Jonathan closed the notification and took in the large crowd that was eagerly looking in his direction. They seemed to come from all walks of life, and most of them were hard bitten. There were few children or elderly folks among their numbers. These were people who had uprooted their lives to join his cause, in hopes of a better future. Some would call that naive, but Jonathan respected them for that.

The crowd started to mill around, pulling bits and bobs out of their packs. It looked as if they had brought a plethora of various crafting materials, and as soon as Jonathan began to walk up towards the cave, they got to work. He could hear the dwarf, Granj, bellowing instructions at the top of his voice, mixed in with more than a few obscenities directed at those who did not work hard enough.

Concealing a smile, an easy thing to do with his helmet on, Jonathan ran up the side of the mountain towards his base. It was time to consolidate his power a bit more. He was only about five levels away from his goal, and he wanted to make sure that everything else was in order for him to ascend to Tier 2. After all, it would be a bit of waste if he possessed greater power, but not the skill to use it.

It was because of this that he wanted to almost extensively practice with his fighting style, hoping to get it up to the next rank before he Tiered up. If he did so, he would have a strong foundation for fighting during Tier 2. He was only in the Low Apprentice ranks with the skill, but he still could improve it slightly over time. It did not rank up as quickly outside of real combat, but that was something that he could not hope to remedy here. Besides, it provided the opportunity to distract himself from the responsibilities that seemed to be piling upon him. The people coming to his little base would possibly be tracked by the forces of Granath, and then he would have to defend them. He did not begrudge them for coming here, hell, he felt excited that his message was starting to spread, but he wished that they had waited until he was at least Tier 2. At that point, he could be able to protect them more effectively. However, he had other opportunities for gaining power, and hopefully the presence of what would soon become a burgeoning city here would attract enough monsters for him to Tier up.

Over the next few days, Jonathan embarked upon an intensely grueling training session, using every moment of the day to increase his power. He did not gain any levels, but he gained a plethora of experience for his skills.

All the while, a small town was developing outside, with a large wall made out of rock that Edgar quarried out of the mountainside springing up around the base of the mountain. It was starting to almost look like a small replica of one of those fantasy cities from back on Earth. Jonathan could not remember the exact name of the series. Something about rings. In any case, it hardly mattered.

He gained a few levels in everything except for mana manipulation, which was stubbornly refusing to gain any levels. In any case, by the end of this session, he was approaching Journeyman Rank with Runecrafting and Martial Arts, and his other skills were only a few ranks behind. He could feel a greater connection to his body and his Divinity and he could sense that something would happen when he ranked up as a result of his Divinity. Perhaps it would be beneficial, perhaps not. However, it would happen regardless.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Jonathan stumbled out of the cave and paused as he looked down upon the town springing up below him. There were already dozens of buildings being constructed, and the wall was impressively high. It seemed that magic and System enhanced strength served the same purpose here as power tools and excavators. In fact, it might have been even faster, given the glacial pace that construction workers back on Earth always seemed to move at, especially when they were working near your house in a way that inconvenienced you. Because of labyrinthine ownership contracts and regulation, it was hard to get any work done on Earth. Here however, it passed as quickly as one could work.

Jonathan started down the side of the mountain, and heard a noise that he had not heard in quite some time. The noise of animals. He followed the noise, curious, and found a small pen of livestock affixed to the side of what looked like a barn. It was filled with a variety of strange animals that looked vaguely like one from Earth. There were a few things that looked like hybrids between pigs and cows, with udders and curly tails, and some avian monsters that were far bigger than any chickens back on Earth.

Jonathan had never been one for civilization building games, but he had to admit that it was satisfying when all of the work was done for you. He could get used to this. The only problem was that this fortification would stick out against the landscape, and the defenses would have to be up to muster before any monsters, or even the forces of Granath, came. As Jonathan watched the animals, a woman walked up to him, smiling broadly.

“Hello, honored one,” she said. Jonathan cringed a little at the honorific, but he did not say anything. Sometimes influence was more important than his own comfort. If he was treated like some sort of savior/god figure by these people, keeping them safe would be a lot easier.

“Tell me, what are these things?” Jonathan asked, staring at the monsters in the pen.

“Well, the pink and white creatures are grallows, and the birds are called flykes.” The translation feature did not kick in this time, likely because there was no word in the English language for these creatures.

Jonathan nodded and moved closer to the creatures, ending over the fence. He heard the woman saying something cautionary, and a moment later one of the flykes snapped at him with its curved beak. Of course, nothing came of it, and the monster simply was repelled by his armor.

“I can’t say that I’m used to livestock that fights back,” Jonathan said, chuckling.

“Those beasts require a special form of handling. They are very territorial, and if you look closely enough, you can see that the one that attacked you was a male. He was trying to defend his mates.”

The woman paused, suddenly paling at the lack of respect that she had addressed Jonathan with. For a moment, she had thought that she had simply been speaking to an apprentice livestock handler. Before she could do anything drastic however, Jonathan steadied her with one hand.

“No need for any of the bowing and scraping stuff. We are all equals here,” he said, putting emphasis on the last sentence.

Obviously that sentiment was patently false in a world where levels determined everything, but it at least stopped the woman from doing anything hasty. She nodded quickly and then withdrew, citing some reason about milking the grallows or something along those lines. Jonathan sighed.

“Great. First time in the city and you frighten one of the citizens. Smooth job there, Jonathan.”