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Chapter 207 - Air of Change
🕑 Added 2024-12-27 21:24:59 +0000 UTCChris
It was nice to get back into things and into the groove of what I had left. I hadn't realized that so much of my day was filled with carving formations, directing the Castle construction, or managing something else inside the City.
All of the responsibilities slowly added up and it took dropping everything to go fight Demons to notice all of what I was doing.
Another part that alerted me to how much I was involved with things was Abigail's recap of everything that happened while we were gone. She had a lot of issues crop up in the beginning that I usually handled by myself.
My high strength was used as a shortcut for a lot of things that they had to work around without me there. It wasn't much, as I had already been letting go of how much I was involved, but my absence was still noticeable.
Another change was I wasn't there to reinforce the stone as best I could. I wasn't sure if anyone else could notice the difference, but I definitely could.
The stones placed before and after I left were different.
Something about them didn't portray the impenetrable fortress I had envisioned and it irked me. Fixing that wore my spirit out but that was what it was there for. If it wasn't meant to be used, then I didn't know what it was there for.
While they had noticed changes in my absence, I was nearly flabbergasted when I returned. Abigail had mentioned that the crews were ahead of schedule but I hadn't expected just how ahead they were.
She mentioned that the ones who remained worked themselves more than ever to make up for the people who had left to fight. Some departments even output more than when their entire workforce was there. As outlandish as that sounded.
It brought a smile to my face.
To know that not only the ones who risked their life but also the ones who stayed behind cared about what I- we were building filled me with joy.
The Keep of the Castle was mostly finished before we left, but now it was perfected. The last finishing touches of its construction were finished along with all of the interior as well.
Furniture was moved in along with all the furs and decorations to turn my home into a home. I figured I had my sister to thank for that but the list of things I had to thank her for was getting long at this rate.
Other than the keep, the Outer Wall was well on its way. Most of its construction stalled when I wasn't there to carve the Wards into the stone but the fact the massive semi-circle even had stones placed was a surprise.
The fervor that caused the massive progress while we were gone didn't go away on our return as there was another reason that people kept up their rapid pace. Once the Outer Walls were finished, the actual construction could take place.
People were still making do with the cabins and lodges that we had made when we first arrived and they were excited to get into something more permanent.
The prospect of their homes being behind walls also had something to do with it.
Most of my days were spent catching up on what I had missed. Expending my Spirit wasn't causing any harm and neither was enchanting. Although, that took some getting used to.
I had to have Gabriel come help do some of the fine detail work because I couldn't, but I was getting better at making do.
It was somewhat therapeutic to spend my days constructing. It felt like I had spent long periods of time focused on destruction and now the coin had flipped. I had felt it in the tutorial as well.
Something was there, I could feel it, about the two sides I spent most of my time doing but I couldn't make heads or tails out of it.
It also helped to bring my Profession levels more in line with my Class levels. I was still far ahead, but it was nice to play the little catch-up I could. Runesmith being Rare helped matters, as it didn't take as much essence.
The horses being back also helped. We had taken nearly all of them with us to make our trip quicker which left the City without them. They were the main power behind getting the massive blocks of stone up the cliff.
The blocks we were using for the Outer Wall were even bigger than the ones we used for the Castle. Being nearly double in size, at 8 feet long and half that deep and high.
It took multiple horses hooked in together on a harness to pull the things, let alone the amount of people it took. The stories of how they did it while we were gone were hilarious.
Sarah, our budding Beastmaster, had to direct which horses we used as not all of them were fond of the work while others loved it. I couldn't tell which was which, but she certainly could.
Speaking of our resident Beastmaster, she had expanded her work while we were gone. She had originally wanted to come with us, but I firmly denied that. Other than the fact she was still a child, her skill set was better used here rather than in a fight.
She still had skills from when she was a Ranger and could handle herself well, but I wasn't dragging children off to war. Everyone who went was at least eighteen. I made sure of that.
I still wasn't sure of the specifics of how her skills worked but she was able to continue her taming efforts on the local wildlife. There was a cap for how many she could keep under her control and she had hit it with the horses, but that had changed.
Honestly, she shouldn't have been able to tame that many in the first place, and the main reason she had was because we were there to help. If she were alone, she wouldn't have been able to.
As the horses grew comfortable with us, they required her skills less and less. They weren't instantly docile and had taken some time to get used to their new environment. After they became truly domesticated, she was able to branch out again.
I really should have been able to guess what animal she picked.
"Look at him! Isn't he so cute!" She beamed with pride while holding her charge up in the air.
Said Charge yowled in displeasure at being put in air jail.
White on grey fur that was just beginning to fill out with eyes that were bright and curious at the new world it was being introduced to. A low growl emanated out from the kennel which made Sarah yelp and apologize, putting the little guy back down.
The pup then waddled back over to its mother to join the rest of its siblings wriggling for sustenance.
Wolves. That was the animal that Sarah had chosen.
She had mentioned getting some when we fought them on the way here but they all ran away after the fight leaving her disappointed.
She had pitched the idea to Abigail while I was gone and she had agreed. Sarah using both Josh and Anna to convince their mother that they wanted a dog was a surefire way to get her to agree.
Other than getting the kiddos to want a dog, she used other reasons to support her argument that even I had a hard time nay-saying. It wasn't that I didn't want the animals, but I felt there were other options that were better.
Maybe it was just my bias to seeing Kathy and her birds.
I was fine with letting her progress in her Class however she wanted, though, and I had to admit, the little furballs were growing on me.
She could only tame a few of the Wolves around us and managed to tame one that was pregnant, causing the scene I was seeing now.
The litter was larger than I expected, but I chumped that up to magic causing some changes. Plus, the birth and recovery were some of the quickest I had ever seen, even without healing skills being used.
The natural Vitality of beasts wasn't to be underestimated.
Even under Sarah's care, the momma wolf did not like other people handling her newborns which was understandable. It was only slightly disappointing to not be able to play with them.
Soon, I told myself.
One of the points Sarah came up with was pairing a Wolf with one of our scouts to enhance their abilities which would begin when the pups were a little older. Scouts and Trackers would both be getting a companion if they so wished.
I was sick of not having a good Tracker.
Other than Sarah gushing about her new workload, there wasn't much going on. The sun would come up, I would go to work, and the day would pass.
There was a Zen I fell into while watching the bones of my City being built.
Even without my arm, I was probably in the best state of mind since the Change, which was odd, because I had nearly just died. I figured seeing Anna's reaction to my gift was the biggest factor in washing away my bad move.
Something about seeing her face light up with wonder eviscerated any negative thoughts in my brain. She played with the snow globe I made for hours. Josh also liked my gift but contained himself better than his older sister.
As the days passed, the heat of Summer dipped and began its descent into Fall and every day felt better than the last. Both Abigail and Ashely spent a large amount of mana healing me and it took over a month for the pain to go away.
They weren't even trying to regrow my arm yet, only working through all the other broken things before they turned their attention there. My body was endlessly surprising me with the amount of punishment it could take.
Other than the first harvest, we received word back from the messengers we sent to Mountainside. We were correct in our assumption of where the new City was.
They were welcomed when they arrived, fed and sheltered while they were there. It was a good start to what I hoped would be a friendly relationship.
I did not want to get on rough terms with another pylon that was close by.
Our relationship with Fort Hope was on the mend, but a divide was still clearly there. I had sent Jonathan there to negotiate a trade agreement and also begin management of the mine.
I wasn't going to put him in charge and keep him there but to act as our Head Merchant and negotiate for what we would trade with one another.
I expected him back before the snow began in earnest. I offered for Abigail to go with him, but she ended up declining, surprisingly. She said that she had other things on her schedule she needed to do.
She had spent a lot of time meditating recently, maybe she was working on her Law or something?
Abigail wasn't the only one advancing either. Many of the people who returned from the fight found themselves stepping down various Paths of Power. More Laws were gained in the months following the battle than the previous year combined.
It was slightly alarming.
Other than Laws, there were even a few that Formed their Spirit Anchors, but they were few and far between.
But above all else, Body Refining was the most common. After seeing how the bodies of those who underwent the process saved them from fatal wounds, people signed up in droves.
The best part about the whole thing was I used it as a recruitment tactic.
My Family held most of the Body Refining techniques in the City and I made them available to all who signed up to be Guards. While we didn't have every affinity in our library, we had most of the Common ones.
Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Ice, and Solar -which could work for Light. Some were out of luck, but we were able to accommodate most. Those with Fire-related affinities had it the best, as the book Rachel bought was nothing if not extensive.
While Jonathan had purchased an Earth affinity technique, giving the other Earth affinity guards a choice solely meant for Earth, some chose out of the Fire book, mixing Earth and Fire.
Some with the Metal affinity did the same.
One of the things I wanted to fix once our market was able to reach out was the breadth of techniques we had. Those with rarer affinities were left with little options.
Lightning, Lunar, Nature, Blood, and Wood were only some of the few affinities of people we had to let down and that list would only grow as our City did.
Even with all the good things happening, and what felt like being in a perpetual good mood, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was brewing.
It didn't feel like a threat, and it didn't feel like it was aimed at me or my City, but the winds carried an air of Change.
Comments
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊 Good summary of things going on and I'm curious what changes are in the air
Baconwargod
Hoping for that skill selection when he’s healed up
Der Ritter
Love the chapter but found a pet peev of mine. The comment about "only people 18 or older" could come to fight shows ofte. How scewd the view on age is. Especially in the us. 18 is old enough to be a veteran of several trips to a warzone (enrolement with 16), driving for two years, just enough to vote but still 3 years to young to drink 🤣
James Faulkner
Tftc!
KipBR
Tftc!
Matt Soltis
Calling it now. Abigail is pregnant
