“How are you doing that?”
Cal grunted at hearing the unwanted noise. He had a job to do. And he didn’t want to open his eyes to deal with another intruder.
“Cal!”
He opened his eyes to see Tavia leaning over him with an amazed look. He noticed Nibbles standing a significant distance away while giving him wary glances. It reminded him of what he had previously done when she woke him up.
Cal winced as he sat up and noted the disappearing rain clouds and the sun rising in the sky. The pond size had increased significantly to the point where it looked fifty percent larger.
... Did I doze off and still cast [Rainfall] subconsciously?
Tavia laughed at his expression. “I can’t believe you were really sleeping! This might be the most impressive thing I’ve seen you do.”
Cal couldn’t help but agree with her.
He glanced at the pond’s edge less than a foot away from him. He would try again and keep several feet between him and the pond. He didn’t think it would be dangerous to him since he was the creator of the pond, but he had no desire to test it anytime soon.
“So, did you find out anything interesting? You were there overnight.” Cal pushed himself up and ignored the amused smile on Tavia’s lips.
Her smile immediately dropped off. “Not for the lack of trying. Somehow, I missed that Astris knew far too much about the Dominion’s territory. None of the other merchants know what’s going on inside there. And if they did, they are reluctant to reveal it. Likely due to wanting to keep their relationship as a traitor within the Dominion.”
Cal had assumed she would try something like this. Though, he didn’t think she would have more success. It seemed that the trade map was more accurate than he had realized. There really was little through traffic past the Frostguard Dominion’s border.
Luckily, he might have some good news for her, though he wouldn’t call it a guarantee. It certainly wasn’t since he was dealing with someone like Maelor, who seemed cunning and cold-blooded enough to use his nephew’s death to reach his goals.
“Could you write down the names of the people who entered the Dominion’s territory? Include descriptions of their appearance just to be safe.”
Tavia stared at him with unblinking eyes. Hope was rising. He had to cut that off.
“This doesn’t mean anything... yet. I’m just testing something out to see if it goes anywhere. Until then, it’s best to expect nothing to come out of this.”
“But what are you testing exactly? I thought you stayed at the farm the entire day I was gone. You got far too much done for you not to have.” Tavia waved her hand around vaguely at the planted field around her.
“Someone from the Dominion, a man called Maelor and a few others, came here in the middle of the night. They try to convince me to work against the Celestial Order, so I’m trying to see if I can use that to get your friends out of their situation.”
“Don’t do it,” Tavia said immediately. “It’s not worth endangering your position for something my friends willingly did. There has to be another way I can get them out.”
Cal wondered if he was so easy to please. He felt happy that Tavia was trying to warn him off his decision. Still, this was not as risky as she thought.
“I’ll be fine. I expect the Celestial Order to understand what I’m doing, and even if they don’t, they’ll accept it reluctantly. In the meantime, I want you and Nibbles to stay at Mariner’s Rest for a few days. Maybe with Seris. I’m expecting them to return tonight.”
“Absolutely not! You’ll need backup!” Tavia dared him to contradict her.
He contradicted her. “As much as I appreciate that, Maelor is far stronger than me. I have no doubt that he already knows about you, but on the slim chance he doesn’t, it is better for you not to be here when he arrives.”
Tavia clenched her teeth as she tried to think about arguments that would let her win, but she eventually slumped her shoulders and gave up. “Just for tonight?”
Cal shook his head. “Wait until I arrive in town to let you know. There’s nothing important going on around here anyway.”
She looked even unhappier after his words. “No, I guess there isn’t much going on. Just my home possibly being threatened by the savages from the Dominion.”
Cal frowned when she stormed to the house, entering without looking back. He glanced at a highly interested Nibbles before directing a silent question at her.
She shrugged, the universal motion for ‘I don’t know.’
He had wanted to tell her there was no rush to leave this soon, but from the pinkness of her face, Maelor wasn’t the main reason she was going so early.
Cal didn’t know he was smiling until Tavia’s carriage left the farm. The smile still didn’t fall as he started to do rounds on his field. There wasn’t much to do other than ensure all the seeds he planted were fine.
I have no idea how she’ll prove wrong, but Tavia isn’t one for making false claims. I look forward to it.
***
The sun was setting, and Cal was relaxing next to the pond, with the pack leader giving him company. There wasn’t much work to be done until Nibbles completed the tunnel network the new part of the field.
He casually reviewed the spell booklet for ‘Fissure,’ the only spell he had bought but hadn’t yet learned. There simply hadn’t been enough time to spare, and now that it was available, he couldn’t strain his mana core before Maelor arrived.
Cal thought it was a relatively simple spell that could be learned in a few tries, so that was one positive at the very least.
The pack leader shifted before sniffing beside him.
He glanced at the large wolf before realizing that referring to it as the pack leader was just as disrespectful as when he called Nibbles a creature.
“Do you have a name?”
The wolf eyed him lazily before snorting. He realized that communicating with that wouldn’t be as easy without Nibbles here to play charades.
Cal considered allowing Seris to name the wolf just like she did with Nibbles. He shuddered.
Seris will name the wolf ‘Wolfie.’
“If you don’t have one, I’ll think of one for you if you want.”
The wolf snorted again, clearly uncaring about it either way.
Cal chuckled at the response. Nibbles was irreplaceable in his mind, but this pack leader was a perfect companion for him. It wanted to be left alone and was happy to laze around all day.
He stared at the pond, thinking about how much larger he still needed to make it, when the wolf suddenly got up and approached the edge. He watched with a frown as the beast that should be intelligent bent down to sniff at the water.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. It might be dangerous.”
The wolf turned his head as if asking if he was barring it from trying. That wasn’t the case at all.
Eventually, the wolf started lapping at the pond water, drinking its fill before returning to its spot beside him and lying back down. It looked rejuvenated.
Cal’s mind slowly formed an idea. It should have been something he thought of long ago when Nibbles did the same thing. For some reason, he considered the pond dangerous when Nibbles refused to dive deeper.
Just because it was dangerous to her didn’t mean it would be so to him. After all, he was the one who supplied all the water the pond was made of.
Cal decided this was a good enough risk to use his mana core before Maelor arrived. He treated the pond as an extremely large hearthstone.
Extending his mana into the surface did nothing. The same applied when he was halfway through the depths. It clicked when he reached the very bottom, where the pond’s mana density was the greatest.
Cal suddenly had access to all the mana he poured into the pond over the month. However, it had somehow multiplied exponentially.
The best part about all this was that the mana was purely his, combined with the natural absorption that occurred.
Cal could use this to replenish his essential reserves.