SSS-Rank Engineer: Only I Can Create Legendary Weapons

They decided to wait a couple hours before they re-entered the house. Percy trusted that Thalos had truly fatally injured the spirit, but they weren't entering that house till they were sure it was dead.

Barty found them in sleeping bags just outside the property. He had a dizzy grin on his face and a bottle of ale in his hand. He stopped as he noticed the people strewn across the grass sleeping.

"Um… did I miss anything?"

"Where the hell have you been, old man?" Percy asked. "I was worried the spirit got you and we didn't know."

"Spirit?! Was there an evil spirit in that house?"

After a couple minutes of explanation, Barty unrolled an extra sleeping bag and settled in for the night. Percy stared up at the night's sky.

It was kind of crazy that this was his life now. This world was much… fun? Was that the right word to use after almost dying twice? He certainly enjoyed himself, even little Joey, who was snoring beside him, had fun.

Ura nearly suffocated him with a hug when he got back. She was truly the only one that could handle her bear of a husband and their battalion of children. They tried promising him some rewards but nothing really stood out to him so he declined.

Flynn was also happy to see her brother safe, her hug actually hurt him more than the damn vengeful spirit. She hadn't forgotten Percy's promise to teach her about Arete though. In fact now she kept calling herself his disciple.

Terra would be terrified if he started gathering disciples, she'd probably think he was planning to take over the world soon. Meanwhile he had no time for that or disciples… yet.

Right now he was more concerned with the defensive turrets he wanted to build in Dema, or his plan to add some culinary practices.

Like pizzas and sandwiches. And chocolate, he really needed some chocolate soon. If anyone got between him and making chocolate then he would consider taking over the world. It wouldn't even be hard.

He was already gaining a lot of notoriety. The fact that even George Ramlos and his family knew about him was shocking. Tomorrow they were supposed to be back on the road with eleven new friends… How fun.

But continuing their journey to Yarol was already seeing a couple hiccups. The journey to Yarol from Dema was at least two weeks, going and coming, but if they stopped to fight every murderous spirit then it would take two months.

With all the stress that they put on themselves today, it was already decided that they would be travelling next tomorrow instead. In the meantime he had three objectives for tomorrow.

First was of course to read more about the bizarre rituals the Basker family was performing here, and how they learnt about Gaia. This goddess was supposed to have been forgotten, but some hillbillies knew about her, something was up?

Anything strong enough to erase a concept from history was something he should be worried about. And whoever was able to escape that erasure could be even deadlier.

The second thing on his agenda was training Flynn. The shy red-haired girl was more brutal than she looked. She pinched his back really hard when he told her to stop calling him master and started ignoring her.

She was pretty physically powerful despite her slight frame and the healing technique she learnt from her hobo master was legit. He would like to learn that if it was possible. But he didn't know if it was possible to learn different Arete schools.

After that, he would turn to his final task for tomorrow. Finding out more about the tourney being hosted in Yarol. He hoped it wouldn't delay the Spirit Affinity ceremony. Another thing he was interested in was why "Stormsword" was coming to Yarol.

He had never heard of this guy, but the people he met in that inn called Stormsword the heir to a Margrave. Percy personally felt this wasn't related to their war with House Eurides, but he couldn't help but worry.

He turned in his sack, releasing a frustrated sigh.

"I need to take a piss," he announced this to no one in particular, but he didn't want them to worry about where he was. Especially after the haunted house fiasco.

He crawled out of his sleeping bag and walked behind a tree, far away from their little camp. The quiet night and the chilly wind made his bladder even more impatient, his casual footsteps over the grass turned into a half jog.

After a couple seconds of sweet release, he started looking around admiring the quiet and still nature of the night. His eyes glossed over the pale boy standing behind him.

Then he turned the fuck back and almost pissed on his feet. Philip Ramlos was standing right there, pale face, black hair, cute as a button, if the button was dead.

He turned to the house in the distance and back to the boy dressed in sapphire-blue ceremonial robes that looked three sizes too big for him.

"Aren't you supposed to be restricted to the property?" he asked incredulously, and fixed up his trousers. "And attacking a man while he takes a piss is unsportsmanlike."

The pale boy tilted his head with a confused frown.

"A man? You're a kid, stop deceiving yourself. That thing in your pants is proof of your age, weirdo."

Percy couldn't believe his ears right now. Why the fuck was he getting roasted by a dead person?

"Bro, you're dead. You can't even grow any more, let's stop the dick measuring contest. Also you forgot my first question?"

"I didn't forget it. It was just a bit too stupid for me to answer," Philip shot back. "You see me, without all the other people my family killed. So you should know I've separated from them. So my spirit can roam."

"Wait, you're not gonna start haunting me right? Following me around, tripping me for no reason?"

"Ew, no. Why would I want to follow you around? I was supposed to be on my way to the underworld now. I'm risking my reincarnation by coming back here."

"If you're done being annoying," Percy interrupted. "Can you tell me why you left the underworld? We risked our lives to try saving your spirit."

"Relax, Nancy, I'm grateful for everything you did—"

"My name's Percy not Nancy."

"—I just need you to find my sister and save her."

Percy stopped talking for a second, frowning. He thought that Ramona Basker would be dead by now, the last spill of ink on her diary…

"You didn't kill her? Her last diary entries were about seeing your spirit so I assumed—"

"I would never hurt Ramona!" Philip cut in, dark eyes glowing with fury. "I was trying to protect her from those bastards. But the other spirits were too enthusiastic to kill—"

"Can't blame them honestly."

"—so the Baskers found out that my spirit was still there after they failed to summon Gaia. They tried getting rid of me but I killed so many of them that they just packed out."

That made sense. But he didn't know how to tell the kid that he couldn't search the entire Crona kingdom for one girl. It would take the rest of his life.

"How am I supposed to find Ramona? Are there any clues in the attic or…?"

"I can show you the location of a hidden temple. That was where my family learnt everything about the forgotten god and tried communing with Gaia to make them immortal."

"Is this the forgotten temple of Gaia, or something like that?"

Philip beamed at him, clapping excitedly.

"There you go! Now we have shared interests, all that's left is for me to transmit the location into your mind."

"Is that gonna hurt?" Percy asked. "Cause if so, you can just tell me with your mouth."

"I'm already in your mind so it'll be smooth," Philip promised.

"Wait, you're in my mind?"

Philip clapped again. "Ok, let's start."

Before a single protest could leave his lips, his mind was flooded with images and whispers. It was like a cold bucket of water was poured over him. His skin tingled and his limbs jerked uncontrollably.

When it was done, Percy opened his eyes to an empty field and the uncomfortable realisation that the entire conversation had happened in his mind.

Philip's voice whispered in his mind as the spirit returned to the underworld.

"Please protect my sister, you've already done so much for me, but I'll plead this from you. Also I left some info about a special elixir in the temple that my mom hid from the family. It's a reward for you in advance. Thank you, Perseus."