It was fascinating, how two places with such huge differences could end up feeling so similar. Part of it was undoubtedly the blessing of Hecate Luna had called upon but a far larger part came from some innate quality of the space. Some time during the creation, as I had dug the few rooms of the shrine and the ventilation shafts into the artificial mountain, my actions had left a metaphysical mark on the space I created. It wasn’t as chaotic as Wild Magic that came from overloading an area with Astral Power but it might be some tamed version of that effect. Tame Wild Magic, as contradictory as that sounded, might be the best description, though I made a mental note to come up with something better at some point.

The biggest difference was that Wild Magic lacked purpose and direction, it was akin to a child with far too much energy, running around, screaming and breaking everything as it was bleeding off energy. The effect within the shrine was directed, imbued with the purpose I had felt during the creation of the space, seeking to stabilise the rooms I had dug and, to a lesser degree, keep the atmosphere inside comfortable. It was an effect I wanted to keep an eye on, especially if I could replicate it. I had a feeling that the shrine under the tree had a similar effect, though there it was focused on the tree itself, not the space beneath, formed as I had worked with Luna and the tree to create the space. Here, there was no tree to anchor an effect to, so it latched onto the space itself.

Looking back, the ancient, imperial roads on Mundus might rely on a similar effect, allowing them to influence the world above by granting those travelling them enhanced endurance and speed. If I was right about that, it was truly fascinating as it would mean that the builders hadn’t just created a continent-spanning network of self-maintaining roads, they had managed to warp parts of the lingering magic into something else, making the roads even better. I could see self-maintenance as something coming out of the purpose lingering within a creation after it was completed, even without having to add anything to it. The effect that regulated the climate within the shrine was one such, if on a far lower scale, but adding an additional effect, one completely unrelated to the creation? That sounded incredibly difficult, even beyond just having to work on the project with a fairly single-minded purpose. Having an entire corps of magical engineers all work like that? It started to stretch the realm of possibility but looking at the remaining evidence, it was possible. Or there was another method, one that I couldn’t understand just yet, which I considered more likely. Or mind control, that could be a reason for the unified purpose. If everyone is mind-controlled, they all get along swimmingly.

The other option I could imagine as the cause for such an effect was divine intervention, likely via a cleric. Similar to the blessing Luna had placed upon the shrine under the tree and was currently creating around the newly built shrine. I wasn’t sure how it worked but I remembered the zone of sanctuary around the shrine, though the tree originally had an aura of tranquillity of some sort. Maybe the blessing had only built upon that, increasing and infusing it, I wasn’t sure but I had decided to closely monitor Luna’s progress here, to see if the lack of hat aura changed anything.

Similarly, I was planning to keep an even closer eye on the clerics of Hestia I would invite soon, mostly to have them bless the shrine but also because I needed their presence to truly make the shrine of Hestia. When working on Hecate’s shrine, I could faintly feel the blessing she had given me guide my imagination. It wasn’t forceful guidance but inspiration, if I had a different image in mind, I was fairly certain I could have used it but given that I had no real idea what a suitable shrine would look like, I took the easy way out and used what the Lady gave me.

But I couldn’t do that for the Shrine of Hestia. I didn’t have the connection, the blessing, of her and frankly, I didn’t want it. She didn’t offer anything I truly wanted, at least as far as I understood things. Power, sure, but just having another avenue to gain power didn’t appeal to me, not if I had to pay for it in some metaphysical way. The power I got from Hecate, especially the indirect support I received from Her, made me put up with quite a bit and that was ignoring the simple fact that She was my munchkin’s patron.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Their reaction to the statue in Hecate’s shrine would be quite interesting. The statue, like the rest of the building, was inspired by Her but the image was a familiar one. The maiden was shaped like a slightly more mature version of Luna, teenaged and fairly recognisable, at least if you knew her or she was present. The crone was shaped like the Grandmother, the same mixture of agelessness and ancient presence while the mother was, again, shaped like me. Mostly, at least, there were some changes, somewhat wider hips and a larger chest but it was obvious that the face was mine, even without the elongated ears.

While making it, I had wondered if I should push against the inspiration and change the image into a different one. And I had a lot of time to wonder, where the statue under the tree had been crafted from a single root, requiring a lot of support from Luna and even the tree itself, the statue here was made solely by me. Without a suitable root, I had used metal, the construction steel I had unearthed while digging the shrine and some I had gathered outside, and shaped it into a suitable form. Crystal Magic at its finest, it had taken days and given me a headache but it had also been a proof of concept. I could magically shape metal and the work had given me a whopping four points in Crystal Magic, pushing it to twenty, and a single point in Enchanting, bringing it to eleven. Not terribly impressive but given that I hadn’t really enchanted anything beyond purely pushing power into a solid construct, I wasn’t about to complain.

The end product was certainly worth the effort I had invested. The previously dull, somewhat rusty steel had turned into a gleaming, almost glowing metal, unlike anything I had ever seen before. Its colour was faintly reminiscent of Luna’s eyes or the endless plane Hecate used to commune with me, only a lot more polished. The most impressive part of it was that it almost shone with internal light, not bright but unmistakable in the darkness of the underground shrine. I had no idea how that worked, where the Astral Power to create the effect came from, but I chalked it up to some sort of divine shenanigans, or maybe the reason for the point I had gained in enchanting. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to illuminate the room, so I would have to think of something, even if it was only adding a few additional ventilation shafts so torches could be used.

Because the room needed light, quite a bit of it. The statue was only one part of its contents, the other, more important in my eyes, part was the library. Just like beneath the tree, there would be a library here, holding multiple stone tablets filled with knowledge. Creating them was simple, at least when comparing it to the effort of carving out multiple rooms from concrete and earth, but that didn’t change that space on them was limited. I had to prioritise what I wanted to convey to those following after me, what I wanted them to know. What was most important to me, to Hecate and to them? It wouldn’t do to add tablets that wouldn’t get used because the information contained was useless, either because it was too basic or too complex. I had to hit the sweet spot to draw people in and engage them, to teach them without boring them and I had to do it without actually being present. A textbook, a magical primer, guiding people onto the Arcane Path and their subsequent journey.

Luckily, I didn’t need to bother with trying to make it impossible to remove the tablets. That part was for Hecate to deal with, otherwise, the tablets would most likely disappear from the temple with the first visiting group. Or even before then, when some of the locals decided that venturing into the shrine was too much work and that they wanted to read what I had written in the comfort of their homes. Maybe I should take a look at the security, once everything was done and we were about to leave. Luckily, that wouldn’t take much longer.