The maid stood, her eyes glowing with a faint hint of magic. “Most witches learn witchcraft from a young age, usually two years old. But since she is in her late twenties, we’ll have to speed that process up.” Claug looked at the maid with a smile.

“From what I knew, Eris became a witch on her own just recently,” Merlin said, and Claug looked at her.

“Are you comparing a vampire-half-dragon demi-goddess with murderous tendencies to a young and fragile lass would can barely wash clothes without getting exhausted?” She laughed, “Even without any conditioning, Eris’s body was already as strong as, if not better than, what most witches dream of having.”

The maid finally finished all of her poison and leaned on one of the chairs. If one looked closely, they could see something crawling in her veins, her skin and muscles contorting on their own, and a dreadful presence slowly seeping out of her body.

“I never took a human student before. This should be fun, I hope she survives the trials.” Claug leaned on her chair. It was then that the door opened and Aella walked inside, “There you are.”

“Did something happen?” Merlin asked, the crystal orb in front of her still showing Arad and Nina fighting.

“Zephyr said that if those two kept fighting in the desert, some tremors might reach us. Gaia also confirmed that, so I need you to give Loci some enchantments. Can we count on you?”

Arad’s castle was indeed built on Loci’s back, she was a living being and not mundane ground. That’s why Gaia can’t do anything to support her even if she wanted. That only left the most talented wizard the castle has to offer, Merlin.

She stood, stretched her arms, and then started floating. “I guess it’ll take a couple of minutes. How much do we expect?”

“Not much, a lesser to a medium earthquake. There are still several parts of the castle being built or finished, and that would damage them. We might even lose the dam.”

“The beaver dam?”

“No, the stone one between the mountains.”

With that, Merlin flew out of the window and left Claug and Aella inside. “How do you feel?” Claug slowly turned toward Aella with a grin.

“It is a bit exhausting. At least Cerilla and Jasmine are helping me out.”

While Isdis dealt with the political stuff and the management, Aella’s job was to make sure everything in the castle ran smoothly. From the maids’ shifts, to what they’ll cook for dinner, and to any repairs or internal orders that have to be decided quickly.

Such a job wasn’t easy, especially for someone inexperienced. To her luck, Cerilla and Jasmine had years under their belts and were now helping her command the castle.

It was then that a maid finally managed to catch up to Aella, “Lady Aella… Lady Kory burned the meat she was supposed to freeze.”

Aella sighed and turned around, “If it is not that burnt, then throw it in whatever you’re cooking for dinner. Make sure none of it finds its way to the elves.” She walked out with the maid, mumbling, “The last thing I want to deal with now is a severe case of diarrhea from over a hundred elves at once.”

Down at the base of the castle, a large workshop was getting built with tens of smiths, carpenters, and even more workers running around to deliver wood and ores. Sitting in the back room of the workshop with Gaia and Mora, Mira looked at a floating orb of pure fire.

“Now this is scary.” Gaia looked at the glowing fire with a worried face. “Should we get rid of it?”

Mora threw a glance at Mira, “If you want to get rid of it, then I’ll take it off your hands. It is too powerful for you to use.”

Mira reached forward with her hand, and the skin of her palm burned and turned into ash. She growled, but kept reaching forward until she grabbed the orb of fire with her hand. She then quickly pulled her hand away and watched the orb still burn. The skin of her hand quickly healed, but that didn’t prevent Mira from shaking it to get rid of the pain.

“How am I supposed to use this thing? Throw it into the forge?” She looked at Mira, and he sat down, “Somewhat like that. It’s a process.”

Mira would have to find adamantine, forge it into bricks, enchant them with fire resistance, build a forge from that, and then make a cooling system with ice magic to keep the bricks from shattering. Then she’ll place the orb in the forge and start working.

The first thing she must make would be Hell’s Iron. To get that metal, she needs access to at least the third layer of hell. She can then use that iron to make new bricks and a stronger forge, since hers won’t last long under the searing heat of the fire orb.

Only after that would she have a forge that could last a few months. But it is always recommended to look for Fire Stars in the elemental plane of fire to build a better forge and tools with.

Mira sighed at the long process and turned around. Floating on the table behind her was a small black orb; it was a bit bigger than the fire orb. She then grabbed that black void and pushed it to the fire orb. Soon, the fire orb got sucked into the void and disappeared.

Mora looked at the void. “He can do this as well?”

“Temporary, he doesn’t know how long this void will hold, but it’ll be at least a week.” She put it on a shelf. Arad had made that void for her to store the orb when he was out to fight Nina. It could barely fit the fire orb inside, but at least it has enough strength to resist its heat. It was basically an insulation layer made from pure void.

It was then that the ground shook beneath their feet. Mira almost fell and barely managed to balance herself.

“They are entering the second stage of the fight,” Gaia said with a smile and looked into the distance, her eyes hiding a hint of magic.