The next day I stand along with everybody else waiting for Charlie to start. As always, he easily grabs everyone’s attention. He doesn’t mince words or talk for hours what could be conveyed in a short meeting. He gets to the point and everybody not only hears, but they also listen. It is an impressive skill. At the thought I wonder if this is a skill granted by the system. Even in the first day he was good but in these last couple of days, I did notice a difference.

“Good morning everyone. Today we have a few very important announcements. They may change our perspective on the situation we are in. I would ask that everyone to pass the information to anyone that was not here today. If you can’t do that, send them to the guild.

“To start, after extensive testing from our people in the herbalist department, we have managed to create a salve. We have taken to calling it, a healing salve. The effects are to increase by 20% HP regeneration. It also has the effect of increasing the speed with which you are healed. We have started to work on a mana powder to increase mana regeneration, but haven’t had any luck so far.

“As a few of you know the HP number and actual injury received are not an exact match. For extensive injuries like sunburns, it is a fairly accurate method to measure it. The same goes for scratches, as long as they are spread out over the body. Bigger broken bones, such as an arm or leg also follow the same rule.

“If you are measuring smaller, but relatively serious injuries, such as a broken finger, the numbers start to become significantly different. In this state however they are not totally incompatible.

“On the other extreme, if you are injured by a dagger and immediately cauterize the wound, the healing time will be similar to if you had left the blood flow. That said the loss of blood counts as an additional injury. Nobody should stop trying to staunch the bleeding. If someone wants a more detailed analysis, just visit the guild.

“So far we have a few training courses and many who come to the guild do learn what they came seeking. But a more personal touch or an actual teacher can be a boon in one’s learning. With that in mind we will begin a new initiative in the guild. We will be starting classes to help speed up everyone’s training and education. Some of them will be paid or require work in compensation.

“We also bought a new book. We will be buying a license so we can share it with everyone when we have the required 10 silver. We are not aware of the specific information, but the person who bought has told us it is definitely worth the money.

“And last, what probably will most affect us here. New arrivals are being found in the woods. – hearing those words, a murmur goes through the crowd - So far 3 children, all 12 years old, have been brought to the village. We think that is happening everywhere. As children hit the age of twelve, they are brought to the starting zone. We do not know where these children were.

“One of them has told us that they were not on earth and have spent weeks someplace else. They do not have any information on the system and seem to have had their memories altered so they cannot provide any more information of where they were.

“I have nothing else, thank you for your attention and I will see you all tomorrow.”

After these significant revelations I head to work. I spend the first few hours reflecting on the implications. The mana powder could really be a boom. It would greatly increase our learning of magic.

Work on the forge goes smoothly. As the day goes by, Mr. Blackwood trusts me with more and more work. By the end of the day we work side by side. Metal is slowly forming in my hands. I weld and start shaping the metal and he finishes up the pieces.

Jack and Li Wei also start to actually work on metal, instead of just helping. They do the rougher grind of the metal on the stones. Mr. Blackwood is a practiced hand and seems to know exactly how much responsibility he can give each person. He gives enough to push everyone’s skills up. At the same time, he doesn’t overwhelm anyone.

Every single item has the same +2 stats, even as our portion of the work increases. I try to make sense of it. I know my welds and some of my shaping is not up to par. At least part of the work we do should be of inferior quality. But try as I might, I cannot see a single defect on the final product. I even try to analyze them with Aether, but nothing gives me the smallest of clues.

At the end of the day we have made 28 Items. If we start the day tomorrow at the same speed we finished today, we will be making around 35 items in a single day.

At this pace we could make a thousand items in less than a month. Things are looking up. During the day I hear a certain someone whining. The entire day I hear how things are unfair. I do my best to put him out of my mind.

Blackwood's mood seems to improve given our increased production pace. Given my estimate of his skill and experience level, he is probably bored out of his mind to be making such basic items, at such low speeds. I hope our efforts to equip everyone continue to bear fruit. If we end up stuck in this as the maximum speed, it would not be enough. Perhaps we will even need to open our own forge. All of that however is in the future, for now we need to learn. Tomorrow’s problems we will solve tomorrow. Let’s not put the cart before the horse.

After some reflection I compare our speed to a medieval work pace. We are working at industrial speed.

Logically thinking, with the tools here, a smith with a few helpers should be able to make a sword in hours. Making several items per hour should be impossible without industrialization. That will make for interesting interactions in the future. Imagine a level 500 smith mass producing stuff versus 100 people in a factory.

The lone smithy would likely win in quality, time not being a constraint. If you measure speed however, things may get dicey.

When everybody gets their pay, I see Brad buy a spear.

“Don’t expect me tomorrow, I’m quitting. This has been nothing but a waste of my time. I work hard every day and you expect me to pay you, so you can teach me. Absolutely not. I’m already receiving such lousy pay.”

He huffs and storms off. I shake my head. He really doesn’t get it. He could have gotten a half-decent spear for 5 or 6 coppers. If only he had put in the work. I may not understand it all, but for days I have seen the smith fighting the system’s restrictions. Any other small conflict may be from his culture. He may look human, but he was alien. We are not dealing with NPC’s. These are living creatures just like humans. They are not our servants. It is to our benefit some of them also dislike the council and possibly the system.

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As the blacksmith leaves, everybody stays. They are probably hoping Mr. Blackwood will let them hold the hammer instead of standing by the side holding the items in place or putting more firewood in the forge.

I buy 2 ingots and make a spear and a few arrow tips. I ended up staying a little later than usual. I saw the three people who haven’t forged anything yet. They were struggling to do the work themselves. They probably didn’t step foot in a smithy in their whole lives before the system. Everybody was still finishing their work when I left them to their devices.

I stop quickly to drop off the spear and arrow tips in the guildhall.

In the drying room, I take a couple of wood pieces that seem to be dry enough. I burn one of them and am happy to see the result. Not quite as good as what the smith uses already, but good enough. Seeing Dmitri pilling wood outside, I go to talk to him.

“So, is everything going well?”

“Yes, I kept a good pace and cut enough wood in half a day. I could probably do three day’s supply in a day of work, if I push the rhythm.”

“I see you found quite a bit of dry wood.”

“Yeah, trying to dry them in the hot room would be too wasteful. I had to spent some time looking, but I found a good supply 15 minutes away”

“Up the river?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok. Keep up the good work.”

“Could you help me with something?”

“Sure, if I can.”

“Just, I mean… I’m trying to unlock the skill mana manipulation.”

“You want help unlocking it?”

“Kind of, I read all there was on the guild about it, but I still can’t unlock it.”

“Try to get meditation first.”

“Why? I mean, I know I will also need it, but shouldn’t I focus on the basics first?”

“You may be right. But consider whenever mana manipulation is more basic than meditation.”

We keep talking for another few minutes. I quickly infuse the load of wood for tonight and I sit to meditate. As I start, I talk, trying to guide him into a more relaxed state. Each phrase of mine is further and further apart. I stop talking an hour later and concentrate on going as deep as I can. Hours go by. The moon comes and goes. The sun starts to peek and I end my meditation.

I have rarely spent so long meditating. I usually stop after 6 hours in my longest sessions. This must have been 9 hours. I know most people would probably have called it a waste to spend so long meditating. I, however, know that just the extra mana regen would be reward enough. Considering the other benefits there is no contest. I really need a long pause to decompress.

I may have taken deep short rests stops but I was really wound up. I have been pushing myself as hard as I dare since the day I came here. Now I can feel again. The air is fresh, the sky is blue, the trees are new. Not a single tree I took notice of was the same species as what I had seen on Earth. They may remind me of Earth but that's not where I'm. Every aspect of the world constantly reminds me of it.

Relaxed after tonight, I pulled my status screen and I’m happy with the messages I see.

You have increased your Blacksmithing skill by +5: Blacksmithing Lv.14

You have increased your Running skill by +1: Running Lv. 30

You have increased your Staff mastery skill by +1: Staff mastery Lv.4

You have increased your Mana Infusion skill by +3: Mana Infusion Lv.3

You have increased your Carrying skill by +1: Carrying Lv.15.

You have increased your Unarmed Combat skill by +2: Unarmed Combat Lv.4

You have increased your Mana Manipulation skill by +7: Mana Manipulation Lv. 15

You have increased your Kinetic Meditation skill by +7: Kinetic Meditation Lv.28

You have increased your Strength by +1

You have increased your Dexterity by +1

You have increased your Perception by +1

You have increased your Intelligence by +1

You have gained 2256 Exp from various sources. [Expand]

My skills are really growing. I would have thought my pace might slow down significantly as I tried to reach higher levels. So far that hasn’t happened.

I look over [expand] and a breakdown of the source from the experience shows up. After a quick check, I close the tab and head for the drying room.

On my way, I feel the growth in my left eye. Sending my Aether into it, I track the changes. Since the last time I took a look, the small growth has become bigger. By now he has more fully enveloped my eye. A few of the thinnest strands have thickened quite a bit. I wonder if this seed will try to obscure my vision in the future. For now it seems content to grow where it is. The problem is that I know very well from who this tiny seed came from. Sensing this tiny creature’s Aether, I believe it is not a new grove. The Aether signature is exactly the same as Pando’s. It is also behaving like the trees I planted before. Though, it does seem to be more conscious than the usual sapling.

Wait a little while; you might be reunited with your grove yet.

I wonder at the absurdity of the whole thing. There goes the tree-man. He has tree branches coming out of all his orifices. Branches and leaves cover his eyes, ears, nose and even mouth. He is an expert in scaring children and criminals away.

I pile as many logs as I can carry under my arm and head to the smithy. In my second trip Dmitri shows up and helps me. We are finished in only a couple of trips.

Getting into a rhythm I’m growing used to, I organize the smithy and put firewood on the forge. Seeing as this time I am working only with infused wood, I light the forge, but only put a few minutes of mana. Only enough to make sure it does not go out. If I fire it up at full intensity, it will just waste too much wood.

I leave for the daily meeting hoping to find out what they will be talking about. Is it such important information they had to announce the day before? Today there are a few more people in the meeting. I would guess 950, instead of the usual 800.

After his usual greetings I’m deeply disappointed.

I apologize, but we didn’t manage to get enough coins to buy the license. We should have enough in a couple of hours. For people who don’t want to wait until tomorrow, you can pass by the guild in the afternoon and we will have compiled the information.

Damn, I really wanted to know. Perhaps the coppers I get from the wood sale will help.