Timeline: TC1853.04.08-09
Location: Seven Peaks Territory - Merit Hall and Library Construction
The night before Merit Hall manifested, Raven discovered jade.
Not much—a small vein running through the eastern cliff face, perhaps thirty meters deep. The valley's living architecture had exposed it deliberately, sensing her need for knowledge storage materials before she'd voiced the requirement.
Raven stood in the narrow cave passage, spiritual energy flowing into her palm to illuminate the jade deposits gleaming in living stone. Green jade, relatively pure, enough raw material for perhaps a thousand blank slips if she harvested carefully.
"Thank you," she said to the valley, touching the wall gently.
The stone pulsed acknowledgment.
She spent three hours extracting jade with precision that prevented damaging the vein—careful cuts that allowed regrowth, spiritual energy soothing the mountain as she worked. By midnight, she'd accumulated enough raw jade to begin processing.
