SSS-Rank Engineer: Only I Can Create Legendary Weapons

Percy was inclined to jump out of the attic immediately and run back to Dema, but instead he started casting again while he still had fire spirits around him.

His voice whispered under the roaring winds of his [Tailwind] spell.

"Crucible of destiny, painful and with dread—"

Something touched his back and Percy spun into a punch that sent Flynn Ramlos stumbling.

His breath stopped as he realized that he had just punched one of the Ramlos children, but he spun back towards the shape he saw in the dust.

It was gone.

No fucking way anyone is convincing me there wasn't something there.

He turned back to Flynn with a remorseful gaze.

The brat was one of two girls in the Ramlos battalion. He only remembered her name because she was one of the girls and she had a boyish name. Another reason she stood out was her shy demeanor.

He walked over and helped her stand, cringing harder at the red mark over her pale skin that his fist left.

"I'm so sorry about that, kid. Don't just sneak up on me like that."

Flynn swayed a bit, mumbling.

"I called your name out like ten times."

Well, he was casting then. He pushed away all sounds and distractions because he was still getting the hang of casting.

"I was in the middle of a chant. What are you doing up here?"

Flynn regained herself, her long fiery red hair reminding him of spicy noodles the way they curled. She wore glasses over her amber eyes.

"Well, I wanted to ask you about Arete, because I heard rumors your dad doesn't know any Spiritmancy."

He raised an eyebrow. She looked a bit delicate, but the barbaric nature of her parents seemed to be there.

"I don't know any techniques yet, and I don't think my dad would want me teaching a stranger. Also… did you see that thing in the dust?"

Flynn retreated from his arms, realizing how close they were. She looked down at the floor, adjusting her glasses.

"I didn't see anything. Your spell was amazing though, you haven't even done the Spirit Affinity Ceremony, but you can already command spirits so easily."

"It's no biggie. How's your face? Are you alright?"

"No problems. I can heal with my Fighting Spirit in a few minutes."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Why did you want to ask me about techniques if you know more than me?"

"I learned it from a local drunkard in my village," Flynn said excitedly. "He always said he was once a master of Blue Stream School, but no one believed him. He only taught me one technique in exchange for my dinner every night for a week."

"What the fuck? Don't speak to strangers, and most definitely don't give them your food for dubious techniques."

"Hehe, knowledge is worth more than starvation."

"Okay, that is true."

"I knew you would agree!" she said excitedly. "You are curious and suspicious and… some other -ious. When you asked my dad why there were so many rooms in the house, I knew the rumors about you were true."

"Were you following me around?" Percy asked. "I saw your head peeking downstairs."

"Umm… let's forget about that! I would like to exchange knowledge with you. Not necessarily techniques, but what you know about the nuances of using Fighting Spirit."

"You can't ask your parents?"

Flynn drooped.

"My dad wasn't formally trained in any schools like yours. He uses it more instinctively, so his explanations suck."

He was too busy to take on a disciple, she should come back in like ten years. He was about to tell her to leave when he remembered the attic. There were boxes and notes scattered around. Too many for little old him to read in a couple hours.

Time for some child labour. He turned back to Flynn, grinning.

"I can possibly spare some time to enlighten you on the nuances of Fighting Spirit. But I'll need you to help me with something."

○———○

They spent the next hour reading through everything in the attic. It was filled with the most random things. Pictures that Jones, George's friend, had thrown up here of the nearly twenty-person family that lived here—the Basker family.

They looked rugged and eerie. Eyes too deep, scraggly beards, skin with a strange yellow tone. There was something very wrong with these people, other than the obvious signs of inbreeding, of course.

He found old diaries, instructions for how to take care of the fields and fix the farm tools. There were also journals from intellectual studies about the soil and the composition of human bodies.

Things you didn't expect hillbillies to have. The Baskers had info about things from history too, great heroes and feats of extraordinary magic.

Percy found all this surprisingly boring. Well, at least compared to what he read in those diaries. There was something horrific happening here, especially to the women. The pleas for help written in those diaries shook him to the bone.

Before long it was time for dinner, so Percy and Flynn were called down to eat. And Ura had prepared a feast. The woman was crazy, but she knew how to cook.

Two long tables were set out in the backyard. Thalos and George set up a couple lanterns to bathe the grass in its orange glow.

A couple full chickens were cooked and laid out on the table alongside trays of beans, rice, vegetables, and a couple pitchers of orange juice.

He stared in disbelief.

"What the fuck? Did your mom call in backup or something?"

Flynn's forehead wrinkled in confusion.

"What? She makes more than this sometimes. Come on, we need to serve ourselves before my brothers finish everything."

Must be the drawbacks of having nine fucking children. He soon found out exactly what those drawbacks were when he tried serving food.

He had to fight through the seven boys and even the girl, Cherry, just for a stupid chicken leg. Luckily Flynn got some for him before it disappeared. Then he had to squeeze through and get some rice and beans.

Little Joey, the youngest, even bit his ankles. If the kid's parents weren't right behind him laughing, Percy would have thrown him across the field.

They left the veggies though. Stupid kids didn't know this was what added texture and flavor to the rice. Flynn watched him pack them, scrunching up her nose.

"Even the broccoli? You eat like an old man."

"Shut up and come get some corn. You need all the energy you can get, we aren't sleeping till we find any reference to something supernatural up there."

She paled, voice growing louder.

"Ehhh! I don't wanna. Wait… what about Gaia? I saw some references to Gaia eating someone in someone's diary."

Percy's hand froze over the corn. He almost punched her again.

"Why didn't you tell me that?!"