She chuckled. “Well, since you thought to ask, I’ll be kind enough to say net.”
So, half of the earnings from each item was going into the void. That was rough, but if she was giving me the designs and selling the items, it was probably worth it. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to front me the materials?”
She folded her arms. “You want me to take a cut of the net gains and provide the materials? What sort of business do you take me for?”
“A very kind and helpful mentor working with a promising would-be apprentice?”
She snorted. “Your optimism warms my shriveled heart. No, I think you’ll need to figure out your own source of materials. Otherwise, I could lose money from this arrangement, depending on how much you fail.”
I chuckled. “I appreciate your boundless confidence in my abilities.”
“I’m exactly as confident as I should be. This will be simple work, but it will not be easy — especially with your mana limitations.”
That made me grimace, just as it was intended to. “I’m grateful for your help regardless.”
“But if you’re really having material problems, you should think about a better way to solve that. A longer-term method. That’s the last hint I’ll give you.”
I nodded, picking up the papers and wishing her goodbye as I left the office. I didn’t pick up on what she was suggesting immediately, but I let it swim amongst the other ideas that were gradually forming in my mind.
Vellum was a pain, but she was probably the best mentor I could have hoped for.
Chapter XIV — Test Prep
I had nine weeks remaining to finish as many of Vellum’s designs as possible, get rolling on our own items — if I could afford to make any — and finish any other preparation I needed for the second exam. It sounded like a lot of time on the surface, but I’d only managed to make a single Carnelian-level item in the last ten weeks, and now I wanted to make dozens of them in the same period of time.
I’d written down everything I needed to make the items for my friends. I was a long way from being able to afford any of them, but I also had no idea how much Vellum’s items were going to sell for. I’d looked at the prices of goods at a couple shops, but I hadn’t been focused on cataloguing that information, so most of what I remembered was “everything is too expensive”.
That was something I decided to fix.
After a few hours of sorting through Vellum’s designs and taking notes on what they probably were meant to do, I headed toward the Climber’s Court.
I nearly ran right into a man who was on his way out. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and dodged out of the way.
The man looked like he was in his early twenties, with clean-cut short brown hair. He was wearing a long gray coat, similar in style to the ones we wore as students, but lacking the colorful epaulets that marked a specific division. He was clean-shaven, with unmatched swords on his hips. At a glance, he looked rather dashing.
More importantly, he had an attunement mark that I’d never seen.
I’d been seeing attunements since my childhood, but I’d never seen one that looked like that. It was a foreign mark; one from one of the other towers. I knew that dozens of other attunements existed, of course, and I’d even seen a few during large social events and the occasional sporting event. But this one stood out in another way, too.
Now that I knew about attunement levels, I had a pretty good idea of how common each of them were. Most adults seemed to be Carnelian-level. That seemed to be where most soldiers, teachers, and other professionals stopped. This guy was at least a Sunstone Mage, which put him in a similar category to Teft or Meltlake. Pretty impressive for someone of his age.
So, when I nearly blundered into this guy, I admit that I froze up for a moment. He probably could have taken my head off with a flick of his hand.
He just laughed, taking a step back and folding his hands. “Sorry about that! Didn’t mean to nearly clobber you there.” He extended a gloved hand. I managed to shake off my stupor long enough to give him a hand-clasp.
He narrowed his eyes for a moment as we shook. “You look familiar somehow.”
I tried not to look too intimidated by that. “Corin Cadence,” I managed.
“Oh!” He released his grip, grinning and stepping back. “I thought I knew you. Tristan and I went to school together.”
I must have winced at the sound of my brother’s name, because the stranger’s expression sank. “Ah — I’m so sorry. I just remembered... I’m so sorry for your loss.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. It’s been years now. Thanks for being so considerate.” I managed to peel my eyes away from his mark to glance his face over a little more carefully...but he still didn’t look familiar. “I’m sorry, I fear I can’t remember your name.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry, you were probably still a child last time I visited. I’m Derek Hartigan.”
“Pleasure to meet you again, Derek.”
“Likewise!” He glanced downward, frowning at something. “That sword you’re carrying... is that for sale?”
I was a bit taken aback by the question. “I hadn’t considered it, but probably not? It’s has a degree of sentimental value.”
“Ah, of course. Not a problem. I’m just something of a collector of rare weapons.”
Had he recognized my weapon at a glance? I didn’t realize it was that famous... But maybe he had another attunement that was helping him identify it?
Or maybe he just had a strong mana sense? I didn’t know much about foreign attunements, and I wasn’t sure if he had one that was of an information gathering style. I’d need to research that.
“Sorry to disappoint you. I’ll let you know if I’m ever looking to sell it, though, or if I come across any others.”
He looked pleased at that. “Excellent. Well, I’ve a Survival Match to win later today, so I must be off. You’re welcome to come watch if —” he cut himself off. “Ah, but you’re still a student, aren’t you?”