21 Moving out

Mark sat in his room with several essence stones lying on the table. He got these as his share in the red gate.

'Ahh, I really don´t want to do this.' he complained to himself.

The spells he has written were all made out of D-rank essence stones. There would be a huge jump in efficiency if he were to upgrade them with the B-rank ones. However, this was an annoying and repetitive task. There was no fun to be had.

'I guess the golem can wait, but...No, you can do that later. Making an automaton sounds really cool, though...'

After a bit of inner turmoil, Mark concluded that the golem can indeed wait and he got to work.

With the help of a scanner and a computer, his work got much easier, but it still took him over three hours to rewrite all the 12 pages. There was one essence stone still left unused.

'With only one left I can forget about making the golem.'

He started fiddling with the stone. 'On what basis did Arthur´s appraisal work?' he asked himself. Mark was fascinated by such a convenient spell. However, when he tried to replicate it by himself it didn´t work.

From what he saw it worked by comparing an object to a database. This database wasn´t in the spell, though. It was connected directly to Arthur himself. The person in question would probably also not know how it worked so Mark didn´t even bother to ask.

'Maybe this is how unique skills work. You need to have a particular connection or some kind of power in yourself. It would then make sense why I can´t use it. Well, it doesn´t matter that much. At least I don´t have to bother with designing this display.'

In front of his right eye were several magic circles making a screen. It was blank, however.

'It needs work, but this has potential.'

[Several days later]

Mark has graduated high school already. His brother even stopped by to congratulate him.

He, his brother, and his father all sat in the dining room. His dad was stuffing himself with the food Brian brought while he listened to the two brothers.

"So what college did you apply to?" asked Brian.

"None."

"Alright, janitors are always needed."

"..."

"I´m just kidding. Don´t look at me like that."

"No, I have my hunter´s license, so I´ll do just that."

"You´re a hunter?" asked his brother with intrigue.

"Yep."

"And you knew?" Brian turned to their father.

"Uh-huh" he mumbled with a full mouth.

"So you like go into gates and stuff?"

"I mostly sit on my ass and write things down. But I also go into gates and stuff as you say."

"Really? I would never have guessed. You´re more like ... an accountant than a hunter. I always thought that you´d run away from that kind of stuff full-speed." Brian said with a grin.

"Well, your younger brother could kick your ass. How does that feel?" Mark asked also with a grin.

"It gets better when I remember that my younger brother has a problem with telling the waitress his order."

"That... okay you win."

"That´s what I thought. So what you gonna do with the hunting? Does it earn you enough money?"

"He´s moving tomorrow. You can guess if it earns enough." their father spoke up.

"Damn, that´s insane. What did I go to law school for? You can just provide for me."

"I wouldn´t say that. Do you want to look at the apartment, though? I need to get my stuff there. It´s not a lot of things, but a helping hand would come in handy."

"Yeah, I took a day off even for tomorrow so why not?"

"Are you gonna sleep here?" their father asked Brian.

"Yep, I need to enjoy my old room when I can, you know.

[Next day]

Mark and Brian were both standing in an elevator. Mark had a rucksack on his back and another bag with his laptop over his shoulder. Brian was decorated like a Christmas tree with two big travel bags on himself.

"Why do you have so many clothes?" he asked Mark.

"It´s not just clothes. It´s also shoes, books, and a toaster."

"...a toaster? really?"

"How else am I supposed to make toasts?"

They quickly arrived on the eighth floor. Mark then opened the doors into his new apartment. Brian threw all the bags on the ground and went out to explore.

Mark took off his shoes and walked to the bedroom to unpack his things.

As he stepped inside he saw Brian lying on the bed.

"What do you need bed this big for?" his brother asked looking smug.

"I guess after a few years at uni you don´t know it but it´s called sleep."

Brian chuckled and said. "Never heard of it. Anyway, this place is pretty big, huh."

"I hope so, after what I´m paying for it." Mark sat next to him.

"Why get a place this big then?"

"For comfort, experiments, and when someone comes over."

"If the place explodes then you´ll have to pay for it. You know that, right?"

"Not that kind of experiment. Explosives are on the plan for later, though. I´ll need some kind of testing area for that."

"I´m so proud. My brother is a mad scientist." Brian said, looking moved.

"Shut up and help me unpack my stuff."