As it turns out, the hidden section contains a massive number of shelves, packed full of items. There are dozens, no, hundreds of mana stones. There are big crates full of food. A massive tank containing water. There are rooms with beds and utility rooms.

Clothes, weapons, armor, the supplies here would make it possible to survive for years without ever needing to leave. But these rooms are empty, everything perfectly preserved and untouched.

Then there is another panel and a mana crystal two times my height, which is likely a reserve core.

The man once again channels his mana through it, and I observe as he does. His reserves do not seem to be that big. He is moving it skillfully too, but it feels different from the way I do it. It's hard to describe.

"So 99 years have passed," he mumbles and then turns back to us, "You, how old are you?"

"We’re from after the war, 22," Clonthaniel answers instead.

The man glances at him. "I asked the original, not the duplicate," he says simply and turns his gaze to me, "What even went through your mind to use one of the duplicating items that way? They were never intended for use on living beings."

He doesn't even wait for the answer and continues examining the core that seems to have some information stored in it.

"So that's how it is..."

After a few minutes, he takes a step away from the crystal, and it loses its light, "I need to know what you found in the Veil Ignition Station number five where I was."

The way he asks sounds like he is expecting an answer, like someone accustomed to authority.

"Nope," both me and my duplicate say at once.

"I see." Not saying more, he walks towards us, then instead of attacking, he passes by and, after taking a few steps, exits the hidden room.

He fires off a strange form of scan, and then he heads towards the room we used to store the items we got from the bunker he referred to as The Veil Ignition station.

Like two kids, we follow and observe what he does while questions run through my mind.

The man takes a few ingots of metal and other stuff we got from the bunker and heads to a different room. He doesn't seem to mind us following him and ignores us as he finds the facility that we identified as a forge. There is a house-sized forge with multiple openings. It looks too simple, though I did learn some time ago that it’s more of a shell for the more complex components inside.

Blowers, openings for fuel, leads for molten metal, and much more.

The man sends his senses through it again and activates one of the crystals, before throwing it into one of the openings, and with that done, manipulates the panel. It's broken, and the man examines and then ignores it.

Rolling his sleeves up to his elbows, he touches some sort of emblem on the inside of his forearms, and the heat starts radiating from him in waves. It crashes into the room, melting the surface of the tables, and when it reaches us, we absorb it as thermal energy which we store in our Vortex Core.

Right after, he redirects all of the heat he’s generated through an opening in the forge and concentrates it within. As the massive forge heats up, inscriptions light up across its surface, surprisingly some of the blowers even seem to be working as they distribute the heat along the underside of the apparatus.

With our eyes, we can watch as the heat is concentrated even further, and the man positions a table in the area and does something to keep it from melting. Then he throws some metals on the surface where they melt almost immediately.

Without worry, he steps closer, his powerful body ignoring the heat, and begins to shape the metal with his mana while adding components to create some sort of alloy.

“Do you remember that movie where they kidnapped the dude and kept him in a cave, while he built an iron suit and escaped while fighting off his kidnappers?” the duplicate asks. “Do you think that’s his plan? Are we going to let him?”

“Do you want to stop him?”

“Not really, the stuff he’s doing is cool as heck, especially the way he uses his mana. It seems to work better than using those clunky arms .”

“I tried my best back then, okay? And they still ended up being rare. So, blacksmith?”

“Probably? Maybe he just has a powerful body and a non-combat class. Maybe that's why he hasn’t attacked us.”

Activating our trait once in a while, we watch and learn from the man. It takes a few hours that we could’ve used to train, but neither of us bothers to leave. The things we’re seeing now are fascinating and should be useful in the future.

When it's done, the man touches emblems on his forearms again, and the heat dies off. What fascinates me is that the emblems used his mana and something else to create heat. But the man's mana reserves aren't that big, and he shouldn't be capable of keeping them up for so long.

Taking a few steps, he stops in front of me and offers me red-hot items he’s holding in his hands without care.

“In exchange for your help and answers,” he says simply.

Mana Radiation Absorption Rods (epic): Long, slender rods that can be placed around areas of high mana radiation to absorb and contain it. They reduce overall levels and make the area safer for short-term exposure.

Quickly, I take the three rods from his hands, absorbing the heat so they do not burn me. “Ask away.”

“The same question as before.”

“We wanted to have a look at the place you called The Veil Ignition Station, all we knew was that it was one of the stations they used to create the Veil. There we found a number of corpses, some of them were wearing robes covered in dozens of inscriptions and mana stones. We found you as well. At first, we thought you were dead, so we brought you here to examine. Then you woke up,” I answer.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“How does it look out there?”

“From what we found, the second Pairing happened and you guys fought the other planet for twenty years. Then, around a hundred years ago, the Enchanters Guild created a Veil that was supposed to encompass the entire planet and defend the cities. It was supposed to defend against invaders. Something went wrong, the Veil turned against you and killed the majority of humans, then before it finished, it started fighting the invaders. Your Absolute is probably dead as are the Champions unless they happen to be hiding somewhere. People outside rarely seem to reach level 200, probably because The Veil’s defensive mechanism seems to hunt them. Most of the survivors live in bunkers from before the war or in remnants like the Bastions. Most of them know very little regarding the war.”

I pause after a long answer and then look at him, “That's what you get for the rods.”

“Quite expensive.”

I nod in agreement.

“You can ask me something.” He gestures.

Oh. I like it.

“What are the emblems on your forearms?”

For the first time, he smiles ever so slightly. “What a thing to ask out of so many possible questions. They are emblems created and gifted to me by our Absolute. What is the Enchanter Guild doing?”

“We have no information on that. What I just told you is most of what we know.”

“So the Veil Ignition Station still has a broken core and mana radiation makes it difficult to reach the central components?” He asks.

“Yes, we were only able to stay there for so long. Is it dangerous even to you? Don't you have a powerful body?”

"As if something like that would help against radiation caused by that grade of broken core. Champion Niall spent weeks filling it with her dynamic mana."

“How did you survive?” I ask my question.

“A single-use defensive emblem from the Absolute,” he says.

“How many emblems did you even get from that Absolute?” the duplicate asks.

“A few,” the man answers. “Bring me the null collars you used before, I will smelt them into items to help with the mana radiation, then we can head back to the station.” Not even waiting for an answer he heads away.

“It was always our plan to return, but when he says it that way I kind of want to refuse just to piss him off,” the duplicate sighs.

But the man doesn’t hear him, already activating the emblems he was gifted by his Absolute and heating up the forge.

The decision wasn’t that difficult, and we handed over both of the null collars. In exchange, he created three simple epic pendants meant to take in some of the ambient mana radiation and redirect it.

What’s interesting is that the man rarely uses inscriptions, he doesn’t bother unless he has to. Most of the effects of the items he creates are a product of the combination of materials in his alloys.

Is it possible that he isn’t that good of an enchanter? Enchanting requires a specialized set of skills, so it's possible that he is not. As for me, I’m quite lucky that most of the ways that I go about controlling mana also allow me to create inscriptions.

In preparation for our return to the Veil Ignition Station, the man collects a few more of the items we recovered. He takes what he needs, and seeing the corpses in beautiful robes we brought back, he turns to us, waiting.

My duplicate and I exchange a look, having the same thought. We could leave him here and go by ourselves. We have rods, pendants, and even our skills. But at the same time, the man seems useful, even though he’s not very talkative and seems to expect obedience and respect.

I make a final decision, and he reduces his natural defenses, as I place my hand on his shoulder and teleport us to the station. The duplicate follows, reappearing between us.

The man looks at us and then at the severed arm and the bracelet I’m holding. His expression betrays that the arm belonged to someone he used to know. Yet he doesn’t show much in the way of emotion and takes a few steps, stabbing two of the epic rods in the direction of the source of the mana radiation and a third on the opposite side.

Almost immediately, the mana radiation lessens, and his weird senses reach out into the area.

“The radiation is even worse than I thought,” he says simply. Then he takes a few pieces of metal and ingots and heads towards the corner of the room and the small forge.

Emblems on his forearms activate, and he starts working again. Looking at the way he works, he’s probably making more rods to absorb the Mana Radiation.

My duplicate is already at work as well, grabbing some of the more valuable mana stones and doing whatever he does lately.

I, meanwhile, grab a few upper-rare spears made of white metal. The spears are complete, beautifully crafted, sharpened, and ready for use. The only thing missing is the empty mana stones imbued near the blades. All of the weapons are ready for inscriptions. There are even circuits made of conductive metals leading from the mana stone through the weapon.

Surrounding one of the spears with my [Mana Domain], I activate [Infusion] and then use [Mana Manipulation] and [Resonance], all while under the influence of [Focus].

I work on creating the best item possible for me given that I lack the skill to do this kind of thing on my own, but what I can do is create inscriptions, enchantments, or whatever the official term happens to be. I'm good at that, and a lot of my skills help me with that.

I could use my eyes for a better result, but not here. It would be too much surrounded by all this mana radiation.

So, I get to work, and time starts passing while I work. Nearly immediately, I lose two of the weapons to my mistakes, and then three more. But I do not stop and do not hesitate. If someone saw me using upper rare weapons as fodder, they would be mad, but they are just things to me. Useful items, yes, but never worth more than my life or too important to be sacrificed.

The items can be separated from me, they can be destroyed, they can be stolen. My personal power, and the knowledge I gain, will stay with me no matter what.

So, I waste even more of them, even getting a look from the man, but I ignore him and continue in my experiment. And then, after hours, my effort is rewarded, and I create the first epic item.

It's not entirely my creation, but I can say that I did a part of the work. A big part.

That makes me happy, even if it is only low epic.

Kinetic Pulse Spear (epic): A spear that accumulates kinetic energy and magnifies the force behind each strike. Movements and thrusts charge the spear, allowing the wielder to release highly concentrated kinetic blasts.

“I want to sell it,” I say immediately.

Do you really want to sell the following item for 1900 shards?

Kinetic Pulse Spear (epic)

Yes/No

I confirm and then check my shards.

Shards: 13,792

Two some odd days until Vega comes back, and then two weeks until the end of the floor. I wonder how much I will make.