Is it wrong to be an Elf in a Dungeon?
39) Mana Circuits

...

3rd Pov

"Sorry I don't know that one" Ember said making the interviewer breath in relief, he asked one of the hardest questions which was basically just critical thinking based, however Ember answered all of them. At this moment the interviewer aka, Chief Examiner began doubting his life and finally posed the most difficult question of all.

Even the Chief examiner didn't know the answer to the question and finally Ember faltered before this question much to his relief. At this point he was doubting if Goddess Athena disguised herself as this black-haired blue eyed Elf male and was making fun of them. After coming to the conclusion that Tithonus was really a genius he smiled.

"Congratulations Sir Ber, you have passed the interview spectacularly, soon you will be issued your passing certificate, and you can begin your training under the Magic Craftsmen" he said, and Ember breathed in relief, to be honest he had answered all the questions except for the last one, however he was still in doubt, thankfully he passed.

The interviewer stood up and so did Ember, they shook their hands. The Chief Examiner smiled and said, "Remember Sir Ber, Knowledge is the foundation of everything" and Ember nodded "I will etch these words on my soul" and the smile on the interviewer widened. Ember came out of the Hall and was greeted by his friends.

"Tet, how was the interview" asked Lance curious, everyone looked at him. "I passed" Ember replied and they looked surprised and happy for him. "Haha! Now I can brag that my party has a Magic Craftsman!" Lance patted his shoulder laughing. "Lance do you really just think of bragging all the time" Aurielle rolled her eyes.

"Passing on your first try, only five percent have achieved that. Be proud Tet, you are one of the best now" Ash complimented, Jack meanwhile remained silent, however he was indeed surprised by Tithonus' achievement. "Yeah! Let's celebrate!" said Jasmine and everyone agreed, they went to a restaurant to have a party.

After the party, Ember said "Sorry Miss Lance, it would seem I won't be able to adventure with you all for a period of time" after all during the duration of his training he will busy six days of the week, and even after he gets the job, he will have to go at least four days and work eight hours. After everything, he will just earn a fifty thousand Atlen per month.

A level 2 adventurer like him can earn way more by adventuring, however Lance didn't mind it. "Tet, all the Adventurer who now have Mystery, and hold high position within the administration of Atlen were once a Magic Craftsman, and naturally this job demands a lot of time. Don't worry, once we get the job, I will adjust our expedition dates so that you can go with our party" she smiled.

"Thank you, Miss Lance, to be honest I am being a little selfish" he bowed however she laughed, "Man, Tet you are such a sweet guy, normally others don't care much about the party they are in and join and leave as they please. It is something normal, you don't have to fret over it, just focus on the job. After all, while adventuring is all good and nice, having a higher position should always be one's goal!" she said.

She was right, after all Magic Craftsman was a job that attracted people from all around the world, reason was that Magic Craftsman job had a huge chance of getting the adventurers the Development ability Mystery, however most of the Magic Craftsman weren't adventurers otherwise the number of Mystery users would have been higher.

Not to mention the laws and theories introduced by Athena was too tough for them. I mean she had stated if something is on rest, it remains on rest and if something is moving it keeps moving. Just this single law made everyone troubled everyone for weeks if not months, only for many to protest it is wrong as things moving come to halt.

She has stated how this law works, however how the people who have never gone to space are supposed to know what is vacuum and cosmos? In the end, due to their incomplete knowledge one thing leads to another, and then another making it all jumbled up. That's why passing this exam was too difficult.

...

Soon Ember got his passing Certificate and was allocated work under a senior Magic Craftsman. Ember looked at the workshop in front of him, took a deep breath and entered, and a worker helped him to take him to the Senior Magic Craftsman.

"So you are the one I am supposed to teach huh?" Ember looked at the person, it was a burly Elf, with black hair, and black eyes. His skin was also tanned, he looked more of a blacksmith than a magic craftsman. "My name is James Chadwick" Ember almost coughed out his saliva hearing his name.

James frowned seeing Ember's and thought he was about to laugh, his expression hardened. "Remember! Just observe what I do! You are not supposed to disturb me" he said and Ember who was slightly embarrassed nodded, while the worker shook his head. 'It would seem this guy started bad with the Magic Craftsman; I wonder if he will quit after not learning anything' the worker thought.

He quickly went to do his job while the Magic Craftsman started doing his job, the magic craftsmen create the sophisticated parts of the machineries like Mana Circuit, etc. The normal parts are made by workers; however, it is just an empty hull until the sophisticated parts are included in them. Ember watched carefully as the magic craftsman made the parts, it took him an average of 30 minutes to finish a Mana circuit portion each time.

Ember observed the way he made them, the function of each part and how they worked together. It wasn't that hard; however, he had no former knowledge on how to do cravings and join the delicate parts. In the end he realized, unless he makes a circuit himself, he won't be able to learn anything else. 

He decided to attempt to make a circuit, however seeing Ember getting the different parts and tools, James noticed him, and he quickly reprimanded him. "What are you doing?" he said with a grunt, and Ember replied smoothly "I am going to try and make a circuit myself" however it seemed to irk James.

"Do you even realize how expensive these parts are? If they are broken and wasted my salary will be deducted!" he said in an angry tone. However, Ember simply said "Don't worry, I will pay for them if they are wasted" he had earned around seven million valis in the last six months and had three million worth of valis magic stone stored, so he had plenty of money to spare.

James started fuming in anger, he himself had trained for a year before making circuits himself. The parts were delicate and wielding them together required skill, experience and knowledge! That's why Ember's words seemed the words of madman to him. "Fine, do whatever you want" James decided not to intervene, he wanted Ember to realize his foolishness.

Ember meanwhile ignored him, and followed the steps carefully, however he failed to make the circuit on his first try, making James smirk who was watching him. However, Ember wasn't disappointed and tried again, this time he managed to make a circuit, however on careful observation realized it had many problems and would not work properly.

He discarded it and went for the third, this time he successfully managed to make a circuit, and it had no flaws. Ember smiled in glee as he saw that his circuit had been successful, now all was left to test it. Theoretically it was a perfect circuit however a practical test was needed to see if there were any mistakes.

It took him forty-five minutes to make this circuit, and he quickly went to the Chief manager who was responsible for overseeing the work. Seeing Ember the Chief manager was confused, " You are one of the new trainees right? Is something the matter?" he asked and Ember explained everything to him.

"I-I see" he was surprised and looked at the mana circuit that Ember made, it was a bit rough however it had no problems. "This circuit is indeed doable, you want me to use this to make a fridge?" he asked, and Ember nodded, he sighed. To be honest he was indeed shocked by the fact that Ember managed to make such a hard circuit on his first day.

The Mana circuit for the lamp was easiest to make, and it costed around 5000 valis, with material and labor cost of 2100 valis. The lamp itself was priced at 10,000 valis, however compared to oil-based lamps it was much reliable and had less fuel cost, a 50 valis magic stone could light it up for 12 hours, while 600-800 valis of oil will take for it to be lit up for 12 hours.

That's when prices of Oil are normal, at worst the cost of it can hike up to 2000-3000 valis for a lamp to be lit up for 12 hours, when the oil production is hit with scarcity. That's why Oil lamps have slowly become obsolete, replaced by Magic lamps. That's why Magic Circuits are precious, and so are the people who can make them.

The Chief manager after warning Ember that if something goes wrong, he will have to pay for the fridge he ordered the circuit to be used in a fridge. To be honest he knew the circuit was pretty much perfect, however he was still in disbelief. But he wasn't arrogant and knew there were geniuses, having worked under Athena directly, he had etched in his mind to be never arrogant.

Soon the results came out, the Fridge was working properly without any issues. The Chief Manager quickly went towards James. "Hey, James did you teach Tithonus about the circuits?" he asked and James felt embarrassed, "A-Actually he just saw me working and learned himself" he decided to be truthful, the Chief manager nodded before realizing something.

"Did you not teach him anything?" the reason was obvious, Ember was supposed to be a trainee under James, and it was James' duty to teach him, he was even given more money to tutor Ember which Ember didn't knew. "I-I actually" he stammered not knowing what to reply, instantly Chief manager realized something was wrong when Ember intervened.

"Sir James said to observe him first, I managed to make circuit on my third try and he was busy with work, so he didn't notice" Ember said, and Chief manager didn't care about anymore. "Sir Tithonus, can you make a few more mana circuits in front of me?" he said and Ember nodded, a few hours passed however the Chief Manager was patient, and he watched Ember crafting a few more Mana circuits, and the time he used to make each one shortened considerably.

"Your Dexterity must be really high" the Chief manager said, dexterity determined your skill, and combined with other parameters such as agility, it affected reaction speed, etc. All the adventurers had an inhumane level of skill in whatever weapon they used regularly and that was because of dexterity.

Dexterity was a unique parameter, and it was most neglected parameter of all. Only the smart and strong adventurers didn't neglect it, after all while with every level-up overall parameter increased, Dexterity was the one which increased the least. Ember already had skill at inhumane level before he gained falna.

After not many can slay an Orc, and coupled with his over-the-top parameters, he had now dexterity equivalent to a low level 4, while his strength was now of a low to mid-level 3, while his magic bordering at the level 5. It showed how much it paid off waiting to break his parameters through S-rank.

Meanwhile James felt ashamed of his actions, Ember didn't care much about him. He had observed and knew James wasn't an adventurer, being Magic Craftsman was probably his only source of revenue. Ember wasn't petty, his goal was to reach Beyond the Heavens, so why waste time on being revengeful and petty?

Not to mention no one will remember this guy after a few chaps.

To be continued...

(A/N: I searched the use of Magic Stones, and it was for a fuel, I can get that ovens, and fridges use them, however there should be more stuff than this. So I came up with this idea, to expand their use. Magic Ships, Magic Cannons, Air Conditioners, Big Machines that manufacture toothpaste, shampoo, soap, each of them use Magic Stones to function.

I am making Air Conditioners unpopular for the simple reason the temperature in medieval ages was much lower than todays, and secondly they worked continuously without any remote control. Even in desert areas they were unpopular, as the cost of operating them was usually too much, and their price was unaffordable for the most. That's why we don't see Air Conditioners in Danmachi.)