Chronicles of the True Wizard

Chapter 229 - Book 2

The city of Arkade, the first city within Felix's Mind, looked drastically different than the last time Felix had visited directly. It wasn't just the city itself that had changed though, it was everything. The landscape was now varied all the way into the distance with no horizon because the entire land was a projection, so there was no need for planet curvature.

There were mountains, trees and deserts all visible from the city along with massive islands the size of countries floating around in the sky above, so distant their shadow was obscured by the source-less light of the sky and the refraction through the clouds beneath them. The weather was no longer completely tied to Felix's emotions and so the floating islands drifted through a sea of clouds and though not visible, Felix could tell there was a vast network just below their feet as well.

All of this, was just in Arkade. Felix could feel there wasn't just the desert city of Rakyt anymore, there were thousands of settlements, not all big enough to be a city and none as expansive as Arkade. Some of them were simply a few nomadic Souls deciding to live by themselves, others were small towns and villages that had dedicated themselves to Alchemy or the care of beasts, which also now roamed his mental world.

Within the city itself, the number of buildings alone had multiplied, like thousands of epochs had passed. In a way, that was exactly what had happened. The perception of time within his Mind was drastically different from outside. Luckily, his Mind Residents didn't really age or die at the moment unless they decided to split their Soul or asked to die, which some had. They weren't suicidal, they simply felt satisfied and wanted their Souls dispersed, like they knew their time had come. With death as rare as it was, meant there were still some original residents, keeping everything in check and making it effectively, a never ending empire.

Kairune looked around in confusion, unsure what he was looking at and where he was.

Fin however, had more context and was somewhat aware of Felix's mind, "Is… This is… in your head?"

Felix nodded to him, "It is."

He felt a little odd standing in front of the massive statue of himself within a fountain that had grown into a massive architectural statement but, he also wasn't going to just tear it down. Plus, this was the center of the city as he knew it so when he brought people in, this was where he brought them. No where else really made sense to him.

Felix gestured for the two of them to follow and headed down one of the streets, through some of the weirdest buildings he had ever seen. Some of them were architectural marvels like cathedrals and monuments. Others weren't even physically possible, they either floated or were split down the middle as if space was torn. In reality, all the buildings were made from an Anima projection and could essentially be anything.

Without any physical constraints and the freedom to build without having to put in much work to do so, the buildings became odd and disjointed. There was no cohesion to the city. Felix didn't mind it at all though. He was more than happy to have a building that looked like one of the ancient wonders of the world next to a building that looked to be partially made of light and constantly disintegrated towards the top.

Fin, who understood where they were, was mostly experiencing shock and wonder as he looked around. Kairune on the other hand, was deeply confused as it didn't seem he had figured out where they were, or seemed to believe Fin's words.

Felix led them into one of the newer buildings, a structure that visually split itself into strips near the top, like pasta, that then looped back around to rejoin the bottom. Inside though, the building looked nothing like the outside. Instead, it had a small lobby along with various halls and walkways littering the height of the building.

He didn't bother heading to the reception and simply willed them to move up a few levels, thoroughly confusing Kairune even more, then led them to a specific room.

After knocking to announce his presence, Felix opened the door to reveal a large bird with navy feathers and large talons wearing gold jewelry.

Felix smiled and gestured to the bird as they bowed, "Professor, Chancellor, meet Thoross."

Fin smiled and waved then quickly looked up so he could watch Kairune's face as he finally realized what was happening.

Kairune, did not disappoint. He looked at the bird for a few seconds, emotions blank. Then, all the pieces began to fit together and his emotions roiled. Felix was slightly astounded at how many emotions he was feeling at once and seriously wondered how anyone went on with their daily lives being so emotional.

It wasn't unique to Kairune, he knew that from everyone living in his head, he just rarely paid much attention to the emotions of others.

Kairune's jaw dropped a little, not out of shock but out of desire to say something but not being able to say anything. He looked at Fin then at Felix then at Thoross who stood back up and nodded, "It has been a dream of mine for hundreds of epochs now to learn the Culinary Arts in the outside worl-"

"You're Thoross?" He looked back at Felix before Thoross could answer, "This is in your head?" He turned to Fin before Felix could answer, "You knew about this?"

Fin shook his head immediately, "No. Not really."

"Head and Soul. It's mostly an Anima projection but the logical consistency is entirely because of my Brain." And Mark.

Kairune looked at Thoross, "So what are you?"

"He's a construct. Mostly. He's a Soul and a Brain contained within my Soul."

"Then… the body outside… in the real world."

Felix gestured into the room with his head, "He's controlling it like a puppet."

Thoross stepped to the side a little and gestured behind him towards what appeared to be a completely black room. Like the void of space lay behind him, "When the door is closed, this room completely overrides my senses and everything I do, get's forwarded to the body. I can't even tell the difference."

Kairune looked at him incredulously so Felix, in the physical world, activated his Replicate Construct Skill on Thoross, creating a second body then he placed a puppet soul within it, using his tendrils.

Then, he gestured for Kairune to follow and led him to an empty room, gesturing for him to enter. Kairune didn't hesitate, his feet carried by his confusion.

Felix closed the door behind him and released Fin so he could watch from the real world.

Looking over at the new body next to Thoross, the body Quinefremore was recoiling from, the one Kairune was controlling, Felix watched him look down at his hands. He stared at them for a moment then looked over at Thoross' body then over at his own, real body. He walked over and examined his body, currently motionless and still grasping Felix's hand, then he poked it.

Felix could tell he felt it and Kairune moved his limbs a little more before looking around once more and finally leaving the body.

Felix released him from his Mind City and pulled the leftover puppet into his Soul Space as Kairune opened his eyes, released Felix's hand and turned to Quinefremore, "Sorry."

The Professor's eyes widened even further as he began shouting nonsensically.

Kairune raised his hand to stop him and when that didn't work, Felix felt the most oppressive Aura he had ever felt coming from Kairune. His own Aura instinctually to protect himself and Kairune immediately glanced at him before turning back to the raging Professor and trying to reason with him, "What Felix is doing is within the rules. I cannot stop him. I also cannot force you to teach Thoross here, if you do not want to."

"DAMN RIGHT I DON'T WANT TO. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YO-"

"Enough" Kairune walked forwards and took hold of the Culinary Professors wrist, dragging him out the door of the office and essentially throwing him into the classroom, "If you are this angry, then simply leave. You have no other students to teach so if you will not teach Thoross, you are not needed at Eramith."

Kairune closed the door to the office with more force than necessary then sighed, "I cannot force them to teach your Mind… Constructs… People. Unfortunately though, the rules protect you and so, I am obliged to deal with all the complaints myself."

Felix nodded, "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"I do not." He grumbled a little then offered a genuinely apologetic look to Thoross, "I'm sorry about your dream."

He nodded, "We all knew this was a possibility. It also isn't over quite yet."

Kairune cocked a brow and Thoross smiled as he turned to Felix, "Grim suggested I talk to Melody." Thoross looked back at Kairune, "She can probably convince him to teach me."

He snorted and shook his head, "This entire generation…"

Thoross smiled and nodded to them in farewell then cautiously opened the door and left when he saw that the Culinary Professor had vanished.

Kairune looked back at Felix as he stepped towards the exit, "I take it some of them are entering The Abyss?"

Felix just nodded.

"See that they do well in the first dekad at least. It will likely convince a number of the Professors and quell their complaints."

"I will."

Kairune nodded to them both then walked out.

Once they were alone, Fin turned to Felix, his eyes now wide with excitement and anticipation, "You mentioned introducing me to your familiar?"

Felix nodded and opened an Aether Tunnel to Ked's lab that they both stepped through.

After a slightly awkward period of Nova taking Ked's slightly more humanoid feline form, Felix had Nova use the materials from the tree in his Pocket Home to make a completely flawless crystal.

Then, he manually prepped it to become a battery and handed it to Fin.

They spent the rest of the day just experimenting with batteries and Felix was mostly correct. He could produce larger batteries with Anima but it introduced other problems. Mainly, the Anima cost and the fact that the Anima often bound itself to the Mana such that pulling the Mana out of the battery, pulled out the Anima as well.

It made them less usable in general, despite their larger capacity.

However, they used their discoveries to fuel other re

Felix nodded, "So even a God would have trouble."

"Yeah. I really doubt they were taken."

"So they ran away and don't want anyone to realize for as long as possible?"

She nodded, "Any idea why?"

Rainoth knew about Arthur… maybe she's scared of the rumors?

"No idea." Felix lied.

It only took them a few minutes to reach the first store, a massive store that was actually spread throughout an entire building in Telviras. They used the various units to split up the store into departments.

With Erevos' unique enchantments, Felix didn't have to find parking and they simply walked in through the front entrance into what reminded Felix fairly heavily of a massive department store. There were sections on the first floor for all the generic forms of equipment. Generic Plate, Robes, Leather, Scale, Chain, Profession Clothing and more mundane clothes.

Then, there were various portals that were all labeled with the departments reachable from them.

On display was mostly D grade equipment with some low rarity C grade equipment mostly for show on the mannequins.

Melody turned to them once they were all inside, "Okay, so. You're definitely not going to find perfect equipment here. We came here first though, so you could see what's out there. Try to narrow down the style and maybe get some ideas for what you're looking for. Don't just focus on armor, consider jewelry too. Even if you can't find what you want, we can basically advertise what we're looking for and sponsors will try to fulfill that, often making completely custom items to show off their abilities."

They all nodded with various degrees of seriousness and smiles on their faces.

"Normally, I'd say we should split up but I, one, don't trust you all to search seriously and, two, think it's better if we all see everything so we get more ideas. I think we should start with Adaline, because she mostly wears Medium Armor. The rest of us wear Robes and Cloth."

They nodded again in agreement or acceptance then followed Melody through a serious of portals into the more boutique, custom and higher level equipment sections.

Those sections contained Epic C grade equipment and everything from Common to Rare B grade, but nothing higher than that. That meant the materials and the effects were nothing extraordinary and Felix was certain his own robes, would have been worth an entire department, or more.

Melody squinted in thought as she examined Adaline, "So, Adaline. You don't seem to heavily enchant your armor much…"

She nodded once, "I try to only enchant my cloak and my jewelry. It minimizes interference and makes it so I'm not reliant on enchantments. I also have a lot of experience with failing enchantments and I'm not nearly crazy enough to have anything complicated pressed up against my body."

Adaline side eyed Felix and Melody smirked, "So if the enchantments do fail catastrophically, your armor will protect you at least somewhat?"

Adaline nodded and looked down at her chest, fingering the various scars across the leather on her chest and metal plates on her shoulders. Stretching the scars with her fingers, Felix noticed the glint of metal beneath the leather on her chest and he noted that she was wearing something closer to medium and approaching heavy armor, not leather with some metal plates like he had initially suspected.

Melody nodded and began to lead them towards a specific boutique, "That makes things pretty simple. I think we can definitely also get you something that repairs itself too."

Peace snickered a little and for the first time since meeting her, Felix saw Adaline show something other than Frustration and Annoyance on her face, she was ever slightly bashful with barely pink cheeks.

Reaching over to a nearby mannequin as they walked through, Melody cocked her head a little, "Where's your preference on armor hindering your movement?"

She shrugged a little, "If it protects me more, I'm okay with it being heavier, making it harder to move and bend my limbs."

Melody nodded, "What about this one?" The one she was pointing at looked to be entirely metal and some kind of scale mail.

Adaline's cheeks grew every slightly redder as she quietly said, "Metal on skin's too… uncomfortable…"

Melody nodded without judgement then twirled towards a few others and narrowed down her requirements until she finally stopped and thought out it for a moment, "How do you feel about Bone?"

She shrugged in response, "Never really considered it but… doesn't seem as strong as metal to me…"

Melody smiled, "Alright, I think I've got yours figured out. Let's see about Robes then we'll go over jewelry and accessories."

They followed Melody along through the store, like a mother with her children shopping in preparation for the school year.

The Robe and Clothes department was by far the most diverse and was spread out over multiple floors. Not only were there traditional robes, like the ones Felix wore and more Martial Artist style robes, like Peace wore, but there were also dresses and various normal clothing outfits. They were made with higher grade materials, enchanted with defensive and mobility enchantments but they were still, clothes.

They focused on Felix first, because his requirements were the easiest. Peace was a Spirit now, though Felix still hadn't told him yet, and he needed robes that wouldn't hinder him. Ideally they helped him in some way too, but they weren't entirely sure if that was possible. Felix had Mark ask and coordinate with Rewdan just in case though. He didn't tell anyone else immediately, and wouldn't unless they managed to come up with something.

Melody already knew what she wanted and needed and didn't need ideas.

So, that left Felix, despite his not having any idea what he wanted.

"What about this one?"

"Too much fabric."

"Okay…. what about this?"

"That would restrict my movement too much."

Melody sighed, "These are nice, basically just simple clothes."

"That looks too much like a suit from Earth. I'm not wearing that in a fight."

"Fine, what about this?"

Felix responded despite knowing she wasn't serious, "Too little fabric. Way too little fabric."

"Really?" She teased a little more before half sighing-half screaming and dragging him through most of the sections.

His opposition quickly morphed from real complaints to, "That doesn't feel right."

Which was perfectly valid, just not helpful to Melody. Eventually though, she just gave up and began looking for clothes for herself, using the others as sounding boards for every outfit she tried on.

"What do you think of this one?"

Felix frowned, "That seems… excessive."

"Looks like a ball gown." Peace chuckled.

"Okay, fine fine. What about this?"

Peace guffawed, "Way too skimpy."

Felix just shrugged, "If you think that outfit represents who you are, you should get it."

She stuck her tongue out at him and Adaline actually giggled, exactly once.

After trying on a number of others and teasing the entire group, Felix a little more than the others, they finally checked out some of the jewelry.

For Felix, it was mostly useless. He could cast any of the spells they contained himself and preferred to most of the time. He did see value in automatic shields on earrings and belts but every one he saw, he could have easily created and enchanted himself to be vastly stronger.

Adaline was in a similar boat but, they both looked around just in case there was something they hadn't thought of.

Peace couldn't really use most jewelry but Melody claimed she had a solution at the next store they were heading to.

Melody herself, seemed to just be trying on pieces that she thought were cute.

Once they wrapped up there, Melody trying on a number of items again, they headed over to a store Felix could only describe as a taxidermist's heaven crossed with an equipment store.

There were armor and cloaks made from hide and bone along with jewelry and weapons. Felix didn't understand how that was going to help with Peace's spiritual nature but first, they were shopping for Adaline.

Melody knew exactly where she was going and picked out what looked like tailored plate mail made from treated leather, and bone. It was also seemingly the only item in the entire store that didn't look to Felix like a cannibal cult had made it. The leather formed multiple plates, like plate armor. Then the bone, added protection in specific places on top of and between the other plates.

Once Adaline had it on, Melody smirked, "What do you think?"

Adaline was at a loss of words, "This is… awesome."

[B - Epic] Beast Plate

[Regenerative]

Equipment created from the corpse of a high B grade, slain beast. It retains some of their massive Endurance, making it tougher and massive Vitality, allowing it to regenerate.

Melody's smile grew, "Thought so. So, we could get this, or we could wait and ask for something even better from sponsors."

Adaline shook her head, "If you think this is strong enough, let's get it. I'm going to complete that ritual then The Realms. I don't have time to wait on sponsors."

"Okay. I'm going to request some basic modifications then we'll pick up a cloak for you in the cloth stores."

She nodded and Melody disappeared to find the owner of the store while Adaline removed the armor for the time being.

As she returned, she held a few pieces of jewelry in her hands and handed them to Peace, "Try these."

Peace looked at her curiously then approached and equipped the bones that looked like they were slices of a rib turned into a ring and amulets that were large fangs and tiny skulls.

"What are these?"

Melody smirked, "The big advantage to using beast materials, is they can come bound with some amount of Anima. Pieces of the Soul from the original Beast or even something entirely new. They bind very well. These, have the entire spirit of the animals they had once been, but the Soul is now dead. Some people wear them as trophies that enhance their auras. For you…"

Peace looked at her questioningly but she didn't finish. Once he realized she wasn't going to, he began testing things which visually looked like he was just staring at the rings. With his Anima senses though, Felix watched Peace poke, prod and pull on the Souls within.

It took him a few minutes but once he more or less knew the limits of the rings and how far he could push them, instead of pulling the Soul out of the rings, he pushing part of his own Soul into the ring. As soon as he did, the hand wielding the ring transformed into a much larger claw with fur and everything.

Peace's eyes widened dramatically, "Oh yeah."

[B - Epic] Kargora's Fang

[Spirit]

An amulet made from the fang of Kargora, containing their spirit. Some say, the fang still salivates in battle.

Gross.

After screwing around for a little bit with the items, Peace handed them back to Melody, "Thank you. I'm going to see if The Cult can give me anything similar."

She smiled and nodded then returned the items where she had found them.

Felix debated taking a look at them himself, but even from a distance, he was almost certain the best he could get out of them, was to harvest the Souls within.

After that, they headed to more clothing oriented stores where Melody tried on a number of other items and Felix came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to find anything. Peace was in a similar boat but Rewdan had already thought of something special for him.

All Felix had to do, was stop by a specific store on the way back and pick up an extraordinarily expensive material. Luckily, Melody didn't ask too many questions and her father seemed to like handing her money.

Even though he didn't end up getting anything, Felix was rather satisfied with the whole trip. He had gotten a number of ideas for items he wanted to create for himself.

Melody ended up with the most out of everyone but, she didn't buy anything she would wear into The Abyss, at least not on any of the later floors.

Back on campus, she stopped them before they all split off, "Try to come up with something you want that I can tell the sponsors. The more specific, the better. They will get us things, you're better off asking for something you want or need so you don't end up with random garbage. Even more importantly though, a good wish list attracts specific sponsors. For example, if we ask for specific robes for you two-" She pointed at Felix and Peace, "We'll end up with a Clothier who focuses on Soulful Robes."

They nodded in understanding.

"Alright then. See you all in a few days, if not sooner but I suspect… you two are going to isolate yourselves to enchant things and you're going back to see The Cult. So, do not miss opening ceremony or I will kill you." She looked at them very seriously and they all nodded once again.

Her serious expression immediately shifted to jovial as she smiled wide and waved to them then skipped off.

Adaline opened a portal with her gun and headed back to her mentor's lab and even though Felix was immensely curious about the ritual they were performing, he had something else to deal with so he turned to Peace, "Come with me before you go."

Peace shrugged and followed Felix through an Aether Tunnel to Ked's lab.

Walking inside, Peace was mostly confused as he looked around, unsure what was happening and Felix, shared his sentiment. He had picked up the necessary material but he wasn't sure entirely why he had done so. Rewdan hadn't explained himself in the slightest.

The small rock he held was mostly stone with a bit of glinting metal shining through. The metal Felix saw was little more than a sparkle though, meaning there likely wasn't much within the stone itself.

[S - Ancient] Essence Vein Ore

[Unprocessed]

Ore extracted from an Essence Vein. A rare material that is nearly impossible to work with due to its incredibly hard nature and with little use, due to its incredible weight. It was once one of the most valued crafting materials, but the methods to utilize it properly have long since been lost. It however, remains valuable due to some unique properties and its extreme rarity.

Felix grumbled a little and used Arcane Identify more intentionally, which had consumed his Identify Arcane Material skill.

[S - Ancient] Essence Vein Ore

[Unprocessed]

Ore extracted from an Essence Vein. Considered to be a metal impossible to forge by traditional means, excels as armor if used correctly. Very few in the history of the multiverse can properly work with his material. It is often considered to be the original Soul Steel.

Wait… this is Star Metal?

Rewdan stepped forward and snatched the stone out of Felix's hand before he examined it thoroughly with his other senses and tossed it to Nova who leapt into the air and caught it in her mouth.

It took hours for Nova to produce what they needed, mostly because it was exhausting and took a ton of material for her to consume and transmute. It was still cheaper than buying a pile of the stuff though. What helped quite a bit, was Rewdan insisting Nova didn't have to shape it at all. So, they ended up with a large pile of marble sized metal chunks of various shapes.

Once it was out of the stone and roughly processed, Felix noticed it had a very dark Navy color, almost Black.

Peace had stuck around patiently with no idea what was happening but once they had enough, Rewdan stepped forwards, "I hear you've gone through a change recently."

Peace nodded, "I did. Still figuring everything out though."

Rewdan nodded then looked at Felix, Can I tell him what he is?

Felix nodded, having fully intended on telling Peace himself at some point, he just hadn't gotten around to it.

Rewdan smiled, "Do you know what I am?"

"You're one of Felix's brain people?"

Rewdan smiled wider, "No. In fact, I am not. I am a Spirit Felix summoned from The Spirit Realm."

Peace's eyes grew wide, "Woah… cool. Reaper's told me about it but… I've always wanted to visit."

"You should. Especially considering you are one now."

Peace cocked his head a little and opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it, "Huh."

"Let me guess, that explains a lot?"

"No." Peace shook his head, "Not really. I don't really know anything about Spirits so…"

Rewdan coughed, "Oh. Well, allow me to teach you something."

Peace nodded eagerly and approached Rewdan who held out a piece of processed Essence Vein, which Felix's identification called, Asphellum.

Rewdan handed it to Peace who happily took the small piece of metal and waited for instruction, "This metal is… rather unique and quite rare nowadays."

Peace nodded, "Considering how much Melody paid for a tiny piece of it, I know. Why though?"

"Push some of your Spirit into it."

Peace looked down at the piece and contorted his face in concentration for a few moments, his teeth clenched, "Now. What."

"Keep going with the rest of the pile."

Peace released his Spirit from the chunk and guffawed, "What?"

"You'll need to do it a number of times but… it shouldn't take you more than a few days… 30 or so…"

"I have to do this for 30 days? Why."

Rewdan gestured to the pile, "This is your new robe."

Peace looked down at the pile with a frown then over at Felix to see if this was a joke.

Felix shrugged, "He's not wrong. You know of Soul Steel? Star Metal?"

Peace nodded, "Of course. We use it all over the place in The Cult."

"That's what this is. This is the rarer, higher grade version of it."

Peace looked down at the rock with much more appreciation and less hate, "But… first, why have I never heard of it?"

Rewdan grumbled a little, "It seems to be nearly impossible to find in any large quantities. Last time I had a body, it was rare but not this rare."

"Okay…" Peace didn't seem entirely convinced but moved on anyways, "Second question, Soul Steel isn't that flexible. We use it for utensils and other hard objects but it's always hard."

Rewdan smirked, "I don't know what Soul Steel is, but have you used any of it since your transformation?"

Peace cocked a brow, "No. I guess I haven't."

"Either way, this becomes much more… malleable? Obedient."

"Okay. Fine. I'll trust you for now… funny Spirit man."

Rewdan looked at Peace with a weird look as he vacuumed the pile into a spatial storage then had Felix Aether Tunnel him back to campus so he could visit The Cult.

Once he was gone, Rewdan turned to Felix, "I'm not sure why Asphellum is so rare nowadays… but your familiar is-"

Felix nodded and held up a hand, "I know. I got some very good advice early on. As for the Asphellum, is there any reason I shouldn't use it for my own robes?"

"You should." Rewdan nodded, "For you though, you probably don't want a Robe of just Asphellum. It's a solid material, you could handle the weight. The issue is it doesn't handle energy attacks well. Spells, temperature, electricity."

"Won't Peace suffer from that too?"

"Spirits have a great time against energy attacks."

"Oh. I see."

Rewdan grew a little more serious, "It's a little too complicated for him to manage, but for you… you want to weave the Asphellum with other materials."

"Why?"

"You can weave in about three, as long as they're similar quality, without losing anything."

Felix cocked his head, "How does that work?"

Rewdan shrugged, "Look at your robes now. They weren't woven perfectly but the total is still more than the sum of its parts."

"What should I be looking for then, to weave in?"

"Definitely something regenerative."

Felix nodded, "That makes sense. Something else to handle energy based attacks then?"

"That sounds reasonable. You'll have to experiment to find the right weave."

"Why's that too complicated for Peace?"

"Because when you're morphing your robes, you have to maintain the weave the entire time. You don't just weave the robes then forget about them. For him-" Rewdan gestured towards the door with his head, "Who fights mostly on instinct, he's better off just having it naturally move and morph with him."

Felix nodded, satisfied with Rewdan's judgement, "I appreciate your help. I understand this was outside the realm of our contract."

Rewdan waved him off, "This is easily just as fun."

"When did you previously walk the material realm?"

Rewdan shrugged, "I don't know. Things are vastly different now. I remember a System but this one… feels a little different. It might be the same one though. Everything else has… changed though. A lot."

"Do you remember an Integration?"

Rewdan nodded, "I do… Multiple… I don't remember any numbers though… Sorry, Spirit memory isn't quite as impressive as computer memory."

Felix snorted, "Uh huh. So anyways, how are things coming along?"

"Wonderfully, I just finished up the initial designs for the Mana Accelerator."