Sitting at the table beside my mother, I look up at everyone surrounding me, "I am ready with what you have to say."

Laxreal starts to raise his hand but is immediately glared at by my mother. Curious about what required that sort of response, I can only wait. The first person to start isn't anyone from my family but instead Draemish.

"Drake, do you know how long you have been gone?" She asks in a curious tone that strains on whether there will be hell to pay if answered incorrectly.

"Based on what I could see in my dazed state while being jostled around on Rhenriqi's back on the way here, I can only assume it is the next day since the sun is out and still close to the afternoon." After stating this, I looked around the table to see several confused faces, some shocked expressions and looks of disbelief at what I had just said. "The trial for me was longer than I anticipated, but I completed it. Good news, it was a specific nobleman trial, and it did help me in several different aspects of my magic." I happily exclaim.

Placing his hand on his skull, Laxreal looks over, seeing that my mother isn't stopping him this time, "Drake, you haven't been gone for one day..." He wants to continue but is interrupted by Xelyphe.

"You were gone for four whole days. FOUR. WHOLE. DAYS." They emphasize.

Hearing this, it is my turn to be shocked. "That doesn't make sense. I didn't need to sleep once during the trial. I feel like it has only been a day at most."

"It's true, son," my father says, "you have been gone for a long time; the only reason we knew you were still alive is that the oaths people took for you were still active."

"Damn," I curse. "So I have missed a lot, huh?"

"An incredible amount, if I was to say. However, it isn't with the buildings. We are still having a hard time gathering wood. Excursions into the fog haven't provided any chests, from what we have seen recently. We have stopped going out after the first day to ensure everyone is ready if something happens to you." Draemish answers.

"That does explain why everyone is so mad." I shrink a little in my seat. Four whole days, gone just like that, what am I supposed to do?

A strong hand lands on my shoulder, "Drake, you don't have to worry about the health of everyone in the settlement. We have had enough food coming, people are working in the outposts to produce resources, and most of us have leveled up our professions. We have been doing fine without you."

Nodding along with what he says, I look at the settlement window to see that he is right.

- Settlement Tasks:

Have a population of 25 (62/25)

Have 20 settlers at level 3 or higher (62/20)

Optional Tasks:

Have 10 settlers with professions at level 2 (43/10) -

Giving everyone a weak smile, I inform them. "We can at least upgrade the settlement. And have there been any rewards in this room since I completed my trial?" I asked for a way to change the topic but failed to do so.

"There weren't any when I came to the room, but that isn't surprising." Shadow acknowledges the question. "But that doesn't mean we will let you try to steer the conversation a different route."

"He be right," Zul'Zara pipes up, "You be needing to tell us what be occurring in that head of yours. Why you be making such a stupid choice on the fly?"

"And why is it that Laxreal was willing to cover for you." My mother shoots another glare at said skeleton.

Putting his hands up in surrender, he answers for me. "For the last time, he had no idea about what I planned on doing. I don't intend to indulge the boy, but he needs to think more clearly about his choices since they affect us all."

"What do you mean by that, though, mother?" I ask.

"When you left, Laxreal was trying to stop you, right?" I nod along, "Well, when he was 'trying' to stop you, it was obvious after you had disappeared that he hadn't been trying his hardest and let you slip through the fog on your own. So, I think you somehow managed to recruit him in your little scheme. He has been adamant that you hadn't told him anything and had no dealings with him concerning this."

I look over to him and give him a brief smile, knowing that my new friend had helped and also took some of the heat of my mother off of me just by his actions. "I can wholeheartedly tell you that, by no way did I ask Laxreal to help me with my foolish errand of going into the fog by myself. Nor did I have anyone's help. It was just me and me alone."

Hearing this, my mother has another surge of fury behind her eyes as I look in her direction. Crap, that didn't help at all, I think it only made things worse.

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"Oh, really now? So, you are solely responsible for your actions? Because if you had at least talked with someone about what was going to happen, then I could write part of the idiocy towards them, but it seems like my son is an absolute dolt."

Swallowing, I look towards my father in hopes that he might be able to help me out of this one, as he always has something to help calm her down. Instead of a small smile, I see him slowly shaking his head, getting up, and gesturing for the door so everyone can follow him. "Everyone, this would be a good time for Drake and his mother to have a more 'private' talk. Don't you all agree?"

Everyone looks at him, then at my seething mother, and then down to me. They all get up and head out of the room because they aren't required for the next part. Laxreal comes over and is about to grab my shoulder to comfort me when a clink of metal is on the bone.

"You, you don't get to comfort this idiot till I am done with him. Is that understood?" My mother hisses out with her blade in between my shoulder and his hand.

Giving me one last look, he heads out of the room with everyone else. Once the door shuts, I look at my mother in hopes of seeing some mercy she will show me. Any hope of that is gone with her next question. "Drake, how much health do you have, and what is your strength like?"

- Ilpheus' POV -

With Laxreal as the last person to leave the room, I look at everyone gathered before me. "Alright, this might take a while, but we must move things along quickly once we get in there. The only help I can give him is a quick end to the humiliation he has already suffered and will suffer. So what are everyone's plans?"

"Not that I was mad about him leaving out of the blue, but it would have been nice to know about what he planned ahead of time," Draemish says; not far from her, Shadow and Vranjaya are nodding along with what she has said. "I will just keep doing what I have been doing for the last several days and work with Rognar on teaching people to use their blades."

There is a clattering of furniture behind me, but I don't let that stop the flow of the conversation. "Laxreal, what are your plans?"

"Just like Draemish said, I will work with those who want to improve their spell craft. I will also work on my formations and see if I can break to the fourth level before the auction starts."

The rest of the people slowly discussed what they planned on doing while several cringed at the sounds just behind me. There was the sound of objects shattering, tormented cries from Drake, and incoherent shouting from Madoka.

Several minutes pass in this manner. The crashing becomes less often, feeling it is about time to open the door. I turn around and approach the doors. Once there hasn't been a sound from the room for a solid minute, I open them to look.

- Drake's POV -

Fifteen minutes, that's how long my mother chased after me in this tiny room, and trust me when I say this. Even without using her bloodline power, she catches up with me many times and smacks the back of my head to 'teach' me the folly of my ways. Granted, nothing she does hurts me, and I can heal myself if I am ever in any danger, but the one time I did for a light cut while she was chasing me only made her up the ante.

When everyone left, she hadn't stopped trying to smack my head by saying how stupid I was and how I should be a good son and stay out of trouble and out of harm's way. I find this humorous when she says things out of harm's way and when she is trying to punish my stupidity. With her strength, it doesn't hurt that much, but I play along and act like I am getting hurt more and more.

If she can't smack me upside the head occasionally, she will throw the furniture around the room. Finally, once the small furniture has been shattered, she stops and collects herself before turning towards the door. Figuring this is a good sign, I go to start healing myself. At the glow of my hands, she turns towards me.

"Don't think you can get away from this. You are not allowed to heal yourself yet. This is the consequence of your actions, oh son of mine. Come and stand next to me; we must properly greet everyone back into the room to continue today's discussion." She gives me an evil look and stands again, ready to receive everyone from outside the room.

I was bruised and had minor cuts along my arms and legs from snagging them on the different objects in the room from when the chairs and end tables splintered apart. Figuring it was better to do as she said then, I stood next to her. The door opens, and my father gets the first glance at the destruction in the room.

"May we come in now?" He asks my mother a bit hesitantly.

She tilts and looks at me, "Are you ready to receive everyone?" Her tone says no matter what my response is. There isn't any way I am getting out of this.

I answered their questions with an awkward smile: "Let everyone else join us. We should continue with the discussion. We don't need to prevent people from continuing their daily work."

Everyone takes a glance around the room, finding no suitable chairs anywhere. They awkwardly surround the table. Wanting to finish this quickly, I start the conversation: "Thank you all for coming to this meeting. First, I would like to address the settlement levels, and then we can discuss different questions you might have."

People are wincing as they look at me, but don't shy away from my words. "Is it possible to level up the settlement again?" Laxreal takes the bait first.

"Yes, we can. I want to know what we have to do to complete the next level of the settlement." After reviewing the options, I selected to level up the settlement again.

- Settlement Tasks:

Have a population of 40 (62/40)

Have 10 settlers at level 4 or higher (10/5)

Optional Tasks:

Have 10 settlers with professions at level 3 (38/10) -

Seeing that the tasks have remained largely unchanged, I continue to upgrade the settlement until I can no longer do so.

Finally, after two more levels, I can't level the settlement up anymore, and the basic settlement information hasn't changed much.

- Settlement Information:

Name: Caelnova

Tier: Roadside Hovel

Level: 8

Experience: 11682/500

Population: 62

Territory Size: 1.7Km X 1.7Km

Settlement Tasks:

Have a population of 70 (62/70)

Have 5 settlers at level 6 or higher (2/5)

Optional Tasks:

Have 10 settlers with professions at level 5 (10/10) -

Looking at the highest level in the settlement makes me curious. "Who is level 6 already?"

Nobody speaks up with the revelation. Someone is at a higher level than everyone in the room. Not wanting to dwell on this topic for long, we continue with the discussion.