Chapter 54: Assemble

  By the time I was finished setting up the ritual, Mr. Yu had returned with what felt like half the people from the shopping arcade.

  “Is this enough?” he asked, chuckling in his good-natured way.

  I wasn’t quite sure how we were going to fit everyone behind the table. Fortunately, he read my mind, and everyone worked together to dismantle the booth. Like a well-oiled machine, they lined up around the circle, each person crowding around their assigned ritual so they could touch it.

  “I can use mana link,” I offered. “You don’t all have to touch it.”

  “Don’t worry,” Mr. Yu announced. “We know our way around a ritual.”

  “Oh,” I replied, unused to other people taking control of my projects.

  Miss Drips stood over the group. “Are you sure you got everything just right? One mistake in a ritual this complex will result in quite the explosion.”

  “I know,” I said, my cheeks flushing. “That happened last time.”

  The revelation caused several of the would-be volunteers to back off and seek cover.

  Mr. Yu stepped forward and took a head count. “Reagan. How much mana do you have now?”

  “Eighty-three hundred,” the man said, puffing out his chest. “I just leveled up.”

  “We’re good there,” he said, turning his attention to some of the younger people on the other side. “Oliver, this thirty-two thousand mana, is it flexible, or do each of these ritual points require four thousand mana?”

  “You have to power each one individually,” I explained. “And each one costs four thousand mana.”

  “Perhaps we will have to use your skill, after all,” Mr. Yu said, rubbing his chin. “Alright, everyone in a circle. Oliver is going to demonstrate one of his class skills.”

  Once everyone was in place, I placed my hand on Mr. Yu’s shoulder and activated Mana Link. Just as it had in the Tinkerer’s Guild, the ritual resulted in a blinding light. When my vision returned, the first thing I saw was a message floating in mid-air.

  Please assign a user.

  The ritual had been a success.

  Bag of Mimicry

  Magic Item

  Grade: S

  Condition: 999

  Effect: Duplicates Contents

  Registered Users: 0/999

  Created by: Evans

  When I hesitated, Analysis added some helpful information.

  Analysis: This item allows the designation of assigned users. Some limitations may apply.

  “Did it work?” Mr. Yu asked, peeking over my shoulder.

  I added Mr. Yu as a user. “Here. Try it out.”

  Registered Users: 1/999

  Authorized: Chen Yu

  He looked puzzled when I offered him the bag. “Don’t these only work for the creator?”

  I shrugged. “Just try it. Put something in the bag.”

  Mr. Yu took the multitool off his belt and placed it in the bag. His eyes grew wide when he opened it again. “This works on magic items!”

  I took a look at what he was talking about.

  Wonderous Wundertool

  Magic Item

  Grace: B

  Condition 448

  Effect: Multiuse

  Created by: Yu

  Sure enough, there were two of them, absolutely identical. I said the first thing that came to mind. “Can I have one?”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  He chuckled. “Unfortunately, no. A tinkerer never shares his personal tool. It’s your job to make your own. Until then, the starter tool you got from the guild will have to suffice. It’s an important rite of passage.”

  “Why did you make a duplicate then?” I asked.

  He placed the original back in his tool belt while stashing the second in a chest under a table in the back. “I’ve already made mine, and it never hurts to have a backup. So, what are you going to do with this fancy bag? Sell it?”

  “No,” I explained, putting the bag away and earning a chorus of sighs from the volunteers. “I’m going to use it to feed my friends.”

  “That seems like a waste,” Mr. Yu said, shaking his head. “An item like this has great potential. You can use it for the betterment of the world and buy all the food your friends could ever want with the profits.”

  “That is…complicated,” I said for lack of a better word. “Let’s just say it isn’t easy being an orphan.”

  He nodded and smiled. “Well, I suppose the only solution will be to make another one. You didn’t appear to use anything too unique, and if the special ingredient was your blood, I’d say you have an unlimited supply.”

  Making more than one bag was the last thing on my mind, but with a room full of people and all the necessary components on hand, I reluctantly agreed. In total, I made three bags, one of which I gave to the craftsmen of the shopping arcade. I kept the third for myself to hopefully upgrade in the future.

  “Did anyone from the guilds help?” I asked, looking at the larger stores along the outside of the arcade.

  Mr. Yu’s expression darkened a bit. “No, not that I expected them to.”

  “But the Tinkerer’s guild already helped me with this,” I argued.

  He sighed and twirled his finger through his beard. “Well, this is this, and that is that. We have a bit of a rivalry here. They stick to their side, and we stick to ours.”

  The last thing I needed was to get involved in another squabble. I didn’t have time to dwell on it as Mr. Yu put me to work practicing my Innovation. He took equal turns having me make things out of scraps and making things himself. That worked for me, as my Observe skill was slowly working its way up to making the Innovate skill permanent.

  Info: You have Observed the Innovate skill. You may Mimic the skill (1) time. Observe (43) more times to make the skill permanent.

  Mr. Yu wiped the sweat off his brow and started packing up. “Will I be seeing you tomorrow?”

  “Yes,” I nodded, eager to complete some skills.

  I knew the bag wasn’t perfect yet, but I wasn’t quite sure what I needed to do to modify it further. To start with, I needed to head home and put the new bag into practice. Beth could tell me how to make it better from there.

  On the way, I dropped by the Adventurer’s Guild to pick up more packages and a meal to duplicate.

  “Can’t you stay for a few minutes?” Miss Aires asked, sagging her shoulders when I told her I was tired. “I have several new recipes I’d like your opinion on.”

  I sighed. “Sure, but only if I get to eat them.”

  “Deal!” she said, beaming with absolute delight.

  A few meals turned out to be a wide variety of pasta dishes. It turned out that Miss Aires decided to take up Italian cooking and used me to perfect some new recipes. I left out most of the monster parts and still managed to get a couple of skill-ups.

  Your Research skill has increased: +1 (23)

  Your Research skill has increased: +1 (24)

  It was late by the time I got home. I felt bad for making everyone wait so long to eat. Miss Aires made up for it by providing extra sweets for the kids.

  Beth was very understanding when I explained why I was late. “It’s okay, Oliver. It’s not like Miss Havasu starves us. Only almost.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked, not feeling very convinced.

  She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. Luckily, the girls were too busy eating to see me blush. Beth was definitely getting too liberal with the kisses.

  “Yes,” she continued, after giving me a minute to compose myself. “She doesn’t let us eat with the businessmen, but we do get some of the good food. With this bag, I should be able to duplicate enough of it so everyone can go to bed with a full belly. Did you make a second bag for the boys, or do I need to feed them too?”

  “Well…” I did have an extra one, but I didn’t want to give it away.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Beth sensed my hesitation. “We’ll make do with one.”

  “I’m going to make it better,” I promised, still not entirely sure what that entailed.

  She kissed my cheek again, and I was so embarrassed that I ran out of the room. I ascended the stairs, wondering why she was so affectionate all of a sudden. More so than usual, in any case.

  I got to the top of the stairs, lost in thought, when Gordon throttled me. He lifted me off the ground by the lapel of my shirt. In the past, I was helpless in his iron grip, but it felt different. Something told me I could hurt him if I wasn’t careful. I was too tired to test that theory out.

  When he realized I wasn’t going to struggle, he eased his grip and growled. “You better have food on you, or…else.”

  “I…do,” I croaked, trying to sound convincing. “Just…put me down.”

  He complied, folding his arms and tapping his foot expectantly. I dug through my bag and pulled out the original plate Beth returned to me. “Just let me make…”

  It was too late, Gordan had already snatched the food and run off. I sighed, hoping the food I had left would be enough to duplicate. Having to have food to duplicate was the biggest problem with The Bag of Mimicry. I needed to find a way to get it to make food without needing to feed it first.

  The remaining food in my bag was mostly the sweets Miss Aires provided me. The boys didn’t seem to mind one bit. I reproduced several different flavors of cakes, pies, and cookies. There was also a sandwich that some of the boys opted for copies of. I made sure to keep the originals for Grace, silently kicking myself for not feeding her first.

  Once everyone was satisfied, I crawled into bed, noting once again that Sam was nowhere to be found. That was the second day he’d been missing.

  While I’d like to say I hunted down Sam or innovated a new and improved Bag of Mimicry, I did neither of those things in the following days. Instead, I returned to the arcade and focused on my training. By training, I mean watching. The key to expanding my class was observing skills and making them my own. There were so many things I wanted to master, and I didn’t even know how to Innovate properly.

  Fortunately, by focusing, I was able to pick up Innovate in the first week as well as Distillation from Miss Drips. After that, I spent some time at Miss Spencer’s, locking in some basic weaving skills. Rather than individual skills, I got a skill called Apprentice Tailor, which came with several subskills: True Snip, Cross Stitch, and Weave. Miss Spencer was quite proud of me. In return for her teachings, I helped her modify several sets of magic clothing for her clients.

  After that, I returned to Miss Aires, who was delighted that I’d finally recognized my culinary calling. I spent several weeks there, learning recipes and picking up the Apprentice Chef skill. With that, simple things like chopping became much easier.

  It was my research on new recipes that ended up bringing me to the next level.

  Congratulations, you have reached level 7

  +100 HP

  +100 Mana

  +100 Stamina

  Skill Unlocked: Assemble

  The Assemble skill was interesting. It worked with anything, but only after I put it together myself, and only then if I understood exactly what I was doing. I learned that the hard way when I tried to assemble a dish after having followed Miss Aires’ recipe. While I had done it before, I didn’t understand the process. To get the skill to work, I had to do it under Miss Aires’ watchful eye and ask questions about steps I didn’t understand. Only then did the skill work.

  Miss Aires’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when I waved my hand over a pile of ingredients, and a perfect soufflé materialized as though it had just come out of the oven.

  “You’re going to put me out of business,” she sighed.

  I left the diner that day on a new mission. It was time to turn my newfound skills into a solid income.

  Discord Link

  Patreon for bonus chapters.