*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Come in."
There were three quick, even knocks on the mahogany door, delivered at the same speed and with the same force.
William quickly removed his precision glasses and placed his burin, a flat chisel, on the leather mat on his workbench alongside the rest of his hand tools; he was in the middle of setting a diamond into an engagement ring.
"It's ready now, would you like to try it on?"
A girl with short black hair, wearing an immaculate uniform and a purple beret, entered the room. Mako Susuki looked curiously around William's workshop, put her hands behind her back and said, her expression barely changing.
"Straight to the point, as always," said William as he swivelled his chair to face Mako."I thought it would take you longer to get the design ready?"
"My father helped me over the summer holidays; he said the exterior design was splendid, but that the mechanism wasn't the most practical."
"Ouch!"
"We improved the design together and made every part from the 'stellar silver' you gave me."
Mako continued to pay no heed to William's expression; it was understandable that a DaVinci-type Outcast would tell you your mechanical design wasn't the best, given how important Mako's father was in the heavy machinery industry..
The girl took a small box out of her rucksack and placed it on the table, before opening it to reveal the object inside.
A circular stand with four prongs positioned at the cardinal points—north, south, east and west—had an empty space in the centre where a coin would fit perfectly, leaving the piece incomplete.
William had spent several hours designing the entire exterior of the stand; every engraving on the prongs and the pegasus design on the clasps were his own.
"Where are the rest of the pieces?"
"Enid had them ready a few days ago."
William took a hand-woven bracelet from one of his desk drawers; it was made of bright, shimmering silk threads that gleamed like silver. The knots were created using an advanced macramé technique, forming a dense, complex and beautiful geometric pattern; one could appreciate the time and dedication that had gone into making it.
"I've never seen a thread like this before—soft, shiny and strong. Is it metallic or organic? What is it?"
Mako touched the silk with both hands and tried unsuccessfully to analyse what material it was made of; it was the first time in his life he had touched this kind of material.
"It's silk from a type of arachnid; it glints like silver but is as soft as silk."
"Impossible. For an insect to produce silk of this length and thickness, it would have to be gigantic in size."
William had set himself the task of gathering as much silk as he could from the J'ba Fofi deep within the Crypta in Pennsylvania.
He collected the spider silk from which the enormous egg cocoons hung from the ceiling, and the silk with which the J'ba Fofi had built its lair.
"It wasn't that big."
"Do you have any photos?"
Mako held out his hand towards William; he didn't think of him as a liar, and after knowing him for a year, he trusted him enough to believe his words.
"I'll send you a couple later; let's assemble this now."
Mako turned his attention to the bracelet bands made of silver spider silk; the watch-like connecting loops at the ends allowed the two pieces to be joined into one.
(That's why you wanted me to make the clasps first and send them to you before starting work on the frame; someone else would be in charge of weaving the bracelet from this strange, high-quality silk.)
Mako thought, as he pointed with his right hand at the three pieces on the table: two straps and a silver frame.
The pieces floated in the air thanks to the skill of a DaVinci-type Outcast.
*Click* *Click*
The first part of the silk bracelet attached itself to the four-clawed mount, followed by the second, completely forming the spider silk woven bracelet.
"I've never seen you use your left hand."
William voiced his doubts; the bracelet drifted down from the air until it landed in the palm of his hand.
"A DaVinci's telekinetic abilities are strictly linked to their right hand; without it, we lose the ability to interact with, move and assemble objects without physical contact."
"Ooh, your greatest strength would be taken away if you were to lose a part of yourselves—or to be precise, lose your dominant hand!!!"
Mako nodded; she was a girl of few words.
"Anyway, let's try this."
William took from the pocket of his blazer a shiny, gleaming coin made of a metal that only the gods can forge: Adamantite.
The reverse of the coin was engraved with Athena's sacred owl, alongside the leaves and branches of the olive tree representing wisdom, peace and victory.
(So that was what had to fit into the holder—a coin made of an unknown material.)
Mako fixed her gaze on the delicate coin, hand-minted and with every detail so vivid and intricate that it would take hours just to appreciate them all.
"Áfthartoi, Adiapérastos and Átrotos."
William whispered as the four claws of the mount in the centre of the bracelet opened of their own accord; he placed the coin firmly right in the centre and the claws quickly clamped around it, securing the coin in place.
"Indestructible, Impenetrable and Invulnerable—that sounds like you're describing a shield!!!"
"Exactly!!"
William smiled and waved his right arm; the runes on the clasps activated with the movement of the mana flow within William's arm.
The claws retracted and the coin was tossed into the air; it expanded in a circular shape until it became a modestly sized round shield. With more space, the Greek letters were easier to make out, as were the engravings on its surface.
For example, the scene of a man riding a winged horse—a Pegasus—facing an intimidating chimera with a spear; the eyes of the lion, the goat and the serpent seemed alive as they moved across the metal to depict the action scene.
Or the scene of the young man facing a huge humanoid beast with a spear, before transforming into a gigantic bear and tearing off its head with his jaws.
"Giant?"
Mako crouched down and brought her face close to the engraving on the shield.
"A Black-Skinned Troll King."
"Ohhh!!!"
Mako exclaimed in a flat tone, without sounding particularly surprised.
"I was expecting a more colourful reaction."
"My reactions are always flat."
Mako proceeded to run her fingers over the metal of the shield, as cold as a slab of ice in a suffocating winter blizzard, a temperature designed to withstand the flames of the Chimera.
"Aren't you going to ask anything?"
William didn't stop the little Japanese girl from fiddling with his Artefact.
"It's normal for the Stone family's son to have this sort of object in his possession, whereas for us it's even difficult to get hold of a bit of Stellar silver to work with."
"My father thanks you for giving us this opportunity; it's the third time he's had this sort of metal in his hands."
Mako stood up; she couldn't spend the whole day alone in a room with a boy, or rumours would soon start doing the rounds at the academy.
"Where's my pay?"
"Money, or do you want some metal?"
William said as he twisted his wrist and the shield shrank back; the four claws of the spider silk bracelet clamped firmly around the coin at its centre once more.
"Seriously?"
Stellar silver was extremely expensive and scarce; it wasn't a metal you could get just by having money. You needed connections, power, or to be from a great ancient house amongst the Outcasts.
William opened his briefcase; the precious silvery metal was stored in a pile of fifteen small silver ingots.
The golden-haired boy picked up one the size of a Snickers bar and tossed it to Mako.
The girl caught it with both hands, smiled broadly and turned away.
"I'll be cheering you on at the winter fencing tournament. Good luck."
William didn't thank her for supporting him, and Mako didn't thank him for the ingot of Stellar Silver; they were friends and both found it tiresome to thank each other for every little kind gesture.
(Yep!!!, maybe that was a bit much!!!)
William crossed his arms and lowered his head; he now had one less metal ingot for his jewellery commissions over the next six months.