After carrying everything closer to the tree, Sirius let Seth in the wild to hunt and slither around in a forest. Then he swept away the leaves and twigs, and used a stick to plan out a place to make a storage space. He had to account for additional space for the diagrams he would use to build everything. That was the reason he went alone - he had everything he needed. More than enough, even. Eventually, when he was satisfied with the plan, he took out the wooden tablet the size of a book and began sketching a diagram with a piece of coal. He wanted to make something similar to irrigation staves he saw at the farm, but for stone. He would need more mana to operate it, and it would be painfully slow, but at least he could use it to harden the foundation for the shed.

Under the tree he felt at peace, like never before. The air of the forest brought the smell of moist soil and leaves, the sun of last summer days was still pleasantly hot, and the glassy roots, Sirius was sitting on, emitted a dim green glow. The progress was steady, and in the end Sirius managed to make something that satisfied his needs. He focused on hardening the soil first, since it would be the most useful right now. What he created applied pressure in a small area in front of him, for as long as he was moving the diagram. Using his new tool he began flattening the ground.

Sirius underestimated the efforts. Really underestimated. He was alone, the shed was incomplete, and the sun was already setting. If he could hast spells himself, it would be much easier, but he barely had enough power to start the diagram, which worked slower than Sirius wanted. A bit angry at his lack of power, he hastily found a place where the roots bulged up, forming a cavern. He put everything inside and covered the entrance with some treated cloth he prepared beforehand. With nowhere to sleep over, he went home.

"How is the progress?" Asked Gregor, while putting Sirius some roasted potatoes.

"Worse than I hoped for." Sirius said, salivating at the sweet and spicy smell of the dinner. "The ground is either too soft or has rocks in it. It is not flattening whatsoever, just hardening."

"Are you determined to continue?"

"I can't just give up after one day. I have a lot of things to study, but I need more experience. Building a house can be a nice source of it."

"Just... Don't strain yourself too much."

"Don't worry, uncle, I'm fine."

"Did you just call me uncle?"

"Sorry, I should have asked you..."

"No-no, it's fine. I was just surprised."

"I just thought... You cared for me when everyone turned away. And I can't just call you Father Gregor all my life, right?"

"I didn't want to push you or anything. I am glad that you consider me your family."

"How else could I... Thank you for everything." Said Sirius, looking at Gregor.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Oh Gods, you are making me tear up a little. Verden would be proud. Wash your plate and go to bed, you have a big task to complete tomorrow."

...

The next day promised to be more productive. Now that Sirius had nothing to carry, he got to the tree long before the midday, the smooth road making his trip much more pleasant than through the woods. At the foot of the tree, he once again took the tablet and cleaned it. He did not like what he made yesterday and needed to think about the problem from different perspective. His handheld tool was fine for small areas, but not for a hut-sized square. He remembered how the mages lifted water from the channels and was sure he could replicate something similar. For that he had to make a change of plans and add a cellar to his hut. If he wanted to live here, he would need to store some food, or maybe some of his materials would need a colder temperatures. Either way he wanted to use rocks for walls and he needed to take that material from somewhere. He found a nice and relatively flat place and drew a border with small lead ingot. Soft metal left a nice dark line on a stone, marking the edges of the brick. Satisfied with its size, Sirius began imagining how to get it out of there.

First he tried using similar design to the flattening diagram, that took the mana from outside and pushed the ground forward using dense stream of slowly moving energy, perfect for stone manipulation. Now however, he had to pull the thick and dense mana towards himself. After the first test Sirius changed his mind, since a small pebble flew towards him at breakneck speeds and dented his wooden tablet in the middle. After evading a certain death, if not for the piece of wood, Sirius once again modified his design, this time trying to make a compound two-part diagram that would interact with each other. A bit after the midday, he succeeded.

Satisfied, he held a tablet with a diagram in front of himself and looked at a smooth floating stone. On top of the stone, inside the lead borders, was a small circle with a couple of lines, the only purpose of which was to redirect the mana flow back towards the tablet. The mana that came back was then reused, so the tablet was no longer needed to be moved to function. Sirius was sure that the church had something similar, but they had a lot of time to invent stuff, unlike him. After checking out the stone one last time, he began marking the ground in rectangles and drawing the small diagrams.

At the end of the day Sirius was sitting on a root, waiting for Seth to come back. In front of him was a pit, a bit more than his height in depth. Around it were bricks, stacked in neat piles, their small faces the size of a palm, and the length of an elbow. On all of them were these small circles, which progressively grew smaller and smaller, as Sirius removed all the redundant parts. In the end he had a small tin circle with a golden chalk dot in the centre.

"There you are." Sirius said, feeling the scaly skin on his cheek. Seth was noticeably thicker and heavier, indicating a nice meal he had. "Nothing for you today, you had your share."

Seth threw a little hissy-fit, but calmed down, falling asleep in Sirius' cape.