SSS-Rank Engineer: Only I Can Create Legendary Weapons

Two days ago, the market square was filled with thunderous bangs and the short death cries of men. In the meantime, the common class hid in their houses, lamenting the destruction that would be left behind.

The nobles were always bound to fight over something. Money, power… other people's wives. They didn't seem to find peace very interesting.

When Viscount Sion ruled this land, he made an effort to torment people he didn't like. Why didn't he like these people, you ask? Might be the way you dressed that day, or if you're ugly… or if your wife's too pretty.

And he was ruthless too; they called him the poison lord. So when he was stripped of his rank, the peasant class were a happy. No more incomprehensible torment, no more disappearances in the night… no one coming after your wife.

The point should be clear at this point. They were happy when he left and the cadet branch of Duke Amphene's family arrived.

But now they understood that just meant Dema would become a war ground for Sion.

People peeked out of their windows and caught an astonishing sight that day. One old lady fighting multiple assassins like it was nothing.

She was a Spiritmancer of undoubtable skill but seemed too limited. After all, she only used two spells: one to levitate rocks and the other to slide over the ground on a disk.

After the battle, they learnt that the boy and the old lady were of House Amphene. Then rumors of the insults Percy laid on Baron Nikos spread. It was an attempt for House Amphene's heir.

It became the town's fixation. The genius son of the Viscount was already being targeted by assassins. It made the already repugnant nobles that still followed Viscount Sion more disgusting in their eyes.

But they also feared more destruction and problems, so none dared openly berate the former ruler of Dema. But they did venerate Hecate even more.

She was an unknown noble from a faraway region of the empire, the daughter of a duke, and a powerful Spiritmancer who seemed to be kind and conscious of the lower class.

She became the perfect person to pour all their ideals and hopes into. And Hecate didn't fail to live up to those beliefs. Her taxes were harsh, but most people were informed it was because Viscount Sion took most of the city guard and all the Knight orders in Dema with him.

And to make things safer, she sent out her own husband to hunt down the monsters terrorizing the land. The Rank three monsters that usually full battalions from the Knight orders hunted together—this man hunted alone.

Thalos was his name, from the far north of the Crona kingdom. He was an Arete user like some of the folks in the Adventurer's guild, but on a whole different level of strength.

Seeing so many impressive figures from House Amphene bolstered the peasant class' resolve to support Hecate.

They didn't know how bad things were underneath the hood.

●———●

In the cold fortress of Dema, ignorant of his growing reputation, Percy was doing a headstand against the wall.

His new room was far more spacious than the little room he managed in Hecate's cupboard. With a full bathroom, smooth white walls, a mahogany desk, and a huge walk-in wardrobe.

He loved the room, but it wasn't easy to get. After a couple of arguments with his parents about him going back to the city, he was able to make them come to a lot of compromises.

They also were too busy to be with him all the time, so he was left on his own more and more these days. This made them feel worse and like they were lacking as parents.

It was obviously good for children to spend time with their parents, but Percy was already a grown man mentally. He wouldn't grow up more dysfunctional than he already was.

He ended his headstand as his skull was already feeling warm and got to work. He was drafting up a plan for a piping network inside the city.

Public baths, making sure businesses maintained proper hygiene, finally being able to bathe without waiting for someone to fetch water and climb up all those stairs. This was important work.

The castle originally had a sort of piping system using the literal river that the fortress was built on top of. Using the pressure built by the running river and narrow pipes, they supplied water to every inch of the castle.

Till that piece of shit Sion Eurides destroyed it. What do stupid people get from destroying things they can never make in their entire shitty lives?

It was so annoying. The pipes were even smartly made from ceramics instead of steel. Percy originally considered making steel for his pipes but he was worried about cost.

The reason he did a headstand was to get blood flowing to his big, wonderful brain and come up with a way to improve the water system they had here previously.

Now that his brain was booted up, the best idea he had was to make a hybrid system using a waterwheel and the existing siphon system in the castle.

He would build a big tank of water at the top of the fortress, then rely on the downhill pressure to carry water around the city.

But before that, he would need to purify the water. He could use sediment to filter impurities from the water, but why not just use magic, which was more fun. For now he was using the things he noted from his visit to the Tower of Hermetics.

He made sure to hide his notebook from his parents, since he didn't know what type of sentiments they had towards Hermetics. Until it was useful, he wouldn't reveal it.

There was a magic circle that purified water for drinking, but it had to come in direct contact with the water… and it was made from a mix of salt and other powders.

How is water going to flow past the salt circle and not wash away the circle? No one knew for many years after this technique was rediscovered.

But upon reading the diagrams, Percy had an odd idea. The purification circle was stamped on the page of the textbook he read with some kind of resin. Resin would harden the pattern, make it waterproof, and allow it to last longer.

The dead empires used the purification circles to clean small amounts of water. So they used it at the bottom of their cups to create drinkable water when it was poured inside.

Ingenious, really, but still wasted potential. Put this bad boy at the bottom of a water tank and it'll suck all the impurities out of the water.

It could even be used in the ceramic pipes. The pipes could be glazed with resin to make them waterproof and less likely to leak.

Draw the purification circle on the pipe and glaze all of it together, and you had a pipe that automatically cleaned your water.

Percy suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"First off, who would have enough spirit energy and time to sit down and meditate over the drawn circles to make them infused circles? After that, there's the problem of power source. Circles are powered by drawing spirit energy from the earth, but that doesn't mean it's limitless or safe."

Each circle had to be monitored for the formation of evil spirits, and there had to be an efficiency loss when using so many circles to draw power.

Percy sighed; not all ideas were good ideas, after all. He was humble enough to admit that.

But still, he was on the right track. A water wheel to fill a tank, a purification circle at the bottom of the tank, and then a pipe system that relied on gravity.

He hunched over his desk and started drawing out plans for how this would work. He would show his parents tomorrow as well as reveal his plans for learning Hermeticism.

[New Quests are available!]

Percy smirked. He knew Nyx would find his clean water plan admirable.

━━━━━ ✦ Optional Quests ✦ ━━━━━━

– Road to clean water (Given by Aether): Your selfless and innovative nature has impressed the god of stars. He would like to help you. Create one miniature model for your system and test its efficiency. Rewards: One Rank 1 customizable reward, two additional stat points.

– Creating a healthy environment (Given by Nyx): The Goddess believes you are doing well. Involve your friend in your project. Rewards: One Rank 1 customizable reward, three additional stat points.

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