Chapter 16

Iron, even the most ordinary iron, doesn't help against magic, but if it's treated with spells and runes, it can do some things. For example, it can become a large shovel and dig a pit. Somehow, it turns out that vanishing earth from reality or teleporting it requires more power than levitating a giant shovel and digging with it. Even with Bombarda, it's not very mana efficient. I read a selection of mansions and magical dwellings in the Grimoire while scavenging junkyards and restoring my health. The main asset of any clan nest is a magical source. It is not difficult to awaken it, you just have to dig through the shell of your reality and receive from Chaos, Warp, Interworld, many names, but the essence is the same, the flow of mana.

The difficulty is not in the creation, but in the possession and use. If the protection and filtration from unwanted guests from beyond is easy to put in place, then it is difficult to use wild currents. You need an ancestral stone, and it does not have to be a boulder. It's a lot of work, just rune chains for ten thousand should be put on, and a lot of spells and rituals.

Become scary when I think about it. Roughly speaking, the ancestral stone is a remote storehouse of magic that is never empty because it is constantly being replenished from the outside. A plug, in general, for the hole in the shell of reality. The altar acts as a kind of control panel and is very versatile. Through it and related magic, you can control within certain limits and work with the same stone. A useful thing in the household. However, in that barrel of honey is a hefty bucket of tar.

The most famous, but not the most terrible — general curses. The connection with the altar and the ancestral stone is reciprocal, so if any malevolence from the mage to them, it will soon spread to all connected. Here we can make an analogy with a computer virus that has infected the server. Wizards treat it with cleansing rituals, but unless the source of the infection is eliminated, it will not be possible to deal with the problem once and for all. For a radical solution, Magic has granted its children so-called acquired.

They possess a special energy that has long been attempted to be replicated artificially, but no one has yet succeeded. They introduce such unique individuals into the clan, usually through a magical marriage, and they burn out all the evil. There is a radical way. The old ancestral stone with the altar is destroyed together with the estate, because without a big explosion, when the source collapses, there is no way around it. Then the mages purify themselves and start over.

Much more frightening are the less noticeable effects of such a feeding. Mages who have the opportunity to draw free power in unlimited amounts will stop in their tracks, often degenerating altogether. Why bother to work hard and do something if you can just scoop up what you need on the side? Freebies corrupt. Knowledge is lost, personal strength diminishes. The aristocrats of today, in who knows what generation, don't outnumber the Muggleborns by much. It's only because they perform rituals regularly that they have a head start. Well, it's vital to them. Curses, curses, curses and who knows what else. And inbreeding isn't exactly healthy either.

In general, the more I learn about magic, the clearer the association with two ants crawling on different sides of the same coin. Muggles study the physical, embodied reality, and wizards study the reflection of energy. And when these ants finally meet and share their knowledge, the world will shudder. The main thing is for them to find common ground, because if they don't, I'm afraid there will be a big explosion....

I planned to make a hollow metal sphere with a lifting mechanism. Above the shaft with it, according to the plan, should be placed a dome-shaped spell rest. Isolated and protected, of course. Who knows what kind of zigzagging thoughts the next ruler will have and what he will allow or forbid? You never know.

So shield everything to the maximum, so that not even a shadow of the echo of the echoes of sorcery can escape. For such a metal is the best, because they are very convenient to melt the stone storage. And it's a pleasure to melt runes with magic on them. They last a long time, but just know that you have to use special potions to make them work, not just create an entourage. By the way, when I was redesigning the Aguamenti spell for the hydroponic greenhouse, I created an appropriate modification of the charms and put it into an artifact, it works automatically and updates the runes on a timer.

Over the summer I only managed to build one house. Four floors underground, not counting the mine with the ancestral stone and the altar. Spell room, laboratories, wine cellar and storerooms, training room. Above ground, I built a rectangular box with a gabled roof and turrets at the corners. The first floor was for public events, the second for living, the third for the library. If necessary, the roof can always be removed and something else added.

Actually, I was done with the construction itself for a month. I worked to exhaustion, of course, but at night I came to my senses, and by noon I was fully recovered. I can't even count the number of people I replaced. A wizard builder is power. Personally tested.

It's a pity that I never had the chance to live in the house during the summer. It was not expedient to deal with decoration and purchase or creation of furniture and everything else. There is no main element of the mansion, and it is foolish to create it without taking care of reliable protection and quality camouflage. That's why I spent the rest of the time on security. I worked with the house and the property, the latter hastily fenced with a stone fence with a simple metal grid. Unfortunately, my artistic taste is somewhat underdeveloped. But it would be nice if I had something to put runes on and spells to bind.

Anna was always hanging around, but she couldn't help me, even though she really wanted to. In the end, we agreed that my little sister would practice actively. I made her a memory training artifact and regularly provided her with materialized copies of textbooks. The girl enthusiastically learned the science of magic and practiced practical skills. Rituals were performed on a cleared clearing. Of course, the girl couldn't read with the artifact for a long time, her strength was running out, and I didn't see the point without it.

She had to learn embroidery. It's a useful thing, she'll be sewing protection on her robes for herself and me at the same time. I told her a bit about the harsh truth of the magical world. Unfortunately, it's not a fairy tale, and even if it were, it's not the original. It's not just that they gouge your eyes out or make you dance to death in hot shoes, it can be much worse than that.