The Legendary Junkmaster

"Jason!" Dani squealed as she spotted him returning to their apartment building. She quickly rushed towards him and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. "The old man said you wouldn't be up for a few days!"

Jason returned the beaming smile that she was giving him as he inwardly cursed at his Gramps for making Dani worry. She filled him in quickly about what she knew of what had happened to him. However, seeing him alive and well finally dispersed many of the worries that had been piling up.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It wasn't something I could control, but as you can see, I'm wonderful." Jason replied with an awkward grin.

Dani's expression suddenly turned solemn as she started at his new bright blue eyes. "Listen, Jason. I'm sorry about your mutation."

Jason was somewhat taken aback by her words. Only after a small trickle of tears ran down Dani's face did he finally remember that she did not know about his actual power. 'I've known her for so long, but I can't afford to tell anyone about it. Not for now, anyway.'

"Don't worry about it. It's not what I wanted, but I'll have to accept it." Jason managed to sound sincere since he was talking about his Super Intelligence rather than just his eyes. He deliberately avoided directly talking about his eyes so that his words were not a lie.

Dani stared at him in surprise before wiping away her tears with a dirty sleeve. She had known him long enough to tell when he is lying, so she was pleasantly surprised by how serious he was with accepting his mutation.

"What will you do now then? Continue to learn from your grandfather about scavenging?" Just asking those questions made Dani's heart bleed. She had hoped that the two of them would walk the same path in life as members of the Lord's Guardians.

"No, at least, I won't go down that path in the future." Jason shook his head as he tried to decide on how much to share with her. "I'll probably try my hand at making stuff from all the junk we gather. I made a couple of credits selling a weapon I made yesterday to Al."

"What! But like, you've never been trained. So how did you make something good enough to sell?" Dani exchanged a curious glance with Jason as they entered his home and headed up the crumbling stairs to the privacy of his bedroom.

"Yeah, but we often dig around in the junk we collect to find out what its parts can be used for." Jason shrugged his shoulders as he sat down in the chair by his desk while Dani threw herself on his bed. "So I've picked up on a few things. I didn't make anything that could cause waves, you know. It's just a one-handed weapon that can be used by practically anyone in a few different scenarios."

Dani stared at him with wide eyes as if he was an alien. He casually dismissed his efforts as if it was not anything to be proud of when it was quite a big deal! There were only a few people or stores in the whole of Highrise that dealt with creating things.

They were considered to be the heart and soul of the town. As they constantly improved the daily lives of Highrise's inhabitants or helped curb fatalities from the dangerous jobs! Dani was honestly impressed that Jason had already settled on such a career. If he had any success, he would be far better off than he would be as a simple scavenger.

Dani's eyes darted to the parts that Jason had neatly laid out on his desk. She could not figure out what they would be when assembled, but she wanted to find out!

"Are you making more of this weapon of yours?" Dani tried to sound innocent as she asked the question while gesturing the junk on the desk. "Do you mind if I wait and see what you've come up with?"

Jason frowned as he considered her request. It sounded innocent enough, but he knew Dani quite well. 'I bet she'll ask to borrow one for the competition next month if it looks good enough for her to use.'

Jason had seen entirely through her ploy, but only because Al had alerted him to the competition. 'Her family is as poor as ours. There's no way they'll spare any credits to get her a weapon when she might fail the selection anyway.

Jason sighed as he gestured towards his bed that Dani was already laying on. "Better make yourself comfortable then, I guess."

Dani squealed with excitement. She had always been curious about the items left behind by those who had lived in the old world. However, her parents did not allow her to waste any money on junk. The only time she got a good look at some of these things was when she dropped by Jason's house.

"How long will it take?" Dani asked as she peered at the desk from her position on the bed.

"Does this girl ever shut up?" Syssie asked with a sarcastic tone that only Jason could hear.

Jason chuckled, which Dani mistook for him, laughing at her enthusiasm. "Not long. I've already prepared the parts for the next one. However, I still need to process everything to be ready for the ones after that."

Dani nodded as she hung on his every word. She did her best to remain silent while he worked on assembling the weapon. From time to time, she would gasp at the complexity of some of the things he did. Like setting the springs and lever for the telescopic function of the baton/spear.

Dani was mesmerised as the weapon began to take shape. Right now, it just looked like a hollow spear which gave her a few concerns.

"If the spear is hollow, then won't it break more easily?" Dani asked with a complicated expression on her face.

"True, it would break more easily if hit in the right place. However, since it's hollow, it also makes the weapon a lot lighter than most." Jason replied with a wide grin on his face. "Plus, it lets it do this!"

Jason used the lever to demonstrate the Primal's ability to withdraw in on itself to become a blunt weapon. Dani gasped as she sprang up from the bed and snatched it from Jason's hand to examine it more closely.

To Dani's eyes, this was an exotic weapon that was practically a treasure! There was not anything like it anywhere in Highrise! The fact that it had three separate settings made it extremely versatile.

Once her enthusiasm faded, she let out a long sigh. The Primal was far beyond her reach, there was no way that she could afford to buy one from Jason. On top of that, it was probably worth too much for her to casually "borrow" it either.

Jason noticed the helplessness in Dani's eyes as she stared longingly at the Primal in her hands. Jason chuckled because he knew what she was thinking. She had expected his weapon to be a sub-par one that would be suitable for poor people like them.

Even though it was an F rank weapon, it certainly was unique in Highrise. Most weapons were lumps of wood that heavy bits of metal attached to them. It did not matter if the metal was blunt or sharp so long as it could hurt whatever it was used against.

"Al has already reserved this one and the rest I'm making," Jason said lightly so to break Dani out of her mood. She quickly looked at him with huge puppy dog eyes. "However, I'm planning an upgrade to this."

Jason retrieved the Primal from Dani's grip and laid it down on his desk with a heavy thud. "How about this. If I finish a prototype of its upgrade, I'll let you borrow it for the competition."

"Really!" Dani exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. "What's the catch?"

"There's no catch. If you use it, then it will help me to understand how well it works. It would also be like free advertising for my own business, so I can't complain. However, I'm not giving it to you. You'll have to return it after the competition." Jason replied with a serious expression plastered on his face.

Dani groaned as she considered his offer. It was a shame that she would not be able to keep the weapon, but she sorely needed it. If it was better than the one she had just held, then she could not complain about not being prepared for the Guardians selection at all!

"You've got a deal!" Dani beamed at Jason, who took the hand that she offered with a smile of his own.

"Ok, now can you leave me in peace? I have to finish these and start working out how to improve the Primal. Especially now that I only have a month to do it!"