xClearing my head from further distractions, I gesture for Ritotorous to hop onto my shoulder. He does so, and I head out of my room and into the proper settlement. As I am walking around, I see people starting to bustle about. It's about 5 p.m., and those who were out at the logging camp are now coming back. No one has noticed anything different about me, which is a blessing since I don't want it to be too obvious that there have been changes until later.
I can hear someone calling out to those they are getting to know. As I walk, I find a distinct separation from the living and dead sides of the community. It's not that I entirely blame anyone, but this will need to be addressed sooner rather than later. Maybe once there are housing options that don't look like you are walking into a cemetery.
As I walk, I bump into Muiress, who always seems to be hurrying somewhere. Looking around, I don't see Vranjaya, so I am curious why he is so anxious.
"What's going on Muiress?"
"Oh, just looking around and ensuring there aren't any more Naga. They can be quite... How should I put this? Clingy when they see something that they like. I am shocked that Vranjaya isn't as aggressive in her advances anymore. But I can only count that as a blessing."
I hadn't seen any more Naga, but that could have changed recently. "Have there been more summoned? Should I be looking for a Muiress fan club somewhere in the settlement?" I chuckle a little at the thought of a small gathering of Naga all exclaiming their love for him or something along those lines.
"Drake, I know you enjoy seeing me flustered with her, and I don't want to know what a fan club is right now. I don't think there are, but I have heard more slithering recently than I am comfortable with."
"What if they managed to get a Mermaid involved? Would you be opposed if that was the case?"
He gives me a flat look. "No, I would still be opposed. There is a little-known fact about my race back home. Males are generally rare, let alone males who can walk on land and wield some more ancient magic."
"Soooooo, it would be like adding more wood to the fire while having a flame mage casting a fireball into it to see how far the flames could spread," I asked, my tone showing my curiosity.
Sighing, he nods, "Something like that. I hope what you said doesn't bring things to pass. I don't like the attention that they give me, though. It makes me uncomfortable. They are going after my bloodline, not that I blame them, but they don't relent, which is the issue."
"Is there any way that I can help?" I asked him.
"Not really; usually, once a male finds their mate, they will no longer pester me. I have to find mine, which is harder than it looks."
"Oh? Have you thought maybe there could be someone from one of the different lands that would be of interest to you? I haven't seen many people from my home world, but maybe one of them has a Mermaid/Merman bloodline that will help you out of this situation."
"I will keep my eyes out. Hopefully, there isn't a fan club happening." Once again, sighing, he lowers his head and quickly heads back to his abode.
Watching him go, I decided I should probably figure out where Vranjaya lives and ensure nothing like that is happening, but that will be for a different time. Now, I need to find Eleanor and see if she can give me good news about building the Adventurer's Guild.
Heading to one of the tombs on the dead side of the settlement, it doesn't take long for Ritotorous to swoop into one of the crypts. Sending a message to me. "This is the one you are looking for. I can recognize her undeath flavor."
Following along, I head inside and see her slowly going over something. "Hello, Eleanor," I call out so as not to spook her.
"Hello, Drake. Are you here to learn about the possibility of building the Adventurer's Guild?" I nod, and she continues, "We have some good luck then; we have several different professions. There is only one that we are missing: the Tailor."
Thinking about what that means, I asked, "Who is the closest to being an apprentice?"
"Honestly, we don't have many options. Of the people we have, Bryst is the closest to becoming an apprentice. The only people that would be even close are a few newer people we have recently summoned. We could always summon more people, but that would mean we would have just the same potential as they would be of a different class."
"Did she tell you what level her profession is?"
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Yes, she is at level 10 and is struggling with her professions task."
"What does she need to do to finish?"
"It's the same task as Uxa. I am told you helped him with his task."
"I did help him. Does she want help in finishing her task?"
"She told me that if she didn't complete it in two days, she would come and find me, so until then, we can only wait."
"What is she trying to create?" I asked.
"I think she is trying to incorporate some form of blacksmithing into the garment. I saw lots of wires being bundled together. It made me think of chainmail, but I wasn't certain. Is there a reason we need to speed this up?" She asked me.
"There is a bonus for us if we can get the Adventurer's Guild built before we advance the settlement. I wanted to get it built as soon as possible."
"Have you tried to place the building to see if we could get it started anyway?"
"Not yet, but now that you mention it, I think I should try because it wouldn't hurt to see if we can work on it till her portion is needed."
"Great; when will you start it if that is the case?" She asked.
"I'll get it started right now, and then we can take a closer look at it in the morning." Heading into the settlement menus, I quickly find a spot near the manor and place it down. There isn't a timer set to the building; the materials are available, and I must bring them over. I looked down the list of available supervisors and found one to whom I wanted to be assigned to the task. While a couple more have been summoned, Oria is my go-to for this instance. He has the highest level because it is either Shadow or him, as when the settlement started. Once he has been selected, the timer still hasn't begun. Thinking about it, I can't help but think we will slowly get to the point where PUN will stop helping as much.
Wanting to call it a night, I quickly head back to the manor for dinner and then sleep. There is a lot of work to do tomorrow.
When my alarm goes off in the morning, I quickly get out of bed and then head out to see if any work has been done on the Adventurer's Guild. It doesn't take long to see that there hasn't been any work done and the timer hasn't started to count down. Quickly, I gather the needed materials for the building and bring them. By the time I was done with that, I knew I had to get going to my training. Hopefully, Oria will stop by and check on the building while I am in training.
While training, I spotted Koto and Strauvana sparring. It seems that losing her settlement and almost dying has given her a reality check. I can only hope that it isn't a short-lived spurt of training and that it continues to be something she works on.
Once I was fully done with my training for swordsmanship and archery, I was heading to the Mage Tower to work with Laxreal on some of my healing spells and maybe even learn a couple of my own to expand my repertoire when I came across Oria. He wasn't doing anything wrong, but from what I could tell, he was working on his spells.
"Hey, Oria, how are you doing?" I asked him, not wanting to seem impatient.
There is a rock-on-rock grinding grunt as a response while he continues to work on one of his spells. I can tell it is getting quite potent since the spikes from the ground look far more deadly than anything I had cast before.
"Did you see that you were assigned a building?" I probed further.
Again, he grunts at me while nodding and then holding up one of his large fingers, probably telling me to wait a bit since he is busy.
"Soooooo, when do you think you will start working on it? I ask because there seems to be a difference between a Tier 0 building and a Tier 1 building. We need to do more work on the building than just letting PUN complete them once the materials are in place."
Hearing this, he continues to work on his cast for a couple more seconds before unleashing it. From the first time I have seen him cast the spell to now, there is a significant difference; the tips of the earthen spears seem sharper, and they seem to jut out of the earth more than the previous cast by about another meter. Gulping and hoping he doesn't take offense at me interrupting his practice, he turns to me.
"Do not rush. Work will be done," his voice says, grinding in my ears. I can't help but think of a cavern collapsing.
"Alright, I will see you at the construction site then?" I hope this last question doesn't get misinterpreted as me trying to rush him.
He nods once more before getting back to his casting.
The sound of chuckling comes from behind me as I turn to see Laxreal, "It looks like you have run into a wall. Maybe we should take some extra time to train you on your skills. Oria will come and find us if he needs us for anything."
Nodding, I follow him, and we head upstairs to work on my spells. There wasn't much progress in learning new spells, which frustrates me. I can tell that I should be able to do something about my current spells, but none of them want to improve. I have to take several breaks from casting and trying to feel my spells before Laxreal looks at me and gives me some advice I didn't think I would want to hear.
"Drake, you struggle to get your spells out how you want them. Sometimes, it takes time. You won't be able to master your new class if you don't take a minute and think about what is happening to yourself. Your spells are on the cusp of being cast, but something seems missing. You need to take a minute and figure out what that is."
Listening to this tidbit, I take a moment and work on my 'Lesser Mana Manipulation' skill. While trying to manipulate the mana in my body, I can feel an imbalance in my class. I continue to circulate the mana through my body, and when it gets close to my heart, I can feel a slight tug like someone has a small rope attached to my finger. Continuing to circulate my mana, I try to feel that tug, and while it gets stronger, I can't tell exactly what is going on. It takes around another 30 minutes before I take a deep breath and turn to Laxreal, "I need your help. I might have an idea why I can't cast the spells, but I won't know until I check."
The flames in his eyes flicker, and then he nods, "As you say, I will help how I can."