Imri was relieved when the portal to Celestia opened, confirming that the settlement was still intact. He was the first to step through, wanting to inform Steve that they would have immigrants coming through. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any way to arrange things ahead of time, so they would need to find accommodations for their newest residents in the coming days.

He quickly noticed the town had grown in the week they had been gone. It wasn’t a proper city, but buildings were now present for blocks in each direction. Larger, more ambitious buildings, including the temple Christoph had commissioned, were in the process of being erected. Lodging wasn’t only single-family homes but now included multi-unit apartment buildings.

Despite the prodigious construction prowess, many people lived out of tents. The size of the camp was expanding, suggesting explosive population growth, and that was before they started bringing people through the portal.

“It’s amazing how much can get built in a week with magic, especially with some of our builders starting to reach tier 2 in their professions,” Steve commented as he arrived, noticing Imri’s wide-eyed expression.

“There’s only going to be more change,” Imri said. He quickly briefed the third councilor as they walked towards the town hall.

“It’s been mostly quiet here relative to what you went through,” Steve explained. “There has been no sign of an invasion force amassing. However, the strange xenoforming process continues, and the alien terrain expands by meters daily.”

“So, no threat to overtake us anytime soon, but still not good,” Imri concluded.

“On a more positive note, we received word from Zhaire via a Starseeker messenger. We have a larger army than expected. The knights and thousands of the ogre-like creatures under his command are only several days away from the settlement. He’s also managed to recruit and train a large contingent of refugees into a respectable fighting force,” Steve explained.

“That’s good; we’ll need everyone willing to fight,” Imri agreed.

“In addition, they managed to secure another vital resource: nexuses. The runner indicated they were open to selling them,” Steve explained.

Imri sighed. He had just acquired several of them for millions of credits. Even if he had recouped most of his capital, he didn’t relish spending more credits on bankrolling the expansion. However, with the sheer amount of stats gained through titles, it was too important to ignore.

“Does the settlement have the funds to purchase them?” Imri asked, though he already suspected the answer.

“We might be able to purchase one or two if they are willing to part with them for a price similar to what the system charges for a new nexus. However, doing so would prevent us from upgrading more arrays before Celestia reaches E rank,” Steve said, confirming what Imri had suspected.

“We can’t neglect the arrays,” Imri said sternly.

He had seen how the New Chicago nexuses had progressed with each upgrade and rank-up compounding. Even if the upgrades were marginal, they would have a profound impact in the long run. It was also hard to miss the opportunities they had, as the cost reset after each rank-up. His goal for F to E had been to purchase at least one upgrade for each array. He had wanted to take it even further, but with the cost of each upgrade doubling, that wasn’t feasible.

“We could allow individuals to purchase a nexus for the title?” Steve suggested.

“I’m open to selling the title that comes with the nexus, but the settlements and their management will be delegated to civil officials of the Celestia Empire. We saw how self-appointed rulers worked in New Chicago. However, we can’t sell the titles until the settlements advance to tier 2,” Imri explained.

“That shouldn’t be too hard to manage. A high percentage of people live within Celestia’s border, but there are significant populations spread throughout the plateau. A settlement near the Zopralt and Espeonite mines would have enough people to be nearing tier 2. It is the same with the area around the healing spring. There’s also enough population working in agriculture and forestry to form a small settlement near the plateau center,” Steve said.

“So, we could put them to use right away. There’s also the added benefit of forming a county when we have five contiguous tier 2 settlements,” Imri pointed out.

“Sounds like we need to acquire all of the inventory. I’ll set up a meeting with the knight,” Steve said with a grin.

All the settlements he mentioned were already pre-existing and just needed a nexus. However, there was still room for another settlement near the pass to the valley, and Imri knew precisely what he wanted it to be.

Imri thanked Steve and left to find the other person he needed to speak to, who was among the new arrivals. He spotted her, staring vacantly into the distance.

“Professor Dotson,” Imri greeted her.

“This was all built after the integration?” she asked in disbelief.

“Most of it is actually from the last couple of months. It’s amazing what people are capable of with improved stats and magic,” Imri explained.

“You didn’t strike me as the type of person to gloat, and we both know you’ve managed this whole situation better than I did. So, why am I here?”

“You’re right; I didn’t come to gloat. There’s too much work to waste time with anything unproductive. I have a job for you,” Imri offered.

“Really? You’d offer me a job?” she asked skeptically. Imri just nodded.

“I would, though I am curious: why did you run things the way you did? All the other barons weren’t qualified to run a settlement or any form of government. However, you should have known better,” Imri asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know that myself; I just got caught up in the emotions of having power. I guess I don’t really have a good answer,” Dotson said with a shrug.

“That’s good enough,” Imri said, surprising the former baroness.

Stolen story; please report.

“How so?”

“You’re not blaming someone else or saying you just got unlucky. You’re admitting that you made a mistake,” Imri pointed out.

“I hope you’re not planning on making me a government official or anything like that. I much prefer teaching government over running it,” Dotson said, eliciting a chuckle from Imri.

“Coleman said something similar. I guess it's not surprising that progenitors are dedicated to the skills and abilities that got them that far,” Imri explained.

“So then, what is the job?” she asked.

“I’m looking for instructors for a settlement I’m planning on building,” Imri said.

“What kind of instructor? While I think political science is still an important field, I doubt that's what you’re looking for,” she said.

“I was thinking of something a bit more practical. I want to compile a list of useful abilities that can be learned. Then, I want as many people to learn them as fast as possible. A system boot camp, if you will. After everyone has the basics, they could learn enchanting, alchemy, or any other profession or class in high demand,” Imri explained.

“A system trade school,” Dotson said in understanding. “While I agree it’s a good idea, I don’t see how I could help. I don’t know much about the system or any classes that would be useful to teach.”

“That’s not true. You know how to teach well enough to get you a Progenitor title. As for the rest, there are no true system experts yet,” Imri said.

“You seem like you know quite a bit about the system. You wouldn’t consider yourself an expert?” she asked.

“I had a trait that helped me gain a basic understanding of how the system worked. While it was incredibly beneficial initially, it doesn’t make me an expert. However, even if it did, I don’t have time to spend as a dedicated instructor,” Imri explained.

“So, you want me to become this expert and then teach others,” Dotson concluded.

“Exactly. Ask around and find out what abilities people gained outside of rank-ups and how they got them. Hopefully, there will be some discernable patterns that we can extrapolate. If you get stuck, we can always purchase information packets from New Chicago,” Imri said.

“You mentioned this would be a settlement, not just a school,” the professor pointed out.

“With each settlement being able to specialize, it only makes sense to organize them for specific purposes. So, I was planning on creating a settlement that would have the Education and Physical Improvement arrays. It will have both a trade school and a military academy. Even for those not enrolled in either program, it would be an ideal place to train your stats,” Imri explained.

“You have me convinced. I accept the position,” Professor Dotson said.

While there were still many details to figure out, Imri would leave that to whoever ran the settlement. He had an empire to run and a war to prepare for.

While Steve worked to set up a meeting with the knight, Imri surveyed the settlement’s mana stores. As he had feared, opening the portal to New Chicago and leaving it open long enough for hundreds of people to go through had almost wholly exhausted the reserves. He would need to create more panels and improve the portal itself for this to become a reliable way to connect the two areas.

With the plans for new settlements and Celestia's rapid growth, it became apparent that the borders would need to be expanded. Imri made an executive decision, using his own funds to improve the two radii, influence and effect, which were considered a single array. This set Imri back another 400,000 credits, but it would be worth it if it could help connect the various settlements that would be built throughout the plateau. With that done, he reviewed the settlement status.

Town of Celestia (2F), Level 14 (+2)

Radius of Effect: 1.30 Kilometers (+.13 Kilometers)

Radius of Influence: 1.71 Kilometers (+.35 Kilometers)

Bonuses:

Resource Regeneration 9.78% (+1.05%)

Experience 1.48% (+.03%)

Conception 2.96% (+.05%), Reduction in birth and pregnancy Complications 1.059 (+.001), Max stats of newborn .29%

Crafting Quality 3.26% (+.35%)

The town had leveled twice since he had last checked its stats, one of which was while he had been away. He also noticed his title didn’t improve until he had returned, meaning if he were ever away from Celestia for an extended period, his title would stagnate even if the settlement itself hadn’t. The most significant changes in the settlement stats were those where the arrays had been upgraded, since Imri had checked right before purchasing them.

The 1.71-kilometer Radius of Influence wouldn’t be enough to connect to any planned settlements, even when accounting for their Radius of Influence. However, once Celestia Ranked up and leveled a couple of times, it should be sufficient, even without another upgrade to the array.

It didn’t take long before the knight could meet with them. He was annoyed when he saw they weren’t alone in the meeting. Christoph gave him a broad smile as he approached.

“One of my conditions in loaning the knights money was a right of first refusal. I’m also to be paid as soon as the proceeds from the sale are processed,” the merchant explained without Imri asking a question.

“Like I said before, the nexuses aren’t trinkets. They’re a vital part of how we survive the coming conflict and rebuild civilization,” Imri explained.

“So, you only want your empire to possess them? No independent factions to oppose you? That’s starting to sound like a dictatorship,” Christoph chided him.

“It’s a vital strategic resource. Suppose we start fighting over them, either physically or financially. In that case, the more united species will mop the floor with us,” Imri pointed out while trying not to rise to the obvious provocation.

“And who decided what a fair price is? You? The system?” Christoph argued.

“I’m basing it on what the system sells them for, 500,000 credits. I’d much rather have the credits in circulation rather than giving it all to the system. However, if you want more than that, I’ll be forced to buy them from the nexus,” Imri explained.

“You can’t buy them at 500,000 in perpetuity. If you check the system store, you’ll see the price has gone up,” Christoph said with smug satisfaction.

Imri confirmed his claim, noting that a new Nexus now costs 800,000, with someone having recently purchased one. Imri had a strong suspicion about who had purchased it.

“How many nexuses are you selling, and what are their levels?” Imri asked the knight, who had been listening to the arguments with a perplexed expression.

“There are five available, ranging from levels one to four,” the knight explained.

“I’ll purchase the lot for 3 million,” Imri said, glaring at Christoph.

“That is a reasonable price, though if I could, I would probably match that,” Christoph said.

“How about this: I will give you the right of first refusal on any sold titles. I also promise to create a more thought-out policy on Nexus purchases, and you will be included in any discussions about it,” Imri said, extending an olive branch. It wasn’t quite as generous as outright giving away a title, but he couldn’t keep giving them away like candy on Halloween.

“That’s reasonable,” Christoph agreed.

“3 million for all the nexuses,” Imri offered to the knight.

“Yeah, that’s fair,” the knight said, extending his hand. Imri shook it, finalizing the deal.

With the nexuses now secured, Imri could begin expanding the empire.