"Useless fools!! How could you die at the hands of pampered brats?!! How am I supposed to explain to His Highness that four entrances were breached?!!!"
From a cabin built atop a massive twisted tree in the middle of a deep swamp, a man's furious shout could be heard, shaking both the cabin and the tree violently. Just then, a nervous voice tried to speak up, attempting to sound serious.
"At the moment, the reinforcements sent have managed to regain control of the entrances."
"So what?! You want me to congratulate you?!!! As if taking back empty places is worth anything, you son of a bitch!!"
As an enraged scream, loaded with crazed fury, echoed along with a desperate wail of pain. At the base of a nearby tree—hidden in a thin fog—a handsome young man with short black hair tipped in red listened calmly while eating what looked like an apple, lying across the root of the enormous tree.
"So more people managed to break through the siege… interesting."
Eating his apple, Ethan commented to himself with visible interest, at which point he looked down at his appearance—a world of difference from when he first entered the ruin, now wearing only black pants and a torn shirt, with no shoes or any trace of his once elegant armor.
"Although I'd like to find the Belmonte and Laverne disciples, I should get some supplies and equipment first. This is embarrassing."
Having satisfied his hunger, Ethan jumped down to land on the swampy water. But instead of sinking, he stood atop the surface as if he were standing on something solid. He stretched lazily just as several runes began to form in the air around him.
Soon, the runes started spinning gently, releasing a thin fog that quickly spread and gathered, covering the entire swamp and reducing visibility to almost nothing. At that moment, Ethan grinned wickedly and whispered to himself.
"Well, it's time to 'borrow' a few things from these 'hunters'."
Amused by his own words, Ethan laughed softly as he reached behind his waist for the only thing that remained of his armor—a beautiful black dagger with silver details. At that moment, he shot forward at great speed across the water, without causing the slightest disturbance or even a sound, as if he were a ghost.
…
…
…
After more than forty minutes of burning a small pyramid of thin logs at a constant temperature—logs she had cut with axes made from solidified fire mana—always making sure no oxygen could enter, Elara snapped her fingers. This caused the sphere of fire surrounding the pyramid to lower the temperature inside, while allowing the residual smoke to escape.
About ten minutes later, all the smoke had left the inside of the barrier, so she snapped her fingers again. This time, the fire barrier not only stopped heating the inside completely, but even began to absorb heat to speed up the cooling process. A few minutes later, she was able to dissipate the barrier, leaving in front of her a small mound of freshly made charcoal.
"Well, with this, the fuel Erik asked for is ready. Should I take it to him…?" Elara murmured to herself, a bit thoughtful, then looked up at the sky and noticed it was completely clear. She quickly shook her head and spoke softly.
"Erik will be much more efficient doing it with his Myst constructions. For now, it's better to go back and help him with the camp."
Having made up her mind, Elara started heading back to where Erik was, following a small trail of burn marks on the trees she had left on her way there. She soon made it back, but upon arriving, she found a rather curious scene: a dragon nearly six meters long was carrying a perfectly squared stone slab in its powerful arms, the slab measuring about four square meters, which it then set down on the ground.
"What are you doing?"
She watched as the dragon placed the stone slab on the ground, filling the last gap in a rectangle made of stone slabs, creating a perfectly smooth floor of about 60 square meters. Erik, who was finishing assembling what looked like a large rectangular frame on the ground, replied with a smile.
"The first shelter."
"The first shelter?" Elara asked, a bit confused, to which Erik nodded and replied.
"Yes, we need a place to sleep for now, so I'll make shelters—or 'cabins'—out of compressed earth."
"…Do you need help? The charcoal is already ready, so I was thinking you could help me carry it, and I can help you with whatever you need…"
Still a bit confused, Elara spoke as she watched Erik, who finished fitting two square planks about three meters tall using grooves he had carved into the wood to join them together without nails. He then stretched a little and turned to look at the dragon, who was inspecting the stone floor for any flaws.
"Ebonique, I'm going to get the charcoal for a moment. Check that everything is properly secured in place, especially the edge slabs, since they're the ones that will support the walls."
"Leave it to me."
Ebonique quickly replied in an energetic voice, even growing a bit larger before using his powerful front and back claws to press the slabs down, securing them in place.
"Let's go, Elara."
As he dusted off his hands, Erik looked at Elara and commented with a smile, to which the beautiful young woman nodded. She then stepped forward and led the way as she spoke.
"It's this way."
After collecting the charcoal using a prismatic barrier of solidified Myst, Erik left it in a corner of the camp. Then, he created a huge shovel out of solidified Myst, which he used to separate some of the clayey soil he had brought, setting it aside.
At that moment, he extended his right hand, creating a good number of runes that gathered to form a circle in the sky, from which a stream of water then fell onto the mound of reddish soil.
"Well, Elara, I have another job for you: making the tiles for the cabin roof. Does that sound good to you?" While using phantom hands to mix the clay soil into a thick paste, Erik turned to look at Elara and said with a smile. The young woman nodded with a serious expression and replied.
"Although I've never done it before, if you tell me how, I'll do my best."
"Perfect, and honestly, it's very easy."
Erik commented with a smile as he picked up some wood scraps from the ground using phantom hands. He quickly carved them with a magical edge on his fingers, creating a perfect wooden frame. Then he walked over to one of the large stones Ebonique had brought, which had been cut into a square, and explained in a calm tone.
"Using a frame like this, you take some 'clay' and spread it out, creating a square, then you make a small 'hook' at the tip."
Using his own hands, Erik took a ball of wet clay paste and spread it inside the frame, then used the excess to create a bump in the upper center, which would serve to hold the tile later. He turned to look at Elara while separating the clay from the stone and commented with a smile.
"Once you have it like this, just leave it somewhere safe to dry. When you've made a good number, let me know, and I'll speed up the drying process with a spell. Then we can move on to firing them using the charcoal you made."
"Don't worry about the drying; I have a spell for that." Elara, who had watched the whole process attentively, quickly responded in a serious tone. At that moment, Erik replied calmly.
"Perfect, but be careful not to use too much heat when drying."
"I'll keep that in mind." Elara quickly nodded and stepped forward to take the frame from Erik's hands while he returned to the frame he was assembling on the ground. At that moment, Ebonique spoke up in a cheerful voice.
"Everything is secure in place, Erik."
"Perfect, then let's set up the inner frame."
Erik replied with a smile and began walking to a different area, where there were what looked like square wooden pillars of various sizes. He started to lift them using phantom hands when Ebonique spoke up again in a cheerful voice.
"Leave some for me; I want to help too."
"All right, then I'll show you how to assemble the inner frame, and you can finish it up. How does that sound?" Erik asked, to which Ebonique quickly nodded and replied with a big grin.
"That sounds perfect."
After carrying several pillars, Erik went over to the stone slab floor and, after marking some guides with his machete, began explaining to Ebonique how to assemble the structure. He followed the grooves he had carved into the wood, so everything could be joined without nails. The impressive dragon spirit listened attentively, completely focused so as not to miss a single detail.
Soon, Ebonique was assembling the cabin's internal structure on her own, so after confirming that she was doing it correctly, Erik returned to give the frames that would hold the earth while it was being compressed one last check. Then he went to the mounds of soil he had brought and began sifting the dirt using a fine net made of solidified Myst, making sure there were no large stones or anything similar in it.
Once the soil was sifted—a quick process thanks to his large Myst constructs shaped like an excavator shovel and the enormous net—Erik began mixing it with the straw Ebonique had gathered, at a ratio of three to one. He then summoned runes again to add water to the mixture while kneading it with huge hands made of solidified Myst.
After a few minutes, the soil reached the right texture, so Erik turned to look at his loyal and dedicated spirit, who was already finishing up the internal structure. With a smile, he grabbed the frames he had made earlier with phantom hands and walked over to her, saying.
"Now let's give it shape."
"What do I have to do?" Ebonique quickly asked, cheerful as always, to which Erik replied in a casual tone while arranging the frames on the stone slab floor, creating two temporary walls.
"For now, just watch how I do it. It's nothing complicated—basically, it's just a matter of filling the frames with the prepared earth and pressing it down."
As he spoke, Erik created a giant shovel out of solidified Myst with a spell, then scooped up a good amount of the damp earth he had prepared and began filling the frames, which were almost like drawers—nearly three meters tall and 40 centimeters wide. Next, he created a Myst platform, which he used to press down and compact the earth, explaining in a calm tone,
"Now, basically what we have to do is repeat this process several times until we fill the entire frame, creating multiple layers, and then we dry everything with a spell."
While Ebonique watched attentively, Erik continued repeating the process until he had completely filled the two frames he had made. Then he approached one of the frames and said with a smile,
"To speed things up and avoid possible complications, before removing the frames, we're going to do an initial drying."
As he spoke, Erik reached out to touch the frame in front of him. At that moment, he conjured a large magic circle that covered all the wood, which began to spin slowly, somehow causing the air around it to move gently. This even caught Elara's attention—she turned to watch, a bit surprised by Erik's spell, and asked.
"What spell is that?"
"It's something I worked on a while ago as a proof of concept. Basically, I combine mana from different elements to achieve a specific result, focusing on precision to try to reduce the total cost. And even though it didn't turn out perfectly, it's useful for things like this." Erik replied in a calm tone, while deactivating the spell. At that moment, Elara couldn't help but comment in a slightly odd voice.
"You created that spell too?"
"Yes, I occasionally work on spell development, although I've mainly focused on trying to reduce the conversion cost from neutral mana to elemental." Erik replied calmly as he began removing the sticks that held everything in place. Ebonique quickly started helping him, while Elara asked another question.
"Erik, could I ask how the spell you just used works?"
Not minding at all, Erik nodded and began to explain as he started separating the first "wall" from the frame with Ebonique's help, who looked quite excited.
"Of course, the logic is simple. First, using elemental Water mana, you sense the exact distribution of free water and capillary water in the soil. Then, using Air mana, you create a 'thermal layer' around the entire piece. This layer acts as a shield, preventing the heat from spreading to areas I don't want to dry yet.
"After that, using Fire mana, you directly excite the water molecules, precisely increasing their vibration frequency, which forces the O-H bonds in the water to break. Once the water begins to be released, Air mana is used again to create controlled microcurrents, generating a Venturi effect that extracts the vapor from the micropores without damaging the structure.
"At the same time, using Earth mana, you reinforce the entire internal mineral network, and as the water leaves the piece, you apply subtle pulses of pressure to recompact the pores and restore the internal cohesion of the structure. So, technically, drying the soil with my spell is even better than letting it air dry for a couple of days."
When he finished speaking, Erik finally separated the frame from his wall of compacted earth, revealing an earthen wall made up of several layers, which made him nod in satisfaction. At that moment, Ebonique commented with a cheerful smile.
"We did it! We have our first wall!"
"Definitely. How about you start assembling the frame in front while I finish drying this wall and pre-dry the other one?" Erik turned to Ebonique and asked with a smile, to which the gigantic dragon nodded enthusiastically, tapping one of her claws against her "chest."
"Leave it to me!"
Meanwhile, Elara was watching Erik with a hint of shock. Because, just as he had said, the logic was simple, but the execution was anything but. To do something like what he described, not only would you need to develop an incredibly complex spell, but you'd also need first-rate mana control. But there was something else—something she had been downplaying, but could no longer ignore.
If he was able to use magical formation to cast such a complete spell with such a limited use, that suggested something rather "frightening": Erik was capable of casting any spell he wanted without needing to practice for a long time.
Unlike a normal mage like herself, who might spend years mastering a single spell—and although that time could be reduced with techniques like "mental triggers" and the like—no normal person would waste their time mastering such a "useless" spell.
"Erik, can I ask you another question…?"
Wanting to test her little hypothesis, Elara asked while watching the starry-haired boy conjure the magic circle over the earthen wall again. He turned to look at her and replied with a relaxed expression.
"Of course, as many as you want."
"Erik, how long does it take you to fully master casting a spell using magical formation?" Elara asked with a composed expression, staring intently at the young man, who seemed to think for a few seconds before responding calmly.
"Well, like everything in life, it depends. If I use a common rune configuration or a standard mathematical base, maybe two or three weeks, since I'd already be used to it. If it's something really unusual or very different, it can take me several months, since I first have to get used to it so I can cast it quickly—but that's only to be able to cast it in a few seconds.
"To remember it perfectly in the long term is a bit more complicated, since my memory works a little strangely. Some things I never forget, but others I forget very easily. That's why I'm always taking notes on everything, because it's pretty random what I remember and what I don't. So, even if I 'master' a spell, if I stop casting it for a while, I might completely forget how to do it, haha."
Erik ended up laughing, a bit amused, since that had actually happened to him a couple of times before—he'd stop using a spell for several months or years and completely forget how to do it, sometimes even forgetting the spell existed. At that moment, Elara asked, a bit confused.
"So do you use that drying spell a lot?"
"More or less." Erik finished speaking just as he finished drying the wall, so he quickly moved on to pre-drying the other one and continued.
"I use it from time to time in a project I work on occasionally. The reason I remember it basically comes down to two things: first, I created it myself from scratch, so I took a lot of notes at the time. Even if I forget it, by reading my notes or trying to recreate it, I can easily start to remember how I did it. Second, its internal logic is actually something I use in another project I've been working on recently with Liliana, so it's still fresh in my memory."
"What are you working on with Liliana?" Elara asked with a mix of curiosity and surprise.
***
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