The Power of Creation
Copyright© 2026 by Vasantrutu
Chapter 9: Symbol Ring
When I woke up, I felt strangely refreshed, as if I had slept through an entire night without a single dream. For a brief moment, my mind was blank. Then I heard my sister’s voice, casual yet sharp, and confusion washed over me. The next heartbeat later, everything from the previous day came crashing back into my thoughts.
I sat up abruptly.
Mira was crouched near the fire, calmly cooking. One glance at the sky confirmed it—this wasn’t morning. The sun was already sinking, painting the clouds in shades of orange and crimson. She was preparing the last meal of the day.
I stretched my body, joints cracking softly, and yawned.
“Go wash your face,” she said without looking at me. “I have some things to tell you.”
I nodded and did as instructed.
The lake water was cool and clear. I splashed my face, letting the lingering dizziness fade, then returned and sat beside her, waiting silently. Mira didn’t speak immediately. She turned the meat carefully over the fire, letting the silence stretch—long enough that my unease began to grow.
When she finally spoke, her words hit me harder than any slap she had given earlier.
“I haven’t thought this far ahead,” I admitted quietly after she finished explaining the situation as she saw it.
I looked at her seriously.
“Sister ... tell me. When do you think the nobles will start paying attention to this place?”
“Not soon,” she replied, eyes narrowed. “But not late enough either. You still owe the elders money, don’t you?”
When I nodded, she continued.
“I’ve seen what you can do—how you manipulate stone and metal like clay. Listen carefully. Gather enough resources to clear your debt with the village. Once that’s done, you can legally sever your dependence. If things go wrong, you could even abandon the village and settle here.”
She poked at the fire, sparks rising.
“I’ll start looking for people who might be willing to live here in the future.”
She paused, then added, “According to domain law, once a new territory is claimed, there’s a three-year grace period before it must be fully settled and stabilized. Alternatively, you could stop visiting this place entirely for three years or more. That would buy you time.”
I frowned.
“But if we suddenly gather that much raw metal, won’t the elders become suspicious?”
“Yes,” she said bluntly. “But what other options do you have? Selling the land for a few extra gold coins?”
I shook my head.
“What if we clear the debt ... and then don’t visit this land for ten years? Except for a few hours at a time.”
She looked at me like I’d missed something obvious.
“There are spies in the village. The trip from the village to here is nine hours on foot, and the same to return. Even if you somehow matched my pace—which you can’t—you’d only cut that in half.”
I hesitated, then spoke carefully.
“What if ... we reduced the travel time to less than a minute?”
She froze.
“That’s imp—” She stopped mid-word, slowly turning to stare at me.
“What the fuck have you done now, Rowan?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Not yet. Just answer me.”
She swallowed, then answered honestly.
“If that’s possible ... then you could delay everything indefinitely.”
I smiled faintly.
“Good. Then instead of paying the elders with raw metal—which would raise questions—what if we gave them something else?”
She raised an eyebrow.
“A mana-infused iron sword, with a gold handguard,” I continued. “We can claim it was found on the body of a dead adventurer inside my domain. And we can gift Elder Lucy to Mother—no one would question that.”
Mira stared at me for a long moment. Then she let out a slow breath.
“That’s ... actually brilliant,” she admitted. “A military-grade sword like that is worth at least three gold coins.”
With that settled, we focused on finishing the meal.
While Mira tended the fire, I shifted my attention inward.
I willed my domain to act.
The materials responded immediately.
Deep within the mountain, metals began to separate and flow—iron, mana-infused iron, and gold—merging precisely as I envisioned. The sword took shape silently, perfectly balanced, its blade carrying a faint inner glow. I left it aside to finish forming on its own and turned my focus to something far more important.
The ring.
The symbol of my domain.
I began by shaping a simple band of silver—clean, unadorned. Then I extracted a blue gemstone from the mountain and crushed it into an impossibly fine dust. When I searched for void sand, I felt a moment of alarm—it was nearly depleted.
But I had no choice.
I willed two thousand grains to emerge.
They came willingly.
I fused the first thousand grains together and embedded them deep within the inner structure of the ring, forming a hidden protective core. Over that, I layered the blue gem dust, sealing the void sand completely from direct contact.
The remaining thousand grains I fused again, shaping them into a thin outer layer that wrapped around the ring like an unseen shell.
Finally, I drew out a small block of MIVSI.
From it, I sculpted the final design—a dragon devouring its own body, endless and unbroken. The symbol wrapped around the ring, dark and imposing, yet elegant.
For the eyes, I carefully drew out one hundred and twenty grains of void sand.
From those, I fused one hundred grains together to form a spatial room, stable and accessible in moments of emergency. The remaining twenty grains I merged separately, creating a large storage space.
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