Two days later of laughing and partying, Luna came to him as he sat in the guild with a closed letter in hand.
"Svetislav? Do you still want to build the dispenser?" - She asked gently.
"That's my gift to the guild, it is mutually beneficial, because i would be able to sell to you always, and you will always be able to buy from me."
"Do you need any funds for the materials, because my higher-ups are willing to pay for it?"
"I do not. Though i could use your help to find a supplier."
"Umm, can you be more specific?"
"Hmm... For aesthetical purposes i would need copper, and iron too. Cubic meter each. Because i would be making quite the mechanism."
She blinked at him for a while, was he seriously thinking of aesthetics when they were talking about efficiency. Then she realized, it didn't matter. "It is your money, i suppose it would be alright, but won't the iron rust."
"No."
"Okay... Alright, i will contact a merchant who sells those metals and when they give us a price you will pay it."
"That's what i strived for."
And so, one day later Luna gives Svetislav a receipt for a considerable amount, around twenty million eris, which included, the labor to get all the metal on carriages, all the carriages, adventurers who would protect the carriages, and delivery to Axel.
Two more days and all the bars of copper and iron had come, Svetislav immediately scooped them all up in his astral storage, after that he went inside the guild, Luna showed him around the backroom and leads him down to the cellar which had a lot of ice in it.
"Is the condition here alright for you to work in?"
"Absolutely, but you do seem to be freezing."
"Yes." - Luna shivered and hugged herself.
"Then go, i will do my job and let you know."
With that she left.
With Perfect Conversion, he didn't need to worry about the cold, as he transformed mana into heat directly in his body and in the air that was touching his skin. There was no chill, for the air that reached him has already been warmed.
Now that all distractions were gone he began with his work pulling out sheets of copper, which he then melted to bind them together.
After making the case he began working on the mechanical parts of this mechanism - cogs, shafts, plates that rotate and show a number from zero to nine, when the cogs spin. He made it so the score board has ten available number slots. So the maximum the machine will count to is nine billion nine hundred ninety-nine million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine.
"Let's break it down, the machine accepts the money in return the first cog spins, after the cog spins ten times the next spins once, once the second spins ten times the third spins once. There is a mechanical-magic gate that checks if there is a score point and if there is, the button will work dropping a single cabbage through this chute. Now i just need to define what each coin and bill is worth and make into mage-ware."
And so he did he got to the logistics part of this task. Giving money value within his world, and making the if-else gates.
After hours of hard work he dropped one hundred thousand eris worth of coin and watched as the mechanism inside spin slowly because of the mana engine (a code which uses mana to kinetic pattern), that he has set up. He then pressed the button ten times, until it refused to drop an eleventh cabbage.
He then went out and called Luna to show her how it works. - "Hey, Luna, i'm done here, you wanna check it out?"
"Just a moment!" - She said, finishing her talk with a few other adventurers that had come to seek her help. After about a minute she dragged herself out from behind the desk and quickly came to him.
"Do you want a break down?" - He asked, confident in his ability to explain stuff.
"Sure!" - She replied as they went down the stairs.
Another big yap session on how it's literally a system with a gear ratio which is 10^9 and that it counts like a lot.
"Insert ten thousand." - He said, pointing at the coin chute.
She didn't bring any money with her, so he had to do it on his own. So he placed at first ten thousand, then that six more times. The system counted perfectly.
"When there is no score the button doesn't connect the magical cable, which means there won't be any cabbages that comes out." - He said, pressing the button repeatedly. - "See?"
"That is very impressive, and you did that in just an hour, how did you manage to make such complex shapes out of metal."
"I simply am skilled. Now wanna upgrade our agreement?"
"What do you have in mind, Svet?"
"The guild can't buy from the machine unless i come here personally to say how much it is allowed to buy, this way i can ensure that the guild doesn't buy too many cabbages from me to the point of stripping me from all my energy."
"We weren't going to do that anyways." - She explained with a cheerful tone, her breath visible in the cold of the cellar.
"Oh..."
"Yeah..."
"Well then, my job here is done, get yourself a jacket, winter is coming." - He gave her another mithril coin. - "Also since the system is now set, the guild is allowed to pay for ten thousand cabbages."
"Svet... Thank you for your generosity, but i can't."
"It's money slipped under the table, tax free... Oh wait... Is there a tax here?"
"Huh?" - She raised an eyebrow, confused at my reaction. - "Don't you already know?"
"No."
"Well, there is one every year, at the first month of autumn. But it only applies to you if you have earned more than ten million Eris... Which you have... You will have to give half your earnings, which would be used to support schools, governmental organization and stuff like that."
"So if i continue selling to you guys the government will go bankrupt eventually?"
"Technically yes, but you wouldn't do that, would you?" - She gave him a concerned look.
His eyes narrowed and he tilted his head left and right occasionally.
"What is that look for?"
"I'm just messing around, anyways, my job here is done, the one hundred million that you put in the machine automatically reach me, so you wouldn't have to confirm anything. See you later."
"See you." - Luna replied, not knowing what to made of all of this. He is so weird sometimes.
He walked out of the guild and went on his usual walk, but this time, his walk would be in town. He just goes on random streets, passing by the succubi cafe. He stopped in his track, the sound and sight of something he doesn't want, but his body wants, connection. This time the temptation was stronger, the more one endures the more they will get chipped. His mind raced with the thoughts to the comforts this service provides, but then he turns his gaze back forward. This dreadful situation reminds him of his past.
"It's easy when it's across the street. But when it's in your home, the difficulty comes... There, always..."
He proceeded to walk forward, his mood ruined, even though he has earned another one hundred million, the mistakes of the past torture him even now... A moment of weakness here; a moment of weakness there. The desires tried to pull him towards that place, but he refused, continuing to walk forward.
The internal fight was intense, many thoughts running through, but only action would say who won.
"Why should i carry this shame again... Why should i go back into this web, that is addiction... Why do you desire this?"
He continued till he reached the river, where he decided to take a seat.
"Why is it so difficult to resist sometimes?"
He looked down into the fractured reflection the moving water made.
"No return, look how far you have come... Do not... Look before you, what do you see? Is it beauty that causes peace in your heart, or is it ugliness, offering nothing but a pathway growing narrower towards addiction."
His eyes softened as he calmed his breathing, focusing on what matters... Not a what if, but what is true. Not on what is easy, but what is right.
As he heard footsteps pressing into the grass he turned his head, to look at the source.
"You always know when to show up..." He said, voice low. "It's still cold outside." - He realized something, she has gotten herself a cloak, but he didn't need to comment.
Chris gave him a faint smile, walking closer, before sitting next to him. - "And yet here you are, sitting like the cold doesn't exist. I was worried you'd freeze to death before dinner."
He chuckled softly, knowing it would be impossible to freeze unintentionally. "I'm warmer than i look." He gestured with his left hand for her to sit, as he looked back down at the river, as if hypnotized by it's rhythm. - "Besides. I like the quiet. It's honest out here."
She settled beside him, not too close, but close enough to feel the heat radiating from him. For a moment she simply listened to the sound of the river.
"I can see why you like it. It feels... lighter, somehow. Like all the noise of town doesn't matter here."
His gaze lingered on the water. "Noise fades. This doesn't. That's why i come... To remind myself of the one true gift..." - He then glanced at her, his expression serene yet tired. - "But you already knew that."
Her lips curled into a half-smile - soft, knowing. - "I had a feeling." - Then, after a pause, her voice softened further. "You don't have to carry everything alone, you know. Even if peace is all you want. You needn't find it only in a river or in silence."
"Thank you, but i would rather hold onto it... I don't feel comfortable about my past." - He said, his head inclining down, his eyes falling to his hands, which were resting one over the other on the head of his cane.
Chris didn't press that subject further. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself, shivering slightly.
She looked at him - not with pity, but with the kind of quiet respect that came from knowing some burdens weren't meant to be forced out.
"That's fair..." - She said, as their eyes met again. The sun's shine didn't over power the winds that blew, the cold that sipped in, deeper and deeper. - "When - if - you want to talk... I'll listen. Until then... We can just sit here." - She looked back down towards the waters.
His eyes softened as he heard that and his lips curved into a small smile, worn but genuine.
"Thank you..."
And so they sat in another long silence, her body began to shiver slightly, but then it stopped. She looked at him as she felt a sudden warmth wash over her. His hands moved to place the cane next to him, and then he materialized a bit of copper. He decided to make a tool. He made the tip a pattern which was to apply Lomig. He then materialized a small rectangle which was three centimeters wide and two centimeters in height. After this he slowly scribbled on the small rectangle, which's corners were rounded slightly. He scribbled one code to check if air's temperature is below the wearer's body temperature, and if it is, then it converted mana into thermal energy to make it so the air, that would hit the wearer's body, is the same temperature as their body, in term making it always bearable.
Then he scribbled another code in the back, one which would transform cabbages from his astral storage into mana and feed it into the first code. Then he created a small chain and punctured two holes in the small rectangle, and because the surface area of this coding pen is smaller, so are the mana pathways.
After attaching everything together, he made it so she can unlock the chain to adjust.
She watched in awe as he worked so quickly.
Finally he enchanted it with unbreakable and everlasting.
And then, he held it out to her.
She blinked, caught off guard. "For me...?"
His expression didn't waver - serene, yet carrying the weight of something deeper. He preeessed it into her hand, closing her fingers around the warm copper.
"A piece of me stays with you," - he said quietly, his voice steady though his eyes betrayed something more fragile. "... I still love you."
Chris looked down at the amulet, then at him - her lips parted as though to answer, but no words came right away. Her fingers curled around her gift, warmth spreading not just through her skin, but into her chest.
She exhaled softly, her voice barely audible. But she slipped the chain over her neck. Her smile weren't forced.
For a second her fingers lingered on the amulet as it rested against her chest. It's warmth spread steady and constant, unlike the tremor that slipped into her breath. She knew what it meant... He didn't just give her a trinket... He had declared himself.
For another moment they lingered in silence, she was thinking it through, while he sat there, enjoying the peace. He felt free after telling her straight up.
Thought her smile hadn't faded, her voice carried a fragility she couldn't hide.
"...I can't," she said softly, almost as if the words were an apology. "Not now... I want to - i do - but I'm... Not ready."
Svetislav's gaze lowered, the serenity in his expression remained, though his eyes showed the very faintest flicker of hurt. Still, he did not press. He never did.
"I understand," he murmured. Then, after a pause, his voice steadied into something firm, resolute.
"But i will ask one thing of you."
Chris's face moved, meeting his eyes again. His tone wasn't demanding - it was gentle, yet immovable.
"A promise. You don't need to tell me what binds you, or why. But i heard your voice just now... It trembled. That tells me enough. When the time comes, when you are ready... Reach out to me."
In that moment he felt the need to add another condition, but he trusted her.
Chris' lips parted, and hesitation wavered in her eyes. The weight of his sincerity, and the steady calm in his voice all held her still.
Finally, she whispered:
"...I promise."
With that a silence settled between them, one in which she boiled. The occasional time he looked at her, he could see her in deep thought, something heavy in her eyes, but nothing malicious.
It lingered for a while, until she finally exhaled, taking a deep breath and saying. - "I should go."
He didn't argue, didn't try to hold her where she needn't be. He simply tilted his hat, before standing up. - "Then go, but keep your promise."
"I will." - She nodded, though her smile was conflicted.
She lingered for a moment longer, caught between saying something more and knowing she couldn't. Then she turned and left.
After that he simply sat back down, and rested his mind... No need to overthink it. He has given her trust, no need to ruin himself by worrying...