Lin says "Oh, Ash. It's beautiful! How did you make this all by yourself?!"

"As usual, I used magic to cheat."

Lin says "It takes way more than just magic to build something like this!"

"Not really, the buildings in the Magic Kingdom were more impressive than this."

Lin says "Maybe so, but those were built by teams of mages and they still took years to build. You built this in what, a week? Less?"

"A little less than a week. Honestly, I am still not sure if it will survive the first storm. It could even collapse all on its own. I just don't have the knowledge that I need to be sure."

Lin says "It looks like it will last forever! You should stop doubting yourself and be proud of what you have done!"

"Proud? I don't feel like I have done anything to be proud of. All I did was what was necessary to connect the island to the peninsula. I may have done it quicker, but there are others that could have done it."

Lin says "I really don't understand this side of you, but I guess I shouldn't complain since I like how humble you are. Let's just leave it at that, you did a great job and I am proud of you!"

"Um, thanks. Ready to head back?"

Lin says "Yeah, let's go. By the way, thank you for enhancing Bella."

"No problem, I was just keeping my promise."

Lin says "Still, it helped convince Bella that you aren't jealous. Besides, I appreciate her having more stamina."

My only answer to that is to chuckle and Lin leans forward to wrap her arms around my neck. She stays that way for the entire flight back to where the elves are camped. Once we arrive, I shapeshift back to beastman form and follow Lin into the castle.

I was planning to spend some time with the kids, but Lin has other plans. She drags me up to the bedroom and we go for a couple of rounds of fun. For some reason, Lin is even more affectionate than normal, not that I am about to complain.

Once we are done and Lin has fallen asleep, I head downstairs to get some food. The kids are all asleep and there is no sign of Bella, so I eat on my own. As I am eating I realize that my mana is full, so once I am done I head to take a bath and work on my core.

Core Upgrade Progress: 50%

Halfway to the next rank, now that the bridge is done I should be able to rank up in a few more days. However, I notice that something looks a little bit off with my core. Right now my core is an orb of fire surrounded by a ring of lightning, but it doesn't seem balanced.

Stolen novel; please report.

In fact, it looks like the orb of fire is growing while the ring of lightning seems to have faded. At least, that is what it looks like to me, but I haven't exactly been paying attention to the details. When I work on it, I have just been throwing all of my mana at my core, not doing anything specific.

Now, it is starting to look like that is not the right way to go about doing it. If it is all going to the fire core, then the lightning will disappear and I don't want that. Lightning is the one power that I have managed to hold onto the longest and I don't want to lose it.

I actually really like using lightning, if anything I would rather go back to that being my only power. My fire abilities are nice, but I can mimic those with mana so they are not as important. I can do the same with lightning, but it is not the same thing, I am attached to my lightning.

All I can think of is to make sure I focus on the lightning ring the next time I work on my core. If possible I will balance them out, but if not then I will choose to keep my lightning. I will just have to wait and see what happens, then decide based on the result.

After my bath, I go upstairs to read manga and tell Jarvis to notify me when the sun is coming up outside. The kids wake up before that, come get some attention from me, and then eat breakfast. After breakfast, they all go lay down and start watching T.V. together.

Even as I am reading manga, I keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get into too much trouble. Luckily, they are feeling lazy and don't do anything other than watching anime. Eventually, Lin comes down, has some breakfast, and then takes the kids to the training room.

It looks like she plans to have a practical lesson with them today, which I think is a good idea. All that learning doesn't do any good without practice on how to use the knowledge. Although I wonder how Lin's knowledge is progressing, she hasn't had as much time to read lately.

That is mostly due to her helping me with the kids, and spending time with Bella. Either way, I feel a bit guilty that she hasn't had as much time to herself lately. However, when we get to the tower I plan to make it up to her and give her tons of time in the library.

Not that I will really have much of a choice, trying to keep her away from new books would be impossible. Luckily, Kechara and Yui will be able to help out with the kids, not that they need as much watching as they used to. I won't be much help, I have more things to do than I can even count at this point.

As I am thinking through all the things that I need to do, I remember that I forgot something. I was supposed to make some ranged golems for Jarvis, but completely forgot to. In my defense, I was working on it but then Chloell showed up and distracted me.

Since I have time right now, I put down my manga and head to my workshop. I had mostly figured out the design for the ranged golems, I just have to remember it and finish it. Luckily, while my memory is bad, Jarvis' is perfect and he pulls up the illusion I was working on.

That saves me a bunch of time and I am able to get right to work on finishing it. I finish the design and start working on the first golem before Jarvis informs me it is dawn. So, I put my work on hold, head out of the castle, and rejoin the elves.

All the elves are already up, have eaten breakfast, and are getting ready to march. I guess that all the excitement has probably made it hard for them to sleep late. After all, they are marching towards their new, permanent home.

Within ten minutes of me leaving the castle, everyone is ready and we begin the march. I take my place at the head of the column and Stillwater joins me. As we are leading the way, we discuss the plans for when we reach the city.