Chapter 59: Hearthstone


    Cal grimaced when his mana core was depleted. Again.


    This was the tenth time it had happened, and he could feel that the hearthstone was barely at capacity. He estimated that he could do this well over a hundred and fifty times before it was finally filled with mana.


    He took a few seconds to gather his strength before standing up. It was well past midnight, and Tavia had turned in hours ago for the night.


    Cal’s original n was to spend a few hours supplying the hearthstone with mana to supplement its natural absorption, but he didn’t realize what Tavia had gotten her hands on.


    He had gotten enough private lessons in his past life to recognize hearthstones. He initially assumed it was the type of hearthstone he had seen in some of the Masters’ personal residences, only a little worse.


    Those types of hearthstones were used for rapid mana recovery and were generally exhausted after several draws. Even though it didn’t seem like much, it was still impressive Tavia could get her hands on something of that nature.


    However, the hearthstone embedded under his floor was far beyond that. It was used forrge-scale events like a city-wide emergency. It was meant to sustain hundreds of draws from multiple people over several days.


    Cal knew that there was no chance that Tavia would ever have the hope to get a hearthstone of this nature. It didn’t matter if she was the Initiate that the guild put all their hopes on.


    <em>The Overseer is heavily involved here. But this time, I can’t just ept it. This hearthstone is something a city like Lumina will spend months debating on the worth of acquiring it. Tavia is just a tool to deliver the hearthstone to me.</em>He frowned as he thought about the Overseer’s goal. He had assumed that he could rely on the man to support him in the guild, but that came with the expectation they were both benefitting. The cost to get this hearthstone—marily and spending goodwill in the guild—suggested that this was more than simple support.


    <em>Unless the Overseer is above the Elders in the hierarchy. With the way the Masters ceded control, it’s possible the Overseer does have more authority than them…</em>


    Due to practicality, Cal had given up on finding out more about the Overseer. He would need to restart the investigation into who the hell the man was.


    The best-case scenario was that the Overseer was some sort of super Elder who could unterally use the guild’s resources. However, if that was the case, he couldn’t find the reason for the secrecy. It would be more effective to reveal such a high status and install a greater appreciation of the Celestial Order.


    It was far more likely to be something worse.


    Cal feared that he had inadvertently fallen into some borate plot with the Overseer in the center. And he had done so dly while epting the gifts that came with no questions.


    It could be why he had never heard of the Overseer in his past life after he entered the core guild. Maybe the man had been silenced.


    He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and realized the thought of rxing was already dead. Even if his fears were unlikely, they still existed.


    The Overseer wasn’t concerned about his rapid growth causing trouble. That meant he needed to speed it up even more. Without the boost in ce, he would need to find the best way to extract the fastest growth of his <strong>[Tier]</strong> when he farms.


    Cal had defaulted to pickaxing his way to the next level whenever in doubt, but the higher his <strong>[Tier]</strong> was, the less that would help.


    <em>I need to constantly nt crops or repair the soil. That increased my </em><strong><em>[Tier]</em></strong><em> significantlypared to breaking up the ground with a pickaxe. I have to instruct Drex to frequently deliver supplies to keep up with the use.</em>


    He nced out the window and took in the mess that was his field. Tomorrow would be a long day.


    ***


    The first thing Cal usually did after waking up the past week was work his field. Today, that changed.


    He sat next to the hearthstone and waited patiently for his mana core to fully replenish. It would be another task to add to his routine.


    Cal looked up when he heard the door to Tavia’s room open.


    “Good morning,” Tavia mumbled as she stretched with a silent yawn.


    He was ustomed to seeing her in attire that spoke of purpose. She often wore deep purple and ck robes,yered over a matching tunic of the same hues. A wide waist belt with an array of small pouches furthered the practical attire, and dark leather bootspleted the ensemble.


    All of that was missing. It was reced with something that was meant forfort.


    Tavia walked towards him, her bare feet making no sound on the floor. The usual robe was gone. She wore a lighter, more airy version of her usual tunic and pants, the fabric flowing gently around her with each step.


    Compared to her tastes in interior design, her fashion sense was far better than it had any right to be.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the tform they originally published on.


    “Why’re you looking at me like that?” Tavia asked with a smirk.


    Cal blinked before looking away. He cleared his throat and said, “Looks like you’re nning for a rxing day.”


    “In a way,” Tavia sat on the couch close to where he was on the floor. “I won’t be going to Lumina, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have work to do. I’ve neglected my practice since I’ve been running around.”


    Cal’s eyes were drawn to her again before he forced them away when she had the same smirk on her face. “Looks like you’re going to keep mepany since I’ll be working outside the whole day.”


    Tavia hummed in reply. She silently watched him feed the hearthstone his mana, speaking only when the process was finished. “Why not wait for it to fill up naturally?”


    Cal took a deep breath to gather himself. Emptying his mana core was always apanied by a moment of unease, which was especially noticeable if he didn’t empty it to cast a spell.


    “Supplementing it takes little effort from me. I can spare a few hours daily to speed up the process.”


    Tavia shifted on the couch and supported her chin on the palm of her hand. “Do you need help? A Mage like me could have finished with the time you spent.”


    Cal nced at her with a slight frown. He recognized that she was teasing him, but that wasn’t the issue.


    A high-level Initiate <strong>[Mage]</strong> would have a mana capacity simr to the one he currently possessed. Tavia’s boast would be correct if she referred to the weaker hearthstones.


    <em>She doesn’t even know what she gifted me. The Overseer hid this from her.</em>


    He shook his head. “You went through the trouble to get me this gift. I’ll do the work necessary.”


    “Whatever you say,” Tavia shrugged before standing up and sauntering back to her room.


    Cal’s eyes trailed after her until the closed door blocked him. He knew what she was doing. The problem was he didn’t know how to respond.


    <em>Did her choosing to stay here have an ulterior motive? Or this could be the result of what Oleg kept telling me. Show disinterest in Tavia, and that will get her attention… I always thought Oleg was an idiot for thinking that’s true.</em>


    He stared at the closed door for a few more seconds before smiling. Many things have already changed. Maybe this could be another.


    Cal sensed his mana core fill to capacity and started to feed the hearthstone again.


    ***


    A burst of heat mmed into Cal’s back as he watched the rain hydrate the cultivated patch. He didn’t react since this already happened multiple times.


    From the time she left the house, Tavia had been practicing her fire spell repeatedly on the other side of the field. He could feel that she was getting better with every attempt. This shocking rate of improvement demolished his efforts in hisst life.


    She only took a few hours for what would have taken him weeks at a minimum when he was a <strong>[Mage]</strong>. There was a real chance that Tavia could match up to an Initiate <strong>[Mage]</strong> in a first-rate guild.


    Cal didn’t know he could feel such jealousy until now.


    He cut off his mana when the patch was sufficiently watered. There were only about four days to go till harvest, but he couldn’t see any significant change in the crop.


    The Sunfire Grains were peeking out of the soil, but they didn’t look anywhere close to being halfway grown. It was something to ask Drex when he arrived since he knew nothing about the crop. He only knew to nt it.


    Cal had taken the barrel of seeds and rake out of the storage room before he started the day, so he went right to the next step. nting the Sunfire Grain seeds in the newly repaired, one thousand square foot patch of soil.


    He would use the same spacing as before, nting a thousand seeds. Over the next hour, he dug a small hole in the soil before cing a single seed. The burst of heat from Tavia’s casting was a constant during this time, but he quickly got used to the feeling.


    Cal raked the soil to fill the holes after he had ced the seeds. He stepped out of the patch and nodded to himself in satisfaction at his work. He could see the seeds already adsorbing the moisture in the soil.


    He raised his palm and cast <strong>[Rainfall]</strong>. He let the spell use all his mana since he knew how thirsty the seeds were. The soil looked muddy when the rain stopped.


    <em>This amount of cultivatednd is still manageable, but it will use too much of my mana if I scale up. An irrigation system will be mandatory soon enough.</em>


    “Cal! Are you expecting someone?”


    Cal snapped himself out of his thoughts and turned to see Tavia pointing at the tree line. He frowned in confusion since he couldn’t hear anything, but that changed a few secondster.


    His eyes widened in surprise as he nced at Tavia. Her hearing shouldn’t be better than his because he is at a higher <strong>[Tier]</strong> rank.


    <em>Maybe being a talented </em><strong><em>[Mage]</em></strong><em> brings benefits I’m not aware of.</em>


    “It’s a single cart!” Tavia yelled from across the field when he didn’t reply.


    Cal’s eyes shed in anticipation. “It’s my fertilizer supplier!”


    Tavia froze before ncing between the rake he held, the seeds he had just nted, and the satisfied expression of his face. She hid her face as her shoulders shook silently before waving him off and returning to her practice.


    Cal felt he should be offended, but he knew that Tavia was still imagining the overly-pompous Trainee wearing immacte robes to what he looked like now. He wouldugh too.


    He saw Drex’s cart appear at the tree line just as Tavia chose to create another wall of fire. Drex released a startled yell as he fought to settle his terrified beasts of burden.


    Cal was about to yell for Tavia to stop when the wall of fire suddenly disappeared.


    “Sorry! That was bad timing!” Tavia looked sheepish as she waved her hand.


    He raised an eyebrow, not believing that to be an ident when she had such good hearing, but let it go. Drex had regained control, so there was no harm in the end.


    Cal waited for the cart to be near before asking, “No loam?”


    “Tomorrow,” Drex said with a grunt as he jumped down. “Who’s the Initiate?”


    “Her name’s Tavia,” Cal looked to see any recognition on Drex’s face. There wasn’t.


    “Well, tell her to avoid spooking the animals. It would be a disaster if I brought the convoy with supplies.”


    “Hm,” Cal nodded as he nced at Tavia curiously. She wasn’t subtle in hiding that she was paying attention. “So, these are the crops.”


    Drex finally paid attention to the Sunfire Grains Cal had nted several days ago. He rubbed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he saw before confirming it with a second look.


    “These look like they’ve been nted for over a month!”


    Cal shrugged when he was stared at with a feverish gaze. “They’ll probably grow at the same pace. Maybe I should learn about how to harvest them.”


    Drex immediately nodded before looking greedily around the rest of the field. “Are you sure you don’t want any help?”


    <em>This look makes his connection with Nismus more believable.</em>


    “We can discuss that in the future, but let’s focus on the crops for now.” Cal had previously refused to take any help with farming, but that was when clearing the field gave him significant <strong>[Tier]</strong> growth. It would be time to offload that task when it could be better spent on something else.


    “I’ll remember that promise,” Drex’s eyes gleamed. “Let’s begin.”