7. "...A Mage, Lord Arzan?"

As soon as Claire handed him a book that was on the bottom of the stack, Kai's attention went to the drawings that he could see from the cheap, oily papers.

He dusted off the front page and opened the book. The yellowed pages were filled with lines and dots, of where he lived. A map was drawn with markings of places.

He was currently situated in the Northern Continent which was the most prosperous continent. That hadn't changed in any era. Though, people have tried to explore the rest of the world, particularly places in the Southern Continent.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Claire's curious gaze lingering in between him and the maps.

He brought his attention back to the map.

On the parchment map that was in his hand, he saw the details, carefully drawn, showing the tapestry of Eldorania, the world as they knew it.

Kai's finger lifted to trace the lines of the Northern continent. The land was divided into fiefdoms and kingdoms. It was quite a sight to see. The patterns of dots changed from one area to another, marking territories in between.

He slowly drew his finger towards the Lancephil Kingdom. It was surrounded by a few other kingdoms that had their own share of areas—some big, and comparatively, some were small.

Some places should be entirely underwater, but right now, they are territories of rulers. Kai also noted a few barren lands and other places that had fallen to mana corruption, but in this era, that hasn't happened yet.

He turned his focus back to the Lancephil Kingdom. The territories were a patchwork quilt of royal decrees and noble inheritances.

It was filled with bare forests and waters, being a kingdom with tons of dungeons and an interesting diversity of monsters.

Beginning the map with the corner of The Nexus Delta, where rivers converge, mirrored the canal system that Kai followed through. Azure sanctum, born of Veiled Cascades, was a distant cousin to the Elder Lake that fed the ancestral stream.

He looked at the details of the Whispering River, it was snaking through the Sylvan Enclave, supporting the Nexus Delta and moving through the Azure Sanctum. The road looked like a lifeline mirroring the canal, it guided the travellers through the landscapes.

There were a few hills and forests one could meet if they followed the road. The villages, like those on the map, dotted the banks of the main river, facing the canopies and the wooden land housing, where Kai lived.

As he continued to analyse the boundaries of the Sylvan Enclave—the territory he was in, he couldn't help but draw a parallel to the Duke, pointing to the Western edge where the land met the Eastern forest.

"Claire, where does the territory of Veralt end?" Kai questioned, showing her the map, so she could point it out.

Claire took a good look at the map. Her finger lingered over the City as she mumbled things to herself. In her head, she looked to be calculating the territories along with the dotted map.

Slowly, her fingers went to the line of trees that were far away, tracing the area where the boundaries of the territory ended.

Kai nodded and looked down.

Just next to his territory, the Duke's was situated. If he had to travel there, it would probably take over a week.

The Duke must have had authority over the city for quite some time. With Arzan being the new Baron of the territory, he knew that despite being connected with the Duke, he was not entirely under him.

Still, the Duke had considerable influence over Veralt.

Kai bore his eyes to the map further. He saw how the lands were connected to the distant mountains south of the Vasper forest, which led to a stream that was flowing towards a salt lake to the east.

It was right where the map ended.

The territory was quite the sight with forest, lakes and a lot of villagers sprinkled around.

Thinking about something, he looked up at the maid.

"Claire," he called her out, who was now putting a few books back on the shelves. "Are you certain that you have never even heard of something similar to the heating stones I was asking about earlier?" he questioned.

"Um…" Claire halted. "They provide warmth during the cold season?"

"Yes, they come in various shapes and sizes. But they're used to provide warmth. Keep one of them in the room and it will heat up."

She frowned as she looked to be in deep thought. "I once heard about something similar in Lavonia Kingdom-'' Kai looked down at the map, pointing out the place. It was far west with the two kingdoms having considerable distance between them. "-They've had things to keep them warm during harsh snow. It could be something similar to that… Heat stone like Your Lordship mentioned."

Kai looked at her. "From whom did you hear it?"

"A travelling merchant. But I'm not sure if any of those things match the description you explained. The only thing common was that they kept the people warm during cold nights. I heard the Lavonia kingdom is cursed to be frozen always, so they apply all sorts of things to warm them up. Though, they were not stones, from what I remember," she said, with an apologetic look.

Kai nodded and fell into his thoughts.

From Claire's words, it didn't seem like they had been invented yet. To him, it felt like they had always been a part of civilization, so he never thought about where they came from and who invented them.

Maybe, it had been a Mage who had enough of the cold bothering him, so he had decided to enchant stones. Or it could be something completely different.

Either way, it felt like an opportunity for Kai.

If they weren't developed yet, then couldn't he be the one to do that? He might even be able to alleviate his citizens of the cold and maybe make some good profit on the side.

After all, he needed money to pay back the debt and a product like Heat Stones would appeal to everyone.

Some nobles might even pay a hefty sum for it.

The problem was whether he could develop them. Heat stones were common, but they weren't natural. They were a result of a lot of specific enchantments on stones that would make them heat up and warm the environment.

At the first circle, Kai doubted he could do a lot of enchantments, especially when his knowledge of them was pretty basic. Maybe he would be able to develop one, but the quality of it won't be great.

He also wouldn't be able to mass produce them with its current mana pool.

I need to do some research first. If it's successful, I could at least pay off the debt.

Deciding on developing Heat stones, Kai took a deep breath.

This was going to be his first project in this world.

***

Kai balled up the third paper in his hand and threw it to the corner of the room.

Looking down at the table, he had drawn a few pictures of Heat stones and how they worked. The type of enchantments that were used in them were very intricate with different types of Seals involved.

It was also a big problem for him.

First of all, only a basic enchantment would take a sizable amount of mana. To top it off, Kai needed to overlap it with other enchantments in a way that the Seals don't interfere with each other.

That was a hectic job in itself.

Seals were symbols used to enchant things and Kai hadn't studied them a lot, but their meanings could easily change if they overlapped each other and the effect could cease to be or worse, it would give a completely different effect.

He briefly recalled someone getting an enchanted flame sword from a third-rated Enchanter which had ended up exploding in his hands, parts of it cutting off his neck.

Kai felt confused as he kept drawing Seals he knew of, trying to recall everything from his classes on them. Sadly, it hadn't been a Mage Art he had gravitated towards.

He didn't know the specific ones used to make Heat stones, but he could make do with similar ones that he knew of. Though, mana was going to be tight.

"The mana absorption enchantment would take the most out of me. How am I even going to carve the ignition enchantment?"

Kai muttered with a frown.

His options were severely limited. He could draw up one single complex enchantment and hope that it works. Though, he didn't even know where to begin with that.

He drew up a figure of a smaller stone with enchantments on all sides of it, but even with his mana generation, the total mana pool just wasn't enough for him to make more than two of these heat stones.

If he pushed himself, maybe three.

That was if he didn't make any mistakes and everything went as he wished. Just by the experience of his life, Kai knew his luck wasn't that good.

He needed a way to either exponentially increase his mana pool or lower the enchantments on the Heat stone while making the same effect.

Both of these things felt impossible to do at the moment and Kai scratched his head before sighing.

He needed more time to think about it.

He grabbed all his drawings and piled them up in an order. Keeping them aside on the table, he stood up.

I will think about it later.

He shook his head and walked out of his room,

It had been quite some time since he wanted to take a look at the Mana Weaver. Rather than thinking about the Heat stone, he would rather deal with it.

As Kai took the stairs down, he was met with the same portraits and collections of weaponry.

The maids and a few workers who were around bowed when they noticed him.

He didn't stop and kept walking, trying to get an idea of the whole estate. Claire hadn't been around when he left the room or it would have been easy.

Now, he was left alone, trying to find the way to the cells.

He wandered here and there before his eyes landed on someone familiar.

The guard who came to his room on the first day stood with his spear in the corridor. He seemed to be taking a break, looking relaxed as he gazed outside the window.

Perfect.

Kai smiled and took long strides towards him.

The guard heard footsteps and looked to his right only to find Kai walking towards him. He straightened up immediately and said, "Lord Arzan."

"I walk to take a look at the Mana Weaver in the cells. Lead me there."

"Okay."

They walked through the corridor and took a few turns. Kai did his best to remember the layout of the whole estate as they walked. He also noticed more and more guards as they walked.

A lot of them seemed surprised seeing him in this part of the estate.

They only stopped once they reached a metallic door.

The bars were rusted, and it was a sharp contrast to the rest of the estate with wooden doors with carvings on them.

As the guard opened the door, the dim light from the flash torched the stairs.

It seemed like the cells were really like a castle dungeon.

"Did the Weaver wake up?" Kai asked as they took the steps down.

"It did wake up but screamed at the top of its lungs until it went back to sleep. It was thrashing around and we had a scare," the guard said as he walked ahead of him.

Kai nodded. That was expected since he had used a simple technique. "When was the last time it made noise?"

"Just a few hours back. But now it's restrained, barely moving. We thought it might break the cell for how vicious it was acting." The guard said, his voice shaking a bit.

The stairs ended and they reached the ground. Kai saw no other guard standing there, probably because of the fear of corruption from the Mana Weaver.

"This way," the guard turned to the left as they both walked inside.

The cells were very different from the rest of the castle. The uneven stones on the walls, the dust covering the ground and the putrid smell coming from everywhere all made him want to get out of there as soon as possible.

He saw empty cells all around and it didn't seem like they kept the prisoners here. Maybe there was some other facility for them.

Kai's senses heightened as the guard halted in front of a cell. Beyond the bars, he saw the weaver.

He took a few steps to the front and saw how it was being kept. Both of its limbs were restrained and there was a circular metallic chain that was attached to its neck. The Mana weaver was asleep by the looks of it.

"Let me inside open this," Kai said commandingly.

The guard frowned. His eyes were looking at him as if questioning if he was crazy. "Are you certain about that-"

"Do it," Kai cut him off.

The guard immediately walked forward to open the cell, but as soon as it was done, he backed off from the door.

Kai walked inside. Seeing him walk in, the guard followed. Though, he noticed the hesitation in his steps.

Making sure that the weaver was asleep, Kai rugged on the chains, but nothing happened. To be safe, he formed a Sleep spell structure on his hands and cast it.

If there was any doubt, it ceased from his heart and he relaxed.

Kai leaned forward and looked at how the corruption was spreading in the weaver's body. The corruption in its body had increased from before, and if Kai looked closer, he could see black lines on its neck and arms.

Its face had also mutated more, looking more hideous than before almost like an undead.

Luckily, it wasn't at a level where Kai couldn't do anything. The man still held a semblance of humanity and a lot of its flesh was human. It might take a while, but he would be able to heal it free from the corruption.

He touched its hand and cast a Purification spell. The area where he was holding it shone as his mana entered the weaver's body.

Soon, Kai could see the lines in its neck decreasing slowly. Though, it wasn't without resistance.

The corruption inside the body of the man tried to fight against him as he used his spell. It didn't allow the pure mana to eat it away, but Kai pushed more, using every bit of his mana before he managed to destroy a good amount of it.

Taking puffs of breath, Kai sighed. It was a slow process and he would have to purify it for over an hour daily for the corruption to end completely.

"W-what is happening?!" The guard's squeaky voice came rather loud, breaking Kai's focus.

He looked back to see the guard's widened eyes and opened his mouth. Kai even saw how the spear was almost out of his hand as the guard gaped at the light coming from the weaver's hand.

"I'm casting a spell on It," Kai responded quickly.

"Does that mean you're a Mage, Lord Arzan?" the guard questioned back.

Kai simply replied, "Yes, I am."