"I assume a mana stone is as you said, mana which has been materialised into a gem, but how do I make it?"
"It's similar but not actually what you think, it's more a stone thats's astral projection is transformed into pure mana, changing it's physical properties."
"I see, so I assume I take some kind of rock and replace the laws with a specific law created by mana? Does it need to be any specific rock?"
"It actually doesn't need to be a rock at all, any material will become a mana stone once you make it, I'll send you the mana law you need to make with a memory packet. And I looked in your memories a bit, I like that kid feels like he really wants to learn."
"I told you to stop looking in my memories Araxis"
Araxis didn't answer but instead spent the wills Hou had saturated his body with to form a memory packet.
Hou opened the memory packet and absorbed the information. He decided he wanted to test it out so he activated a few abilities.
He looked outside from his room with a magic based circle and then used a spirit will to pick up a bunch of rocks from outside.
Hou moved the rocks in an invisible barrier, through the house to wear he was sitting. Laying them all down, he picked up a few good sized ones and discarded the rest.
Hou astrally projected and looked at one of the rocks, he observed the laws and noted them. Now he did as was described in the memory packet and made various laws with mana and then replaced the rock laws slowly.
Once Hou was done, he opened his eyes to see the finished mana stone. Hou picked it up and observed it, it was crystalline and almost see through. It had a distorted view of the world and it glowed.
Hou transformed the rest of the rocks into mana stones, altogether five. He then went onto designing the actual flying sword.
He picked up a piece of paper and pencil, sketching out a sword design. It was wide so it was easy to step on and had enough room for Hou to design on.
Then he went on the design the different circles of magic that would make it work. He could use only magic but to make the mana consumption lower, he could have utilised a false spirit will of 'flight' but chose to only use magic as this was also a learning tool he would use with Junior.
He designed magic circle which made the sword float and a separate one which propelled the sword in different directions.
Hou had to decide how he wanted to determine flight direction. Initially he wanted to use the system he thought up earlier, using pressure to determine where the user wanted to go. But this approach had flaws where the user might go in the wrong direction if they needed to dodge or otherwise put uneven pressure on the sword.
Instead Hou had a flash of inspiration and utilising both his magic and blood path knowledge, he designed a system where a drop of blood would connect the mind of the user with the flying sword.
He then needed a mana abortion circle for the mana stone, and some place to put them. Hou thought practically and put a tube in the hilt. The user would place a mana stone in the hilt, it would be transformed into mana and used for flight.
'Maybe I should also do the opposite, a circle that made the mana into mana stones to store once flight stopped! No I can't get too distracted'
Hou looked at the design he made, and thought it should work and decided to try making it. The best way to know if a design would work is by testing it.
Hou floated up and moved out of his house, making sure to say goodbye to Arm on the way out.
He made his way into town, scanning for a blacksmith. There was no commotion however as Hou used one of the special spirit wills he got, one that obscured or concealed things. Hou was invisible to anyone else.
After finding the blacksmith, he deactivated his flight and became visible, walking in.
"Hello, is anyone in, you taking order?"
"Yes we are, what do you want."
Hou pulled out the sword design with the magic circles cleaned out.
"This please, as soon as possible, how much?"
"Mmm, raw materials plus 2 kegs of good alcohol. If you don't have the raw material, how about 4 kegs for you special price."
"I can do that, do you have any empty kegs actually?"
"Yeah we do, but if you damage them the price is yours to remake 'em"
Hou nodded and followed the shopkeep not the back where there were 5 empty kegs. Hou put his hand over one and alcohol started pouring out, the exact alcohol Hamar had given him the previous day!
This was the work of another special spirit will Hou had gotten, it could replicate any liquid as one of its minor applications.
The man looked astonished and then asked,
"Are you one of those new leaders?"
"You don't recognise me?It's me Hou, used to be Saviour!"
The man's mouth dropped,
"I am so sorry, I didn't recognise you sir"
"No offense taken, take the sword to my residence if you can and I'll do another keg"
"Sure for you sir Hou"
"Actually one last thing, can I take a spare sword?"
Hou filled the kegs and became invisible, floating back to his residence with a sword in hand. This wasn't the sword he was gonna use but Hou needed to test some things.
Hou used a large false spirit will with miasma, heating up the metal and flattening it into a sheet. While he gained many spirits wills, he still had many uses of the false spirit wills that work on miasma, like his flight or this heat.
He then got to practicing engraving. Activating the spirit will that forms a sword slash but using a lesser strength ability, he created a small knife which could engrave metal. Hou started drawing a magic circle on the metal carefully, getting ready for when the sword is done.