An Offer.

The next day when Loki arrived at the Fawley's store for Enchanted and Engraved items, he heard a little *tinkle* from the top of the door where a small bell was attached.

"Oh! Loki! You're here!" Randolph said with a smile as he greeted Loki. "Follow me.", he said flipping the sign on the glass door to the other side indicating that the store was going on a short break.

Loki followed the order diligently and as soon as he stepped into the workshop attached to the store he *gasped* audibly.

"This! This is amazing!" Loki said with excitement clear in his tone as he looked around the store and spotted several humanoid mechanical devices that functioned by themselves, some cleaning the store while others worked to manufacture various alchemical and runic items.

"Haha~ I was the exact same as you are when I first entered the back of the store, although I was a little older than you when I did, but I suspect I looked just the same. It feels like a new world doesn't it?"

"All this!? How is it possible!?" Loki asked in shock.

"All in due time boy. Let's see if you can first work on the broom." Randolph said with a clear smirk of victory and pulled Loki with him to a bench where tools were set up around a hovering broom to make it easier for everyone to work on it.

"*Sigh* I will hold this as a promise then Mr. Spudmore.", Loki said and began to work while trying his best to ignore the various magical and mechanical wonders around the room.

Spending the next few days working on the broom with Bilton, Fawley and Randolph, Loki found himself coming back home with a tired and exhausted look as he usually collapsed into his bed after dinner.

In the next couple of days, however, Loki who was rich from the money Lockhart had so kindly provided him, purchased several shares in the Firebolt business that Fawley was about to set up for Randolph, at a severely discounted price of course.

'But their first racing broom…will it really be trusted by others?'

'Well, they know better. I'm sure they've done their research.'

"I haven't seen a more talented thirteen-year-old than you in my life. And I don't think I will ever see one as good as you." Randolph commented as he admired the broom hovering in front of him.

"The top speed before was about a hundred fifty miles an hour but now it's been boosted to about a hundred ninety. I can't believe you were able to improve the efficiency of the circuits so much for me to improve not only the top speed but also the braking speed and the comfort of the cushioning charm."

"Come on Mr. Spudmore, don't embarrass me. I just did what I could." Loki said humbly and stood up from his seat in Fawley's workshop in Diagon Alley where Loki had worked with everyone on the broom.

"Thank you for having me here, it was a pleasure and I got to learn quite a bit." Loki said with a handsome smile as he became excited about the new things he could make for himself with the Beyonder Characteristics he had gathered from the souls in the Ring of Harvest.

'Perhaps I can even sell a few items in the Aurora Order Gathering.'

But before Loki could leave, Mr. Spudmore walked over to Loki and handed him a small ring.

"Huh? What is this Mr. Spudmore?" Loki asked with a puzzled expression.

"It's a ring that will help you detect poisons in your meals and purify them." Mr. Spudmore said with a soft smile. "That was the ring Fawley gave me to get me interested in his store. It works fine, it just has a small flaw."

'Hmm? But how does it purify food? I remember there being a spell to do that, the purification spell was it?'

'But to make it into a ring…why give it a flaw?'

'Unless…'

"How did you make that?" Loki asked with a confused look and when he looked back up at Mr. Spudmore he found him smirking.

"Wouldn't you like to know little guy?! But if you want to know more, you'll have to become Mr. Fawley's apprentice. Think of this offer as my parting gift."

At those words, Loki's eyes instantly widened.

They didn't widen simply because of the offer Randolph presented to him, but because of the consequences and what they implied.

'Is this a Beyonder item?'

'Is that why he wants me to accept the apprenticeship? So that I can become a Beyonder and learn under him?'

'Damn.'

"Can I think about it a little Mr. Spudmore?" Loki asked with wide eyes and a slightly loose jaw.

"Haha~! I can see you're surprised, but make sure to accept. Since you won't ever get such a wonderful opportunity once again." Randolph said with a smile as he patted Loki's shoulder.

"I will see what I can do Mr. Spudmore."

"Good~ Good~." Randolph said and allowed Loki to leave.

Leaving Diagon Alley, Loki reached the Black Manor and immediately dove into the study to learn how the ring that Randolph had given him was made and worked.

Loki carefully set it on the table under a wide assortment of tools to study it in depth.

The table was decorated with many trinkets like Omnioculars, rune etching knives and holder clamps that Loki used to inspect the ring.

The tiny runes that had been engraved in the underside of the ring would have led Loki to believe it was just a simple work of runes but when he activated his spirit vision he had a different conclusion.

"It is a ring that has absorbed Beyonder Characteristics."

Happy with his first conclusion, Loki began to examine the structure of the ring under Spirit Vision.

"Hmm…so the Beyonder characteristic itself works as a core that siphons in spirituality from the air using its will'?' with a few spirituality-gathering runes and powers the entire system."

"Hmm? What is this?" Loki mumbled audibly as he clicked a few lenses into place on his Omnioculors and zoomed in on the tiny runes that were carved into the ring.

"How does the ring know to detect poisons?"

"How is the spirituality being given an intent?"

Since it was the basic rule of magic that any spell could only occur when it was given an intent Loki was a little confused.

"Is it also because of the remnant will in the Beyonder Characteristic?" Loki theorised. "The person to whom the Beyonder Characteristics died wanting to purify poisons?"

Loki quickly set up a bestowment ritual and moved to the Sefirah Castle to obtain the Beyonder Characteristics of the soul of the Beyonder of the Twilight Giant Pathway in the Ring of Harvest that he set free first.

'Let's see.'

Bringing the Beyonder Characteristics under the Omnioculars, Loki began to study it.

But unable to find anything like that, Loki decided to take a different approach. 

He brought out a normal metallic plate that was lying around in the basement and engraved it with the spirituality-gathering runes which he copied from the ring that Randolph had handed over to him.

Finally after drawing the runes and setting the Beyonder characteristic into the metallic plate, Loki began to find something peculiar.

The spirituality that was gathered into the plate with the Beyonder Characteristic as the core also had an intent. It kept trying to form a reddish shield around itself like it had coagulated the light of dawn to protect itself.

'I see.'

'So the remnant will of the Beyonder Characteristic decides what abilities it will exhibit when it comes in contact with spirituality.' Loki made a note and nodded his head as he began to test further.

Pouring his spirituality into the metallic plate, Loki instantly felt a subtle difference in his body, but he didn't have to pay very much attention to understand this difference.

Almost immediately the rune engraving pen that was in his hand snapped due to the excess strength that had been pumped into his muscles while a soft reddish glow full of warmth formed a thin shield around him.

"Ha~ So this Beyonder Characteristic will give me excess strength if I pour spirituality into it along with a shield? Strength to protect myself?" Loki mumbled with a small smile on his face. 

"Yet…I can't seem to attack anyone in this state…and that is its 'flaw?' because the 'will' of the Beyonder Characteristic is only here to protect, not attack?"

"How wonderful…"

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