Chapter 17: The First Heartbeat
The workshop smelled like rust, blood, and victory.
Kael wiped sweat from his forehead with a dirty sleeve. In front of him, on the cracked stone table, lay the thing he’d spent the last three days building.
It wasn’t a sword.
It wasn’t armor.
It was a *core*.
A fist-sized sphere made from melted bottle caps, broken clock gears, and the fang of a D-rank beast he’d scavenged from the dump last week. Wires made of hair-thin copper ran through it like veins.
The System had called it impossible.
"*Trash cannot hold mana.*"
"Then watch me," Kael muttered.
He pressed his palm against the cold metal. His mana, thin and weak, crawled out of him and into the cracks. The gears clicked. Once. Twice.
Then
_Thump
A sound. Faint. Like a heartbeat.
Kael’s eyes widened. "It’s... alive?"
The core pulsed again. _Thump._
A dim blue light flickered between the bottle caps. The air in the workshop got heavier. The pile of scrap in the corner rattled on its own.
[System Notification]
*You have created: [Incomplete Trash Core - Grade F+]*
*Warning: Unstable Mana Container. Risk of explosion: 78%*
*New Title Unlocked: [Mad Tinkerer]*
"78%?" Kael laughed, but his hands were shaking. "That’s basically a passing grade."
He didn’t have time to celebrate. Outside, the ground shook.
BOOM.
Another one. Closer this time.
The C-Rank Examiner was here. Three days early.
Kael grabbed the pulsing core and shoved it into his chest pocket. It was warm. It was heavy. It felt... real.
The door to his workshop exploded inward.
Standing in the smoke was a man in silver armor. His spear was taller than Kael. His eyes scanned the room and landed on the mess, the tools, the trash.
"Kael of the Dump," the examiner said, voice like steel. "You were summoned for the C-Rank Trial. You have one hour to prove you are worthy."
He pointed his spear at Kael.
"Or you go back to collecting garbage."
Kael took a deep breath. The core in his pocket thumped against his heart. _Thump. Thump._
For the first time, he wasn’t scared.
He had trash.
And trash was all he needed.
"One hour?" Kael picked up a broken wrench and a piece of scrap metal. "That
’s more than enough."
The light from the core grew brighter.
To Be Continued...
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