Inside his office, Lark carefully finished the map of Blackstone Town and its surrounding regions. Yesterday, he flew into the sky multiple times and recorded the details of the town, as well as a large portion of the Endless Forest that surrounded the north and the east, the Rile River that flowed through the forest, the Kastel Plains that spread through the south, and the Prey River that connected to Lion City in the west.

Since his mana pool was inadequate, Lark had to repeatedly fly to the sky and record the imagery below. It was an exhausting task that took him almost a whole day to finish.

“Finally,” he sighed and put his quill down.

Spread on the table was a large map of Blackstone Town.

The map was necessary if he wanted to expand the borders of the town. Looking at it, he realized that there was no need to extend the irrigation system from the Rile River to the west. He could just create a second one that connected to the Prey River.

Two knocks sounded on his door. “Enter,” said Lark.

The door opened and the butler entered the room.

“Young Master, the thing you requested from the mason has been finished.”

Lark raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That was fast.” He nodded approvingly. “Excellent. Gaston, tell the servants to load the barrels filled with stones into the carts. We shall head immediately to the northern border.”

“Understood.” The butler bowed and left the room.

On his way to the garden, Lark passed through the hall where the soldiers were training. As before, they repeated the same basic movements over and over again. A few days ago, there had been a cacophony of grunts and complaints, but it seemed that as days went by, the soldiers became used to this routine. Their stiff postures had relaxed somewhat, and although their movements were still crude, they were starting to resemble the trainee soldiers in the Magic Empire.

After buying large quantities of iron ingots and ormatane dust from Lion City, Lark had been secretly making magic spears for the soldiers. Along the shaft of each spear, Lark would engrave magic diagrams and formations, enabling even non-magic users to use elemental magic with each strike of the spear.

Lark would distribute them once the soldiers had gained a degree of proficiency with the spear. After all, even a weapon that would transform a non-magician to a magic soldier would be useless in the hands of the unskilled.

Seeing the young master, Captain Qarat shouted, “All soldiers—salute!”

The soldiers practicing their piercing skills stood to attention, their spears neatly placed on their right. They clenched their left fist, then struck their chest, creating a loud and uniform thudding sound.

Lark smiled. This was the same salute used in the Magic Empire. In his previous life, tens of thousands of magic soldiers would strike their chests when greeting their commanders, and the impact of that single salute would shake the ground itself.

It had been an overwhelming and invigorating feeling.

Once the number of soldiers has increased, I’ll eventually hear that sound again.

Lark looked forward to that day.

“Continue your training.”

“Understood!”

It’ll probably take a year or two before these guys become worthy of wielding the magic spears. If I gave them now, their growth would be hindered in an instant. There’s nothing more dangerous than becoming complacent because of magic items. I’ve seen a lot of soldiers die because they put too much trust in those things. At the end of the day, one’s own skills will save you on the battlefield.

***

Upon arrival at the northern border, Lark saw a structure made of bricks and clay that he had asked the mason to make. It was like a box, with a long tube at the end, reminiscent of a chimney. Following Lark’s design, half of its body was buried in the ground. Beside it, the mason and his men were constructing two similar structures.

“Ah, it’s the young master,” said Silver Claw. He wiped the dirt from his hands and bowed. “We’ve finished the thing you asked for and are working on the second one.”

Lark inspected the finished product. He knocked on it and nodded. “Good work. With this, it’ll be possible to speed up the construction of Blackstone Town.”

Silver Claw had discussed this structure with the young master already. According to the noble, the thing they had made was called a kiln. It was a necessary tool in creating cement, a substance for adhering stones together in a short amount of time.

Furthermore, it was easy to prepare as long as one had the necessary materials. Silver Claw did not fully understand the steps and the details, but the young master promised to demonstrate.

Honestly, the mason had doubts about this. After all, if such a convenient method was available, why didn’t the kingdom and the empire use it already? He had been a mason for decades, and he knew how arduous and time consuming it was to build things made of stone. He had never heard of such a convenient shortcut.

“Listen, I want you to prioritize the production of cement from now on. The rate of development of the town is simply too slow,” said the young master. “We need the cement to speed up the construction process. Understood?”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Actually, Silver Claw felt the development of this town was fast enough already. Even in Lion City, he had never seen so many projects going on at once. Reclamation of barren lands. Construction of a poultry farm. Expansion of the border of the town. Building of residences. The main road construction project. And lastly, the irrigation plan for the northern land. All of them ambitious projects.

In spite of all of this, the young master felt that the speed of development was still slow. Silver Claw smiled wryly at the thought.

The young master ordered the servants to unload the barrels from the carts. Upon opening, Silver Claw saw numerous stones inside.

“We will create cement from this limestone. Luckily, there is a lot of it in the area.”

Lark had a theory that this land was once submerged underneath the sea, probably thousands of years ago, which would explain the presence of the limestone near the Endless Forest. It was truly a stroke of luck, since he would not have to order it from the other cities.

Lark took a pickaxe and struck the stones, demonstrating what he wanted.

“Break the large rocks into smaller pieces. Pulverizing them will take a lot of time at first, but in the long run, it saves us the effort of putting the large pieces back into the kiln if the heat fails to break them.” He looked at each person individually, making sure that they were listening intently to his instructions. “After you do that, put the pieces inside here.” He pointed at the kiln.

Lark further explained that they would heat the kiln using firewood or coal. Given the structure of the kiln, heat would accumulate over time, giving rise to higher temperatures. Once it reached a certain degree of heat, the rock would break down further, creating quicklime and a gas.

“The finished product is called cement. We’ll use it to make concrete,” said Lark. The mason and his men were confused, but he continued to explain. Lark knew that over time, they would understand. “Once the lime has been cooled, mix it as follows: one part lime, two parts sand, three parts gravel. After that, slowly add water.”

Lark was not completely sure about the ratio, but figured that would be a good starting point. At the very least, once they had managed to create quicklime, the rest of the steps would be easy. They would just have to use trial and error on the proper mix of the other materials.

“Everyone should avoid inhaling the dust produced by the kiln,” said Lark. He warned about the dangers of coming into contact with the quicklime. He vividly described what would happen should they ever touch it without first letting it cool.

After the noble’s warnings and demonstrations, Silver Claw and his men started following his instructions.

Lark had taken the first step to introduce cement to this town.