Mythshaper

The first thing I did after waking up was to leave for the artisan guild. The few hours of rest rejuvenated me fully to take up the work from where I had left off last night. However, it seemed I had arrived a bit too early, as the guild was closed, with little to no people at its gate.

With nothing else to do, I sat on a nearby bench and meditated in silence. Half an hour after I woke, there were only a few more waiting outside alongside me. A couple of them appeared to be guild workers.

The guild door opened shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, it seemed they did not have the keys to the forging chamber with them.

So I waited for another half an hour, sitting in one corner to scribble down any new improvement I could add to the aircraft. Even with the hours-long break in between, it did not feel like I had left the work, as I had been constantly thinking about it all the time I was awake.

"Novice Arilyn," a melodic voice woke me from my stupor to find it was the receptionist woman. "If you will grant me a bit of your time."

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

To be fair, it surprised me that she recognised me and even remembered my name. I assumed the red hair was a big hint, and there was a reason she was in this profession after all.

She waved her palm to beckon me over. "No, nothing's wrong." She paused, looking me over. "The appraisal came in for all the commissions you delivered, and since you are already here, we can work through the compensation we owe you. Actually, one other thing, it's about a fabricator you repaired."

I cocked an eyebrow as she brought out a bronze shield.

"The commission was only to repair this, not for you to raise its rank to prestigious class," she said, unsure whether she should be outraged or simply laugh.

"Oh, I remember this," I said, "I only repaired it, though."

The shield was a prestigious article to begin with. It was just that years of use and repair had caused some of its enchantments to malfunction and diminished its rank to noble class.

"Honestly, I thought the client misissued the commission and went all the way." It barely took a few more minutes, with the flat surface I had to work with.

"I'm uncertain if that's the case," she said. "The party that issued the commission recognises the improvement, but they are a little tight on coin to reward for a prestigious commodity."

I shrugged. "That's fine by me."

"I assumed you would be. However, they still decided to leave you a bonus of two gold coins, along with this."

The receptionist handed me a token which was barely larger than a gold coin. There was a symbol of a pair of wings etched into it, with the word: Elaise.

"What is this?"

"A referral to the Monster Hunting guild," she said, beaming. "Oh, you're new in Karmel, so perhaps you don't know about them."

"Are they something huge?" I asked, peering at the token over.

"No more than any other guild. What's unique about them is that they work as a loose bunch, not bound to a guild's ideologies or the duties that come with joining a guild."

While that sounded good and all, I still did not think I'd join a guild.

The woman noticed my reservation. "It is one of their programmes you may want to check out. I don't know what they call it, but the Monster Hunter guild will take an inexperienced awakened into a rift and help them grow their abilities safely. Last I knew, it was not without a considerable fee, but with that token, you will receive a substantial discount if you ever decide to join in."

I stared at the token one last time before storing it away, feeling it might come in useful one day. It should have come as no surprise that there would be ventures like this. After all, very few young awakened have a fabled class or even a prestigious class in their family.

The receptionist went through the chits to finalise the transaction, which came as a promissory note for both the coins and contribution points. I would have at least liked hard coins, but this was how the guild operated, and I would have to lock in with the system if I was to benefit from them.

"Any new commission you would like to take?"

"None before I'm done with the assessment."

"Well, good luck with that," she said with a sweet smile.

Once again, I returned to the other side of the hall in the direction of the chambers. They had already opened and were cleaning them. I was just about to head for mine when a timid voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Excuse me." A pair of youths crept towards me. The one who'd spoken was the girl, while I noted the similarity between the pair's exterior and deemed them to be twins. Moreover, I recognised the boy's face—it was the same boy who made a ruckus the other day about his spear. "Sorry, I overheard that you can repair prestigious-class articles."

"Usually I can." I shot her an inquisitive glance, too quickly recognising what she was getting at.

"Then, do you... um," she fidgeted a little. Her twin brother seemed utterly unsociable and tried to pull her away before she could even spill about what they wanted. "How do I say it? Can you look into one of our tool and see if you can repair it?"

"Come on, Cas. There's no need to bother him. A true journeyman artisan could not do what I asked for, and he's merely a kid."

Excuse you, I almost muttered out loud. Who are you calling a kid, kid?

"Besides, I don't have enough to commission a repair if that even works."

"I have some savings," the girl said. "It's not a lot, but—"

"No," her brother interjected. "I cannot take your coins."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Sure you can," Cas said. "The tournament is in a couple of weeks. You need the spear, Pax."

"But Father—"

"Doesn't have a say. It's my earning."

While their bickering was endearing and all, my gaze darted to find the familiar figure of Master Luc wandering into the guild hall. He, too, noticed me and sauntered to the chamber, gesturing for me to follow.

"Pardon me," I said, drawing the siblings' attention to me, "I have something urgent I have to get to. If you still want your spear looked at, find me once I'm finished here."

Before they could reply, I crept over to meet Master Luc.

"I assumed you would arrive early," he said. "Come now. I haven't got all day to babysit your assessment."

The only important task left was to complete the formation on the wings. However, I took it upon myself to increase the workload by adding some fine-tuning to the entire formation. It was not a complete overhaul, but I pushed its output as far as I could. A study into aerodynamics helped me notice that it would still be quite problematic to launch the aircraft. Well, it would not be that much of an issue if it were steered by a powerful shaper. However, anyone else running it through an essence cell would require a huge charge of it. I needed to ensure it would not come to that.

Thankfully, all of that was completed by noon, and I spent another half an hour applying the gold-essence enamel to finish the entire project.

For my final assessment, I let the Spell conduct its appraisal.

[Fabricator: Elite Aircraft

Rank: Prestigious Class. Durability: 32/32.

A small aircraft elevated to such a degree that it is capable of hitting half the speed of sound.

Enchantment:

Flight: The aircraft could carry over a couple of hundred kilograms in flight.

- Boost: High in the air, the flight can be boosted to half the speed of sound.

Kinetic Steering: Uses kinetic force to steer the craft in the right direction with minimal effort whilst staying afloat at high altitude.

Forcefield: Protects the pilots and passengers from atmospheric havoc.]

The result was just as I had imagined, although the durability could have been better. It seemed duralumin could only push the integrity to the range of noble class. Still, with the forcefield protecting the craft, unless you were planning to wreck the thing, the fabricator would last for years to come.

"What did I tell you?" Master Luc's voice resounded from behind me. "The lad's a workhorse, I tell you. A workhorse. For any other journeyman artisan I know, it would take them a week to finish this."

It was the first time I heard him use his voice so boisterously.

"It is quite a noble accomplishment, I must admit," said the woman beside him.

"Noble accomplishment, she says," scoffed Master Luc. "None of the journeyman artisans I know can finish it in a week, if they can even craft something like this at all. Half of them are hardly even qualified for the journeyman station as far as I'm concerned, but you'd never let me take the test my own way."

"Your words are crass as ever, but I cannot help but agree. This is brilliant, as audacious as it may be to hang it for a showcase."

The woman was perhaps in the same age group as Master Luc, though she boasted a far prettier face. With tanned olive skin and a head full of hair in braids akin to a complex weave, her features were gentler, as were the softer blue robes she wore. However, the air about her remained as impressive as Master Luc's, placing her at the same rank of fabled class.

She was apparently the Head Administrator of the Artisan Guild, more commonly known as Guild Master for any private ventures.

Administrator Aurine asked, "Who did you say his mentor is?"

****

The paperwork after the assessment went smoothly. My parents arrived shortly thereafter to see me receive the accolade. However, I refused to accept my journeyman badge without having a test drive on the elite aircraft. Everyone at the guild had no other choice but to listen to the whims of someone a fraction of their ages.

I guessed the presence of my parents helped a lot in convincing them. They helped me carry the weighty thing out of the guild hall and into the streets, from where we pushed it down to somewhere empty among the gazes of hundreds of onlookers.

"This thing looks weird," said Diana.

I would have agreed with her if I did not know aerodynamics. The aircraft was shaped like a hefty dart with only enough space to carry a couple of people. Despite not being painted yet, it still had a freshly minted smell to it.

Without waiting ceremoniously, I rode on the foremost seat to fly it. "All right, who's coming for a test drive?"

"Me, me!" Diana said, raising her hand with childish glee, while Mother sat next to her promptly.

"I need to ensure it is safe," she said. The look in her eyes said there was no room for negotiation.

At least she did not take the control off my hands.

"Are you certain you can power it?" Master Luc asked.

The formation was extensive enough that it would require someone of at least the prestigious class to power it. I assumed that was mostly the reason why aircraft were not a thing. Ignoring the cost of building one, powering it would require an astronomical amount of essence. Even a prestigious-class shaper would be exhausted after half an hour of flight. Still, to me, it was better to have the option than none.

"I think I can manage," I said, channelling my essence into the steering lever.

Lifting the aircraft off the ground was easy and slow. However, once I began to push it further up into the air, I faced the issue I thought I had rectified. It felt as if I was required to put all my Weight and Will to steer it off in the air. Well, I was merely a noble class shaper, so that might be the cause of the problem, as a prestigious shaper would not face the same difficulty.

Still, it could be resolved by tinkering some more with the rune formation. I left that for my next aircraft.

It took a couple of minutes to ascend a few hundred metres into the air, and from there, it was much easier. The wings cut through the air, and the dart shape sliced through like an arrow, with the thrusters propelling it forwards at quite an impressive pace of perhaps three hundred kilometres per hour.

To conserve some energy, I restricted the forcefield from forming completely. Honestly, I quite liked the feel of the cutting wind on my skin. Only Diana was not appreciative of that, and Mother was there to shield her.

Another thing to improve, I guessed, was the energy it required to run. I believed I could not operate it for more than a few minutes. No more than five minutes had passed, and I had already expended half my essence just in ascending. From there, the consumption eased a little.

"Hold on tight."

I was not going down without trying boosted flight, however. As soon as I turned the lever, a quick thrust pushed against my body as the craft lurched and buckled against the force of the wind. That was where the kinetic steering came into play as I aligned it with the wind.

At this speed, it would not even take an hour to reach home.

Unfortunately, my aether roots began to strain far earlier than that, and I had no other choice but to relinquish control to Mum.

"It seems you aren't satisfied with the flight yet?" she said, and instead of steering the craft to land, she pulled it higher into the air as we circled the city. She even enabled the kinetic shields, as the high wind at that altitude was more than just punishing.

Through the shifting clouds we flew, as Mum pulled through many forms of acrobatics with the aircraft.

"This is quite fun," she said.

"If only it could be a common commodity," I returned.

"I like that you chose duralumin in place of some hardwood or some other alloy. But it is still difficult to make this a common commodity with a price tag of over a thousand gold Leafs. Then there was the cost of flying it."

I almost choked at the figure. I supposed the currency of credits had let me forget the actual cost. Ignoring all the fees and taxes, the material alone was over four hundred gold Leafs. Well, I could make do with a fifth of the price by not using Stellar Silver, but the cost of powering it would rise astronomically. If I measured it by the standard of the essence cell, then the cost would rise from a couple of gold coins to a dozen.

That was still quite a sum for a regular prestigious-class shaper. I guessed they could afford it with a couple of years of savings. Unfortunately, the number more than doubled once the artisan's fees and all the taxation were included.

Still, I believed there was a market for it. Perhaps it would not sell in large numbers, but there was a wealthy crowd that would like to own something like this. The Waygates could be used for instantaneous travel, but the aircraft might still remain a noble experience, not to mention that it costs gold to use Waygates as well, and they did not even cover all the places.

I guess we need to make it cheap and sound enough that their desire to fly outweighs all the other reservations.