Gaius was huddled and muttering over a book, a stark contrast from his usual relaxed self. He would peer at a certain section, fiddle with some bits and pieces of metal and wood, and then move on to another section. Sometimes, he would break the monotony by flipping a page or dismantling whatever item he had just created.

The boy himself thought that it was rather fortunate that he had started learning the art of artificing as an eleven-year old boy and not as an adult, because the thought processes running through his mind would make his adult self turn bald. It wasn’t the carvings that was the problem — as an assassin from Earth, it would be a joke if his control over his fingers was a problem — but that he didn’t exactly understand the process.

It wasn’t the matter of not being able to make one. After six hours of studying, Gaius had managed to finished the simplest Straight Shot. Of course, he wasn’t able to materialise qi, but in the box of resources he had gotten from the logistics officer, Colonel Wickers, there were five small cubes that were able to make up for the lacking cultivation of new Harvesters.

It was important to note that these boxes weren’t the true limiting factor in making artefacts. They were the simplest item to create, but what actually limited Gaius was his inability to channel qi into these boxes. He could create another ten or so if he put his mind to it…

No, what he really wanted was to understand why the artefacts worked as they did. Why did channelling a stream of energy in a certain pattern result in a particular effect? How did a gentle stream of ether become something like a heavily modified airsoft gun after passing through some pathways carved in different materials?

It wasn’t scientific by any measure, and although Gaius had understood that not all things work in Orb the way they should in his mind, this was something he was unable to put down. He had a nagging feeling that the ‘whys’ behind this matter was key to gathering more strength.

He flipped yet another page, and then started to assemble the artefact written there. This time, it was a particularly simple artefact called the Breaker; its main purpose was to fire a metal fragment that would penetrate flesh at short range. His fingers danced around in a dazzling blur, and thirty minutes later, the rectangular Breaker was completed.

Gaius aimed the slim rectangle towards the ground and fired. There was a small puff, and snow blasted into the air as a small metal dart buried itself into the ground. The small boy nodded in satisfaction and placed it back into the rectangle again. It was like a wrist crossbow, except that it was far more compact — he could attach one on each finger, and it wouldn’t be noticeable, if he actually had enough of those little ether storage boxes.

Besides, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t make a wrist crossbow on his own. It seemed a tad wasteful to create five Breakers using the limited number of boxes he had, especially since its function wasn’t unobtainable through normal means. After placing the slim Breaker next to his Straight Shot, Gaius started to look for some other devices he’d skipped past in the course of studying.

The next thing he saw was something that could be attached to the prescribed attire for Harvesters. It was a small box that went around the wrist, and when activated, could create a wall of energy that would last for 5 seconds at the target direction.

Gaius had to restrain his curiosity to create the Palisade. How was such a small box able to create a wall that measured three metres in length and height? Unfortunately, it was a one-use disposable item, so he couldn’t exactly test it out…and there was an additional risk that the Palisade wouldn’t work when he needed it.

He could only grit his teeth and make a second Palisade. It felt like a small waste, and the mad scientist inside him had wanted to make another item instead, but the Harvesters were all going to set off tomorrow. Between the mad scientist and the pragmatic survivalist inside of him, the latter fortunately controlled the reins of his body.

“Now, for the last box…” Gaius flipped between two pages. “I guess I’ll go with the Flame Box.”

It was a seemingly useless item, only able to generate heat for the next month for activation, but Gaius had heard that Heritage was even colder than the Basestation itself. It was possible that his water would have frozen up by the second day, which could very well be a death sentence. He knew just how horrifying dehydration was, even in winter.

After inserting the last etheric storage box into an opening on the Flame Box, which sounded like a really cheesy name to Gaius, he took out his water pouch, which was the size of his chest. It wouldn’t be that cumbersome for adults, but his small stature wasn’t going to do him any favours today.

It had been filled this morning, and then left in the tent untouched, but Gaius wasn’t wary about the water being poisoned. Rather, he was worried about how unsanitary it probably was to dunk something made of metal and wood into his water source for the next two days.

He wouldn’t have minded it so much on Earth, but in a child’s body…he wasn’t sure if the original Gaius had already built up a resistance to contaminated food or water. The him now was quite confident, but ultimately diarrhoea wasn’t a desirable result by any standard.

Especially in Heritage, a land of undocumented dangers. Gaius took a deep breath, patted his stomach and then tossed in the Flame Box. He placed his water pouch back next to his Harvester gear, and then turned back to the artificing textbook that Lecturer Shirou had handed out to him and Nakama.

Apparently, he had left in a huff towards the Basestation’s infirmity to pass these books to a certain trio who was still recovering from their wounds, so Gaius was quite sure that he wouldn’t see them when Heritage opened tomorrow.

“I’m back!”

He turned to the tent’s entrance. Nakama had left for her treatment earlier, and it was in this rare moment of solitude that Gaius had unleashed his inner obsessive self. She apparently served as a limiter for his insanity, but Gaius was never going to admit that himself.

“How was it?”

“I brought some food back!” The little girl took some little pastries out of her pocket, and then passed it to Gaius.

As he nibbled at a fruit tart, Gaius said, “I’ll be leaving tomorrow as a Harvester, so make sure you look after yourself and go for treatment every day. I’ll be back on Tuesday night.”

The little girl made a sad noise, but Gaius could only smile sadly in reply. “Come on. I’ll read you a bedtime story, so don’t feel sad.”

“…okay.”

Gaius looked at the small mess on the ground, and at his sleepy little sister, and his smile turned genuine. The mess would have to wait.