losing house’ thing is because the Harper has just failed a contract, and we’re now in some serious debt.”

“Damn,” Thomas clicked his tongue, “that’s a lot for one month, isn’t it?”

Seeing how troubled his buddy was and wanting to know how his prediction of his friend’s potential had been wrong, Jack changed the subject.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later. What about you, did they drop you?

Thomas sighed, frowning while recalling.

“Yeah, I failed. After the ceremony, they said I’m not good enough.”

“What about the others?”

“Fatino got in right away,” Thomas said with a slight sense of bitterness. “They said he’s a prodigy among millions or something. Even before the ceremony, some of the judges had already agreed to accept him. He just partook it for the sake of the process.”

Jack nodded. It didn’t surprise him. Agos’s exceptional physique wouldn’t go unnoticed forever. Only a fool would miss such a jewel.

“Pascal was also taken, but Patrick was dropped like me.”

“The hell?” Jack frowned.

Jack had always kept track of his classmate’s capabilities and potential. There were quite a few decent ones, but Thomas stood out a cut above the rest. Unfair as it might sound, the truth was, due to his family’s financial background, Thomas had been able to nurture his innate talent and build himself a better physique than that of Pascal. Compared to Patrick, Jack’s little friend was also more hard-working and diligent. As such, Jack couldn’t see why Thomas didn’t make the cut if Pascal did.

“But Patrick was still somehow accepted through the backdoor,” Thomas said, shaking his head. “My father was not only doing the family’s business in Mocester, but also to organized auctions for the academy’s salvaging slot.”

Jack puffed his cheek. He was about to let his opinions on the education system be known, but seeing his friend’s sorrowful face, he thought better of it.

“But if his potential weren’t there yet, even if he was to be accepted, Patrick would never catch up with the program,” Jack comforted his friend.

“It’s not like that, though,” Thomas lowered his voice, mixing it with a bit of anger. “I heard that they will redo the awakening ceremony for those who get the salvage slot to test their luck again. But, the auction price is usually a couple of times higher than the previous one. I also saw my dad gritting his teeth during Kosine’s welcoming day, saying most of those kids will get accepted eventually.”

Jack frowned harder. Everything reminded Jack of the System’s notification.

Could it be that Thomas had received a corrupted awakening ceremony?