Naho, the 20th, 10,391

Six spent the last bit of yesterday checking up on various things.

The hunters, townguard, and conscripts had both grown in number and levels. The soldiers were already being tested by Keegan and Narhurin. Charles had created a fine organization but he lacked the sheer martial skill of the older soldiers.

The prisoners were rowdy until they saw he had returned. They threw jeers at the opening door and those calls ended the moment they knew it was him.The newer arrivals attempted to holler Six down but those who came from Amog shut them down quickly enough.

The prisoners had grown in number but the K’gan complex apartments were nowhere near full. There seemed to be various factions at play within the prison but Six had no interest in their petty politics.

His enchanters worked in the same complex and he checked on them next. They had all gained around 10 skill levels in the month he was gone. Yes, they were the early levels, the easiest to gain, but they had gained them in two thirds the time it took on average. The bonuses from the townhall and emperor tree were paying great dividends already.

His enchantment coven consumed a voracious amount of mana cores, almost all that the hunters brought in. That resource expenditure represented a large portion of their settlement's wealth but SIx was willing to make the investment for the future.

For the most promising of enchanters he actually increased their allowance of cores. Biggo in particular netted 13 levels in Enchantment bringing him to level 15, in just over a month. Affinity testing revealed a 93% enchantment affinity, he had the talent for it.

Six slowed their allowance, he planned to spend a few days creating golems and he needed to stockpile some resources for himself. He had gained some higher quality mana cores during his adventure but he needed mundane cores for what he had planned.

Finally Six checked up on his woodbugs. Ravna had kept them safe for him, Six noticed some fresh Reach Leaves for his little buddies and the jar looked nice and damp.

The woodbugs no longer all looked exactly normal, they had fed on the branches of the blood tree, the berries of the empress bush, the shavings of rare metals he had added. He could see the colours reflected in the tiny shells of the little creatures.

“Cool.”

Six added more things to the microcosm. He placed a couple shards of the Land Heart then deposited some piles of dust around. He tossed in some of the glowing moss and vines he took from the Tsunken Aelf Cavern, wondering what that would do to the little buggers.

He did this all while conjuring ley workers and sending them to Franklin’s works yard.

That was yesterday, today he needed to train as many ‘druids’ as he could. Leoka had wrangled all the people with at least a 50% affinity in earth magic to this demonstration, nine in total, excluding Charles. Out of just over 700 people, nine was a very small percentage. Six wasn’t too sure on the math but he knew it was tiny.

That meant that these people were rare resources. He needed to encourage them, get them to level and keep them safe while they did so.

Six demonstrated Plant Growth to the gathered students. First he used it directly, forcing growth and explaining the steps of the spell. Gathering mana, changing its resonance, and the general shape and function of the spell form within his mind. The somatic movements, the verbal components. All of these things he explained.

Most of his students picked it up easily enough and at a certain threshold the system solidified their understanding of his teachings.

Six then went on to demonstrate the buffing portion of the spell. How to channel it into the earth, infusing it with verdant energies.

He sent out the ones who learned the spell to begin the infusions while he remained and worked with the people who were taking more time to learn the spell. He wanted to ensure that everyone who could learn the spell did, even if a geomancer didn’t want to learn combat spells the food and living timber Plant Growth could provide was too important to pass up.

It took all day but by the end of the day, they all knew it.

He sent them out to buff the farms, once that was done, they were assigned by Leoka to whatever needed growing, be it timber for Franklin or food for the citizens. This would get him off the huge time sink of buffing the land and essentially double their food production. Six had a sneaking suspicion this wouldn’t be enough and more plans were percolating within the back of his head.

The next day led to his next project. A sewer system.

Six spent some time thinking about it and most of last night consulting the village leaders. He wasn’t an engineer of any kind, He had heard that the modern sewers were pressurised or something, to promote flow. Well, he wasn’t a ticketed gas fitter so his sewers would just be massive pipes underground. He wasn’t sure on most of it but his confidence stemmed from one central design idea.

Shit flows downhill.

That meant he needed to know the lowest point of the glade because once the glade was fully developed it would be the lowest point in the city's sewer system.

Unless they started building underground.

But Six couldn’t plan for such things beyond making the sewer system as low as he could go and ensuring the grade of the slope was perfect.

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There were many small lakes and ponds within the glade and those represented dead spots. Spots where the water would not reach the river. He had to be careful to not create such things himself. Planning was just as important as the execution.

He spent the entire day scouting with Gatbark, Franklin, and a few guards, discussing the future expansion of Mountain’s End, specifically the housing and farmland situation.

There was more land in the glade to turn to farmland but it was not endless and it was needed for other things.

But over the course of their scouting trip the three of them planned where the main sewer lines needed to expand to and in what order. How this project would interface with the future of Mountain’s End.

Franklin pointed out the technical problems and prohibitive aspects of Six’s vision.

Gatbark agreed with Franklin and added little, his experience as a siege engineer confirming her practical construction knowledge.

He instead constantly reminded Six of the need for immediate service to sections of industrial land. Like a filthy lobbist. Still, the economy needed to be considered and Six agreed with him from an environmentalist point of view. The industrial byproducts needed to be processed.

Six couldn’t get mad at the people for strewing their waste about though. He had not brought in any laws against it. Any laws really, he needed a scribe to follow him around and take down his random decrees or something.

By the end of the day they had a working plan for Six’s grand sewer and tomorrow they would begin. This was something that everything else would be built off of and for now the people of his village had adequate food, clothing, and housing. He needed to focus on the secondary aspects of their life.

Six did not expect to be stopped on his way back into his own village.

Hordes of migrants had set up tents and simple deadfall structures around both gates of the palisade. There were many people and they watched as Six, Franklin, Gatbark, and their three guards walked through.

Six could see a vrill surrounded by young clutchlings, staring despondently at him.

Six felt a pang in his heart but worked to steel his face. Weakness shown is weakness felt, is what his old buddy Edgar used to say.

They made it halfway through the shanty town before a large group of hardened travellers stepped in front of their path. They held weapons and tools but bore them passively.

The well muscled human had a shortsword at their belt and stood at the group’s fore. He gave a curt nod and a stilted smile. He held his hands out in a disarming gesture. “Hello, Milord. I was told you were the lord. My friends and I wish a word with you.”

The guard’s drew swords and moved to stand before Six but he held them back with a raised arm.

“Does now work?” Six asked, using his Analyze skill upon the gathered discontents.

Jregory

Human

Level 1

Yonk

Orc

Level 0

Izxyr

Vrill

Level 1

They were weak. Skilled workers perhaps, but their level was too low for a direct conflict to go their way. They probably know that, it spoke to a level of desperation

The man looked surprised for a moment, as if he didn’t expect to get that word but he recovered. “Yes.”

Six gestured for him to continue.

“Milord, we are angry and feel lied to.We were promised jobs. We were promised food,” the man grumbled.

“Speak up, I can barely hear you.”

The man narrowed his eyes in venom and his for a moment between hunched shoulders but quickly straightened and spoke for all to hear, repeating his words.

“Who made these promises?”

“That dwarf who stands by your side.”

Six glanced at Gatbark who didn’t deny the claim. The dwarf shrugged. That was kinda fucked up.

“He will be punished for fraud,” Six said. “Give us time, I plan to make good on his claims.”

“His punishment is not important. We are starving. We have no time.” The man sounded desperate. The gathering crowd, leaning in and humming in agreement at his words.

Six sighed. He didn’t want to fight these people. He was in no way worried about his chances for survival but all they wanted was food and most of them were lured here by Gatbark. He would spend some time growing food personally and Jebbedo might be pulling a few extra shifts but it's not like he couldn’t find new cooks to train. “I’ll send something out soon.”

The man shook his head. “Not good enough, you need to call something out now. We know you got it, please milord.” he rested his hand on the pommel of his sword and the people behind him gripped their tools.

Six cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “Or what?”

There was a pause as Six waited.

The man deflated, his hand falling from his weapon. “Or we’ll starve.”

Six nodded. “Aight. He pointed to a guard. “Go get me a fresh potato, bring it back immediately but get someone to tell Jebbedo to get out here with whatever he needs to make potatoes for 700 people.”

The guard looked confused before Six told her to hurry, then she rushed off.

Six took the time to stare around at the expectant faces around. They were hungry, and Six walked right by them all on his way out. He was so preoccupied with his project that it was effortless to ignore these people. Until they forced him to pay attention.

He felt a weird sort of guilt but quickly stamped it out. They weren’t his problem. He couldn’t save the world and these people would be ok… eventually. They were just part of the village’s growing pains.

The guard returned holding a potato and Six took the vegetable, it was still fresh, it could be planted and Six could see one of its eyes beginning to bud.

Six placed the potato on the ground and pulled the Flowering Staff of Profound Verdance from his ring. The crowd oohed and ahhed as he manifested the gnarled staff from nothing.

He held the staff out and felt its strange power at his command. He twirled it somewhat simply and performed some meaningless dance steps. He put on a small show.

He ended it by casting Plant Growth through the artifact. The effects were tremendous.

He knew his Elemental Magic affinity was high but as Plant Growth was a earth based spell it was subject to the affinity boost from his Ley Core.

It provided an additional 100% to his overall earth affinity.

Then the Primordial Blood Tree provided the Blood and Soil buff which also increased his earth affinity by double his level. Adding another 28% to his earth affinity.

This increased the efficacy of his earth based spells by an estimated 198% to 228%, just about double. The staff then pentupled that output leading to an overall increase of about 10 times.

The result was a staggering explosion of growth.

The potato shot out roots and speared the ground, spider webbing out in a mycelium like pattern, pinkish white roots lining the ground in preparation of the thick green leaves that sprouted up behind them. The compacted earth path beneath them bubbling up and tilling itself as potatoes upon potatoes continued to grow upward before their very eyes.

Six emptied his personal mana pool and the ley node mana pool before fueling the growth with bloodcasting, his blood seeping from his skin and burning away to power the magic.

But there was more.

Six wished to experiment and pulled upon the lifewell of his Primordial Blood Tree finishing the spell with the last gasps of mana from every source he had.

He felt weak, had no mana and little health, yet there was no fear as he stood empty before those who barred his way. The mountain of potatoes stood higher than a house.

Six gestured to the massive pile of potatoes that had burst from the ground like a spring. “Behold. Food.”

The crowd lurched forward, hands already extending.

“MY FOOD,” Six bellowed, blood splurting from his red eyes at the exertion.

The crowd pulled back, flinching away at his outburst.

They waited until Jebbedo arrived with his crew and tools, several ley workers floating behind them. He walked into the tension with a confused look on his tired face.

Six pointed at the group that stood in his way. “You listen to every word that halfling tells you to do. Got it? I am sharing this with you, understand?”

The man looked at Six with a mixture of awe and trepidation. “Yes Milord.”

“Jebbedo,” Six bowed to the halfling. “Thanks for taking this on right now.”

“Yea, yea,” the cook grumbled. “You need to make me some proper kitchens.”

“It's on the list,” Six assured, then marched off into Mountain’s End.

He needed to rest before breaking ground tomorrow.