Might as Well

Writing, or rather creating his Master project, was simultaneously simple yet incredibly frustrating. Sam knew from his inherited memories what was actually possible, yet knew from experience that those inherited memories were limited mostly thanks to the other Sam’s interests and him being low on the totem of hierarchy.

Plus, there was always a possibility that what the other Sam had seen was simply fake news to distract or misdirect people exactly like him.

Thus he had to be careful, yet at the same time, he couldn’t really limit himself as that would cheapen his own work.

‘Time travel… fucking confusing mess…’ he grumbled to himself as he pored over his plans for the project.

The idea was simple: designate a house – preferably one he owned – and plan a very thorough and complete defensive runic sequence that would impress the judges.

Thankfully, the company had several buildings that he could choose but he wanted something more impressive. Thus, he quickly sent a message to Lucy asking for the plans for the current headquarters.

The response was just as he expected. Requests for passwords and the activation of a two-factor authenticator they had set up around the time they founded the company in the real world. It had different password and identification requirements. Thus, even if somebody could spoof his responses here in the game, there was almost no possibility they could do it in real life.

At least Sam hoped so.

His research told him that breaking those encryptions would require more computing power than one scammer would have access to. At that point, it would be just easier to beat the passwords out of him.

Naturally, if it came to mega-corps or the governments, Sam knew for a fact they had ways to access it, or at least the computing power to break it. At least he suspected so, based on the fact that he would categorize the current world he lived in as a semi-cyberpunk one. Or the beginning of one…

And cyberpunk was about respecting personal boundaries or secrets…

However, right after his self-reflection at the mausoleum, he had decided that worrying about what mega-corps and governments do all over the world wouldn’t help his mental health or improve his situation in any way or shape.

He had no plans of upsetting the status quo of the world, thus he was just happy playing around in the small world of Magic Unbound and its peripheries…

Some would call him a coward, refusing the call of adventure, but he felt he was prudent with his lot in life.

Maybe if he got bored with it, he could plan a coup d’état…

For now, he had some building plans to go over and defenses planned.

He simply started by listing out – encrypted of course – all the ways he was aware people could infiltrate the building. Then he removed those infiltration methods he knew there was no defense for. He was creating a Master project and not a miracle. That would be for later…

Then he simply started going over them one by one and creating runic sequences that would negate those attempts.

Some of them were rather easy as the sequences could be found in one of many books that Fitzgerald lent him for the duration of his stay at his house, thus he simply wrote them down and jumped to the next one.

When he had collected all the easy ones, he turned his attention to the foundation of the defenses, mostly in an attempt to clear his mind and prepare himself for the challenge of the harder sequences.

The foundation was built up with mana gathering, controlling, regulating, and even cleaning arrays, rune sequences that had the one job of regulating mana flow between different sequences, and even some that made sure that the runic defense wasn’t broken.

Naturally, he connected several alarm sequences to it that he planned to connect on the other end to some artifact that Lucy and Tim could use. Or if Liz finished her major project, then to that…

Another aspect of his creation was several runic sequences that enhanced the building. It contained sequences that made the stone more durable, glass less likely to break, less dust to gather in forgotten corners, and because he thought it was funny, he added the runic equivalent of his cleaning spell.

‘Maybe there will be some synergy…’ he mused with a chuckle. Originally, he just got the clean spell because, well, he hated feeling dirty and thus the spell, while useful in the game, would also help him deal with that. But he had used it so much that it had become almost an integral part of his skill set. Even the system acknowledged it! ‘Maybe they will call me the Cleanest Mage!’

Finished with that part, he had to tackle the part he hated the most!

How to fuel his creation…

Gathering that much mana without any ley line in the middle of a well-established city was a recipe for disaster, and not even his connection with the Silvercrest family would protect him if he turned on a runic sequence that gobbled up mana.

Fortunately, a solution for that was well documented. Create a discrete siphon separately along the property to distribute the siphoning effect and then add another siphon that would suck up all the excess mana people emitted. As most people didn’t have Sam’s iron control over their mana, no matter how much they tried, there was always some manner of excess mana when they cast spells or even moved around. The last step was a limiter.

The runic sequence would start slowly with the siphoning, sucking up only enough not to collapse, which could be supported by people donating their own mana, and then slowly, over time, it would strengthen itself from the ambient mana emitted by the people visiting the building.

Sadly, as this was a rather exact art, he had to do some calculations to make sure everything would operate well and not cause black holes or something worse – the book was not clear on what something worse was – which thankfully, was helped by the gaming system which allowed him to use it for a shortcut.

Sam was aware that he would receive less experience if he used the system, much like people who used incantations, and the system’s help to control mana and cast spells, but the thought of doing that much math made him break out in hives.

‘Let the computer deal with the numbers…’ he groused as he watched the system screen quickly go through his calculation, luckily finding no errors.

He would just not tell anyone how many times he tried before this.

Finally, after a few minutes, there was a ding sound, and he received his reply from the system.

‘Yes! First time!’ he cheered as he wrote down the answer and compared it to what he expected and needed for his runic construct. ‘It seems I have enough space for a good dozen sequences…’ he contemplated the answer.

Looking over his list of possible avenues of infiltration, he decided against redoing the math – he wasn’t a masochist – he simply decided to go over the list and remove a few items that were unlikely…

‘Right, a specific authentication sequence just for Lucy and me is probably too paranoid… We already set up too many safeguards for that to work. What else can I remove…’

This was followed by an exhausting review of the list and him weighing the possibility of people using skills that would be developed years from now to infiltrate or attack the headquarters building that would be soon abandoned for something better.

‘Maybe I’m too paranoid?’ he contemplated for a second before shaking his head. ‘Nah… they’re really out to get me…’

He slammed down the thick set of documents in front of Fitzgerald with a triumphant smirk.

“Finished, master!”

The other man looked at the document, lifted the first page, glanced at the foreword, and looked back at Sam.

“How many times did you revise this?” he asked with a chuckle as he finished his own work. He slid the thing he was working to the side then pulled the stack of documents to him and began turning the pages, reading it at an incredible speed.

“Fiv- no ten times at least…” he admitted grudgingly.

“Admirable in a week…”

“I have been planning something for a while…”

“As expected from someone so paranoid…”

“I’m not that paranoid!” refuted Sam with what someone would call a pout.

Fitzgerald just chuckled. “You check Sir Mipsy for being a shapeshifter every day!”

“You can never be too safe, sir!” he argued but knew from experience that it was useless. “Anyway, what do you think?” he asked, seeing as the other man was almost finished reading his work.

“Inspired and deeply terrifying,” came the answer from the man as he looked up at Sam. “You need help, son.”

“What a fascinating solution!” exclaimed one of the robed men going over his Master project.

“Indeed! Splendid solution for this issue!” agreed the first man, also wearing all concealing robes.

Apparently, part of the exam was that the examinee couldn’t know the identity of the examiners to prevent even a chance of impropriety.

Fitzgerald was back at the house as his showing up was also against the rules. The people under the robes could have a connection to him and could either have decided in his favor if they were allied with the man or ruin Sam if they hated him.

It was not a perfect system, as it was pretty clear to anyone who wanted to know whose apprentice he was, but at least it showed an attempt at impartiality.

The men wearing the medieval equivalent of government black suits standing at the back of the room and staring stone-faced at the robed men also helped.

“Oh my! An excellent idea, but how did he…. Oh right, there!” another murmured as they attempted to understand Sam’s thought process.

“Very elegant solution! Yes! Maybe I could… hmm…”

“Heh, amateur mistake, but I suppose it works…”

“Now how the heck did that work out and why the heck would you add that?”

“Which one?”

“That…”

“I mean… it could be useful, I suppose. Save on manpower, maybe?”

“I don’t like the waste of mana!”

“Waste for you maybe, but potential gain for our aspirant?”

“I agree,” butted in the third man. “There are more ways to skin the morvian fox!”

Sam just sat there and worried. He had never had to defend his thesis in his previous life, as he had never reached that part of higher education. He got his Bachelor’s, and he was happy with that. Not to mention the other Sam who practically grew up on the streets and only had the basic education provided to everyone.

Granted, he was aware that what he was seeing was nowhere near the real defense, at least according to what Dan told him about it, but it still felt the same.

Then he was broken out of his thoughts when one of the men waved him over.

“Young man, we have a few questions!”

Finally, after several hours, the three robed individuals moved away from the desk where his project was spread out with several stacks of notes and other detritus marking their presence and turned toward Sam.

“Journeyman Samuel, step forward,” came the even order from the one in the middle.

Sam did so, finding himself in the middle of the simple room.

The one on the right continued. “We examined your submission, and it was not found wanting.”

The person on the right followed. “Your submission was without critical errors or design flaws. It followed all guidelines and pertinent laws it was required to.”

“To our knowledge, we declare, it was not a copy of an existing project and has not been created by persons other than the one in front of us,” finished the person in the middle.

There was a pregnant pause, and then the man continued.

“Thus, by the power vested into me by the Guild of Runemasters and the Emerald Kingdom and the current Grandmaster of the guild, I declare that Journeyman Samuel has completed his journey and achieved the status of Master!”

The other two politely clapped, while Sam simply grinned.

Then, naturally, he was almost deafened by the sounds of notifications.

[You lost the title of Apprentice!]

[Congratulations! You managed to pass your Mastery exam!]

[You gained the title Master of Runes!]

[Master of Runes: You gained enough knowledge on the topic to be called master by your peers. Still, a wise man learns until death. Increased effect of runes and reputation with the guild.]

[Your skill Journeyman Runecarver has achieved a breakthrough!]

[Journeyman Runecarver is now Level 50!]

[You gain Master Runecarver!]

[Master Runecarver: Level 0 (0%) (Passive) You constructed your Heart Rune and created your very own Master project. You can carve, create, and destroy runes without help. The cost of activating Rune schemes, sequences, and circles is reduced by 66%. Hidden runes and schemes are more likely to reveal themselves to you. Backlash damage of failed runic schemes, sequences, and circles is reduced by 33%.]