Joram grinned as he began adding chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys to the dungeon. He made sure that they were set for Levels 1-5, not wanting them to be too much of a challenge for the younglings. That said, he also didn’t want it to be too hard for them to get some fresh meat.

The last thing he did was to set a barrier at the stairs that would keep the dungeon’s denizens from leaving their dungeon and wandering around. In fact, he quickly added the same barrier to each of the other five dungeons so that he wouldn’t forget to do that later.

He then did the same for the other ceilings as well, very much liking the ambiance. Then he was off to the next floor, which he’d label as “Mutton”, though it would also contain goats.

The second floor was pretty much a carbon copy of the first, though he included some shrubs for them to snack on, as well as a few mounds for the goats to mess around on. These fellas, though, would range from Levels 6-10, making them a bit tougher for them to hunt. That said, he was pretty sure that they’d still be easy pickings for his people.

Floor 3 was the bacon factory, containing both pigs and boars. This time, though, he added a few decorative trees. Decorative because they wouldn’t actually grow, just looking nice and adding a bit more green to everything, and a break in the monotony of the previous two floors.

The 4th floor had the beef. And milk. And bison. He mixed it up a bit, mostly keeping it to beef cattle and bison, though. The dairy cows were added to a relatively small fenced-off area as they were surprisingly chill dungeon monsters. In fact, they’d only attack a person if they were either attacked or the one milking pinched their teats too hard.

Finally, the 5th floor contained… fish! Yes, fish.

He made a good dozen islands, all connected with stone bridges that he was fairly certain could withstand an attack from an angry fish. That said, each island was made with [True Creation] to benefit from the added hardness that came with anything he created.

As for the selection, he added Tuna, Salmon, Red Snapper, Cod, Sardines, Mackerel, Sea Bass, and Halibut: all his favourite fish! Now, given that the water was only five metres deep, the fish weren’t likely to get very large. But, they’d still be tasty!

So, to round things out, he took his time in creating the aquatic ecosystem. He was surprised at just how much control he had over the dungeon, as it allowed him to even set different temperatures in different sections. Which led him to changing up the layout a little bit.

He sectioned the floor into three parts. One for the fish who lived in cooler water, another for the temperate fish, and the third for the warm-water fish. This also allowed him to transform the islands and bridges into walls between the water, making two long walkways that would make fishing easier for anyone who came down. It somewhat reduced the area for the fish, but he thought that it was a good trade-off.

With that done, he then played with adding more aquatic decorations and such. The last thing he did before heading down was to make a bunch of fishing rods and tack that he put into a hastily-made closet in the stairwell.

Then he was on the 6th floor and wondering what the heck he should put in there.

He’d gotten the basic meat groups all covered. Well, he ignored shellfish and things with tentacles because he didn’t like them, but his point stood. He’d covered everything, really. The only things he could think of were the omnivores. Well, true omnivores, anyways. Like bears.

But he didn’t know if people really liked that kind of meat.

Hmmm, what about lizards? He wondered as he rubbed his chin. Some people like eating snakes and ‘gators…. They’d also provide a challenge for anyone coming down there….

Thinking about it more, he decided to add alligators and snakes, keeping the latter selection non-venomous. Which mean constrictors. Which, really, was probably a bit safer, overall. Though, getting some bones crushed would suck…. Welp, better than dead from poison within a few seconds of being bit!

With his decision made, he got to work making a slightly swampy area with plenty of trees. He also added a few ponds at the back of the room for the ‘gators to hang around in. The grass, though, he kept to a low-growing variety that would make it hard for the predators to hide in. No need to be senselessly cruel to the younglings, after all.

Happy with how things had turned out, he went back to the surface and looked at the… hole in the ground, and sighed. It would surely be irresponsible of him to leave it just like that. So, he withdrew a few Moss Stone blocks and used [Modify Matter, Greater] to quickly make a mausoleum-like building on top of it. He then used [True Creation] to give him some steel, which he then shaped into very sturdy gates that fit tightly into the building and the top of the stairs.

The last thing he did was to enchant the gates to only unlock when someone touched it with a Ring of Sustenance made of palladium. Pretty specific, but that was the point. He didn’t want just anyone wandering inside, after all.

Then he paused, then did the last-last thing. He added a sign warning of danger inside, ranging from Rank F to Rank A.

“Good enough,” he muttered before making his way back home, his mind turning towards how to access his planar side.

* * *

“You did what?” Celys asked after hearing what Joram had to share this time.

“I registered an orphanage…” Joram said, looking slightly confused, then explained his conversation with Melaida.

Celys took a moment to process it all. She wasn’t a greedy person by any stretch of the imagination, but from what she knew of the tax laws and orphanages, Kirkwall would practically be paying him for having purchased, then released, all of those younglings.

“Good for you,” she managed to say, weeping on the inside over the lost tax revenue that his ridiculous estates would have brought in.

“I should go,” Joram said, then awkwardly stepped away before quickly vanishing as though he’d used [Invisibility].

“Are you OK?” Ilyana asked as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Just how much more ridiculous can that man get?” she asked quietly as she shook her head in denial.

“I’m guessing things aren’t good?” Ilyana asked, now looking even more concerned than before.

“For the youngling? No, they’re great. For the lost tax revenue, no,” she said, then quickly shared the orphanage plan that had been enacted when she wasn’t paying attention.

“Oh, that’s fantastic!” Ilyana exclaimed, clapping happily. “I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to hear the news!”

“Don’t say anything, though. They’ll all first need to be registered at town hall before it’s official,” she said as she looked around at the younglings who were still hanging about the mess hall. “I don’t want to get them too riled up so late in the day.”

“Oooh! Ilyenna will be so happy!” Ilyana whisper-squealed in delight. “This’ll be great! I wonder what else he has planned for them all?” she asked, a faraway look in her eyes.

“I’m sure it’s nothing we’re going to expect; that’s for sure,” she replied dryly, also wondering what would come next. For all she knew, he’d start his own village out here. Especially if that slaver came back to milk the fat cow that was Joram’s bleeding heart.

“Hey, don’t look so down,” Ilyana said, giving her a quick and light hug. “I’m sure that things will be just fine. My apprentice sure turned out to be a great guy,” she beamed, making Celys roll her eyes again at the oft repeated claim of apprenticeship.

Stolen novel; please report.

“So, any plans to start buying that new fabric from Joram?” she asked to change the subject, though she was interested to see what her friend could make with it.

“Oh, yes! I’ve already arranged to get a few bolts of the finest weave from him. It may take a bit to get used to the fabric, though. As you know, all fabrics behave differently when they’re cut, also needing different stitching techniques to accommodate their texture and nature. But I should be able to start producing new clothing by next week,” Ilyana gushed, infecting her with her enthusiasm.

Celys wasn’t afraid to admit that the new fabric was absolutely amazing. It was so soft and smooth that she couldn’t help but compare it to silk, while also being very breathable and light. Now that it was autumn, she was looking forward to trying on some autumn clothing, even with how temperate Kirkwall was.

Then her mind turned back to the caravan, wondering if they’d be back before the winter solstice. With how much the slaver and the bookseller made from Joram, she was sure that they’d be chomping at the bit to return as soon as possible with new wares. Which once more turned her worries to wondering just how many more slaves Joram would wind up buying.

Well, she’d just have to both trust him and Asami Miki’s judgement of him… and her own judge of character.

* * *

I give up, he thought with a sigh after having tried to shift into his planar form for the past couple of hours.

It had been mentally draining on a level with when he’d first tried to learn [Delve]. He was sure that there was something missing in there, but wasn’t quite sure what it was, and Avi had been annoyingly tight-lipped about it when he’d asked her.

So, back to random projects for him!

This time, he was going to mess around with rare-earth magnets! He’d watched many videos about how to basically make a perpetual electricity motor. He’d never had the time to, or resources, to try messing around with it on Earth, but now he did!

So, after a bit of [True Creation] to get the necessary magnets, he’d used it again to make several electric motors from having already [Delve]’d the one in a remote-controlled car. He’d also thought about making more of those cars and remotes, but shelved that idea for now. For it was now time to test those videos!

Well, after making a few other components, anyways. Like a power bar, some extra wire, a mini electrical generator, and some bearings. Once done, he started using [Modify Matter] to put everything together, from the rod with magnets on either end, to the bearings attached to the axel coming out of the rod midway down, to the supports for the bearings.

He then attached the magnets to the platform it was all attached to, placing them on either end of where the rod would pass when spinning. With the magnets alternated to be positive on one side, then negative on the other, the axel would continue to spin long enough to start getting current from the generator.

From there, the generator would feed into the small electric motor, providing it just enough power to lightly engage. Which would then be attached to the other side of the axel to keep it spinning. The excess electricity produced would then be fed into the transformer, upping the juice that the whole system would produce.

Well, that was a very rough description of it all. He was also probably not describing it properly by any means, but messing around with it would be fun! Not only that, but if he could get it running- and producing enough juice-, then he would be able to save a lot of Dust in the long run by just adding a generator building to provide the electricity for everything!

Twenty minutes later, several [Repair]s used, and enough shocks to get a System notification, he’d finally done it! Sure, it could only power a couple of fans right now, but if he could improve the electrical generator, and the overall design of the system, then he’d be golden!

Remembering what’d happened last night, he quickly checked his notification.

Congratulations!

Through repeated injuries, you’ve gained the following Skill!

- Resistance: Electricity

You’ve gained the following Achievement:

- Lightning Rod

He sighed. But, he was glad to have earned a new resistance, especially when he remembered the lightning bolt that had led to his leg being amputated. Not fun.

Looking back at his little project, he decided to add a second motor to the mix that would be directly powered by the generator to increase the generator’s output. Which meant adding other things like resistors and another transformer…. Yeah, lots to work on, plan, and implement. And to read up on, if he was being honest with himself, for he didn’t quite remember too much from his electronics class in junior high….

Shrugging, he set the whole thing aside and looked around. It was getting pretty dark already, so he wandered off to the front gate to wait for the merchants to get back. While he waited, he pulled up his Dungeon tab again and started going over things.

By the time the merchants got back, he’d found the option for dungeon capacity and had tweaked it to only be at 50% for now, which meant that things would respawn a bit faster. He wasn’t sure how the younglings would perform, so he didn’t want to overwhelm them with numbers right off the bat.

Payment in hand, he made his way over to the mess hall and quickly passed it to Celys before taking off again.

M2: Good timing. I think I’ve figured out Skills now, but I’d like to have us laying down, just in case.

Joram: Sounds good.

He quickly made his way to his room, got changed, then laid down as he idly wondered if he could use Dust Crystals to break through his Strength bottleneck.

Then he relaxed and retrieved a pile of Dust Crystals, letting them pile up on his chest. With that done, he let the information from M2 flow into his mind and smiled.

Congratulations!

You have levelled the following Skill:

- Resistance: Electricity 1 -> 2

So, 10 Dust Crystals for 1 Attribute Point, but also 10 Dust Crystals for 1 Skill Point…. That seems… odd. He mused, wondering what was up with that. Then he looked at how many Dust Crystals he still had and just shrugged. If he could level up [Mana Well] and [Source of Power] enough, then he wouldn’t have to worry about his regeneration rates. But to get there….

From what he could tell, Skills got the “Improved” tag when the reached a certain threshold. Looking at his Skill List, the Common and Uncommon Skills improved at 11 Ranks. The Rare Skills improved at 21 Ranks. Epic at 31, and if that trend held true, then Legendary would improve at 41.

Now, if all Skills improved the same way that his Kinesis Skills did, then he should expect something like a 50% increase in what the Skill could do. Which would mean both more resources and increased regeneration rates!

He hoped.

Shrugging, he looked at [Mana Well] and [Source of Power] and found that they were, respectively, at 25 and 27 Ranks each. Which meant that [Mana Well] would be the most efficient one to level up for this experiment since it was only Rare, while [Source of Power] was a Legendary Skill.

Sixty Dust Crystals later, he got another notification.

Congratulations!

You’ve levelled the following Skill:

- Mana Well, Improved 25 -> 31

… And in his excitement, he’d forgotten that [Mana Well] had already gotten to that threshold…. He still checked his mana, though.

MP: 1,434

MP Regen: 125/minute

Well, that was definitely an improvement. Looking at how many Dust Crystals he had left in his Inventory, Joram decided to just bite the bullet, as it were, and spend the 140 Dust Crystals to see if [Source of Power] also go that boost in power.

Congratulations!

You’ve levelled the following Skill:

- Source of Power 25 -> 40

- Skill upgrade: Source of Power -> Source of Power, Improved

- Source of Power, Improved 40 -> 41

Well, that settled it then. Legendary Skills needed to get to Rank 41 to get “Improved”. Which meant that it would take a very long time to upgrade those Skills. Which meant that he’d likely have to artificially advance them with Dust Crystals, especially seeing how slowly some of them advanced.

Looking at his Strength, he really wanted to break through that bottleneck, so he mentally prepared himself for that. If it was anything like most popular media portrayed a physical breakthrough to be like, then he was in for a world of pain. Which he wasn’t looking forward to. At all.

Biting the bullet, he started absorbing Dust Crystals until he got the notification.

Congratulations!

You’ve gained an Attribute Point:

- Strength 14 -> 15

He’d like to say that he was glad that he’d been right, but that would have been a lie. The pain started as minor burning and pin-prickles, much like how muscles felt when waking up after having fallen asleep. Then it quickly ramped up to eleven, causing his vision to blur and every muscle to contract until his back arched, leaving only his head and heels touching the bed as his arms shot out to his sides.

His additional Minds were quickly re-tasked to keeping [Clear Mind, Advanced] up and running, while he worked [Autohypnosis] for all it was worth to help blunt the pain.

As he started hearing popping sounds, his vision started to darken, and he started to panic. With his last bit of thought, he had one of his Minds manifest [True Metabolism], then all went dark.