After everything was set and done, Veles ran his fingers on the surface of the table in front of him. It was the exact same one he used during his imprisonment. The poor piece of wood was a mess, riddled with numerous cuts, burns, and scratches covering its previously smooth surface.

“I’m sure this piece has seen better days… But anyway, who uses wood as a material for their workstation?” Tora commented. During their rearrangement of the basement, she was mostly preoccupied with her own work, disregarding his and Davis’s presence entirely.

Well, she did, until now…

Veles ran his finger over a burn digging deep into the wooden top made from the Rudar tree. Only if Tora knew that this type of tree was many times harder than common steel, she wouldn’t have asked a silly question like that.

“For some crafts, it’s required to work on the material that has high resistance to mana,” said Veles, then proceeded to take various tools and books, lying them around the table.

His words intrigued Tora. She touched the edge of the table and started forcing copious amounts of mana into it. But to her shock, her mana didn’t even touch the wood; it gently danced around the edges as if something was repelling it.

“This is interesting,” Tora said, then scanned the damage on top of the table. “How resistant is it to corroding poisons and toxins?”

Without stopping arranging his tools, Veles replied, “It should hold firm. However, if you plan on doing alchemy on it, drawing all those magical circles you use will be hard.”

“Makes sense… Nonetheless, since I see that you have a ridiculous amount of space inside your storage ring, do you perhaps have an extra table like that? I want to try a couple of things…” Tora asked.

Veles just pointed at the corner of the room, where Davis sat leisurely with the book in his hand, or more accurately, he pointed at the table Davis raised his legs on. “It’s made out of the same material. Use it however you wish.”

Then, Tora surprised Veles with the next question, “What else do you have?” She didn’t even give him time to answer; she just walked near him and took the first book that caught her attention.

“Oh, interested, aren’t we?” said Veles.

Tora flipped a couple of pages and pursed her lips, “I can’t help myself but be curious,” She closed the book, “This book is written in the same strange language you gave me a dictionary for. The language I never heard about…”

“It’s not like you can know many,” commented Veles, “You are pretty young. I doubt you have an excessive experience with the languages…”

Tora shook her head at his comment, “If my family is known for something, it’s our knowledge. My father is a very powerful Summoner, and so were my grandpa and ancestors before them… Our family’s library is filled with knowledge taken from summons throughout the generations. So, I’ve seen fair and share of mysterious languages.”

“Why do I feel like I’m not supposed to know that?” Asked Veles, and seeing Tora’s panicked reaction, his point proved right. “And I’m sure you aren’t supposed to know this in the first place…”

“Ugh,” Tora winced, then grumbled something under her breath. She then shamelessly coughed, and as if nothing had previously happened, she slammed the book back on the table, her eyes sparkling with interest, “Let’s forget about that for now. Come on, show me something interesting. I’m sure you have plenty of little mysterious things I’ve never seen before!”

She was right on that; his storage ring was overflowed with rare, unique, and expensive materials. Some of which would undoubtedly cause enormous turbulence if brought out. Not only were they parts of highly Staged beasts that still released strong mana undulations, but he also had a good number of carefully contained plants that potentially had dangerous effects…

But what worried Veles the most was the knowledge inside the books he’d written. They contain some things that weren’t meant to be spoken or written… or rather, they weren’t meant to be known… There was no way he was going to take them out; it was the gamble he wasn’t willing to take.

Still, to satisfy Tora’s curiosity, Veles took five large books from his storage ring that should be safe. Their cover was reddish-brown with beautiful golden ornaments around the edges. The books themselves were a piece of art, each with its own miniature difference, but all shared the same thing, and that was the language their titles were written with.

“What’s this?” Tora asked boringly. It seemed that she wasn’t really interested in looking at any more books.

“Every single one of these can help you with what you are looking for,” Veles quickly pointed at each book, “But I will let you choose just one for now, and once you master its contents, I will let you pick the next one.”

“How boring, are you trying to play some sort of game with me?” Tora asked while reaching for the nearest one.

However, Veles gently slapped her hand. “You can treat it as a game. But like I said, choose one, and choose carefully.”

“How am I supposed to pick one without checking first?” Tora asked, giving him a side glare. But for some reason, she suddenly looked overly interested in all of this.

“Luck,” Veles simply said.

“Just luck?” Tora stared at him in disbelief.

“Well, yes. If you learned the language from the dictionary, you could’ve got a chance at actually choosing,” Veles replied.

Tora rolled her eyes at him. His words were ridiculous, and Veles knew it. Learning a new language in a day or two was impossible, and using a dictionary wouldn’t help much. So, even giving her this book was, in a way, pointless…

Despite all this, Tora reached with her hand and grabbed the second book from the left. She immediately opened the first page and quickly glanced at its contents.

Veles, already knowing what she was looking at, explained, “You picked the one with details of the human Nervous System,” He stood near her, his finger tracing the image on the first page. “As you can see here, every nerve is documented here. Their purposes and uniqueness, how they respond to various stimulants, and much more. Everything is in there.”

The image he was dragging his fingers on was of a ‘transparent’ human standing in a T pose. This transparency was there to showcase the numerous lines traversing through the body, the lines which were nerves, just as Veles had explained.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

But there was an important detail missing, where Veles was currently tapping his finger on, “As you can see, the brain part is missing.” He then took the utmost right book from the table, which was, in fact, the thickest one. “The brain is much more complex; it can be barely put into one book. Once you master the one you picked, maybe I will let you take this one.”

He then proceeded to store every single book back inside his storage ring. Once finished, his eye caught Tora’s furrowed brows, so he added, “I must say that you made the best choice. I know my strange way of doing things might be confusing and mysterious, but believe me when I say that I don’t do anything pointless…” He stopped there for a second because, honestly, that was a lie... “Anyway, most of the time, I don’t do pointless stuff, and this is one of them. So, if you go through that book and learn the language, you will succeed in whatever you are trying to cure.”

Tora looked at him, a rare serious expression coloring her face, “I hope your words are true. The research I’ve been doing all this time is very important to me…” She then closed the book, “So, if one day I learn that you were messing with me all this time. I will make your life a living hell.”

“Sure, whatever,” Veles took her threat as a joke. He made a shooing motion with his hand and then simply added, “Go learn the stuff and come back only if you need an answer to something serious. Otherwise, don’t bother me. I will be busy for quite some time.”

Tora pursed her lips. She obviously didn’t like Veles’s total disregard for her threat. Yet, without any other option, she turned around and went to her own table. She didn’t start with her alchemy, nor went to take the table Davis was at. Instead, she dove right into the dictionary Veles had previously given her.

Veles nodded in satisfaction. He hoped that would keep her busy for a while because, for now, he wanted to focus on more important stuff. He scanned the tools on the table, and amidst them, he spotted two egg-shaped glass beads. They might look simple at first glance, but for what he was about to do, they were the most crucial component.

Finally starting on his work, Veles grabbed the beads, one of them firmly held in his right hand’s palm while the other, he tossed toward Davis, who skillfully caught it. There was no need for any explanation; Veles had already explained everything to Davis, so it was time to start.

He poured his blackish mana inside the bead without holding back, his reserves dwindling with each passing second. And after a full minute, Veles noticed that the bead had sucked almost half of his mana, which was ridiculous in itself, considering that his reserves were around four times larger than the average person’s. He had to stop… reaching below a third of mana could cause serious problems, something he wouldn’t want to deal with.

He held this bead between his fingers, or rather the Mana Holder, as people called it. This little device was like a battery for storing mana and was mainly used by craftsmen when enchanting a personal weapon or armor, a widespread and helpful craft Veles was about to perform.

Veles then switched his attention toward the device he wasn’t thrilled to use. This device consisted of a small box where the Mana Holder was placed; attached to it was a thin tube that led to the end that was shaped like a large pen. All in all, it looked like a mini welding machine, reminding him of old not-so-good days.

He placed Mana Holder inside the carefully designed socket, grabbed the pen end, and placed one of his daggers in front. Without checking for anything, he immediately went to work by pouring a tiny bit of mana to start the device. The tip of the pen touched the cold steel of a dagger’s blade, leaving a small black spot on its previous smooth surface. Then, going from this dot that was placed near the handle, Veles drew a line all the way to the tip…

If a beginner blacksmith or enchanter saw his work, they would snicker at his amateurish attempt. The line he drew wasn’t a straight one. It was curved and didn’t follow the edge perfectly. But Veles knew very well what he was doing. From what he learned by reading the books he stole in Koria and observing the different weapons during their previous shopping spree, this part of the process didn’t take a genius to do.

What he was doing right now was drawing a Mana Pathways on metal. People form them during their third stage. Why couldn’t the same be done with metals or any other material? This practice was established for who knows how long. Even people in Osvalen used it regularly…

The question was. What was the point of all this? Well, just like pathways in one’s body, they allowed a fast and precise mana transference. However, in the case of a weapon, it allowed a user to tune it to their own mana, making a simple sword feel like an extension of their body.

There was one more important point to it, a point Veles totally ignored because, truthfully, it wasn’t suited either for him or Davis, and this point was making slots for a spell on the weapons. For example, Fagor from the mercenary group used his large shield all the time. Well, this shield had a couple of spells engraved into it, allowing for quick and compact casting. But for Davis and Veles, this was irrelevant; they didn’t cast any spells, nor do they need them at the moment…

So, what Veles did right now was just allow their weapons to work seamlessly alongside their mana. Adding Mana Pathways to their weapons would considerably boost their overall strength and, more importantly, reduce mana consumption.

“And done,” Said Veles as he floated a finished dagger in front of his face. This whole process took him nearly two hours to finish, and the result was this beautiful thin blade colored with black crooked lines. As for the handle, it also had its own uniqueness; a bunch of half-circled silver lines were drawn on it, giving it a somewhat artistic look.

Now, onto the most important part… testing.

The dagger flickered with silver light, appearing right above snoozing Davis. With a simple flick of his finger, Veles sent a dagger smashing down on the table right next to Davis’s ear, breaking the guy’s nap and forcing him to jump in fright.

Davis didn’t say a word; he instinctively went into action and grabbed his spear, not even bothering to wipe the drool off his face. He looked around with his eyes still half awake…

“Looks like it works,” said Veles loudly, catching Davis’s attention.

It was then that it dawned on him. Davis checked the dagger that had previously stuck close to where his head was and sighed in defeat. “Please don’t do that again.”

“Sure,” replied Veles with a blatant lie. “Now give me your spear and the Holder. I will work on it next.”

Not a word said, Davis neared and handed him the spear alongside the bead swirling with earthen mana. “That’s all I could fill it with. I almost passed out near the end…”

“It will be enough,” said Veles, and just as he was about to turn around and face the table, he caught Tora’s shocked face. This made him smirk—she seemed to understand a very important detail…

The dagger he teleported managed to perform one feat that should have been impossible… It ignored the wards in the mansion, the wards that were supposed to suppress any form of spatial ability.

That was Veles’s main goal with all this. He wanted to have something handy to use because all throughout the city, there were wards that blocked all his spatial abilities. Although he was always able to brute force it, it would inevitably result in him suffering some backlash. But like this, he had a couple of daggers that he could teleport at will, allowing him to traverse the city without worrying about being attacked with half of his abilities useless.

With the spear placed on the table, Veles began inscribing thin brown lines on the wooden shaft. But just as he was about to immerse himself into the work, Vera landed on his shoulder, demanding his attention.

“What’s wrong?” Veles asked. His little owl looked quite concerned.

Vera quietly hooted, her right wing slightly raised in a weird gesture.

Understanding her gesture clearly, Veles replied, “No, I already told you the plan. Get that impulsive guy agitated enough, then switch to phase two. What seems to be a problem?”

Vera yet again made strange motions, which Veles promptly nodded to.

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Even if everything went south, we can salvage it. Come on girl, you know better than to question my decisions,” said Veles.

The owl closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. A very human-like motion coming from a bird.

“Did you just have a full conversation with the bird?” Tora asked from the other side of the room. Her focus was on Veles ever since his little stunt with the dagger. But it seemed like she didn’t hear their little exchange.

“Sure did,” Veles replied. “Want me to teach you how to talk with my little Vera?”

Tora quickly glanced at the dictionary she just studied, “No. This is already enough.”

“Good then. Again, if you need a question about something serious, just ask. Otherwise, let me work in peace,” said Veles before going back to work. The next few days would be busy. He’d planned to deal with that Basar guy who stalked Tora from the moment they encountered him. And the opportunity just presented itself with the attacks on Dalia’s mansion.

But before acting upon this opportunity, Veles must test several things. And fortunately for him, his little arrogant owl was more than qualified to help with that.