Birth Of The Crafts-God

"Hey, owner, it's been a while. A voice called out to Lucas just as he was attending to the customers in the store.

Lucas turned to the direction of the voice and saw a familiar face. It was Harry, the freelancer who has been a regular customer. He was also one of the very first people to patronise Lucas' store and had been a loyal customer for a long time now.

He had even convinced his teammates to patronise Lucas' store, and after the first experience, the Seven Sparks Forge had became the group's unofficial vestige-smith store.

"It's been a while." Lucas nodded at him.

"Such an unenthusiastic welcome despite my disappearance." Harry sighed.

As a freelancer team leader, Harry spent most of his time in the Wastelands. Thanks to the existence of the Wastelands Base station, to provide support for freelancer, Harry hardly made it into the city. That was unless he needed a new vestige or had to carry intense maintenance on his current ones.

"Playing victim wouldn't get you any discounts." Lucas replied.

"...that's about right." Harry smiled as he glanced around.

"Business doing great?"

Although he had expected it, seeing that there were more people in the store than usual surprised him. It had been over six weeks since he was last at the store, and never did Harry expect it to be popular within that short time frame.

"Well, better than it used to be, but not quite."

At the moment, there were twelve people in the store, excluding Lucas and Harry. Four of them were queued in front of Lucas, while the other eight were on the other side of the lobby, checking out the vestiges on display.

The main lobby of the store was divided into two with one side, which was the largest, being the checkout and service area, as well as the waiting spot for customers. As for the other area, it was a display section for vestiges. Some of the custom-made vestiges and standard types Lucas had made in his spare time were kept on display there.

The vestiges were inside a special glass casing given to Lucas by the system. As a system product, it was incredibly sturdy and theft-proof, so Lucas didn't worry about the items.

With the system upgrade, the store also experienced some changes. In the display area, as long as one was close enough and had their hand against the glass casing, they could feel the aura of the vestige within it. This would help customers in determining which vestige they felt suited them the most.

Harry left Lucas to attend to the customers on the queue while he headed towards the display section. It wasn't until half an hour later that the store get empty.

"So, what's the matter today?" Lucas stared at Harry.

"It's my son's birthday in a bit. I need to get him a present." Harry said.

From what Lucas knew, Harry was 53 years old and had two children; a son and a daughter, twenty four and eighteen years respectively. Due to the nature of his work, Harry didn't spend much time at home, but luckily, his wife was still alive to watch over the children.

When his son turned twenty however, he moved out of the house and now resides in the East Crown district. The East Crown district was the district located in the eastern part of Baylands City. Unlike the West Wing district, it was a residential area. Geographically, it was also the safest region in Baylands City as it was the furthest away from the Wastelands.

"A vestige for a gift? Are you sure?" Lucas asked carefully as he added,

"I make weapons. Not those fancy ones you know."

"Just a trinket. I would like it to be shaped like a sword. I want him to know that his father would always protect him, no matter where he is." Harry smiled.

Lucas felt quiet, feeling a strange emotion well up within him. Lucas didn't really experience much when it came to familial ties.

In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had a family up until the age of eleven. He then lost his family at a tender age during a unique incident. A rogue mage—a deserter— had appeared in their village and captured everyone for an experiment. His parents were victims of the mage's experiment and had died a horrific death.

It wasn't until a passer-by saved them did Lucas gain his freedom. But by that time, he was the only survivor of his village. The passer-by had no intentions of taking care of anyone and had left them to be. Knowing no one, Lucas had ended up having to survive all on his own in a forbidden forest that housed all sorts of monsters and criminals.

For three years, he had struggled all on his own until Lucas met his master who took him in after admiring the little boy's willpower and talent. His master has taught him how to survive in the magical society, how to cook, how to practice magic, and most especially, how to create magic items. It was all thanks to his master that the little Yohan had grown up to be a successful man.

As for his master, the man eventually did; unlike Yohan at his prime, the man was just a regular blacksmith. He couldn't stand out among his group, much less stand atop all other blacksmiths. On his death bed, he has stated that his greatest act was raising Lucas.

Although not related by blood, Yohan looked up the man as a father.

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In his second life as Lucas Saunters, Lucas was born into a family; an average one with no special feature. However, with the soul and awareness of a five hundred years old being, it was quite difficult for Lucas to relate with his new family.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

While he wasn't rebellious or cold, Lucas couldn't feel that sense of love and connection as he did with his master. At the same time, his parents didn't pay much attention to him as they were occupied with their jobs and their last child, a daughter who got all their attention.

Despite knowing this, Lucas didn't care. This was because he found it difficult to see them as his parents, albeit he treated them as such on the surface.

This was his third life, and Lucas pretty much started it as an orphan.

Seeing Harry look emotional when talking about his son reminded Lucas of his master and his dad, the father he had in his first life. Both men had cared for him sincerely and did their best to ensure he grew up well. They were the masons who laid the foundation for the existence that became the third grandmaster of that world, and one who was a Crafts-God candidate.

"A trinket, huh. Okay." Lucas nodded and turned to leave.

"If you have any special requests on it, send them to my mail. I'll be off to work now."

Harry was surprised, watching as Lucas left. He called out to the latter, but was ignored, which made him even more confused. Regardless, since Lucas had agreed to the request, Harry didn't stress himself and left the store soon afterwards.

In the work-station, Lucas faced the work-bench located at the centre of the room with his eyes closed. Memories flashed by and emotions welled up within him. A tear drop leaked from his eyes, but Lucas was unaware of it.

'I hope you're in a better place.'

Despite having not believed in the existence of God, at this moment, Lucas silently prayed.

. . .

The Red Fangs building was currently in a state of distress. The employees could all feel the ambience which was intensely serious and worrisome. It was clear that they were experiencing a dire situation that needed all hands on deck.

Deep in the building was the office of the director of the Red Fangs Unit. The Red Fangs were the only unit under the City Patrol Corps that had a different director due to their independent nature.

Usually, a director of the City Patrol Corps was stationed at every district in Baylands city-state, with the Chief of Police, an eight level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner who stayed at the Central Prefecture district, being the supreme authority over them.

In turn, the Chief of Police was under the direct order of the commissioner, who wasn't necessarily a uniformed individual [1] and was usually voted into place by the board of officials of the city.

Twenty districts implied twenty directors, but with the Red Fangs having an independent director, there were twenty-one directors in total. Every director of police was at the very least a sixth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, albeit some were at the seventh level.

The director of the Red Fangs, for instance, was part of that exception, and he was currently holding a briefing in his office.

"The beast tide in Alleva district is getting worse, and the district's security unit can't handle it on their own anymore. It's been raised to a Class B situation, and there are still calls to make it into a Class A case."

To understand the threats they were facing as well as make appropriate responses to them, a scale system was put in place for the possible dangers the city-state could face. This system was used not just by the Red Fangs, but the other units in the City Patrol Corps as well as the City Defence Force.

By having a general system, it could help in the transmission and interpretation of information better.

The various ranks were as such:

Class D, which was the lowest threat level, was for situations that could only threaten an entire street or borough.

Class C was for threats that were aimed at a town, a city or a borough, which were common divisions in the other fifteen districts.

Class B was for threats that could affect an entire district. Such threats had to be apprehended and reported right away to the command centre at Baylands City once they were discovered. Backup could also be requested from the command centre in such a scenario, albeit most times, the local forces tried to take care of it on their own.

Class A was for threats to multiple districts at once. In such a situation, the affected districts' security units were to work together, and at the same time, a petition for support would be sent to the command centre. Usually, the City Defence Force or the Red Fangs would then be dispatched to aid in defusing the threat.

Class S were for threats that the entire city-state was encountering, or at the very least, a danger faced by four or more districts at once. During times like these, everyone was dispatched the quell the problem, and even the city lord, a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner expert, could get involved.

There were other classes of threat, such as the Class X, which was higher and pertained to threats encountered by two or more city-states, and also the planetary threats. However, such situations were incredibly rare and had yet to be encountered in the last one hundred years. Also, regarding planetary threats, only the Oklo Dynasty could make such calls.

After the previous meeting with the director at Alleva, it was agreed that the issue was a Class B danger, but there were findings that it could expand into a Class A situation if not stopped quickly. Because of that, the director of the Baylands City Patrol Corps at the Alleva district had requested for backup from the command centre.

Since it was an "external matter", the Red Fangs, who were first responders, were handed the case.

"For this matter, I'll be having your team handle the issue. Understand the situation first before dealing with the desolate beast tide, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes."

The group in the office replied.

"Good. Now, depart."