With our initial choices made, I go through and select them. Initially, I wanted to ensure all the buildings were next to their respective holders. Upon reflection, I found that this is incredibly inefficient when it comes to expansion.

With a new thought, I ask the crowd. "Should we make this settlement into a district? We will be expanding, and I don't want to continuously remove buildings and then add them again if we don't have to."

Nelaedeth responds, "I don't think that is a bad idea. I used to do some construction with my clan. I have a good idea of good districts for ease of expansion."

Motioning toward her to keep going. "Well, when the branching clans were settled into their new homes, we would set up five districts. The first is the production district with all of the buildings for the crafters. The second is the housing district. Third, the market district. Fourth is the military district, and last would be the management district."

I ask, "What is in the management district?"

"That would be buildings like city hall, the mayoral manor, banks, guild halls, etc."

I can agree with this setup, but one thing mildly bothers me. "When you say things like that, it sounds like there is a central district with the other four spreading out in a circle from there. How would we do something like that when we have limited space?"

"Well, we have a good start with the initial earthen bulwark. For now, we will have to make do with the space provided. It is quite a lot, but some things could make it more efficient. That is for later. Currently, there won't be a standing army because we all are responsible for each other's lives."

So far, a selection of people nodding along with her explanation. "So, how would you like to start with building?"

"I think we should start rebuilding the most central building in the territory and make it the mayor's manor." Once she finishes saying that, I see everyone looking right at me.

"Which means we need to clear out my house?" I ask a bit sheepishly, with my building being the most central.

"Yes. Afterward, we can spread out from there, giving about 10 meters of space so there is room for growth of the manor as we grow. Then, we will split the rest into just two districts because there isn't any money to trade with, and only housing and crafting will be taking place currently."

"Alright, let's get started." Looking at the description of the manor again, I note that I won't need to make another house for my family right away. So that is one less project we need to get done in the interim. It takes a couple of minutes to clear out the house. And I can move the Lord's Chest as long as possible. We get the place cleared out of the necessities.

I can finally select my house from the building overview, and a set of options comes up.

- Would you like to do one of the following?

Level Up

Demolish

Move

Nothing -

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I see "Move" as an option, and my heart picks up since maybe we won't have to demolish it. But then I see it is greyed out, and an information notification appears.

- Unable to move building until the settlement tier has leveled up. -

With that information, I begrudgingly select to demolish the building. There is a countdown timer of ten seconds. Once it finishes, I get another notification.

- Materials from demolishing a Basic Hut Level 1: 20 Tier 1 Wood. -

With that, I look back at the hill where my hut once stood to find a pile of leftover wood. Sighing again for the umpteenth time since coming here, I select the Mayor's Manor and position it where my hut once stood. Once it has been placed down, the outline is there for everyone to see. There is a new option I haven't seen before. I can select one of my construction foremen to work on the project.

"Do you or Oria want to be selected to work on this project?" I ask the two of them.

"Are you going to test what the effects of having someone on the project have?" Shadow responds.

"Yes, I was going to see what discount in materials and time there is initially, and then we can see if speeding up the construction with other tokens will still give you experience for your profession."

"Put me on it first." Shadow offers.

I select his name, and it appears on the list of workers. Right away, I see that there is a buff added.

- Novice Foreman Level 1: 1% Resource Reduction, 1% Time Reduction. -

With that reduction, I look at the resource cost now.

- Mayor's Manor Materials required: 99 Tier 1 Wood, 99 Tier 1 Stone, 50 Tier 1 Metal -

I see no change in the amount of metal required for the project. I thought there needed to be a higher percentage for that part to take effect. The first thing I do is grab one of the wooden resource reduction tokens. Using it on the Mayor's Manor, I see an additional buff.

- Wooden Resource Reduction Token: 5% Resource Reduction.

Total Resource Reduction: 6% -

Looking towards the group, I let them know of the stacking effects. I grab another wooden token to test out one more theory. I try to use it, but it doesn't disappear like the last one, and a notification comes up.

- Only one Resource Reduction Token may be used per project. -

With this revelation, I turn to everyone. "Let's get the materials in place. I want to see how long it will take to build this building before I use more tokens."

Everyone steps up and brings materials up to the blueprint. It doesn't take long, and then the timer for the building shows up.

- Time till completion: 5 hours 57 minutes 12 seconds. -

I grab one of the time reduction tokens and use it, dropping the completion time by one hour. I hold one more of the tokens and use it as well. This time, unlike the resource token, it disappears, and the completion time drops again.

With that experiment out of the way. I ask everyone, "Where should we have the districts start? I want to put a fence up so we have a guide to where things will fall. This shouldn't take too many resources or time."

I select the fence and place it around the manor ten meters from the walls. With the blueprint positioned, I confirm the location, and the outline becomes visible to everyone. I get the materials into place, and then the two-hour timer starts to count down. I ask Oria, "Do you want me to assign you to this job for one more experiment?"

He nods, and I put him as the person in charge. The timer drops to one hour, 58 minutes, and 48 seconds. I then used one of the iron time tokens on the project, completing it. "Did you receive experience for the completion of the project?”

Again, he nods his head. "One point for project completion."

With that information, I look to everyone. "Where should we start the districts?"

"We should split the settlement into northern and southern sections to start with the southern area being there for crafting halls. We can slowly move those already made to avoid disturbing everyone in them." Nelaedeth says.

After getting affirmation from everyone, I started placing the profession buildings. Once four are down, I can't place any more buildings until we complete the current ones. "Alright, everyone, let's get this show on the road!" I shout and pump my fist into the air, only to get confused looks from everyone else.

"Drake, what are you doing?" Draemish asks.

"Trying to get everyone pumped about building up the settlement," I say while scratching the back of my neck in embarrassment.