Pride

That night I show Isla how to create and maintain a fire.

"Instead of sending out your mana wildly, flatten it and surround the air compressing it into a ball" I explain by doing it as slowly as possible.

"Now when you have the flame in the center it's going to burn through all that oxygen so you need to feed it, especially if it gets compressed because the pressure will increase the burn rate" Small swirls began to appear within the ball of oxygen.

"Now all you need is a spark" I snapped my finger repeatedly and sent the sparks into the ball of energy a bright blue flame appearing inside mixing with the milky white mana.

She gets it after a few tries making me grin and laugh at how wonderful she is.

I think of all the useful things she can take care of for me and nearly squeal in delight.

I stay next to her supervising making sure she does not lose focus and hurt herself with the pressure.

Early the next morning I take out my mana core which illuminates across the lake in the dark.

Flattening it like I showed Isla last night.

I create a huge ball over two thousand square feet and envelope most all of it with compressed air.

"We have to step back for this," I said having her move over seventy yards away from the experiment.

Isla tied the skiles down and went to get firewood bringing back plenty.

Snapping my finger I send small grenades three-tenths of what I usually do.

As they enter my mana ball and pass through, I release the mana surrounding it and the ball is set ablaze in an explosion.

I continue sending in small fireballs mixed with oxygen, it heats up quickly due to the pressure.

The pressure is straining my mana core it is not something I could not manage.

I continue to bombard this ball until it reaches close to six hundred degrees inside which took nearly five hours.

I start to send in batches of ore to be melted along with purified coal from our duffel and some firewood.

This continued for a good hour.

After most of the ore is in the fire, I hold it while I continue bombarding it.

My outer mana core started expanding supplying itself with energy and feeding it to my inner core,

It looks like a solar system is being built with my magma core and air balls surrounding it rotating and diving in at the best possible time.

I am tired but I keep it up using mana crystals at times.

Isla would feed me at other times she stops to meditate and allow her core to absorb mana which was aplenty because my core dragged it in like a vacuum.

I could not activate my mana vision now but if I could, I would see a whirlpool of mana being sucked into my outer core and transferred to my inner core mixing with the magma that is the melting ore.

The world's energy filled the void that I absorbed like I was drinking from the sea.

Concentrating like this for over twelve hours which was the biggest test of my mana control, physical endurance, and concentration in both lives.

The temperature is well over eight hundred degrees and the pressure is immense.

I created a needle going straight up and dipping it down to the side over the lake like a distiller and opened it like a straw.

Steam gushed out and my makeshift forge shrunk slightly as the compressed air and steam were released along with a stream of magma which were the impurities in a lot of the ore along with the coal and firewood.

I let this happen for another hour before allowing my outer mana ball to replace my inner ball.

I condense my inner ball in the middle of this magma and have it spread out creating a huge four thousand square foot ball.

I build an extremely wide chimney and some hollow nodes it looks like a glowing red porcupine with hollow quills.

I also make the floor flat to walk on.

I then have Isla move water from the lake cooling the red and white construct.

Once slightly cooled I begin to make my way over to the lake with it taking me another four hours just because it's so huge.

If the walls weren't so thin I wouldn't have been able to move it.

I guide it into the water, surrounding the whole construct so it cools evenly inside and out.

My mana core darts into my body and I collapse.

Panting with my body sweating Isla's hands feeds me and gives me water.

I lift my head to see the bubbling of the water where I dipped my lab.

I go to sleep allowing Isla to keep watch.

I slept the rest of that day and night waking up to find the sun already risen and Isla making breakfast.

"Hungry"? She asked me.

"Starved" I replied.

But I didn't eat instead Jumping into the water I head down to the depth to see my construct.

Letting out my mana ball I see that it is a granite-like substance.

Its color was a milky white which piqued my interest.

'Is it because of the mana in this world'? I asked myself. I light up my eyes with mana vision and notice that it had no traces of energy leaking or shimmering.

After confirming its stability and that nothing went wrong, I cover it in a mound of dirt and head back to the surface.

"We're leaving," I said after breaking the surface and scarfing down the meal.

My mana sense could not feel anything within range, probably got scared off.

Hopefully, it goes back to normal by the time I come back it would be bad if nothing lived here, that would just scream secret lair.

Two days later we are back with full packs we head to the hunter's guild selling everything for one hundred and sixty mana stones in total.

"I have never heard Bund laugh so hard as I did that day you came by" Amla said to me before I leave.

"I'll be here all week," I said the joke going over her head.

I shake my head thinking about the drunk old man.

I head straight to the blacksmith to give him the rest of his money.

As I enter the house, I am greeted by Surma, she had a very worried look on her face.

"Ambrose please, don't make my husband get you any more ores from the mines… a merchant complained to the mine and has tied up the elders, he even went so far as to challenge Reem to a battle in the arena to settle things once and for all. If he doesn't except the challenge, you won't get your ore".

This greatly upsets me as I absolutely need that Ore.

Reem steps through the back door with an ugly expression on his face.

"What are you telling them"? he glared at her, and she responds in kind "The truth"!

"I won't allow you to put your life on the line for some stones, not after everything we have been through".

I interrupt, "Who is this person who can hold up the elder's decision on the mine"?

All the joy from hunting with Isla was wiped off my face leaving me cold and detached.

"It is a merchant who sells to nobles of other Kingdoms his name is Deed.

"And this merchant is strong in combat"? I asked him.

"No, the scrawny man couldn't lift my arm if I laid on him, he can choose a combatant to represent him and his establishment".

"Well, then it is settled. I will fight for this establishment, when is the agreed-upon time"? He looked at me with a scowl "I won't let a child fight my battles for me "!

Looking back deep into his eyes "And I won't let a prideful idiot lose mine, now when is the date"?

He swallowed the words he was going to say, the cold atmosphere hinting at my impatience.

"Tomorrow afternoon", I nod and leave silently Isla like my shadow following behind.