Year 1, Winter, Second Month, First Week.

“Ahhhh...”

The attendants screamed while trying to escape from the Flame Waves that ran rampant inside the Fire Court.

The pompous Lords, dressed in expensive and exquisite red robes only had to extend their hands to block the fire that continued to run wild, claiming the lives of the attendants inside the room.

“Mother, please calm yourself!”

The 30-something red-haired man step forward and tried to appease the fire demoness by appealing to her motherly emotions.

“Fire Duchess, please! In the end, it worked out... You got the fire crystal...”

Before the Old noble could finish speaking, a fire creature that looked like a lion made of fire emerged from the sea of flames.

The Fire Beast jumped straight at the trembling Mage with its abnormal-sized jaws opened. The Mage drained large amounts of fire energy from the dozens of jewels on his body and conjured a Fire Wall almost instantly.

However, the Fire Beast passed through it like it was air. It swallowed the Mage in one go and dived back into the fire.

Silence reigned in the room until Fireain calmed down and the flames receded. She yelled in the direction where the Old noble has stood before being eaten.

“It worked out? I have been too soft if that old fool had the courage of saying such a thing here...”

“Pyro! Confiscate his House’s possessions and place their Mages in mandatory service.”

“Yes, mother.” The man bowed and left the room.

“Humph... How much did we spend to hire the mercenaries? I want it back! We paid for the salamander’s egg and they only delivered a mess.”

“We paid 100 gold, Your Grace... But, the mercenary contacts disappeared when they learned about the failure...”

Fireain eyes flamed and her hands clenched while the Flames behind her started to expand again.

“Forget it... This damn MQ fire crystal will cost me so much... Prepare all the MQ Lightning Crystals in the vault and send it as a New Year’s gift for my niece...”

The Lords didn't dare to voice their disapproval, but it was clear in their bulging eyes and clenched fists.

“You think it is too much? Thundery’s gift (The MQ fire crystal) is a message from the Wind Lord. He knows that we’re responsible for the incident. He probably lost a dozen of villages and had to personally move to contain the beast... We need to appease him now...”

“May the Origin curse you, Windsor!”

.........

The winter days were getting colder, but the villagers continued to work tirelessly. The central square was being transformed into a true activities center. Several wood benches were being constructed and placed around the square borders, the podium was also being expanded.

In the center of the square, a big wooden pavilion was being constructed. The pavilion was large enough to host around 500 people. Also, on the further left side of the square, another smaller pavilion was already taking form.

Omero decided to construct a building that could host up to 100 sick villagers. Since Karl promised that the square would be the warmest place in the village, the Chief decided to move the sick here.

Of course, he had to maintain them separated from the healthy villagers, so he placed their pavilion in the further end of the square.

Most of the villagers were participating in the construction. They would get stones from the quarry and work them until they were flat enough to be connected. After working for weeks, their job was finally ending.

Fortunately, Karl’s magic tools and improved tools saved them a lot of work. The heavy stones were carried on top of the LCs, which reduced their workload considerably. And when they had to smooth and polish the stones, the improved knives and tools would also help.

In less than a year, the village had grown used to using the magic tools. All the tasks were being made easier by Alchemy.

.........

Diana couldn’t help but be surprised by how the square looked. The sight of the improvements and facilities was being further enriched by giant Array. Although she has been helping for the last two weeks, she was still amazed by how it turned up.

When Karl told them that he wanted to craft a giant Array in the square to keep it warm, everyone was shocked and concern about how much effort it would take. Her grandpa, on the other hand, was very excited and quickly agreed to it, he said that Karl would have all the help he needed.

Diana knew why Chief Omero was so excited, he wanted to amass even more support from the villagers by showcasing power. Even if the villagers were strongly supporting the Chief in current changes, they lived in misery their whole life and would easily coward at any sign of the whip.

But Omero wouldn’t allow them to get back to being wounded sheep. Diana was adapting to the change because she was being prepared for a long time, but the villagers would only accept it if they saw enough power to protect them. And what demonstration of power could be greater than crafting a giant Array in the central square?

All the work they have done for the last two weeks was worth it. The sea of villagers looked at the powerful stones and didn’t know what to do, they had a deep respect for Karl’s craft but they were also afraid of it.

Diana and the other team members instructed the villagers to get inside the circle without touching the stones.

Diana looked expectantly to this moment, she wanted to see every expression the villagers would make when they walked inside the circle. Everyone was shivering of cold but they only looked at each other to see who would have the courage to take the first step.

A five year-ish girl escaped from her parents’ hold and quickly jumped inside the circle. The villagers were all silent, they didn’t dare to even breathe, they only looked at the girl to see what would happen.

She felt the cold that was hurting her quickly disappeared and be replaced by a warm feeling. First, she was confused because the fire was far away from her, but then she remembered all the tales about the magic tools and weapons, she could finally experience the magic. She was so happy that she started jumping and screaming:

“It’s warm, it’s warm. Look, mom and dad, I’m not cold anymore” Seeing her pink cheeks, everyone relaxed and starting laughing.

The villagers started to get inside the circle, taking care to don't touch any stones. They were so amazed by the warmth that they forgot to move on, the line to get inside the circle slowed down.

The villagers in the back couldn’t help but curse themselves for being slow. Diana looked at everything with a great sense of accomplishment.

After everyone got in, Karl sighed in relief. He was confident in his design and he also tested it before, but he was a little afraid that the circle wouldn’t fit everyone or that someone would misplace a stone and crash the Array. But with the team members assisting the villagers, everything worked out just fine.

One month ago, when Chief Omero asked Karl if he could do something about the winter’s cold he quickly said that he wanted to try something. Since the Grain Separator, Karl hadn't created anything new and was a little bored.

Of course, redrawing the Arrays was also training for his spiritual energy and craft, so he wasn’t wasting time. However, what excited him the most was to craft and experience something new, and now was his chance to do it.

Since the beginning of winter, he was thinking of a way to make gatherings outside possible. Actually, he only needed to maintain the central square warm.

The first thought was to use the Stimulus Rune on a fire to make it stronger and thus make the place warmer. However, this idea had a fatal problem. How would he make the fire strong enough to keep two thousand villagers warm without burning the ones near it?

Even if he established a safe distance, the difference in temperature of those near and far from the fire would still be too much.

His second idea was to make several small fires around the circle and use the same approach, but he quickly dismissed it after remembering that they only have a fire crystal.

Then, he decided to go back to the concepts as Master Al had taught him. Basically, what he wanted was to keep the central square warm, and to do it he needed to increase the temperature on it.

The easiest way of increasing the temperature was starting a fire, but a fire could only make its surroundings warm, and if he increased the fire he would make it too hot.

After thinking a lot and doing some tests, Karl came up with a good idea. He would use the Stimulus Rune to increase the warmth in the fire, then he would transfer this warmth to the whole square.

Since Master Al didn’t barge in, Karl knew that he already had the available knowledge to make it work.

To increase the warmth of the fire and then move it to the central square, he would need to combine all these processes in only one Array.

Since he wanted to move the warmth instead of the fire itself he would use the Properties Extraction Array. He would also use the Stimulus Rune to increase the warmth before moving it to the central square.

The final arrangement would have one simple Array and one complex Array. The simple Array would be used to power everything, Karl could already guess that he would have to use all the available energy crystals to offer enough power.

The complex Array would be made from the combination of four simple Arrays:

1 - The Properties Extraction Array, with the fire crystal inside to indicate what fire properties should be extracted (warmth).

2 - The Stimulus Rune to increase the concentration of the fire property (warmth).

3 - The Manipulation Array, with a fire inside it. The Array would move the concentrated warmth to the Direction Array.

4 - The Direction Array. The warmth from the previous steps would be directed upwards, increasing the temperature inside the Array.

Before finishing his design, Karl had tried different configurations and drawing on a small scale, the chosen design was the design that showed the best performance.

“We all thought that was impossible to meet here in winter... But Karl’s knowledge and our work made the impossible, possible... In fact, doing the impossible has become our new normal... “

“What I really want to say is that as long as we work together we can accomplish anything, it’s not foolish to hope for a better future! Let today’s feast mark a new Era for Caiset. From now on, we’ll be meeting here every day to eat together and work to improve our future.”

Everyone cheered, hope has made its way into the villagers’ hearts.

Diana was a little concerned after hearing that they would eat together every day. She knew that the salamander’s meat would only last one more time, and their extra fat and bones wouldn't last long.

But right now, there was nothing she could do about it, so she would just enjoy the feast.

The line to get the fire meat and the broth was quickly forming, so Diana stopped being idle and joined it.

The villagers wanted to let her take the food first but she strongly rejected it, it was important to give a good example. The villagers that got their serving were crying from happiness, the food was too good.

When Diana took her first bite she felt a strong warmth from it, it wasn’t the usual hotness, it was something more intense that lasted for a long time. This feeling suited her very much, warmth and hunger that compelled her to take more, more of everything.

.........

“We’re here... From now on, you're on your own...”

The Hare Beastmen guides left.

The group couldn’t even spare them some polite words, they were too focused on the sinister Forest’s entrance.

Although the mist hid most of Forest’s features, the deadly influence was clear by the black stained unhealthy trees. The silence made the situation much more ominous.

Lew swallowed dry, regretting his decision to take this job.

They arrived at their final destination, the Death Forest.