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CHAPTER START---
On the continent of Ishgar, the nation of Joya is often considered the middle of the landmass. The Pergrande Kingdom is by far the largest, occupying a fifth of the continent and the entire eastern coastline, but due to its isolationist ideology, most don't consider it as part of Ishgar's systems.
Near the capital of Joya, nestled within rocky mountains, is a manufacturing city. Hundreds of railways spread out in different directions, connecting to every major distribution hub in Ishgar, all loaded with long cargo trains, packed full of the latest Eltek inventions.
At one end of this production city, which exclusively houses workers and their immediate families, is a massive factory. Large enough to fit all of Magnolia within, with over one hundred assembly lines spread across the floor.
Highly trained engineers work at each station along the assembly lines. At one end, a piece of metal starts the process, and by the end either a Magicycle or Magic Mobile leaves the line.
As everyone is carefully constructing and testing the vehicles, Oberon is floating above them, out of sight and mind while studying the process. The noise in the factory and the scent of metals being welded don't bother him anymore, now tuning it out to focus on the more interesting aspects of this all.
He taps his chin while watching a man test the Self Energy Plug, pouring some Magic Energy into it to test the converters in the engine. Oberon frowns, slightly jealous that the man's Magic Energy so easily operated the engine, without overloading it.
'Hopefully they've figured it out by now,' he thinks while moving to the Magicycle assembly line. Minutes later, a bell echoes through the factory, and all production stops. All employees leave for their lunch break, and Oberon takes the time to look around without touching their work.
"Oberon!"
He looks to the fifth-floor railing of the warehouse, seeing a blonde woman in a safety coat waving for him to join her.
He immediately rushes up to her, arriving as she turns and walks to the workstation spread across this entire section of the factory. There he sees many prototypes for new devices being tested, most of which have been designed by her personally.
"Any progress?" He asks while floating over to her main desk. There he sees a few mechanical parts and circuits spread out with an SE-Plug attached. But unlike the usual sleek and comfortable SE-Plug, this one was metallic and thicker. "Is that for me?"
"It's a theory I'm working on to solve your problem," she takes the other end of the device the SE-Plug is attached to, and connects an adapter to a large device with a Lacrima Screen just beside the desk.
While she's setting up the device, Oberon slowly rotates around in the air. "I figured you'd just put a fancy Lacrima in the engine and be done with it."
"That was our original thought process, but it has its own problems," she says while kneeling to adjust the machine. "Lacrimas slowly refill by absorbing Ethernano Particles from the air, perfect renewable fuel, just like any Mage. But they need a spark of Magic Energy to activate, so normal people can't use them. They also take time to recharge, which is why you mostly see small devices use them. Nothing that needs to run for more than a few minutes at a time."
"What if you made them interchangeable?"
"Standardizing Lacrima is near impossible, and my creations are extremely precise. That's why I invented the SE-Plug."
"So what's the plan for me?"
"I got the idea from the story you told about meeting one of our Fiore Branch engineers. His SE-Plug didn't melt when you used it, but now that happens anything you use one. Our products haven't gotten worse, you've just…changed."
"How so?"
"You're stronger."
"Well, yeah. He met me when I was 8, the same day I joined Fairy Tail."
"Not exactly what I meant," she finishes with the device and rises to her full height, turning to face him. And is immediately annoyed as he's slowly rotating in the air. "Your Magic Energy is different."
"Yeah, I've got more."
"Not just more, the quality is also strange," she says. "Everyone else has Magic Energy indistinguishable from what a naturally formed Lacrima holds. But yours is different. And I'm guessing people around you don't like feeling your raw Magic Energy."
Oberon stops spinning and steadies himself to look at her. "My Magic Energy has strange properties. But when I release too much it makes the area around me—"
"Toxic?"
"Yeah. How'd you know that?"
"Because that's the same thing that happens if you take a bite of a Lacrima," takes out a pebble-sized Lacrima from her pocket. "These are formed by Ethernano naturally gathering and condensing under pressure, that's why they're mined. Biting into one would immediately poison a person. Your Magic Energy is dense, like a Lacrima."
Oberon nods along. "I can probably make one of those."
"What? You can increase the density of Magic Energy to that extent?"
"Probably. But normally I just use it on raw Ethernano to do one of my Cosmic Spells."
"You shouldn't do that. The results cou—"
He raises a hand to silence her. "That's the idea, but don't worry the Barrier is self reinforcing and contains it."
"Tch, you Mages need to be under stricter regulations," she walks over to him and grabs his arm, attaching the SE-Plug to his wrist. "This has more converters and is reinforced for the increased density. But please, use minimal Magic Energy. I made this machine for the Magic Council to standardize their tests for Rune Knights, not for Wizard Saints."
"I'll take it easy," Oberon flows Magic Energy through it for less than a second, and the machine immediately lights up. Moments later, the screen shows 2586, and the woman releases a sigh of relief.
"Good, you didn't break my Magic Power Finder. What percentage of your Magic Energy was that?"
"Uh…I don't even know how to answer that. That was like flying really fast for a few minutes. Does that help?"
"I'll reinforce the SE-Plug on your future vehicles, but please only use that minimal output on them. That alone was more than most Mages can produce at once."
"How long before I can get a Magicycle?"
"As soon as you're sixteen."
Oberon glares at the woman, who gives a smug look in response. "It was an accident, get over it."
Before she can respond, a man interrupts them. "The update is here."
They both turn to him, seeing him wearing the usual expensive suit and rushing over with a few documents in hand. The woman takes this moment to walk to the other side of her work area with the SE-Plug, ready to make changes to it.
"Anything good?" Oberon asks the man.
"Uh, yes…and, maybe?"
"Huh?"
The man nods to a table, and they both sit on opposite sides. He pushes aside a few tools to make space and hands over the documents. "Your completion of the Decade Quest for us has been reported to my superiors, that part of our business is concluded. This is an entirely private company, so being allowed to purchase any amount of it is already a priv—"
"How much?"
The man smiles nervously. "Your purchase limit is up to 1%, set price at 120,000,000 Jewels. There are more specific Jobs that can be done to increase the purchase limit, among other things."
"Do I get access to her Lacrima research?" Oberon gestures to the woman who's already toiling away at her workstation.
"If you want, but you'd have to sign certain guarantees that our competition won't obtain it."
"That much is obvious."
"As a lawyer, I have to hear it on record, and get it in writing."
"What are the other Jobs, and they'd have to be officially placed through Fairy Tail. I don't do side work."
"Just some simple monster extermination. Some areas needs to be cleared. We bought the rights to them already, but we can't realize the profits until they're mined. This expansion will give us enough leverage to squeeze the Heartfilia Conglomerate, mainly their railways division. You'd eventually own 1% of the company that controls all inland transparent on Ishgar."
"Uh huh," Oberon nods along, not too interested in the affair. "I'm more interested in the auctions you can get me into. The ones that even Wizard Saints don't get to attend. I. want. In."
"Well…" the man nervously adjusts his collar. "I'd have to speak to my superiors about that."
"Without that, no deal."
"I understand. You'll have to give me a few hours to write up new contracts," the man says, taking one of the other documents to slide it over to Oberon. "And lastly, your guildmate Laxus wanted us to relay this message to you. It only just got to us."
Oberon takes it and carefully reads it. "Wow! Expedition with Wizard Saint Osian?! I need to get to the rally point in Seven by March 2nd."
"That's impossible. Even our railways won't get you there in time."
"I'll fly, but I'm leaving today."
The man immediately rushes back to his office. "I'll be quick with the contracts!"
Oberon rereads the message in awe, excited about what this expedition will have in store for him. Oblivious to the profound impact it would have on many lives, creating a ripple that would change this world forever…
CHAPTER END---
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