Chores are only a punishment if you cannot find joy in the mundane. Profound moments don’t only occur at the cusp of life and death. It is only because we are more hyper-aware of what is happening around us in those moments.

~Dagda, the All-Father, Chief of the Gods

Hours later, they all arrived at the room where they were to have their compulsory training. The sect did it in batches, so each class only had a hundred people. Since Crow was now registered as part of their coven and a Ghost Eater, their session had Witches and Ghost Eaters. The other covens stared at Crow out of curiosity. Hex Witches had no problem with fucking men, and like the Durex clan, they had no reservations about taking what didn’t belong to them.

“Let’s get started,” a white-haired elder said as soon as he entered the room. “You can call me Elder Railen. However, hold all questions until after the initial explanation.” Railen looked around the room, registering everyone present and confirming their identity with another artifact in his hand. After confirming, he pointed at the girl in the front row. “Girl, come up and take this. Inside are bricks. Give one to each person in the room. Be quick about it.”

The girl stood up and rushed over, knowing that failing to respond quickly would result in punishment. She approached each row, handed bricks to the first person, and told them to pass them down. Like this, the items were quickly distributed, and she returned the spatial item to the elder.

“Do not activate your abilities while holding that brick until after my explanation. If you ruin it, heh—don’t ruin it. What you have in your hands is a Raw Mana Brick. It is a combination of clay and dust from crushed Mana Crystals. Inside it is a startlingly simple formation that allows them to attach to other bricks on all sides. It makes the brick nearly indestructible, and even Mana Sense can’t pass through it. The more bricks combined, the greater the effect. If you haven’t noticed, all the walls surrounding our sect, and the buildings, like the library, use them to prevent intrusion. Even our sect leader cannot break these stones once they’ve been set.”

The elder walked over to the girl he ordered to distribute the bricks.

“I chose you because you have an abundance of mana. Use all of it and infuse the brick in your hand with it.”

“When do I stop?”

“The brick will flash a bright blue color that shows you’ve successfully converted it into a real Mana Brick,” the elder said and then pointed at three more kids in the front. “All of you do the same.”

Crow watched in fascination and examined the formations within it and found that they were like Celtic Knots. It was interesting because the formation was already complete by itself. However, its design allowed the attaching of a brick to an equal-sized side. This extended the knot, allowing the bricks to fuse into one larger one. Whoever came up with the design was extremely clever. During his inspection, the infused bricks flashed, and Crow brought his attention back to the elder. He could tell the four kids chosen expended a lot of mana for the result, which gave him a clue why they were learning this.

“See the difference? These bricks have a slight glow that cultivators like you should be able to see. Now, watch.” The elder took the bricks and put two of them together on the small side, giving him a long brick nearly the size of his forearm. Then he took the remaining two and did the same before stacking them on top of the first two. Under their watchful eyes, they saw the seam between the bricks disappearing, becoming one solid piece. “We call this a Mana Wall once it’s been set because it cannot be undone.”

Next, a barrier appeared around the elder and the Mana Wall. Crow felt his hair standing on end as the elder summoned a fireball. It was so condensed that Crow concluded if the elder launched it at the disciples, not one of them would survive.

It was enough to scare him witless, but he didn’t look away. As Railen cast the spell, it struck the Mana Wall, leaving a dimple on the otherwise smooth wall. However, some of the mana from the spell was absorbed by the wall, which was used to repair the wall. Next, the elder pulled out a war hammer from his Shield. Using a physical-based technique, he struck the wall only to have his hammer rebound fiercely. Crow saw a white scuff mark on the wall but knew the wall was undamaged. Most likely, the scuff came from the material on the hammer itself.

Crow refused to believe that it was impenetrable. The formation and Mana Bricks were impressive, but the more powerful a thing was, the greater its weakness. Unless the disadvantage was that anyone could create this material. The formation was clever but not something others couldn’t figure out. Even now, he’d already memorized it.

“Now, I’m guessing you are all wondering why we are exposing this secret? All of you have been outer disciples for a year, so these bricks are part of your compulsory obligations. Every week, you are to turn in five Mana Bricks. You may get the raw brick you hold in your hand from the mission building. Anything beyond five can be turned in for sect points.”

Crow raised his hand.

“Questions after you all infuse one brick,” the elder told Crow, who nodded and concentrated on dumping his mana into the brick. The process wasn’t complicated, but those with a weaker Source might struggle to create a brick in a day. Crow, and the four others who’d already completed theirs, had enough Mana to probably complete three a day if they wanted. It didn’t take much effort to push a good chunk of his mana into the Raw Mana Brick. He felt the reaction before it glowed brightly because there was a reaction between the clay and the crystal dust that caused it to change its internal makeup. “Throw it up here when you finish.”

Crow shrugged and lobbed it toward Railen, who used an ability to catch it and guide it into the spatial artifact from which the original bricks came. Everyone was busy doing the same, and no matter how many bricks were thrown toward the elder, they were all easily caught and hidden away.

“You had a question?” The elder asked Crow after everyone completed their task.

“From my understanding of the Truths, anything with that much potential should have an equally powerful weakness. May I ask what that is?”

“What is your name? Out of all the sessions, you are the first to pick up on this, and I’ll give you ten sect points.”

“Sione of the Ghost Eaters.”

“Very good. Yes, there is one major weakness—spatial magic. While it can take any damage directly thrown at it, it is easy to bypass if you know how to teleport.”

“I’m assuming you have formations to prevent that?” Another person asked.

“Idiots shouldn’t speak,” the elder said while half the room chuckled. “However, since you asked, yes. Each building has spatial suppression. It allows them to teleport in, which is the activation criterion, but it won’t allow them to escape the same way.”

“How many points do we get for extra bricks?” the girl in front asked.

“One point per brick. It isn’t a lot, but as you can see, the process is easy. If the sect weren’t in desperate need, you wouldn’t even get a point for ten bricks.”

Crow wanted to ask why but didn’t want to create suspicion toward himself. It was most likely a sensitive issue, and whatever the purpose was, he was probably better off not knowing for now. However, he had one more question. The Mana Bricks were interesting because they almost acted like his auras.

“Sir, can the Mana Wall or Bricks be imbued with additional formations?”

Elder Railen chuckled. “Sione, right? You are very astute. Do you have a background in formations? Oh, and another ten sect points for you.”

“I have studied them, but I won’t say I’m an expert at laying them.”

“An adventurer, right? You learned so you could effectively break them?”

Crow flushed, playing the role he felt was expected of him. If this old man knew that Crow’s attainment in formations might equal some of their masters, they’d dissect him without a doubt.

“No need to be embarrassed. The tower provides the opportunity, but we are only harming ourselves if we lack the means to capitalize on those moments. It is good that you have this hobby because it’ll allow you to go much further in the tower than your counterparts. To answer your initial question, yes. The Mana Wall can absorb Mana Crystals to keep it empowered, including any formation engraved on them. The walls, like the one I created, will have various formations placed before being added to a greater structure. Before you ask, that is because the wall sections can only take one imbuement, but merging the wall will also combine formations without damaging the other.”

“Does the size of the wall make a difference?” Crow asked.

“It does. The bigger the section, the more powerful the formation. Take the outer wall of the sect; it has one formation, a dome barrier to prevent attacks from the air. I can’t mention the others since they are secrets that only elders have permission to know about. If your talent is strong enough, you might discover them if you observe those structures.”

“Thank you for your guidance, elder,” Crow said respectfully. While he could sense the sinisterness of this elder, he wasn’t an idiot. Provoking a man that could snuff out his life with a single breath was something Crow would not do, no matter how immense his courage was.

“Since there are no more questions, this session is over. Don’t forget to come up here to take your first quota of bricks. Turn them in on your obligation assignment day and get raw bricks as a replacement. You may request up to ten at a time. If you are a glutton for punishment, you may request more earlier if you can transform all ten before your obligation day.”

One by one, the disciples all approached the elder and took the Mana Bricks into their Shields. Crow approached, and besides the bricks, the elder gave him a book on formation breaking. “You might find this an interesting read. Consider it a gift.”

“Thank you, elder,” Crow said, and this time it was heartfelt. He could be said to have a weakness, which was interesting books. Zoe and the girls poked fun at him as they left because they could see how excited he was.

“You are like a little kid with a piece of candy,” Minnie giggled.