Category Of Artefact

He felt it—more than sight—the flow of blood, the bones, the veins, the flesh and skin, even the hair follicles. It was beautiful.

Sol made the Eiros Glass move toward his wrist, then to his elbow until it reached his shoulder. By now, 10 Ei had been consumed.

Sol withdrew the Eiros Glass, pulled out his book, and hovered his pen to write what he had observed. All he had to do was make a dot, and the images of his hand wove themselves onto the page.

It was life-like. He could make the skin and flesh fade to see the bones beneath. He could remove any part of the hand to observe individual organs.

"Muhaha!" Sol released a laugh—things had gotten much easier.

He still hadn't compressed his anatomy notes. With ideas brimming in his mind, he sat down to create them.

He wrote the date, made topic headings and titles, then followed the same process. The entire anatomy note fused into one stable, complex character.

Sol stared at it as information from the note flowed into his mind for an hour. He had never read through the material thoroughly before—he had just copied things he expected to be important.

Now he gained a general understanding of it all. He pulled out information about hand anatomy and attached it to his hand drawing on the paper. Immediately, it became surrounded with explanations of what each part of his hand was.

Since the hand was life-like with flowing blood, even the circulation was explained. Looking at it made Sol feel like he was truly reading about his own hand.

He took a deep breath, a smile spreading across his face. He would make sure to map his whole body and study it this way.

Sol stood before the mirror again. That had just been a test—now the real work began. His right hand was raised, ready to allow the Eiros Glass to enter.

Knock!

"Sol." An old voice reached him. Sol was startled and felt annoyed. This moment was very important to him.

"Your friends from school have come to visit you. They're in the Visitors Garden!" she said and walked away.

"Friends?" Sol's heart darkened. He didn't have friends.

Sol put on his uniform and left the room.

"Go back and change into normal clothes," she ordered

She had never left. Her wrinkled face and stern eyes tolerated no arguments.

Sol went back and came out wearing a long shirt and trousers, but he didn't like it—his larger hand still showed.

"You need not hide yourself. Let anyone who wants to work with you know what you are. Let them reject you or accept you as you are," she lectured.

Sol nodded. She was the head of all slaves and servants in the house. Even Zavien respected her and called her Grand Aunt.

If anyone wanted anything from the master and she approved of it, Zavien never said no. That was how much respect he gave her.

Sol reached the garden and stayed by the door. Four people were there: Sophie, Linda, Shepherd, and Liam.

"Hey!" They waved at him. Sol forced a smile and clenched his fist. "Hey!"

Though they tried not to look, he caught them staring at his larger arm, which stuck out like a sore thumb on his otherwise normal body.

"Why are you here?" Sol asked, his tone not inviting at all.

"We just want to learn from you," Liam said. He was from high society and appeared confident and outgoing.

The others nodded at what he said. Sol didn't know how to handle this. Should he just show them his book?

"Like, tell us how you do it. You don't need to show us your work," Liam added. The rest nodded.

Clearly, they sensed that Sol didn't want them there, and they felt uneasy. The house was large, belonging to a notorious merchant with a bad temper, and they had no idea how Sol was connected to the man.

Besides, those with disfigured bodies usually had emotional issues.

"Okay!" Sol said. He went to a table surrounded by chairs and sat down. They just stood there, looking at him.

"Please, sit with him and have some drinks!" Grandma Ginger said as she came with jugs and cups on a tray.

"Sol, you should have invited them to sit," she added. "Your lack of social manners is concerning."

Guests won't sit until invited—that was proper etiquette. Sol nodded and made note of that.

The garden wasn't large, but it had flowers and tall trees that made the place cool and fresh. There was also running water with colorful flowers floating on top.

It was a serene atmosphere that made visitors look around in wonder, especially those from lower backgrounds.

Only Liam appeared normal. The rest were mesmerized. As juice was poured for them, they drank it and burped, which made them embarrassed.

Grandma Ginger left them alone.

"So, this is your home!" Liam asked. But Sophie interjected, "What did you do today? I saw you were surprised by the teacher's reward."

Sol opened his book and showed them. Because they couldn't read it, they could only see the character.

"It looks the same as the class one." Sophie said, and Sol nodded. "This is different and stable. The last one broke and spilled."

"I noticed when it did that," Sophie said before showing her book. She too had made a similar character, with her whole lesson compressed into it.

"This is mine, but it's also fragile. The moment I touch it, it breaks away."

"Because it's not stable," Sol said. "You need to add the date and make the topic the center, then connect the lesson to it."

Sol was no teacher, but Liam encouraged him to guide Sophie while they stood behind her. Sol sat close by, telling her what to do.

They might not be able to read her notes, but they understood the steps until she replicated what he had done.

A stable, complex character that could absorb more information without breaking and could also extract information when needed.

"That's genius!" Liam said. He sat back and began doing it, just like the rest.

Sophie leaned back, tired. With no Ei to sustain her, her stamina was being used as energy.

Footsteps were heard as Grandma Ginger came in with a tray filled with snacks. "Sol, another school friend is here?"

Sol's heart skipped a beat. 'I hope it's not Rolf!' But as the old woman moved away, he saw golden hair and smiling eyes.

"Aha! I'm not the only one!" his excited voice said. "Hello, I'm Zephyr!" he said to the students, who were stunned to see him.

Liam stood and shook hands with him. "I'm Liam. Nice meeting you, Zephyr."

Sophie also gained confidence and repeated what Liam had done, followed by the others.

'This guy gives me more creeps than Rolf. I almost wish it was Rolf!' Sol thought before forcing a smile.

"Please, join us!"

"Good," Grandma Ginger said as she tapped his shoulder. "That's how you welcome guests!"

Zephyr sat down, his iron book on the table. "So what are you learning?"

"Let me show you!" Liam chimed in as he walked over, sat close, and began to explain.

"That's genius!" Zephyr said. He too began repeating the procedure.

After Sophie rested, she struck up a conversation with Zephyr. The boy was outgoing and answered readily.

"Ahem. Sol, can you teach us the iron shield? I mean, I don't even know how to do Iron Dome!"

Sol noticed Grandma Ginger in the distance. She nodded to him and mouthed that he should talk and be friendly—Master Zavien was watching.

Seeing that, Sol smiled. Since the master was interested, he would try his best.

"This book still has some secrets," Sol said excitedly. They noticed his change of attitude. "It doesn't use Ei as energy—that's just an additive. What it actually uses is..."

Sol frowned. Just now, he felt something different about his book. He could feel both his hand image and the lesson, but the other anatomy information seemed faint.

What he was about to explain became more detailed and clearer to him.

"It uses the knowledge we put into it while also compressing it into complex, stable characters," Sol said slowly as he felt the book's weight.

"That makes the book increase in weight. The higher the weight, the more easily you can use Iron Dome. I can make the shield because I have more knowledge stored, and now that I've made them into stable characters, I know my control has increased."

Sol then showed them the two pages: the lesson and the anatomy. The anatomy character was far more complex than the class lessons.

"Did you copy entire books into it?" Zephyr asked. That would be the only explanation.

"Yes, I did. Something I'm learning," Sol nodded. "It's not just copying, but also understanding what you write in it. That understanding helps you feel the book more, and your Eiros Glass can move to different parts."

Sophie frowned. "No wonder I'm failing to do it."

The conversation continued as they also tried making Iron Domes.

---

Sol stood beside his mountain of a master, watching his so-called friends leave in the distance.

"You did well today," Zavien said. "Making friends is good."

Sol was more than exhausted. That interaction had made him realize he hated having friends. They were frustrating and made you talk too much.

As he returned to his room, Sol stood by the mirror and continued his work.

Just as the Eiros Glass seeped into his larger hand, 20 Ei was consumed. Sol moved the Eiros Glass toward his shoulder.

He transferred the information into the book, which turned into a life-like image of his hand. Sol spent the rest of the day observing and reading.

There was limited information about this hand from the anatomy knowledge in his book.

It only showed overgrowth in some locations and generally indicated the hand was abnormal.

"I need to check those books that show overgrown body parts," Sol said before being called to dine with the master.

This time, he was lectured on accepting guests and how to start conversations. Zavien wanted Sol to be sociable.

Back in his room, Sol spent hours mapping his entire body, which exhausted him completely before he fell asleep.

***

Sol was running toward the school. Grandma Ginger had to shake him from deep slumber.

He arrived at class, which was very active as the teacher awarded Ei after Ei. Liam was speaking when Sol entered.

"Our books feed on knowledge and information we understand and compress. It's also key to mastering Iron Dome."

"Good. 20 Ei to Liam. But that's not the only criteria," the teacher said happily, and Liam sat down.

"Sol. Minus 50 Ei for tardiness!" the teacher announced.

Sol didn't mind—he would just reclaim that later. But then the teacher flickered and appeared before him, holding his book with his hand touching Sol.

"Interesting," he said. "You've almost used one of your five limits." He was reading Sol's morphology. His detailed body image, with all its beauty and imperfections.

"Hmm. 50 Ei for Sol!" He placed the book back with Sol. "And a molding ink refill!"

He brought out two small containers—one with liquid, the other with dust—and proceeded to teach the class how to mix them to make Molding Ink, the only ink that could be used in the books.

The lesson didn't resume as other students continued showing what they had learned.

It turned out that some had randomly tried to possess objects. Some succeeded, while others faced difficulties.

There was one student who came with a large stone. His Eiros Glass had entered and refused to leave. He also couldn't move away from the stone.

Some laughed, but the teacher still gave him points for trying and ordered the rest of the students to check the stones they sat on.

Sol's eyes lit up. The stone was different from when he had first sat on it. They were becoming more chair-like and comfortable to sit on.

Sol's stone seat was the most refined among them, and an idea came to him and made his Eiros Glass enter the stone seat, then mapped it just like his body and tried to bring it out—but it stuck inside.

Sweat broke out on his face as the class burst into laughter.

He had just made the same mistake as the other student.

The teacher chuckled too. "I'm not going to help you with that. Maybe you'll sleep here or take the stone seat home."

"But the stone is connected to the earth, and... school items can't be taken home!" Zephyr said, also smiling.

"Well, then he sleeps here from here on!" the teacher said.