Different from what Sokram believed, it didn’t take him a week to finish building everything.

  Because as his mind grew accustomed to the mental load of his Matter Manipulation Spell, he could push it further.

  Sometimes, he would even venture into the molecular level for small tasks.

  Three days later, the Dracnakrid’s new estate stood proudly along the main street leading to the City Lord’s Palace, its gated driveway designed to receive carriages with ease.

  At first glance, from the street, it appeared as a seamless monolith.

  A five-story estate clad in what appeared to be ivory stone, but was in truth enchanted moonstone, inscribed with protective runes that pulsed faintly beneath the surface.

  The same enchanted, double-clad walls, a feature Sokram first developed for his underground levels, offered more than beauty.

  They thrummed with an intricate inner layer of enchantment that provided intelligent illumination and managed the estate's ambient energy.

  From the outside, the estate appeared strangely windowless.

  The estate’s large one-way windows were camouflaged with an illusion enchantment to match the cladding, giving the impression of a windowless fa?ade.

  Only from the third floor up did the illusion break, as columned balconies revealed glimpses of the luxury within.

  The entire enchantment structure worked as a circuit.

  Magi was absorbed from the enriched environment and running through the inner layer of the cladding that covered every wall, empowering every enchantment in the house.

  From above, the mansion’s three inner quarters were clearly visible.

  On clear days and nights, an enchanted glass ceiling retracted at their command, allowing an open sky view or closed to shelter the space as desired.

  The first quarter, a sanctuary of tranquility, filled with vibrant flower beds that perfumed the air, their blossoms shifting hues with the seasons.

  Stone pathways wound between lush greenery, leading to secluded benches of polished whitewood and a central fountain whose crystal-clear waters danced under the enchanted sky light.

  The quarter opened into a grand ballroom, its glass doors allowing guests to step seamlessly between refinement and greenery.

  The second quarter, accessible through private elevators and hallways from the family chambers, was designed for relaxation and leisure.

  Sokram had fulfilled his promise to Brunhild here, creating a secluded thermal pool that shimmered from azure to deep sapphire.

  Its mineral-rich waters steamed softly, and charming trellises with climbing vines created a sense of privacy.

  The ambient lighting, drawn from moonstone walls, glowed softly on the water’s surface.

  Stone niches held plush towels.

  Wide, comfortable loungers invited all to rest.

  Here, not even magic could breach the privacy seals.

  Brunhild’s laughter echoed as she dipped a toe into the warmth, declaring it "Perfect!"

  The third quarter served as a nexus for work and access to the mansion's extensive subterranean levels.

  It featured three lift entrances and accompanying stairwells descending to the underground training grounds, cultivation rooms, and Sokram’s private laboratory.

  Within the quarter itself, Sokram built a comprehensive crafting station.

  This housed Sokram’s expansive workshop, which was envisioned with robust workbenches.

  A heavy-duty forge with an anvil and quenching troughs for smithing, alongside intricate worktables stocked with arcane tools used for crafting both mundane and magical artifacts.

  And the dedicated spaces for tailoring, complete with large cutting tables, looms, and vats for dyeing.

  The mansion’s main entrance featured a raised portico with towering columns and wide marble steps.

  Inside, visitors entered a grand reception hall bathed in natural light.

  The marble floor, inlaid with intricate patterns, reflected sunlight from the concealed one-way windows.

  A sweeping staircase curved upward like a ribbon, its balustrade etched with ancient motifs.

  This union of luxury and Magi was Margiory’s design at its finest.

  The first floor was reserved for hosting.

  With two reception lounges, three soundproofed meeting rooms, a large ballroom connected to the garden, and a dining hall capable of seating over a hundred guests.

  The adjoining kitchen, designed to accommodate Margiory’s staff from Frozen River, was both vast and efficient.

  The second floor served as a social and administrative hub.

  Housing open-air lounges, meditation alcoves, and private offices for Margiory, Hannah, Brunhild, Sokram, and a few more empty ones.

  These rooms overlooked the city’s sunset beyond the City Lord's Palace, another request granted to his grandmothers.

  The third floor housed dozens of 5x5-meter guest suites, each akin to a compact apartment.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  On the fourth floor, the rooms doubled in width, and they doubled again on the fifth floor.

  The fourth and fifth floors would be reserved for other family members who could move in with them in the future, such as members of the secondary families of the Andronys.

  But none of these overlooked the pool; that privilege was reserved for the main family.

  Around the pool quarter, triplex suites were built exclusively for Sokram’s family. These lavish apartments spanned three internal floors.

  The lower level, on the estate’s third floor, featured lounges and private balconies with adjustable glass panes for privacy.

  The middle level held expansive bedchambers, dressing rooms, and walk-in closets.

  The topmost level, on the mansion’s fifth floor, offered private studies and meditation rooms crowned by skylights that bathed the rooms in sunlight or starlight.

  But what truly astonished his family was the lighting.

  No lamps, magelights, or glowing crystals adorned the walls.

  Instead, the moonstone cladding itself responded to day and night cycles, adjusting illumination naturally.

  Magical runic switches, discreetly engraved in each wall, allowed personalized control of brightness and color.

  A small taste, Sokram explained, of the many enchantments woven into every stone.

  Adjacent to the main house stood the staff quarters, a towering rectangular structure styled to mirror the mansion’s moonstone aesthetic.

  Though monolithic in appearance, the building offered sweeping panoramic views through disguised one-way windows.

  It rose twenty stories, with each floor up to the fifteenth containing twenty apartments of 32x20 meters.

  From the sixteenth floor up, the upper penthouses doubled in size and were reserved for captains, managers, and trusted guards such as Alain.

  Each suite included its own cultivation room and comforts that, outside Sokram’s family, were rarely granted.

  And on the ground level, a hangout area for the staff, that mimicked the first quarter of the mansion with lush flowerbeds and greenery, stone pathways, benches of polished whitewood, and a central multi-layered fountain.

  After completing the tour, Brunhild asked to see the pool again, and the whole group followed.

  Brunhild sat down on one of the chairs, enjoying the heat coming from the pool.

  She looked around, counting twenty balconies, studying the entire structure of their mansion.

  Theirs, that word she kept repeating in Brunhild’s mind, she looked at Sokram, her eyes marinating with tears, “This is ours? Truly ours? Right?”

  “Yours, Nana. But yes, ours.” Sokram nodded, handing her the deed, which had been signed by Licarus already.

  “Our family once again has the biggest estate in the city. Haha.” A tear ran down her face, wetting the piece of paper in her hand.

  She quickly wiped it with her finger, afraid it would ruin the blood-ink, a ridiculous thought she realized, and stored the deed before standing up and pulling Sokram into a hug as she melted in tears in his embrace.

  “Thank you, son. Thank you. You restored the lost honor of our family on so many levels, I don’t have enough words to express to you how happy I am right now.” She mumbled between sobs, holding him tightly.

  Sokram held her just as tightly and joked, “Well, not happy enough to steal Liaranna from Great Uncle Licarus and join my harem, right?”

  Brunhild giggled, and her sobs stopped briefly as he continued. “You and Mom endured enough, Nana. You deserve every bit of happiness. And I promise you, there is much more to come. The name Dracnakrid will resound throughout the stars one day, and you, and every one of our loved ones, will be there to witness this. This I promise you.”

  Sokram kissed her forehead and stayed there hugging her, but also motioned Astrid, Hilda, Margiory, and Liaranna to join in the moment.

  But seeing that they also got quite emotional, he felt that same warm and fuzzy feeling that always reassured him that coming back in time was the right choice.

  From that night on, they no longer returned to the palace, even Leona and her wives, who gained a triplex just for them, decided to stay.

  Amber rushed to fetch her family.

  Her, Lucy, and Savannah also gained a triplex.

  Sokram wanted to give one to each of them, but they insisted that the three of them would be fine sharing one.

  But Amber’s family would get one of the bigger apartments on the fifth floor.

  Margiory left to gather the guards and direct them to the staff building, and to send communications to Frozen River for their family and her servants to move to Eversnow.

  Hannah went underground to check the training grounds.

  Sokram told Lucy to invite her mother, Ayame, and her brother.

  Hilda, Miralyn, Astrid, Moira, Leona, and Karini went to organize their rooms.

  Brunhild and Liaranna went to change into bathing suits for their first dip into the thermal pool.

  Finding himself alone, Sokram went to his old lab to start moving things to his new one.

  But he also went to invite Oliver, Figos, and his family to move to the estate. He would either give them a room in the main house or one of the penthouses in the staff building.

  Three weeks later…

  It was a snowy morning. The pale light of the cloudy sky shone brightly through the solar panels when Sokram was woken in his new room by the sound of laughter coming from the pool.

  Despite building the new house, he was still adjusting to the feeling of living in such a lavish and gigantic place.

  Looking out of the balcony, he saw Brunhild, Liaranna, Margiory, and Leona hanging out by the pool.

  Having learned that the ambient temperature could also be adjusted, they were enjoying prancing around in bathing suits, which, though modest, delineated their shapes perfectly.

  They all were a sight to behold, and he lost himself in it for a second.

  Going downstairs, to the gigantic dining room, Sokram was greeted by the sight of Alyssa helping Hilda with preparing breakfast, while Miralyn and Astrid were setting the table.

  Sokram sat beside Amber’s father and Alain after fetching a cup of Purple Melon juice.

  They chatted about some mundane stuff until breakfast was served.

  During breakfast, the women sat together, passionately discussing a housewarming party that still needed to happen.

  Sokram wondered if he had overdone the size of the dining room.

  Still, considering some future possibilities, he knew it was the right choice.

  After breakfast, Sokram went down to the training grounds to start developing another new spell.

  Something Sokram had been longing for since he began learning Magi in this timeline.

  And now, thanks to all the knowledge he absorbed after reading through the first nine floors of the Arch Mage’s Tower, he had enough justification for displaying the first level of his favorite movement spell.

  But as always, he would go through the struggle of performing a learning act.

  Not that he truly needed to, as it wasn’t an overly complicated spell, but he would also use the opportunity to teach or inspire the others.

  Once in the training grounds, Sokram was met by Hannah, who handed him a ring with twenty mithril ingots, “You said you wanted this back when we were moving into your new lab.”

  “Yes, thank you, Nana!” Sokram didn’t waste time.

  Taking one ingot out, he started chanting this incantation for his Matter Manipulation Spell, reshaping the ingot into the daggers of pure mithril without wasting a single particle.

  Hannah studied each dagger carefully as he formed them.

  In her gaze, there was a tinge of jealousy as she couldn’t use that spell, no matter how much she tried.

  It was too difficult to maintain the spell chain stable with her Mind-Locks still in place.

  Then, something intrigued Hannah as she focused on the runic lines of incantations in the daggers he formed.

  Some runes she could easily read.

  Others were different, as if Sokram had used various runic languages in the same runic enchantment.

  “What are these daggers for?” Hannah, picking on in her hand, felt that the pure mithril was now tainted with rich mana, amazed at how this conversion happened.

  “For speed,” Sokram sounded absent-minded while finishing the last one. “But first, some testing is necessary.”

  Sokram took out a Purple Melon from his Void Glove, but his intention wasn’t to use it for a target, as Hannah thought.

  Instead, Sokram threw one of the daggers toward the other end of the training ground.

  Once the dagger was fifty meters away, Hannah felt mana coursing from him and disappearing, and together with it, the melon.

  In an instant, the melon exploded where the dagger should have passed by.

  Part of the blade was shot off course by the pieces of melon piercing the floor of the stage, while the other half of the dagger, with the handle, appeared in Sokram’s hand.

  “Well, I’m glad I tested first. That could’ve been catastrophic, but what did go wrong?” Sokram mused as he went to pick the bladed half of the dagger.

  While Hannah had no idea how it happened, she even carefully analyzed everything with her millenary Dragon Sight.

  “I can’t see through it…” Hannah muttered in disbelief.