"What're you up to?" a voice asked from over my shoulder. I jumped, too engrossed in my work to notice anyone approach. A dangerous, careless mistake to make, I scolded myself.

Tilting my notebook away, I glanced back to see Julia, Jacob's daughter, leaning over me, with a bright smile on her face. Black hair, tanned skin, and brilliant blue eyes all struck a pretty figure, and I suspected that she tended to get her way with her looks and charm. Still, Darius' warning and lingering thoughts about a certain girl I left behind kept me from appreciating her beyond more than a casual acquaintance.

Julia had kept to herself the first few days on the road, too busy helping her father to pay me much mind. However, she came out of her shell soon enough, and with that came a near-unending stream of questions. On my first day, I had suspected that most of the caravan were familiar with one another, which was not far from the truth. The last recruit to their group had joined a full year earlier, and even he was a close family friend.

"Just writing in my journal. I want to remember this journey, and I doubt my memory will retain all of the details." I responded with a shrug. It did not take spycraft training to know that explaining enchanting and its intricacies might raise too many questions.

As I had hoped, my display that first day had earned me a measure of respect from some men. At the very least, it proved I was skilled enough to take care of myself and that I would not be dead weight on the rest of the caravan.

"Oh? Did you write anything interesting?" she asked as she leaned closer, trying to read over my shoulder. I closed the book, slipping it into my pocket as I stood.

"Not for anyone else's eyes. Sorry." I replied with an apologetic smile. Something told me she had no interest in enchanting.

Just under a week had passed since I joined the caravan, and I found myself marveling at the utility of magic they used. Although none were nobility or possessed any more than a rudimentary knowledge of spellcraft, Prin possessed several magical items. Most carts had enchantments to improve durability to lessen their loads. Several projected a field to ward off insects and other pests. A food cart loaded with fruits and vegetables even had an enchantment to prevent spoiling.

Of course, I had taken the opportunity while on watch duty to copy all the runes into my notes. I could not place any need for them at this point, but I would rather have them than not. And it would no doubt help me with my newest experiment.

I had hit a plateau with Iron Forging, and there was little chance of improving it much more without new information or inspiration. There were some possibilities with the Sion family techniques, but nothing I could adopt any time soon. However, there was one thing I might be able to do to speed my development, and that was exploiting enchantments.

Cortos had been kind enough, or maybe smart enough, to leave detailed schematics and explanations on his tempering array. There was no chance to replicate the same power and craftsmanship, but even a cheap copy might help. If I could create, say, a bracelet that also drew in mana and passively tempered my body on top of Iron Forging?

And that goal was why I was studying his diagrams whenever I had a free moment. If I wanted to succeed, I needed to understand every scrap of information he left behind.

"You know, being secretive isn't very nice considering that my grandfather took a chance with you," she said, frowning for a moment before her face cleared. "But if you aren't busy, you can help me with something."

Without waiting for a response, she jumped down from the cart, walking away. I paused for a brief moment before following after her.

"How much do you know about magic?" she asked as we walked. We had stopped at a small village near Ferris's border, and Prin had ordered everyone to recheck their cargo.

More than you might think, I thought as I replied, "No more than anyone else, I suspect. Why?"

"Just curious. You seem smarter than the regular sword swingers, and you talk like a noble. I thought you might have overheard something, maybe from family." she said, glancing at me from the corner of her eye.

I chuckled at her implied accusation, considering my response before saying, "I am not a noble, Julia. If I am not mistaken, I have told you as much before."

"Yeah, you did, didn't you?" she retorted, frowning again and staring at me for a brief moment. I tried not to sigh at her apparent skepticism, deciding to change the subject.

"So, what are you all bringing down south to the Tinkerers? Something valuable, I would assume."

She gave me an appraising look before replying, "Yes, of course. Not much of a leap, I'd say. Grandfather was not sure what they would want, so we loaded up on a little of everything. Spices, crops, luxury goods, and many other things we think they might not produce independently. Truthfully, we have no real idea of what they can make, so it's mostly a guess."

I nodded, thinking about what I knew of the Wandering Cities. As she said, their economic and industrial capabilities were a near-complete unknown. They must have some way of producing food, considering each of their settlements housed millions, but exactly how they did it was a mystery.

She sighed, leaning against one of the carts and glancing over at several of her relatives. A frown was on her face, and I suspected she was not particularly fond of this plan.

"Forgive me, but you do not seem to approve," I said, staring at her for a response.

Her eyes flickered to me, and she smirked, replying, "Getting nosy, are we?"

Smiling, I shook my head before retorting, "Functioning well as a guard means learning about my charges, at least in my opinion. If you do not want to answer, it is all the same to me."

Julia stared at me before shrugging, "I don't know if it's worth all the hassle of heading south. We make a small fortune every year, bringing stone and lumber to Aranth. They might produce unique cuisines and luxuries, but they don't have much space for forests and mines. And the profit from transporting their spices back north, to the capital? I'd rather stay here, on our side of the border is all."

She glanced down at the ground again, and I suspected she was more worried than truly disdainful. Julia was young, but I spotted the glint of intelligence in her eyes as she spoke, and I knew her father would have taught her the ins and outs of trading. She knew better than I did just how much they stood to earn if they could establish consistent trade with our southern allies.

Taking a risk, I laid one hand on her arm, staring at her until she looked up to me.

"Do not worry. I will keep you and your family safe. I promise." I said, trying to mimic the sort of bright, confident smile Leon used.

She met my eyes in silence for a few seconds before returning my grin.

"I'll hold you to that, Lucas. Or else, my cousin will have your ass. Speaking of which, are you ever going to tell me where you learned to fight like that? Is your dad a soldier or something? Or maybe you are nobility, and you just lied to me?"

I sighed, wondering in my head if I could sneak off and get some privacy again. If not, I would need to wait until nighttime to proceed with my experimentation.

After night fell, I volunteered for the first watch. Moving to the edge of our camp, I climbed onto a large boulder, bringing a sackful of stones with me, each the size of a coin. Scanning my surroundings, I reached out with my senses, straining to detect any magic around me.

Between my skills at masking my mana, traveling with this caravan, and the simple fact that I was so weak it was nearly impossible to detect me, I doubted anyone was on my trail. Still, there was no cause to be careless.

When I confirmed there was no one nearby that I could sense, I dug into the pack and pulled out one stone. Pinching it between my fingers, I pondered how best to handle this. I had enchanted several items before, but nothing more complicated than rudimentary effects. In theory, the steps should be mostly the same, consisting of intent, mana, and runes. Of course, there were also lines, angles, minor alterations to symbols, and a dozen other nuances that I had never learned.

Still, even the greatest masters had to start somewhere, and there was no point putting it off any longer.

In my left hand, I held the enchanter's tool that I took from Cortos' sanctum. Forged using a process I did not understand, it could channel mana much like Leon's arrows, allowing the tip to carve through almost anything. As the tip cut, I needed to focus on the word and its meaning, letting my energy form the enchantment.

Although I had memorized most of his notes, Cortos' array was dizzyingly complex. Truthfully, I despised learning through just replication without understanding, but I did not have much of a choice in the matter. Necessity took precedent over preference.

The base of his array was a circle surrounding a spiral with six arms. At the center of the entire thing was the rune for "gather," while at the end of each arm were the words for compress, channel, break, fortify, rebuild and expel. I omitted most of the extra details, limiting its effectiveness and making it much easier to create.

Adjusting my grip, I laid the tip of the tool against the flattest surface of the rock. My hands moved steadily, sinking into stone without resistance. I dragged it through the material, slowly moving as I tried to replicate the central rune. A few seconds later, I heard a snapping sound as the tool sunk too deep, cracking the rock right down the middle.

It took seven more shattered stones until I gained enough of a grasp on how much mana to use. Too much, and the tool cut right through it, but too little, and it would not cut at all. Of course, it still took another half-dozen until I carved the rune legibly.

The instant the rune finished, I felt mana slip from my body as the symbol, and my intent took form. I detected a slight, barely perceptible draining effect, slower than a fraction of even Origin Breathing but still present.

Before I could celebrate, the stone shattered, sending shards of rock into my flesh. Wincing, I pulled back my hand, examining the bleeding cuts on my palm.

"Right. Stones must not work well for magic items. But wait, Cortos' array was carved into the ground. How is that possible?" I muttered as I picked shards from my skin.

A few minutes of consulting Cortos' notes yielded a likely answer. The rest of the array directed any mana gathered, which meant the gather rune needed to be carved last. If not, all that mana would just build up inside the container until it hit a critical mass. At that point, all the energy would need to escape, violently if necessary.

Still, my experiment was mostly a success. All that was needed was to keep working at it. And luckily, a side-benefit of my body refining was that I needed far less sleep than an average person. A few hours was plenty of rest to function at full efficiency, and there was still enough time to keep working.

As the first rays of light threatened to peek over the horizon, I leaned back against a tree behind me. By my side was a pile of dozens of rocks, each covered in tiny inscriptions. If laid out in order, there was a clear progression as my precision improved, one failed attempt at a time. But that struggle was worth it.

In the palm of my hand was an oval-shaped stone, with a simplified, miniature form of Cortos' array written in neat writing. A strange pressure came from inside of my body, just on the cusp of pain but not quite reaching it. It was a fraction of the real thing's efficiency, but the proof of concept was more important than anything.

Material mattered when working with enchantments, and the stones I was using were far from perfect, but they should still last for a few days. Maybe I could create multiple at once and use them to approximate Cortos' array? I was unsure about that option, as I was playing with magic beyond my understanding. The downside of leaving so soon was that I was limited in my knowledge of magic.

Glancing at the sky above my head, I stood, stretching my cramped muscles before padding back to my tent. I had maybe an hour to get some sleep before heading out, and I planned to take it.