Hou woke up the next day and got ready. He floated up and released his robe from under his skin, then freshening himself up with water he created.
Hou had breakfast with Arm, giving him a range of abilities. All for daily life like cutting, fire, heat, clothing. Hou had also entrusted Arm with a flying ability, if he abused it Hou's miasma would go down fast but he trusted Arm not to.
Once they were done having fun making and eating breakfast, Hou said goodbye and disappeared in thin air. The sword had not yet come so he went to pick it up, turning invisible to not cause any discomfort to those around. Noone wanted to see their boss when they're having fun.
When Hou entered the blacksmith's he saw the shopkeep with a large sword strapped this back bundled in cloth.
Hou undid his invisibility and greeted the man,
"Hello, sorry for being a bother, I'll just pick it up."
Hou used the force spirit will and used a lesser version of it's ability, creating a phantom hand he grabbed the sword from the man's back.
He looked at it, inspecting the craftsmanship and design had stayed true to what Hou needed. Once he was satisfied, Hou said this,
"Good work, when he has time tell that blacksmith to come to me tomorrow. I might need to start a proper deal with him"
The shopkeeper was flustered but hurriedly nodded,
"Yes sir, I'll tell him as you instructed" The shopkeep saluted.
"Only when he's free, thanks!"
Hou turned invisible again, flying through the sky with the sword under his feet. While the sword wasn't anything special Hou could use a variety of abilities and emulated how it would feel.
'I like this, this really is quite good. I might need to make one myself, then I'll be able to fly without using miasma. That might come in handy when fighting the cultivator, I can't trust his false spirit wills.'
Hou flew back home, and sat down in a workshop area. The sword was large but still usable, it had plenty of area for Hou to engrave.
Hou conjured the design in his mind which he replicated with exact accuracy using one of Yue's techniques.
He then activate the blade spirit will, forming a lesser ability. A small blade of white glow, shot forth from Hou's hand and he moved it to the sword.
With the practice Hou had from yesterday, he easily engraved the magic circles with perfect accuracy, now he just needed to test it.
Hou placed one of the magic stones he had made the previous day into the hilt. The hilt started to glow and then the magic circles on the sword lit up. The sword was glowing a bright blue and it floated above the ground.
Hou looked at a point at the sword tip and cut his finger, after letting down all his defenses. Blood dripped and then was sucked into he sword flowing across it's engravings. He could now sense the blade as if it were his body part.
Stepping onto the sword, Hou stepped on it and tried moving up and flying forward. Just as Hou thought it, it happened. The sword had worked, until it didn't.
Hou fell on the ground, the sword crashing. The mana consumption was way too high!
'with one mana stone it only lasted a short moment. I need to be able to store way more mana than a few stones, and I need to cut the consumption'
Hou summoned some paper and a pen with a gateway. He got to drawing and started designing new magic circles, ones that do slightly different effects but still created the overall Hou needed with less mana.
He then thought for a while, not drawing. He needed to create a new magic circle which let him store mana. Magic circles were formations of laws which created effects when mana was applied, the mana assimilating with source mana, Hou needed to somehow capture mana but keep it accessible.
Hou sat still for a long time, then giving up and consulting Araxis. Hou saturated his body with wills and asked him the question,
"A magic circle to store mana huh... I do have some but at your scale I can think of another solution. Instead of a permanent store simply keep the mana in motion so it does not assimilate back into the main mana source. Spin it with a magic circle, it isn't permanent and mana will be lost but it should work for what you want"
"Thank you so much! I'll try that now, no more hints!"
Releasing his wills, Hou unsummoning Araxis. He wanted to try make the magic circle himself, he had the idea now he needed to put it into practice.
He worked until past midday and was almost done when he felt Junior knock on his door with one of his surveillance formations.
Hou used a gateway, letting Junior step through himself.
"You're here my disciple, good you can be my tester. I'm just making some final modifications to the flying sword, it isn't finished yet, I'll need a few more prototypes, buuuut it should work!"
"Sure, but what about my learning?"
"Don't worry about it, you'll get it practically. Come sit down, I'll explain"
Hou started to lecture and rant on he design of his magic circle. Explaining the purpose to keep mana moving so it could not assimilate back to source, therefore being able to be used.
Of course, most all of it went right over Junior's head but he did enjoy it non the less. Even Hou's enthusiasm was enough for him to stay interested.
Finally 20 minutes later, Hou finished, quickly engraving the new circle onto the sword, melting the old one smooth with a false spirit will of his sun spirit will.
Hou had finished it and injected it straight with mana, it should have worked with mana stones but he did not have many on hand.
He activated scrying and saw the laws affecting the sword and the world around it, causing it to float. When Hou melted it, the magic bind wore off and it once again became ownerless.
"Go cut your finger on the tip, be careful"
Junior was a little shook but did it anyway, carefully slicing his finger, he could get his father, Armen, to heal it anyway.
The sword got coated with blood for a second and it connected with Junior. Junior could feel the sword like it was his body, with confidence he jumped up, at the same time making the sword go under his feet.
Once he stepped down, Junior could feel one of Hou's magic circles. He could not step of the sword, he felt planted firmly on it, even if it went upside down, he'd be fine!