The village we were in had no name. I learned that villages in Gaia typically only had a name if a noble lived there. Nobles were almost always awakened.

I had plans for the village. The first thing that I noticed was that most of the villagers were half-naked. What little clothes they had were so damaged that they were barely functional.

As Otto seemed to be the spokesman for the village, I asked him. “Do you always go around dressed like that?”

He shook his head sadly and explained, “We did have a tailor and a few of the villagers had basic sewing skills but they were lost to the plague. Even if someone did know how to work a needle, our supply chain was cut off. We do the best we can with what we’ve got but it isn’t much as you can see.”

Looking down at the man’s feet, I noticed that he wasn’t wearing shoes. He had wrapped them in strips of cracked leather. Following my gaze, he said, “Not all of us can cover our feet. Only those who have work to do in the fields. We grow what we can with the limited seeds in our possession.”

Deciding to use Otto as a test dummy, I began editing some more rocks. The good thing about rocks is there seemed to be a lot of them. The first shirt I made didn’t fit the burly man.

Item:

T-Shirt (Edited)

Components

Cotton, Thread

Item Rank:

C

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Murphy

I tried modifying the item to include a category for size but the menu didn’t want to change like that. In the end, I was forced to change the item name to Large T-Shirt to get it to fit Otto.

Shoes were trickier. I had to name the brand style and size to get them to form properly. It only took me three tries to guess Otto’s foot size.

For pants, I made blue jeans. Every wrong size I made was added to a pile for the rest of the villagers. Of course, I made the man socks and underwear to go with the outfit.

The one item that the whole town seemed to have was hats. They all had straw hats that they wore to protect themselves from the sun. I wondered how much the atmosphere in the green sky protected them.

My first round of edits was very plain. Everybody got the same outfit. The villagers didn’t care. They were ecstatic to have new clothes that they didn’t have to pay for.

Joe dragged me aside and asked, How are you doing this? Don’t say summoning. This feels different. And why do you keep asking for rocks?

The good thing about group chat was that we could have a private conversation without the villagers listening in.

Okay, guys. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about this earlier but I’m not actually a summoner. My class is called Manipulator. I can edit things and turn them into something else.

Raverly’s eyes narrowed and he spoke in an accusatory voice. I’ve heard of Manipulators. Aren’t they usually bad wizards who bring about the end of the world?

Rundell planted a hand on his friend’s shoulder. Easy there buddy. Melvin’s our friend. He isn’t going to end the world. He’s one of the good guys.

Raverly turned on his friend. Really? I mean we just met him.

Thankfully, Stefanie changed the subject. Why don’t you just edit everything? You could have killed that dragon with a bazooka or sniper rifle.

I scratched my head nervously.

I don’t know how to use either of those things. What if I screwed up and killed one of you? Besides, an enchanter I met told me not to edit things if I can help it. Like Rave said, a lot of people think Manipulators are evil. If I out myself, the whole world might turn on me.

Stefanie was on a roll. Why didn’t you edit the dragon into a harmless lizard?

It was becoming apparent that the conversation was getting away from me. I held my breath for a few seconds before replying.

See. I just tried to turn Rave into a skunk and nothing happened.

Rundell laughed and elbowed Raverly. I don’t know. He smells like a skunk to me.

Kalli gave me a worried look. Mel, if that’s the case, maybe it’s not a good idea to use your magic here. There are some scary nobles on Gaia that could hurt you if they found out.

While I was worried about drawing attention to myself, I was getting more and more annoyed with the way the awakened world ignored the everyday people. Some of their day-to-day issues were so easy to correct if just a little magic was applied.

I’m willing to take the risk if it makes these people’s lives any easier. Besides, nobles won’t go near the dark territory, right?

Joe, who had been silent, suddenly laughed out loud, causing everyone to turn their attention to him. That explains the bus. I was wondering how you made one faster than me, and with no materials.

I was unsure if Joe was relieved that he understood how I had done it or just because he found out I wasn’t a better technomancer than him. Rundell asked, How did you do that thing with the hologram where you used it like a telephone?

The memory of using Joe’s device to call my mother put a smile on my face.

That was mana. I don’t think it had anything to do with my class. Can’t you guys feel how the mana flows?

I was met with a lot of shaking heads. However, Joe’s face lit up. Hey. This is great news. You can help me with your skills. I need materials. Give me as much metal, wood, and other materials as you can and I’ll make this into a proper town in no time. I know you can make houses and walls but I promise you I can make them better and more suited to work in this world.

I had never thought about editing a rock into a house. Houses were a lot more complicated than anything I had made. Even the bus was easier because it at least had a name. I couldn’t very well edit something into ‘House’ and expect it to come out right.

I motioned for Joe to follow me to a part of the village where there was enough open area to fill with his requested materials.

Fortifying the village was on my list of things to do. What do you need?

Joe took out a notepad and scrawled out a wish list. Just these supplies will be fine. I’m sure you have enough on your plate. I primarily do technology but structures is a pet project of mine.

The list he gave me contained various amounts of wood, metals, and other materials. When he saw my confusion, he explained, I might not need all of it. I just didn’t want to have to keep bugging you every time I want to make something. We need to make insulation for the houses. I’m sure you felt how cold it was last night, even if you were snuggled up to Kalliphae.

Remembering the last night put a smile on my face.

We had plenty of blankets.

A scowl darkened Joe’s face. You bastard. You had blankets? I froze my ass off last night.

I couldn’t help but laugh at Joe’s discomfort. Trying to cover it up, I heaved a sigh.

You’re right. I probably should have made you all beds. I was so tired that I didn’t think about it.

It wasn’t helping. In fact, everyone was getting upset. Joe finally waved me off. Just go. You better not forget to make me a bed tonight.

Walking back to the others, I looked around to find that everyone had made themselves busy. Kiki, Rave, and Run were gone, probably headed out to hunt more monsters for meat. I was kind of jealous. It might have been relaxing to fight some low-level monsters and get some experience.

Stefanie was chatting idly with some of the village women. Wendy flashed me a smile as she walked past me on her way to see if she could help Joe.

Kalli cut me off on my way to speak to Otto. Mel, I need a favor.

Sure. What’s up?

She tugged me over toward the kid’s hut and said, I need some cute outfits for the kids. Make me some dresses and something for the boys.

I didn’t have to ask her what she meant because I could see her vision in her head. I counted the kids and made them two outfits apiece.

If you need more, just come get me.

Kalli giggled, obviously pleased, and said, Thank you so much, Mel. It’s important to me that the littles are happy.

I remembered her sneaking through the dark forest in the middle of the night to take food to the kids back at the orphanage.

Me too. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.

She kissed me and I practically floated out of the hut on my way to find Otto. I found him strutting around with the other villagers. He saw me and said, “These shoes are incredible. I feel like I’m walking on water.”

I grinned and said, “That was just the first step. How do you feel about being awakened?”

Otto gave me a puzzled look. “I woke up just fine this morning. What do you mean?”

Trying a different tack, I suggested, “We need to wake up the inner potential that’s lying dormant within you.”

The man twirled a finger around his beard and said, “I don’t know what that means but I like the sound of it. What do I have to do?”

“Sit here. I’ll do the rest”, I instructed as I sat across from the man.

I had already been inside of the man so I already had a good idea of how his core looked. Just like the unawakened VIPs that I had dealt with back at The Academy, the man’s core was roughly the size of an apple.

I ignited the bronze ball with my mana, tugging his newly formed mana into his channels and allowing it to slowly push me out. Otto looked down at his body in amazement and whispered, “I can feel it.”

However, I wasn’t done with the man just yet. I pulled up his menu.

Name

Otto

Class

Village Elder

Level

1

Affection Level

Reverent

There were no outward clues from the menu that he had been awakened. I figured he would likely level up after a few weeks and it would become apparent.

Village elder was an interesting class. I assumed that it came with the role of leadership. Sadly that wasn’t what the village needed at the moment. With the village decimated by disease, every member needed to pull their weight. He needed an action class, so I changed it to Warrior.

Another thing that I hadn’t messed around with ever since Chogu warned me about Kalli’s wand was editing levels. I had learned from Lavender that I could raise a person’s level to half my own but I had never tried to do so. The fact that he would be weaker with artificially inflated levels than if he had leveled up on his own was a moot point when every ounce of strength was so desperately needed.

I decided to max Otto out.

Name

Otto

Class

Warrior (Edited)

Level

12 (Edited)

Affection Level

Reverent

Otto didn’t look any different on the outside so I asked, “How do you feel?”

He was once again looking himself over, this time at his arms. “I don’t know how to explain it but I feel very powerful.”

A quick look inside of him showed the obvious changes. Dark red mana was raging through his channels. When I got to his core, I discovered a red ball that swirled rapidly. Had my edit done that to him?

The last step was to add some skills and traits to hopefully make Otto more viable in combat. Not wanting to overdo it, I gave him one of each.

Skills

Traits

Heavy Swing (Edited)

Magical Disease Immunity (Edited)

Affinity: Axe (Edited)

When I made him an axe, he practically drooled as he took it out of my hands. “Oh, thank you, my lord. I take it that you have made me into a lumberjack? I will fell many mighty trees with this fine tool.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Nope. You are a warrior. You will use that axe to help defend the village. I hope you don’t mind my asking, but do you still feel like the village elder?”

Otto eyed me curiously, “Why would I not feel like one? Are you taking up the mantle? We would be honored if you did.”

I shook my head, waving him off. “Nope. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t break anything.”

After Otto, I had a good idea of what I wanted to do. I had Otto line the villagers up so that I could awaken them all. I started with the kids. They were the easy ones. Since kids were young and malleable, all I did was awaken their cores and tie their mana to their little channels. I did not assign them classes or edit their levels. With any luck, they would grow naturally when puberty hit.

Kalli helped keep the kids calm while I held their hands and worked on them. I could tell they were nervous but also excited. One little girl wet herself and Kalli calmly soothed her and took her back to our hut to get cleaned up.

While they were gone, one of the boys asked, “Am I going to become powerful like you?”

I leveled a smile at him and asked, “Why do you want to be powerful?”

He thought about it for a minute and said excitedly, “So I can go on adventures when I’m big enough.”

The thought of going on adventures had been what kept me going when I was a kid. For that matter, it was the reason I was addicted to video games. I had never imagined that I’d actually set foot in a fantasy world.

I pat the little boy on the head and replied, “That’s a good reason. I am sure that you will go on some amazing adventures when you’re old enough.”

A chorus of “Me too. Me too.” echoed through the room.

Once the kids were done, I moved on to the rest of the adults. I wasn’t entirely sure about what classes to assign so I decided to ask some questions to get a feel for what people wanted to do.

I began, “Show of hands, who wants to cook?”

The woman who had roasted the cockatrice stepped forward with her hand up. “I love to cook.”

A glance at her menu informed me that she was a level 1 villager named Beatrice. One awakened core and a few quick edits and she was a level 12 Chef. While I couldn’t give her a recipe skill, I gave her an ingredient affinity. For a skill, I added Quick Chop while praying that she didn’t cut herself too badly with it. I edited a few rocks into cookbooks from Earth and told her to just try local ingredients until something tasted good.

I wanted the town to be a little more self-sufficient, so I made a weaver, leatherworker, and smith. That way they would have somebody to make the items they needed in the future.

I made half of the villagers into guards of some sort. The idea that the village could be attacked by monsters or other invaders worried me more than anything. They needed to be able to protect themselves.

I created rangers, scouts, fighters, and even a knight. I wasn’t sure how useful a knight would be but if they squared off against something heavy like a dragon, someone proficient with plate armor might be helpful.

The smells of dinner were wafting through the village by the time I finished. I was shocked to see walls surrounding the tiny huts. Joe had been busy.

Wendy caught me as I made my way over to the dinner table. You are going to need to work your magic again. They didn’t catch enough monsters again.

I yawned and stretched as I thought about what to make.

What do you want to eat tonight?

Wendy gave me a brilliant smile and said, Let’s show them pizza this time.

I was feeling a little drained when we sat down to eat. Editing had a mana cost that I hadn’t noticed before. Between that and awakening the whole village, I was exhausted.

As Wendy had predicted, the pizza was a huge hit. I offered a variety of types, including pepperoni, the works, and plain old cheese pizza.

In traditional kid fashion, the children quickly fought over the cheese slices. I was trying to get Kalli’s attention to make our nightly visit to the toilet area when I was cornered by several of the village women.

They all crowded around me, making me worry that they wanted something I just couldn’t give them. They were all pretty in that rustic peasant way but none of them were Kalli. She glowed in a way that nobody else ever could.

I was in the middle of coming up with an excuse to get away when one of the women spoke. “Sire. Do you think it would be possible to make us some of those dresses that you did for the children? They are so pretty. I don’t know what you want for one but I promise I’ll try to do it if I can.”

I laughed at the misunderstanding which made the women frown and pull back, misreading my reaction. In an attempt to appease them, I said, “That’s a great idea. No need to pay me. I’ll make you all dresses.”

I didn’t stop at just dresses. When I was finished editing, everyone in the village had several changes of attire. Once again, I sent Kalli a message to go to the restroom. We had barely taken five steps outside of the village when once again, we were interrupted.

It was Joe, who hounded us in group chat. Before the two of you wander off to have your fun, don’t forget that we all need beds.

I groaned out loud as I replied.

We aren’t going to have fun. We are going to the bathroom.

Raverly sneered at us. The last time I checked, it doesn’t take two people to go to the bathroom.

Kalli fired right back, saving me the embarrassment of coming up with an excuse. It does when you need Melvin to make you a toilet so you can sit properly.

Joe answered thoughtfully. That’s right. I need to make some kind of a plumbing system tomorrow. I’ll add that to the list.

I didn’t enjoy going to the restroom nearly as much as I normally did. We returned to the village to find the villagers beginning to celebrate. Music filled the air and Stefanie sang as the villagers donned dresses and fancy outfits and began to dance.

Grumbling to myself, I quietly moved from hut to hut, making beds for everyone. I overdid it with the sheets and blankets because I didn’t want Joe waking me up in the middle of the night saying it was cold.

By the time I finished, I was ready to drop. I stepped out of the last hut to find Kalli wearing an exquisite red ballgown. It had a flame pattern that matched her perfectly. I could tell that it was the phoenix dress, magicked into a design of her choosing.

She beamed at me and said, Get dressed and let’s go dance.

My body was screaming at me but, with the way Kalli looked at that moment, if she had commanded me to fly I would have done it.

I realized that I too was wearing magical armor under my clothes so I probed it with my mana. It reacted instantly, making me wonder why I hadn’t tried that earlier. I discovered that I could move the armor around my body and mold it the same way I could with Kalli’s dress. Up until that point the armor had just reacted on its own when my life was in danger.

By the time I was finished, I was wearing a blue tuxedo. I offered her my hand and Kalli dragged me off to dance. While I had no clue what I was doing, neither did Kalli. Or the other villagers for that matter. We held hands and bounced around a raging fire in time to the music.

Just when I thought I could take no more, the music slowed and Stefanie started to sing a ballad. The villagers wasted no time pairing up and falling into one another’s arms.

I quickly took Kalli into mine. I stared into her eyes for what felt like an eternity as we slowly rotated around the crackling fire.

After a while, we noticed the villagers quietly departing to return to their huts for the evening. They weren’t quiet for long. Cheers erupted from every hut as they discovered their new beds. There wasn’t room for much else than the beds but sleeping was the only thing the huts were good for in the first place.

Praying that it was finally time for bed, I tugged Kalli toward our hut. She smiled and moved to follow me. We made it about halfway there before I received a tug on my other arm. I turned back to find one of the kids who pleaded, “Aren’t you going to give us milk and cookies before bed?”

I sagged against Kalli and groaned. Before I could say a word, she kissed me, pressing her body up to mine. I hope that gives you a little more energy.

It did. It really did!