The Divine Wolf... or?

After a while, the aroma of food spread throughout the camp, and the children gradually stopped playing and gathered around their parents. Ark and Elise were both great cooks with different ideas and tastes, but the food they made together smelled really amazing. Sometimes too many cooks would spoil the broth, but this didn't apply to Elise and Ark.

After taste-testing the food and making sure that everything was in order, Ark and Elise started to hand out food to everyone present.

The lively atmosphere of the camp calmed down a little as everyone was engrossed in eating their own food. After Ark had finished eating, he sat by himself, staring into the sky with a blank look. The warmth of the camp had surprised him, and it had reaffirmed his beliefs even more. He needed to get stronger, and he needed to create a place that he could call home.

A place where everyone was welcome, and a place that would be far away from war.

It was an idealistic dream, but it was all he had at the moment. He didn't want this pleasant feeling to disappear. He didn't want to live his life unhappy anymore. As he was absorbed in his own thoughts, Mark walked up to Ark hesitantly. Ark snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at him after sensing his presence.

"I finished some designs if you would like to take a look."

Mark handed over a small stack of parchment before walking back to where Edward was sitting. It seemed like they still had many things to talk about. Ark took a look at the designs that Mark had quickly drawn up. Since these were only temporary residences, there was no point in creating complex villas or large houses, instead, Mark had drawn some small cottages. Ark was satisfied with the designs.

They were simple, but they would shield people from the elements and give them some privacy along with a sense of comfort.

After a while, everyone had already finished eating. Some of the children went back to playing, whilst others stuck with their parents. The adults all talked with each other and were having a good time. Ark walked over to where everyone was sitting and asked if they could clear up some space.

Although no one knew what he needed the space for, no one really questioned him and just took their children and left. After a child asked him what he wanted to do, Ark merely smiled and said that it was a surprise, so they could only hold their curiosity in for now.

After everyone had walked a little further away, and Ark had some space, he suddenly slammed a palm down on the ground. The originally calm ground started shaking fiercely. Although plenty of people were a little scared and surprised, no one made a scene. Soon, rough cottages made of stone rose from the ground, and everyone finally realised what he was trying to do. However, Ark wasn't done just yet.

With a wave of his hand, several trees in their surroundings were cut down and quickly transformed into planks of different sizes. The small cottages were soon completed with wooden roofs and doors, as well as some simple windows that could be closed. The remaining wood turned into simple beds that were placed in the small cottages.

After asking everyone to choose a place to stay in, Ark once again slapped the ground, and it started shaking again.

Because the houses were made from Ark's magic, they didn't shake at all, so everyone could feel a little safer. Soon, a rather large wall rose around their small camp, with a simple gate that was made of wood. To make sure that it was actually effective, Ark reinforced everything with his magic and engraved different magic circles here and there with all kinds of functionality.

He made one to open the gate, for example, that would only respond to certain people's mana signatures.

Even if you were unable to use magic, you would still have a specific mana signature that was unique to you. This magic circle used that signature as the key to opening the gate. Ark would later make sure that certain people were able to open the gate. Of course, he wouldn't let the children register their mana signatures.

They were too immature, and he didn't want them to leave the camp without supervision. He also didn't want them to open the gate for strangers without an adult.

After thinking it through a little more, Ark decided to add another magic circle just in case. If there was an emergency and they needed to escape, then everyone should be able to leave. Therefore he created a magic circle that would eject them from the city without opening the gate. However, even this magic circle had some conditions.

It would report the situation to Ark and after he gave his permission remotely, they would be able to leave. If he didn't have a system like that in place, a child could easily just use it to leave on their own after all.

No system was perfect, but this was only a temporary residence, so Ark didn't have the leisure to spend too much energy on it. They would only stay here for a while after all, so he thought it would be better to spend his energy on getting stronger. As he made some finishing touches, the children ran around the new camp with excitement and curiosity.

They had never seen anything magical like this before.

Ark retrieved some pelts and furs from his storage space, and after making sure that everything was of a suitable size, he handed them out to the different families. To sleep on a hard wooden bed wouldn't be too comfortable without some padding. For the sake of comfort, Ark also engraved some simple magic circles in every home so that they would stay warm even at night.

The homes weren't very insulated after all.

After he was finally done with everything, Ark sat down next to the campfire to relax. The families all looked at him with appreciative gazes. They had never expected to live in such comfort, especially in a temporary camp. Something like magic circles to keep the houses warm at night was a luxury that even nobles usually didn't have.

Of course, to Ark, engraving some simple magic circles didn't take much energy or mana, so he didn't think much of it.

If anything, when they had actually found a place to settle down in, he would probably do things on an even grander scale. Was magic only to be used in combat? Ark didn't believe so at all, if anything, combat was an afterthought. The true goal of learning magic would be to understand the world and to make life more comfortable.

If it wasn't for the fact that he desperately needed strength in the upcoming wars, Ark wouldn't have cared too much about his combat power.

He merely wanted to be able to protect his family and himself. That was it. He didn't want to become a big shot or some supreme ruler. If anything, that sounded pretty annoying to him.