I was planning to convert the fourth floor into an office, so I told Revati to build a separate teleportation platform to access it. Each floor had three rooms. The main hall and two smaller rooms. The ground floor consisted of one smaller room and another room that opened onto a loading bay. She selected the small room that was behind the main hall. That room will be transformed into an employees only section with direct access to the fourth floor.

The shop was gradually coming together. We checked the platforms and they were working flawlessly. The dwarves cheered.

After that, we went to look at the workshop. I had told Reuben to furnish the workshop with everything it requires with the help of Bjorv. So, I could see furnaces and anvils as well as bigger magical tools for faster production. The upper floor of the workshop has been converted to living spaces for the dwarves. Even an extra two storey building had been built next to it to accomodate more dwarves.

Everything seemed ready. A few days later, Reuben came to meet me at the estate, informing that all of the construction had been completed. The total came upto 40 platinum coins and an extra 5 coins for furnishings. With a promise to call him again for any further business, I bade him farewell. He left with a smile.

A few days later, all the preparations for the opening had been completed. We had moved all the washing machines to the shop and set them up for display. A large space was prepared outside the shop for trials to pull in customers.

The dwarves were working diligently with Revati and were completing the machines quite quickly. With a good amount in stock, it was now time to open the shop.

I called everyone from our estate as well as the dwarves who had worked hard for the opening. Ashryn and Revati were there as well. I felt proud for starting something at last, even though it was in another world. We opened the shop with a cheer. I had moved three people from the estate to the shop to work as salespersons and our business started with smiles on everyone's faces.

While everyone was reveling in the joyous mood, I saw Ashryn in the corner of the room with a sad face. I went to talk to her.

"Is everything all right?"

"Y-yeah...Congrats by the way." She said with a smile. It looked a little forced.

"Thank you. But it's all thanks to Revati."

"I know you worked hard as well," she said, smiling.

"Thank you."

"If you need anything, you know I'm always here, right?" I stressed.

"O-Of course," she said, averting her eyes. I felt like I touched a nerve so I left it alone.

For the first few days, no-one came but gradually, some people started coming in fascinated by the trials we were displaying outside the shop. Mr. Leighet and Count Linet came to greet and congratulate me on the opening and bought a washing machine each. Eventually, the word began to spread about the miracle washing machine and we were swamped with orders from all directions. There were even shops dedicated to washing clothes cropping up all over the city. Every owner of a building in the city was requesting one for themselves.

Even people from the magic tower came and marveled at the washing machine and the teleportation platforms. They demanded to see the person who created them and I directed them to Revati. She didn't seem much keen on keeping up appearances so I had a hard time keeping them off of her. She received many invitations to the magic towers but she declined all of them. As the news of the machine spread, we started getting orders even from outside Astrya and the workload of the dwarfs increased.

Bjorv came to meet me one day and told me that the orders were increasingly getting harder to fulfill. I decided to hire more dwarves and asked him. He said he will contact his tribe and get back to me.

Everything was proceeding smoothly. Revati had already started working on other things. She had asked for the refrigerator and she was diligently working on it. This world already had a cooling tool but it had limited uses and a mage needed to be dispatched to reset the circle every week. It wasn't meant for small families. Our refrigerator was much better, so Revati was quite excited to work on it.

Our main goal to make the convenience goods available to everyone became our main focus. They could be used even if the person using it didn't know magic. The commoners were flocking to buy the washing machine. We had set the price for the washing machine at 100 gold which was pretty cheap if they pulled money together. So it continued to sell out.

----

A council of elders sat around a table on the highest floor of the magic tower. Heiken, the presiding mage who was a 10th circle mage, opened his mouth.

"So, have you found the creator of the teleportation device?"

"Unfortunately, they had rejected all out advances." Another person sitting on the same table said.

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"Hmm, it's hard to believe that someone will reject the tower. What of the owner of the shop?"

"He refuses to meet us."

"I see. Find out everything you can about him. We must get our hands on the teleportation platform and the secrets of how the magic circle was drawn in the washing machine."

"Yes, sir."

Heiken sat alone, deep in thought, even after everyone had left. It was quite shocking to come across someone who had invented something new and most of all, they did not belong to the magic tower. He had a complex about wandering mages and thought they couldn't amount to anything. He took out a smoking pipe and after lighting it, began to think of ways to entice the inventor to the magic tower and increase their prestige.

Unbeknownst to Rayce, albeit slowly, the gears had started turning.

----

A few weeks later.

(Master, you need to go into training. We need to increase your number of circles.)

(I hear you!)

She had been constantly pestering me since the fight with the wraith. I had done some sword training on the estate grounds but it wasn't enough. I wasn't able to achieve the same level I had reached while fighting the wraith. It was like something was blocking my vision to rise above the sword expert level. So, Airi was advising me to increase the number of circles.

When it felt like things were going smoothly with the shop, I consented to Airi's demands. I went and informed Elias and Revati that I'll be going into training for a while. And, I might be away for a couple of days. They nodded in understanding and wished me luck. The shop was running on its own. The dwarves were producing the machines with the motors made by Airi and Otien. The servants I had assigned to the shop were taking care of sales and Elias was managing the registers. So, I felt like I could leave them to it.

Elias still hadn't found out anything about Ashryn. Though that worry remained in the back of my head, I gave in to Airi's pressure and set off.

(Master, the Frithrin forest looks to be the best place. We will be free from any distractions.)

(Hmm, alright.)

We needed a quiet place so I agreed with her and made our way towards the Frithrin forest. I teleported to the edge of the forest. This time, there wasn't anyone around even though it was daytime. The place was deserted. Airi advised me to turn myself invisible and fly over the forest. The spells automatically appeared in my mind. So, listening to her advice, I made myself invisible and started to fly over the forest. The gloomy forest was the same as ever. I couldn't see inside due to the dense trees that were growing everywhere. As I looked from above, I could feel the vastness of the forest. It was truly huge. I couldn't see the end of it even if I used my skill and tried to look as far as I could.

Soon, we reached a clearing which seemed quite rare since all I could see up until that point were only dense trees growing side by side. A medium sized mountain stood there overlooking a small lake. I figured it must be a watering hole. So, I was cautious. You never know what kind of monsters you might run into.

(Master, this place looks good.)

(Hmm, alright.)

I landed by the lake and scanned for monsters. I could feel a few presences but they were quite far away. I looked at the lake and the calm waters gave off a relaxing atmosphere.

(How far inside are we?)

(We are about thirty percent inside the forest.)

(Alright, I don't think we'll be running into anyone here.)

I sat down facing the lake after finding a suitable place and placed a barrier around me. Then I went into the same cross legged sitting position. Airi began to explain.

(To achieve circles greater than six, you need to instinctively know what magic is and what makes up the particles we call energy.)

(It is called by many names. In this continent, it is called energy, in another continent it is called mana, and in another it is called force.)

(Though it has different names, it is the same thing in essence. Please try to feel the flow of the energy surrounding your body.)

(With your senses, feel the particles of energy floating in the air. Take them in. Visualise yourself as a magnet that attracts the magic particles.)

I did as I was told.

(Concentrate on your heart and visualise it opening up and absorbing the particles. Then slowly, spread them to your blood vessels. Feel the blood vessels pounding as you infuse the particles.)

(Feel them change. Do not resist. Let the sensation flow and spread over your body.)

I could feel a warm feeling being concentrated on a spot at the base of my neck. It began to spread all over my body. I could feel lumps of energy being concentrated on small parts of my body like the spine, my abdomen and the top of my head.

(You're doing great, Master!)

I don't know how long I sat in that position. Eventually, Airi's voice also faded away. My heart began to beat rapidly and the same sharp pain pierced my heart. I held on to the hope of growing stronger once I get past this pain. I tried to slowly feel the heart. It felt like my heart was being held tightly with a searing hot iron in the shape of a circle. I could feel the heart forming the seventh, the eighth and the ninth circle. The circles were slowly being branded onto the surface of the heart. I could feel the blood vessels changing. As if they were being pierced with small needles. The pain spread to the whole body and it felt like being pierced by hot iron from all sides. I didn't remember anything after that. I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, it was night. I looked up and two of the moons were shrouded by clouds and the remaining moon cast a light that barely illuminated the surroundings. The chilly air blowing near the lake made me shiver.

(Airi?)

There was no answer.

"Fascinating," I heard someone say.

All the hairs on my body stood up and I immediately turned to the side. I felt weakened and was unable to get up immediately. After I was able to slowly raise myself up, I looked at the scenery and it hadn't changed. The medium sized mountain was overlooking the lake and a small mountain lay next to me. I still couldn't feel any presences.

"Hmm, hey. Do you hear me?"

I turned in the direction that the sound was coming from. Only the small mountain was visible. Wait, a mountain?

As soon as the revelation struck me, I looked at the mountain in horror. Suddenly a slit opened on the surface of the mountain and I could see a large eye staring at me. I was so shocked, I fell to the ground. I concentrated and I could see a large body with shiny scales lying on the ground in place of what I thought was a mountain. It even had wings on its back, though they were folded.

The eye which was the size of half my body was looking at me.

"Calm down. I'm not here to harm you."

"I-I see. W-What are you?"

"Me? Don't you recognize this majestic dragon?"

"D-Dragon?"

I felt like my soul had left my body. All I needed now was a dragon appearing in front of me, when I still haven't recovered my strength. I looked at the large form of the dragon, it scales shining faintly in the moonlight. The shock of the encounter was evident on my face.