The dark and imposing walls of the city towered over them as they exited the caravan and walked to the guard.

David followed closely behind Rustrur and his family as one by one they were tested by the guards. Each test seemed to be over in an instant but each member of Rustrur’s family were shivering madly as they walked away.

Finally, it was David’s turn, seeing his apprehension the guard asked

“First time for this, son?”

“Yeah, I’ve never been tested like this before”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine just remember to relax and try not to fight it.”

“Thanks, I’ll try and remember that.”

“Ok, are you ready?”

Nodding his assent, David tried to relax as much as he could.

“Here we go then son.”

The guard reached forward and placed his hands on either side of David’s head.

Immediately David felt a cold presence surrounding and engulfing his mana core. Remembering the guardsman’s advice, he actively tried to refrain from shoving the presence away.

After a wait that seemed like it lasted for an eternity, a new sensation appeared. At first it felt like a relaxing massage, but it quickly grew in intensity until it felt like his soul was afire with pins and needles.

As quickly as the presence appeared, it left, and David opened his eyes to see the guard smiling at him.

“You are all clean, you can follow your friends through.”

Nodding in thanks, David stumbled forward copying Rustrur and his family as he shivered uncontrollably.

The guardsman turned to the one standing next to him

“Note that individual’s information down. His mana signature is strange.”

“Is he the one we are looking for?”

“No, but I think we need to keep an eye on him.”

“Here laddie, you look worse than the rest of us put together.”

“You told me it wouldn’t hurt! That was stupidly painful!”

“I honestly don’t know what you mean lad, it just left me feeling cold and weak.”

“That felt like needles being stabbed into my soul, how is it so different?”

“No idea, are you ok now though?”

“Yeah I just don’t want to do that again any time soon.”

“Don’t worry, now that you have been scanned once, you won’t get scanned again if you enter this city again. To be fair though, that only counts if nothing else happens.”

“Well that’s a relief.”

Dismissing the event from his mind, David continued on with what he really wanted to ask.

“So, what happens now? Obviously, I’m gonna need to keep in touch with you.”

Failing to hide his eagerness Rustrur butted in.

“We want to keep in contact as well, it could prove to be very profitable for us both.”

David was surprised when Rustrur reached out and handed him a pile of coins, a mix of gold, silver, and copper.

“Here, this is an advance on the Armadillo scales, it should cover your costs for a few days at least. “

David looked with interest at the pile of coins noting the detail on them, each coin was decorated with what looked to be a head of a person.

“Thanks, Rustrur. Hey who is the person on the coins meant to be and, do you know the conversion rates between the coins?”

“Oh! Of course, my apologies, it slipped my mind that you wouldn’t know this stuff. The design on the coins represents Emperor Divalis. The conversion rate is fairly simple, its 100 copper to a silver piece and 100 silver to a gold piece.”

A thought striking David, he found his bag and pulled out the sack that he had got from killing the Pinwheel Armadillo. Reaching inside he pulled out another gold piece, but this one had a very different design on it.

“I thought so! Hey Rustrur, and clue why this one has a different design on it? I got it from the Armadillo I killed.” David asked as he flicked the coin towards the man.

Rustrur caught the coin and looked at it closely rotating it this way and that in his hands, David was pretty sure he even tried biting it once or twice. Soon he tossed it back to David with a shrug.

“I have no idea laddie, I’ve never seen that design myself, I would refrain from using it in any city of the empire though. The guard gets touchy about unrecognised coinage.”

Accepting the coin and advice, David asked.

“Cheers, what’s the plan now then?”

“Well for me and my family we have to go and set up our camp and stall, it’s gonna take a good long while and unfortunately it needs all of us, otherwise I would gladly be a tour guide. My suggestion for you would be to find the library maybe and do some research. You’ll be able to find us easily enough, just ask any guard for directions to the merchants quarter.”

“I could give you a hand if you want? I’m not too bad with manual labour.”

“No, it’s ok laddie, you go and see the sights, its boring, hard work.” Rustrur’s voice dropped lower as if he was ashamed. “My clansmen also are not very welcoming of new people either, it will take me a little while to get them to see straight. It should be fine by this evening though.”

“Well I guess I’ll see you this evening then. If it is a problem, I can find somewhere else to stay?”

“No, no, it won’t be a problem.” Rustrur replied fiercely. “They will be fine with you, trust me.”

Looking back towards his family Rustrur could see that they were impatient and visibly ready to leave.

“Looks like I have to go now laddie, keep an eye on your stuff, pickpockets are rare, but they exist here just as anywhere.”

“I will, do. I’ll see you later Rustrur, thanks for all the help.”

Rustrur nodded to him. “Anyone would have done the same. Talk to you later David.”

With that Rustrur turned around and walked back to his caravan. Moments later the caravan pulled away leaving a huge trail of dust. Soon the courtyard was empty, as if they had never been there at all.

Looking around David finally took the time to really look at the city he had found himself in and he stared in awe at the towering architecture built from what looked like a sandstone like material. Flamboyant arches and curves dominated the buildings all of them covered in paintings and carvings giving the area of the city he was in a bright and happy feeling.

As he stood there looking at the buildings, he slowly became aware of a dull roar and a faint deep and bass voice echoing down the streets. Intrigued, he followed the sound and after a few twists and turns he found himself at the entrance of what looked to be a market. As far as his eye could see stalls with brightly coloured and patched canvas ceilings. The dull roar that he had heard grew into a near deafening chorus of voices, the sound of people haggling and other hawking their wares.

Slowly walking down the street, David saw a vast variety of wares on display. Most of what he saw he had no idea what they were. A smell wafted past his nose and he suddenly realised how hungry he was. Following his nose, he found himself standing in a queue that was moving fairly quickly. A few minutes later standing at the table he saw a wide variety of food and something that looked strangely enough, similar to a cheeseburger.

“Can I have that please?” David asked pointing at the cheeseburger like foodstuff.

“That? Sure, it’s a fairly new creation though, its called a Cherbourg, that’ll be 10 coppers please.”

Handing over the money David thanked the man. Now with food in his hand and his belly David decided to follow the deep bass voice that had enticed him down here in the first place. Soon he came across a large crowd that surrounded a large open area that contained a giant of a man and a set of tables full of different resources.

“COME, COME, THE FIRST TO WIN MY LITTLE COMPETITION GETS A SPACE IN MY WORKSHOP FOR A YEAR! FOR FREE!” the man bellowed.

Turning to the person standing next to him David asked “Who is that guy? Why would working in his workshop be a good thing?”

Miraculously the giant of a man seemed to have heard David’s question and before the crowd member could answer he butted in and replied.

“WHY I AM THE GREAT EARDULF, ARTIFICER EXTRAORDINAIRE. MY WORKSHOP IS THE BEST PLACE FOR ARTIFICERS OF ANY CREED IN THE EMPIRE! DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN A PLACE STRANGER?”

Not one to back down from a challenge so suited to him David shrugged. “Sure, what’s the rules?”

“AHAHA, I LIKE YOUR CONFIDENCE. 3 ROUNDS, THE FINAL PRODUCT JUDGED BY THE CROWD. IS THIS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU?”

“Yeah, sounds good to me, I’m David by the way.”

“GOOD TO MEET YOU DAVID, LET US BEGIN. DEAR AUDIENCE, I BEG OF YOU TO STAY AND WATCH THIS COMPETETION AND JUDGE FAIRLY.”

Lowering his voice as David walked to the second table he turned to David.

“Do you have any question son?”

“Yeah, a couple.” Pointing to an object on the table. “What’s that? And are we allowed to use our own tool and supplies?”

Looking surprised Eardulf replied.

“That object is a mana-welder. Just push your mana into it and use the activated end to weld metal together. You can use any resources on the table, not your own supplies, but, you can use your own tools.”

Nodding in thanks, David looked at the table mentally categorising all of the materials on it. sheets and sticks of metal, various screws and other resources were littered across it. in the corner what looked to be a few lenses were laid out partially covered by a cloth.

“I’m ready if you are? What’s the first item we are making?”

Turning back to his crowd-voice Eardulf announced.

“THE COMPETITION HAS THUS BEGUN. THE FIRST ITEM WILL BE A SIMPLE LANTERN!”

“3… 2… 1…. BEGIN!”

Eardulf and David both quickly grabbed some items to start with. David pulled the mana-welder closer and also grabbed 4 of the sticks of metal. He pulled out his hammer, chisel and pencil from his tool-bag.

Taking on the sticks of metal, he was happily surprised to find out it was largely hollow, but had a half inch thick wall, making it a lot lighter than he first expected. Using the pencil, he marked a series of lines down the length of the tube. Each line was angled downwards slightly. He used the first tube as a reference for the other 3 tubes and marked them in exactly the same way making sure that all the lines were at identical heights and lengths. He left a good 5 inches from the bottom of the tube and a good 8 inches at the top. The line that marked the start of the 8 inches at the top was a horizontal line marking where he would bend the metal.

After finding out that the tubes were hollow, he realised that the chisel he had picked was the wrong sort and fished through his bag to find a smaller one that would leave a shallower and thinner groove.

After finding the correct tool he scored the horizontal lines at the top to make it easier to bend the metal. He then cut shallow grooves into the metal following the downwards angled lines that he had drawn. Grabbing some of the thin sheet metal he used one of the tools lying on the table to cut the sheet into identical strips. He then took the some of the strips and slotted them into the grooves on one of the tubes. Attaching all of the strips and tubes in the same manner, he soon had a rectangle of steel and downwards facing slats. He then bent the top portions of the square tubes inwards until them met in the middle.

Using the mana-welder he fused the tube ends together and rounded it off with a file. Collecting some more of the thin sheet metal he cut it into the appropriate shape to fill the empty space at the top. Then using a hole punch, he cut holes in them to allow any smoke to escape. on one of the triangle sheets he added a hinge and a latch so the light inside could be replaced.

Grabbing a square block, he created a small deep-dish basin that could hold a fuel source and then he used the mana-welder to attach it to the bottom of the rectangle. The final piece that he welded on was a ring that he welded to the top to allow for the lantern to be carried. Searching about the table he couldn’t spot any tinder that could be used as a light source.

Noticing his confusion someone in the crowd shouted out and pointed.

“The red ball! It’s a mana-light!”

Shouting back to the crowd thanks, David grabbed the mana-light and placed in into the dish receptacle and put the lantern down on the table.

Metal Lantern

Quality – Good

Dismayed that the status box didn’t say that the lantern had any special name or special effects, David turned to look at Eardulf who had been sitting back and waiting for David to finish.

Immediately David could see who would win this round. Despite taking less time Eardulf had made a masterpiece. He had gone with the same basic shape as David, but instead of using slats, somehow he had shaved down some metal sheets so thinly that they were translucent allowing the light inside to escape freely. He had even taken the time to carve decorative designs into the metal tubes making the corners.

The crowd could also see the difference in quality and unanimously shouted their agreement that Eardulf had won that round.

“Not bad son, what level Artificer are you?”

David moved closer to Eardulf and whispered to him, not sure if announcing that he didn’t have a class was a good idea.

“I don’t have the Artificer class yet.”

Eardulf whispered back.

“You made that without a class? That’s actually amazing son.”

They both parted and David’s face grew slightly red with embarrassment.

Eardulf once again brought out his crowd-voice.

“DAVID HERE MADE AN EXCELLENT LANTERN, BUT I AM HUMBLED AND OVERJOYED THAT YOU CHOSE MINE TO WIN THIS ROUND!”

He tried to carry on talking but a loud cheer erupted from the crowd. Waiting for them to settle down a bit, he then carried on.

“I THINK IT IS TIME FOR ROUND 2! IN THIS ROUND WE CAN LET OUR CREATIVITY SHIONE THROUGH! THE CHALLENGE. MAKE SOMETHING THAT ENTERTAINS! ARE YOU READY DAVID?”

Summoning up his courage and strength, fighting against the disheartening experience of being trounced in the first round David shouted back.

“HELL YEAH!”

Smiling at the response Eardulf counted them down again.

“3... 2... 1... BEGIN!”

Rather than diving straight into a half-thought idea, David sat back and thought. He came up with and discarded many ideas, some just outlandish, others just to difficult to make with the tools he had at hand. People in the crowd were beginning to murmur wondering what David was doing when he shot to his feet and collected supplies to feverously start working. This time he pulled tools out of his bag that would allow him to work with a lot more delicate and small items.

He collected some of the sheet metal and a square piece of metal that had thick walls but was hollow in the middle. With the sheet metal he cut out a small rectangle of metal. From that small rectangle of metal, he cut into it to form several thin strips, all of them connected at the base of the rectangular sheet. He then cut the ends off of each strip to varying lengths, small to large.

Screwing that sheet into the thick wall of the metal square, he then grabbed a longer rectangular piece of metal. Using a tool from his bag, he dented the metal at certain points, creating narrow sticks of metal to jut out.

Grabbing a wooden cylinder, he drilled a hole through it and fed a metal pipe through. On one end of that pipe he added a handle that could be used to make the cylinder spin. He then wrapped the long, deformed rectangle sheet around the cylinder and welded the ends together. Slotting the pipe into some spaces that he had cut into the metal block he gave it a quick test spin. The start of a well-known song from earth began to play. The bumps hit each of the strips at set times to make the music.

Music box of joy

Quality - Excellent

Anyone that hears music played from this box will find themselves a tiny bit happier

Laying his music box down on the table he looked over to Eardulf. This time the giant was still working on his item. Noticing that David had finished Eardulf started working even faster, materials and tools seemed to fly to and from his hands. Shortly he finished and presented his work to the crowd.

The crowd gave a much less enthusiastic response this time as Eardulf had created a fairly common toy. A masterwork toy to be sure, but not very exciting.

His heart racing, David presented his music box to the crowd. He heard a deafening silence. Then he started turning the handle and music poured out.

As the song went on the crowd seemed to get happier and more excited loudly proclaiming David to be the winner of this round.

“WELL THAT ANSWERS THAT, CONGRATULATIONS DAVID. I’VE NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE, MIND TELLING US WHAT IT IS?”

“It’s a music box, you can replace this metal cylinder here with another one to make a different song.”

Eardulf nodded in appreciation and then turned to the crowd once more.

“WE ENTER ROUND THREE NECK AND NECK A WIN APIECE. THIS THIRD ROUND IS THE HARDEST ROUND BY FAR. YOU WILL SEE SOMETHING YOU HAVE ENVER SEEN BEFORE, IT COMES FROM THE FAR EAST AND I AM HONOURED TO BE THE FIRST TO SHOW YOU. I PRESENT… THE IMAGE-CAPTURA.

An assistant brought two boxes to the tables and then left.

“DAVID, THESE BOXES HOLD ALL THE PIECES REQUIRED TO MAKE ONE OF THESE, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO IT?”

David was completely relaxed realising that the image-captura was just an old school camera, something that quite surprisingly, he had repaired quite a few times for an uncle back on earth.

“Absolutely, I’m ready when you are.”

“DOESN’T HE LOOK RELAXED FOLKS, IT’S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS. BELIEVE ME. EVEN I THE FOREMOST ARTIFICER DO NOT ALWAYS GET IT RIGHT!”

Once again, and for the final time, Eardulf counted them down.

“3… 2… 1… BEGIN!”

Springing to action David pulled the box closer and opened it. all the required parts were in there and he carefully took them out and laid them all out on the table. Thinking back to working in his shop at home, he sunk himself into the work. Building the camera unconsciously, his thoughts back home.

Reaching for the next piece, he snapped out of his reverie as he felt the crack that ran through the lens that was needed. Suddenly panicking he rummaged through the box hoping for a spare before he remembered that he saw some lenses partially covered by a cloth on the table.

Luckily one of those lenses was the correct shape to replace the broken one and quickly David put the last few parts together and set it down on the table.

Image-Captura

Quality – Outstanding

Level Up!

(No Class) Level 4

“Hey, I levelled, awesome!” He thought to himself.

David looked at the status box in his mind’s eye, surprised that even with an outstanding quality the camera didn’t have any bonuses. Mentally shrugging, he turned his eyes to a frustrated Eardulf.

As time passed and Eardulf had noticed that David had finished, the giant of a man was getting more frantic and frustrated, until in his frustration he managed to snap a crucial component.

“Damn it!”

Sighing, Eardulf looked around and looked at the crowd.

“I must... forfeit this round. With the supplies gathered here I cannot fix my mistake. Keep that in mind budding artificers gathered around. Even Masters make mistakes.”

Turning to David, he handed him a large and ornate key.

“Congratulations son, here, your key to my workshop.”

“Thank you, I hope to learn a great deal.”

Eardulf nodded to David and turned back to the crowd.

“THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING TODAY AND THANK YOU FOR WITNESSING THE FIRST WINNER IN A LONG TIME. GIVE IT UP FOR DAVID!”

The crowd erupted into cheers and clapping, some even starting to chant his name.

Eardulf motioned to his assistants to start clearing up the area and turned to David.

“I think we need to have a chat David. Will you come with me?”