Chapter 3.5 First payment

The massive door of one of the quietest rooms in the large chem-tech plant, where the sounds of work and agony were mostly always present, opened. Sirion opened the door to Finn's office, trying to keep a calm expression on his face, although tension was still seething inside him. Unlike the streets of Zaun, it was quiet here, only the rhythmic tapping of Finn's fingers on the table broke the oppressive silence. The boss sat, leaning against the back of the chair, and, as usual, played with a hunting knife, balancing it between his fingers with frightening ease.

"Well?" Finn looked up, stopping the knife. His eyes studied the boy coldly. "Everything went smoothly?"

"Yes, the package was delivered as you requested," Sirion answered, hiding a slight tremor in his voice. Finn nodded, as if it was self-evident. Then his face acquired a slightly interested expression.

"Were there any problems?" — He asked, starting to twist the knife in his hands again. Sirion paused for a moment, thinking about the answer. If he thought about it, he had taken into account all his previous mistakes, and this time he was completely convinced that there was no tail. Although this task made him quite nervous. After all, during his preparation and training with Jerry, he had given him a brief overview of each criminal gang in Zaun. And the place where he was delivering the package was very dangerous.

"No, everything is calm. No one noticed." — His voice sounded confident, but inside he felt Finn trying to feel him out.

"Good." — Finn put the knife on the table, leaning back noisily. — "So you did it", — There was a pause. Sirion felt the heavy silence begin to press.

"What about the payment?" — he finally asked, trying to make his voice sound calm. Finn chuckled, smiling as if he had heard something funny.

"So sure of yourself that you're discussing payment?" His gaze became prickly. "You, boy, should remember that this is not a marketplace where people haggle. But since you ask…" Finn reached into a desk drawer, pulled out a small bag, and threw it on the table. It fell with a dull thud, and Sirion immediately realized that it contained money. "Your share." The boss nodded slightly towards the bag. "You won't get any more for this mission."

"Thank you," he said. Sirion walked over to the desk, took the bag, and nodded briefly. He didn't open it in front of Finn; he knew that would anger him. Finn waved him off as if the conversation was over.

"Go away. There's a new mission tomorrow. Be ready."

Sirion left the office, feeling the tension slowly ebbing. The bag of money lay in his pocket, its weight a reminder that, despite the risk, he had done everything right. Now he just had to figure out the system and prepare for the next step.

Sirion had just closed the door to Finn's office when he heard a familiar voice behind him:

"Hmm, you're brave, boy. Asking for payment from Finn? A little more and I would have considered you crazy. Although why should I be surprised anymore?" He turned around and saw Jerry standing by the wall with his usual calm look. In his hands he was holding a metal pipe, which he seemed to be mechanically twirling between his fingers.

"That... didn't seem so brave to me," Sirion answered, trying to look as casual as possible. Although inside he still felt the tension from the meeting with the boss, "The job is done, I just wanted to get my share."

He still spoke as a man of the 21st century, who was accustomed to the fact that for every person in the world, in theory, there should be a job, which should always, ideally, be paid according to the fact. A sense of fairness towards himself played a role. Of course, in his past life he wasn't old enough to experience all the downsides of adult life, but he understood that these were just his stupid, naive thoughts. Not everywhere and not always did the work pay fairly, damn capitalism.

"Finn isn't one of those who are used to impudence, especially from newcomers. It's lucky that he was in a good mood. Otherwise, you might not have left the office entirely," Jerry grinned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"But now I know what this work costs," Sirion retorted, shrugging his shoulders slightly. He showed a bag of coins and tossed it in his hand a few times. He should probably calculate how much money there is. Finally, he'll be able to buy normal materials.

"Ha, well said." Jerry nodded, but his eyes carefully studied the guy. "Not everyone would dare to voice their demands so quickly. But, you know, I like it. You have... character, as they say.

"You think so? Or was I just taking a stupid risk? — Sirion grinned.

"Both, I guess", — Jerry laughed. — "But that's not bad. You're new, but you've already figured out the main thing: only those who know how to behave wisely, but aren't afraid to take the initiative, survive here."

"And Finn? Is he always so... oppressive?" — Sirion involuntarily glanced toward the closed door of the office. Jerry thoughtfully tapped the pipe on his palm.

"Finn... is a difficult man. His respect must be earned, but even then he will always look down on you. But the respect of the boss is a useful thing. If you want to survive here, you have to learn to maneuver."

"And did you do it somehow?" — Sirion asked, looking at Jerry with interest.

"I do my job, I don't ask unnecessary questions and I don't argue. But you're not me, man. It seems to me that you have your own plans. And I can't say that I didn't have this very respect from the very beginning. I knew his father, in fact, he was like an older brother to me and raised me accordingly. Finn was always a very impudent child, but from childhood he saw me as a friend of his father. So you should not expect to receive the same level of respect as I did", - Sirion remained silent, only chuckling slightly.

"Okay, I'm going away", - he said finally, noticing that the conversation was becoming too personal.

Jerry nodded and, turning, threw over his shoulder:

"I will never tire of repeating this to you, boy, remember: in this city, courage is good, but too much courage can shorten your life", - His figure quickly disappeared around the corner, leaving Sirion alone in the dark corridor. The boy sighed, clutching the bag of money in his pocket even tighter, and headed to his room.

Sirion opened the door to his room and paused for a moment, looking around the small room. The floor was literally strewn with wrenches of various sizes. Some lay neatly stacked in the corner, but most were scattered chaotically, as if they had simply been thrown there. This was the result of his nightly experiment with the system.

"Eh... I should have laid them out more carefully," he thought, carefully stepping over the pile of metal tools and heading towards the bed.

He sat on the edge, opened the system menu and looked at the indicators again.

"Engineering: Level 1 (9/10)

Design: Level 1 (9/10)"

Only one step left to level up two skills at once.

"A little more, and maybe I'll unlock something new," Sirion thought excitedly, rubbing his hands. His gaze fell on one of the wrenches at his feet. It was the simplest thing he could make. However, the thought that he had made them himself with the system warmed his soul.

"Wrenches are fine, of course. But it's time to move on to something more useful. I need to find materials to test something more complex. Besides, spending all the materials on just wrenches might not be entirely rational..."

He thought for a moment, then walked over to his makeshift storage to make room.

"If I keep making only these, I'll end up cluttering the room rather than improving anything," he chuckled, starting to sort through the tools, putting aside those that could be useful and putting the rest aside.

"I'll have to use all the scrap metal I got today and, if possible, get at least a couple of rare parts. And see if I can level up with them. I spent almost everything yesterday on these damn wrenches... Although, wait..."

He decided to finish the job, putting as many tools as possible in a secluded corner, and open the system window to develop a blueprint for something new. He went to the table, where the parts he had collected the day before were still on it. A pile of scrap metal collected in the corridors and on the streets of Zaun was still waiting for its turn. Sirion sat down on a creaky chair, laid out the parts in front of him and thought.

"We need something useful. Something that will actually come in handy..." His gaze lingered on an old part that had once been part of a broken mechanism. A metal plate, several gears and a piece of pipe. Scraps of ideas began to form in his head. "Let's try." He began working, his hands moving quickly through the parts, piecing them together into something new. As he worked, a line lit up in the background:

"System: Object Analysis and Design Activated."

Sirion looked over the small metall press that now sat on the table. He was pleased with his work. The mechanism seemed sturdy, despite being made from parts that most would consider useless junk. The simplicity of the design meant that it could be used to recycle other metals and create new parts. He opened his inventory and noted with alarm that almost all of the materials he had collected earlier were gone.

"So the system only takes what it needs to create," he muttered thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. That fact was a little comforting. He knew that with the new tool, he could get some of the materials back if he needed them, simply by recycling the unwanted items.

Sirion leaned back in his chair and looked at the system window:

"Engineering: Level 2 (0/20)

Design: Level 2 (0/20)"

"20 more steps," he said quietly, knowing that the path to improvement was just beginning. Thoughts of the future flooded back. Finn, Jerry, the tasks, the system... He felt the pressure of responsibility squeeze his chest.

"If Finn finds out about the system, I'm done for. They'll either sell me out or work me to death. And in Piltover, they'll think I'm a damn sorcerer if they find out about these capabilities. I have to be careful." His gaze fell on the pile of wrenches scattered around the room.

"We need to cover our tracks," he decided. Sirion stood up, picked up one of the things he'd created earlier, and wondered how best to hide his achievements. He quickly assessed his room: a bed, a closet, a couple of old boxes.

"If I take apart some of the furniture, I can make a hiding place," he thought. He went to the old cabinet in the corner and began to remove the back panel. Soon he had created a hidden space inside. It was awkward to move things into the hiding place, but the necessary caution outweighed the inconvenience.

"A little calmer now," he sighed, closing the panel of the cabinet. Sirion sat back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He felt like he had had a productive day, but he had a long night of thinking and planning ahead of him.

After completing the cache, Sirion approached the pile of remaining materials again. Many ideas were swirling in his head, but now he understood: he needed to move strategically. He took a deep breath, putting his thoughts in order.

"I need to prepare things that will help me on missions. Courier work requires speed and dexterity, but an extra tool in case of force majeure does not hurt," he thought, looking over the collected resources.

The system was active, and Sirion decided to open the "Design" section again, scrolling through the available schemes. Among them, he noticed a scheme for a lightweight pocket tool that resembled a Swiss knife, but with a few changes: instead of the usual blades, it had removable miniature tools built in, such as a small saw, a screwdriver, and even a key for working with small mechanisms.

"Perfect," he muttered.

Having selected the scheme, he activated the design process. The screen showed the required materials: some strong metal and a couple of wires for assembling hinge mounts. Smiling, Sirion pulled out the remaining metal parts from the pile and started the process.

"Analysis... Materials are suitable. Creation: 5 minutes."

"Easy," he grinned, looking at the loading. While the process was going on, he took out the press he had made earlier and decided to try it out. Taking several curved metal plates, he began to align them. The machine worked perfectly, without creaking or jamming.

"This is already progress. Even if the system fails, I will have tools to continue working," - The creation of the pocket tool was completed with a short beep. The thing appeared on the table in front of him, which he immediately grabbed, turning it in his hands.

"Excellent!" Sirion smiled, opening and closing the various blades. "This is what I need."

Now he felt more confident. Putting the new tool in his pocket, he looked back at the cabinet with the secret compartment.

"Good. It will be useful on missions, and at home I will continue to create." His plan for the evening became obvious. First of all, he decided to study the remaining schematics in the system to see what else could be useful in the near future. Then he intended to go in search of materials again, but this time - with a clear plan.

"I can't just exist. I need to be ready for any turn."

Sirion turned on the system, opening the design window again, and delved into studying the new possibilities.

"Engineering: Level 2 (1/20)Design: Level 2 (1/20)"