Joselin hurried away from the crowd, Mom following behind her as Hutch blustered about to the others. Both women moved outside and walked several paces before Joselin asked, “Okay, what’s wrong, Rhamiel? Isn’t this what you wanted? People?”

“Yes,” Rhamiel admitted, a little shame and worry in his tone. “But I was not expecting to get this many at once. I hoped to get a few to help me build and get people, but this many at once… I don’t… know what to do first!” Rhamiel said, looking between all of his options.

He could start building the farm and greenery that would likely be needed quickly for the Citizen’s food. But the walls would be necessary for defense and to give Dad a break. Then, there were all the other building blueprints that Hutch would be drawing up for him, which would likely be needed for higher-level buildings. And he wanted to talk to all of them, especially Yule and Hutch, to see what they needed to work on. Especially Yule, with his Alchemical Botanist Class, was interested in learning about that.

“Woah, this is weird,” Joselin interrupted his racing worries and thoughts. Her hand was on her forehead, her teeth pressed together, and her eyes shut tightly. “Rhamiel, I can feel it when you get anxious or worried. This is not pleasant. Like I got a sudden headache.”

“I’m sorry,” Rhamiel said immediately. Then, the three of them were quiet for long moments as Joselin focused on taking deep breaths and calming herself.

Then, taking in one more deep breath, Joselin started, “All alright. I believe we had an agreement to focus on the walls first—safety and Security first. We will just need to make the walls big enough to account for the early days of expansion. Right?” she asked, looking towards Mom.

“Yes, that sounds right. It will be hard, if not impossible, to account for everything we need. Especially this early on, we can try to ensure things move forward with some extra space in mind. For now, though, Corinth, Joselin, and every other fighter we have can focus on defense while you focus on the walls. Trust me when I say that there is no point in planning for the future if no one will be alive to see it,” Mom told them.

Joselin nodded emphatically, “Yeah. We have been lucky so far, probably because there have only been me, Dad, and me, and then all three of us. And now, with all of us… I think we can expect more attacks.”

“Ooooh, why?” Rhamiel asked curiously.

“We don’t know,” Joselin shrugged.

Mom jumped in quickly: “Scholars believe that monsters, especially boss monsters, know where the enlightened people are. I agree with the theory that it is an effect of the Age of Decline. The world is actively trying to kill all of the enlightened species. Wouldn’t it be easier if they could more easily find people?”

Joselin nodded slowly, moving to wrap her arms around herself.

“Okay, good to know!” Rhamiel chirped, forcing the cheer a little bit. “So… walls?”

“Walls, yeah,” Joselin agreed quietly. I am going to need a few minutes. Could you check in on Hutch to see if he has made the Blueprint for the walls?”

Rhamiel agreed. “I’ll be back soon.”

Joselin nodded, and Rhamiel moved his perspective away from her.

Returning to the Architects Library, Rhamiel discovered that the place had become chaotic in the minutes he had been focused away from it. Every one of the new citizens had placed their packs all over the place, the few tables that sat around the Library were covered with opened packs and supplies, and people lay all over the place. Only the upper floor remained uncluttered, Hutch being the only person up there looking over the construction used. He seemed particularly enamored by the altar and the circle around it, raising an eyebrow every few seconds as if he noticed something new and intriguing.

“Hey there, Hutch,” Rhamiel spoke, his voice coming from a little ways off in an attempt not to startle the man. People disliked it when he did his voice up close, which he found annoying because he would have to aim his voice so as not to scare them purposely.

“Hey,” Hutch muttered back, waving a hand in dismissal. “I’m busy.”

“Doing what?”

Hutch grunted, “learning. This building is very weird.”

“I see,” Rhamiel paused. “Why?”

Hutch grunted again. He ran his fingers across the altar and pressed against it a little, trying to shift the stones slightly. A heavy blue electric shock ran up his hand, making him jerk away from the altar with a curse.

“What does that mean? Why are you shouting about feces?” Rhamiel questioned.

“I’m not- forget it,” Hutch grumbled. “What do you want?”

“Oh, I was checking in with you. We talked about getting me a Basic Wall Blueprint, you know, so I can start building walls?” Rhamiel pushed excitedly. “Do you have it made yet? I want to get started on it.”

The man turned to aim his glare at where the voice came from. “No, I have not done that yet. You seriously expect me to enter a new building with interesting features, defy logical construction techniques, and not study it for a while?”

“No,” Rhamiel nodded, deciding he did not blame the man for that reasoning. “But we really need those Blueprints first, then any other you can draw for me.”

“Really,” Hutch sighed. “I just traveled for several days on foot through the forested wasteland infested with monsters. Through hills, graveled earth, and even getting closer to Anachron than anyone should ever get. And now you are trying to get me working already, no rest or nothing?”

Rhamiel hesitated for a moment, “Yes.”

“Figures, another slave driver,” the man groaned. “If I do this, can I relax for the rest of the day? You have your Drones. Can they start building the walls?”

Rhamiel answered immediately, “Yes, yes, yes.”

Letting out a long, exasperated sigh, Hutch nodded, “Fine. I’ll do it. You want the most basic version possible at the moment, right?”

“Unfortunately,” Rhamiel acknowledged.

Nodding again, “Fine. This won’t take long. I’ll get my tools. The Blueprints need to be counted as completed Blueprints for the System.”

“Okay, let me know when it’s done so I can… do something with them,” Rhamiel said, realizing one specific fact: He had no idea how to add new Blueprints to his System.

Hutch grunted, clenching the fist that had been shocked, and began rubbing at it with the other hand. Then, grudgingly, he turned towards the stairs and walked down towards the rest of the crowd. Rhamiel watched for a few more moments to see the man go to one notably bulky pack and rummage through it. The man barked at a woman sitting at the table beside his things to move. He sat down and began to work.

With all that moving, Rhamiel let out a small sigh, realizing that some of these people may be interesting to work with.

He wondered what he would do with himself until Hutch finished the Blueprint and was reminded about his unread System Prompts.

So, without waiting, Rhamiel focused on opening his unseen Prompts, and they did.

You have appointed a Chief Builder for your Settlement, unlocking the City Assignment Subsystem. Having someone in a position of authority allows them to command a team of citizens to do things under their purview. The City Assignment subsystem will enable you to appoint several citizens to work under them.

System Note: these are living people; they may not like where you appoint them, or the Person in Authority may wish to work with specific people. Work with their personal inclinations, problems, and strengths to create the most successful Civilization possible.

The Chief Builder is just one of many different Positions of Authority possible. Create buildings tied to specific activities to unlock more Positions of Authority and assign citizens to work in specific roles.

Rhamiel read it over and was a little happy about this. “So this was how I am supposed to work with my Citizens. Neat!” he said to no one. Opening the menu was as simple as the other things he had done with the System. He merely had to know it was there and think about opening it.

A new-looking Prompt appeared in front of all the others.

The City Assignment Menu is simple to navigate; looking through this page will allow you to see all unlocked Positions of Authority and then, if there is someone assigned to that Position, assign individuals to work under them.

Individuals can refuse these assignments but normally will only do so if there are other, better open positions for them.

Once the Prompt closed, a new one opened that was labeled ‘The City Assignment Menu.’ As advertised, The System was very straightforward.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

It was a list-like menu stating the unlocked Positions of Authority, which were only a few. Now, the only person who was assigned a position was Hutch Teneruth as Chief Builder; the others were only listed as ‘Unfilled.’ Rhamiel was a little surprised that there were other positions open for him to fill; there was no mention of them in any Prompt it had seen. The Unfilled Positions of Authority were Lead Hunter, Lead Gatherer, Water Gatherer, and Head Cook.

Deciding that he would try assigning people to Hutch as the Chief Builder tomorrow, he attempted to fill one of the other positions. He focused on the Lead Gatherer Position, and a short description of the Position and a list of Citizens show up as a drop-down list on top of the other list.

The Lead Gatherer has a simple role that commonly gets phased out as the Civilization becomes more advanced. They organize gatherers to go out and forage for goods that could be used in the community. Berries, Fruits, loose sticks, mushrooms, herbs, and other natural resources that can be reasonably carried.

Citizen’s qualified to be Lead Gatherer: Sharolee U’shol, Yule Lohk, Allred Jarric, Isaac Lyrr.

Of the four people listed, Rhamiel recognized only Yule Lohk. He was a Botanist, so that made sense if Botany was what he thought it was, but maybe that was why the others were suggested as Lead Gatherers.

Deciding to perform a test because it had time to kill, Rhamiel looked for Yule. He already had plans to work with the seemingly troubled youth, so he figured this would be a good icebreaker. It only took a moment to find him; one of his powers as a Civilization Core was that if he wanted to look at someone, all he had to do was think about it. With that thought, he found Yule on the first floor of the Library, in a corner, hiding behind his pack.

All it took was for him to select the Lead Gatherer Position and assign Yule the role.

The young man jumped, momentarily fumbling the pack in his arms before gripping it tighter. He squinted at the Prompt that Rhamiel could assume was there and read it through skeptically. Moments passed, and the young man did not speak, accept, or reject the Prompt.

“Uh, Core,” Yule eventually sighed. “Can- can we talk?”

Rhamiel focused on conjuring his voice a little away from the voice, “Hello, Yule, what would you like to talk about?”

“Wow, uh,” Yule said, looking in the general direction of where Rhamiel’s voice came from. “This is weird, talking to something without being able to see where the voice is coming from; at least a Communication Crystal has the voice coming out from the thing.”

“Oh,” Rhamiel had not considered the device in a while. “Do you have one?”

“Uh, yeah,” Yule nodded. He reached into a pocket and withdrew the thin purple Crystal. “Why?”

Rhamiel concentrated on the item in Yule’s hand and tried to connect to it like he had when Dad called Joselin. It was difficult; the mana inside the device was inactive, and there was a stagnant pool with nowhere to go. Over a minute passed before Rhamiel realized he could use a tiny bit of mana, not even enough to lose a point in his status, to activate it. The Crystal rang once with a bell tone, then immediately cut, fading away as if dying.

“Uh, Core, what was that?” Yule asked, unnerved, holding the Crystal a little further away from his chest.

“An experiment, let me try-” Rhamiel muttered, trying something else. He remembered the thin strand of mana created when Joselin and Dad talked on that fateful day. He remembered connecting to that call using a similar strand of mana, so Rhamiel decided to try that now.

Creating the strand of mana was easy. He had done it before, and only he could see it. Then, with some thought, he pushed it into the Crystal and tried to talk through the item.

But instead of words, the item rang, and Yule flinched, almost dropping the Crystal. He only fumbled it, catching it before it hit the ground. Confusedly, he looked at the Communication Crystal and pressed a part of the surface with his thumb before putting it to his ear.

“He-hello?” Yule asked.

“Is this better?” Rhamiel asked, his voice coming through the device. “Oh, I can hear my voice come out of here. This is weird.”

“Uh, what?” Yule asked, concerned.

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter,” Rhamiel moved it along. “Is this easier? What did you want to talk about?”

“Oh, uh, I think I got this Prompt from you. Why are you assigning me to be the Lead Gatherer?”

“Oh, do you not want to be the Lead Gatherer?” Rhamiel played it off. “You were one of the people suggested for that spot.”

“No, I- I don’t want to go and gather berries or herbs. I don’t think I would mind doing it for a little while until I can get an alchemist lab. But I need to work towards my goal, my Mother’s goal.”

Pausing a beat, Rhamiel asked, “And what was that goal? What can I do to help?”

“I’m an Alchemist, like my Mother. An Alchemical Botanist, to be exact,” Yule started, then paused to take a heavy breath that caught in his throat. “She had a theory that the data confirms it is possible to use Alchemy to blend plants with other, non-plant things to create things.”

“Oh, how specific?” Rhamiel said, a little disappointed.

“The research stated that we should be able to grow iron the same way they grow wheat or corn,” Yule grumbled.

“Oh!” Rhamiel exclaimed. “That’s pretty cool, but she wasn’t successful?”

“No, she wasn’t. She felt she was close to a breakthrough before the Werejackels attacked the town. I think she was, too, but I cannot replicate her work for a while. I need the ability to transmute even to try to complete her work. That and an Alchemy Lab,” Yule said sadly, looking at the floor.

Rhamiel paused, thinking about this. “So, if I gave you an Alchemy Lab, could you begin your work? What else can you do with the Lab?”

“Lots of things. I can make potions, poisons, medicines, chemical agents, and perform alchemic transmutations,” Yule listed. “I could also create weapon oils, alchemical agents, and mutate monsters.”

“Wow, that’s a lot,” Rhamiel said, then paused. “I have no idea what most of that means, but it sounds useful. Can you do some of that without a Lab?”

“Some,” Yule nodded, “but most of those things are easier and more powerful in a Lab. It’s more stable in an Alchemy Lab,” Yule sighed.

“Okay, So is that a no on the Lead Gatherer job?” Rhamiel returned to the main subject.

“No, I mean yes, that is a no,” he said.

Rhamiel chuckled internally, “Okay, I will see what we can do to build you an Alchemy Lab as soon as possible. It’ll have to wait until I finish a few things, but I can work on that soon.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Yule snuggled into the corner more. “We will likely all die here soon anyway.”

“No, don’t say that,” Rhamiel urged the gloomy youth. “Things will be fine here, I-”

“Please don’t promise anything. People always promise things, but they never can do it,” Yule let out depressingly. “Especially survival. So don’t do it.”

Unsure how to answer the young man, Rhamiel pulled his mana away from the communication device. The item shut down with a solid hiss and clicks, and Yule looked at the device curiously.

“How did the Core manage that?” Yule asked himself curiously.

Achievement Unlocked: My Alchemical Friendship 1! You have successfully established a relationship with an Alchemist Variant of tier 4 or higher. Maybe you should keep trying to befriend him and uphold your promises; that might work well. Tier One Upgrade Acquired.

Wondering why he did not get any Achievement from his discussions with Hutch, Rhamiel put it up to bad luck or another factor he had no way of knowing. But getting a new upgrade was an accomplishment.

Now a little proud of himself, Rhamiel pulled his perspective away from Yule and returned to Joselin. Checking in, he found she was still with her Mom, looking out at the valley and nature around them. They were speaking, but Rhamiel figured it was best to leave her alone for a little while.

Feeling a little sad at not being able to put these people to work right now because of the setting sun and their exhaustion, Rhamiel decided on something to keep him occupied. He looked towards his Drones, the floating semi-invisible Drones waiting for their next orders.

It took Rhamiel a moment to select several trees for felling and harvesting for parts and set them to work. The Builder Drone moved slowly to accomplish this order, but the worker Drones moved regularly to attack the order.

He watched them work to feel the trees; the noise from the actions caused his new citizens to go outside and look at the noise. Joselin looked on and shook her head before returning to the assembled group. She explained the drones and what was likely going on before sending them back inside.

“Hey, Core,” I got the Wall Blueprint ready,” Hutch called from inside the Architects Library. “Come and get it.”

Rhamiel shifted his perspective back to Hutch, finding a large sheet of paper on the table before him. A set of tools sat to either side of the drawing: several sharpened pieces of graphite, a knife, and a flat piece of metal with lines drawn through it. The drawing itself was relatively simple. It depicted a series of logs attached in a line. Each wall section was dug a few inches into the ground and held up by wooden planks leaning onto it.

Rhamiel focused on Hutch and found a Communication Crystal in his pack. Deciding to try and continue this, he created his strand of mana and connected it to his Crystal. It only took a moment for it to begin to ring. In confusion, Hutch looked at his bag, muttering as he dug, “Who could be calling me? Everyone I know is here.”

When he found the Crystal, Rhamiel noted that his Crystal was dark red. Maybe it was a slightly different type of Crystal or a better version?

When Hutch pressed the smooth cover of the Crystal, he answered, “Who in Madness is this? How did you get access to this device?”

“Uh, hello, Hutch,” Rhamiel started slowly.

“Core?” Hutch questioned, tone turning entirely around. “How are you calling me?”

“Oh, I found out about this days ago,” Rhamiel told him. “I think this is easier than just being some… what’s the word for a voice where you cannot see the source?”

“Uh, Incorporeal? Disembodied?”

“Disembodied,” Rhamiel confirmed. “People find it easier to talk to this than just a spot in the air. I think that’s the problem,” Rhamiel trailed off. “Anyway, you called me Chief Builder?”

Hutch proudly stroked his chin, “Oh, I like that. Yes, I did. Here is your Blueprint, your basic Wall Blueprint, with no nails or metal pieces. We will have to put in some time to find some iron, copper, or other metals.”

“How would I do that?” Rhamiel asked, still entranced by the Blueprint.

Hutch pointed to someone in the building, “You will need someone with surveyor skills of some kind. There are a few; it’s a skill that Miners usually pick up, and most places pay a bonus to people when they find some ore vein. I would recommend talking to, uh, Tom Yunbyrd. He’s a Miner; he might know if anyone here has the skill.”

Rhamiel absorbed this but kept looking at the Blueprint. Looking at it, Rhamiel knew precisely what to do; thank you, System, for the intuitive powers.

You have found a completed Blueprint, Basic Log Wall. Would you like to absorb this Blueprint and add it to your Structured Mindset and Architects Library(Tier 1)? Yes or No?

Rhamiel selected yes, and the Blueprint lit up and glowed with pale blue light. It took a few seconds, the light building with every second, and then the piece of paper disappeared, fading away into the air.

You have absorbed the Blueprint, Basic Log Wall! Your Drones and citizen teams can now build this Blueprint.

“What… did you just do to my Blueprint,” Hutch asked, clenching his teeth and looking at the Communication Crystal as if it had hurt him. “I just finished it, and you just do a thing, and *Pop* it disappeared.”

“No, it’s our Blueprint,” Rhamiel stated. “And I absorbed it, now I can have my Drone’s Build-”

Your Builder Drone has been destroyed by a monster.

“Oh no,” Rhamiel said into the Crystal.

“What?” Hutch grumbled.

A set of high-pitched sounds that sounded like strange chirping echoed through the clearing and forest. It was almost as if it were a person calling for attention; everyone froze and looked toward the sound. Seconds passed, and a sudden but quiet panic overtook most of the crowd. Several people stood up from the throng of people, moving towards the front door of the Library. One of them was Apprentice Keane, one of the naysayers from their walk up here.

The other was someone that Rhamiel wanted to see do something.

Graham Tully, the Holy Fist, walked out of the Library. His hands were in his pocket, and his posture slumped in disappointment, his eyes glowing a molten gold as he walked out. “Let’s see what beast wants to attack us here.”