The next few days saw a bevy of activities as I tried to get a handle on the influx of citizens. The reports Gwen and Zui compiled for me helped and contained much of the information I needed. They knew who settled where and how many people each family claimed. More importantly, they were able to include information detailing what skills each person claimed to have.

Siam and Zui agreed to head my recruitment division now that I knew I needed one. His bonded Roc was the fastest we had to draw upon; only Storm was faster. It would mean some long trips for the couple across the entire island as they followed the Sect to awakening ceremonies, and I had no idea if they would see any success. But it had to be done.

If they managed to recruit even a handful of new Cultivators, it would be worth it. We badly needed them. I had increased the contribution points that Beast Tamers with flying bonded could earn to fly trade routes. That had worked to increase the number of missions they accepted, but it was a stop-gap measure at best. No Cultivator would be willing to stifle their cultivation progress for long.

Appointing Zui as the leader of the recruitment division hurt. I asked her to look out for people that were personable and that might be trained to fill her role so that she could return to her position. If I didn’t have Clement to rely on, I would not have been able to spare her to organize and facilitate recruitment.

She was too important to the running of my Fief. She promised to find a replacement quickly, and by the surreptitious glance she gave Siam, I knew she would be looking for another Beast Tamer too.

I didn’t blame her. I wouldn’t want my partner to be gone for such great lengths of time, either.

Clement had managed to use his influence and friendship with some of the more powerful Sect members to gain additional aid for my Fief. The Sect refused to offer additional resources for free, but Clement had managed to convince a few Master professionals to donate their services.

The most helpful were four forge and anvils a Master blacksmith had created and sold. My blacksmiths could use them, and because each one was graded as rare, the items they forged would be of higher quality.

The other major gains were a license to an array pattern that would allow us to extend the sub-spatial areas we used for farms and livestock by a factor of twenty. And the formula for an alchemical product that would double crop production by supplying the fields with the exact nutrients needed to increase yield.

Patriarch Umbra had also agreed to a second recruitment drive which Clement handled. He had done a better job than I’d managed. His reputation gave him the bona fides to soothe any doubts or fears that staff and servants might have if they abandoned their chance for resources with the Sect.

People believed his promises because he had a long history of keeping his word. That kind of gravitas was something a freshly raised Qi Gathering Realm Cultivator and newly installed Baroness couldn’t match.

“Jai,” Ja Fiat, my aide, said, knocking on my office door to gain my attention, “Bob is ready when you are.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Send him in,” I directed.

I’d already had preliminary discussions with Bob about the Clan and the direction I’d like for the buildings that would make up the main enclave. I was hopeful that he would have something for me to look at already.

“House Elder Myche,” Bob said as he entered the room, the excitement on his face enough of a hint to let me know he had progressed well. I did wince slightly at how he addressed me. I had gained so many titles that it was becoming hard to predict how someone would address me.

House Elder as the Head of my own House.

Baroness.

Sensei, the head of the Dojo I’d established.

Ambassador to the Hindel people.

And now Clan Leader for the Clan Frost that I was re-establishing.

The only good thing about so many titles was that I knew how the person addressing me had established ties with me. Bob’s address meant he had been adopted into House Myche and, by that adoption, would automatically join Clan Frost.

Once the Clan was built and opened, he would change how he addressed me to Clan Leader. For any non-cultivator, Baroness would trump Clan Leader, Baroness being the higher title. But for those members of my House and Clan, they used those titles that placed more importance on ties of the family than concerns about the government.

The fealty each title enjoyed was different. House and Clan members would sacrifice themselves to protect the head of each respective enterprise. To expect the same type of devotion from the normal citizens of a barony was idiocy.

The idiocy that some despots, those that had been awarded or inherited the rule over a territory or group of territories, made the mistake of believing and trying to enforce. People treated as peasants did not make for a happy populace. What the Empire had done in forcing the migration of so many people was an example of how non-cultivators could be seen as expendable.

“I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with these new materials you discovered in the Mystic Realm,” Bob said as he moved to a conference table, setting down a coin-sized piece of jade.

Once settled into place and sure he had my full attention, he activated the token. A three-dimensional model formed, coalescing into what might become the Clan Hall, as well as a few models rendered to showcase the interior.

The edifice itself was a marvel of granite and ice-forged metal. The material glowed brightly to my perception, and areas of the building were scribed with notes about what runes should be placed and where.

I had shared the layout of the Clan Hall that I had visited within the Mystic Realm with Bob, and He had done an admirable job of synergizing the aesthetics of the Romanesque type of architecture I had shown him and the more oriental style that Xiwang was aesthetically based upon.

The Clan Hall main building was a place of function with libraries, meeting rooms, offices, and large dining and entertainment spaces. It served as a place for the Clan Head to live, but that function was secondary. The Hall was a symbol of the Clan, so there was a focus on projecting an image. A place where the Clan could conduct business, trade, or diplomacy in the seat of their power.

Bob had done an amazing job of creating just the type of atmosphere I was hoping for. It wasn’t a place of garish and obscene displays of wealth. It was elegant and graceful and would serve to project the image of the Clan I wanted. It was thoughtful, sensible, and appropriate. Just the right number of architectural embellishments to create a statement.

What Bob had designed would serve once a few minor upgrades were added. He hadn’t taken advantage of the cliffside view or the cave network that would be beneath the Clan Hall. I had plans for those caves and needed to make sure those plans were integrated.

I had a spirit seed to plant, and using the deepest part of the cave tunnels to plant that seed would give me access to the growing spirit stones. A method to protect the mine from people. And a way to use Qi gathering formations to increase the yield of the mine while keeping beasts and animals at bay.