One of my subminds had cut solely stone using as little mana as possible and training my mana manipulation skill at the same time. As a result I didn't have much stone at my disposal as I had used most of my power for growing the bushes, but it would be enough for some pillars I wanted to build to support the roofs of the future crafting huts. I will tear most of them down in the future, but right now I needed a place for the elves to sleep and I couldn't trust on the weather to keep so warm and dry it had been for the last days.

The lumberjacks had brought back enough wood that I could create enough beams and latches for my first roof. Using unseasoned wood for this purpose wasn't the best course of action but I needed the roofs now. Maybe I could use some fire magic to dry the wood in a much shorter time frame than usual.

First I absorbed the trees into my inventory and then changed to my inner mind where the wood already awaited me. I would have to be very careful to not burn it with my magic. Sensing the trunk with my mana I could see water mana flowing around it and I sent a bit of fore mana into it, watching the water battle the fire and losing in power gradually. It took only 5 minutes and 200 mana to dry the wood enough to be used for building. At least I hoped that I did it right because I never before did it.

I send an invitation to Dorien again, seeing that he wasn't sleeping already. Moments later the young craftsman appeared in my workspace.

“Lord Marcus, what can I do for you? Oh,... this tree looks almost seasoned enough to build something with it.”

“Now, would you enlighten me and tell me the right conditions for it, please. I want to construct a roof above the place you and your friends sleep on and I need good building material for it.”

Hearing my words his eyes brightened and he began to explain me the ins and outs of the right wood for the necessary task when suddenly I got a new message.

You have learned the skill Carpentry.

My smile must have been too obvious because he suddenly stopped his speech and looked at me, “Is everything alright, sir? I didn't say something funny, or made a mistake, didn't I?”, His former confidence disappearing so fast as it erupted when he started talking about his work.

I shook my head still smiling, “No,you did everything right, Dorien. I just got the message that I learned carpentry and am happy that from now on I will have another skill to work with.”

Dorien looked dumbstruck and unbelieving, “You just learned the skill? Just like that? I needed almost 3 months to get the message.” That answered a question I wanted to ask my citizens all along but always something other pulled my attension away.

“Yes, it seems I can learn many skills much more easily than other people. Perhaps it has to do with my former life or the fact that I am a core, but it surely makes my life easier. But as you are much better than me in the profession I will bother you furthermore as an advicer for sculpting and carpentry.”

He bowed his head to me and answered humble, “As you wish, my lord. I will help with my knowledge as long as you will have me, but seeing how fast you learn I think that you will be the master in no time at all.”

I only grinned and returned the talk back to my project and we discussed with the help of a hologram how big the beams and latches had to be and where I should put down the pillars.

“My lord, in view of the siege we will be under, wouldn't it be better to build everything out of stone?”

“You're right of course, but I will create roof tiles out of the stone and that should make the roofs fireproof enough that we will be secure from any tries to burn us down. By the way, do you know, how far away the winter is and how hard it will be? I mean, should I insulate the walls and the roof as soon as the siege is over or do I have enough time to build more houses outside the wall and some cabins in the hearth tree?”

He pondered for a moment and used his fingers to count something, “I think you should have at least 5 months until winter comes. We get around 2 to 3 meters of snow over the whole winter and it gets quite chilly at its peak. So you have some time for getting us enough warm homes and provisions to last it. But first we should survive the goblins, don't you think?”

He was clearly right there, but the information was important none the least. With Dorien's advice I began to cut the tree into usable beams and latches after I had dried it a bit more. Then I did the same with the other trees and sent Dorien back to sleep as he showed clear signs of being tired with all his yawning he tried to hide behind a hand. After 3 hours and spending mana like crazy I also had cut the stone for my pillars the way I wanted and set them down in the determined places, startling some elves from sleep when the stone blocks appeared suddenly beside them. The woken people watched with awe when I build the new hut around them and put down the beams and latches into the prepared notches.

I didn't use nails or splints as I could cut stone and wood easily with mana even if it used more power than doing it with tools. I had to admit that using tools was more fun, but I didn't have much time for finishing my project. If I could do things manually in the future I will surely do as it gave me more satisfaction, and I think that it would also help me increase my skills faster, but I will have to check that more closely.

My roof tiles were a bit primitive but they would serve their means, and when I laid them down on the latches, the elves were so happy about a roof over them that their excited voices woke other sleepers. I had watched the elves over the last few days and they didn't seem to be too unhappy to sleep under the night sky, but now they showed obvious joy that they had a dry place to sleep under in the future.

I know, I should use the time to bolster my defences but I needed also a happy and well rested people to fight the goblins and wet and freezing men and women tend to fight worse than optimal. Also there would be many wounded as I didn't think I could make the goblins just give up with my minefield,the nightshade roses, pitfalls and the poisoned arrows alone. And wounded needed a place to be tended to, preferable dry and warm.

As soon as the elves left the roofed place for work in the morning I started to build the walls for the buildings out of stone I had cut in the rest of the night. Galen and the rest of my Guardians were training hard to increase their ability to control their mana and I watched them with one of my subminds sometimes giving them help with my mana sight. They could already form a bubble of mana but it wasn't able to hold any fire mana yet.

I mused about their struggle to create the spell, but as I watched them, I noticed that they only used their minds to form the bubble and no special gesture or words for the procedure. Jumping to them I watched Galen closely as he tried to add fire mana to the bubble he had created. I almost could sense the fire rune I knew from enchanting forming inside the bubble when it erupted again with a bright light and some heat accompanying it.

“Nala, is there a rune that is connected to control?” I asked Galen's wife standing beside her disappointed husband.

Surprised by my sudden question she turned to my voice and frowned thinking hard about it, “There is a rune that can bind an element to an object, but I'm not sure what that has to do with casting magic.”

I would do a facepalm now, if they could see it, but just sighed, “Okay, I think what we need to do is not only create a mental image of a fireball, but tell the magical energy what it has to do. Runes could help with that, so we will have to find the runes and their pronunciation to go with the spell we want to create. A kind of magical language as I would call it. When I just watched Galen creating his bubble and imbuing it with fire mana I almost could see a fire rune appearing inside the bubble.”

Galen frowned and concentrated again his mana, his skill to create the mana bubble increasing fast. Just as he sent his fire mana inside the bubble he spoke the word for fire, “Igniate!” and instead of bursting like before he hold a bubble of fire 5 centimetres in diameter above his right hand. I sensed his mental strain to keep the bubble stable but we all could see the fireball clearly, even the other elves around. They all stared at it and couldn't believe their eyes.

Seconds later Galen lost concentration and the fire erupted from the bubble burning the hairs on his arm slightly, the air smelling shortly like burned elf. Despite the pain it should have caused I saw Galen grinning and his eyes sparkling.

“That's it! Marcus, that is the right direction you gave me. Now we only have to find the words to better contain the fire mana and give it direction.”

Hmph, he is only able to create a dimlight and thinks he can create a spell on the fly. But hey, as he had said we are on the right way.

“Galen, you should also form the rune with your fingers and somehow include a gesture for the bubble itself, I think. Nala, what's the word for control, please, and can you write it on the ground please?” I asked her with excitement in my voice. What shall I say, magical discoveries make me fussy.

“As far as I know, it's 'Regis' and before you ask I don't know the word for throwing.”

Something nagged my mind and I tried to nail down what it was, when I had the epiphany I searched for. The magical words sounded somehow like old Latin. I had learned the language in my childhood at the christian school I went to. To my dismay Tiria had also deleted my understanding of it, but the memories were still there, and if I could make the connections I could perhaps regain some of my knowledge. I understood suddenly why Tiria crippled my memory because with it I could kick everyone's asses quite easily. Sure, some words sounded a bit off, but with a little bit of experimentation we could find new words, I was sure of it.

'As I see,you have discovered some of the secrets hidden on your old world. There are more of it. Have fun finding them!' I heard the goddess voice in my mind again, serious and with gravity this time.