Okay, so I might've ended up just making myself a bit smaller and childlike, and adding cat ears and a tail, since I’m at that cat cafe I found. You know, I can definitely see why this kind of concept is a thing. While not exceptional, this chocolate drink is pretty good. And good job for finding a whole bunch of sociable cats, too whoever did that.

Is that an oxymoron? I mean, it's not like all of them want snuggles all the time, and my own ‘catness’ definitely helped get their attention (and that kid on the neighbouring table is about to grab and/or pet my tail any time now), but that must've been some effort.

After relaxing for a bit, I take out those rings. It will be one of the most compact enchantments I have ever made, so I start with what I know and add a standard mind stone enchantment to the stones themselves. I conscript a nearby cat to test it, and it does (to mild protest), so next up is the minor mana drain enchantment on the inside of the loop. The challenge is the bond…

After a while and redoing it several times, I get something I'm happy with. The final result has the three enchantments woven tightly together, as opposed to the loose connections I prefer, but at least it works. Can't exactly test the range on my own, but I made no promises about that; is really just a bonus effect on top of what the customer wanted.

Actually, he was quite happy to not only let me experiment, but trusted me enough to just leave with them. What if I never got back to him? Not that that's a problem, and it would be terrible for business if it got out, but…

I pay for myself and safely tuck away the rings, calling the client on the way out to decide on a time and place to finish the transaction. My schedule is empty for the rest of the day, and he's eager to get them back as soon as possible. Apparently he has already made the payment, so I'll need to check my mobile bank, but I can do that on the way.

Indeed, there's a transaction of the agreed upon amount. As opposed to the near-ubiquitous payment app back home, it’s often more cumbersome to take payments in other countries (unless the amount is small enough to reasonably pay in cash), but direct bank transfers work everywhere. Just a pain to copy all those numbers.

I also call the guy from the robotics company, but it puts me on voicemail so I just leave a message to contact me at an opportune moment.

I arrive at the location, outside what looks like a fancy-ish restaurant, and look around for the client. He ends up being the one who finds me, exiting the establishment in a nice attire. I already have the money, so I just hand him the box with the rings and explain the most important bits about it and wish him luck. As he turns around I fish out my vibrating phone and take the call.

Ten minutes later the robotics company has four hours of my time tomorrow.

Naturally, the first thing to do when I get there (after greetings and whatnot) is to get that contract, but when that's done the boss calls in their chief engineer and ask me to show my aeronav suite, that little box containing the instruments I use for navigation over long distances.

I have tweaked it a bit now and then, but fundamentally is the same as when I made it, with a simple enchantment pulling in mana to a crystal, which powers a small spell that generates electricity, that goes through a transformer to a small buffer battery, which in turn powers the electronics. And of course, there's the mechanical-analog instruments, too.

But that first bit, the power source, is what they're interested in. Specifically, a scaled up version, or other alternatives for compact energy storage and or generation. With the central idea of a mana absorption spell going to a crystal, and some method of using that to generate useful power, we discuss and discuss and get sidetracked (robots!) and then get sidetracked and oh dear it's dinner time.

The conversation continues at a pretty nice place, where I finally get that authentic Japanese food, and for free, even.

“Uh, this might be a bit late now, but didn't you have some other plans?”

“Ah, yes, we canceled that. This, is more important.”

“Oh, okay.”

By the time we're done, we have shared quite a bit of useful information, and have a plan for what to do the short week I'm staying here. They want my cooperation after that too, of course, but we think we can get something started in this time, and just use online meetings for updates and minor things. In this day and age I don't exactly need to physically be here for most stuff.

Also, the boss is buzzed and his chief engineer preeetty drunk. So cheers! I suppose. Communication about meaningful topics in a productive manner gets harder and harder, but I soon bring out my notepad app to write down the names of a bunch of Japanese media that portray Mecha or robotic exoskeletons this or that way, with three specifically noted as core inspiration for the Mecha project. For the exosuits there's a recent documentary which exclaims the why and for what.

The next day flies by quickly, and suddenly I reach the break in my schedule. It's that time after students start to finish, but there's still a bit left of a normal work day, and I change my form, put on a hoodie, and camouflage my bag. A short run later, a young-looking person in a significantly oversized hoodie enters a cat cafe.

It's me, and the obfuscation is intentional, of course. Soon after, I'm sitting on a pillow, sipping a glass of water and playing with one particularly inquisitive young cat, while another watches. I continue escalating the play, and soon the younger cat is jumping at the toy.

One intentionally mistimed attempt later, it catches the end of the toy in its mouth and I let go, making an indistinct cheering sound for it. I get on all fours to get on its level, as now is a suitable time for the rev-“raah!”

I snap around, who bit my tail? You! You ruined my plan!

“Ah, no, stop!”

I can't even be mad at the little gal, and now that I think about it my tail must already have gotten out for her to reach it. As soon as it let's go I pull my tail close and rub the bitten spot. It's not like it did much damage, but those little teeth still hurt.

You shouldn't grab someone's tail, but since she was first I swiftly reach out and pin the middle of her tail between my middle and index- oh wow, she can jump. Not so tough now, are you!

About forty minutes later my hands have several surface level scratches, courtesy of Bitey and her two co-conspirators, Scratchy and, uh, Nibbly? More like Lazy. My plan of getting attention for my tail and ears and have a nice starting point for a conversation which would naturally tilt towards my services and the possibilities those can give a place like this failed again, though.

Actually, it'd fit better in a maid cafe or something more like that, wouldn't it. Hmm. There was someone in a maid uniform handing out flyers quite a bit down that-ish way.

Over the next couple days and several meetings with the Moriyu guys, we discuss and plan and design, and in the morning of the third day I present the prototype mana core and controller for the exosuit, and the chief engineer hooks it all up. After various tests, some worker is called in to try it, and tests to find its limits and flaws begin.

Is a great success (in that we find several flaws, including some that might have nasty effects) so after a few quick iterations and noting down what couldn't quickly be fixed, we turn to the topic of producing the necessary artifice. Specifically, producing the core and controller on a larger scale.

I'm a bit iffy about that part, since, you know, that replaces me, but after some negotiation and stuff I agree to their very reasonable (and lucrative) offer to set up mana collectors and help them make the first few pairs for a nice upfront amount. In the process I’ll be teaching how to do it and the concepts behind it to some of their personnel.

Then, until one year from now, I'll get royalties on each unit produced. And that's just for the exoskeletons, the prototype mech will require more hands on experimentation and a lot of testing, as it will use magic for more than just a power supply. That's going to require several trips here, and I’ll have to do some research on my side, too.

I guess I'll see if I can't use the Water Temple as a shortcut and not have to deal with the hassle of booking a plane and whatnot. Since there's no direct flights from Oslo airport, at least not this time of year, it shouldn't be any slower, either. Hmm, I did inform the authorities that it connects to other places, and I'd expect them to do something with that information at some point. Will there be a toll and passport checkpoint? That’d be kinda comical.

I also visited a couple maid cafes to see if they were interested in my services, this time just directly asking for a manager or other boss person instead of making things so difficult for myself. I got pretty mixed responses, but the of the most promising ones, one basically went “coolbutnotimespeaklatermaybe?” and with another manager on duty made a call and got me a meeting with the owner of what turned out to be primarily a butler cafe.

Between business and sightseeing, there's only a days left before I have to go home, but I have a hit or miss customer which will hopefully be interesting, and of course the meetings with the cafe owners.

Through a combination of just hearing and using Japanese, and the mind bonds, I've picked up quite a few words. Also, I figured out a way to tweak the mind bond spell into what can rightfully be called translation magic. I'll call it Eikeli's Borrowed Understanding in the vein of certain DnD spells.

It's the same general idea as the mind web, but more specialised; I can follow a normal conversation by using just one person, or I could use two to three people and have it be less ‘invasive’ for roughly the same effect. Things will be a bit more fuzzy, though. Understanding also goes the other way, so all targets should understand my speech as well (though I could just manipulate the bond to communicate wordlessly, too)

And that really comes in handy with the customer a ‘Magic Club’ in some middle school. I think it’s a middle school? Looks to have a fairly wide range of ages, but that might just be puberty.

After introducing ourselves (via a teacher) I explain the Borrowed Understanding spell and ask if I can use it, since that’ll make things so much easier. The kids, especially the kid with a black cloak and heavily used notebook hanging from a rope-like belt, agree immediately, but I defer to the supervisor, who agrees after some consideration, if I demonstrate it with him first.

I make sure to be obvious about the use of magic, before toning it down to not waste so much mana and make it harder to detect and thus mimic. It soon becomes clear that the club itself has existed since pre-Upheaval, but all but one (guess which one…) of the present members joined after the Upheaval.

For some reason it grew quite a bit once they realized they could actually use magic. And the school promptly set a rule that they can’t do club activities without a responsible adult around. Looking at the sad remains of a cupboard in the corner, I think I know why.

“Look at my grimoire!”

Cloak-boy excitedly holds it up to me, having struggled a moment to untie what on further inspection is actually just a rope. There’s a loop of twine through what appears to be the third punch hole in the upper corner.

So I politely look at it, study it even, and prod it with my mana but…

“That’s not a grimoire.”

I flip it open and skim through. Huh, it works for symbols too, but it’s a lot slower than reading latin letters. Hmm, is that an issue with the technique, the people, or do I simply have to get used to it? There’s a ton of illustrations, beginning as childlike and steadily growing beyond my artistic skill (though not by that much), including magical circles and other stuff. Like the drawings, they start, uh, I hope they don’t try to use this one, but the later ones have a clear method to them, and I can follow the iteration of one circle from a haphazard mess to…

I trace it with my finger, forming a mental model. It’s a controlled magical candle? I weave a copy of the circle, and sure enough, it creates a clear ‘flame’, both light and heat. It might not look like quite like fire, but realistic illusions, especially ones that move, are hard to make without directly controlling them. Besides, some of the earlier versions tried that, so it seems like a conscious choice.

I probably shouldn’t have been so blunt, as the boy looks disheartened.

“It’s an impressive spell-book, though, and I can clearly see that you’ve been improving, but it’s not a grimoire. A grimoire… actually, it’s easier to just show you.”

I fish my own spellbook out of my bag, and this one truly is a grimoire. He looks at it a moment, as strands of mana lick at the book and the hand holding it, then goes wide eyed his hands twitching towards me.

I feel the corners of my mouth creep upwards and levitate it towards him.

“Want to take a closer look?”

He very much does, as does all his friends, and for all he keeps his expression passive, the teacher’s attention lasers onto it as well. He probably didn’t become the club’s supervisor by chance.

I have to stop them from activating magic several times, mostly from carelessness, but in at least one case I’m pretty sure they’re trying to activate the spell, or enchantment, rather. I also hurry them past pages about magic they probably shouldn’t learn; mind magic being the primary category, but I have found some odd magics by now. That and been shown.

The difference between a grimoire and a spellbook is that the spellbook (or tome, if it’s big enough) is a book about magic, with spells, whereas grimoires are, themselves, magical. Mine have a ton of spells for quick-casting, both ‘small’ spells and fairly complex magic patterns (runes, circles, and more) that would take a few seconds to cast manually, or more if they need physical parts.

The two covers are made of magical wood, magically grown around crushed mana crystal and suspendite dust to make it lighter, and is heavily infused. The spine uses the same wood, but with regularly spaced flat, thumbnail-sized crystals instead of the dust and crystal grains. The joints are made of stiffened silk, and that same, gray silk is wrapped around snugly around the entire thing. The front cover of that has my name at the bottom and just says ‘Spellbook’.

The actual pages are connected with something similar to a ring binder, though with four points of contact and I have to use magic to get them in and out. Some of the pages are more like thin wooden slabs in order to work, and I have started bundling pages together into sections that I can add or remove together, which also adds to the rigidity of the book. All in all it’s a bit of a weird thing, but it’s magical, and I think it turned out pretty well.

The others seem pretty impressed by it, at least.

...aaaaand they activated one of the illusion spells. Well, it’s just light, aside from a simple mind share, none of the mind magic in the book are activatable. But it’s…

“Cool!”

Yeah, that, and now they’re gonna want to use the rest of the time to talk about it, right?