The next day, after a good night's sleep, the members of the expedition party looked far more relaxed and worry-free than the day before. Corwyn and his friends also felt more energetic as they got up from bed and prepared for a new day.
Once everyone was up and ready, Rogar gathered them at a small plaza not far away from their lodgings, in order to plan out their next steps. Although most of them were not as anxious as they had been the day before, thanks to a nice and long rest, they were still eager to hear what their future plans would be.
As soon as the last couple of people arrived, Rogar immediately began to assess their current circumstances.
"Good morning to you all, I hope you have rested well! Since you all probably want to know how the current situation looks like, I'll cut straight to the chase. I have discussed numerous things with mayor Shan yesterday, only to learn one thing. At the present, it is entirely impossible to get out of this village alive as long as the juggernaut remains here! Which at the same time means, there's no way for us to continue the expedition for the time being!"
Many of their faces turned slightly pale. The expedition members had already expected such words, but deep within their hearts, they had held a tiny hope that their leader would somehow know a way out of this predicament. Now, that hope had been crushed in the simplest way possible, through their leader frankly admitting that he as well didn't have a solution.
"However, we can't abandon hope! We might not know how to deal with this situation right now, but that doesn't mean there is no way for us to deal with it. I'll thoroughly analyze what we know so far, and try to learn as much as I can from the resources I can find within this city, until I have found a solution. So I need your strength, your support as well! Try to gather knowledge, and help me face this crisis!"
The adventurers roared at Rogar's passionate speech. As they had expected, their leader would never admit defeat, so why should they do it? Some people already broke away from the gathering and made their way to question local inhabitants and hit the books in the library. The others soon followed them.
After most of the expedition members were gone, Rogar sat down on a nearby stone bench, looking downwards and sighing deeply. In truth, he also had no idea of how to solve this problem. But he could never admit that in front of the other members. If he did, all hope to ever escape from here would be entirely lost, and the adventurers would fall into resignation.
Corwyn slowly approached him. He could see from the way Rogar was sitting on that bench that his words just now were just meant to boost morale as well. As their leader, he was the pillar on which their courage stood, and should that pillar crumble, everything would fall into chaos. It truly couldn't be easy for him. But Corwyn was determined to lend him a helping hand and solve this crisis together.
"Leader, do you have a moment?"
Rogar raised his head at Corwyn's voice calling him. As he noticed who stood before him, he showed a slight smile and just said:
"Yes, what do you need?"
Corwyn replied:
"I would like to meet mayor Shan in order to request something off him. Would you mind arranging that meeting for me?"
Rogar had to blink multiple times, having not expected such a request. He raised his left eyebrow with a questioning look on his face.
"Why do you want to meet the mayor? Is it something important?"
"I can't say yet if it is of importance or not, but what I want to request from him might help us in figuring out how to escape from here."
The questioning look on Rogar's face instantly turned into astonishment as he heard that. He abruptly stood up and his voice clearly became louder.
"Wait, wait, wait, did I hear you correctly? You're telling me you might know a way out of the situation!?"
"As I said, at the moment, it is just a suspicion, a possibility you might say. In order to ascertain anything, I first need to talk with the mayor. I'll ask you again, could you please arrange a meeting between me and him?"
"Yes, yes, of course I can!"
Rogar didn't hesitate for even a second. If there really was a chance they could leave Konen, no matter how slight it was, he would do anything to help Corwyn. Shortly after, he left with three of the squad leaders and headed in the direction of the pyramidal city hall. He truly was very decisive.
"What are you going to ask the mayor, Corwyn?"
Teo walked up to him and asked, curious.
"I want to take a look at that strange material the walls are made of. No matter what kind of stone this is, there is no way it can be normal if it can even withstand large weapons of steel. My guess is that the material is some kind of alloy or at least a stone with special components within."
"And what if it is?"
"Have you forgotten my ability? There might be not much Arcor available here, but as I once told you, with my ability, I can produce any kind of metal as long as I know its structure and properties. Meaning, if this material contains some kind of metallic components, and if they are what makes this material so special, I should be able to analyze them and then reproduce them. Once we got our hands on that metal, we should be able to leave, right?"
As he recalled that this really was part of Corwyn's ability, he immediately became excited.
"Then why do you want to talk to the mayor? Just go straight to the wall and begin to analyze it!"
"Have you already forgotten what I have told you last evening? The city walls are guarded by soldiers. If I were to do something to the wall without permission, it could become troublesome. So I want to talk to the mayor first and assure that I have free reign regarding this matter."
Teo pondered over it for a moment but quickly came to the same conclusion as Corwyn. If they did something to the wall that was the most important defense for the city and didn't have permission, in the worst case, they would be arrested by the guards and be imprisoned. That was definitely not the result they wanted to achieve with this plan.
"Well, we still have some time until the leader comes back with an answer, so I might as well use that time to practice!"
Having decided so, Corwyn sat down on the ground and began to do his usual Arcor training. Konen was far away from any major Arcor well or vein, so the quantity was quite sparse, but this was actually the perfect training environment for him. In order to draw in enough Arcor for him to use in a short amount of time, he had to raise his awareness towards Arcor even further away from him and also needed to increase the speed at which he managed to draw it in. This was extremely difficult, but if he managed to do it, the effectiveness of his ability would soar by leaps and bounds.
It was about one and a half hours later that Rogar came back and told Corwyn that the mayor had agreed to a meeting with him. The meeting would take place at the city hall in three hours, so Corwyn continued his practice until one hour or so before that and then made his way to the city hall, followed by Rogar and his friends.
They met in front of the building, where Lonren already waited for him. He was once again escorted by a few soldiers. He stared at Corwyn with an appraising look but didn't say anything until Corwyn walked in front of him and bowed deeply, still not being used to interact with someone of higher status than him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Lord Shan! I'm truly sorry that I had to take up your time for this, but the matter I wanted to talk to you about is very urgent and could only be discussed with you directly."
Corwyn hoped that his greeting was not rude in any way. Although he wasn't as nervous as he was the previous day, when he had addressed Lonren Shan, since he now knew that Lonren was a kind person, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of uneasiness inside himself.
Luckily, Lonren didn't seem to find any fault in Corwyn's greeting and greeted him as well.
"I also greet you, young man! As Rogar told me, your name is Corwyn?"
"That is indeed correct, Lord Shan!"
"Then tell me, what is this urgent matter you need to talk about. Rogar said it had something to do with the possibility of being able to leave the city, therefore, it is of utmost importance to me as well!"
Corwyn bowed deeply once again before answering.
"Lord Shan, I would like you to grant me the permission to inspect the city walls, or rather, the material it was built from! I can't guarantee it yet, but there might be a chance that I can recreate that material!"
As he listened to Corwyn's request as well as his reason for stating it, Lonren's eyes grew wide. He looked at Corwyn with a deeply astonished look, needing several seconds to regain his composure.
"If you can truly recreate that mysterious material, not only I, but Konen as a whole would be forever in your debt. I must ask you though, is there any danger in you breaking the city walls while you investigate them?"
"No, that shouldn't happen. I merely want to analyze the material, and the only things I need for this task are my hands. So you can rest assured, Lord Shan, I will not break anything!"
For the third time, Corwyn bowed, and Lonren seemed to be convinced after thinking it over carefully. If Corwyn really only needed his hands for the job, there should be no way he could break something even a battering ram couldn't make a dent in. And the benefits of him recreating the material were just too great. So he had no particular reason to refuse.
"All right then, I will grant you permission. However, I wish to observe first how you intend to analyze it personally, so I will accompany you to the walls."
"I thank Lord Shan for his permission. If you want to accompany me, I have no problems about that!"
With this, the discussion was concluded, and Corwyn, Lonren, as well as Rogar and Corwyn's friends made their way to the city walls closest to them. Once they got there, they gave Corwyn some space for him to work with.
Corwyn gave the stone forming the wall a close look. The color of the material was a pure white, like flawless marble. Inspecting it up close, not even a small dent or ripple could be seen. Just like a freshly forged sword, it was without faults.
He put his right hand against the wall. It was cool and smooth, and its hardiness could be felt even without trying to hit it. Corwyn deeply inhaled some air, let it out again, and focused his concentration on the Arcor around him. He managed to gather some of it quite fast and then slowly let it flow into his palm. From there, Corwyn began to guide it into the stone.