MAGIC ARRAYS AND A NEW SCULPTURE

Tristan didn't realize he had been meditating for three whole weeks. But now that he did, no attempt to get into that state again seemed to work. He felt like he had assimilated more knowledge in those three weeks than he would if he worked hard normally for a couple of years.

Tristan could now freely transfer magical energy and the resulting medicines would be of an extremely high grade which would restore significant vitality as well as cure sickness very quickly. He could also transfer power to plants and animals making them healthier or in the case of plants grow faster. He used it to make a blooming hibiscus in front of Diane, Rudi and Miza. He then chivalrously attached the flower to Diane's hair above her ear who was blushing while Rudi was being nauseating as usual with his comments.

His high degree of magic transfer capability was way more than what the books suggested to be the case usually since transferring into living things was extremely difficult or impossible according to them.

Tristan then proceeded to study magical arrays and alchemic arrays. This was the easiest part of the training for him because it required two things, an good memory and good magic control and he was now exceptional at both. But the versatility of arrays still shocked him.

He first tried transmutation arrays where he tried converting wooden blocks into sculptures and failed a few times but eventually succeeded. But the visualization while concentrating wasn't good enough and the sculpture was poor. So he kept practicing, while at the same time not forgetting his duties towards the shop. He couldn't however manage to the same level as his own hand made sculpture.

The same happened when he tried transmutation materials. He needed to transmute large amounts of pebbles to make a single molecule of gold which he could detect because of the array's properties.

As he kept practicing arrays and studying the theories behind how to use arrays for transmutation he realized that the reason for the inefficient exchange was due to the arrays being inefficient. Tristan needed to study more about the theory of arrays first. 

It was around this point when Mister Merchant made an appearance as promised. After trading the predecided stock of Trivial Ferns with the merchant, he dramatically produced three picture books Sculpting through the ages, volume 1,2 and 3.

"Kiddo, I found these three books in exchange for your sculpture. It was really hard to sell it because of the amateurish craft but I finally met a person who seemed quite interested in it. When I told him about you and my deal, he promptly gave me these three books, bought the sculpture and told me to get another sculpture from you if possible. In return, he would send three more books, but it must be your best work."

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Tristan thought for a few moments and then said, "I will deliver the sculpture to you tomorrow before you leave."

"Oh, Melany the Witch sent this bag for you as well. She really has a soft spot for your huh."

With that, Tristan collected the bag and returned to the Herbalist shop while Mr. Merchant visited the village to stay as a guest of the village chief.

Tristan decided he would try making a sculpture by transmutation and then working manually om the finer details. But first he decided to analyse the array and find out what was wrong with the efficiency factor.

Deductively applying the theory, Tristan came to the conclusion that the true exercise of the study of arrays that his teacher left him was to improve the efficiency of these inefficient arrays. He could directly increase inefficiency of the sculpting array by 50% by simply following the theory, but any further improvements have to be done by innovating.

Racking is brain for several hours, just as it approached  sun set, Tristan had a spark of inspiration and redesigned the array with 25 fewer connectors than before.he then transmuted a pair of gloves for both his hands and then carefully painted a miniature version of the newly thought arrays onto them. 

Next began the true work. Instead of transmuting the entire block of wood, Tristan decided to transmuted local regions that his fingers touch based on his thought by using the array on the glove.

Just as his parents came towards the shop to call him home, Tristan camped out with the wooden block and began working diligently and carefully. Pinching the wood as if it were clay, thanks to the transmutation array and then sharpening the wood on one side while smoothening on the other. The dexterity that it provided was comparable to that of a potter, but he was working with wood. 

Unaware of his surroundings, Tristan kept working at the project, while his parents observed in silence, afraid of breaking his concentration. It wasn't long before most of the village had appeared to take a look at a bizzare sculpting process. There was no chisel or blade, simply a boy with two white gloves carving wood with occasional flashes of light due to the magic arrays on the gloves.

When he finally finished, he took off the gloves, wiped the sweat off his forehead, carefully lifted the piece of sculpture. Tristan then closed his eyes and began using manna transfer, transferring his manna into the sculpture, with instructions set before hand to create moss on the mountain slopes and cool down the air near the peaks to sublimate into snow and near the valley to form a lake. It was an aerial view of Sindry village and the Urek mountains surrounding them. A magic sculpture.

Suddenly the entire audience, including the merchant who too came to take a look, began clapping and cheering loudly. The merchant came and immediately formed a trading contract for the sculptor, guaranteeing the sale as he had promised. He claimed to do so because of the valuability of this piece.

A magic sculpture - it would remain alive as long as it was supplied with manna. It could be revived again by simply supplying manna without instruction since the primary manna was instructed.

The next day Tristan sent off the merchant with a letter for his aunt Melany, describing the events until now and his progress with his studies.