I came back to awareness, without really understanding that I was unconscious, except for the fact that the sun had clearly returned to the sky, and had moved quite far already. "Huh, what happened? It was like Almost Dawn a second ago." Thorn and Goldvine were Hovering near my core.

"Sorry Great One, you seem so smart, we just kinda forgot to mention Mana Levels. You're basically a creature of pure mana, so running near zero isn't good. You did so much work so quickly that you lost yourself for hours while your Mana regenerated. Luckily nothing major happened, aside from a few more White Clan members showing up. Only three, but they've been quite shocked at the walls, and that Inn you built for them."

Out for hours, that's such a surprise. "Ok Goldvine, how do I check my Mana Levels? Having that happen, and an emergency coming up,...well I can only count that as bad ya know? I accessed my construction menu almost without thinking, but never wondered where anything else was."

Goldvine fluttered a little closer. "It's actually quite easy, just think resources. Since Mana, and Miasma are resources, as are all the physical substances you can absorb. Manifesting materials without a resource is very Mana intensive, as well as Miasma intensive. The numbers for Miasma will always be higher, but that's because you suck Miasma in constantly. Your Fake Core is helping with that too, your Miasma absorbing is far outpacing your Mana Gains right now. Though there are things you can construct that will help. Mana Fonts are costly, but once built, you'll get much more Mana per day."

Thinking resources very clearly, I was presented with a new window.

Mana 1,500 out of 5,000 + 150 per hour

Miasma 750,000 out of 1,000,000 +5,000 per hour

Stone 0

Iron 0

Silver 0

Copper 0

Gold 1

Platinum .000003

Looking at the resource list, I stopped scanning after seeing several zeroes. Noting that I had some gold, and surprisingly some platinum. I asked my Fairy couple, "Where did I get a Gold, and even a partial platinum? What even is a partial Platinum?"

Thorn answered. "When you cleared the rock from around your core, our apartment, and the tunnel to the surface, you must have absorbed some trace amounts. A whole unit, is approximately an ounce, so anything less than that, is a partial. Odds are you have slightly less, or more than One Gold unit as well, the System isn't too precise." That actually made sense. So I basically used nearly all my Mana creating substances from thin air. "If you have the actual resources you need, it's much cheaper to create things. Having the White Clan gathering resources from beyond your influence would help greatly. Any plant material is treated as Plant Based biomass, while any sort of Mushroom will count as Fungi Biomass, regardless of if it's medicinal, poisonous, or edible. Creature remains, no matter the type are Animal Biomass, even fish, and insects count."

Made sense. "So perhaps one of you wouldn't mind talking with the clan, and asking them to bring anything they can safely obtain. Obviously eating anything they can, which will save on summoning resources. We can have them designate an area to dump anything for me to absorb. Then I can use those refuse materials to create new, and useful things. The more they know, the more they'll automatically help."

Goldvine spoke up. "It's not typical for Fairies to interact with the sentient races, but then this is a new situation. I think we should both go and introduce ourselves, we're all neighbors after all." Thorn nodded at the suggestion, and they both flitted off.

'Hey overseer, if there's a sort of Fairy Counsel or whatever, but they don't have a place to call their own, maybe give them a nudge to come here? I can easily carve out more housing for Fairies under ground, and that will give me another race to protect.' My windows flickered, and for a second I saw a smiley face emote, and a thumbs up. 'I take it that's a yes, and good idea all in one. I'll go ahead, and start carving out habitations, and please allow them the privacy block too.'

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The white Catkin seemed eager to collect materials for me, and were very happy to meet my Fairies. However, just before they went out, one of the females, a new one at that, crumpled down in obvious pain, and I noticed fluid coming out from her nether regions. "She's going into Labor I think Goldvine. Is there anything I can provide right now?"

After a moment she responded. "Some clean towels is all they can think of, maybe some swaddling too." I quickly manifested the towels, and swaddling, just wishing I had known enough to provide anesthetic, and instruct them on its use. I scanned through my menu frantically looking for anything that could help. Oddly enough, magic traps were still a thing for me, and among those were life based traps. Glory be there was a Pain trap, that could either increase, or decrease the victim's sense of pain. I set one of those life traps directly under the mother, with it set to reduce pain sensitivity by 70 percent for eight hours. The screaming subsided with a glow of white. That cost me two hours of Mana, but it's worth it. I also set a healing trap to improve her overall health as much as possible, as well as her unborn child. Another two hours worth of Mana, but I didn't care. The mother froze for a second, while the second white glow lasted. There was a visible increase to her belly size, and her musculature as well. The others were shocked at these events. "Don't waste anymore Mana, I know your worried, but women have been giving birth for centuries without your help. We need you awake, what if we get attacked right now, and you black out again?"

I was on proverbial pins and needles for the hours it took for the Babies to be born. Seeing the twins happy and healthy made me realize, if I hadn't used the life trap, those babies would have died, and the mother might have too. "I'm glad for my paranoia this time. There's no way those twins would have survived as small as they were." Goldvine couldn't even argue. She smiled even as she shook her head. "They're beautiful, I've been busy while I waited. I carved out miles of Fairy Apartment tunnels under the surface. Even a sort of central square for a community to assemble for trade, or governmental oversight, whatever they need."

Thorn spoke up, "What do you mean? Goldvine and I are the only Fairies here."

I chuckle. "Well I kinda suggested that any Fairy Counsel could be nudged to come here, and setup a stable facility for them to function from. You know, instead of just meeting wherever it happens." The two's eyes nearly popped out of their heads in shock, then their lips spread into beaming smiles.

"That's amazing, thank you Great One!" Goldvine cheered. The two flitted around each other in pure joy, as the Catkin looked on smiling themselves thinking it was only for the birth of the twins. This is probably a good thing, as the Fairies might not want their new base to be known. I noted that my Mana regen was slightly higher. Now it was 152 Mana per hour. It only took me a second to figure that it was the twins. Either just because they were there,...or maybe because I made it possible for them to be there, and I was being rewarded for my actions. My window flickered, and I noticed a credit for one free Mana Well. That settled it being an award for action in my opinion.

"Um, where should I setup this Mana Well I've been awarded?" The two stopped their dancing, took one look at each other, and tore off towards my core.

Thorn was the first one to speak once they were back in my Core Room. "Great One, if possible please setup the Mana Well in the Square you were talking about for the Fairy Settlement. It will benefit both you, and the Fairies that come here, even us. The richer the Mana Density the healthier we Fairies are. It's actually a little thin for the two of us. That's why the Counsel just met wherever. They had to keep separate as much as possible to not overtax the ambient mana, but a Mana Well will be more than enough for all Fairies, and still pump plenty into you. Plus as long as we can access the other material requirements, we should be able to build a second well before they would even have a chance of getting here. The more wells you have, the quicker you can make more. Mana itself being the biggest issue, then stone, some precious metal, and a Mana Crystal is all that's needed."

I didn't even wait for him to finish talking before I had placed the free Mana Well, and my intake of Mana jumped up to 602 per hour. I checked the requirements for building one myself, and was pleasantly surprised that aside from the Mana Total, I already had enough from my excavating to build 2. "Well that's convenient. I doubled my own Mana Regen, but I already have the physical materials for two more. Just need to wait on the Mana itself. Assuming I need to keep 400 Mana or more, then I should have enough for a second well the morning day after tomorrow. Should I wait longer than that?"

Goldvine answered, "I'd say wait till Mid Day then, that way your reserve will have a couple hundred extra in case of need. Till then, just keep absorbing whatever you can to offset Mana Use for anything the clan needs." I sent the mental image of a Nod, and they giggled.

"If you two have basically been living on ration levels of Mana, then you should probably take a Nap for now. Sounds like it's going to be station keeping for the time being anyway. Let your bodies recover for a bit. It still surprised me there were two Mana Crystals in all that dirt I absorbed. It's like winning a game of chance without even knowing I played." They giggled, as they went off to their apartment. "Good night you two!" They waved their hands over their heads just before flitting into the void that was their apartment.