A MONTH LATER
SEPTEMBER, 17 YEARS AND 7 MONTH UNTIL THE STARSPAWN INVASION
The artificer's workshop was sterile-clean and as orderly as the man himself. Every material and tool was put on its own spot inside one of many cupboards or on a shelf; every surface shone with polish, just like the artificer's slick hair shone with wax.
He hunched over a table on which lay a bent rectangular piece of metal. The artificer perused it through a looking glass, the metal edge of which was covered in glyphs, each of them no bigger than a millet seed.
"I've never seen anything like it, signore Oliveira!" the man exclaimed, excitement gleaming in his eyes. "The flow of mana inside this metal, the glyphs… This is truly something out of this world—but just like the other pieces I found this summer."
"The other pieces, maestro Scinto?" Cael asked, straightening in his seat.