One Last System

The doors opened.

A person leaned out through the gap and looked right at my face before nodding their head.

"It\'s time," the man said before pulling back into the room.

\'Keep calm,\' I told myself, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out as I stood up from my chair and entered the room.

It was already crowded with all sorts of people. Out of everyone, I could only recognize the boss of the auction hall.

Everyone wore all kinds of colorful and diverse clothing, surprisingly though, my attention was instantly drawn to the two men wearing the plainest robes in the room.

\'I guess those are the experts,\' I noticed, swallowing the pressure of the moment down my throat.

"You already know who I am, so let me introduce the people that you still need to know," the auction hall boss said as she stood up. She then turned her back to me and bowed to all the other guests.

"Everyone, it\'s my pleasure to introduce you to Arthur, a man who came up with a pretty..." the woman hesitated for a little. If not for a mysterious smile on her lips, I could maybe believe in that act. "Novel ideas," she finished before turning back to face me. "Arthur, this is master Ackhart," she pointed at the man with long hair, "and this is master Elwin," she moved her hand towards the bald man.

Outside of the amount of hair those masters had, there was hardly any other distinctive feature between the two of them.

"It\'s an honor to meet you, masters," I said, bowing my head with respect.

Whether I could learn anything from them or not, it didn\'t matter. Since the auction master treated them with obvious respect, I had little to no choice but to do the same.

After all, what was the point of appearing as a rude if not a barbaric person just for the reason of some ill-understood personal pride?

"So, young man," the elder with the hair stepped forth and smiled. "I heard you are quite passionate about formations, aren\'t you?" he asked.

"Master is too kind to me," I replied, bowing my head to the man. "I just happened to find the topic quite interesting," I said, raising my head. "Studying it proved to be the best way to stave the boredom of my life off," I added.

There was no point trying to appear as someone who knew the ins and outs of the topic. If I was someone like that, the long-haired elder wouldn\'t get invited to the meeting in the first place.

Or rather, I wouldn\'t request a meeting with him from the beginning.

"You are quite humble," Ackhart said, raising his hand and rubbing his chin. Then, his lips curved up into a small smile. "I like it," he added before lowering his hands and flinging his robe to the back. "Show me what formations did you create, then!" he requested.

"As you wish, Elder," I replied, bowing my head once again.

Outside of the obvious things that were the topic of today\'s meeting, I didn\'t really prepare anything else. Thankfully, the room was outfitted with all sorts of utensils necessary to perform basic rune inscribing.

After all, we were supposed to find out whether my ideas would turn out to be plausible. And for the business people like the boss and her colleagues, theory amounted to nothing when compared to practical examples.

I grabbed one of the goose-like feathers before dipping them into the ink. Once my writing tool was ready, I grabbed some of the simple formation stones before replicating the same pattern of formation sigils that I used to create my own improved amplification array.

"I found this simplified design to be far more effective at gathering the spiritual energy in one place and then keeping it in," I said after marking just a few stones.

"Don\'t worry, take your... wait, what?" Ackhart\'s eyes opened wide when the meaning of my words finally reached his brain. "You are done already?" he asked, lowering his eyes on the few stones I prepared.

"Respectable Elder, I dare not to inscribe an entire formation in this place," I lowered my head.

The elder was right in his surprise. Even with my design, the number of formation stones was far too small to create any real formation.

"What do you want to say?" the boss of the auction hall asked while slightly squinting her eyes.

"Due to the nature of the topic that we will be tackling today, I dare not craft a formation that would surely bring the attention from the outside," I explained my reasons before bowing my head to the woman. "Obviously, if so you desire, I\'m willing to keep going," I added while hiding a small sneer that formed on my lips.

Right now, it wasn\'t me that had to decide whether or not to create the entirety of the formation. By pushing the decision on the shoulders of this woman, not only did I shed the responsibility for what would happen, but I also hoped to make a point of how careful I was.

"Does this design work?" Ackhart asked before the woman could voice her decision.

I could tell why he committed such an obvious faux pas. His face was tense, his eyes glued to the marks I left on the stones.

For him, the idea that I came up with for the formation likely appeared to be revolutionary.

\'And if that thought is correct, then it says a lot about the level and mindset of the jobs of this world,\' I thought, clenching my fists a little.

Since a renowned master of formations was surprised by something so simple, I could already tell what the general knowledge of the topic would look like throughout this world.

\'In the end, foundations of the knowledge can\'t really be hidden. It\'s the complicated secrets that take the time to spread,\' I thought.

No one ever tried to hide how to add numbers. On the other hand, the process of developing the universal solution to the cubic equations was a story worth a damned movie!

"If that\'s what you are capable of," Ackhart muttered before raising his eyes on my face.. "What do you even need my help for?" he asked.