Nanomancer Rising: Divine Alchemist Reborn as Academy's Worst Teacher
Chapter 72: Formation store

Chapter 72: Formation store

Stepping into the formation-guild affiliated shop felt like stepping into another world.

From the busy yet orderly streets that perfectly fit the slightly backwards vibe of this world, Theo entered into a room of convenience.

Not a physical convenience... But a convenience store.

The whole shop consisted of just one, massive warehouse, stretching several stories high and populated with nothing but huge, metal shelves.

Just like the shelves in the warehouses of a modern world, each of the shelves was split into several levels, with a massive, rolling ladder attached to the corner of each of the shelves, allowing people access to the product stored higher up.

Overall, however, everything that Theo could possibly want was all down on the first two, three layers.

Taken by the curiosity, Theo tried to climb the ladder up, only to find that each shelf contained items that belonged to the same category, with less common variations stocked up higher than the more popular ones.

There was also the element of the different pricing, with the shop conveniently putting the most expensive stuff right within one’s reach...

Still, sales techniques aside, this place made Theo feel outright nostalgic. This feeling, however, quickly gave in to Theo’s curiosity as his eyes wandered off from the basic formation-building materials displayed by the shop’s entrance to various scrolls of formation blueprints and even pre-made formations one simply needed to infuse their mana with to activate.

For Theo, this place was a land of wonders, a shop where human creativity met the nearly endless potential of freely using an energy as malleable as magic.

From guarding formations that would alert their master when someone breached their perimeter, through the killing formations designed to slaughter all those entrapped in them, all the way to the illusionary and then variety formations.

As long as it could be made, this shop would have it; that was the feeling this place offered to all that entered.

For Theo, however, the situation was a bit different.

’It’s not like they are going to have precisely what I need for this extremely specific scenario, would they?’ he thought, opting out of holding to the hopes and focusing on the easier, although longer and likely more expensive approach — of crafting a formation that he needed, all on his own.

A task that would normally take years of studying just to understand the concepts of the art of formation setting, then several more years to learn the tricks of the trade, another few years to master one’s practical ability of setting them...

This kind of a count could stretch nearly into infinity, with the true mastery of the craft being nothing but an illusion the smart aimed for while the naive hoped to actually achieve.

In Theo’s case, however, he could cheat the system, saving himself the years’ worth of effort necessary to achieve what he actually wanted. And while sure, he could just order and pay someone to make the kind of formation he needed...

Theo had neither the money to pay for such a service nor the time to wait for until a person of necessary skill set would have an opening in their schedule.

In the end, Theo moved all the way to the distant end of the hall, a place positioned as far away from the shop’s entrance as the layout of the building allowed. Which was exactly where the clerks of the place hid, hoping to avoid attention of all but those who came here to actually make a purchase.

"Hello," Theo, already tired of the time he wasted just walking through the place, decided to just cut straight to the chase, "do you, by any chance, have some manuals and then the basic materials for formation setting?"

The clerk looked up while making sure to show just how much of a bother doing so was.

"All the materials can be found near the entrance, good sir," the man spoke, uttering each of his words as if it cost him money to do so. "As for the manuals, there are some out in the back, but the good ones..."

The clerk looked over to the small stack of full pouches resting at the side of the table. Yet as soon as he glanced back to Theo...

"Wait, aren’t you that infamous..."

’Now.’

Right as the Clerk’s attention focused not on Theo as a whole but just his identity alone, Theo once again allowed the nanites to disperse from his body, near instantly turning into a mist so thin, no normal person could ever notice it.

"... teacher? What was it... Teacher Theo?"

The clerk, too focused on recalling Theo’s name, didn’t seem to notice a single thing.

Still needing to give his nanites some more time, Theo had no other choice but to continue with the conversation.

"Does it matter?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Or is there some sort of a rule that says those who have vile rumours spread about them cannot learn the craft you guys are so proud of?"

By now, the nanites completed their task... Or, at the very least, they did so within the possible scope. And while Theo could now access pretty much all the manuals stored on the shopping floor, when it came to the stuff hidden in the deeper parts of the building... There was nothing but emptiness.

Normally, his nanites were small enough to penetrate through everything, simply by being tinier than most of the barriers were ever designed to hold their ground against. Even the tiniest gap, the narrowest slit would be like a vast canyon to those microscopic biorobots, allowing them to easily infiltrate nearly any area Theo would want them to.

This time, however, he learned there was a limit to what his nanites could penetrate. Because it wasn’t like the deeper parts of the building were perfectly empty with nothing for his nanites to scan or analyze.

No.

For the very first time, there was a barrier in place that actually managed to hold Theo’s nanites back!

Which, in turn, only made him more curious about the stuff that this place kept hidden behind such a capable barrier!

"No, sir, I never meant it like that!" Meanwhile, back in the real world, the clerk got all flustered seeing how his casual question turned into a potential drama. And while he was never employed here to kiss the customer’s asses... Antagonizing them for no reason wouldn’t be looked favorably upon!

"Actually," the clerk muttered, only to rapidly rise up from his chair, bring his arms down along his sides and then bow with his entire upper body. "I do apologize if my question was insensitive. It wasn’t my intention to imply anything or to stop you from making a purchase at this establishment. Regardless of your past, regardless of what people say about you, if you wish to learn more about the great art of formation-setting, then I’m all the happy to help you out, sir!"

Theo glanced over at the clerk... before breathing out a defeated sigh and gently shaking his head.

"I’m sorry too. It seems I’ve been quite on edge ever since the last few days happened," he muttered, shaking his head as if recalling all the stuff he had no other choice but to deal with. "On the note of formations, though," he added, happily switching the topic back to what he was actually interested in, while registering the barrier of this place in the back of his brain as nothing more but a curiosity he could investigate once he would magically conjure some free time to waste.

"Yes, sir?" Careful to remain as respectful as a clerk could be, the man raised his eyes.

"That basic stuff," Theo muttered, only to then pause for a second as he ran a quick check on the knowledge hive quickly absorbed and parsed with the rest of his database, "is it really true that you could get most of them done with just the basic materials? And if yes, then..."

Theo paused again, this time for a considerably longer while.

"Then, if so, what’s the actual point of getting my hands on the more expensive parts?" he asked before raising his eyes to the clerk... only to then realize just where he was asking such a question.

’Heck, even if the only reason for getting the expensive parts were to make one’s formation appear fancier than they really are, would a clerk working here ever be allowed to reveal that fact?’ Theo thought, more than aware of the various shady sale practices often put into use in places where there was a lot of money to be made.

"Most only use it to make their formations look nicer, more professional," the clerk shook his shoulder while giving out a response that went directly against what Theo expected. "In some cases, though, where the standard performance of any particular part might not be to a craftmaster’s satisfaction, we would advise using better grade of the materials," he explained before shrugging his shoulders.

"Honestly, though... sir," the clerk cautiously added the respectful title just to be sure, "unless your entire formation relies on just a single node, I don’t think you will actually need anything beyond the normal grade, especially not with how expensive even materials of normal grade can get quite expensive!"