Steel and Mana

Chapter 30 – CC

Before going, I grabbed Sasha, telling her to be ready because it could be that she would have to activate the formations under their base way sooner than I anticipated. But I really hoped that wouldn't be the case. It would be such a waste of time and resources!

After we arrived, some female bandits waited for us, 'escorting' the group into their home, which was now littered with hundreds of boxes as they went over their fresh loot. Surprisingly, they were well-organized, and I could see a pile of parcels, untouched, separated from the rest.

"Yo!" laughed Yuri, coming to greet us. She was still covered with patches of dried, blackish blood. "We already separated some for you to take away; you will love them, my dear hubby!"

"I am not your hubby. And don't call me dear; it makes me retch."

"Sure, baby, sure!" She grinned, ignoring me, glancing at Sasha, but she was now playing her game differently, disregarding Yuri as if she wasn't even there. "Cum, let me show it to you!"

"..." I was sure she did not say come... I could swear, but I was not here to argue about it.

When we walked over with my guards and saw what was inside the crates, I wanted to swear. I was sure of it as Sasha's brows were constantly furrowing, relaxing, and then contracting again, giving her a pretty funny appearance.

"Where did you get these?"

I asked in a firm voice, leaning forward and picking out one small block from the box. They were all like an oversized plum seed. The smallest was comparable to a mobile phone in my old world, while the biggest was comparable to a coffee table. To the touch, they felt like rough, unpolished stone and were milky-white in color.

"The noble we killed and ransacked had it. They were sitting in the basement of his little courtyard without any marks, so they are not the church's property! Well, they could have been once, but who cares!"

"Have you ever robbed them?" I asked, weighing the strange stones that, even though their sizes varied, none felt heavier than a kilogram.

"The church?" Yuri asked, tilting her head, "A few times, yes. They are nothing special and are just another arm of the state. They are responsible for searching for mages and collecting resources for them. Preaching is just secondary. Why? Are you afraid of them?" She grinned widely, thinking she had something on me now.

"No, I just want to deal with them later. I already have plans to kill them silently and replace them with my own people so they can send back reports that all is well here."

"Sneaky~! I am getting wet! Want to fuck?"

"No," I answered before Sasha could because the moment she opened her mouth, I felt the stone in my hand turning hot and becoming slightly more orange-colored. "And we will take these. Now."

"Heh, I knew you would love this gift!"

"I do, and delegate a few of your bitches to keep an eye on the looted region! I want to know where these came from."

"You do know how to talk to a woman, eh?" Yuri moaned, licking her mouth, then performed an exaggerated noble's bow. "We will do so!"

With Sasha, we coordinated the others to carry the boxes out, and soon, a carriage arrived to pick them up. I brought them to the scene of the old mine where we could test them out without worrying about destroying something, especially after it was flooded.

"Oleg, send some trustworthy soldiers to the city; I want them to observe the church and their people at every passing minute," I said as we were traveling, and I was immersed in my thoughts for a little while.

"Yes, My Lord!" He nodded, riding further up, speaking with two of his men who sped away, heading towards my budding city.

"Leon..."

"Hm?" I smiled, looking at Sasha, who was still squirming a little.

"These stones are weird... I feel a slight vibration in my body whenever I look at them!"

"Is it uncomfortable?"

"No... it's nice... that is the problem, hauh! It tingles... me... you know..."

"Oh!" I blinked my eyes and barely held back my laughter, making her pout.

"Not funny! It is... uncomfortable! They are just rocks! Why are they like this?!"

"Well, they are not just stones, but I get you. I am sure they have a ton of official names, but I will start calling them... hmmm... CC!"

"CC? Why?"

"Control Crystals! In short, CC! A good and short designation that is easy to remember, and I will appoint them as a resource that nobody but I can deal with! You say it makes you tingle? We don't know what other effects they may have, and what if they are problematic for a mage? Could they be addictive?"

"I wouldn't be addicted to them, hmph!"

"Of course not~!" I hugged her closer, giving her a deep kiss, "I would make sure that toys like this wouldn't satisfy you. But this can be dangerous! So I will monopolize them just as I monopolized you~!"

"Hauh... bad... you are bad..."

"I know~!"

....
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While sending most of the loot to my city, I took one box with us to the flooded mine. After choosing one that was easy to hold, I gave it to Sasha, telling her to try and focus on it and see what happens. I had no idea how to operate something like this, but... live practice is the easiest way to go about it.

"It tingles... makes my fingers numb!" She explained as she looked at it, trying to concentrate her mana on it.

"From here, it seems to turn more orange the more you focus!" I shouted back, standing a few meters away at the behest of Oleg, who held my shoulders with one hand.

"It is warming up nicely! It is good to hold!"

"But it seemingly plateaued..." I murmured, and then an idea came to mind. "Think of Yuri flirting with me!"

It had an immediate effect, and the crystal turned bright red in just a few seconds. I saw a glowing, crimson magic formation appear behind Sasha, who then shifted towards me, oblivious to what was happening to her.

"Like I would let it happen! That woman is a beast in human clothing!" She snorted, but that seemed like enough of an activation for the new formation.

I felt a firm grip pulling at me as Oleg flung me away before dodging himself, and a fireball whizzed past us, hitting a tree, making it explode as if a cannonball shot through it. I watched from the ground as flames erupted, consuming the tree and leaving only ash behind before starting to spread.

"Oh shit! Not good! Sasha, try thinking about recalling it!"

"How?!" She yelled, panicking at what she did as it quickly turned into a spreading forest fire.

"Just think about slurping it up like some soup; I don't know, you are the witch!"

Well... I didn't expect it to work, but it did. Like trained dogs listening to their owner's whistle, the flames returned to her, now swirling around Sasha's body like a whirlpool. It was interesting to see fire act like this, but I couldn't get close as the heat was still continuing to rise higher and higher.

"How is it now?!" I shouted, raising my arm, feeling it hard to breathe because of the heat waves.

"Fine!" She yelled back, "It is like taking a hot bath on a cold night! It feels so satisfying!"

I bet! The formation in the air behind her was glowing intensely, and I could see the multiple intricate signs inside slowly turn, realigning themselves as her thoughts changed. I was so glad for my brain to still have its functions from my previous life as now I could record them and look back later on while resting. I felt like I was taking a glimpse at how this world's laws were working in real-time.

"Think of calming down! Try turning it off!"

It was hard to shout, feeling as if I was breathing right next to a blacksmith's oven, burning my lungs. I was glad that it was Sasha who I was working with, as even though she was a bit panicky, she was surprisingly adept when it came to learning and handling magic. She was a natural... but maybe all witches were. I watched as the flames began cooling down, retreating and dissipating, leaving behind a completely scorched area around her.

"My Lord... Now I understand why they are whisked away and used sparingly... that fire was like flames from the underworld! Unleashing that on an enemy would be more deadly than a well-equipped army!"

"Didn't you get used to it fighting beasts that breathe fire in the winter?" I asked, looking at Oleg with raised eyebrows.

"The monsters' flames don't feel this hot, My Lord!"

"You may be right..." I whispered, finally being able to approach Sasha and realizing a problem. She was naked. Okay, it was not a problem, but a bonus.

"Khm!" Oleg had already turned away, not looking, and it was what prompted her to cry out.

"My clothes! They are gone!"

"Duh!" I grinned, exploring her curves to my heart's content. "You have grown! Seeing you now in natural sunlight, I must say, a good diet is all a girl needs!"

"Uuu! I can't go back like this!" She continued shrieking, trying to cover herself, but didn't know where to put her tiny hands.

"Why not? You are perfect~!" With a grin, I couldn't help but start tickling her as she protested and laughed at the same time, hugging me.

"I will crawl under your clothes then!"

"Sure~! But enough playing..." I whispered, kissing her and giving her my clothes as I didn't mind heading back in nothing but my underwear. "What you did here was eye-opening!"

"Was it?"

"Of course!" I whispered, taking the completely intact CC from her hands. "No wonder this is important for mages. In a battle, it can significantly enhance and focus your spells. Didn't you notice how much easier it was to control the flames? Still, it has a windup and cooldown time. It wasn't instant... hmm...."

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, looking curiously at my face, holding a sweet smile that made my heart melt more than her fires.

"Just some fancy idea. Something... unreasonable. Like, and don't laugh! What if I can store mana in them? What if I can program them somehow and activate their effects at specific times or in different conditions? Could then they be used by even someone like me? Or more importantly... could I make them to be the energy source of some particular machines..."

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