The next morning, I was awake before the sun.
Not because I had to be.
Because I wanted to be.
The moment my eyes opened, my mind was already back in the workshop.
The unfinished tux.
The runes.
The adaptive enchantments.
The mana collection array.
I practically threw my blankets aside before realizing I was still in someone else's house.
"...Right."
I forced myself to slow down.
Get dressed.
Wash my face.
Eat breakfast.
Then disappear into the workshop.
Luka gave me an amused look halfway through breakfast.
"You're thinking about it."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You've looked at your food maybe twice."
"I've looked at it at least three times."
Celest smiled into her tea.
"Go."
I blinked.
"Hm?"
"We know you're eager."
She laughed softly.
"Finish your breakfast first, then you can spend the rest of the day in the workshop."
"...Am I that obvious?"
"Yes."
Luka didn't even hesitate.
"Painfully."
The familiar scent of polished wood and mana ink greeted me as I pushed open the workshop door.
Everything was exactly where I had left it.
The jacket rested neatly on the workbench.
Beside it lay the unfinished trousers, gloves, shoes, and dress shirt.
Today's goal was simple.
Finish everything.
I rolled up my sleeves.
"No distractions."
Hours disappeared.
Unlike shaping the metal, engraving runes wasn't physically demanding.
It was mentally exhausting.
Every rune had to be nearly perfect.
Not because a crooked line would fail...
But because runes weren't individual enchantments.
They were circuits.
Each engraving fed mana into the next.
If one pathway was slightly too narrow, mana would bottleneck.
Too wide...
And efficiency dropped.
A tiny mistake in one sleeve could reduce the effectiveness of the entire suit.
Which meant every line had to be deliberate.
I finished the gravity runes on the trousers first.
Then the adaptive arrays hidden inside the waistband.
The shirt proved far more difficult.
Its thinner construction left almost no room for mistakes.
More than once I caught myself drifting slightly off the guide lines I'd drawn.
Each time I stopped immediately.
Closed my eyes.
Steadied my breathing.
Then continued.
Slow.
Patient.
Precise.
The hours passed unnoticed.
The workshop grew quiet except for the occasional scratch of the engraving stylus against iron.
By midday only one enchantment remained.
The mana collection rune.
My own design.
I stared at the blank space inside the jacket's inner lining.
"...Well."
"No pressure."
Unlike every other rune I'd engraved...
There wasn't a reference book for this one.
No ancient artificer had tested it.
No master craftsman had confirmed it worked.
Every line...
Every curve...
Every intersection...
Had come from my own notebooks.
If I was wrong...
The suit might simply refuse to function.
Or worse...
It could overload every enchantment connected to it.
I took a slow breath.
Trust your work.
One line.
Then another.
The stylus glided across the metal, leaving behind shimmering silver channels.
Unlike traditional runes, this one branched outward repeatedly before curving back toward its center.
Almost like...
Roots.
Tiny streams of mana would flow inward from every direction before merging into a single reservoir that distributed energy evenly throughout the suit.
Elegant.
Simple.
Efficient.
Exactly how I'd intended.
As the final line connected—
The entire tuxedo trembled.
"...!"
Every engraved rune lit simultaneously.
Soft blue light spread through the hidden inscriptions beneath the surface before quickly fading again.
The room grew silent.
Then—
A faint pulse.
Almost like a heartbeat.
The ambient mana drifting through the workshop subtly shifted.
Not enough to create visible currents.
Not enough for anyone else to notice.
But I could feel it.
Tiny traces of mana flowed naturally toward the jacket before disappearing into the rune.
"...It worked."
I blinked.
"It actually worked."
I waited.
One minute.
Two.
Five.
The mana flow remained perfectly stable.
No overheating.
No fluctuations.
No runaway feedback.
Just a slow, steady stream of energy feeding the enchantments exactly as I'd designed.
I laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to let the relief escape.
Carefully, I laid every piece of the tuxedo across the workbench.
The black jacket.
Matching trousers.
Dress shirt.
Gloves.
Shoes.
Individually they already looked impressive.
Together...
They looked incredible.
There wasn't a single visible seam suggesting they were forged from iron.
The surface reflected light like finely woven fabric.
I reached down and lifted the jacket.
It should have weighed nearly twenty pounds.
Instead...
It rested in my hands as lightly as an ordinary coat.
The gravity rune was functioning perfectly.
I slipped one sleeve over my arm.
The adaptive rune activated instantly.
The metal shifted so subtly I almost missed it.
The sleeve tightened just enough to fit comfortably around my wrist.
The shoulders settled naturally into place.
The jacket adjusted across my back.
It wasn't squeezing me.
It wasn't pulling.
It simply... fit.
Perfectly.
"...No way."
I rolled my shoulders.
Raised my arms.
Twisted my torso.
There was no stiffness.
No resistance.
If I didn't know better, I'd swear I was wearing expensive cotton.
Except...
When I gently knocked on my sleeve with a knuckle—
Clink.
Metal.
Actual metal.
A grin spread across my face.
"This..."
I turned toward the mirror across the workshop.
"...might be the coolest thing I've ever made."
For a long moment, I simply stood there admiring it.
Not because it was flashy.
Not because it was powerful.
But because it was real.
For the first time since arriving in this world...
An idea that had existed only inside my head...
Had become something I could touch.