Mike entered the town hall, getting hit by a wall of noise as those already in the room tried to get his attention. He ignored all the requests and the demands coming his way as he took his seat at the head of the table. The noise died down quickly as Devin began speaking. As the highest ranking other than Mike, people listened when he spoke.
“We have quite a few more title slots now. We need to decide on who to give them to, and what titles to give out. We also need to hand out our currency a little earlier than we expected, so we need at least one title holder to be a treasurer.” The secondary leader of the village continued speaking, listing off everything that needed to get done this meeting. The main three things were getting a treasurer to run the bank, assigning another secondary leader, and implementing taxation. The council was not very eager about taxes, as they knew that people were going to push back heavily against it.
Mike’s attention began slipping, and his mind wandered as the meeting dragged on. He idly moved his mana back and forth through his body, trying to stave off the boredom. He made little strings, weaving them together just like his grandmother had taught him to when she tried to get him into crochet. It wasn’t really his thing, but it was better than trying to add to a conversation where he had little to no idea what he was talking about.
“Who would you recommend for the position Mike?” Hobbes said, bringing his attention back to the meeting. Mike tried to hide the little blanket he was making under the table, quickly clearing his throat before responding.
“If I had to pick,” he said, adding a long pause as he tried to think back to what he had been asked. After an uncomfortably long silence, He decided it wasn't worth appointing some random person to a position he didn’t know anything about. “Who would you recommend?”
Hobbes smirked, clearly realizing what had happened. He thankfully saved face for Mike and responded. “I believe that Harris would be a good choice as our resident banker, as he was a talented accountant before the system.”
Mike was thankful for the lifeline he had been thrown, but now his problem was that he didn't know who Harris was. “Then I will trust your judgment on that matter.” He said, looking around for a man who looked like he might be named Harris.” The blanket Mike was making under the table was nearly done, and he was beginning to worry people would notice it under the table. Since the blanket was made of his own mana, he had no trouble reabsorbing it, and it disappeared from underneath the table. This did give him an idea however, and he began practicing his mana control more, while being subtle the entire time. He wove mana into strings behind him, and under his armor.
He made a long, billowing cape that when unfolded and while he was standing, would hang just above his heels. He felt a sense of pride at his ability to sneakily cast his magic without anybody noticing, and tried pushing it further. Through his boots and through his feet, he infused mana into the brick that made up the floor. As the council was discussing who would be receiving the titles that they could now afford to hand out, he attempted to saturate the entire building with his mana. The process was not fast in any sense of the word, and it took nearly two hours for his mana to finish permeating the floor alone. By hour 5 of the meeting, Mike had still not said a word, instead working on filling the last patches of ceiling with his mana.
“As I said, we do not need to give out the title of head chef, it serves no-” The council woman who had been speaking was cut off as a bright glow filled the whole room. Mike’s face flushed as he realized what was happening, but nobody could see it over the blinding light emitting from every surface.
*You have successfully upgraded this village hall to epic rarity*
*[Village leadership notification] As a reward for upgrading your village hall to epic rarity, an additional 3 title slots have become available*
Everyone was put on edge and was confused by the sudden occurrence, all except for Mike, Hobbes, Devin, and all present title holders. Interestingly, Grant seemed to be the only one who knew Mike had done it, as he was giving him a look. Perks of the trade, Mike thought. A councilman spoke up, breaking through the murmurs that were spreading through the room.
“Well, that makes these decisions a little easier at least. Now that we have more availability, will you just consider giving Otto the head chef title?”
____________
Mike walked out of the meeting several more hours later, his newly made mana cape trailing behind him. He had bags under his eyes despite his stats long removing his need for sleep. He wasn't the only one, as some people who had not reached higher levels looked like they sorely needed the rest. They had decided to hand out 9 more titles, leaving one unfilled for the time being. They had also come to the conclusion to only tax those who used the bank, and only when they were depositing or withdrawing their coins, since it would be far more difficult to keep track of every transaction of coins that happened in the village.
Mike walked into the newly built bank, which held all the coins that had been made so far. He really was not looking forward to adding his mana signature to all of them, but it couldn't be helped. He picked up the first one, and was met with a pleasant surprise as he tried pushing his mana into it. The silver coin already had the pattern his mana needed to go through etched into it, and all he needed to do was add his own mana.
He picked up several other coins, seeing that each and every one of them had the pattern already inside. He silently thanked the smiths who had made the coins, and dumped over ten thousand mana into the pile. It only took a few mana points to get the job done, but he was dealing with a little over a million coins. He continued to channel his mana into the pile, sitting on the floor as he waited for his mana to suffuse every coin.
Mike’s patience finally wore thin just as he hit the halfway point on infusing the coins. He had been channeling his mana for over 14 hours now and it was taking all he had to not blow up some damn coins by throwing thousands of points of mana into the common ranked material that made up the copper coins. He had already finished the gold and silver coins, as there were not nearly as many of them as there were copper coins. Several times throughout the process, people had come in with boxes full of coins, and halfway in, the rest of the copper coins that needed to be made had arrived.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Mike did feel a little guilt, as each time somebody brought in coins, he had sent them a glare. Unintentionally, each glare had triggered his intimidation skill, and he was sure the sheer disparity in the charisma stat had made at least one of the haulers nearly piss himself when the skill hit him. Mike stood up, walking out of the building and deciding that he could finish the rest another time. For now, if they needed to hand out coins they could use the ones that were already finished. As he was leaving he saw a man standing at the front counter, speaking with some people about the coins they would soon be receiving.
The council had decided to give everybody in the village one silver for opening an account with the bank, though opening an account just meant having your name written down along with signing a piece of paper. The system didn't leave them all on their own for this, as it had granted Harris, the new treasurer, a skill to make signatures magically binding. It wouldn’t prevent anyone from breaking the contracts, but would notify all parties involved if it was broken, as well as automatically fulfilling any breach of contract conditions that were put in place. Mike had learned all this while he had chatted with Harris during his coin infusion session, as he had little else to do.
Mike himself already had an account opened, and he had been given his silver coin. It really wasn't worth much, as Mike had access to all the luxuries of the village thanks to being the leader. Every bit counted though, and Mike liked the idea of being a wealthy man. He had often dreamed of having effectively infinite wealth, and would day dream about taking endless vacations while he worked in his office cubicle. Mike didn't think a trip to the Bahamas was on the table anymore, but he still liked to dream about it sometimes. With his meager salary he had earned at his job, he didn't have many things he could splurge on.
There were, however, three things that Mike saw no reason in cheaping out on. Those things were nice toilet paper, comfortable shoes, and good shampoo. Sadly, none of those things were neccesary to Mike anymore, not that he needed them anyways. His feet were harder than steel, and he hadn't needed to use the restroom at all since the system came about. Shampoo would still be nice though, and he was reminded of the communal bath house that had been erected not long ago.
He walked over to the bath house, walking inside and feeling the warm, humid interior of the building. There were two doors, with each having a sign signifying men and women. He entered the men's room, and stripped down naked, wrapping a towel around his waist. He flinched upon feeling how uncomfortable the towel was, and cast it aside, instead wrapping his mana cape around him to preserve his modesty. He entered one of the private rooms and sat in the large tubs that were within. His head rested on the back with as much of his body submerged as possible.
“I think I found a new luxury worth spending on.” He said, feeling the heat on his skin. It didn't even lightly burn his skin like it would have before the system, instead just having all the pleasantness of the warmth. He pushed some of his own mana into the water, heating it up further to bring it to even higher temperatures. He had been forced to stop when his tub of water began boiling away, filling the room with steam.
He had gotten a lot of practice with his mana recently, and wanted to see if this had at all affected his control over fragments. Mike couldn't even remember the last time he had done anything with fragments, outside of infusing them into items. They just aren't that useful to him for making items as he was a crafter, so he could make better items anyways. He could see how others would get more usefulness out of them, such as how Nema had made arrows from the fragments that she could recall and shoot again at will.
He entered his soul, taking a look at all the fragments he had. His mind spun upon seeing the unfathomable amount he had. He had at least ten epic fragments, hundreds of rare ones, hundreds more uncommon ones, and thousands of common fragments. He supposed slaughtering an entire colony of tarantulas tended to have some benefit to it, and he certainly wasn't complaining at the abundant resources. One in particular caught his attention, and he identified it, wondering why it stood out to him so much.
*Fragment of a Human (level 36) (Epic)*
“Oh.” Mike said, or at least tried to. Sound didn't really work that well within a soul, especially when he had no mouth to make the sound with. The fragment wasn't the largest one he had, but it was one that he had the most difficult time attaining. It was the fragment he had gotten for killing Klint, and he didn't know how to feel about having it. On one hand, it was a powerful resource, and it could help him make strong items. On the other, it reminded him of the day the man had attacked, which just brought back the pain of seeing Jonas dead on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood. He resolved to leave the fragment untouched, at least for now.
He moved on to trying to think up his next project. The scale of what he could make had significantly increased now that he had so much to work with, and he wondered what could possibly have so many parts that they could all be useful. Armor perhaps, or maybe some kind of long chain, with each being a link in the chain. His mind lingered on the thought of making armor, then to making something that would just be attached to his body, but for utility instead of protection. He experimented a bit, using some uncommon fragments to make an extra finger.
It was… weird, to say the least. He could bend it and manipulate it just like he could with his other fingers, but it just felt weird suddenly having a new piece of him. It didn't even feel like it was a prosthetic, instead it felt like an actual part of his body, as if it had nerve endings. The only thing distinguishing it from him was the fact that it glowed green, just like the uncommon fragments it was made of.
He tried out several more ideas, culminating in making a small, third arm that protruded from his left shoulder. It worked just fine, though he didn't have the fine motor control that he had with his normal body parts. He could probably develop the control over time, but he didn't see much utility in an extra arm, at least not for now. As he got out of the tub, using mana to dry himself off, he was struck with the idea of the century.
“I could make wings.” He said, staring off into space. It was everyone's dream to be able to fly, and if he could do it that would be awesomeness in its purest form. He was about to burst out of the private room when the door slammed open, a short and very properly dressed man standing at the doorway. He seemed startled to see Mike rushing the door, and leapt back upon seeing the half naked man running at him.
“What the hell were you doing for 4 hours in there? I thought you were dead.” The man said.
“I was doing magic.” Mike said, before going to the changing room to get his stuff back. His perception just barely allowed him to hear the short man mutter to himself before he left.
“I'm going to need to get someone to deep clean that tub.”