Dezen went back to his camp to rest.
At some point, when his mind completely regenerated, but not his body, Dezen started to think what he will have to do.
Besides going around the lava rivers and checking if the further parts of the route are usable, he also feels obligated to create, or find other routes, safe and usable for normal people. Of course, it refers to sections of the usual route, which are not usable. (Dezen will find/create a safe route to go around anything what blocks the normal route)
He could take only Alex with him, but other villagers wouldn't have the possibility to get to the city, and Dezen doesn't want to leave them like that.
If someone is wondering, why his mind had to recover, this is because constant use of spells like False Warmth is tiring after hours.
"I should go in the direction of the source of lava rivers. From what I observed, it will be faster, than find their ends. This area is just giant grassland, so it should be easy to cross. I will just have to burn some grass, so it won't slow people down. Luckily, I can control what Fire Fog burns. The real problem will be, if there are some rivers. Then, I have to find a bridge, or build one with others, when we will be going to the city. Let's hope further parts of the route are usable. If no... Guess a lot of work awaits me. In the worst case, we will visit city few weeks or months later. We will survive."
Dezen was thinking about other possible problems, that could block the route and their solutions, before he fell asleep for 3 hours.
After waking up, he collected everything from his "camp", and set out in the direction of the source of lava rivers.
"It is really embarrassing, that I didn't spot these anomalies earlier. I have to pay attention to my surroundings and things that happens around me, otherwise it will put me in dangerous situations... Is it safe to create a safe route to go around the lava rivers close to them? There is some kind of barrier or something which blocks them and, even heat, so there shouldn't be any danger. And even if they stop working, no matter how far the route I create will be, lava rivers will get to them."
After getting close to the border, between grasslands and area touched by lava rivers, he changed direction of riding, from lava rivers to their source.
The further he went, the thicker ash in the air became, creating the unusual sight of a giant, gray-black wall of it, which couldn't cross the invisible border.
"Was it here before? Or I didn't spot it. I don't remember."
After riding like that for around 50 minutes, Dezen reminded himself, that he can Weaker Air, to make his undead wolf faster.
This time, travelling was easier, so his speed was higher. In less than 2 hours he finally saw the place where should be the source of lava rivers.
Or rather, he assumed it is there, because the whole place was obscured by ash.
While try to go around it, Dezen saw a figure coming out of it.
After using Better Sight, he could tell that it was a woman, around 1,75m high, with redhead, beautiful, in his opinion.
She waved at him, then, when she saw, that Dezen sees her, she made a gesture speaking "Come here".
Dezen was curious, who is she, why an area with lava rivers work like that, and didn't want he is run away, like some criminal, so he ordered undead wolf to go in her direction.
She patiently waited until he came, and get off undead wolf, before she spoke.
- I am Regina Afen, mage from Church of Alen. You want to get to Aren (city, which Dezen was mentioning, and to which leads route, he is currently checking), right?
- Yes. I am Dezen Astord. I guess the priest from my village already informed Church of Alen, that I am a mage, who he tried to recruit.
- You were mentioned to us. Have you decided? You want to join us? Or you rather want to join another organization? If you do not believe, you can still work for us, without obligations, similar to mercenary.
- I do not want join any force. But I was thinking about that proposal of working for Church. I just did not want to believe it. Anyway, how can I start it? Do I have to go to the city and there I can start work? Where do I need to report?
- At any church at Aren. It will be enough if you tell them, that you want to become our mercenary. This is how we call people like you.
- Thank you. Could I ask, what is it? - Dezen pointed his head at the wall of ash.
- Volcano was going to be created here. Church of Alen knew about, so we made preparations to prevent too many fires and destruction of the surroundings. We know it block the route between the city and villages. You do not have to worry, we will create safe passage, for normal people to use. Mages responsible for that should arrive tomorrow and create it in less than 4 days. If you are wondering if further sections of the route are usable, they are.
- I thank you again, also on behalf of the people of my village.
Regina chuckled with joy, and said.
- That's our work as a Church, we have to help normal people. Especially since we could make these lava rivers go in another direction, but we did not want to.
Dezen looked puzzled, and Regina noticed it.
- When magical disasters happens, mages often create structures in the areas touched by them. Their purpose is to speed up the process of forming magical resources. When rivers are formed, we create artificial lakes. In the direction where lava rivers are flowing from here, it is easier to create such lake. Also, there is another use of that lava, but I do not know the details.
- So you did not create artificial lake near their source? That would mean that you can lose some magical resources, as they can be formed in these rivers, or at riverbanks, and someone could take them. Or maybe you are not afraid of that?
- Most of the resources will be created in that artificial lake. The amount of those which will not is too small for us to care. If you find some of them, you can take it, and use as you want. Sell for us, for instance.
- But, you took this place, so theoretically every source created here belongs to you. Why are you doing it?
- We are not so greedy. And besides this, if we took everything, lone mages like you would start to dislike us, then it can even become hate, and we do not want it to happen. We would lose mercenaries, and they can even cause us problems.
-...It makes sense.
Dezen asked Regina about details of traveling through lava rivers, working as a mercenary, and the benefits it gives. Then he decided to farewell her.
- It was pleasure to meet you, Regina. I hope we will stumble upon each other in the future.
Regina smiled, and said.
- It was a pleasure for me too. I hope our next meeting will happen soon, and there will be more topics to talk about.
Dezen mounted the undead wolf, turned him in the direction he can from, and started riding.
Regina watched him go, and when he disappeared from her sight, she went back into the wall of ash.
Riding, Dezen was thinking whether he should try finding magical resources. As Regina said, there will be a small amount of them, at least for Church. It will also be hard and has low chance of success, since the area with lava rivers is giant, ash floating in the air makes it difficult to see, and jumping over rivers is not always possible.
After thinking about all the pros and cons, Dezen decided to try.
Entering an area with lava rivers, he activated In Search Of Warmth and Better Sight, to make his search faster.
As he expected, it was hard. Not only searching itself in that area was hard, but it looked like his body had enough of ash, he involuntarily inhaled into his lungs. Also, before he was protected by False Warmth to some point, but now using In Search Of Warmth made him feel heat many times stronger. Because of it, he couldn't go too deep into an area with lava rivers, and he often had to make breaks.
However, after 4 hours, it finally paid off.
Dezen could fell the heat everywhere, and everything there was very hot. But 4 rocks he felt were anomalies. There not only weren't hot, they almost felt cold, what caught his full attention.
He deactivated In Search Of Warmth, after exactly locating them, and went there.
It was 4 rocks, with very dark, navy blue surface.
He picked one up, and felt mana in them.
Rocks itself weren't hot, but they stored big amount of fire mana.
Dezen brought it closer to his chest, smiled, and then looked at his undead wolf.
- Looks like we found a middle class magical resource.