I flew over the forest for half an hour until I reached the mountain, and then I started to ascend it, although always close to the ground, flying inclined was more difficult, I had to hold on tight to the broom so as not to fall.

Once I reached the middle of the mountain I could see a small plateau on the side of the mountain, and on it there was a small old wooden house.

As I approached with the broom I could see an old man sitting in the yard drinking tea, I decided to approach to ask for directions but I stayed off his property as it could be offensive, my caution seemed to be not very useful because as soon as I approached the old man, he jumped up and started shouting.

-It wasn't enough to have poisoned and exiled me so many years ago, was it? They still need to humiliate me, I always knew they would come looking for me, to finish the job, well too bad, this warrior will not give you the pleasure of killing him!"

As soon as he finished speaking the old man pulled out a sword from under the table and went for his neck.

- "wo wo wo, calm down old man, I don't even know who you are, I'm just passing by and was looking for some directions."

- "lies! i won't believe your lies, why would anyone travel through these poor lands, it's obvious you're coming to kill me, didn't the family have enough to poison me and banish me to this mountain after all i did for them? That arrogant man of my brother, valuing more the position of patriarch over the family, offered me a drink containing water of the void, thus plugging my meridians and preventing me from using my strength, but it was not enough, was it? I always knew he would send someone to finish his dirty work, but I'm not going to give you that pleasure, I'll end my life before I continue to be humiliated like that".

Why is the old fucker telling me his whole life? I barely even know him, besides, if I was really an envoy of his brother I would already know the whole story, there would be no need to tell me all this, he's just wasting his time or he's a charlatan, which makes no difference, this conversation is going nowhere.

- "listen old man, I really have no idea who you are or what you're talking about, I come from far away and I'm just looking for a beach or a desert where I can get sand, I don't care about your business, if you're so hell bent on killing yourself do it when I'm gone.

- You're lying! What use would anyone capable of flying have with such an insignificant mortal material as sand? It's obvious what you're after is my head, your dirty tricks won't work on me!

- "Well since you don't seem to want to cooperate I have no more business in this place.

I flew back on my broom and passed the old man's house, I didn't even look back, but I bet he had a look of disbelief on his face, I'm sure he didn't believe I had no business with him, but my flight didn't last long, when I heard a "wait" from behind me.

I turned around and went back to the house.

-You're really not coming to kill me?

-I told you gramps, I'm just passing by, I'm looking for sand.

-What need would someone of your power have for something as banal as sand?

-Look, I don't meddle in your business and you don't meddle in mine, how about it? If you know where I can find sand I'd appreciate it, otherwise I'll be on my way.

The old man was silent for a few seconds, just looking at me, while flying on a broom and wearing full iron armor, as if I was going to war.

On second thought it was obvious why he thought I was coming to kill him, because of the armor, but it doesn't change the fact that I think he's crazy.

-If what you're really looking for is sand, about 800 li to the south you can find a coast.

-Thanks old man, I'll be on my way now.

I flew on for a few meters, until I realized something embarrassing, but it was important, I couldn't let my ego get in the way, so I turned around.

-" hey old man, which way is south?

.....

neither of us said anything for a moment

The old man just pointed his finger and I left without saying a word.

The old man stood where he was, just looking at the afternoon sky, so many strange things had happened in such a short time that he didn't know how to feel, he slowly sat back down and continued drinking his tea, he couldn't make sense of what had just happened.

I on the other hand continued flying where the old man had pointed, what I did not dare to ask was how much was 800 li, although at night I discovered that it was about 400 kilometers, judging by the speed of flight of my broom, it took 12 hours to reach the beach.

So I had better make the trip worthwhile, I wasn't planning on going back for a long time.

First I filled my bucket with water, then I spent the next week taking as much sand as I could fit in my inventory, I could have gone into my spectral dimension and stored it in chests but it seemed like an excess, I had already destroyed the natural beauty of the beach by creating giant furrows all along the coast, and 30 stacks of sand should last a good time, the whole gathering took me a week and a half.

On the way home I couldn't help but think about the old man, he didn't seem surprised that I could fly, which only makes me think that it is something relatively common in this world, or at least not something never seen before, on the other hand he said "someone of your power" which gives me food for thought, I didn't know if the old man could sense something in me, or was it the simple fact of flying that had a connotation of power, that the simple fact of flying meant that you were powerful.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

There were many unknowns, much I did not know about this world, nor the dangers that awaited me, if the opportunity arose I would have to learn a little more, at least without attracting too much attention.

When I was passing by the mountain of the crazy old man I saw some smoke coming out in the distance, but I decided not to approach, I did not want to have to talk to the madman again, at least for now, maybe when some time passes and he believes me when I tell him that I do not want to kill him it will be more reasonable to talk.

Back to my base, I ran downstairs until I got to my house and put a stack of sand in the furnace, the rest I kept in another chest I made and waited for 8 glass blocks to finish cooking, when they were ready I combined them with a black quartz in the crafting table and I got a lens.

Now that I had everything, I placed the atomic reconstructor on the floor, the charcoal generator next to it and threw the lens in front of it, I gave the generator some charcoal to start working and in no time the reconstructor started shooting beams of light forward, hitting the lens and filling it with light, by the time the light on the lens went out, it had changed and now had a bunch of colored marks around the disc.

Now with the colored lens and the atomic reconstructor, I had access to 3 recipes, actually I had access to a lot more, but I only cared about 3, these would be: transmute rotten flesh into leather, sand into soul sand, bone meal into black ink.

It didn't take me long to make the ink I needed so badly, and thanks to the fact that the machine only required a bit of charcoal to work I was able to transform all the ink, leather and soul sand I could possibly require.

First I made myself a small backpack, and then with the leather and rice paper I made myself a bunch of books, I was going to need them sooner or later.

Now with the ink I started to make the books and tools I needed.

-witch's brews.

-witchcraft: collecting vapors.

The rest of the books required materials that I had not yet obtained, so I sat on my bed and began to read the books I had access to for now.

From the first book, the most interesting things to note would be the cauldron, potion making and travel stones, I also saw 2 rituals that required a chalk from elsewhere, which apparently allowed me to travel to wherever I had previously marked the stone, unfortunately the chalk from elsewhere required vapors, which I still didn't know how to make, that was quickly solved by reading the next book.

The next book was quite a bit shorter and simpler, it told me what a witch's furnace was, how to make it and that I could use it to extract some vapors, which were useful for a variety of things related to witchcraft.

With the 2 books read, it was time to make some things, starting with a cauldron, followed by anointing paste, to make it into a witch's cauldron.

Then, with some iron and bars I made a witch's furnace, and with these 2 things I could start making vapors and progress in witchcraft, I only needed... clay, which I had not discovered yet.

I had to pay another visit to the old fool, to see if he knew of any rivers around here.

But first some potions!

I placed the witch's furnace on the floor and checked the book again....

I couldn't make potions.

I had no way to start a fire, as I had not found any flints, which were probably by the river.

I tried with a torch but it didn't generate heat, so it didn't work.

With no other option I got on my broom and flew to the old man's house, I hoped he wouldn't try to commit suicide the moment he saw me.

Once at the old man's house I saw him in the yard again, this time cutting wood, when he saw me he tensed up for a second and then stopped cutting wood, he straightened up and we stared at each other for a few seconds.

-Finally you decided to come and finish the job?

-I don't want to kill you gramps, I just came to thank you for the indications, and because now I'm in need of some clay, it would help me a lot if you tell me where there might be a river in this area.

.....

-"north of the mountain there is a river that starts at the top, if you follow it to the foot of the mountain you may find what you are looking for.

I nodded to the old man, but did not leave.

We stared at each other in silence for a few uncomfortably long seconds, until he pointed his finger in a direction, and I left without saying a word.

I went all the way up the mountain towards the direction the old man told me to go, and at the top I found something I didn't expect, I could barely see it, but it was like a small fracture in space.

An aura node floating in the middle of a pond, the air around it was quite charged with moisture, almost steam in some parts, not because of heat, but because of the sheer amount of water, as if it were a cloud, or fog.

From the pond there were several small paths that the water followed, and went down the mountain until it reached the forest below.

I tried to observe the node more, but without a thaumometer there was not much I could discover, I could barely see it with the naked eye, what I did notice when I got closer was that underneath, deep in the pond, there were a few crystals shining very faintly.

Thanks to the crystal clear water, I could see the bottom, where 5 crystals rested, all blue, growing from the ground like spears stuck in it, pointing in all directions, and not more than 13 cm each, the only reason I saw them is that they glowed, and I had approached the node, from which I could feel a slight breeze by the way.

Entering the water with the broom, I discovered that it could fly perfectly well under the water, although a little slower.

I approached the bottom of the pond, which should be about 2 meters deep, and picked up the crystals, to my surprise, when I broke them I got 5 water vis crystals.

This trip had been more fruitful than I expected.

I walked around the area again, to see if I missed anything else, and marked the node on my map, to revisit it later.

When I found nothing else of interest, I followed the water to the forest below, where slowly all the small channels joined into a slightly larger river, where the water flowed gently, I followed it a while longer and when I thought it was convenient I dived under the water and started digging, the clay was obtained in a similar way to the rest of the earth materials like iron, when I broke something, it calculated the concentration of materials in that block and gave me what it had more, so I got a bit of earth and a bit of clay from the bottom of the river, almost intermittently, 1 of clay, 1 of earth, 1 of clay, 1 of earth.

I also got some gravel, and 2 flints.

I had already got what I had come for, but I didn't want to have to leave my house again, so I mined the whole bottom of the river for a hundred meters, got 3 stacks of clay and that's when I went back home.

Once home I really wanted to start doing things, I had obtained clay and vis crystals, so I could progress in witchcraft and thaumaturgy, but I was mentally exhausted and it was late, it was almost 8 days since I had slept, so I held the desire and went to bed to sleep, I would have all day tomorrow ahead for magic.