A few minutes later and we're at a large oval track that doubles as a training field and archery range. Training stops as our arrival is noticed, and General Sauer comes running over.

"Your Majesty." He bows. "You're back already. Were there any issues?"

"Nothing that the Marquis couldn't deal with." She nods in my direction. "He has some armor samples we wish to see demonstrated. Could you have the range cleared." The general doesn't even have to say anything before his men all run to the sidelines. "If you would?"

I send the armor to three targets at the far end of the range, and fashion a longbow from the material leftover when I freed the Rocket from its bus shaped prison.

"What's the draw weight on that beast?" The general asks a bit awed.

"I dunno, a lot?" I answer while lining up my shot. "I'm no archer, so I just went with what felt comfortable." I loose and hit the fabric sample dead center.

"Babe, you're doing it again." Amelia says, and I swear I can hear her roll her eyes.

"That looked faster than most crossbows." Sauer exclaims, so I hand the bow to him. He tries with all his might, but can barely make the string move.

"Not faster than mine." I retrieve the old one that's been sitting in my inventory. Using magic to arm it, I take aim for the scalemaille. The shot hits a bit high and to the right, and pings off just like last time I demonstrated for the girls. "You may want to take a step back now." I look to Amelia.

Once she runs back a good dozen meters, I shake my head in amusement before rebuilding the ballista. Over a meter high without the stand, and several times that in width and length. I load it up with a bolt that is more oversized javelin than arrow.

"Can, I fire it? Please, please, please." Apricot gloms onto my arm while the castle dwellers just look a bit stunned.

"Hahahah. Let me re-enforce the target first." A thick stone wall springs up behind the board holding the glass steel hexagon. "Hmm. Barrier! Just in case." I shrug to the castle dwellers. "Okay, sweetie. She's all lined up, just pull that lever."

Wham! The bolt slams into the target, only to splinter just like last time. The barrier catches the shrapnel, and the wall stops the excess force, though it does end up cracking. Clearing the dust away, I levitate all three samples back over for the Queen and her general to examine.

Meanwhile Apricot is giggling like a madwoman while hopping up and down again. "Again, again." She pleads.

"Sorry, Apricot it's already taken three hits." I shake my head. "I don't think that piece can handle a fourth."

"What about that hunk of iron you grabbed last night? Just set that up." She cajoles.

"Oh, fine." I give in. "Just one more shot though. Umm... if it's alright with Your Majesty, that is?" I remember just where we're standing.

"Hahaha." Her laughter rings out. "I suppose we could allow another shot or two." She eyes the siege weapon like a tiger eyes a steak.

"Perhaps you would care to test it yourself?" I offer, and quickly reload it while a couple tonnes of iron rolls over to replace the target.

"Me too!" Princess Faye shouts. "Please." She grabs her mother's skirt.

"Very well." Vivian leads her daughter over and I make a step-ladder so she can reach the lever.

"Eeeek!" The little girl shrieks as the bolt blasts forward, making a crater in the iron

"Gods." Several of the soldiers swear. "Look at the size of that divot. How could that little plate stop that much force?" One of them mutters.

"Are you sure you won't reconsider making weapons?" The Queen whispers to me when I go to reload the weapon for her.

"Sorry, Ma'am." I say equally as quiet. "I care more for saving lives, than taking them."

Once she takes her shot, enlarging the crater even more. Apricot rushes forward to take hers, leaving a hole almost halfway through the thick metal plate. The general then steps forward and asks. "Is this how you fought off the Cendassans?"

"There wasn't a fight, not really." I say with a wry smile. "Just Her Majesty scolding some misbehaving children."

"Could you display it? Large enough for the men to see?" Oliver asks. "No naughty bits of course." He adds after glancing at the Princess.

"I thought you might ask." I nod and create a drive-in sized screen to display a movie I edited in my head last night.

The movie starts with a larger than life view of the Queen sitting in her throne, her face serene as the sounds of the invaders lining up fill the background. The Sun rises behind her, causing the chair to reflect a golden glow onto her skin. The sounds still, and the view pulls out to show the Cendassan army frozen in place, painted by the colored light of her crest.

A young man with dark red hair kneels beside her as the enemy general finally finds his wits and orders an attack. Only for his face to pale as the archer's weapons melt in their hands. The 'camera' zooms back in on her as she nods and says two words.

After the man rises and bows, the view swings around to watch from over the Queen's shoulder, as he walks down stairs that don't exist. Once standing on the bridge he speaks two sentences and starts walking towards the shouting general.

The enemy troops fall back from him as their weapons, equipment, and clothing vanish. All unmentionables covered by discrete black bars, to protect the Princess' delicate sensibilities.

The view swings around to look up at Queen Vivian as three people are brought to grovel in the dirt before her. The young man kneels again, saluting before being commanded to rise. He then walks off frame as the Queen scolds a miserable wretch for reaching beyond her station.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The scene ends as the wretch is allowed to flee, tears and snot flying off of her face as her army breaks around her.

The training grounds erupts into cheers at this point; everyone present turns to face the Queen from the movie as she's covered once again in a golden glow. Then, following the young man's example, they all kneel and salute her, fist to chest.

"Mommy! You're in a movie!" The princess' exclamation breaks the spell.

"Hahaha. Yes I was dear heart." She laughs and picks up her daughter. "Thank you, everyone. Please rise. And, thank you Sorrel." She says to me personally. "That was quite well done."

"Could we-" Oliver starts to say before I hand him a crate with a dozen projectors, each pre-loaded with the movie. "Hah!" he barks out a laugh.

***

We're just getting in the car, about to leave when Oliver calls and asks us to wait a minute. He comes walking out of the castle with a thick portfolio in his hands. "I just got word. The lots you wanted in that neighborhood have all been cleared out and your can move in any time you want."

I open the folio to find a bunch of filled out paperwork, and a map on top with four lots circled at the end of a block. They're all next to each other, side to side and back to back. I raise my eyebrow at the smirking Mage.

"Consider it a wedding gift from Her Majesty. She couldn't have her newest Count, now Marquis, living in some tiny home." She chuckles.

"Well, Please thank Her for the three of us." I nod at him. "The extra space will actually work out well for the design I've been toying with."

"Ooh, show us." "Yeah, show us." The girls plead.

"Nuh uh. I wag my finger at them. "You gotta wait until we get there. I want it to be a surprise."

"Then, what are you waiting for? Get in the car already." Apricot jumps behind the wheel, and revs the engine.

"Hahaha." Oliver laughs again. "You three have fun, I can't wait to see what you make this time." He waves as Amelia drags me into the car.

One very short drive later, and we're parked outside our soon to be home. "How long will it take to build?" Apricot asks. "I wanna see it now!"

"Oh, it's kinda big. Might take a while." I tease, causing them both to pout. "Oh, okay. I guess I can show you the model I built." Pulling it from my inventory, I hold it up for them to see.

Three bonsai apricot trees grown together into one, their thick trunks twist around each other as they curl protectively around a three story house. The first of the three trunks branches off to the left just above the roof of the house. The second goes to the right, a step higher, and the third in the middle peaks at almost three times the height of the house.

And, while they look like regular branches from the sides and below, they actually contain small ponds. Twin waterfalls flowing from the top branch down to the other two.

The building is based on Colorado's Elk Island Ranch, with its wrap around second story patio deck supported by stone pillars. The log walls are made from white pine that I twisted and compressed to modify it just like my favorite cherry wood.

I had to piece together the floor plan from the few images I once saw online. So, while it's not exact, I think it's a decent re-imagining. And, it certainly captures that rustic, yet elegant, natural wood and stone construction.

"Oh, Sorrel." Amelia clasps her hands in front of her mouth. "It's beautiful. When did you make this?" She lifts it up to examine what will be our home from all sides.

"Been working on it here and there." I say with a shrug. "I wanted to surprise you two, and I couldn't think of anything more suitable for the three of us."

"It's perfect." Apricot kisses me before shrinking down to go inside. Of course I made it scaled just for her.

"Hey, no fair." Amelia pouts. "You gotta wait until he makes the real thing." She looks like she wants to shake Apricot out of it.

"Oh, you've got to see this staircase. This place is awesome!" The pixie teases her wife.

"Sorrel!" Amelia whines. "Hurry up and build it. Please. Apricot's cheating."

"Yes, Ma'am." I whip out my staff, and the old homes melt away with a wave. I then toss out handfulls of pine seeds and three apricot pits into the lot. "Luckily we're on the North end of the block here, so I don't have to worry about casting our neighbors in shadow."

Hundreds of pine trees sprout up next, each getting the same modification to strengthen them as the original cherry wood tree I made for out wagon months ago. They then fall and flow into the shape of our new home as stone drags itself from the ground to coat the first floor exterior, along with the chimneys, patio pillars, kitchens and bathrooms.

Once the walls, floors, and ceiling are all completed, I infuse the exterior of the house with pitch to darken and protect it. Meanwhile the inside get polished with linseed oil. Tossing out a crate of silica, it is quickly formed into tempered glass windows. While a large chunk of the iron I acquired yesterday becomes blackened steel to coat the roof.

Easy part done, I sit cross legged with my staff in my lap and spread a circle of Mana Stones around me, my wives waiting eagerly just outside the circle. I push my magic out into the apricot pits, strengthening and re-enforcing the trees as they grow up much higher and wider than they ever could have without magic.

I compress and twist the heart wood as it grows, and modify the xylem and phloem to more easily move water and nutrients up and down the nearly fifty meter height. I go slowly to make sure I get everything just right, taking just under ten minutes to grow the whole thing.

"Damn, babe!" Amelia breathes out. "I knew it would be big, but that's something else. The trunk must be a good ten meters at the base."

I reach back and take her hand while forming and filling the ponds. The waterfalls start flowing a moment later. The cascade misting out to create rainbows in the morning sun.

"Ooh, pretty." Amelia coos.

"Eee!" Apricot squees. "It's perfect, I love it."

"You really outdid yourself here." Amelia agrees.

"Oh, I'm not done yet." I give her a wicked smile. "There's just one tiny last thing to take care of." I start drawing on the Stones around me, channeling their power into the tree.

"Uh, babe." Amelia says a little fearfully. "What are you doing?"

"I'm making a true home for our future family." I look at apricot. "I don't know if our children will need a mana well or not. So, I'm making one." I say, daring the heavens to stop me.

"Can you even do that?" Her eyes go wide.

"I got a real good look at just what Co was doing when we passed through on the road trip." I explain with fire in my eyes. "And, I'm going to use what I learned to turn our little sapling into a Mana Well." I turn back around and start floating upwards, the Mana stones coiling about me.

""Oh shit!"" The girls mutter in sync, but I'm already too deep in the Magic to care.

There's no way to truly describe what I'm doing, the closest analogy would be like how enchanting uses Runescript to alter mana flows to recreate spell. Instead I am changing the tree to alter reality itself in order to generate mana. By tying those alterations into the tree's very life-force and essence, the effect will last as long as the tree does.

Several *Dings* notify me that Control is getting ever closer to Mastery, it's already gone up faster this week than I had dared hope for. Now, it seems that what I'm attempting may be just enough to push me over the edge.

This is dangerous and draining work, but if a fucking rock can do this shit. Then. So. Can. I! The underpinnings of reality seem to shudder for a moment before snapping back into place, forever altered.

*DDDDDIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG* A shocked tone vibrates the very air around me.

-You gave gained the Title: Alterer of Reality. Nothing is beyond your grasp.-

*DDDDDIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG* It rings out again.

-You have gained the Title: Impossible Existence. You have done that which only the gods should be able to do.-

*Ding* A tone more normal in volume, this time. But, seemingly filled with glee.

-You have learned the skill Sourcemaking. It has no level because you should not have been able to learn it, you crazy fuck! Hahahah! Keep up the good work. -Temmie-

*Ding*

-Mana Control has evolved into Mana Mastery-

*Ding**Ding**Ding*

-You are now level seven.-

*Ding**Ding**Ding*

-You are now level eight.-

*Ding**Ding**Ding*

-You are now level nine.-

*Ding**Ding**Ding*

-You are now level ten.-

*Ding**Ding**Ding*

-You are now level eleven.-

*Ding**Ding**Ding*

-You are now level twelve.-

"Thanks Temmie, you're a doll." I manage to mutter as I drift back to the ground and promptly fall unconscious.

***