John logged in to a very unwelcome notification the next morning.

[Quest “Build It and They Will Come” Failed.]

That was all it said, but that was all it had to say. He’d hoped that the tree would count for the purposes of the quest, but it appeared that the quest was either more literal than he expected, or the tree simply didn’t count. Missing out on 2,000 leveling points certainly hurt, especially with the 1,500 he’d spent on the shrine. Still, it was what it was and he went about his morning routine.

His time with the tree was marred only by the lack of the fruits it had been growing, and a faint sense of loss and accomplishment that came with their disappearance. The food for the chookers arrived earlier than usual, but that was fine because he was in a hurry after finishing with the tree.

By the time true dawn approached he was already headed down the road to town and as the first rays peaked over the horizon he was outside Samantha’s door. He knocked tentatively, and immediately heard the rattling of the chain, followed by the door springing open.

“You’re late!” Sam said in a shrill hiss. “I’ve been waiting for almost ten minutes!” She then thrust out her hand. John looked at it for a moment, and she gave a small growl. “The money boy! The money!”

“Oh,” John said, then appeared a gold coin and handed it over.

Sam looked at it for a moment and then grunted, disappearing it into her own inventory. Then, in the same hand, appeared a piece of deep, black cloth. She thrust it at John who scrambled to take the piece. It was light, and airy, weighing so little he wasn’t actually sure he was holding anything. Quickly he inspected it.

[Name: ???]

[Quality: ???]

[Description: ???]

“I… uh… I can’t Inspect this,” he admitted.

“Then I guess you’re going to just have to trust I did a good job with the materials I was given aren’t you?” Sam said smugly.

John just nodded, his eyes still traveling over the bolt of cloth which, in the rapidly rising light, he could now see wasn’t pure black, but shades of deep, dark grey, giving it a texture and helping him to pick out the images of leaves woven into it.

“Was there something else you needed?” Sam asked, sounding annoyed.

“Uh,” John thought quickly. “I need some kind of padding to go under this, I think.”

Sam grunted, then appeared a large bundle of soft wool. She thrust it at John, who once again found himself grabbing frantically. “There, now, git, it’s time for my nap!” And with that, the old woman slammed the door once more.

John shook his head and then wandered toward the square. He could go back to the farm and prepare the plots to receive the alchemist’s sponge, but he’d have to come back to town eventually to get the box from Frank anyway. Figuring he could relax for a bit, John sat down in the square and brought up the web browser.

For the next couple of hours John relaxed, taking some time to do some reading, and catch up on his emails. There was a lot of the former, and not many of the latter. Most of the people he’d known in school had moved on to either job apprenticeships or college and didn’t really have much time for anything else. Still, it was a relaxing way to spend some time.

“A little eager this morning son?” Frank asked as the older man sat down next to John.

Closing his browser John gave the man a half-smile. “Figured there wasn’t much reason to go back to my farm when I’d have to come right back to pick up the box anyway,” he admitted.

“Fair enough,” Frank said as he appeared a long box in his hands. It was simple yet elegant, wrought of the nebula marble with a flourishing tree carved on the top and the sides textured with roots and leaves. The lid sat so flush that John couldn’t tell it was there until Frank took it off to show him the inside. The bottom of the box was blank and smooth, but the bottom of the lid had a raised relief of the same tree as was on its top.

“Perfect!” John said happily.

“Glad you like it son,” Frank said, handing it over. John disappeared the box and then appeared the twenty silvers he owed the man. Frank took them without fanfare. “Hope you know what you’re getting yourself in for John. The capital isn’t a place you want having eyes on you most times.”

John’s elation died down and he gave a somber nod. “Unfortunately, I think their eyes are going to turn this way one way or another anyway. At the very least Knight Commander Helen thinks so,” he confided in the older man.

Frank nodded and sighed. “Well, best of luck to you son.” The older man then slapped John’s knee, stood, and then headed for his stall.

Standing up John stretched, and then headed down the road. Less than thirty minutes later he was standing outside the knights’ outpost, this time, however, there was a squire waiting. It was the young halfling girl from before. Elenia, if John recalled her name correctly.

“Good morning Groundskeeper John!” she said cheerily. “Knight Commander Helen is expecting you; she says you are free to visit her in her office when you arrive.”

John nodded politely. “Thanks… uh… Squire Elenia?”

Elenia giggled. “Yep! And no problem, now head on in!” She gestured for him to go through the gate.

Following the prompting, John made his way inside, and then turned toward the commander’s office. He quickly crossed the compound, once more ignoring the smells coming from the mess hall, and entered the small building that held Helen’s office and (he suspected) her personal rooms. Knocking on the door to her office he was met with an instant “Enter.” Opening the door and entering the office, John found Helen sitting at her desk, and a slim, wiry young angelkin sitting across from her.

“Come in John,” Helen said and gestured to the other empty chair. “This is Gary, he’ll be taking your package to the capital with him.”

Gary gave a somewhat lazy wave to John, and Helen frowned but forbore to comment. John closed the door behind him and then navigated to the seat. Settling himself down he gave Gary an interested look.

“Gary is a Courier, with the imperial courier’s guild. He’s worked with us before and I trust him implicitly,” Helen said, her tone indicating that she’d better be able to or else.

Gary shrugged in that same lazy fashion. “You pay well, and I know better than to make an enemy of the Knights Magi.”

Helen nodded, then looked to John. “I take it you’ve prepared the items we spoke of?”

John nodded and reached over to the desk, appearing the box, the silk, and the wool. Gary looked at the items quizzically, then his eyes widened and he whistled inaudibly as he eyed the silk. Helen controlled her own reactions much better, and simply watched as John took the lid off the box and arranged the wool and silk inside.

Satisfied, John stepped back. Helen, needing no prompting, pulled a large box out from behind her desk and reached inside, pulling out the familiar fruits one by one and placing them in the box. She then placed the lid on top. Box closed she picked it up, one handed, and slid it into a satchel that was already half filled with papers. She firmly latched the satchel and then held it out to Gary.

The angelkin man leapt to his feet, suddenly far more serious, and took the satchel with great care. “You know who to deliver those to?” Helen asked.

“No one other than Commander Grand Cross Regius will see these,” the man affirmed. He then gave a nod to both John and Helen, and walked out of the room.

“Hmmm good timing John. I was worried I’d have to hold him here for a day or two. Couriers always get antsy when you make them wait,” Helen explained.

“Is he going to ride all the way to the capital?” John asked.

“Hah, no, he’ll call for a Portal at the Gateway of Worlds. Speaking of, Tet has some pay for you. The trials saw heavy use yesterday, and we expect the same today,” Helen further informed him.

John nodded, then asked, “Is there anything else I should do?”

“Not at the moment,” Helen said in return. “The best you can do now is wait and pray for a favorable outcome.”

John ran his fingers through his beard but nodded. “I guess I’ll get back to my farm, I need to prepare some new plots.”

“A good enough plan. And a good day to you John,” Helen said as she picked up her next piece of paperwork.

“You as well,” John said, and then left the study and headed out of the compound.

Once safely back on his farm, John realized what he needed to do first thing wasn’t prepare new plots, but enlarge his owned area. Currently he had something like 24 acres, but six of those were tied up by the Gateway of Worlds, which sat right in the middle of them. He’d planned twelve of them as pasture land, which left only the six or so that his plots, rituals, barn, and house were on. If he was going to give this a serious go, he would eventually need more land, and soon he wouldn’t be able to claim more easily, he'd have to buy it.

Taking out his claim spikes, John headed north to the edge of his current claim. He then measured off 1,040 feet to the north, placed another spike, and then measured off another 1,040 feet to the east. Finally he planted the final claim spike and received a prompt.

[You have staked out an area of 1,081,600 square feet, do you wish to add it to your existing claim?]

[Y/N]

“Yes,” John said.

[New claim size registered.]

John picked up his claim spikes and headed back to the cellar. He needed to prepare his plots for planting, which meant he needed more bodies, so he sent a note off to Ex and Sally, asking them to bring him a full 240 bodies today, and another 240 tomorrow. He then made the mana stones he’d need for the purification ritual and then started preparing the plots to receive new planting.

By the time noon had rolled around Ex and Sally had come and gone, and John had shoved the massive pile of bodies into the Purification ritual. The plots were clear and ready for the new fertilizer (though once the bodies were cleaned, he’d only have enough for six of them), and he was finally able to contemplate his next task on the list. He had to saturate his new land with his mana so it’d be part of his Domain.

He’d done the math (twice) and it would take him more than 200 hours to generate enough mana to completely saturate his full set of lands. Fortunately, nothing said he had to do that all at once, so he’d decided he would take it as it came, one hour at a time; which was how he found himself setting in for a long afternoon of mana wasting.