The Forbidden Barrens weren't just a wasteland; they were a tax haven. Kaito had secured the deed to this cursed territory by pointing out to the King that the crown was losing 40% of its potential mana yield to "ghostly interference."
In the center of this desolate plain stood the Lunar Cathedral, a crumbling spire of white marble. Inside dwelt Seraphina, the former High Priestess of Light, now branded a heretic and left to rot in the silence.
Kaito stepped through the shattered oak doors, his boots clicking on the dusty tiles. Malice followed a few steps behind, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
"This place is a graveyard, Kaito," Malice whispered. "Why waste your time here?"
"I don't see a graveyard," Kaito replied, his eyes glowing. [Skill: Structural Analysis]. "I see a battery with a faulty connection."
In the center of the hall, Seraphina sat before a headless statue. Her white robes were tattered, and her eyes were covered by a black silk blindfold. Despite the filth, she carried an aura of suffocating authority.
"Leave, scavengers," she rasped. "The gods have abandoned this place."
"The gods didn't abandon it," Kaito said, walking right up to her altar. "They just stopped paying the maintenance fees. You're Seraphina, the woman who tried to 'standardize' divine magic and got excommunicated for it. You didn't lose your faith; you lost your funding."
Seraphina's head turned toward his voice. "You speak of holy things like they are ledger entries."
"Because they are," Kaito countered. He knelt down, touching the base of the altar. The stone was cold, but beneath it, he felt a massive, chaotic surge of trapped mana. "You've been trying to hold this seal together with your own life force. It's a bad investment. You're dying to protect a basement full of raw energy that nobody is using."
He stood up and offered a hand—not in comfort, but in a business proposition.
"I'm going to break this altar," Kaito stated.
"You'll kill us all!" she gasped.
"No. I'm going to re-route it. I'm building a palace three miles from here. I need a power source, and I need a Chief Technocrat to manage the mana flow. You want to see your 'standardized' magic change the world? Stop praying to a statue and start working for me."
He didn't wait for her answer. [Skill: Structural Manipulation – Overhaul].
Kaito slammed his palm into the marble. The floor didn't shatter; it liquefied. The chaotic mana beneath the cathedral suddenly found a path—a structured, reinforced conduit that Kaito had "designed" through the earth. The screaming spirits in the air went silent as their energy was stripped and organized into a steady, humming current.
The shockwave blew Seraphina's blindfold off. Her eyes, gold and glowing, widened as she felt her withered mana veins suddenly fill with a smooth, cooling power.
Kaito looked down at her, his expression cold and triumphant. "The seal is gone. You're no longer a martyr, Seraphina. You're an employee. And my employees live in luxury—as long as they remain loyal to the Architect."
Seraphina looked at the revitalized hall, then at the man who had just turned her 'curse' into a utility. She reached out and took his hand.
"The blueprints," she whispered, her voice trembling with a new kind of fervor. "I want to see the blueprints for the world you're building."
Kaito pulled her up, glancing back at Malice, who looked annoyed at the competition.
"Patience, ladies," Kaito smirked. "The estate has plenty of room. But only one Master."