Chapter 59: Rescue Mission

  What did I have of Sams? There was no helping it. I didn’t want to go back to the orphanage. There was too much at stake. I rummaged through my bag, cursing myself for not exchanging trinkets with my best friend. The problem was that orphans didn’t really have much in the way of personal belongings.

  Then I got to my coin pouch. I took out a handful of copper and thrust it at Woodie. “That’s it! He gave me some of these coins. Will it work?”

  The wooden dragon sniffed them. “Yes, I detect the scent of many orpans on these coins. With them as a catalyst, you should be able to make something that will allow you to detect them. I suggest a bloodhound. Their noses are second to none.”

  “How do I make a dog?” I asked.

  Analysis: A scent-amplifying mask will accomplish the task.

  Base Ingredients [Required]: Leather, Metal, Coal, Wood

  For added effect [Optional]: Dog Whisker, Bloodhound Nose Cartilage, Crushed Moonstone

  “Where do I get a dog whisker?” I asked aloud, not wanting to even think about the nose cartilage. “Or any of these ingredients, for that matter?”

  “I don’t know,” Leslie looked at me like I’d grown a second head.

  Info: There are raw materials all around you. Check the trash.

  I groaned at the thought. The last thing I wanted to do was sniff Sam out through a mask made of garbage.

  Leslie shrieked from beside me as I eyed a nearby garbage can. “There’s a dog over there. Are you sure you need a whisker?”

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, not thinking about what she might have in mind while rolling up my sleeves.

  She darted off, and I moved a half-eaten hot dog and nearly threw up.

  Woodie cleared its throat. “Not all rubbish is stored in bins. Perhaps you might consider wood from the old box in the alley.”

  Woodie dragged me by my arm to the area it spoke of. The wood was coarse, and I wasn’t sure what I needed it for, but I broke the box apart and stuffed the pieces into the bag. I collected the rusty nails as well, just in case they could be used for scrap metal.

  A dog yelped in the distance, and Leslie came trotting back, holding something in her hand.

  “You didn’t have to hurt him,” I said.

  She frowned. “Look, I didn’t hurt him that badly. Just took one whisker. I didn’t pluck it, either. I snipped it. Poor thing was just startled. A thank you wouldn’t hurt.”

  “Thanks,” I replied with a grin, both to Leslie and the dog. I’d have to remember to give it a treat if I saw it again.

  “What else?” Leslie asked.

  “Coal,” I said, looking around for a source. “And metal. I have a bit, but I probably need more.”

  I already knew I could get as much leather as I needed from the copies of Leslie’s glove.

  “I can get coal,” Leslie said, running off again.

  Woodie uncoiled from my wrist and floated over to a drain pipe on a nearby building. “And I shall handle the metal requirement.”

  I watched the tiny dragon take bites out of the metal drain and eat its way up the side of the building. It was a wonder that none of the passersby noticed what was going on. Both the wooden dragon and the fact that it was eating a metal pipe were highly out of place.

  Leslie returned moments later, doubling over as she caught her breath. “I just…had to ask…someone…if I could have a lump of coal from their furnace.”

  When she got up, she proudly held out a single lump of coal. Woodie returned a moment later. Half of the drain pipe was gone. All that was left was to figure out how to put it all together.

  “Let’s start with the leather,” Woodie announced, shredding the gloves into strips. “You’re going to need a few more copies.”

  I did as it asked and duplicated a pair of batteries to clear the memory. Then I added a fresh glove and made two more copies.

  “Is this enough?” I asked.

  Woodie got to work on them. “It will suffice. It will be wise for you to keep a stockpile of basic supplies in your bag in the future. You never know when you’re going to want to make something.”

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  I used Woodie to make additional strips. It was odd doing it myself when I knew perfectly well he could do it for me, but I needed to hone my skills. Woodie instructed me on how to make a frame for the mask by carving the wood. Once that was done, we laid out the leather to cover each piece.

  “What about the metal?” I asked.

  Woodie snorted a puff of smoke. “That will act as a conduit to connect your mana to the scent you wish to track. The coal will filter the scent and provide you with a trail to follow, hopefully leading to your friend.”

  The dragon regurgitated the drain pipe as bits and pieces of metal shavings. We had to create a small ritual to reshape it into the wire that was needed. Woodie bit into the coal, breaking it into dust, which we packed into the vent at the front of the mask.

  Just when I worried it was going to be bad for my lungs, Analyze added one final instruction.

  Info: Perform the following ritual to purify.

  Woodie didn’t wait for me to give the instruction, and dutifully etched out the incantation on the sidewalk. Once it was complete, I placed the mask in the center and looked at Woodie for confirmation.

  Warning: This Ritual requires 10,000 mana.

  Under normal circumstances, I would have been out of luck. Fortunately, I stayed up half the night crafting the solution. I took out a fully charged Moonchrome battery and activated Mana Link. The ritual didn’t take any of my mana, opting instead to fully drain the battery to power the ritual.

  The result was a swell-looking mask that I wouldn’t mind wearing.

  You have gained 500 experience points.

  Congratulations, you have reached level 8

  +100 HP

  +100 Mana

  +100 Stamina

  Skill Unlocked: Disassemble

  I was too eager to find Sam to pay much attention to the new skill.

  Info: Insert the whisker into the filter and apply mana to activate.

  “More mana,” I grumbled to myself.

  Leslie watched on as I carefully opened the mask and added the tiny whisker into the compartment with the filter. Analysis fed me the last step once I was finished.

  Info: To activate the mask, place the source item near the front vent and inhale deeply through your nose.

  “Here goes nothing,” I announced, donning the mask. “How do I know which coin is right right one?”

  Woodie chuckled, making a clacking sound I was starting to find annoying. “You’ll know when the scent directs you to the docks. Unless more than one person who handled the magic coin decided to stroll through the peasant world, that is.”

  I glared at the multitool that was once again coiled around my wrist. Fortunately, no self-respecting orphan would ever go to the docks, not if they knew what was good for them. Sam, however, was a special case. I tried the first coin and got a pleasant sensation I recognized as Beth. She had a familiar scent.

  The next coin made me retch. It was laziness with an extra side of annoyance. Gordon. I cycled through coins and marveled at how the mask amplified simple essences so well that I could pick each orphan out of the myriad of scents soaked into each one.

  Finally, about halfway through the stack, I stumbled on one of Sam’s. He was there, at the docks. I could smell it.

  “This way!” I called out as I jetted across the street in pursuit of my quarry.

  “W-wait,” Leslie yelped as she struggled to keep up. “Wait for me.”

  If it looked strange for a couple of children to be sprinting through the docks, nobody said anything. Fortunately, Leslie didn’t have her bow slung behind her back like she usually did. That would have aroused suspicion for sure. We dodged men walking to and from warehouses, lugging sacks on metal hooks that looked heavier than I was.

  The scent led deep into the docks, past all of the luxury liners and cargo ships. We ran through a maze of smaller docks until we wound up at a large yard with several tugboats on dry dock blocks. The scent led to a building, but we were locked out behind a tall gated fence topped with barbed wire. The place looked abandoned.

  I tugged at the lock before turning to Woodie. “Can you eat this lock the same way you did that drain pipe?”

  “I am not that kind of a tool!” it snapped back. “Utilize your new skill and do it yourself.

  But you are my multitool, I grumbled inwardly, but I was eager to try Disassemble out.

  I placed my hands on the lock and closed my eyes. Through my mind’s eye, I saw the inner workings of the lock and how it all came together. With just a small dab of mana, I reversed that process, and the lock came to pieces in my hands. I placed them in my bag and pushed the gate open.

  The three of us proceeded on tiptoe, keeping an eye over our shoulders as we snuck toward the warehouse. There was only one problem with the door to the place. It wasn’t locked, but it was rusted, and it was huge. There was no way to slip in that way without alerting the entire place to our presence.

  So, we walked around the building, looking for another way in. While there were no other doors, there were several windows high off the ground.

  “Can I dismantle the wall?” I asked.

  Woodie shook its head from my wrist. “Only if you wish to risk the entire structure collapsing. You must be wary of using that skill on complex objects unless you fully understand them, or risk rendering them unstable.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “Then we need to find a way up to the window.”

  “Can you make a ladder out of all this junk?” Leslie sifted through some of the rubble around us.

  “That’s a great idea!” I exclaimed, heading over to where she stood. “A ladder should be easy.”

  While I didn’t understand what half of the stuff in the yard used to be, it was all simple enough that I didn’t need to. I started with an old mast, which split into strips of wood that fit nicely into my bag. Then, I worked on some riveted sheets of metal that came apart with ease and reformed into shiny ingots. Even rusted metal regained its former sheen using my skill. The rust itself became a fine powder that I also swept into one of the pockets in my bag.

  “That should be enough,” Woodie announced.

  I sighed. If it had been up to me, I would have Disassembled the entire yard and stashed the supplies. However, that would have brought way too much attention to us, and I had plenty of material to make a ladder.

  Creating a simple ladder wasn’t difficult. Not with Woodie at my side, in case. It helped me fashion nails out of the metal scraps and sturdy rungs for the ladder out of wood. I used a pair of planks for the rails.

  “You’re missing something,” Woodie announced when I started to stand the ladder up, and only elaborated after I asked what that was. “A ladder needs feet to ground it. Otherwise, it will skitter away when you attempt to climb. I suggest you search for something made of rubber.”

  “There’s an old tire over there,” Leslie pointed.

  “Perfect,” I replied, racing over to Disassemble it.

  Shortly after, we had a fully functional ladder that was more than tall enough to reach the windows. After some debate, we decided she should go first. She was the physically stronger of the two of us, and it was considered gentlemanly to hold the ladder for her.

  I waited anxiously as she climbed. We both froze with bated breath when the window emitted a very loud creak when she opened it.

  After several minutes, Leslie whispered loud enough for me to hear. “I see him. It’s Sam.”

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