“First, goes the core.” Grabbing a simple twig, Layn wrapped it around the emptied-out magic stone. But rather than covering it with three of four wraps, he continued to work on the stone until it was completely hidden underneath a thick layer of a twig.

“I’m only using half of the twig we have for the buffer zone.” Cutting out the thin material into two, Layn raised his head to take a look at the girl. With her eyes glues to his hands, she didn’t even notice his movement, fully focused on his explanation.

As reluctant as she was to go through with his plans to obtain magic stones, Irea was actually one of the few who were aware of Layn’s extraordinary capabilities. The experiences on their journey to the town, how he has slain the monster back in the desert…

‘It didn’t matter how much against the idea I was…’ A silver of thought appeared in Irea’s mind, as she dared not to utter a single word. ‘He still got his hands on a hundred of stones.’ This single thought was the very foundation for the girl’s focus. ‘If he was so obstinate about them… Maybe there really is something to his words?’

For Irea, the last few days were the most colorful in her entire life. Not only did she witness things she could believe to be possible, but the source of all her surprises never ceased to stop. It was as if he wouldn’t let her go until her common sense would be fully shattered.

Yet, as ridiculous and often arrogant as this man’s words and actions were, he was actually doing what he claimed.

“Now, we take the rest of the twig and about ten grade-one stones.” Moving the materials around, the archmage forced himself to focus back on the craft. While he was easily capable of doing what he wished, it didn’t mean it was a simplistic process.

‘I guess I will need a bit more magic to construct it…’ Even after infusing an entire magic stone worth of energy into his cultivation, Layn was more than aware that he was still lacking. Because what he was about to do, was a rather lengthy process, requiring a constant supply of mana.

‘Or I can do it like this.’ Reaching for the pile of stones, Layn grabbed a few more of them before dropping them by his knee. Rather than giving up on his shield or translation spell, something which could prove disastrous, he could simply waste a few stones to keep his craft going!

“Right now, is the crucial point. You might not believe me, but I need to turn those solid stones…” Pointing his finger at the bunch of grade-ones that he prepared beforehand, Layn looked at Irea’s face. What he was about to say, was something that he doubted the girl would understand or believe. “Into dust as fine as possible. Dust with particles too small to be seen by a naked eye.”

There was no point trying to explain the principle behind this notion. For the girl, it was most likely akin to just wasting the stones away. ‘I just don’t feel confident to teach her medium-grade math and physics…’ Recalling his own memories of his school years, Layn shrugged.

‘To think I would still react like that… Damn those girls…’ Not only the last years in the future were a source of grief in Layn’s life. While childish and not important at all in the grand scheme of things, a certain group of girls easily managed to leave a huge scar on the younger soul of the archmage.

It was also the reason why he rarely brought his thoughts back to that accursed place where his ordeals took place.

“I… Understand.” Irea replied with an obvious lie. Or was it? Looking at her face, Layn couldn’t actually tell. It was as if she was telling the truth… but meaning something else than what the archmage understood.

“Once that step will be done, I will infuse the stone powder into the remaining twig. But now, I will need to focus on the task. Observe.” Explaining the situation to his spectator, Layn focused his eyes on the stones before him. Taking the first one to his hands, the archmage ran his energy through the stone.

Rather than absorbing the power that clearly resided within its crystalic structure, he infused it with the energy of his own. With the structure of the stone unable to hold the additional energy, the free mana flowed back into Layn’s aura. And during that process, a huge chunk of it disappeared, forcing the archmage to refill the missing part from his own strength.

That was the reason behind the hardship of the process. Without sufficient strength and control over said strength, one wouldn’t be able to turn a solid object into particle-sized dust. Not even the greatest grindstone was capable of achieving such a feat. The only way to do it, was to disturb the inner structure of the magic matter, making it fall apart on its own instead.

Pack!

As if something broke inside it, the stone suddenly turned into dust. Falling between every possible gap, it seemed to diffuse into the air before even reaching the ground.

Raising his hand to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead, Layn weakly reached for one of the disposable stones. Quickly sucking on all the energy within, he allowed it to crumble before taking a look at the strange glow around his fist.

Given how his aura was the only mana-rich presence in the entire area, the dust naturally gathered around it, forming the aforementioned glow. And now, with just a single thought appearing in his head, Layn directed all the stone powder on the twig below.

The shine disappeared. On the other hand, if one were to look closely, he would be able to notice an insanely delicate glow coming out from the twig Layn prepared.

“One done, nine to go.” After taking a moment to rest, Layn grabbed another stone. Taking one more moment to stabilize his energy, he repeated the process.

A stone to regain his mana, a moment to rest, then the process would repeat itself. Yet, with each cycle, the breaks that Layn had to take only increased. By the time the last stone crumbled into nothingness right before Irea’s eyes, Layn was nearing the limits of his exhaustion.

“Now that the twig is prepared, we wrap it around the core we prepared earlier.” Passing both of the items to the girl’s hand, Layn fell to all fours, struggling to catch a breath. Instantly rushing to his side, Irea almost dropped the items she just received.

‘What should I…?’ Between helping the man and taking care of what he made with so much effort, Irea was confused about which one to prioritize. ‘What if I destroy one of those things?’ She saw with her own eyes just how hard Layn was working to create those two items. If she were to destroy them, wouldn’t his efforts be all in vain?

“I’m okay… I will just take a little… rest…” Crawling forward, Layn showed the whites of his eyes as his head fell down.. The only saving grace was the fact that he managed to crawl to where Irea was sitting, saving his skull by making it fall on her lap rather than on the hard floor.