Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"I am going to do the same until the end of the path; I think it will be better if you start working on the other side," Rain said. "Still, I suppose that walking forty kilometers every day is out of the question, so you can start here."

"How did you do this?" The bearded guard asked. "This isn\'t the kind of magic that earth mages do."

"I used earth magic to create a small tunnel underground. The water of the river is spreading through it," Rain replied. "Things will be a bit muddy, but this should speed things up."

The other guards could only work near their villages, so that was the only way Rain was able to make all of them start working from day one. In any case, once he got used to that action, Rain began to run, and by noon, he managed to reach the final part where the river was supposed to end and then told the guards to get working.

Unfortunately, his plan wasn\'t perfect since so much water could pass through the small tunnel that he made, and most of it was being absorbed by the land along the way.

"I will have to enlarge it every day," Rain thought.

Rain had emptied his mana as well, so he had to do that later. In any case, he dashed toward the first village and then began to dig with a shovel as soon as he arrived. The river had to be two meters deep but ten meters wide.

It had been a while since the armored turtles had been seen, but he could tell that the enemies would send them again since those monsters would be able to cross them with ease.

Although he only worked for around four hours, Rain still managed to dig around three hundred meters alongside everyone else. They looked beat after doing that for half a day, so Rain did most of the world in the afternoon.

"This place is bad… I need to think of something else," Rain thought. "I guess I can connect this part with the river to make the other areas softer, but that won\'t be enough either."

While Rain was heading to the village to have dinner at the tavern, he felt that something was off… a cold wind in the area made him feel like he was being watched. He wondered if some enemies that were watching him emitted some bloodlust.

"I guess they think that I am exhausted and I can be an easy target now…" Rain thought.

Despite his thoughts, nothing happened to Rain or to the village that night. Although he didn\'t have much time to sleep, Rain still woke up with another idea to improve the efficiency of the work. Aside from softening the ground with water, he also controlled the mud, since it was just a mixture of water and earth, and pushed them to the sides.

At the same time, he also expanded the tunnel where the water was flowing through. It was the same thing he did to plow the land in the village.

"Maybe my little sisters can find this kind of work when they grow up… Dana seems like the type she would complain about this, though," Rain thought while laughing.

While he was thinking about that, Rain also recalled the quicksand executioners… if he could copy them, the job would be even easier since the water of the river would just flow through it, and their only job would be to take out the mud.

"How is quicksand formed again?" Rain thought while rubbing his chin. "Maybe I can use my knowledge to improve this here further."

Quicksand is typically formed in sandy or loose soil areas, often near riverbanks, beaches, or marshes. The sand or soil particles in these areas have enough space between them, allowing water to infiltrate easily. When water flows into the loose sand or soil, it fills the gaps between the particles. As the sand becomes saturated, it loses its ability to support weight and becomes unstable.

The presence of water between the sand particles reduces the friction that normally holds the sand in place. This leads to a decrease in the sand\'s ability to support weight, causing it to behave like a fluid rather than a solid.

Quicksand appears solid but is actually a soupy mixture of sand, water, and air. When pressure is applied to the quicksand, the water is squeezed out, increasing the density and causing the sand particles to jam together, making it even harder to escape.

"I guess I will need to use water, earth, and wind magic to pull that off, but will that even be efficient? Will I learn it on time?" Rain thought.

Maybe Rain should wait a little until the mage path levels up… it would be nice if he could get a new one that would improve his earth magic. He wouldn\'t bet on that, though, considering his luck.

That was a problem, but that was the kind of problem that Rain liked. Solving things easily wouldn\'t leave him with any sense of accomplishment, after all. Moreover, thinking was quite useful since it also gave Rain a new idea…