When Aeldara found Ye Ting the next day, she discovered that his magic tent was piled high with a peculiar kind of small device.
It was a compact yet sturdy metal object, consisting of a metal lever with a pivot and a rounded stone.
She noticed that aside from its unusual shape, the side of the metal lever facing the stone had rough serrations. The round stone seemed to have been magically shaped, and simple magical runes had been drawn upon it.
"This thing is..."
Having been separated from magic for so long, even a druid of Aeldara's caliber knew nothing about magical runes and had no way of determining the device's purpose from them.
Ye Ting did not answer her question. He casually picked up one of the devices and forcefully pressed down one end of the lever.
With a click, the rough serrations on the other end scraped swiftly across the round stone, producing a spark. The spark grew larger, eventually becoming a tiny flame.
The flame burned for several seconds before slowly going out.
"This is a... fire-starting device."
Aeldara immediately understood the device's purpose, and her eyes lit up.
"Whether for boarfolk or centaurs, starting a fire has always been troublesome. Especially for those foolish boarfolk—their careless nature often prevents them from keeping their precious fire sources safe. Such a simple and convenient fire-starting device is indeed a valuable little trinket to them, but possessing a large number of these small tools would not pose much of a threat to you."
Ye Ting nodded, indicating that her analysis was correct.
What Aeldara had not mentioned, however, was that this little item's greatest advantages were how convenient it was for the humans to produce and how impossible it was for the native races to imitate.
The latter