Birth Of The Crafts-God

A month passed by over time; a period Lucas felt to be one of the most peaceful he had ever lived in this new life. During this one month of peace and solitude, Lucas spent his time creating vestiges, taking orders, and running the store with the assistance of his new employee, Melissa.

Melissa stayed with Lucas for two weeks before the Hyuman Care and Rehab Society reached out to him. They had informed Lucas that there was no record of Melissa or her parents on the Alleva district's citizen database, which meant that Melissa's parents were illegal migrants. Such situations weren't rare, especially in the grey zone known as Alleva district. However, the result of that was problematic for Melissa.

Being an illegal lifeform in Baylands city-state, Melissa would have to be sent back to her hometown or be taken under an orphanage. Since her memories were lost and her parents were dead, it would be almost impossible to figure out where exactly she came from. It wasn't as simple as presuming that since she was of a certain species, then her hometown was most likely in the species habitat.

In this interstellar era, it was common for people of a certain alien species to live elsewhere from their natural habitat. Hyumans for instance, were the best example of this practice. The hyumankin had actually originated from the Elysium solar system in the Arcadia star region. However, with their rapid expansion, many hyumans no longer lived there. As the hyumankin got stronger, the Arcadia star region became the centre of power, and only individuals of high status on a galaxy or star region scale could now live there. Now, many hyumans called other star regions and solar systems their hometown.

Without knowing her hometown and after finding out she had no close relative, Lucas was reluctant to hand her over to an orphanage. At the same time, Melissa was unwilling to live. In the end, Lucas had decided to take care of her, and adopted her as his sister, granting the little girl the last name 'Saunters'. Explore more at empire

For additional protection, Lucas had also taken her as an employee of the store.

According to the system, Employee Hire Function could grant employees similar privileges as the host. This meant that employees could gain the Host Protection Mechanism and Host Retaliation Function as long as they were within the store. With these abilities, Melissa would be able to protect herself within the store.

Although Lucas doubted anyone would target her, he was still a possible target for different parties, with the terrorist organisation now being one of them. There was a possibility that they would go for Melissa in a bid to get to him, hence it was only right for Lucas to ensure her safety.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

One might call it wasteful, but Lucas had three slots for employees at the moment, so using one of them like this wasn't a problem for him.

Apart from adopting and hiring Melissa, Lucas had also found a new employee for his store in the meantime; one who just happened to fit the category he originally had in mind.

"Yo, boss. A new order for a vestige just came in." Kelvin said.

Kelvin was the oldest child as well as the first son of the famed Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, Toman. He has studied under his father for years and was quite skilled compared to other vestige-smiths his age. Although Kelvin couldn't be termed as a genius, his honest personality and hard work had enabled him to become a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith just like his father, albeit he was less skilled than the latter. He was at the entry level, which meant that he was also a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.

Although Lucas would have preferred his father —a sixth level stellar practitioner— instead, that was asking for more than he could chew. The family business might have been declining, but it wasn't at the stage where Toman would work for a new and unknown store.

With Kelvin helping to run the store, Lucas was able to dedicate more of his time to actual hands-on work. According to the system, Lucas could also pass on some of his skills to Kelvin, to ease his workload, but Lucas still had Kelvin on probation for the moment.

"Hmm, that's right. Today should be the day." Lucas suddenly recalled his agreement with Novanio Tech.

Thanks to Novanio Tech and the announcements they had previously made, Lucas had more work on his hands. There were more orders as of recent, and despite his human appearance, the prejudice against him seemed to have dropped quite noticeably. Of course, this was all thanks to the existence of the 'mysterious vestige-smith ' backing Lucas.

According to the agreement between Lucas and Novanio Tech, the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger would be launched within the week. The vestige dealership formed by Novanio Tech would handle the sales of the two vestiges outside of Baylands City while the sales within the city was left to Lucas. This agreement was made to protect the interests of both parties and help them profit on their own.

While Lucas could sell the same vestiges in the city, the influence and reach of Novanio Tech was more powerful, so they could not only sell within the other fifteen districts, but even ship it off to some nearby city-states, where the vestiges could be sold for a much higher price.

Based on his memory, today was supposed to be the day the dealership would be open for business. It was originally supposed to be two weeks ago, but the effects of the desolate beasts tide in Alleva district was still being felt, and the region was recovering from the damage. So, Novanio Tech had postponed the launch by half a month.

Lucas had been invited to attend the event, but he had almost forgotten about it due to the amount of work he had on his table.

"Dress up, guys. We're closing the store early." Lucas said to Melissa and Kelvin.

Since Novanio Tech was an important business partner, it was only natural for Lucas to make an appearance at the event. What's more, the dealership also affected him as it was the grounds of partnership between the two sides.

"Uhm, where are we going?" Kelvin couldn't help but ask.

He was surprised that they had to close up early and leave for somewhere else, even thought there were still a few customers in the store.

"It's important. Enough with the questions already." Lucas said as he left with Melissa to get ready upstairs.

The store was a two floor building, but the second floor was the residential area for Lucas and Melissa.

Kelvin didn't know what to say, but as Lucas the boss —despite being visibly much younger than he was— he had to do as he was told. He closed up the store and left for his home to prepare.

Three hours later, the trio met up again.

"Hmm? Why is there a vehicle parked in front?" Lucas couldn't help but ask.

The hover car looked like a classy sedan and gave off a luxurious vibe. From what Lucas knew about hover car models, although it was a bit antique, the vehicle in front was the same as a fancy sports car on Earth. Not only was it expensive, but it was worth every single penny. Its speed was top-notch and there was a defence system installed within the vehicle. Although the defence system didn't have retaliating capabilities, the shield was powerful enough to endure second level Apertures Opening stage assaults.

"It's mine. I was thinking since we're leaving, I should get a ride ready." Kelvin said.

Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised by his thinking and also his wealth. But then again, Toman's Workshop used to be a big deal back in the days, so it wasn't weird for Kelvin to still have a vehicle of this standard. However in truth, it wasn't needed. Since it was an event by his partners, Lucas could have ringed Lucy and a ride would be sent over.

'Since he's already done this much, I might as well just go along with it.' Lucas thought.

The trio then hopped into the hover car with Kelvin driving. While he could have just turned on the auto-pilot feature, Kelvin was the kind of man that preferred being behind the wheels. There were many similar people like him, which was why hover vehicle manufacturers still installed a manual control system in their vehicles.

The destination for the event surprisingly wasn't in the West Wing district or even the Central Prefecture district. Instead, it was at the Eastern Crown district, the most populous district in Baylands City. This caught many by surprise as the Eastern Crown district was neither close to the Wastelands like the West Wing district, nor was it the place with the most wealth like the Central Prefecture district. However, while many questioned this act, Novanio Tech gave no response to them.