Ethan watched Oliver throw another rock into the lake. After a moment of silence, he decided to change the topic before the boy sank into another self-pity spiral.
"…By the way, what was that 'ugly box' she mentioned?" Ethan asked. "The crate you were dragging earlier."
Oliver stiffened, His face darkened.
"Ugly?" he snapped. "That is Art. My Art. My personal project. My future masterpiece that will make me the greatest artificer in the kingdom!"
"Then why," Ethan asked slowly, "were you dragging your 'future masterpiece' through the street?"
Oliver's expression collapsed.
"That is… because my mother forbids me from experimenting at home."
"Ah."
Ethan felt like he understood it now.
Oliver threw another rock into the lake, harder this time.
"It's not my fault," Oliver muttered. "Every time I try something, something explodes, or glows, or screams. And sometimes all three. Father can handle it, Mother can handle it, but the others…"
He sighed. Memories flashed across his face.
"The neighbors complained. The city guard complained. Even our employees complained. Some resigned because their hair wouldn't stop changing colors for three days."
Ethan imagined a line of traumatized merchants running down the street with rainbow hair. He decided not to comment.
"After much deliberation," Oliver continued, "my parents bought a small workshop on the outskirts of the city. They told me I can only experiment there from now on."
"Reasonable," Ethan said.
"I hired people to move all the big stuff," Oliver went on. "But for my special project, I don't trust anyone else. So I decided to carry it myself."
"You mean the crate," Ethan said.
"The artifact," Oliver corrected firmly.
"Right, the ugly artifact."
"It. Is. Art."
The boy puffed his cheeks like an offended squirrel. Ethan wisely let that topic drop.
"So why were you blocking her path?" Ethan asked.
Oliver scratched his cheek.
For some reason, half the roads in the district had been closed for maintenance today. Every time he tried to turn left or right, the path was blocked off.
In the end, he had been forced onto the main road, and that was how he ended up blocking Fiona's carriage.
"So that's how it happened," Ethan said.
Oliver didn't answer. He only glared at the water.
Ethan waited a moment, then shook his straps.
"Alright, enough about that. By the way… can you tell me where exactly I am now?" he asked.
Oliver turned to him.
For the first time, he started to believe that Ethan come from another world.
His eyes narrowed, and he leaned closer, examining every inch of the sandal.
"What now?" Ethan asked. "Why are you staring at me? Respect your seniors, kid."
Oliver ignored the complaint. He picked up the sandal, turning it over, checking the sole, the straps, the inner curve.
"What are you doing?" Ethan yelped. "Don't touch me there! That's indecent!"
Oliver ignored him and continued examining the sandal, turning it over in his hands as he began explaining.
They were in the Kingdom of Asteria, one of the major human nations on the western side of the continent. The land was divided into noble territories, each governed by lords responsible for taxes, trade, and local order.
This region belonged to Viscount Harrow, whose family had ruled it for three generations.
The place they were in now was the heart of his domain, Aldren Port, a massive commercial city where caravans, merchants, and adventurers from every direction gathered.
Because it sat between the inland trade routes and the coastal market lines, countless goods from distant regions passed through its streets every day.
Aldren Port was known for its dense markets, busy harbor, and stable income from trade. Craftsmen, alchemists, artificers, and wandering sorcerer frequently visited, making it one of the most lively cities in the kingdom.
"A sorcerer is someone who uses mana to fight," Oliver said without looking up. "They use mana to bend the rules of the world."
"You mean using magic?"
"Yes. Magic comes from mana. Mana is the natural energy that flows through everything. If someone can control it, they can use power far beyond a normal human.
But magic is not limited to spells. Through runes we can channel mana into objects, strengthen them, or give them special effects."
As he talked, Oliver's eyes began to shine. The irritation and sadness from earlier, replaced by excitement.
Under his explanation, Ethan slowly began to understand how people cultivated magic in this world.
At the beginning, a person would absorb mana into their body to strengthen themselves physically.
After that, the next step was to convert their meridians into mana veins, turning the natural pathways inside the body into channels that could properly hold and guide mana.
The process sounded less like storybook wizards and more like the cultivation and martial paths Ethan had seen in webnovels back on Earth.
After successfully turning all the vein, the next goal was to create a magic core.
Inside this core, they would construct and stack magic circles.
The core itself was ranked from level one to level ten, and it was at this stage that people began to branch into different paths.
Those who loved to fight and focus on combat, called sorcerers, formed their magic core inside their own bodies.
Those who wanted to become artificers like Oliver chose a different route, creating their core outside their body and building it into an artifact instead.
There were also people who walked a hybrid path, creating two core at once. However, most of society looked down on them.
The common saying was that "Jack of all trades, master of none."
Someone who focused all their effort on one subject would always do better than someone who divided their strength.
No matter how talented a hybrid practitioner was, they would usually still be a few steps behind those who devoted themselves fully to a single path.
On top of that, magic cultivation was very expensive.
Those who formed their core inside their body needed large amounts of natural elixirs and resources.
Monster cores, special beast meat, rare spiritual herbs, and even thousand-year elemental ginseng that only grew in specific dangerous places were all used to push the body and core to a higher level.
For people who created their core outside the body, the cost was different but just as brutal.
They needed high-grade metals, rare ores, and precious gemstones to construct and stabilize their external core and artifact.
The price of these materials could reach a level that even empires struggled to bear, and many of the higher-grade ones could not be bought with money at all.
Ethan thought for a moment, then asked, "So, with all that, why are you so fixated on artificers? Most people would chase power and become sorcerers."
Oliver snorted.
"Because sorcerers are selfish," he said.
"Their strength is for themselves. They train their bodies, build their cores, swing their spells. In the end, all that power stays locked inside one person."
"An artificer is different," Oliver continued.
"We make things that other people can use. Weapons, tools, armor, artifact.
A sorcerer can save a village if they feel like it. An artificer can give that village light at night, clean water, better farming tools, and weapons to defend themselves.
Even if we are weaker in direct fight, what we create can change how everyone lives."
Ethan went quiet.
Oliver's voice grew steadier as he spoke.
"If a sorcerer dies, most of their strength dies with them," he said.
"If an artificer dies, their work remains. Their artifacts, their designs, their ideas.
Other people can keep using them, keep improving them."
He lifted the sandal and looked at it seriously.
"So yes, sorcerers are strong. But they are strong for themselves.
Artificers can make everyone stronger. That is why I want to be an artificer."
For a moment, only the sound of the water and distant birds filled the air.
"…Not bad," Ethan finally said. "For a kid, you have great ambition."
Oliver rolled his eyes.
Ethan hesitated for a heartbeat, then offered.
"In that case," he said slowly, "How about we make a deal then?"