AUTHOR NOTE: Okay, so I thought about it and decided to rena the general equipnt nas in the novel. Magic tools, constructs or equipnt will be grouped under Magic Relics while Ezekiel’s invention will be called Armants.
After the match, Ezekiel made sure to get so rest alongside his friends. Breaking through the girl’s mindscape spell through sheer ntal force alone had been more taxing than he let on — especially having done it not once, but twice during the match. ’Mana might be an inferior energy to Psionic energy, but it more than makes up for it in versatility. I’ll have to craft sothing that counters ntal spells.’
(You’ll need sothing capable of guarding against invasive ntal waves. That won’t be easy to make.)
The chanic dismissed her input with an internal shrug. ’No need to worry about that for now. The more pressing matter is figuring out where to store all the credits these students are hesitating to hand over — even though they’ve clearly already made up their minds.’
His headache wasn’t the only reason he was draped across the couch. Ezekiel was also waiting.
Waiting for the first student with enough resolve to be the one who pulled the trigger on buying his Armants. He had already demonstrated the ingenuity of his work — all that remained was a brief window of hesitation on their end. "Anyti now."
Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long. The first to approach was a boy with a determined expression, who dropped into the seat across from Ezekiel — the one everyone else had steered clear of out of unfamiliarity.
He stood at an imposing eight feet tall, his fra still towering over most of the seated students even while sitting, his body straining against the confines of a short-sleeved training shirt that looked several sizes too modest for it. "My na is Kael Basalt."
’Oh?’ Ezekiel recognized the na imdiately. Word about him had reached even the workshop — mostly thanks to Vahn and Yuri, who treated keeping him inford about Institute affairs as sothing of a personal mission.
His mind was already turning, but he didn’t let it show. This was his first custor, after all — and a notable one at that. If his mory served correctly, the Basalt family, though a Marquis-grade noble house, wielded influence and connections that rivaled so Duke-grade families.
"First, I want to say — thank you for placing your trust in my Armants." He paused, his gaze drifting briefly over his custor’s Relics. "My guess is that the Windchasers and the teor Gauntlet are what brought you over here. Those would be your primary assets on the battlefield — the instrunts that help you address your weakness directly."
Kael paused, the words he had prepared catching in his throat. It took him a mont before a wry smile surfaced. "It seems you can read clearly without having seen any of my battles firsthand. Yes — my style leans heavily toward blocking and striking. What I’d like to address is my mobility." He glanced down at his feet, encased in an indigo pair of boots that shimred with a dull azure glow. "These help sowhat, but after watching your Armants in action, I’m confident your Windchasers would serve considerably better."
Ezekiel’s smile settled into place. "I’m glad you see it that way. And as I ntioned earlier, my Armants are priced below Relics of the sa rank. A Windchaser at F rank runs 200 credits; at E rank, 550. The teor Gauntlet is 200 at F rank and 600 at E rank. The heat-vision Visors are 100 credits."
The large teenager went quiet at that, as though his ears had deceived him. He couldn’t reconcile why sothing so capable would carry such a modest price — a Relic of E rank could easily start at 700 credits.
He wasn’t alone. The students listening in wore equally surprised expressions.
Ezekiel smiled calmly and shrugged. "There are a few reasons for that. First," he raised a finger, "my Armants don’t function the way Relics do. Through a thod I’d rather keep to myself, the speed boost they provide is achieved through the combustion of mana — similar in principle to how Fire mages achieve flight. It isn’t as imdiately intuitive as a Relic, which only requires a simple mana instruction to activate before easing your steps and supplenting your speed with wind elents.
"That said, it’s a manageable learning curve. Linear burst movent can be perford with virtually no training, but mastering the more complex maneuvers will take anywhere from a week to a month. As a rchant, even though every student here has the talent to adapt without much difficulty, I still factor that temporary barrier into the pricing to make it a fair exchange. Second," he raised another finger, "my Armants don’t quite reach the ceiling of a peak-quality E-rank Relic in terms of raw speed — they sit comfortably in the middle range. That gap is offset, however, by the mana storage function, which lets you preload your supply before a battle. And third,"
He raised a third finger, a sly grin spreading across his face. "My Armants cannot be properly repaired by anyone other than . The Institute has already examined my forging thod and will almost certainly attempt to replicate it — I have no illusions about that. But I can say with complete certainty that they won’t be able to restore my Armants to their original condition, let alone reproduce them. That is the primary reason the price is as low as it is. It isn’t a sche — it’s simply that the crafting thod behind my Armants is a self-developed heritage, tailored specifically to my own physiology. No other Forger could replicate it even if handed the full blueprint."
Understanding settled over the listeners like a slow tide, accompanied by the quiet clicking of tongues at the sheer ingenuity of it. What it all amounted to was this: even at a reduced price, Ezekiel stood to generate a steady and significant stream of inco purely from repair fees on damaged Armants. And the fact that he had disclosed all of this openly only ant one thing — he was completely confident that even with full transparency, they would still take the offer. He had known before any of them even sat down.
And it was an offer far too compelling for the students of the Institute to walk away from.
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