Chapter 4: The Market and the Whisper of Metal
The safest wall... is also the most beautiful prison...
True growth begins on the day we step out of it...
and allow the chaotic world outside to carve the first scar upon our soul.
— From "The Journal of a Nameless Traveler"
(Age: 5 years old)
For the first time in my new life... I was to step outside the fence of my home.
Father... Aether... had to deliver a new steam-powered water filter he had invented to the "Craftsman's Guild," and he decided to take my mother and me with him. It might have been because I hadn't been seriously ill for a while, or perhaps because of the curious gaze I showed every time he returned from the city.
The moment the horse-drawn carriage passed through the city gates of **"Ashwood"**... the world I knew was shaken to its core.
It was no longer just wooden houses and herb gardens... This was the center of life... Towering stone buildings lined the well-paved stone streets. Large steam pipes ran overhead, hissing rhythmically like the breath of a metal giant. A great many people bustled about... and they weren't just humans. I saw a handsomely bearded dwarf carrying a massive hammer, a long-eared elf in a green cloak choosing herbs, and beast-folk with ears and tails haggling animatedly over goods... The fantasy world I had only ever seen on a screen... was now real, right before my eyes.
[...You have witnessed 'Hybrid-Style Architecture'...]
[...You have analyzed the 'Pressurized Steam Pipe System'...]
[...INT increased by 2 points... MP restored by 3 points...]
My brain worked hard to process the massive amount of information... but the restored MP made me feel surprisingly good. It was like taking a full breath of fresh air for the first time.
Father took us to the central town square, where the Craftsman's Guild was located. There was a large flea market there, filled with wondrous things... from potions that shimmered faintly in glass bottles, to weapons engraved with runic characters, to small mechanical devices that moved on their own.
While Father went to discuss business inside the Guild building... Mother took me for a walk through the market.
"Don't wander off, Faelix... there are a lot of people here," she said, holding my hand tightly.
I nodded... but my eyes were drawn to one old stall.
It was a shop selling "antiques and defective goods." The owner was a world-weary old man, dozing behind the counter. The table was cluttered with miscellaneous items... but one piece made me stop in my tracks.
It was an **"Astrometer Compass."** I remembered it because I had seen its blueprints in Father's books. It was a complex magical device used by travelers to find their position from the stars at night... But this compass... its needle was spinning wildly... It was "broken."
[...Abnormal 'Mana Circuit' detected...]
[...Activating skill 'Gaze of Structure' automatically...]
I focused on the compass... and the world in my sight changed.
I saw its "structure"... not just the gears and needle... but the "blueprint" of magical energy flowing within. I saw the path of mana flowing from the "Starstone" that was its power source... through the "runic circuit" inscribed on a silver plate... and controlling the magnetic needle.
And then I saw the "bug."
It wasn't a physical break... but a "logical error" in the runic circuit.
A rune that was supposed to function as [Filter: Polaris] had been slightly misinscribed, turning it into [Filter: All]. It was thus trying to point to every star in the sky at once... causing the needle to spin...
"Interested, lad?" the old man's hoarse voice sounded. He was awake.
Mother was about to pull me away. "I'm sorry... he's just..."
"It's not broken, sir."
I interrupted... speaking a long sentence to someone other than my parents for the first time.
The old man raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"
I pointed at the compass. "The rune... right there... it's wrong."
I don't know where I found the courage. Maybe it was the fascination with the beautiful mechanism before me, or maybe it was the familiar feeling of "debugging code" from my previous life.
"Just... 'scrape' off this small curve here... and 'add' another line there... it will work again," I explained, following the "logic" I saw in my head.
The old man looked at me with disbelief... before picking up the compass and a tiny chisel... He hesitated for a moment... but finally decided to try what I said.
He expertly flicked the chisel... scraped off the flawed part of the rune... and inscribed a new line in its place.
Click!
The instant the final line was inscribed... a soft blue light flashed from the compass...
The once-spinning needle... now stopped... and pointed steadily north.
The surrounding hustle and bustle fell silent... Passersby stopped to stare at us with a single accord.
My mother looked at me, stunned...
The old shopkeeper... his mouth hung open... before he mumbled, "How is this possible... This problem... even the Guildmaster himself shook his head at it..."
[...You have successfully 'debugged' a high-level magical device...]
[...Proficiency in 'Runic Engineering' has increased massively...]
[...INT increased by 5 points!]
[...MP restored by 20 points!]
It was then... that a man in a fine robe who had been watching from a distance walked towards me... On his chest was the emblem of a hammer and gear, the symbol of the "Craftsman's Guild."
"Little one..." he said, his voice a mixture of awe and excitement. "...what is your name?"
My war... which had once been confined to an internal battlefield...
It seemed... it was truly about to expand its scope to the outside world.