Today was Monday. Everybody hated it as much as they hated having to go back to work for another week after a nice vacation. But not Klaus. He was looking forward to this day.
Smiling broadly, Klaus walked down the corridor to the Research Division's quarters. He greeted everyone in the room as he opened the door, and they smiled widely as if they were looking forward to Klaus.
"Where's Jonathan?" Klaus asked.
"I'll get him, please wait a moment," said a woman in a white coat.
Not long after, a dark-skinned man approached him.
Squinting, Klaus looked at his appearance from top to bottom. His clothes looked rumpled, his hair was messy and he had black bags under his eyes. To make matters worse, Klaus smelled stingy sweat from him.
"Jonathan, don't tell me you were still working yesterday?"
"Eh? How do you know?"
"Yeah, I can see that." Klaus felt a little guilty, but he was also happy. He was grateful to have such a workaholic employee. "Anyway, let's see your invention."
Jonathan smiled widely. "Come."
The dark-skinned man led Klaus into an all-white room with a glass wall on one side. His eyes quickly lingered on a dagger lying on the table as Klaus entered the room.
Before Jonathan could tell him, Klaus picked up the dagger. He carefully looked at every detail; the sharpness, the arrangement of the runes, and even the hilt. The way he gazed at it was neither amazed nor pleased, but more like a swordsman inspecting his weapon. He felt a magical aura though it was weak.
Flowing mana into the dagger, Klaus swung it and the wind whistled as the edge cut through the air.
"So weak. I can't feel its effects," Klaus thought.
He stroked his chin as he glued to the dagger.
"Laplace, tell me the information about this arcana," he murmured.
<Yes, my liege.>
Not long after, a golden screen that only he could see appeared in front of him.
[Name: Dagger Prototype]
[Type: Arcana]
[Class: Common]
[Effect: Strength +0.005%]
[Material: Iron, rope, and plastic]
[Runes: ᛁᛏ ᛁᛋ ᚲᛟᛗᛈᛚᛖᛏᛖᛚᚤ ᛃᚢᚾᚴ]
Klaus immediately understood why the artificial arcana did not give him any significant effect. He turned to Jonathan who stood at the side of the room.
"Why did you use materials from Earth to make it?" Klaus asked.
Jonathan raised his eyebrows. The man saw the dissatisfaction on his boss's face. "Uh, well. The CEO told us to do so."
Klaus squinted. "Why didn't she tell me?"
"Well, I don't know. Because you rarely come to the company or leave early, maybe."
Klaus clicked his tongue.
The first person who should have gotten a notice from the CEO was him. He was the Chief of the Product Development Department after all. Klaus felt irritated but at the same time he understood the situation, considering he had been too focused on the guild to forget his obligations in the company.
Klaus sighed. "Alright, Jonathan. I'll come back later."
"Okay."
Klaus wanted to discuss this matter with the CEO. But before meeting with the person, he headed to the office first to prepare some files.
As Klaus came in front of his office, he saw Sheila standing at the door. Seeing that the woman looked nervous, Klaus drew close to her.
"Why are you here? Why aren't you at your desk?" he asked.
"Uh, she's waiting inside."
Klaus immediately knew who Sheila was referring to. It was the CEO.
Without thinking twice, Klaus went straight into his office. He saw a woman wearing glasses sitting at his desk, reading his work papers. Her fair skin and blue eyes seemed to match the black blazer that wrapped her body.
As Klaus stood in front of her, she looked up with a flat expression.
"Finally, we can meet after your absence for almost a month, Klaus." Cold words came out of the woman's mouth. "I thought you resigned."
Klaus sighed. "I'm not absent for fun, Alexa. You know that. The Guild needs me."
"And Mors Industries needs you too. I need you around so this company can perform at its best. You took this position for a reason, right?"
"And you know I'm the owner of this company, right?"
"That will only show the board of directors how lame you are as the majority shareholder. They won't give you their votes."
"Then I'll just fire you and replace you with a new CEO."
The bespectacled woman clicked her tongue.
"Stop bitching, Alexa. I'm not in the mood to argue with you. You haven't changed a bit, for God's sake. Get up from my seat."
She stood up, and Klaus sat down at his desk.
"What a coincidence that you came here. I actually wanted to meet you," Klaus said.
"I also have business with you."
He asked Alexa to give the Research Team permission to gain access to dungeon materials so that they could make artificial arcana with quality materials. However, the bespectacled woman refused. Of course, this infuriated him.
"Why don't you approve it?"
Alexa pursed her lips. "Because our company is tightening its belt."
She told Klaus that the company was in deficit.
Mors Industries was a company focused on research. Over the past three months, the company burned tens of millions of dollars without significant progress on research. Their target was one year, as Klaus promised his father.
In order to survive longer, the company did a side business. They bought dungeon items from awakeners and sold them to overseas companies. That's why Alexa told the Research Division to use materials from Earth for their research.
"You don't need to worry. We did it. The Research Team successfully created artificial arcana."
"I know," Alexa replied.
Naturally, Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Then why did you reject it? Do not play games with me."
Inhaling, the woman said, "I hate to break it to you, Klaus. Even if our company succeeds in creating artificial arcana, they will not be marketable."
"Huh? What?!" Klaus frowned.
