Birth Of The Crafts-God

The group were speechless at the sight of the transformation and their heads immediately began to spin. It should be recalled that all six of them were individuals with a business acumen. They could see the potential Lucas' product had. They could already visualise the disruption it would bring about in the market.

Amongst freelancers, there were some who used both hot and cold weapons. However, there was a glaring issue with this; it was the effect of the combined weight on the user. For a pistol, there wasn't much to speak of, but for more powerful weapons like a rifle, the additional weight would impede the freelancer. There was also the fact that it was difficult to use both weapons at the same time.

However, the Blue Spear, though heavier than a regular spear, was much lighter than the combination of the two vestiges. The logic was the same as with the principle of two perpendicular points. In a right-angled triangle, the diagonal line, or hypotenuse, might be the longest by length, but it was shorter than the sum of the other two lines.

This was the theory of perpendicular points: the shortest distance between two perpendicular points is a diagonal line.

The same logic applied here as with the right angled triangle; the Blue Spear, which combined two types of vestiges, was much lighter than the sum of the two vestiges' weight.

At the same time, it was much easier to use the Blue Spear than carrying two vestiges at once, after all, the Blue Spear—even in its spear form—could shoot out lasers.

Seeing that he had their attention, Lucas went ok to introduce the other features of the vestige. Similar to the spear he made for Wally, the Blue Spear was also fitted with a spell that would activate upon a said keyword. The spell was the same with Wally's, and could boost the user's strength and speed for an attack.

It could also be powered by the same stellar energy capsule used by the vestige in its gun form. Doing so would greatly increase the boost effect of the skill, albeit at the cost of the capsule's energy.

After introducing all the other features, Lucas also projected the test results of the vestige. The test was pretty much the same as those in a vestige duel, but it was more comprehensive and detailed. With this data, the executives could better realise the value of the vestige.

As for the Dark dagger, it was the same as the vestige Lucas had made during his exceptional basis exam and it functioned just like the Blue Spear. The only exception, apart from the obvious drop in power, was that its second form was a pistol and not a rifle.

Once Lucas was done describing the abilities and features of the two vestiges, it was now time for negotiations. For this, the two vestige-smiths stepped up and inspected the vestiges themselves, after receiving Lucas' permission.

The leader had asked for two vestige-smiths to accompany him on this inspection, so as to check the viability of the deal. There was also another reason he had asked for their presence. It was to find some faults in the vestiges, no matter how small. By pointing out those faults, they could target the negotiator and help his confidence, which would then help him gain advantages in the deal.

Despite this sounding unscrupulous, it was a common tactic in business.

"I noticed that the transformation time of the vestiges is roughly above half a second, correct?"

The vestige-smith with black hair suddenly asked.

"Indeed." Lucas nodded.

"I don't know whether it's because you lack battle experience, but you should know that half a second is too long in a fight with experts." The man said with a slight smile.

For an average person, a second might seem too short or quick, but for experts, especially in professions that depend heavily on reflexes, a second was long. While half a second was indeed shorter than a complete second, it was still enough time for an expert to react or even attack.

If a freelancer spent that long waiting for his vestige to transform, he would probably be dead by the time it was all over, even if his opponent was a desolate beast.

"You're right," Lucas didn't refute the man, shocking the others.

He ignored their glances and continued.

"But you made a little mistake. The transformation time isn't above half a second; it's roughly 0.3 seconds." Lucas raised three fingers.

"The actual demonstrated time was 0.7 seconds, but this was to let you all witness the process easily. The market-fit product however, would have a transformation time of no more than 0.3 seconds. In the future, this would be shortened to 0.1 seconds."

When Lucas was done, the group didn't know what to say. The vestige had already impressed them and the talk about transformation time was simply to lower Lucas' confidence and get a better deal for themselves. However, by revealing the truth about the demonstration, Lucas had dropped their confidence.

What's more, the added plans for future upgrades already made them unsure of how to go about the negotiations.

'At this rate, we won't be gaining much.' The leader of the executives thought as he stared at Lucas.

He was beginning to wonder whether the latter was a business guru who had figured out their plan, and made preparations by revealing a slower transformation time. That way, he would create a shock effect during negotiations, just as had occurred.

"Oh, okay." The black-haired vestige-smith stuttered with a flushed face as he focused back on the vestige.

The other vestige-smith, the one with a pair of glasses, was glued to the inscriptions on the Blue Spear.

"I might not be an expert in weapons-type vestiges, but I do know a lot about stellar matrices as it is our area of focus. If I'm correct, this isn't a stellar matrix, unless it's something novel. In fact, I believe it is more likely to be something entirely different as I see no principle or theory relating to stellar matrices in them."

Vestige-smithing was similar to manufacturing occupations on Earth. In fact, it could be termed as Earth manufacturing occupations combined with stellar energy. Due to that, there were many branches in vestige-smithing. As there were monsters, which were very valuable for their body parts, weapons became popular and the weapons branch of vestige-smithing naturally came to light and stood out.

However, in the end, the majority of hyumans were common folks who relied on everyday technology. Engineers could handle those issues, but some pieces of equipment or technology required important components that could boost their productivity and capabilities. As such, the branch that dealt with making this component was one of the most popular branches in vestige-smithing.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

They were known as the School of Analytical Reasoning and they focused on making one very important component called stellar processor.

Unlike weapons, that had a lot of emphasis on form, stellar processors were more efficiency- and accuracy-focused, giving zero care for aesthetics. As such, vestige-smiths of the School of Analytical Reasoning didn't learn forging or much about material science, albeit they dabbled a bit in the latter. Their major focus rather, was on calculations and inscriptions.

This led to them becoming the most knowledgeable when it came to stellar matrices, and the vestige-smith was from this branch.

Lucas turned to the man and nodded.

"You're right. They aren't the typical stellar matrices. It's something my master uses as a sort of branding. He calls them stellar circuits."

The vestige-smith nodded.

It wasn't uncommon for vestige-smiths to be familiar with a certain style or technique of inscription and keep it to themselves. This helped them in building their brand, or even a school, as they were, typically, the only ones aware of such methods.

It was the same with how restaurants had their secret sauce, or how food and cosmetics companies kept the measurements used in production a secret, even if they printed out the ingredients on the back of their product packaging. With the ingredients alone, it would still be difficult, if not impossible, to perfectly replicate the product.

The fact that one could see the inscriptions used on a vestige, but that doesn't mean they could copy it, as they lack the formula for it. An inscription wasn't simply just a scribble or a carving on a vestige. It was a combination of geometrical and mathematical calculations as well as stellar energy complications.

Due to the intricacies involved, vestige-smiths would use it as a sort of branding for their products.

"For these stellar circuits, can anyone work on them?" The man asked.

This was a very important question. Usually, even if a vestige-smith used a unique stellar matrix in a vestige, other vestige-smiths could still work on the vestige to some extent. They might not be able to clone the matrix, but repairing parts of it or making adjustments wasn't an issue, for the experienced ones that is.

If the stellar circuit was a new technology, it would mean that the difficulty of repair was high, if not impossible for anyone except the original vestige-smith. In that case, it would bring more business to the vestige-smith, but it might also attract some concerns.

"As it is an entirely new inscription system, for now, no one except the original vestige-smith, or someone knowledgeable about stellar circuits, could do so. However, my master is working on a solution for that. Within six months to a year, there should be a solution for that."

Lucas estimated that six months to a year should be enough time for him to get the system up to level five or at least make, five hundred system coins. There was still the fact that he could hire a strong employee and borrow their power within the store.

"Alright then." The four-eyed man [1] nodded.

The leader of the executives could see that none of the vestige-smiths accompanying him could find much of a fault in the vestiges, so he sighed secretly. Regardless of that, he was determined to make a deal with Lucas to be the sole distributor for these vestiges, even if he had to sacrifice an arm or a leg.