Emrum spoke up in a surprisingly shaky voice. He was staring at me, mouth loosely hanging in the air, the latest bite of food visible inside. — “Did youh shay, creathion??”

Tymur chuckled nervously by his side, ready to translate his old friend’s words. — “He asks if you said creation magic just now? Is that how you made our dinner here, lass?”

I nodded, feeling the curious gazes lingering on me. — “I, yes… you can say that. It’s a very complicated magic. It’s equal part science and magic theory to be fair.” — I said while still struggling to comprehend the tremendous insight I gained into the essence of the surrounding matter.

I could suddenly understand a number of molecular structures, which I had not, or only possessed the barest of knowledge before and I could do it seemingly instinctively now.

However, there was a problem.

When I thought about actually creating something from scratch, I couldn’t see a successful way for the current me to do that. The mana drain of this spell was out of this world. At best, I could modify certain properties in their molecular structure of already existing things. Just like… heating up something… Was that why? Oh…

I shook my head, amused by all of this. And I always thought that God lacked a sense of humor. Jokes on me, I guess.

As I continued to search through my new memories, I gained more and more insight into the exact workings of this spell.

Which eventually left me with a deep sigh. I couldn’t use it at all, not for anything meaningful. It wasn’t called ancient magic for nothing; I guess.

An empty dinner-can flew across my vision, landing half a meter to my left, hitting a protruding rock. A sharp clank echoed through the cave like the sound of a bell.

I looked up at the dwarfs, startled by the noise. It was my time to glare at the idiots. Somewhere along the path, they ended up in a heated argument about the possibility of me creating an endless amount of gold for them.

The idea of me literally becoming a golden egg laying goose didn’t sit well with me. I glared at them, disgusted with the very idea. Unfortunately, they didn’t notice the change in the atmosphere, being too involved with their argument.

I coughed lightly to gain back their attention. My attempt succeeded, and they turned towards me, paling slightly, no doubt sensing my anger at last. They slowly walked back to their places, sitting down without a word.

I see… now they were acting like a bunch of children caught red-handed. I felt a tug of a smile pulling on the edge of my lips.

“Sigh… don’t get so heated up because you are going to end up with disappointment.” — I said as a warning.

Skod hit Tum on his shoulder victoriously. — “See, I said it. There is no way she could create gold out of thin air, or even rocks! Get off your high horses, fools!”

Tum looked at me, rubbing his shoulder frustratedly. Still, he didn’t miss the chance to ask.

“Is that true, Miss Lora?” — The brown bearded man asked with a hopeful look in his eyes, and I couldn’t help but notice that I suddenly became a Miss the moment the possibility arose that I could create or transmute gold.

My left eye twitched.

I sighed again and began to speak. — “Look, it’s not that…”

Loud laughter broke out on the other side of our circle. Emrum and Tymur pointed at Tum while practically screaming with laughter.

“Look at his face, Emrum… and he supposedly dislikes magic! I bet he didn’t know magic could create gold!”

Emrum laughed, rubbing his eyes and slapping his thigh rhythmically. — “Ay, Tymur… He got those stars in his eyes again… He is a Goldbraid alright.”

Tum, in the meantime, turned quite red in the face. I suspected that it was from embarrassment, but since I didn’t see a dwarf actually turn red with embarrassment before this, I wasn’t entirely sure.

I waited for the dwarfs to calm down somewhat. And picked up my words where I got interrupted.

Over the last week, I learned that being interrupted among dwarfs was one of the natural phenomena you just had to live with. If you wanted to stay among them, that is. After all, they interrupted each other with the same ease.

“What I wanted to say is… that I theoretically can make gold, silver and a large variety of common metals from materials that have somewhat similar structures. The more similar a material is, the less mana needs to be used to convert it into a new form. The greater the difference, the greater the amount of mana needed.”

Skod’s eyebrow shot up to his hairline as he asked me with a mystified look, similar to that of Tum’s earlier expression. — “So, you are saying that it’s possible to create gold from mud?!”

I bit the edge of my lips. Even if being interrupted was some sort of cultural thing, it wasn’t making me feel less annoyed about it.

“If you would care to listen… I would have already told you.” — I snapped at the black bearded dwarf.

“Ah, sorry!” — He patted his beard, then asked right away. — “So how is it, can you?”

I took a deep breath and released it slowly. They are fricking impossible!

“… Whatever, the spell works fine, but it is literally useless since even with using all my mana, I could barely make gold dust from somewhat similar metals.”

“It is an ancient and powerful spell, but my mana reserves are too miniscule for now. I can barely use it. Maybe that will never change. This spell is better suited for the realm of the Gods after all. Still, I can at least make our food taste better or heat it up like it was just picked off the grill."

I smiled at them weakly. — “And who knows, my magic is still having a long way to grow. Maybe in a few years, I could actually use this spell properly.”

Skod gave me a long look, one that was starting to creep me out honestly. Then he slowly opened his mouth and asked very consciously. As if he was tracking a wild beast.

“So you know… I have this boy around twenty years old, right about your age if we convert it… I was thinking that I might introduce him to you sometime…” — He asked, gaining three pairs of disbelieving looks from the rest of the dwarfs.

I looked at Skod, surprised by the strange question. It felt weirdly nostalgic… At this age, to be introduced to a potential friend by one of his parents.

Still, I didn’t really think much into it, and said.

“Ah, I don’t see why not… getting a few more friends could hardly hurt.”

Skod chuckled at that. — “Yeah, friends…” — But he didn’t say anything else, leaving a somewhat awkward atmosphere behind his words.

Emrum scratched the back of his head, along with the other dwarfs. All of them looked quite annoyed for some reason. Emrum gathered his thoughts at last and asked.

“I think I understand what you are saying… but how can you change our food so easily while being unable to do the same with a rock? Are you suggesting that living beings and creatures are less complicated than immaterial objects? I have a hard time believing that.”

The question took me by surprise, but I quickly gathered my thoughts and answered.

“No… of course not. When I spoke about the structure of certain materials, I didn’t simply mean how complex they are. Living beings are millions of times more complicated than immaterial objects.”

Tum stretched his back, shoveling the last of his dinner into his mouth. — “I don’t know what you think friends, but I believe that I will continue using my handy pickaxe to look for gold. Magic is just too complicated, for me-head.”

The other dwarfs nodded, clearly having the same thoughts about the matter.

Tymur spoke up at last.

“Finish yer meal quickly, bastards, we should be already on our way heading back. It’s getting late, damnit…”

With that reminder, we quickly stuffed ourselves and got to our feet, heading back towards the outpost through the ominous darkness.

Unknown to us, there were other presences watching our steps, lying low just behind the dense curtain of darkness.