Chris

    "Sam did a wonderful job, by the way," Abigail started. "The fields were tended to and the harvest was in good order. We exceeded our expected yield, and it was all stored properly before the first frost came. While we were gone, our population broke 20,000 as well, which has put a strain on the land we have available. With the Wall limiting growth, we need to think about either going up or down. The increased strength of materials allows us to go up rather easily, but not endlessly.

    "With the Builders we have now and what we have available to us, I wouldn''t want anything over four or five stories. Any higher and they''ll stick out over the Wall and start blocking line of sight from the Castle."

    We had siege weapons to think about as well that she forgot to mention. Trebuchets lined the Outer Wall and the Inner Wall. If we made skyscrapers in between the two, the weapons on the Castle and Inner Wall wouldn''t be able to shoot over them.

    There was the arc we could work with, but losing line of sight would make everything harder. There was also the possibility of raising our Walls higher, but that wasn''t an effective solution.

    We''d run into the same problem eventually. It would just be kicking the can down the road.

    "And do we have expansion plans?" I asked, already knowing the answer. It also wasn''t something I''d expected us to need so soon. I never imagined so many people living under my care.

    "Yes, we do." Abigail said, "We have a few we can pursue. The main one I want to start working on is utilizing the space under us. The Cliff essentially cuts us off from a great deal of land. If we can make lifts or elevators that can facilitate travel up and down the cliff face, we can start moving in on the land down there."

    "You''ve mentioned that before, and we are..." I stopped mid-way through my sentence. What I was about to say was that we had no viable way to do so. Sure, we could use manpower and pullies, but that wasn''t a great solution.

    We were still working out generators and mundane electricity like we used to have, so any solution that required having it was stalled.

    That wasn''t the case anymore. Miles had been working on communication as his main project, but that wasn''t necessary anymore. We could switch him over to getting electricity back up and running.

    That would help a lot of things. Most of the magic technology I bartered with The Admiral for required it, too.

    Plus, with all the new enchanting books we now had, there had to be a magical solution for elevators somewhere in there. I hadn''t known the Runes before, but I could probably buy them now if I didn''t already have them.

    "I''ll look into it." I said instead. It would be a good way to gain some Profession levels as well. It was outside my comfort zone and would require me to learn a lot of things I didn''t already know.

    I was already thinking about the new Weight Reduction Rune we bought. We planned to use it on wagons and backpacks and such, but it could just as easily be used on a lift platform.

    "Good," She nodded, pleased, "We''ve also looked into moving the Wall out, but with how much effort went into building the first one, that will be our last resort. Only after everything else is done will we do that."

    I nodded along.

    "With your arrival, all of the treasures are now stored away and ready for use. We need to come up with a way to organize how they are utilized. The Order Members are already pestering Hal and Elliot about when they will be able to gain access to the Techniques and Skill Orbs." She carried on.

    The Skill Orbs were generic Common skills, so I was surprised so many people wanted access to them. They were what we called the Blade/Strike/Shot skills.

    [Piercing Strike] had other variations like [Piercing Blade] and [Piercing Shot] that went with the blade and bow, respectively. [Extended Strike], [Sundering Strike], [Penetrating Strike], [Quick Strike], and [Power Strike] were all the same and had their Blade and Shot counterparts.

    We didn''t have enough points for all of them in all three variations, but we had enough to get all three of two skills. Piercing and Power seemed the most versatile and were the two skills we chose. We also chose two for mages, [Mana Bolt] and [Mana Shield]. Two generic skills that would help any mage start off.

    I already had [Power Strike], which turned into [Meteor Blow], and grabbed [Piercing Strike]after we got the Skill Orb. Their uses weren''t unlimited, so we needed to come up with who got to use them. They recharged, but it wasn''t instantaneous.

    "Have Hal and Elliot bring me a list of who doesn''t have either one. Those with one or the other can wait until everyone at least has one. We can prioritize the list later." I said. I wasn''t sure how we would do it, but I was okay with deferring that until the list was made. "Also, we should set a few aside for the young. It''ll make the biggest difference to them."

    "I agree, but that opens up a whole other discussion we can discuss later. In the meantime, Hal and Elliot mentioned holding a tournament as the way to decide." Abigail threw out there.

    I groaned. It wasn''t a terrible idea, but it was so... gladiator-ish. Fighting for others'' amusement was not something I wanted to incentivize. It felt... wrong to do so.

    A Battle was supposed to be to the death in most cases and was... not sacred, but close to it. Fighting for a crowd didn''t sit right with me.

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

    "If we do, it will be a closed tournament. Only the Order can watch, and that''s only because it''s a good teaching opportunity." I said.

    "Alright," Abigail nodded and scribbled something down, "Next, we need to decide how open we are going to be with the Techniques we bought. Both the Body and the Mana. Are we going to let everyone have access, just the Order, restrict some but not all?"

    Damn.

    "What''s wrong with how we treat them now? The Order gets free rein while everyone else can pay for the privilege." The main incentive of joining the order was access to our Techniques. We kept them restricted to just the Order for a while, but eventually caved and allowed people to rent them for a fee.

    We didn''t allow all to be rented out, but just the more general ones that would be easy to find elsewhere. The Rarer and more powerful we kept for ourselves.

    We were quickly learning that all Techniques weren''t made the same. We had assumed at first that they were all generally equal, but that wasn''t true. One Body Refining Technique could be quantifiably better than another.

    The ones we purchased through the System''s Stores were of a better quality than what we made ourselves or could get through Merchants. Mana was even worse. Body Refining had a set limit at every stage that all of the Techniques had to adhere to, but Mana didn''t have that.

    One was two, or sometimes even three times better than others.

    "Nothing''s wrong with how we do it now, we were just wondering if it should stay that way or if we should switch it up now that we have more options." She said.

    "I see nothing wrong with how we do it now. If they give their Oath and join the Order, they should have access to everything." I said firmly.

    Abigail noticed I was unlikely to budge on this issue and moved on, "Alright. I''ve had some scouts and mages out looking for a good spot for the Glacier Seed, but they haven''t come back with anything promising. There are a few spots that they deemed adequate, but none that are great."

    "I''ll have Austin take a look around before he gets antsy to leave again." I said, "If that doesn''t work, I''ll look myself."

    "I''ve also sent people to collect our spoils and drop off what we owe to Mountainside, Yellowstone, and the rest you made deals with as well. The only thing that we still need input on is the Road you promised to build." She said. "With the expansion taking up most of our builders, we don''t really have the manpower to spend on a road."

    "Offer a few Earth Mages some better Techniques, and if that doesn''t work, tell them they can request a certain Bloodline from me that can be found in the area. If it''s possible, I''ll go get it." I said. There was a list Jayla had given me of Beasts near them that were decent choices.

    "Have them pave the way to the Twins first." I added quickly, "Then we can work towards Mountainside." We would also eventually add a fork towards Yellowstone as well, but that could be saved for later.

    Abigail wrote down a few other notes before speaking again. "In our absence, the Dungeons have grown. The Eastern Metal Dungeon now has Eleven floors while the Northern Dungeon has Ten. We need to decide on who we''re going to make into a Curator as well."

    "Fuck, Abigail, I don''t care who it is." I said, "I thought Gabriel would jump at it, but he turned me down. Is there anyone else who wants it?"

    I had assumed my Brother would love to turn into a Curator, but he liked Enchanting too much to make the switch. His refusal threw a wrench into my plans.

    "I think it''s something Josh would like, but he won''t be of age for another five years," Abigail said offhandedly. I had to admit, little Josh and his rocks seemed like the perfect person to be in charge of a Dungeon, but we couldn''t wait that long. "I''ll ask around, but I don''t think you''ll get anyone. The only people who want to switch is Rachel and she doesn''t want to be a Curator."

    With something as important as our Dungeon Curator, we hoped to keep it within the Family, but no one wanted to make the switch. It was unfortunate, but I wasn''t going to force anyone.

    "Extend the search into the Orders. See if any of them want to take up the mantle." I answered.

    "We need to set a price on the new Profession Starters we picked up and decide if, and how, we''re going to incentivize them. Artificer, Magi-Tech Engineer, Golem Smith, Beast Tamer, Beast Handler, Breeder, and Beast Commander are all things that we could make use of." She listed off all the new Professions we had access to.

    "Do we have the funds to pay everyone who joins our employ?" I questioned. That was how we usually did it. We gave access to the Profession and, in turn, asked them to work for us. The Professions we were in desperate need of, we gave an advance to incentivize people to choose them.

    "We have more than enough." She responded with a smile, "Our Dungeon tax took a hit while we were away, but it was still half of what it used to be. Our regular tax also brought in a lot of funds, not to mention the equipment we''ve been selling. Vincent alone brings in a decent chunk of our finances."

    There was also the money we''d brought back with us. We spent a hell of a lot on food and supplies while we were away, but we also sold a lot of things to make up for it.

    Our main money sink right now was the Alien Merchants. Nothing they were selling was cheap, and they offered a lot we didn''t already have. Our revenue would rise in the next few days with everyone back, so I wasn''t that worried, but I hadn''t taken a deep look into them yet.

    "We can come up with those numbers later, but I''m okay with offering them out." I said, "We''ll make a lot of the money we give away back when people buy the Techniques and Knowledge we have."

    Abigail smirked, "And the taxes we get from the Merchants. We''ve already pulled in a decent amount from them. Everyone''s spending their savings through them after they opened up shop."

    That was good. "Try to impress on people to choose the Beast Type professions, then. We''ll still need the Magic Tech and Artificers, but I''d rather have the Breeders working to open up Trade. Faster horses with a Wind affinity will move goods a lot faster. Plus, if we can find and tame a Flyer, we can really get things going."

    "Gabriel would argue that Artificers remaking cars would work just as well, if not better than carriages pulled by horses." Abigail pointed out.

    It was an ongoing discussion between the two of us about which was better. I liked the Beasts as they were cheaper to upkeep and took less infrastructure to be effective, but he liked the magi-tech option, saying it would be better in the long run.

    I sighed, "Fine, leave it alone then. We''ll see which gets more people."

    She smirked at my response.

    "There are a few other things that don''t need your input, but you should be aware of. We''ve purchased a few Winter crops that should expand our food stores. Other than Winter Wheat, there are a few other grains we can now plant. The Merchants said they''re similar to our Oats and Rye. Also, they''ve expressed a version of grapes and berries that do well in our environment. They also mentioned it''s popular to make wines out of them.

    "There were also a few messages for you that I took care of. Ryan Clairmont sent over the Formation you asked for, Patrick Staffords sent a few feelers to us about an alliance with his Faction, and Rachel opened up talks with the Eternal Flame Faction about a potential sharing of Knowledge.

    "Lastly, a friend of Elliot wished to speak with you about something, but he wouldn''t say what it was."

    Well, it looked like my plate was going to be full for the next few days.

    "Also," Abigail added after I thought she was finished, "Annabeth wishes that you could spend some time training her. Jonathan and I have agreed that she''s old enough now and she wants you."

    "Wait, what?" I sputtered, caught off guard at the request, "What about you or Jonathan? You''re her parents after all?"

    Abigail just gave me an odd look that I didn''t quite understand. "Sometimes, I forget how stupid you can be."