I was completely taken by surprise.

“Just joking. Hey there master, my name is Raken and I'm your new awakened tree.”

Gilian looked unbelieving at the new sapling, “Master, you've created something like a treant? That's interesting.”

“I'M NOT A TREANT! I'm an intelligent tree, I can't run around and tend to saplings like myself even if I wanted to. My only purpose is to stand here and give shelter to my creator's people.”

Did have treants somewhat of a bad reputation around here? Something to ask later.

“Hi Raken, I'm Marcus, your new boss. As you already stated your purpose is to shelter my people and warm them in colder weather. Are you able to do that or not?”

That was the question of questions. If he couldn't he was not much use for me besides as a talking partner.

“Not right now. My power isn't strong enough as I need mana for heating but give me some time and I'm sure that I will be able to support all people living in my crown with comfortable warmth even in the deepest winter.”

“Will you also be able to keep your leaves and bear fruits?”

“You're demanding quite some bit of a simple tree, aren't you?”

“Answer the question, Raken.”

“It may take some seasons before I'm strong enough for that.”

No way would I wait for him to grow strong enough if I could accelerate that. I sent mana into his trunk.

“Or you could just give me the mana for growth, haha. I will serve you loyally for my all my life, master.”

Raken has sworn an oath of servitude. He is now your minion.

Awesome. Now I also had minions. Maybe I could create also mobile ones later?

Sarah watched me with interest, “I thought I would be the one supporting you with minions and now you just create one. City cores are cheats.” And she disappeared. Women!

Gilian watched the sapling grow fast and turned to me, “You know, he may be not able to move himself but I'm able to move him around. He is a tree after all so he is my domain to be ruled over. You wouldn't have to use your own power to do the heavy lifting. Just tell me where you want him and I will take over.”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“That's useful information Gilian.”

“I'm master's minion, not your's.”

“She's a guardian of mine, so unless you get orders from me directly you will obey her and the other guardians under my rule, you get me?!”

My tone had taken a hard undertone. I wouldn't tolerate upstarts around here. The pecking order had to be established right from the start. There wouldn't be any misunderstandings ever about the standings of my guardians. EVER.

“I didn't want to disobey you master. I will obey.” He was suddenly very submissive to me and Gilian but I would watch him for some time. If he understood his place then good if not I will see to make him understand. For his own good. Otherwise he'll become fire wood. I was sure that his wood would burn very hot and long. Too much fire mana to not do so.

“Good. Now that this is cleared I will send a part of my mana to you to grow larger. See to it that you grow some rooms for my people to live in and also a way for them to get upstairs.”

“Yes, master.”

“Gilian, I want you to grow also larger but right now I need my mana for other things, so you have to wait for that to happen.”

“No problem, Marcus. I will keep myself busy with training magic and teaching your people what I've learned.”

She bowed lightly and disappeared.

I went to my inner mind and sent for some granite from my inventory. If I just used the stone shaping spell my stone masonry skill wouldn't rise at all. By my best guess this skill governed my ability to create better buildings even by using magic so I had to better my abilities even if it meant hard work.

A short look outside ensured me that Mariah had begun to teach some elves and humans basic magic manipulation and understanding so I sent one of my subminds to listen to her teaching. Never waste a opportunity like that. She surely knew some tricks I didn't.

My other guardians helped with the cleaning of the battlefield. A gruesome work but necessary. And looting crude weapons might offer some unsuspected rewards.

There was also something that bothered me. Stone masonry was a wonderful skill by itself but it didn't teach how to build good houses or other things. So I looked for some easy to learn beginner videos for architecture.

After searching for almost ten minutes in my new shop I discovered that I needed 10k of mana for some short introductory into the new study field. Everting needed so much of my sweet mana. So I would have to wait for that and just experiment first and maybe get the skill unlocked first.

I began creating stone plates for the ground for people to walk on that would interlock with each other and therefore be a very stable floor. That was at least my hope for it and only time would tell if it was a good idea.

It took me only an hour to create a template for it and then I spent some energy to create a copy of it. The cost was not too steep so I began mass producing the tiles and sent for more granite for the next part of it.

I remembered something very peculiar from my childhood that I thought would be a master stroke if I could recreate it here and that was Lego.

If the stone could be shaped in this style and with precise edges the interlocking pieces would be so much stronger and even in case of an earthquake perhaps have enough leeway for movement to not crumble into dust. I was determined to test if my old cherished memories could get a revival on this virgin world.

I was quite sure that I wouldn't get any problems with patents or lawyers about it, at least I hoped so.

Sarah appeared suddenly beside me and I almost lost my shit right there.

“Please send me a short message that you want to come over or next time you could possible see something you won't ever forget even if you want to.”

All I got was a smirk.

“Oh, don't be such a wuss. Maybe I'd like the show?” she wiggled with her eye brows and smiled a little bit more seductive than was good for my sweet old heart.

“I'll be nice and give you a warning in the future. I wouldn't want you to just walk into my place also. So I'll be nice gal and give you ample time to get everything in order, okay?”

“That would be splendid. What has woken your interest now? I mean, you can't already be ready for visitors, right?”

She shook her head, “Nope. I just watched you doing something strange here. Why do you create things with tools and just will it into being?”

I sighed.

“To increase my skills that I can teach my guardians or other contracted beings. It also helps with creating new templates for building and my visualization.”

“I never had problems with that but it seems that at least you're not a cheat in everything. You could come over to my place later and I'll show you how I create new things for my dungeon. Maybe we can find a new way to get the best of both ways.”

I was very excited about that.

“It's a date!”

“Nope, nope, nope!” She crossed her hands in front of her. “To get a date you'll have to take me somewhere nice and be a gentleman about it. I may left Earth decades ago but not all social rules have been forgotten, haven't they?”

I was shattered.