Night settled over Emberhold with a quiet heaviness. Floating lantern glyphs drifted through the streets like lazy fireflies. Evan walked toward the crafting quarter carrying a small pouch of broken relay fragments. The silence of the streets felt different from the earlier chaos of the plaza. Quieter yes but also expectant as if the city itself waited to see what he would do next.

He reached the rune craftsman’s shop a squat building squeezed between a wand repair stall and a potion recycling depot. Smoke curled from the chimney and the soft tapping of carving tools came from inside. Evan pushed the door open and stepped into warm air filled with the scent of hot stone dust.

The old craftsman sat behind a wide table littered with cracked crystals and rune etching tools. His beard glowed faintly from residual mana. He did not look up when Evan entered but spoke in a low gruff tone.

You brought the broken relay
Evan set the pouch on the table Yes I need your help stabilizing them
Help comes with price the craftsman said finally glancing up And not coin Alone you cannot refine these designs You need a partner Someone who knows the limits of magic

Evan nodded I know

The craftsman opened the pouch spreading the broken shards across the table. He inspected them like a doctor studying wounded patients. He nudged one fragment with his fingertip. It sparked briefly and died.

Too much mana strain he said Your design forces energy through runes carved too shallow The crystal body cannot handle the stress It collapses under its own pulse

Can you fix it Evan asked
Fix Yes Improve Maybe But the question is greater than the crystals What are you truly trying to build

Evan hesitated. The craftsman had earned honesty.

A system that lets people share illusions across long distances A network of creators and audiences A place where magic can be seen by anyone not just those standing nearby

The craftsman stared at him for several long moments Not angry not confused simply processing.
A living web of magic he murmured A shared space of illusions A place where stories travel

Exactly Evan said

The craftsman leaned back folding his arms I have lived long enough to know that such ideas change kingdoms And anything that changes kingdoms also invites danger

Evan nodded The Arcanum already warned me
The craftsman snorted Of course they did They fear losing control They always have

He stood slowly and moved toward a shelf packed with dusty wooden boxes. He pulled one down and opened it revealing a set of old crystals carved with intricate runes far finer than any Evan had seen in the market.

These were made during the era of the Last Signal War the craftsman explained Magic messengers used them to send battle reports across the realm But the technique was lost

He held up one crystal It can hold an illusion sequence longer than ordinary crystals But to activate them requires more than skill It requires purpose

Evan stared at the relics awe slowly growing Purpose I have that
The craftsman nodded Maybe so

He placed one crystal in Evan’s hand. It hummed with energy as if sensing something inside him. Evan felt his Insight Vision ignite showing streams of light connecting the runes. The crystal responded as though waiting for instructions.

You are not a mage the craftsman said but something in you guides magic like an invisible compass If you wish to build your network these relic crystals will help But they must be carved into a new shape a shape only you can see

Evan breathed slowly letting the Insight Vision overlay new runes across the crystal surface. He traced the pattern with a careful thumb. The crystal shimmered.

The craftsman inhaled sharply That pattern is unknown to me
It just came to me Evan said quietly

The craftsman stepped back before whispering You hold a gift that does not belong to this world

Evan stayed silent. It was the closest anyone had come to realizing he was not from this place.

The craftsman finally said If I help you I want one thing I want to witness the birth of your network I want to be the first rune smith to shape its foundation

Evan smiled Deal

They worked late into the night carving rune channels correcting angles and testing mana flow. The new crystals glowed gently never cracking never overloading.

Near midnight the craftsman stepped back This will work You have a stable foundation now

Evan looked at the glowing prototypes.
Magenet was real now
Not just an idea
But a growing heartbeat

The craftsman placed a hand on the table Keep these hidden for now The Arcanum watches They fear anything they cannot control

Evan nodded This is only the first step

Outside the door the night wind carried faint echoes of voices from the plaza earlier. He imagined those voices amplified across an entire kingdom through Magenet.

The thought filled him with both excitement and fear.
He whispered to himself
Tomorrow we begin testing the real network