With Section Ten set, it was time to prepare Section Nine. I had a vague idea of what I wanted there, but I must consult with some people first.
When I opened my body’s eyes, it was early morning and Amber was still sleeping near me. She was breathing slowly, so I quietly got up from bed and headed to our bathroom. It's incredible how simple things can improve the quality of your life.
I took a hot shower with my favourite shower gel and stepped outside on a heated floor. The keywords here were runes. Runes allow anyone with mana to activate their powers. However, the more powerful the effect or amount of runes you want to activate, the more mana you will need. The runes I'm using in many places over Avalon were for convenience and daily use, which usually need trace amounts of mana to be activated. I wanted to make sure that all of my residents could enjoy what XXI-century Earth me considered normal. Hot water, stoves, fridges, light, central heating and much more. It’s the little things in life that matter.
I told you that before.
Amber was still sleeping, but the person I needed now was Irene. I closed my eyes and quickly searched for where she could be. I found her after a short while using my building mode overview. I left a note for Amber on the table in case she would need anything and teleported out of the palace. Irene was an early bird, so she was already doing her chores in her home. It was Saturday, so she was not teaching at school.
I should mention that I introduced a seven day week with a work-free weekend. I lived my entire previous life in this system so I didn't see any reason why it shouldn't be this way here, at least in the case of school. However, it was not needed as some saving grace from above, as my residents and citizens live much slower lives than people on Earth.
"Irene?" I knocked on the doors and I heard some commotion inside.
"I'm coming! Iiiik!" I heard a loud thud and now I was sure she tripped and fell. Judging by the sounds she also broke something.
After a few brief moments, her embarrassed red face greeted me at the doorstep. She was wearing a simple blue and white dress just over the knee and high shoes. I could still see the adventurous spirit in her as she often wore comfortable clothes to always be ready to hit the road.
"Your Highness! How may I help you?" she curtsied to welcome me.
"Hello, Irene. I'm... Irene, are you all right?" I asked, concerned as I looked at the ugly bruise that was already starting to appear on her bare arm.
"It's nothing, my Lord. I just tripped over the dust bucket and fell... I'm really fine. Thank you for your concern, my Lord!" She used one of her healing skills and everything was really all right.
"Just take it easy, Irene. If you are sure you're fine..." I looked at her and smiled. "All right. I came to you with a certain question on my mind."
I asked her to follow me and I started to explain about the sections I have already established in the lower castle. When we reached the main road, which was essentially a ring enveloping the entire Middle Castle, I came to the point.
"I'm right now in the middle of the process of establishing a functional Dungeon in the lower castle. The section I would like to hear your opinion on is Section Nine which indirectly connects the Village with the Middle Castle. Can you tell me what inexperienced or starting adventurers prefer?" I asked while we passed Wendy's shop and we waved to her as she was cleaning a big exposition window.
Irene fixed her long, pitch-black hair and silently walked for a while, thinking. She nodded once, as if she would just agree with herself and speak up.
"It's actually easy, my Lord. Most of the cities I know are established on flat lands for one main reason, which is the ease of defending them." She smiled at me but when she saw my surprise she blinked a few times.
"Excuse me, but how?"
"Monsters that attack the cities and towns are usually seen earlier that way and the town militia has time to react." She explained patiently.
"Militia? What about guards?" I was even more confused.
"Oh, only the biggest cities can afford to have guards. Monster attacks are usually defeated by the local adventurers' guilds." She smiled brightly.
"Okay... So what about other people's attacks? How does a plain city defend against the cavalry or besieging army?" Now it was her turn to be confused. She looked at me like she couldn't even comprehend the concept.
"Cava… What?"
"Raiders or mounted warriors..." I looked at her, searching in my head for another way to describe the cavalry.
"I never heard about such a thing, my Lord," she replied slowly. "And attacks from other people are sparse. We mostly prepare to fight off monsters that come too close to our homes."
I was walking for a while in silence, processing the thought, and sighed after a while. Different world, different problems, I guess. That also meant my already forming Skeleton Winged Hussars Cavalry would be a menacing and devastating opponent for any regular army out there as they were back on Earth.
"Thank you, Irene. You indirectly answered the question I was not even aware I should ask." I grinned at her. "So if I create a section with an uneven meadow-like plain, you think it would be good?"
We crossed the gate to Section Nine and stopped, looking around. There still was mostly perfectly flat terrain with only the exception of a slight slope that connected Section Nine with the gate to the Middle Castle.
"I think yes. I would love to fight in such a terrain. But my Lord... Why do I see the fog of Avalon?"
"I made us both see the fog," I explained. "It will help you to envision what the people exploring this area will see."
"It would be better to let them see farther around them. If I'm right, my Lord, you plan to make this a novice training area for what essentially will be your adventurers' guild, right?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"You are right Irene." I laughed.
I quickly raised both my hands in a rather theatrical gesture and all fog raised above us, forming a misty haze over the regular walls. Now the entirety of the already flowery meadow became visible in the warm rays of the morning sun. I lowered my hands as we walked into the big green zone.
"It's so beautiful..." She softly sighed and looked around with her big blue eyes.
I just nodded my head and smiled. We stopped more or less in the middle of the section and I looked towards the Palace. The fog was still swirling, blocking anyone who would stroll here to see the upper castles of Avalon. I started thinking about my Dungeon as if it were three different places. I started calling the Palace and the Middle Castle collectively as Avalon (or Avalon proper if you like) while the lower castle was referred to as the Dungeon in my mind. The last area or place that I gave a separate name to was the Village.
The idea with the fog was at first to act as a 'hotfix' for my dungeon simply being too vast and intimidating for anyone to dare to enter. When Amber told me I was bigger than this kingdom's capital, there were some things that needed to be addressed fast. That's why I added magical fog, which was not only inexpensive but a very effective and practical way to hide the vastness of my domain.
Irene sat down on the ground and laughed as she delicately patted grass and played with meadow flowers. She looked up at me with sparkling eyes.
"It's incredible, my Lord! It's the middle of autumn outside but everything here seems to blossom!"
"Should I change it?" I asked. As a dungeon, I was able to select the season as I wanted and keep it that way forever.
"*sigh* As lovely as eternal spring seems to sound, I don't think that would be a good idea. Every season of the year presents its own events and threats that Adventurers have to face. From sudden summer storms to winter blizzards." She slowly explained, uncertain how I would take her words.
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"Irene, I asked for your help since I will never learn how to be an adventurer and I have no one else to ask. You are the only person in the Avalon with adventuring experience." I smiled at her and with amusement, I noticed her long pointy ears moving a little as she smiled back. She stoods up, holding some flowers in her hands.
"You flatter me, my King," she bowed her head. "In that case, I think your previous idea of making this section an uneven ground with mounds or small hill-like terrain would be excellent."
I raised both of my hands like a conductor in an orchestra and shifted my arms gently around. It was easier for me to change the landscape while I was in my human body this way.
"Oh!" Irene was excited to see first-hand my powers.
"Do you know you are the second person I'm aware of to see in person how a Dungeon shapes its ground?" I asked with one eye closed. Under our feet a small mound grew to lift both of us higher.
"Thank you for this honour, my King."
"So I was the first one?" Asked Amber, standing right next to me, holding me by my shoulder as she laughed.
"Indeed." I smiled brightly at her. She was stunningly beautiful, as always.
"My Queen!" Irene bowed deeply.
I looked at them a little surprised. Amber was a bit taller than Irene and both of them were incredibly beautiful, but no one could compete with my Amber. She truly stood true to the description in her title and was like an unblemished jewel whose glory shone brightly. However, I had lived long and seen a lot of awkward situations in my previous life. Amber was jealous.
I turned slowly and closed her delicate figure with one hand and kissed her cheek. She immediately changed her attitude and smiled brightly at me and then at Irene.
"Good morning, my Queen. Did you sleep well?" Amber kissed my cheek back while I asked her casually, employing the full power of my most powerful and highest-level skill.
I looked at the system pop-up. Speak of the devil.
Haha. Nice! But seriously speaking, that skill was overpowered and, to be honest, an appraisal which is often pictured as some must-have in isekai settings was nothing compared to a poker face. That skill not only allows me to show the expressions I want but also helps with suppressing my embarrassment or other awkward emotions.
"What are you plotting here?" Asked Amber once again with her sweet, calm voice.
"King Theon requested my humble expertise on training grounds for beginner adventurers. He wishes to train using the guild in the Village, my Queen."Irene explained timidly.
"But why?" Amber gave me a confused look.
"I'm a Dungeon. I have some vague ideas about how to make my sections, but Sections Nine, Ten, and One will be special. I want them to be training grounds."
Both ladies nodded and now were smiling at each other. I shook my head. From jealousy to best friend mode in 2 seconds. Amber is faster than a Ferrari. With a sigh, I focused once more on shaping up my noob zone.
A big flowery meadow full of taller and smaller mounds and steep lone rocks looked like a classic MMO-RPG starting area. After some consideration, I reshaped the wall between Section Ten and Nine, making a small arch to allow the small stream to flow between the zones as well. With gentle bends, it almost reached the gates to the Village, creating a small lake, tinier than the one in Section Ten.
I wanted to populate it with some fish since that sounded like a good plan on multiple levels. First and foremost, fish are excellent with fries - or "chips" as some people called the more advanced form of potato. Second, I suspect that fish would encourage the regular people in the village to try to catch some for themselves and maybe that experience would convince them to be adventurers themselves. And at last, that could generate more mana for me.
However, right now I just had water in different shapes. No fish nodes, even though I checked my nodes and spawner list with hidden hope. I marked this area to be populated by slimes, wolves, spiders, snakes and even occasional eagles. All the mobs here would be low-level, up to level max of ten which would allow them to act as mini-bosses. I whistled.
From my shadow leapt out my wolf scion. However, it was not a shadow wolf like Marie's familiar. Mine was a much greater and more dreadful wolf because my Scion was only technically a wolf. His shining silver-white long fur was majestically blown by the soft wind and where he was standing the ground looked like it was covered with frost. My wolf scion was a Fenrir.
"My master!" He answered my call, bowing his enormous head and touching the ground with it.
"Thor, I want this zone to be used as training grounds. Only low-level denizens up to level ten can populate this area." I closed my eyes, sending my Scion details via our link.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Amber and Irene picking up flowers together and giggling. I can't even...
Thor raised his head and sat on the ground, panting a little. "I will make sure all combat zones will be to your liking, my King!"
"Thank you, Thor." I patted his head. He was a good boy.
I crossed my hands on my back and slowly headed toward Amber and Irene, with Thor following me. They were both laughing and making wreaths surrounded by flowers they had picked earlier. Upon seeing me, they stood up, wearing wreaths they made.
"My Ladies?" I asked with a smile. "I'm going to the guild to ask them to make a test run. Stella informed me that she would like to see you both at your earliest convenience. Thank you Irene, for your help."
Irene bowed to me and Amber just widely smiled. Then she grabbed Irene's hand, and they teleported away.
And I thought Amber was jealous. Now I feel stupid.
•••
Idna was sitting behind... Well, laying over the counter, delicately patting the notebook she received as a gift from mister Verni. He also gave her an amazing pencil and pencil eraser so now she could write and even draw pictures with it! Avalon was even more wonderful than in her sister's tales. Even though they all were in the Dungeon, she almost forgot about that, charmed by its peaceful atmosphere.
She heard happy children playing in the park where the playground was situated. They never heard of such a thing before but when the children saw it they fell in love with the slides, various swings, carousel, and climbing wall. Children who were scared at first became quickly accustomed to this place.
When almost the entire guild embarked yesterday on the journey to the city of Qar escorting two master craftsmen, she was left behind as the last guild member. At first, they were anxious as they would leave the Village without any protection, but then two Skeleton Knights leading ten skeleton archers marched toward the Village gatehouse.
Verni and Ragnar explained that the King had sent them here to protect the Village. Idna was at first scared, then intrigued, and finally happy to find she didn’t feel even remotely anxious by the presence of such powerful monsters. Against all sanity, she felt safer now. Her thoughts wandered more and more into the past when the merry ding of the bell alerted her that someone had entered the building.
When Idna looked up, she saw a very tall human wearing a black robe over silver armour and he had a magnificent sabre at his belt. He was very muscular, so his strength must have been at least over twenty points, which was incredible. Idna looked right into his eyes and slowly swallowed. This was not a human.
His eyes were shining with a blue hue so bright she couldn't tell their colour, but she suspected they were blue as well. Not any blue but The Blue, the most vibrant and most beautiful blue she ever saw in her life. She could look into those eyes forever.
•••
The Village was peaceful as I walked down the street toward the main market and I was rather proud of myself for this little place I created. It solved my problem with my mana supply by creating my own source of adventurers.
You don't have to be afraid if adventurers will come to generate mana for you if they live inside you. Big brain move.
What's more, they can recruit more and more people, making my mana supply overflow without me doing anything.
They are not my residents, so my mana income from their actions is maximal. However, to establish the Village under Avalon, I spent enormous amounts of mana. I had to buy more land which took mana. A safe zone this big was relatively inexpensive, but then came buildings, utilities, and decorations which, in the end, cost me a little over one million mana. The buildings I placed here are basically copies of all my production or utility buildings but smaller and thus cheaper versions of what I have for the use of my residents.
I call it an investment.
I already noticed it benefited me in multiple ways. First of all, adventurers have already started using most of the buildings and as they do so, I can learn from them. For example, two days ago, when they brewed some regular lesser health potions, I received its formula as a result.
Their casters, who have various designations encompassing all types of combat mages, were shocked not only to find a magic tower in the Village, but ten blank books. With the books they were able to share and develop their magic, which no one even dreamed of accomplishing before in this world. I would need to add blank books as rare drops for my denizens.
Other such discoveries were also made throughout the entire Village. They did their stuff, and I received mana. They brewed something and I started receiving data. And just like with patterns, I would need them to create some things multiple times, but ultimately I would finally obtain more formulas and patterns.
And the best part is the constant flow of mana from this place. All the money they pay in taxes is changed directly to the mana I receive. The more they use special buildings, the more mana and other benefits I receive. But the most ridiculous thing is the amount of mana I receive from their prayers in the small church that I built them and my personal favourite: from children playing at the playground.
That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I'm the monster who is exploiting the hard work of children for his own gains. But I guess that's not the first picture you have before your eyes when you heard about child labour.
I wonder if making them obstacle courses will give me more mana.
I entered the guild building, smiling at my thoughts, before noticing the lonely Catgirl. Sorry, it was a Nekomi, who was lazily lying over the counter and patting her notebook gently. When she saw me, she straightened herself and looked into my eyes. I wonder what she saw, since she was standing there with her mouth open.
"Hello, Miss Idna. I would like to give you a quest."