Ida was working out wonderfully. I'd put her onto the fabric project I'd given up on a couple of years ago, the work being just a bit out of my wheelhouse. Perhaps she'd have better luck with it, and if nothing else I might get a bit more material to work with from her. My own attempts had been successful, in a certain light, in that I'd managed to make a bit of rough cloth, but wildly failing in another because of the sheer amount of mana I'd had to waste doing it. Spinning was hard and no matter what I tried I just couldn't get my fingers to make it work.

Having Atal as a backer did have some other benefits though. I'd sent a messenger to the palace to ask about magical materials recently, and been told that I could come by later today to talk to some people. That was exciting, as I'd had little success working with those as of yet, and there was a bit of hope there. Even if I couldn't find something for Atal's work, perhaps I could find something for my own.

It was still early though, so I was taking some time to get work done in my underground lab. A small portion of my copper had been converted into wire and I was in the process of building a proper computer. Games here I came, hah, more like basic math, poorly and with some bugs, but one thing built upon another and with time I could build high.

I'd not yet discovered anything approaching a proper medium for magic, nor was I worrying about it at the moment. Instead this was good old electricity, and honestly poorly made. One day I might have access to pure silicon crystals and the ability to inscribe upon them advanced patterns, I could even see what that would look like in my mind, but I lacked the know-how, and the architecture for it.

Being an elf, and the memory that came with it had given me one advantage that I'd never had or dreamed of as a man. My perfect memory, it was so much, so amazing. Even now I could remember everything down to the tiniest bit. That meant that if I could ever figure out a computer, or a chip, I could make them. Once I'd committed the design to memory I could probably build it atom by atom with my magic. It was amazing, unbelievably powerful, and something I'd do eventually, I promised myself that.

For now though I began working my way through exponents, looking for obvious issues with my current labor. It was rough, very rough, and I had to power it manually, put in the digits manually, and everything else rather manually, but it could tell me what two to the power of twelve was, so that was something. Eventually I would need to make some kind of proper programs to go into these, not something I cherished doing. I'd been a garbage programmer in my last life, only ever knowing the basics. I'd always been much more a hardware guy.

A few more hours of playing around and it was time to leave. There weren't any clocks around here, more like general times of day, but being on time was polite. My work wasn't going anywhere for now. So with a few flicks of my wrist I locked up my workroom and headed out.

Before I left I went to check on my workers. Chien was sharing a few different shovel designs with a group of girls who were paying very close attention to his movements. I wasn't sure exactly which would work best for them, so I'd armed him with a few made of wood from small almost gardening trowels to larger digging implements. None of these would be all that hard for them to make, but the shift in thinking was what we needed anyway. Ida was in her little work area and looked up at me as I came in the door.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Oh, hello, um, Justin,” she said, still a bit awkward around me.

“Good morning Ida, how do things go?” I asked.

“Oh, very well. So, you know how you told me to brush out the fibers before using them?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, if you do that and make sure they're all in the same direction, you can roll them up, and...” she began to demonstrate how she'd changed the direction she was using the fiber in. I could also see she'd spent a lot more time separating them and combing them before bothering with this. It was the end result that I was interested in though.

“Your thread,” I said, pointing to the little spool there. “May I?” I couldn't just taken it, but being nice was important.

After quick confirmation I unspooled a bit. She'd managed to outdo me on this, and while it certainly wouldn't match the fine silk stuff Earth had, it was more than good enough to make cloth from. It was thin, and quite regular.

“Excellent work,” I said, giving her a smile and patting her on the shoulder. She turned, but I didn't miss the slight blush that crept up her face. “Now, I must be off.”

She waved me off, as did Chien when he saw me leaving. The trip to the palace was a walk, but not too bad of one, and when I got there I saw something I'd not expected. They were renovating. The entrance was getting an arch over it, something which raised my eyebrows quite high.

Rather than being taken to Atal I was instead taken off to a side room, where I was greeted by a woman who instantly set my hair standing on end. She was a full head shorter than I was, but half of her hair was white, and her expression spoke of stark disapproval.

“Good day, miss...”

“Jina, you may call me Jina. Before we start I will inform you that I disapprove of this heavily,” there was a strong frown as she spoke.

“What about, if I may ask?”

“You may. You're too young for this Justin, far too young. Normally even the simplest of these secrets wouldn't be given to one until they had their first white hair, but Grandfather has spoken highly of you, and insisted himself. Let me inform you though, that some of what I will be showing you is banned, and for good reason. If it is misused you will die, either at your own hands, or Atal's. Am I understood?”

“Yes, clearly understood,” I answered.

“Good, follow me.” With that Jina turned and began walking away.

As Jina showed me to her room the only conclusion that I could reasonably come to was that she was the closest thing I'd seen since coming to this world to an actual, honest to goodness witch. It looked like a bright and airy workspace, with hanging herbs mushrooms, and even a few rocks here and there in piles and on simple shelves. Some were even in bowls of various types. A few glowed with eerie light, a few had auras. In one corner there was a beast in a living wooden cage, the tree had been grown around it to keep it in place, it let out angry hisses and odd squeaking noises.

“Sit,” I was told, with a finger pointing to a spot near a little table. As soon as I'd found my place Jina began pacing, now able to tower over and look down at me. “I will be showing you general recipes for a number of potions and dyes today, along with some other, less common materials. If ingested the first of these will raise your power significantly, but at the same time cause your death. The magic in it spreads, and burns through you, and once the process begins, it cannot be ended.”

“... I've seen something like that before,” I told her.

“Oh? And what happened to the drinker?” she said with a genuine curiosity.

“He... he went mad, and I had to kill him.” I couldn't look up as I spoke, the memory still twinging.

“Not unusual, and I'm glad you've seen it, so you know the dangers.”

As she explained each herb she took it down, listing uses, where to find it, what it was called by some people, and others that might be used in its place. Some needed to be dried, or crushed, or wet. I watched as she prepared almost a dozen of the brews that I knew would kill. Each time telling me about who'd made them, how they'd died, the destruction they'd caused. It was going to be a long afternoon.