There was one event that divided the timeline of human civilisation into two separate parts.

The great culling.

It had many names. The ancient apocalypse, doomsday, greatest disaster in history. According to the knowledge gathered during the long years of research and study over the ancient remains, one thing could be said for certain.

At its peak, ancient technology was in no way inferior to the one developed by the later part. To a degree, one could say that the greatness achieved by the ancient would leave any rational mage of Layn’s time in constant shame. Dwarfing the pitiful achievements of modern magic, the civilisation based on the magic stones stood as something that the future generations could only strive to create.

But even this kind of a great human thought stood no chance against the great disaster. In the span of a single day, all of the stones that made the foundation of this highly technocratic society… shattered. Not even into dust, but what was later proved to be particles so small, one could hardly speak about them outside of the terms of chemistry or alchemy.

And yet, it was this disaster that opened a new path for humanity.

Just a few years after the fall, people recorded an increasing number of miracles. In just a few generations, proper magic became a thing, and by the time Layn was defeating the demon lord, the scholars back in the safety of the headquarters worked hard on the theorem of a golem capable of computing great numbers and spells.

‘A great civilisation had to fall for the world that I know to even be born. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing I can do about it!’ Layn’s eyes lit up. Then he did two things at once. As if preparing for a fight, he instantly decomposed his physical body back into its true form. As nothing more but a cloud of magic propelled by the will of the gran arcana, he merged with the powerful aura of the monster.

SHRIEK!

In an instant, the firedog released a pained groan. Its fires exploded… Only to subside right away, disappearing from the world. As its body decomposed, the thick fog of the magic that made up the monster swirled in place, turning thinner and thinner. After just a short while, even this last hint of the firedog existence disappeared, revealing Layn’s untouched body.

‘What energy… But I don’t have the time time to waste.’ There was only one thing that he could do to stop himself from relying on the fading influence of the gran arcana whenever he would encounter a monster. The only way for Layn to let his knowledge and abilities shine was by actually using them. And in a world void of the magic particles that made it easier for the magical energy to flow, he just needed a simple tool to change that.

Looking down at his hand, Layn glared at the pristine, red colour of the gem. As the heart of the monster and the source of its energy, it gently brimmed in a low tune, as if it was some kind of cat purring on its master’s lap.

“Jawere… Ja-impossible…” With the voices of the ancients reaching Layn’s ears, his face twitched. Even his translating spell took a while to catch up on the meaning of the word. While he was glad that the dense cloud of magic hid the moment when his body disintegrated only to reconstruct itself in its perfect form the moment later, it didn’t mean he was safe from their scrutiny. If they were to consider him to be some kind of a monster…

Using the moment when the ancients were still rooted in place, Layn focused his attention on the stone in his hand. Unsure about its quality and many other potential harms of doing so, the Archmage didn’t dare to infuse himself with what he was about to create. That’s why he needed a special tool.

The abundance of the energy that he stole from a monster allowed Layn to whip out a long rope. Due to the generally simple structure of both the item itself and the material it was made out of, this was the shape that Layn quickly decided on.

“Deconstruct…” Whispering the activator of a relatively advanced, third-grade spell, Layn felt a sting on his soul when it helped itself to the huge yet limited pool of his stolen magic. Sucking nearly a third of his momentary power, the spell quickly started working.

Directed against the stone in Layn’s hand, it quickly turned its solid structure into a fine cloud of extremely small dust.

“Infuse.” Raising the long rope in his right hand, Layn could feel his face tensing all over when he invoked yet another fuel-costly spell. Without the proper tools to create fourth and higher graded spells, he could only rely on the first set of the craftsman’s tools. That also meant he could only really prepare another tool for himself by defeating yet another monster of the firedog’s level…

Even though the spells were costly, they were far from being perfectly efficient either. During the course of the spell’s work, nearly a third of the dust spewed out. Thankfully, at least more than a half properly stuck to the simple rope, before merging with its structure.

The qualitative change to the material… didn’t happen. The stone powder was way too fine to harden the rope. If cut, it would be destroyed like anything else. But it wasn’t Layn’s aim to create a sturdy rope at all.

Fixing his hold over the tool, he finally felt a familiar sensation.

Just as he expected, it wasn’t the magic being thinner in ancient times. It was the lack of a proper conducting element in the air! But with his new tool in hand, although the amount wasn’t great, Layn finally got access to a stable and endless source of magic energy!