Chapter 14 - The Junk Drawer of Doom
The previous Reclaimer had owned seven hammers.
Mason respected him immediately.
Three were normal.
Two were formation tools.
One was broken in half.
The last one made the system issue a warning.
[LEGACY TOOL: ARGUMENT ENDER]
[CONDITION: 9%]
[FUNCTION: UNKNOWN]
[REPAIR REQUIREMENT: IRON SINEW, 20 SCRAP QI, ONE FUNCTIONAL HAMMER]
Mason stared.
“It repairs with another hammer?”
[PARTIALLY.]
“That feels disrespectful to the donor hammer.”
Tessa was examining the sealed entrance.
“You have maybe five minutes.”
Mason selected the cheapest functional hammer on the wall.
The repair began.
Scrap Qi flowed from his arms into the broken legacy tool.
Metal softened without heat.
The donor hammer dissolved into silver dust and entered the crack.
The head reformed.
A short, ugly sledgehammer settled into Mason’s hands.
[ARGUMENT ENDER — CONDITION: 31%]
[ABILITY: STRUCTURAL DISAGREEMENT]
Strike an object and briefly force it to remember a weaker structural state.
Mason read that twice.
“So it makes things worse?”
[IT REMINDS THEM THEY HAVE BEEN WORSE.]
“That is disturbingly philosophical for a hammer.”
The entrance door exploded inward.
Three Mercer cultivators entered.
Logan followed.
Evelyn remained behind them.
Her eyes moved from Mason to the active furnace, then to the workshop registration mark glowing above the bench.
“You claimed it.”
Mason rested Argument Ender on his shoulder.
“It was abandoned.”
Evelyn’s expression sharpened.
“It was sealed.”
“For thirty-nine years.”
“Mercer House maintained the site.”
“The dust disagrees.”
Logan sighed.
“I told you he would be difficult.”
Tessa stepped beside Mason.
Evelyn noticed her.
“Iron Choir deserter.”
Tessa smiled without warmth.
“Tax evader.”
Mason looked at her.
“Is that true?”
“Everybody rich enough is spiritually a tax evader.”
One Mercer enforcer attacked.
He used a spear.
Mason used Argument Ender.
The spear tip met the hammer.
STRUCTURAL DISAGREEMENT activated.
The expensive relic spear instantly reverted to the cracked, corroded condition it had apparently been in before restoration.
It snapped.
The enforcer stared at the broken shaft.
Mason stared too.
“Oh, I like this.”
The second cultivator raised a steel shield.
Mason hit it.
The shield folded like wet cardboard.
“Very much.”
Evelyn lifted one hand.
Everyone stopped.
She looked at Mason for a long moment.
Then she laughed.
Not angrily.
Genuinely.
“I understand why the furnace chose you.”
“I chose the furnace.”
Her smile widened.
“Even better.”
She stepped into the workshop.
“I will offer you a different arrangement. Mercer House recognizes your claim.”
Tessa whispered, “There’s a knife behind that sentence.”
Evelyn continued.
“In exchange, you repair one object for us.”
Mason frowned.
“What object?”
Evelyn looked toward Logan.
He removed a cloth bundle from his coat.
Inside was a child’s prosthetic leg.
Old.
Cracked.
Covered in faded stickers.
Mason’s interface opened.
[OBJECT CONDITION: 2%]
[RESIDUAL INTENT: RUN]
[WARNING: OBJECT LINKED TO LIVING OWNER]
Mason looked at Evelyn.
“Who does this belong to?”
For the first time, her voice lost its steel.
“My granddaughter.”
---
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