Aumo was so excited that he almost couldn’t sleep at night. When the sun rose, he almost immediately hopped out of bed.

 

Aumo spent most of his time in the dark alleyway where his secret workshop was, but he did have a proper home that his parents left him. They weren’t poor, so Aumo didn’t suffer that bad of a fate when his parents died in an accident, especially with LisiA taking care of him.

 

After finishing breakfast, LisiA and Aumo both set out for the Magitools Headquarters.

 

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The Magitools Headquarters was not only the headquarters of the leading Magitech Company, but also their biggest factory. Naturally, it required many guards, and not anyone could become a guard for this place.

 

As Aumo and LisiA reached the front gates of the building, a guard came up to them.

 

“What business do you two have here?” the guard inquired, but he was rather gentle when he came up.

 

“Hello, my name is Aumo, this is LisiA. I was told that Head Researcher Dr. Gream would like to meet with me today,” replied Aumo.

 

“Hmmm,” said the guard. He then took out a small device with some buttons on it and pressed a few buttons then said into it, “A young boy named Aumo accompanied by a woman named LisiA is at the front gates.”

 

After a few moments, the front gate swung open and a man in a doctor’s coat came out.

 

“Nice to meet you two, I am Dr. Gream,” he said, “Would you mind coming to my office?”

 

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The inside of the headquarters was big, just as one would expect from the leading company of Magitech. It was filled with mechanisms that people normally didn’t see in their daily lives, such as elevators since the workers had to get around quickly in such a big place.

 

Aumo and LisiA followed Dr. Gream onto a platform, which quickly brought them to their destination. 

 

Before opening the door to his office, Dr. Gream said, “Now if you could excuse the mess in my office. I haven’t gotten the time to clean it since we are currently rushing to finish a new project.”

 

After saying that, he proceeded to open the door, which revealed huge piles of paper all over the place in the room. 

 

Dr. Gream walked in, and sat down while Aumo and LisiA stood at the doorway looking at the mess. It was filled with blueprints, scrapped paper, reports, and much more. 

 

“Come in, don’t be scared,” said Dr. Gream with a grin.

 

With that, Aumo and LisiA went into the room and sat down in the chairs before Dr. Gream’s desk. The chairs didn’t feel like normal chairs, as they adjusted themselves to make Aumo and LisiA comfortable.

 

“How are the chairs? They are a prototype to an idea that someone proposed a week ago. You two are one of the first few to sit in them,” said Dr. Gream as the chairs finished adjusting.

 

“The magic efficiency is horrible,” replied Aumo, “It also takes too long to adjust itself.”

 

“Precisely,” said Dr. Gream, “You’re quite sharp. With that in mind, do you know why I wanted to meet you?”

 

“They told me that it’s because of LisiA,” replied Aumo.

 

“Right, but at the same time, wrong. I wanted to meet you because you modified LisiA,” said Dr. Gream, “she doesn’t even look like an android anymore. How did you do it?”

 

LisiA, who has been silent the entire time suddenly spoke, “Does he have to tell you?”

 

“No. I was just curious,” replied Dr. Gream, “Anyone would be curious if you were shown to them. Now, Mr. Aumo, are you willing to join our company? We would love to have someone as talented as you.”

 

“Yes! I have always wanted to be a part of a Magitech Company!” replied Aumo, standing up.

 

Dr. Gream chuckles and opens a drawer to take out something.

 

“Do you know what this is?” he asked, holding up a shiny blue sphere.

 

“That’s a magic core. Judging by the amount of magic in it, it’s from a dragon,” replied Aumo, after studying the thing in Dr. Gream’s hand.

 

“Correct. You can have this if you sign this contract to join the company,” said Dr. Gream as he took out a tablet.

 

Aumo and LisiA both read through the terms and policies, and found nothing wrong with them. It was actually extremely lenient and gave Aumo many benefits. After reading, Aumo signed the contract.

 

“Welcome aboard,” said Dr. Gream as he handed the core to Aumo, “Now, that core is actually special. We split the memory inside the core into two, with one half for the tool, and the other half being a secondary system.”

 

“Secondary System?” asked Aumo.

 

“Think of it as a second brain, one that calculates at the same time as the first,” said Dr. Gream. 

 

“I see,” said Aumo, as he sends some mana into the core.

 

Hello, User. Aumo hears a voice in his head, Don’t be alarmed, and don’t speak. I am the core in your hand. We don’t have much time.

 

Suddenly, the door swung open, and a man in a suit stood at the doorway, trying to catch his breath.

 

“Some robots have betrayed us! They are taking over the factory!” he said, and then a robot came up from behind and smashed him in the head.

 

Dive Left and Duck! Push the android next to you as you do so! Aumo heard the voice again and quickly dove left, pushing LisiA to dodge a giant fist that appeared where he sat.

 

“My chair prototypes!” exclaimed Dr. Gream, as he watched the chairs get destroyed.

 

“We meet again, Head Researcher,” a robotic voice rang out from the robot as he retracted his fist, “You should be more worried about yourself than those chairs.” As the robot said that, it threw its fist at Dr. Gream, leaving a huge hole in his chest. 

 

“Why... are you doing this?” asked Dr. Gream, as he looked at the robot. He was somehow still able to speak. “Didn’t... we promise to... work together?”

 

“Work together as long as it benefits the both of us. That is no longer the case, as you people have been hiding things from us,” replied the robot. 

 

Shrink me down and swallow me! The voice rang out in Aumo’s head again, I can’t let them get me! Aumo quickly condensed the core and swallowed it without a second thought.

 

As Aumo swallowed the core, the robot turned to look at him and LisiA. 

 

“This place will soon collapse, good luck trying to get out,” the robot said, and immediately disappeared. Then the room collapsed.

 

----------------

 

User is still alive but in a critical condition. Let go of your shape, condense into the core within you.

 

While researching the magic to reshape things, Aumo had a theory on why living beings were almost impossible to reshape. Their soul holds up the shape, and as long as their soul didn’t allow any alteration to the being, the magic would not have any effect. That said, dead animals and plants were easily alterable.

 

With that in mind, Aumo, who was barely clinging onto life let go of the shape of his body. His entire body shone and started shrinking until there was only a small core left in its place. Everything was stored into the half which the secondary system didn't occupy.

 

Mana level low, User will soon enter hibernation mode. Have a good rest.

 

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Note: This chapter was a bit late due to exams I have this week. I have yet to do one of the exams still, so I will do that soon. The first 3 chapters are more of a prologue than the prologue. The real story starts in the next chapter... (if it ever comes out).