Hey Diary,

  Yesterday we got to Stoneford. We dropped the papers off with the monarch, then went to the church for dinner. After that we spent the night at the Guild, and this morning left for Setemup.

  We are now at an inn in the town of Lakeshore, which is, unsurprisingly, at the shore of a lake.

  And hey, now I know what happens to water in an earthquake! The people who own buildings at the edge of the water are all building extra-tall walls around them, since the calm lake suddenly gets huge waves. They’ve forbidden swimming, and discourage boating unless you have water magic.

  Which makes sense. I hope Aunt Kimi has made similar rules for Fish. Someone ending up drowned cuz they were in the water when an earthquake hit would be super tragic.

  Anyways, back to Stoneford. At the church they basically promised us anything we need to help in our quest of saving the world. So I brought up my idea of charming all the animals in the country to be calm.

  OH! I forgot to say! I found the rune for adding +100 to magic levels, but then in the back of the book there was a rune for adding +1000 levels. It’s basically the same rune, just a little more complicated. The notes said I needed the best, biggest, most perfect gemstone which represents that magic specialty to carve the rune on. And also that any stone that boosts over 20 levels is gonna be illegal in lots of places.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  I copied both of them into my book, just in case.

  After telling the priest who sat next to me at dinner how worried I was about the animals, I told him my plan to calm them down just required a hand-sized rhodonite piece. And he had one!!

  Apparently rhodonite stones are controlled in this city; to wear a piece of jewelry that might give you charm magic you have to get a permit. Thus, the only group trusted to import the stones is the church.

  Kai, the priest, said he had to cast a spell to detect if I had evil in me before he could give me the stone. He did, and I don't, so he got it for me! And since I’m helping Maeve and Luke save the world, I didn't even have to pay for it! Woo!

  Now all I have to do is carve it properly, and I’ll hopefully be strong enough to calm all the animals whenever there’s an earthquake.

  I think I’m gonna start asking for my own room at inns from now on. If there are enough rooms to be had. For some reason I don't want anyone to really find out about this. I mean, runes aren't secret or anything, but I did take this one out of Luke’s book. And his job is literally carving runes, so if he sees me I’m sure he’d tell me I’m doing it all wrong.

  Although if I learned anything from Mom, it’s that you don't serve a new recipe to customers. Gotta try it out in a low-stakes environment first. So I have to try carving the rune on something smaller first.

  When in the city, I picked up a piece of citrine. If I carve the smaller rune on it, I can see if it enhances my lightning magic. Assuming it works, I'll take what I learned to my big stone.

  And if it doesn't work, well, I’ve still got over a month to practice.

  So yeah, hopefully tomorrow night I can start my project!

  Signing off,