Teleportation Array

Felix asked the Luxtamarean, "If you are so proud of your country, how did you end up in Margarita? Especially as a member of the government?"

Lorenzo was about to answer, when both he and Felix turned their heads to the close-by stairs. From there, an old man with a beard that reached his knees and a bald head covered in spots. He walked with his back severely bent forward, and in his back as each step looked like it might be his last.

Felix started understanding why Lorenzo called him a fossil.

[Ferdinand, ?, Overlord]

Felix was seeing that question mark more and more. Apparently, one could only see levels that were less than 50 Levels than one's own. Considering Felix was Level 27, that didn't leave much for him to see, especially with the people he encountered.

Lorenzo looked at the old man and greeted, "Hey old fart!"

However, Ferdinand showed no reaction whatsoever as he continued slowly walking, the creases on his face so deep it was hard to say whether his eyes were opened or not.

Only as he arrived before the door, and them, who were blocking it, did he slightly raise his head, muttering, "Oh, hello there."

Lorenzo rolled his eyes, while Felix nodded, greeting respectfully, "Sorry to bother you this late mister."

Ferdinand made an imperceptible nod, before muttering, "Follow me."

Lorenzo looked at Felix and said not so quietly, "No need to be polite with him, he doesn't hear you anyway."

Felix shook his head, following Ferdinand inside. The old man might not hear him, but why would he insult him in the first place? Sure, he was old, but not only did Felix need something from him, they didn't even know each other, so he had no reason to be rude.

Two minutes later, however, as Ferdinand finally sat down, Felix started understanding why Lorenzo acted the way he did. The room was, at best, around thirty square meters in surface, yet it took Ferdinand a whole two minutes to get to his seat.

With a voice so ancient that Felix felt he got dust in his ears, Ferdinand asked, "Why have you come to my humble office, Runefather Odin?"

Still doing his best to be respectful, Felix raised his voice to quickly go over his problem, and why he wanted to take part in the reconstruction of the Teleportation Array.

As he finished explaining his problem however, Ferdinand made no response. Thinking he was thinking the matter over, Felix kept quiet, but Lorenzo suddenly exclaimed, "Wake up old man!"

"H-huh what? Where am I?"

Felix looked at the old man, flabbergasted. Did he really fall asleep?

Lorenzo got up from his seat, and crouched next to Ferdinand, practically yelling in his ear, "We need the boy to work with us. Would you give us the authorization?"

Felix could also hear that there was something special to Lorenzo's voice, and through his Mana Sense he understood it was infused with Mana. Why, exactly, Felix did not know, but it seemed to have an effect as Ferdinand slowly took out a parchment, and a quill.

Not dipping it in any ink, he slowly wrote down something on the parchment, before asking, "Your blood, please."

Felix sent a glance at the parchment, which he felt emitted quite some Mana. The System did not give him any prompt, but looking it over, Felix got a sense of what it did.

It was basically a contract for him to assist in the construction of the array, and bound both parties in respecting some conditions. Felix would not be able to willingly divulge any details about the array that could threaten it, while they would be obligated to pay him the agreed price.

Lorenzo snatched the quill from Ferdinand, and said, "Don't listen to the old geezer, binding your blood to contracts is a dumbly dangerous way to sign contracts."

Looking over the quill, Felix commented, "The Runes inscribed on that Quill don't seem very safe either. I'm not sure of what the Enchant on it does exactly, but there are a dangerous amount of Runes related to Souls on it."

Lorenzo grinned at that, explaining, "Well, you can't blame us for being cautious, after the previous incident."

Felix shook his head silently, snatching the contract over as he manipulated his Mana. Wisps of blue Mana moved over to the contract, and Felix imprinted his Mana into the part where he was supposed to sign. He also wrote down the payment he wished: 'In exchange of Party B helping with the repair of the presently damaged good, or the construction of another, similar good, Party A shall allow Party B to use the good without further compensation once finished.'

As he did so, Lorenzo looked at him with wide eyes, and while Ferdinand did not show anything, Felix felt his Mana grow tumultuous for a moment. Maybe the old man wasn't as clueless as he let on.

Their astonishment was understandable however. Even for Felix, who could be considered a master at manipulating his Mana through the air, found it difficult to control it well enough to write down the words.

He was used to making Runes, so the alphabet took an extra layer of effort. Even more impressive, however, was his ability to print his Mana into the contract.

As an item containing Mana already, the contract had a resistance to any foreign Mana, making it hard to directly temper with it using Mana. That's why they used a quill, which was actually a conduct for their Mana.

But for Felix to be able to directly sign with is Mana, it was the same as tempering with the contract, meaning that if he wanted to, he could alter some of the content.

Not that it would be a very wise decision, as the change would be visible, but it still spoke of his excellent mastery over his Mana.

As for the terms themselves, Felix had intentionally made them subject to debate. Although implied, never was it said that Felix would only be able to use it once after they finished building it.

It was obvious to anyone who knew how to read a contract, or anyone who gave it a second glance, but Felix did it more to give them the finger about the whole blood/soul pact.

However, whether they had seen it and didn't care, or were too taken aback by their surprise of what he did, neither of them discussed the payment, and signed the contract.

The moment Ferdinand signed the document with the Quill, Felix felt a connection establish itself between his Mana and the contract, a part of his Mana bonding with it, and making the consequences of breaking the contract clear. The loss of a part of his Mana.

That was considerably better than binding his soul or body, but that was still quite the nasty consequence. But regarding how important the Teleportation Array was to the Kingdom, that was to be expected.

The contract now signed, as Ferdinand ever so slowly put it away, Lorenzo clapped his hands, cheerfully exclaiming, "You are now officially part of the project! Rejoice, for you are the fifth member to be accepted, and you will have the honor to be the only active member on it!"

Felix's expression turned blank as he asked, "Excuse me?"

But before he knew it, Lorenzo had forced him to his feet, making Felix feel like a baby carried around by an adult. He was dragged off the room as Lorenzo said, "The Runesmith Guild has three Vice-Guild Leaders. So you are the first person to be hired after us! Yay!"

Shaking his head, Felix was aghast as he asked, "No! What do you mean I'm the only one working on it!"

Faking a sorrowful expression, Lorenzo explained, "The Guild Mistress is unfortunately busy with other matters, and hasn't been seen for a few days now. I, am busy with my other job, dealing with the North. Ferdinand… well, by the time he walked over from his office to the Array, you would already be finished. As for the last Vice-Guild Mistress, she is out of the city."

Felix had questions, complaints, and frustrations to exert, but before he could do any of that, he found himself in a whole new room, the door behind him slamming shut as Lorenzo fled with super-human speed.

Only now did Felix start realizing that maybe, just maybe, he had gotten swindled. Those two had probably spotted the change he had made, but they didn't care, because they were turning him into a slave!

No, worse.

An intern.

Even as the terrible realization dawned on him however, Felix couldn't keep feeling down for long as his eyes shone with an excited luster as he looked around.

The room he had been thrown in was a runic marvel, and simply standing in it made Felix's Mana Sense pulse. All around him, he could feel Runes, be it on the ground, the walls, and even the ceiling.

Felix guessed that when functional, it would create a harmony within Mana that would give place to wonders. It was much more impressive than the Dark Gate too, as this functioned only using Runes.

Or at least, it should.

Felix felt anger rise within him as he took in the ruined Array, he felt like he was watching the ripped Mona Lisa all over again. No, to him, this felt even worse.

Sensing the hundreds of Runes around him, although Felix already more or less grasped what each Rune was, for those that were still intact, he did not understand how they worked together, and repairing it with his current knowledge was impossible.

However, as he stood there, Felix felt this strange feeling of harmony and chaos. If he had to guess, the Array, when it was complete, was harmony, and the closer to chaos it was, the more damaged it was.

This wouldn't help Felix much in the act of repairing the array itself, but it should do wonders to allow him to learn how the different Runes behaved together.

And so, Felix put himself to work.

Sitting in the very center of the room, Felix assumed the lotus position as he closed his eyes and began examining the room in closer details.

His Mana Sense covering the whole room, Felix only took a minute to identify the 532 Runes drawn in the room. It looked like it was around 80% of the entire array, meaning that a fifth of the array had been destroyed.

As for taking down notes not to lose himself in his work, he had learned through his childhood to get around that. It wasn't perfect, but Felix was capable of learning and memorizing without taking any notes.

Now that he had the entire room analyzed, Felix started using his already mastered knowledge about Spacetime Runes to study the Array, and he quickly found several areas that seemed familiar, and manifested them next to himself to test them.

The result that came out… surprised him.

He did not expect to get anything that would actually be enough to qualify as a Spell, the medium wasn't even the same, but his goal was to see how it would affect space.

And space it affected. Felix felt way more Mana than what should be possible converge towards the rudimentary Runic Circle he had made, before visibly disturbing the space there.

Through his usual senses, all Felix could perceive was light getting distorted, but under his Mana Sense he felt how space itself was almost getting torn open by the Spell.

This was highly unusual, as although this was the function of this particular set of Runes, it normally required a few other sets of Runes to strengthen it and reach this effect.

Yet now, on its own, it had almost managed to rip open space.

Despite narrowly avoiding a possible mutilation through a chaotic rip in space, Felix felt excited as he realized the genius behind the array's construction.

Whoever had created the array hadn't done so because of a lack of space, but instead to give the array a three dimensional power.