"Nice to meet you, Master Kuze," Jet said, standing up to greet him with an extended hand.
"Welcome," Master Kuze replied. He took Jet’s hand, his grip unexpectedly firm and steady, though his voice was remarkably calm and soothing.
Both men sat down on the opposing leather couches, the glass table separating them.
"So, you want to get some work done," Master Kuze said, leaning his long frame back against the cushions.
He reached out and calmly accepted a glass of wine handed to him by the receptionist, who then stepped back to stand near the door.
"Do you have any particular designs in mind, or do you want to roll the dice on something from my archives?"
Jet smiled faintly but didn’t offer a verbal reply. Instead, he reached into his inner jacket pocket, pulled out a tightly folded sheaf of heavy paper, and smoothed it out before placing it flat on the glass table directly in front of Master Kuze.
Kuze glanced at Jet for a brief second, his dark eyes analyzing the teenager’s calm demeanor, before lowering his gaze to the paper.
At first, his expression was completelyrelaxed, almost bordering on professional boredom. But as his eyes traced the first few lines, his posture stiffened. Time passed, and the room grew dead silent.
Kuze’s expression transformed from casual interest to a serious, deeply solemn focus. By the time he reached the bottom of the sheets, his calm facade had vanished entirely, replaced by a profound hint of pure artistic and technical shock.
"As you can see, these are the exact formats I want," Jet said, his voice entirely even.
He looked directly into Kuze’s eyes and began listing them off clearly: "The Eight-Armed Asura. The Rakshasa. Yama. Ouroboros. Lucifer: The Morning Star. The Nine-Tailed Void Kitsune. Samsara:The Eight-Spoked Dharma Wheel. Ilios:The Undying Sun. Thanatos. And the Primal Yin-Yang."
Master Kuze remained completely silent as he listened to the names, his eyes darting between Jet’s blank white pupils and the highly complex geometric blueprints on the table.
The drawingswere crude in terms of shading, but the mathematical alignments, the runic text borders, and the conceptual placements against human anatomy were utterly flawless.
After what felt like an eternity, Kuze slowly raised his head, staring at Jet like he was looking at a madman.
"You want... all of these?" Kuze asked, his soothing voice straining slightly.
Jet looked back at him and gave a firm nod. "Yes. And I want all of this to be done within one month."
Master Kuze choked slightly, almost spitting out his drink as he stared at Jet with a completely weird, incredulous look.
"You want all of these concepts engraved on a single human body?" Master Kuze demanded, leaning forward over the table.
"Yes." Jet gave a simple, unblinking nod.
"Within a single month?" Master Kuze asked again, his voice rising an octave.
"Yes." Jet maintained his calm, relaxed stance, a slight smile playing at the corners of his lips.
"Are you completely suicidal?" Master Kuze finally took a deep, heavy breath, almost roaring at Jet across the quiet lounge. "Ten full-body mythological pieces? The ink saturation alone would cause massive systemic shock to your lymph nodes! The sheer physical trauma of the needles would put a world-class athlete into a localized coma!"
Jet maintained his casual smile, entirely unfazed by the outburst. "I know the implications, the biological risks, and everything else involved, Master Kuze. I simply do not have time to waste. And I chose you because I know you possess the absolute technical capability to pull this off within my estimated timeframe."
"Of course I can physically do it," Master Kuze snapped, his pride as a craftsman flashing through his irritation. "But look at these designs you brought me! These are mythological-level, high-density formats. They require an absurd level of deep artistry, perfect anatomical alignment, conceptual understanding, and absolute, razor-sharp technical precision. Normally, a client must take several weeks to let the skin completely heal before we can even think about starting another sector. If we go on day after day without any rest in between, your body will give out. You will suffer severe biological drawbacks."
"I am fully aware of that," Jet replied, his voice turning cold and resolute. "I can take the pain. My tolerance is not something you need to worry about. I will manage with three-day intervals between each completed piece. And besides, your high-end studio offers premium pain management, specialized recovery equipment, and advanced medical support with regeneration treatment, am I right?"
Master Kuze narrowed his eyes, studying the terrifyingly calm teenager sitting across from him.
He realized Jet wasn’t joking; the resolve in those white eyes was absolute. Slowly, Kuze waved his left hand toward the receptionist standing behind him.
The receptionist immediately stepped forward, pulling out a sleek digital tablet and tapping the screen to bring up the studio’s premium, unlisted service pricing tiers.
She began listing out the costs in a flat, business-like tone:"Master Rune Artist custom commission fee for ten original full-scale designs: $4.5 million. Private studio buyout and total reservation for four consecutive weeks: $1.5 million. Specialized high-conductivity organic pigments: $1 million. Full-course medical support and continuous cellular regeneration treatment: $1.5 million. Grade-A pain management isolation tanks and neuro-recovery equipment: $1 million."
She lowered the tablet, looking at Jet with a pitiful expression. The total was an impossible sum for an ordinary eighteen-year-old kid.
"You don’t have to worry about the money. I have plenty of it," Jet said, waving his hand dismissively to cut her off.
He picked up his phone, tapped the screen a few times to authorize a direct transfer from his newly acquired capital lines, and looked back up at Master Kuze.
"The funds are already clearing into your business account. So, let’s skip the financial talk. Will you take the commission or not?"
The room fell into a dead, suffocating silence for a few moments as the receptionist’s terminal beeped, confirming the massive, multi-million dollar wire transfer had successfully cleared.
Master Kuze stared at the confirmation, then slowly stood up to his full height. The irritation vanished from his face, replaced by the intense, burning focus of a master craftsman who had just been handed the challenge of his lifetime.
He turned on his heel and walked directly toward the heavy door at the other end of the lounge, passing through the glass partition.
"If this insanity has to be completed within a single month," Master Kuze said from the corner of his mouth, "then we need to start the baseline alignments right now."
Jet’s smile widened. He stood up, smoothing down his jacket, and followed him into the inner sanctum of the studio."Dear, please close the front entrance and lockthe gates," Master Kuze instructed the receptionist without looking back.
"We won’t be open for general business for a while."With that, he led Jet into the primary procedure room.
The space was completely different from the comfortable lounge. It was a massive, ultra-sterile medical environment that looked more like a high-tech surgical theater than a traditional tattoo parlor.
The floors and walls were lined with seamless, antibacterial white tiles. In the center of the room sat an advanced, ergonomic adjustable procedure bed wrapped in sterile synthetic leather, surrounded by automated mechanical arms holding specialized, multi-needle rotary machines.
Along the back wall stood rows of high-end medical monitoring equipment and complex neuro-sedation lines designed to keep a client’s vitals stable through intense physical trauma.
The air was cool, smelling faintly of antiseptic and distilled iron.
Master Kuze walked over to a metal tray, picking up a specialized, heavy-duty digital sketching stylus to prepare the stencil mappings.
He closed the heavy, soundproofed door behind Jet, turned around, and looked at him with an expression of pure, unadulterated focus.
"Take off your clothes," Kuze said flatly.
/N: Support by adding to your novel. And dropping a powerstone or two. Thank you.