Len woke to the soft glow of the astral section's ceiling. The night spent on bedrolls amid ancient star charts and celestial instruments had left him refreshed. His mana reserves felt full, ready for what the day might bring.

Gibson was already up, making his rounds among the sleeping soldiers. He nodded at Len as their eyes met.

Rick and Lydia lay nearby, both still deep in sleep. Rick had thrown an arm over his face while Lydia had burrowed completely under her blanket.

Len got up out of his bedroll and moved away from those sleeping among the bookshelves.

"Morning," Len whispered, careful not to wake the others as he approached Gibson.

"Glad you didn't wake Lydia, she's a terror in the morning," Gibson said.

"Rick's always been like that. Guess it runs in the family."

Gibson's lips twitched as Len grinned.

One of the soldiers on watch brought over steaming cups of tea.

"Thanks," Len nodded to the man.

"No worries."

Gibson raised his cup in thanks as the man headed back to the pot that was resting over the arm he'd cut away from the enchanting gargoyle, the water simmering.

Pans where breakfast was getting started were laid out on a stone slab that had been a shelf holding up books. Now carved with an enchantment.

"Thanks for making the heating enchantment, that'll be really useful for heating up meals without having to search for wood," Gibson drank from his tea.

"No worries, it was pretty easy, just needed to copy it from the hand over to the slab with the mirror."

The bitter herbal scent helped clear the last traces of sleep from Len's mind.

Gibson took a long sip before speaking. "We worked out how to handle this place." He gestured at the library around them. "Lydia and I think we should split the forces. Two squads to transport everything back to Goran, one to stay here and work the dungeon."

Len nodded. The amount of books and artifacts they'd found would take weeks to properly catalog and move.

"I'll coordinate the operation here," Gibson continued. "Get some proper facilities built. Lydia wants to take the last squad with you and Rick to the next dungeon."

"Makes sense." Len studied the sleeping siblings. "Though we might need to wait a few hours before telling them. Neither one's much use before noon."

Gibson chuckled softly. "I've noticed. She threatened to stab the last person who tried to wake her early."

***

Len watched Gibson direct his men to mark out foundation lines in the cleared area outside the dungeon entrance.

"Good," Rick patted his back, checking his pack, both of them armored and armed again. Len kept the hammer on his left hip but had a replacement sword on his right hip once more.

The mirror had allowed him to copy the mana blade enchantment from his utility knife over, and then apply it to other weapons among the squad coming with him.

The morning sun cast long shadows across the grass as soldiers hammered stakes into the ground and stretched rope between them.

"The barracks will go here," Gibson pointed to a rectangular outline. "High ground, good sight lines to both the road and the dungeon entrance."

Len nodded, seeing the tactical sense. The position would let them monitor both incoming threats and any creatures that might emerge from the dungeon during respawns.

Behind them, soldiers carried entire bookshelves out of the dungeon's entrance. They'd reinforced the shelves with wooden braces to keep them intact during transport. Better to move them whole than risk dropping loose books.

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"Watch the corner!" someone called as a shelf laden with engineering texts emerged. Six men guided it onto a waiting cart, securing it with rope.

"How many trips you think it'll take?" Len asked Gibson.

Gibson consulted a sheet of paper. "At current pace, about four cart runs to get the priority sections back to Goran. Engineering, alchemy, enchanting - the practical stuff first." He flipped back to his plans. "Though I think that we can speed that up with the Velkaris traders and getting more carts from the Dell. We're going to be getting some people from supply down this way to help coordinate moving everything around."

"Sound relieved," Rick said.

"I can do the numbers but I like to leave that to someone else who knows what the hell it all means," Gibson said.

More soldiers appeared from the entrance, this time bearing a shelf of texts from the astral section. The star charts and navigation guides would be invaluable once the mana storms began reshaping the landscape.

"What you thinking with the defenses?" Rick asked, invested.

"Right now I'm going to focus on building up the barracks, then some watch towers and staked trees for defenses."

"Why not stone?" Rick asked.

"Where would we get stone from?"

"The dungeon, can break up the walls and use that, then fuse it together," Rick said.

"Well that just changed the work order," Gibson said.

Len watched as Rick pulled out his notebook, flipping to a diagram-covered page. The same designs he'd shown Lady Carolyn were there, though these were clearly adapted for a smaller scale.

"See, if we use the dungeon stone as a base, just pour it into the foundations and fuse them together to create a massive singular block of stone. Then, like we did with the crystal from the crystal dungeon, create square holed in the ground or heck use a bookshelf facing upwards and fill it with stone, fuse it together and you've got bricks."

Gibson nodded along.

"Then you take them and create an interlocking wall," Rick used a pencil to create a new diagram. "If you have the mana, then you fuse them together, but to start you just want to build it all up."

"The towers should go here and here." Rick marked spots on Gibson's crude map. "Gives overlapping fields of casting and clear sight lines to the dungeon entrance."

"What about the gate?" Gibson asked.

Rick sketched quickly. "Two layers. Outer gate opens inward, inner gate opens outward. Creates a kill zone if anything breaches the first. Have it pointing away from the dungeon, the route to the other dungeon and the road. If someone wants to come for your gate, make them fight for it." Rick looked up for acknowledgement.

Gibson grunted in approval.

"We can start with a basic rectangle," Rick continued. "But build the foundations to support expansion later. That way you can add sections as needed without compromising the original structure."

"The thicker the foundation you build the better, then when the enchanters come along they can add in mana storage to the foundation, turning it into one big mana battery to power the barrier," Len added.

"Don't need to start worrying about all the magical stuff right now. Having a good wall is your first priority," Rick said.

"Gotcha," Gibson sounded a bit relieved.

Len smiled as the two of them talked, dissecting Gibson's plan. It was well developed but Rick had been a master in building in their previous life.

The plans were elegant in their simplicity, yet incorporated advanced defensive concepts while cutting down on build time by turning them into simple steps.

Len spotted Lydia approaching with her squad, all of them geared up and ready to move.

They eagerly held onto their swords. They'd spent the night using the transfer plate to add the mana blade enchantment.

"You done talking about walls?" Lydia crossed her arms.

"Just wrapping up," Gibson said as Rick tore out a few drawing and handed them to him. "I'll make a copy and send it back with the books. Could be useful for other units, having a base blueprint wherever you end up."

Rick nodded. "Just need to adapt for local materials. Wood fuses as easy as stone."

"Be careful with the alchemy section if you have everyone pull out and let the dungeon respawn. Still don't know what kind of concoctions that gargoyle had throughout its body," Len said.

"I'll keep that in mind. We'll try and use ranged weaponry on it. If that doesn't work we'll pull back and try again," Gibson held out his hand. Rick clasped it first and then Len.

"Safe travels gents, hopefully next time is someplace where we can get a drink without the wildlife trying to stab us," Gibson grinned.

"That would be nice," Rick sighed.

"Says the guy who's heading right towards things that are supposed to try killing us," Lydia muttered. "Gibson, it has been a pleasure and I hope to see you when I get back." She offered her hand and Gibson took it with a smile. "Same with you Miss Lydia."

"Ready?" Rick asked, pulling out his compass and a folded map.

"We're ready," Lydia said.

"Follow along at your best pace," Rick checked his bearings and stored his compass and map. "Len could you mark as we go?"

"Can do."

Rick stepped upon the ground, setting off at a sedate pace, equivalent to a cantering horse.

Len slashed a simple arrow into a tree trunk, adding a touch of mana to make it glow faintly.

Repeating it every fifty paces.

The marks would help Gibson's men clear a proper road between the dungeons later.

The dungeon's clearing disappeared behind them, the sound of work falling away as they pressed deeper into the woods. Len kept his senses alert for any sign of creatures.