Chapter 68: Heating the “Small Box”
After draining the blood from the magic fish and removing its magic stone and innards, Ren rinsed it clean with water magic. Excited, he skewered the fish onto a washed branch.
Since he already had a campfire going, he figured he might as well try grilling it.
“Don’t let the fire get too strong…”
Unsure about the right distance from the flames, he planted the skewer near the fire.
While he had been preparing the fish, the jar containing the char cloth had cooled enough to touch. Just to be safe, he layered some cloth over it and slowly opened the lid. A burnt smell escaped, along with a piece of pitch-black fabric.
“Oh!”
It was far blacker than he had imagined, and he couldn’t help but exclaim.
When he tried to pinch it and pull it out, part of the cloth crumbled apart, turning his fingertips black.
“Whoa.”
He hurriedly washed his hands with water magic, though the soot didn’t come off easily. Using thin sticks, he carefully transferred the cloth onto a board. Fine black powder scattered as it fell apart. While the outer layers were fully charred, the inner portion was only partially burnt, still brown.
“…Maybe I packed in too much cloth.”
Though disappointed that it hadn’t carbonized evenly, Ren was eager to test it.
He placed a piece on the ground without touching it directly and used fire magic. The edges began to smolder, producing thin smoke before catching a small flame. When he placed some loosened hemp fibers on top, the fire slowly spread.
“Wow!”
A smile spread across his face.
“This is amazing! It’s so easy to start a fire.”
He added thin twigs to the growing flame. Once it burned steadily, he placed the jar with fresh cloth back into the fire—this time using less material.
After setting up his second batch of char cloth, he checked on the feathers. Depending on where they had been stuck in the sand, some were charred black, others had turned a translucent yellow, and some had warped in shape.
“Burnt ones are probably no good…”
He recalled the book saying they should become “transparent and hardened,” and frowned. Still, he was glad he had tested with easily obtainable three-eyed eagle feathers.
The surface of the fish began to crisp as it roasted, fat sizzling over the fire. A savory aroma filled the air. Worried the smell might attract predators like the three-eyed eagles, Ren kept glancing at the sky while adjusting the position of the skewer.
As the skin turned a golden brown, he swallowed.
“Is it done yet?”
He picked up the skewer, turning it slightly, then took a bite.
Crunch.
The skin split pleasantly, releasing steam and revealing white flesh inside. As he chewed, the fluffy, piping-hot meat carried a mix of river freshness and smoky aroma, with a subtle sweetness lingering afterward.
“Yeah… this is good…”
He wished he had brought salt, but even so, the freshly grilled fish felt deeply satisfying.
By the time he finished one whole fish, the jar making char cloth had stopped smoking. Using a long stick, he pulled it closer and placed it into a “small box,” removing the air inside. He also pushed the burning branches aside.
Earlier, he had tried putting the entire campfire into a “small box,” but the flames nearly went out. He decided to experiment with that another time.
When he had tested the three-eyed eagle feathers earlier, the ones placed in slightly dug-up sand from the fire pit had turned out best. So he began digging again with a stick, but then paused.
“Wait… couldn’t I move the sand with magic?”
“Move sand.”
He gathered mana in his palm and held it over the sand. Slowly, the sand began to shift, flowing outward from where his magic was focused. However, it was slower than digging with a stick. While it kept his hands safe from the heat, it also risked cooling the sand too much.
“…It’d be nice if I could tell the exact temperature…”
Since touching the sand directly was too hot, he created a small “small box,” filled it with heated sand, and moved it onto a cloth. When he brought his hand near it, he felt the warmth radiating.
“…About this hot? Can I make the ‘small box’ remember this heat?”
He recalled how he used to warm “small boxes” in winter and place them under blankets. He tried putting cool sand inside and imagining warming it.
The box itself became slightly warm, but heating the sand took time.
“…Maybe I should just create hot sand instead.”
He tried raising the temperature of sand inside the box and even generating hot sand directly, but both methods felt slower than simply heating the box.
“…Maybe it’s a skill difference.”
He remembered how Lewis, with earth magic, could freely manipulate soil. Someone like him might easily heat or shape sand.
“But it’s not impossible…”
Muttering to himself, Ren continued producing hot sand inside small boxes. Since the containers were small, only a little sand was needed. By heating the box itself, the sand stayed warm.
Into one of these, he inserted a blue feather from a Swiftwind bird. It looked almost like a flower in a vase—strangely elegant. He went on placing feathers from Swiftwind birds and Ashveils into the heated sand, both in the boxes and in the dug-up firepit.