Broken

Chapter 51

Following Kuro, I anxiously went over any excuses I could offer Carson if something went wrong. There was no way I could pay for any skill Kuro might pick out for our experiment, no matter how 'cheap' he thought that skill was. I rather thought that Kuro's understanding of what was and was not cheap a lot different to mine. Most of the people in this guild gave off the impression that they had no idea of the value of money at all. Maybe Argus and Nick... The others gave off 'rich people' vibes.

As it turned out, I didn't have to over think it at all. The guilds storage was located just down the hall from Yejun's fancy lab, and when I popped my head into the room it was to find that both my brother- who I had thought was at the library studying- and the guild master were standing over a table in deep discussion.

"I thought you were at school?" I said, making my younger brother jump.

He glared at me for the scare. "I finished my paper, so I came back early." He grumbled. I noted that he only mentioned one paper, when I knew he had three deadlines coming up. Still, even Yejun deserved a break.

"What are you working on?" Kuro asked, appearing at my back and showing interest in something for a change.

"Your genius brother here thinks he can make Chaos the first group to have in-instance recording devices." Carson grinned, looking like a kid in a candy store.

"What, seriously?" I asked, shocked. 

I knew that it was a project near and dear to Yejun's heart. Heck, it was a dream project of plenty of mana-engineers, and pioneering enchanters. The ability to record the actions of raiders within dungeons, providing the general public with an eye into instances, was huge news. Recordings made in instances could be used for entertainment, schooling, and so much more. 

"Its just a theory at the moment..." Yejun stated shyly, but he seemed pleased with the praise. "I'm working with some other engineers at school- and one of my professors- on certain components, and thoughts on what materials might be needed."

"Still, that's awesome!" I said grinning widely and roughing up my brother's silky dark hair.

"That aside, what are you two up to? I never would have guessed you'd be spending your time off together." Carson added, an amused eyebrow raised.

I glared at the man, but it was Kuro who spoke. "We are conducting an experiment." He stated, peeking the other two men's interests.

"What kind?" My ever curious brother asked.

"I'm taking Aoife to the vault to find an expendable skill-stone."

"Those exist?" Yejun exclaimed, just as taken aback by that sentiment as I was when Kuro first said it to me.

See, I wasn't the only one who thought the perspectives of these meat-heads were skewed.

"And why are you doing that?" Carson asked, standing up straight.

"To see if either Misfortune, or <Broken>, do something with it." Kuro explained simply.

There was a short silence where I thought Carson might blow some common sense on this, and tell the pony-tailed man that he was crazy for even suggesting such a thing. Not that I wasn't interested in a new, free skill. Especially if it was with the guild master's permission... I was just loosing faith that anyone here possessed something close to logic.

Clearly I was mistaken.

"Alright." The guild master said, and both he and Yejun got up from their seats. "Might as well accompany you."