It was already midday when I arrived at Town Yoentia, and I was eight Ability Stones richer. In addition, I was weighed down by some select cuts from the last Lord Beast I had slain, which was the only way to avoid Zolast's anger.

Pity that even in the sea, where there were many more of such beasts, finding new Lord Beasts took longer than actually killing them. Even worse, I had to just abandon their flesh. I couldn't just drag them halfway.

Maybe I should establish a small shop at the port to enable some logistical options for that.

The moment I stepped into the town, I ignored those thoughts and focused on the present. I noticed an intensity of movement that could rival the initial establishment. Luckily, such a widespread event was impossible to hide, and the gossip immediately revealed its true source.

The dungeon was about to be opened.

Tomorrow. At noon.

It must have been a truly dire situation for Zolast to accept that, sacrificing some critical time for our development … but as soon as I arrived in the inner town, I saw that he hadn't made that particular sacrifice cheaply. Our workers were currently busy emptying three buildings that were adjacent to our guild headquarters.

Not bad indeed.

"So, these belong to us," I commented to the guild employee as he guided me through the buildings, my mind already churning with plans. One advantage of the Memory Stat: a quick trip was all I needed to work on my plans, so I didn't have to spend half a day carefully measuring and calculating everything.

When I entered the headquarters, I went directly to Zolast's office. He was in another dungeon raid, so I decided to wait. And, in the interest of not wasting any time, I grabbed a pen and started drawing a new casino.

Unfortunately, I had to start with a list of extensive renovations. After all, there were a lot of changes to be done in the general architecture, with walls to be demolished, and windows to be barred.

Of course, it was just a preliminary design … as unlike the previous design, I had the chance to include magic in said design; both for security, and for customer appeal.

A nice combination.

Unfortunately, that required a lot of time to design, with me explaining the design principles to Zolast and him designing the necessary magical features. It had the potential to be a grand landmark… but it also meant that I would have to delay the opening of the casino quite a bit … missing a lot of critical revenue in the process.

I wanted people to be able to play not just for silver, but for mana stones and skill stones. Even for stat stones, if we could manage to get permission from the young duke.

I didn't want to lock myself into a sub-standard asset … but I also didn't want to miss the excellent marketing of the first days of a new dungeon.

I faced a dilemma.

Or … did I?

"Why not both?" I realized with a sudden surge of inspiration. Since we didn't expect Zolast's incredible success of getting three buildings, we didn't have anything urgent we needed the building for.

Of course, the reason was rather simple. Since my arrival, I had been working under a serious resource constraint, forcing me to be careful before committing any resources, with safety over expansion.

I liked that approach. It was far more aligned with my personality.

Unfortunately, with the dungeon about to start operating, it was inevitable for the pace of the events to quicken. Not only would the enemies of the young duke strike harder, but also many other forces from both sides of the law would flock to the town to benefit from our growing fortune.

On another piece of paper, I started drawing the temporary casino, only with limited changes that could be integrated before the dungeon officially launched. Some quick fixes, taking down a wall here, barring a window there … with suggestions about a few quick spells to temporarily maintain security even if it was expensive in terms of mana consumption.

It wasn't like we cared about the mana stones. Our secret dungeon floor was already generating more than what we could use, and the official access would generate an even greater abundance. Spending a few was hardly unimaginable.

I was focusing on the plans when Zolast entered, followed by Jertann and Mahruss, discussing the changes that needed to be implemented. "Mahruss can't do that, Jertann," I cut in with a chuckle as I threw the plan for the temporary casino to him. "He'll be really busy the next two days."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Mahruss unrolled it, and his eyes widened as he noticed the sheer amount of notes I had taken. "T-two days," he gulped.

"Money is no object. And, if push comes to shove, substandard construction is also acceptable. After all, it's going to work just a week … or two," I said as I passed the other plan to Zolast, who examined it with a frown. "Make it a month," he said after examining it a bit. "There are some interesting magical wards here, and I need to put a lot of effort into making them workable. Too bad that I don't have an apprentice or two,".

Then, he looked at Jertann and Mahruss. "Go use the leveling ward and start working. Jertann, you go and make the necessary changes in the outpost since Mahruss will be busy with the new casino. We're going to have another dungeon run in three hours," he said, sending them away.

I waited until they left before speaking again. "What about Launara?" I asked. "I'm guessing she received one of the Attunement stones. Can't you use her as an apprentice to help you with the casino?"

"No. Not unless you want to delay her work on how to forge magical weapons. Not to mention, her help will be limited. I need someone with practical casting experience."

I nodded, taking a mental note to be on the lookout. Then, rather than talking more about the new casino,I passed him the bag, no matter how much that idea excited me. It wasn't exactly the most urgent line.

"The results of your fishing trip," he commented, and I nodded, chuckling at his expression when he checked the results. "Eight … you managed to find and hunt eight Lord Beasts," he muttered, looking at me in shock. I nodded. "Alone," he muttered.

"Not bad for an old man, right?"

"Yeah, not bad," Zolast agreed, then fell silent as a blue glow surrounded them. He didn't say anything, and I let him examine the ability stones. "Incredible," he murmured as he placed them on the desk.

"Anything useful," I asked.

"Certainly," he said as he put five of them on the table. "These will be used for the frontline fighters. I'm thinking of one for Karak, Mahruss, and Silas; and two for Terma. It'll be difficult for him to absorb multiple abilities at once, but they should combine well enough."

"Useful?" I asked.

"Very useful. However, I'm not sure they would be enough to get the attention of their gods to qualify for a Class Change, especially without the intervention of their priests."

I shrugged dismissively. "Whatever happens, happens. And, I could always go for another fishing trip. It's mostly time-consuming. It does give me an excuse to practice my mana strike, though. I'm already getting a hang of it."

Zolast shook his head in amusement at my words. "Remember the rules, mister hero. One impossible act at a time."

"As you wish," I said. "How about those," I said as I pointed at the two other stones.

"They are mostly useless. The kind of vanity abilities that the nobles would love, but with very limited practical application."

"Good, I can use them," I said as I slid them back into my pouch, already with many plans to leverage them. As long as nobles valued them, I had many ways of turning that into an advantage. Trade collateral, proof of capability, bargaining chip … bait.

Possibilities were endless.

"And, I'm guessing that the last one is the most important one," I said based on his attitude.

"You can say that," Zolast said. "It can be very useful for … blacksmiths."

"Define useful," I said, but said nothing else, waiting for him to continue. Anyone else, I would have asked why he didn't just give it to Laurana as a reward, but I trusted him to have a reason to present it with a delay.

"The kind that would result in a special auction in the Flying Forge," Zolast explained.

"… and, I'm guessing that the Flying Forge is something important," I said.

"I always forget how little you know about our world," Zolast commented. "The Flying Forge is the nickname of the main temple of Hephaestus,."

"A floating one as the name suggests, I'm guessing," I said.

"Yes, and it's not just a castle, but an actual city. It's about as big as our town, but with a lot of vertical development. Any forging god, with the notable relevant exception of the goddesses, has a chapter at least."

"Let me guess. It also houses the guild headquarters and the most skilled blacksmiths," I commented.

"Right in one. And, you can imagine just how valuable that ability is for it to be sold in a special auction there."

"And, do you think it'll help Launara, or is it something that could be only useful for a more experienced expert?"

"We need to find some more stat stones for her to use it at full potential, but nothing too rare. Mostly Strength to further increase her ability to process metal, with some additional Attunement," Zolast said, chuckling. "She has the attitude to leverage it … but it's your call to use such a valuable ability on her."

"That part is not a problem, but I can see that you have another reason to be tense."

Zolast paused. "There's a chance that she'll get significant attention from her goddess … and if that happens, expect her priestesses to start poking around…"

I shrugged. "What's one more god paying attention? Just pass it to her as a reward once she succeeds with her first magical forging."

He nodded. "Now, about the decision to start operating the dungeon…" he said.

"I'm guessing it's a complicated political situation," I said, receiving a nod. "How complicated?"

"Enough that we need three hours to give you a full breakdown of the possible players, and more to properly develop a strategy," Zolast answered.

"That bad, huh," I said, though I wasn't surprised by it. We didn't have the necessary information to whittle some of the options, meaning there were many possible players … the fact that I didn't know the backgrounds of most of them made things even worse. "I guess I have to trust my great and amazing Guildmaster to handle that side."

Zolast sighed, exasperated with my antics. "And what are you going to do?"

"There's not much else to do for me. I expect that people will start poking around, but I'd much rather spend my time hunting for sea beasts rather than poking around myself. With the younglings' promotion about to happen, it's better to make sure they could get a class upgrade rather than focusing on leveling up."

"Especially with me slaving for your experience," Zolast countered, which was the case. The experience that the lord beasts provided was not insignificant, but finding them simply took too much time.

"It's good for you to work out a bit," I countered. "Otherwise, you'll get fat with all the beast you insist on cooking."

"I can just not give you any if you have a problem with it," Zolast threatened.

A good threat, I had to admit. "And, let you get even fatter? Nonsense. Speaking of which, why are you not cooking already? I have a long trip ahead of me, and I can't go hungry."