Josh and his team spent four full days upgrading the wall. Baara and some of the other survivors from Gilroy, those who knew about the crafting classes, came out to help. The work wasn't difficult, but it was still rewarding. Between constantly using his skills and blueprints, to even learning a few new ones, by the end he was level 35, putting him on par with the others.

The new wall was twenty feet tall, thick enough to stop a charging truck, and with a platform all around to allow defenders to stand and attack from a superior position. They were careful to keep the civilians out of sight while they worked, though even then Josh was pretty sure rumors were starting to spread just from the sheer speed they put the wall up.

Josh hardly even minded. Yes, the bounty was still blaring, and problems could arise if people realized there was a [Crafter] hanging around. Yes, this project delayed his other plan to try and find new bloodstones. Yes, he still needed to select trustworthy people to take [Crafter] classes and train them up.

But he just couldn't bring himself to be upset. He was doing good, honest work, building something that could last. Something that could protect people. Would this have protected Gilroy? Probably not. But it was a step in the right direction. Once he found a quarry, he was going to start augmenting the wall with stone.

The first hiccup in their plans came when trying to upgrade the citystone.

“No good,” Ruth said, from her position underneath the stone. She rolled out and shook her head. “The upgrade didn't take. The rune just healed over.”

Josh blinked. “Wait, what? How?” He thought a moment. “Is it because you're not an Enchanter any more?”

“No, I got an error message. There's not enough mana in the stone.”

“...that matters?” He knew, everyone knew, that citystones absorbed mana from the surrounding air and the surrounding people. Then it could be used for things, though not much with a Basic-tier stone. A few simple crystal constructs, warning sensors and that sort of thing. He hadn't heard anything about it being needed when trying to advance the tier.

Ruth got up, brushing off her pants. “Yeah. I'm pretty sure the whole tier advancement is about increasing the mana density, or quality, or both. You need to get to a certain threshold to go up a tier.”

“All right, where are we at now?” She opened her mouth, but he stopped her with a raised hand. “I don't need hard numbers. Just tell me about how far we have to go.”

She pursed her lips, then looked at the stone. “We're at about... half. A little over. I don't know how long that took to accumulate, though.”

Josh turned to the last member of their team, the intimidating Beor. He followed Josh around unless he was out hunting with Anna or Mary. “Any ideas?”

Beor cocked his head one way, then the other. “Old mayor bought maps,” he said finally.

Josh frowned. “What does that—” His eyes went wide. “Oh! You mean pings! He was spending mana on pings?”

Beor nodded.

Ruth frowned, looking between them. “I think I've heard my dad talk about this before. It's something citystones can do, right?”

Josh nodded. “They send out a ping, or a pulse, of mana. There are a few different ways you can use it, but it gives a decent amount of information on a selected area, or the area around the citystone. I'd bet part of your dad's duties is to make sure mayors are using their citystone mana wisely, writing down ping data on maps.”

Ruth scrunched up her face. “That kind of sounds like a waste.”

Josh shrugged. “Why? No one knew a way to upgrade the citystones, and it's better than letting the mana build up in the stone.”

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She gave him a worried look. “...what happens if you let mana build up in the stone?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Nothing.” He thought a moment. “Well, nothing we know of. There's never been a citystone that exploded or anything from mana overcharge, if that's what you're asking. No, I just meant that there's not much a Basic-tier citystone can do with its mana. Using it to map the surrounding area is a fair cop.”

“Right. Well...” Ruth shrugged. “So if we stop spending mana, it should build up more.” She grinned. “We should be at the threshold in no time!”

“As long as nothing else goes wrong,” Josh quipped.

“Oi, Mister Mayor!” he heard Mary call. “Got a situation over here!”

Josh sighed, even as Ruth nearly fell over laughing. “You be quiet,” he muttered. He turned to Mary and Anna, who were running up together. “What can I do for you ladies?”

“We got a new dungeon off to the west,” Anna said. She grinned widely. “I want first crack at it.”

Josh frowned. “A new dungeon?” They happened, obviously, but he wasn't used to dealing with them himself. “Do you know what level?”

She shrugged. “Lower than a hundred? Come on, what's the harm in letting me go in and slaughter everything?” Her grin was wide enough that he was worried that her head might fall off. “It's a brand new dungeon! I'd bet Mary's teeth nothing in there is higher than level 20!”

“Hey!”

Josh ignored Mary's outburst. “What class are you, anyway?” He had initially thought she was an Archer or an Improved-tier version, but she didn't use a bow or a crossbow.

She spun her weapon into the air, then caught it on the way down. It was an absurd double-bladed sword, like someone had stuck two swords together at the hilts. He had seen stupider weapons, though. Felix the Shielder, one of the Eight Immortals, had once spent an entire reset fighting with two whips.

“I'm an Undying Exile,” Anna said with that same bloody grin. “A Defender, offensive dodge tank.”

That meant she would get monsters to focus on her and dodge their attacks rather than weather them directly. It was good against individual monsters, less so against groups. It was famously used for fighting humans, in fact. Especially since it was known for having plenty of attack abilities, unlike most [Defender] classes.

He knew she was level 36, because she didn't have a mask. That should be sufficient to solo any dungeon in the area. Of course, last time he had thought that, he had found a freaking dragon. “All right,” he said at last. “You can go.”

She pumped a fist.

“If,” he added, raising a finger. “You take Mary.” He looked at his friend. “I'm expecting you to keep her under control.”

Mary looked mortified. “You want me to keep some mucker under control?”

Josh rolled her eyes. “I'm not saying you need to put her in a dress and take her to a fancy ball, just make sure everyone's guns are pointed in the right direction, yeah?” He waved vaguely at Anna's sword. “Or, other weapons. Whatever.”

Anna grinned. Mary scowled. Still, they left without trying to kill each other more than usual, so Josh decided to call that a win.

Next, they returned to the town hall. Josh initially hadn't been sure they should stay here, since people knew where they were. What if the old mayor's allies tried to attack them? Josh thought he got on with most people, but he wasn't an idiot. Even a non-violent coup was still a coup, and people took that sort of thing personally.

There hadn't been any attacks on the town hall, though. Sure, there had been a couple attacks on Josh—that was why Beor was insisting on staying so close—but everyone seemed to be ignoring the town hall.

That worked out just fine for Darius, who was up to his elbows in paperwork.

“Baara,” Josh said as they entered. “How's he doing?”

The girl stood up straighter. She tapped her Pyrolance, a massive spear taller than she was, against the ground. “All is well, sir. He says he's sorted out the delver rights and productivity will increase shortly.” She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “Mister Terah seemed happy when he left.”

It took Josh a moment to remember who Terah was. “Oh, that quiet delver. Owns the biggest crew in town, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

Well, keeping the fat cats happy wasn't a bad thing. He nodded at the girl. “Keep up the good work, soldier.”

She preened. “Thank you, sir.”