Genius Mage in a Cultivation World

Chapter 197 - A Fruitful Stroll

'The weather is surprisingly nice,' Layn thought as he moved out of his shed. With all the wooden forms now filled with the mana-producing material, all he had to do was wait for them to cool down before cutting the rollers into proper coins. 

Using the free time that he now had, the archmage decided to go for a stroll to see how others were doing. 

"Stretch the markers further!" Yelna shouted in the distance. Despite not being a talkative person, she was more than capable of overseeing the workers in almost any field of work. On its own, it was a great testimony to what she had to go through in her life to gain an understanding of so many varying jobs. 

But whatever that was in her past that made her so competent was now paying off. "The canal can reach several lanes further, so don't be too shy when marking out the further fields!" Yelna continued to shout her orders before she finally noticed the strolling mage. 

"Layn," she said, nodding her head in a greeting. Even though she was polite, there was a small fire in her eyes, proving that she still had some suspicions about the archmage. 

"Hello," Layn smiled, ignoring the slightly hostile attitude of the girl. 'With what I made her go through, I guess she will never grow to forgive me,' he thought, recalling some of the less pleasant memories of his. "How is the work going?" he asked, trying to strike up a proper conversation. 

"Relatively good," Yelna moved her eyes back on the fields. "Where do you think you are going with those markers?!" instead of taking up Layn's invitation, she focused back on her work. 

"I won't bother you too much, then," Layn said as he released a deep sigh. He then got back to his stroll. 

'When compared to just one day ago, this place is finally bustling with activities,' he thought, watching how crowds of people moved from one place to another. 

The area of brick manufactory used to be the most popular before Markus brought more people. As the very basis behind the expansion of the camp, it was a place where not only someone constantly kept the production going, but also a place where everyone would go while working on other projects. 

Yet, it was nothing in comparison to what was happening around it right now. Twenty people worked around the clock at the manufacturing process at the same time, and all the while, further fifty continued to bring more brick-making material to the place. 

"The next batch goes to the forge area!" Al shouted, overseeing the production. He then noticed an approaching archmage. "Layn, it's been a while!" he shouted, dropping his facial expression and spreading his arms. "How do you like this place now?" Al asked with a wide smile on his face. 

'He is just like me in this regard,' Layn smiled gently. "It's great. Right, I was going to ask," he said, pointing his hand at the people constructing something right beside the existing brick manufactory. "You guys are building another one?" he asked. 

"Yeah," Al nodded his head in response. "With how many people we have here, the need for housing and different workshops is immense. There is no way we would be able to keep up with the demand with just a single one," he said before shaking his head. "That's is, that's what Ation and Markus said when they delegated the job to me," Al said as he grinned. 

"That's understandable. If you have any questions or troubles, don't wait to contact me," Layn said before nodding his head and bidding his friend farewell. Out of all the projects that people worked around the camp at, the forge was the one that interested him the most. 

"I can tell you are going for the forge," Al smiled as he saw Layn turning around. "Head for the coast. That's where Markus decided the forge should be," he instructed the archmage before turning around. With no further words, Al rushed to a group of people packing up the finished bricks on one of the few carts that people at the camp had already constructed. 

'We really need to spike up the trade of the stones as soon as possible,' Layn thought as he headed back towards the coast. The location of the forge turned out to be pretty close to Layn's lodging. In a sense, Markus set it to be in the very central point of the future academy, likely aiming to give Layn some peace of mind regarding that place. 

'Now that I think about it, this seems to make up for a pretty good separation of power," Layn suddenly thought, frozen by the idea. It shocked him so much that he even forgot that he was heading for the construction site of the forge. 

'If we get Al to manage the military, Markus to manage the laws, and me to manage the circulation of the money, we will be forced to cooperate, won't we?' Layn thought, already seeing how the future government of the camp could look like. 'In this way, I wouldn't need to bother with too much politics, limiting my influence without totally cutting it out,' he thought, raising his head towards the forge. "And for that end, this forge will be essential," Layn muttered, looking at the nearby construction site. 

Nearby was a relative word here. Using the old camp as the basis of the comparison, the forge would be at the other end of the camp than Layn's shed. But when taking the current scope of the camp in mind, the archmage was pretty lucky to have his house so close to his future workplace!

"While I won't deny that, I have a feeling that there is something deeper to those words," Markus said, suddenly appearing behind Layn's back. As the archmage was too consumed with his thoughts, he failed to notice the appearance of his friend. 

"You bet," Layn smiled after shaking the surprise out of his mind.. "Actually, I think you should hear me out," he said, turning around to face his old friend.