After eating enough food to satiate a family of four, Blake slipped into his soiled coat and raised the hood to cover his face. With the brisk weather outside, he would look like just another person trying to keep warm. It would hide his leather armor and his face. Before he climbed down his fire tower, he glanced down to the sword at his side.

I should probably keep this here.

His longsword would draw attention, and his goal was to blend in. It would be difficult to remain unnoticed while a blade dangled down beside his legs.

At least I don’t need to carry a sword on Earth. Yet.

Blake sprinted through the woods at superhuman speed, until he intersected the main road. Once he was visible to the public, he forced himself to walk at a leisurely, albeit impatient, pace. He crossed the highway, traveled down a side street for a few blocks, and then onto a gravel road. A mile later, he arrived at his future faction city.

It took him a little over thirty minutes to reach the metal gate to their new property at his reduced speed. Once he slipped past the entrance, he searched the open field for his parents.

I guess I got here first.

He stepped into a patch of trees for cover and relaxed. While he waited for them to arrive, he absentmindedly ate a protein bar and poked around in his interface. Blake needed to understand what was required to actually construct a building. When he focused on building a faction hall, the only building available to him, a life-sized transparent representation of the structure appeared before his vision.

He realized he never saw a level one faction hall in the past. It looked incredibly primitive, nothing like the faction halls he remembered. According to the diagram, it would contain a single small room with a single doorway, and two wooden shuttered windows. There was no glass on the single story building, and the roof was likewise made of wooden slats.

The three-dimensional model was tinted red and had a message attached to it.

Insufficient materials

When he focused on the alert, it revealed he would need five hundred pounds of wood and a hundred and fifty pounds of stone. According to the message, he currently had none. He glanced upward at the trees which lined the edges of the property.

Do I need to cut them down or something?

Blake became frustrated with his lack of knowledge. He hated not knowing how things worked, and had not felt this way in years. In his last faction, buildings were constructed constantly, yet he never saw any details. This was the first time he had seen the transparent model and was informed of any materials required.

Let’s see if I can find some stones.

The field was flat, and the grass six inches tall. When he surveyed their new property, he saw no sign of stones. It was not until he reached the trees that he began to see half-buried rock. He closed on the nearest, and easily unearthed the large, fifty-pound boulder. With the object balanced on his shoulder, he checked the interface once more.

Why doesn’t this count?

According to the message, the boulder that rested on his shoulders did not add to the materials needed.

I guess I should ask Metal.

Blake had resisted contacting his companion. So far, the wraith had provided very little useful information, and he did not expect it to be much help now. With a shake of his head, he chose to summon Metal. A portal appeared in the air beside him, his companion slipped through, and it closed behind him.

“Metal, how much do you know about building a faction city?”

As the companion was beside him, it chose to talk aloud rather than through their mental connection. “I know a great deal of the management of cities,” It stated in a deep bass.

Wait? What?

The answer completely surprised him. He had been ready to immediately dismiss his companion and move on to decipher the process by himself.

“Why doesn’t this stone count towards the total? It still shows zero out of one hundred fifty.”

“First, you must place the building in its desired location and orientation, then you place all materials beside it in the designated hopper.”

Blake grinned. He followed his companion’s advice and focused on the transparent model of the faction hall again. Blake found that if he concentrated, he could move its location along the ground and rotate it. He played around with the controls for a bit before he mentally locked the orientation in place. Suddenly, a lit up square appeared beside the structure.

Blake pointed to the designated area. “Is that the hopper?”

“I do not know, I am unable to see your Architect assisted controls.”

Whatever, what else could it be?

He placed the boulder on the ground and checked the message again. When he saw that it registered a little over fifty-two pounds of stone, he nodded to himself. Unfortunately, this was not where he wanted the faction hall. Blake concentrated, and the three-dimensional model unlocked once again.

It traveled along the ground with him and his stone as he moved towards the center of the field. Metal followed silently. When he reached the middle, he rotated it so it faced toward the entrance, and then locked it in place. He placed the stone down in the material collection area and confirmed that it registered the resource.

I don’t remember people doing this.

“Metal…” he hesitated.

The wraith floated in front of him.

How much should I tell him? Screw it, he’s stuck with me for life, what can it hurt?

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I’m actually from ten years in the future. I was somehow sent back in time to when the portals first opened. I don’t have the levels or spells I did before I was sent back, but I do have all my future knowledge.”

Blake paused and stared at the wraith. It stood still as it stared at him, as if it were bored.

“Well? Not going to say anything?”

“What would you like me to say, Master?”

He sighed. “Tell me what you think about that.”

“I think it is an unbelievable tale. However, it does much to explain your strange competency. I have advised many sapient beings over the years, and you are the first to ask almost no questions of me.”

“Wait, I thought you said if I die, you go free.”

“That is correct. I am free until I am chosen as a companion once again.”

“What do you do when you’re between jobs? Hell, what do you do when I don’t summon you?”

“I spend time with my family.”

Blake was floored. He assumed it resided within the void between summons. The fact that it had a family of its own and its own life outside his own adventures surprised him.

“Tell me about your life when you aren’t summoned to help me.”

“I have three mates and twelve progeny. When I am not being used as monster bait by you, I earn a living in my town as a tailor.”

Blake snorted. “No offense, but you don’t exactly look like you can sew. How is that even possible? Do you wear clothes?”

The wraith was almost entirely transparent, with only a few internal organs visible. It had no arms nor legs, and Blake could not fathom how it could possibly affect the world around it, let alone tailor clothes.

“My species uses our minds to accomplish physical tasks,” it explained.

“What, you mean like telekinesis?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you use that to help me fight?”

“My contract with the Architect does not allow me to interact with the world in any way when I am summoned. If I were to break the agreement, I would die.”

“Okay, back to the tailor thing. I’ve never seen you wear clothes. Who do you make them for?”

“As a failed species, our world was conquered by an invading force, and we are now slaves to the Copra. I was offered freedom for myself and my family if I signed a contract for the next fifty years. Because of the agreement, my family is able to own a shop where we sell armor and clothing to our enemies.”

“Sorry to hear that. But, my planet is going through the same thing. In about ten years, the Koza, some goat-like aliens, are going to invade Earth and conquer it. I’m trying my hardest to prevent that from happening, so our species doesn’t end up like yours.”

When the wraith did not respond, he asked, “If you have to serve someone else when I die, why are you being so difficult?”

“While it is true I will eventually go into another’s service, I will have many months to myself and my family that are undisturbed. I also do not enjoy risking my life as bait. If I die, the contract will not complete, and my family will be thrown back into slavery.”

Well shit, I can’t blame the dude now.

Blake sighed.

“You said you know a lot about faction building, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m tired of you only answering whatever direct questions I ask and using every loophole you find in my orders. How about we make a deal? If you help my faction grow so we can defeat the Koza, I’ll only summon you to ask questions, no more bait or scouting.”

“You would still be summoning me away from my family and business.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t be in danger anymore, and once I get my questions answered, I won’t really need to summon you.”

The wraith paused before answering. “Those terms are acceptable.”

Blake sensed reticence in the wraith’s voice. “Great! What advice can you give me for building a faction city?”

“Without a Constructor class, the faction hall can only be assembled by nano. However, once it is assembled, you should recruit a Constructor immediately. They are able to reduce the nano required to build all structures, and they level their class as they do so.”

“Okay, that’s handy. I have a free tier one building from an achievement as well. What do you think I should use it on?”

“That would depend on your goal and your resources. There are buildings you could construct which would save you billions of nano in the future. However, with your combat prowess, acquiring nano does not seem to be a problem for you.”

Blake was surprised by the praise from the wraith. “Yeah, I care more about time saved than nano saved at this point. I need this city and faction to be as large as possible before Invasion day in five and a half months.”

“If it is time you wish to save, then you should choose the warehouse as soon as your faction hall is completed.”

“Uh, warehouse? Isn’t that just for storage? Why not the portal room? That would let us teleport back here once a day.”

“The warehouse will dramatically increase the building speed of your Constructor. Supplies can be teleported to it directly by harvester and refiner classes, even on other planets. Anything which resides within the warehouse can be used directly in construction without having to transport it to the build site.”

“That’s how they did it!” Blake blurted. “I thought it was a class skill or something. So, if I build a warehouse here, I can build something on the other side of the planet without having to cart the wood and stone there?”

“No, teleportation of materials to the warehouse can be done from anywhere. However, utilizing its stored materials can only be accomplished within your town’s functioning radius.”

Blake scratched his head. “Uh, what do you mean functioning radius?”

“Once your faction hall is completed, you are only able to construct buildings within a small area, perhaps a quarter the size of this field. Every time you upgrade its level, the size of your town grows larger. The warehouse is limited to assisting the Constructor within the town boundary.”

“Okay, so if I choose the warehouse as my reward, it’ll let us build the town faster?”

“That is correct.”

“Okay, you’ve sold me on it.”

He continued to pepper the now useful companion with questions as he ferried stones from the edge of the field to the building hopper. He felt the wraith was more forthcoming with the new agreement. Once he completed the stone requirement, he approached the nearest tree. It was a foot in diameter and at least thirty feet tall.

Blake had no ax or saw, and had left his sword behind. With a sigh, he kicked its base, hard. The tree cracked, but held firm. It took five more kicks before the tree was toppled. With his superhuman strength, he reached down and lifted the heavy arbor. He grunted with effort as he dragged the felled wood to the center of the field.

After he dropped the wood into the hopper, he asked, “So, if we get a plant harvester class, they can cut down the tree, and it’ll go directly to the warehouse?”

“Yes. Then, the saw miller can teleport it to their mill, refine it, and send it back without any need to manually transport it. The more refined the materials are, the less nano is required in building construction.”

“So, let me get this straight, we need a constructor, a wood cutter, and a saw mill worker.” Blake confirmed as he headed toward the trees. “What else do we need?”

“I would suggest a smelter and a blacksmith as well. Every worker will need tools to complete their tasks. Also, anything the blacksmith creates will lower the nano requirements for building construction. However, the very first recruit should be a Chancellor. They are able to construct buildings in your absence and can utilize nano from the faction reserves to do so. Their class will also receive nano for constructing the town.”

“This all sounds complicated,” he added between kicks to the base of a tree.

“The Chancellor is given directives to follow in the construction of the town.”

“So, will the Chancellor be given a directive to build the warehouse?”

“Yes.”

After the tree cracked and fell, he asked, “How soon does that happen?”

“I am not sure of the exact order of directives, however it would be months before you reach that phase. It has a multitude of prerequisites before it can be constructed.”

Blake hefted the base of the felled tree on his shoulder and began to drag it. “So, we can bypass all of that, so I don’t have to drag all this crap around, right?”

“Yes.”

He grinned. “Sounds good to me.”