A year and a half passed from the day Alicia first walked through Joel's door under the guise of learning sculpture. In that time, her presence became so constant, so natural, that everyone in the house began to see her as part of their strange little family. Even Liam, at his own pace, had lowered his guard enough to accept her presence without discomfort. Ariel, for his part, adored her like a big sister, and even Nana seemed calmer when Alicia was around.

  Time seemed to fly by for Joel. Between training, teaching, sculpting, and raising his adopted children, the days filled up without him even realizing it. The profits from his sculptures and custom commissions, often commissioned by nobles from different corners of the duchy, piled up in unexpected amounts. Soon, he was forced to build a reinforced cellar exclusively to store his wealth, not out of paranoia, but a simple need for order.

  Although money held immense value in that world, Joel knew that in the remote place where he lived, there weren't many things worth buying. He didn't have expensive whims, and most of what he needed he could obtain on his own or through local markets. His life remained simple, by choice rather than limitation.

  The visits from clients continued. However, as time passed, individuals who weren't looking for sculptures began to appear. Some came from distant regions, wearing fine clothes and armed escorts, but with no clear intentions. Others simply lingered in front of his house, silently observing, with looks that, on more than one occasion, conveyed veiled hostility.

  Joel declined several formal invitations to noble events in the Duchy's capital, elegantly apologizing through well-worded letters. He even received a letter from the Duke's family, requesting his presence at an art and magic exhibition, which he also declined. He didn't want to leave his home, much less expose himself to an environment over which he had no control. He knew all too well what could happen when one caught the attention of those in power.

  Joel was even forced to reject several requests that, although promising great rewards, he simply couldn't accept. His time was already beginning to be consumed, taking time away from other activities he wasn't willing to give up. Some of these rejected clients didn't take it well, and while most left with frustration and sharp words, there were instances when tensions escalated dangerously, and Joel was close to resorting to force.

  Fortunately, Alicia was present in most of these situations, and her mere presence was enough to calm more than one overbearing nobleman. With a blend of natural diplomacy and the authority inherited from her position as the baron's daughter, she knew how to soothe inflamed egos without humiliating them, diverting conflicts that would otherwise have ended badly.

  Despite this, Joel wasn't naive and knew he was drawing too much attention to himself. And in a world like that, where magic and bloodline gave the powerful license to act with impunity, it was only a matter of time before someone overstepped the limit. I'd already encountered that kind of arrogance in dream lifetimes: leaders and businessmen so convinced of their supremacy that they forgot the limits of reason. Many were accustomed to the world yielding to them without resistance.

  More than once, Joel contemplated the idea of ??packing everything up and leaving. But he couldn't, for Nana couldn't move and he didn't want to abandon her. The children, for their part, were still too young to go unnoticed, given their magical potential. He was their shield, and he wasn't yet ready to expose them to a world that could devour them mercilessly.

  Besides, the situation, tense as it was, continued to bear fruit. Every mage who visited, every noble who stopped by his house, brought with it a little more energy for Nana... and for Joel as well. His strength—though not of the flashy kind—grew with each passing day.

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  Joel's mana reserves had increased significantly over the past year. Following the advice Alicia had shared with him about the intensive use of mana as a means of expansion and strengthening, he adopted the habit of carving with his sword, channeling mana through it until it was completely depleted. That training, repeated day after day, turned his control and accumulation of energy into something formidable.

  Soon, Joel reached a point where he could create, with his special ability, objects with a volume eight times larger and a weight of up to two hundred grams, something unthinkable at the beginning of his experiments. The new limits opened the door to much more practical possibilities, creating objects such as jewelry of all kinds, small chemical and mechanical instruments, chemical agents, scientific calculators, among many others. Although he also became capable of materializing a wider variety of sweets—something that delighted the children.

  But the most striking object he managed to create was completely useless… and at the same time deeply symbolic for him: a modern smartphone.

  That particular model came from one of his most vivid dreams, one that took place in the most modern era of that world. The device appeared in his hands, shiny, thin, and perfectly functional. For a full hour, Joel manipulated it as if holding a lost treasure, browsing through games, photographs, and applications that awakened in him a bitter nostalgia. Obviously, it had no connection: no internet, no GPS, no social media. Just him and a dozen useless games and apps.

  When the battery died, he looked at the device with a resigned expression. "It doesn't matter if I create the charger, where am I going to plug it in?" he complained quietly, angrily remembering the "idiots in his dreams" for never having bought a solar charger or something similar.

  With a sigh, he placed the device on a shelf like a useless relic. He had two options: wait until he could summon a portable battery—something unlikely anytime soon—or recreate a new phone whenever he wanted to play for a while. The irony wasn't lost on him: he owned a piece of technology inconceivable to the world... and it served as nothing more than decoration.

  That episode with the phone was nothing more than a curious anecdote for the rest of the house, but for Joel, it was a turning point. It was a silent reminder of the potential that exists in his dreams and on this strange world called Earth.

  From then on, he began to dedicate small blocks of time to thinking about how to solve the electricity problem. He knew it was one of the great inventions that had led humanity on Earth to the enormous development he saw in his dreams. Many of the objects he hopes to create in the future depend on it, so thinking in advance of a way to generate electricity without him being an electrical mage would be ideal. It was crazy, he knew. But so had the idea of materializing a watch or creating gold out of thin air.

  Also related, Joel's strength continued to increase, thanks to his dream lives, constant training, and the regular consumption of Nana's elixirs. By now, it was practically impossible to accurately measure his true power. Even Nana, with her keen perception, couldn't fully calculate it, because to her senses, Joel was only a Level 3 mage... but with a body that was already too difficult to determine his true combat potential.

  He was far from reaching the next level; he could feel it himself, and he knew very well that the path to level 4 was long and difficult. Magical levels were not linear in their growth, and each ascent required more time than the previous one for the body to develop and withstand the changes, even with the help of potions. He had read enough in the Cult of the Dawn to understand that reaching the higher levels, for those who can, takes a great number of years. To take one example, there has never been a level 7 mage under 100 years old.

  Still, Joel didn't feel pressured. His plan was simple: continue growing in the shadows, without attracting more attention than necessary, taking advantage of every resource at his disposal. Dreams offered him experience and technique, elixirs fueled him strongly, and his sculpting routine was a perfect excuse to fine-tune both his mana control and his concentration.

  Sometimes, while working in silence, Joel thought about his destiny. Would he really need all that power one day? Or was it simply a way to prepare for when the world—inevitably—turned against him?

  In the end, what Joel least wanted happened. And worst of all: he really didn't expect it.

  It was a peaceful night, like any other. Everyone slept quietly, and his house was calm, barely disturbed by the sound of the wind. But at some point, between the rustling of the leaves and the children's slow breathing, something snapped, and an invisible thread tightened in the air.

  Someone crossed the threshold of his home. It wasn't a mistake, nor reckless curiosity, but a premeditated attack. Whoever it was, they didn't come to watch or talk. They came for something or someone.

  And that night, many more things changed than Joel could have imagined.