Josh looked around the table surrounded by Dwayne, Kim, Suzy, Lucy, Jules, Dave, King Alkao, Aleph Council Leader Hamdir, and Overseer Rendar.

“Okay, so the first piece of business is what to do with the prisoners we have. Lucy, could you begin?” Josh said, looking to her.

“We currently have nearly a hundred and fifty thousand prisoners that are to serve out a sentence for seven years and then pay for their freedom after the fact. We have gone through their contracts and magical bindings with Overseer Rendar and they meet with the Mage’s Guild and College’s guidelines. We are currently determining proficiency and skills to figure out where they would be best at. We want to extend their services to the people of Devil’s Crater and the Aleph. Spring is fast approaching and Devil’s Crater would be able to clear and farm more land with their assistance. They would be good for different jobs with the Aleph and we will make their information available to you if you would desire to have some of them to fulfill their contracts in your residences.” Lucy said.

“Devil’s Crater would be very interested in taking on some of their contracts. It will take us some time to build the correct facilities for them to live in.” Alkao said, trying not to seem too excited by the prospect.

The Devil’s Crater population had been cut nearly in half by the fight with the Demon Horde. They were now armed, armored, and better trained than ever before, but they had more people in the DCA than they did working in Unity or the different sectors of their crater.

Having laborers and people that would be willing to work the jobs that Demons had been told were below them for years would be a great help.

“I will have to bring this up to the council. As you know, we are pretty insular. Having people that fought our forces in our cities is sure to rub some people the wrong way.” Hamdir said.

Josh nodded, expecting as much. The Aleph might be looking to make allies and get to know other people and races, but they were very careful about who they let into their facilities and cities.

“Dave, how are we looking?” Josh asked.

Dave made to speak, but yawned instead.

“Sorry, uhh, okay, so, we’ve been carving out homes and places all across Terra. In the week since the fight against Esamael’s forces, I think all of our allies have asked for a place in Terra. We’ve got most of their embassies up. The trading district is nearly complete and the industrial sector is coming online. The refinery is at a full capacity and I have plans to add another power plant in the city for redundancy. The first green tower is complete and three others have been positioned and are being fed power now. They should be complete in a week or two.”

“So, when can we start bringing more people in here?” Josh asked.

“We can start moving them in now if you want. Shard?” Dave seemed to ask the air.

A Dwarf and Elf Halfling appeared in the middle of the table.

“Dave?” Shard asked.

“How are we looking with our systems?” Dave asked.

“I am eighty percent installed within Terra and everything looks to be going according to plan. I was able to speed up refinery times, as well as tweak power generation and better coordinate the underground traffic system.” Shard said.

“I thought we were going to build our own AI?” Dwayne said.

“I thought about it, but instead I gave a binding contract to Shard. Even though he'll be running things here, he won't have complete access. The contract also creates some compartmentalization that will prevent him from sharing what he learns with those outside of the guild leadership." Dave said.

“It is also very difficult to make an AI.” Hamdir said.

“Yeah, I went through the Aleph’s information on it.” Dave shook his head with a pained expression on his face.

“We talked about it before and I okayed it,” Josh said. “You were still dealing with the prisoners.”

Dwayne nodded in understanding.

“Okay, Lucy, Suzy, how is the network coming along?” Josh asked

“We have been working with the Aleph, the onos and terminals are ready to go.” Suzy said.

“Ono?” Josh asked.

“One directional teleport pads. We didn’t want to call them teleport pads because they’re very different, so we’re calling them onos and before you ask about the terminals.” Suzy said, holding up a hand to stop him. “We figure that we can do the same thing that we had with Devil’s Crater in the beginning. Hamdir can probably better explain it.”

“Thank you Suzy. As you know, the terminals are how we do most of our transactions, except more sensitive materials or larger contracts. With the terminals, it means that people needing just simple goods won’t need to go to Terra all the time. We will be providing the upfront cost as well as a fee for sending goods through your ono network. We will also be able to provide the services of a bank, holding onto people’s items for a fee or holding their wealth for withdrawal or use. However, our method of wealth will not be gold and silver, but rather soul gems. For us we’ve got power plants and stations but we’re using all of that power for various things. People that can produce more mana will become richer, this means that there will be more power available and people will train to increase their willpower and intelligence to become stronger. Making Emerilia and the people in it stronger. The terminals will also work as control panels for the onos. If someone wants to come through the Ono, they pay the fee with gold, or soul gems, or other items. The terminals will notify Shard that a ticket to Terra has been purchased, and he in turn will notify the teleport pad's controllers. As people travel between the two locations, they will be checked to make sure the trip was paid for and then be teleported to Terra.” Hamdir finished.

“Well, that certainly fixes a lot of issues we’ve been having.” Dave said.

“Exactly. In major locations, we will have Florence’s people and the terminals. In remote locations, we will have just the onos and terminals.” Suzy said.

“How are we looking for time scale on everything?” Josh asked.

“Right now and our production capacity is of five new ones a day. The most time consuming aspect of this whole thing is going to be actually going from town to town and placing drop pads,” Lucy said, looking to Suzy who nodded.

“Okay, let’s get that started as soon as possible,” Josh said.

Dave raised his hand.

Josh pointed to him.

“In the beginning, we’re not going to be able to have that many teleport pads here to take in people, so it will be easy to manage the people coming in.” Dave gave Josh a look.

Josh hid his wince. It was a good cover while there were other people around, but the truth was that even with all of the resources they were going to get from Selhi and Gudalo, the costs of making Terra and the ono network wasn’t small and teleport pads still cost nearly ten times the price of a ono.

The treasury was looking pretty scarce. Getting the various allies in their embassies and traders renting their spaces and selling their wares would bring in some much needed wealth.

With the Aleph using Soul gems as currency, we can build up some wealth there with the power station facility and the secondary power plant. Also, food always sells, so, the greenhouses will be good. Having the free labor from the prisoners will allow us to build our reserves a bit more, Josh thought to himself.

Rendar raised his hand.

“Please speak, Overseer Rendar.” Josh said.

“Thank you for letting me sit in on this meeting and overlook the transition of the prisoners to their new accommodations. I have been greatly impressed with the way in which you have handled everything.” Rendar said.

A pop-up blurred in Josh’s vision.

Your standing with the Mage’s Guild has increased from Neutral to Friendly.

Your standing with the Mage’s Guild has increased from Friendly to Ally.

“Thank you for your kind words.” Josh said, bowing his head slightly.

“I was wondering what you mean by this ono network? My curiosity has been piqued and I’m always interested in learning more.” Rendar smiled.

“Well, I guess the rest of the world is going to know soon enough. The Aleph have been making simplified versions of the teleport pads which we are going to be placing in every city, town and point of interest across Emerilia. Terra will act as a hub to move people and goods across Emerilia at great speeds.” Josh said.

“That is quite the undertaking,” Rendar said. “Will it not disrupt trade?”

“It will disrupt some trade. Big items such as crops will still be cheaper to move by wagon and ship. We are also going to be needing a lot of people from those shipping and merchant companies to be assisting in moving items around Terra.” Josh said.

“It seems that Emerilia will become a much smaller place.” Rendar said, with a thoughtful look on his face.

“The Mage’s Guild and College are both welcome to make an application to rent residences here. It will probably be easier for the office of the Overseers to be in a location that they can move across Emerilia in a matter of seconds.” Josh said.

Rendar nodded.

“That would indeed be beneficial. I know that there are many contracts with the Mage’s Guild that I could pass along.” Rendar said.

“I know that someone would be interested and we are going to have a number of Players and adventurers coming through here.” Josh said.

Rendar nodded his head.

He’s seen the possibilities. I have no doubt he’ll pass the information up higher. Josh hid his smile.

There were no other large things for the meeting so it quickly ended.

Some guild members went off to deal with their different jobs, or talk to various people. Josh went to his office where he found Cassie waiting for him, looking out over Terra.

“Hey,” He said, closing the door behind him.

“Hey Josh!” Cassie said, looking away from the window.

“Enjoying the view?” He asked, gesturing at the city beyond.

“It’s nice, but we might need to slow down on increasing the size of the place. I know you’ve got plenty of plans, but with everything, we’re very nearly scraping the bottom of the guild’s coffers.” Cassie said with a severe look.

“Lucy tells me it enough for five people, I don’t need you to tell me as well.” Josh complained, moving to his seat and slumping into it.

Cassie sat on his lap. He made to kiss her, a finger stopping him.

“Business first,” Cassie said.

“Okay, business first.” Josh said.

“You have Suzy and Dave running the business and development side of things for the most part. Its mostly a cover for Lucy who is using it to manage her spy networks. They might be great fighters, but how do they know how to run this all? It’s getting way too complicated.” Cassie said.

Josh snorted. “Trust me, Dave and Suzy aren’t even going full out. Dave’s ideas might be a bit expensive up front. He was the one that talked me into making Terra what it is and not just some two apartment blocks. Though, look at his growing towers, the power station he and Malsour made, or the refinery. We’re generating more power than ever, power that the Aleph just said that they would accept in lieu of gold and silver. The gardens are coming up on their first harvest. We’ve already got buyers interested in Devil’s Crater. Cliff-Hill Industries, from their smithies to their factories, will be putting up places in Terra to sell products and services. Florence has the Exdar’s trading halls ready to go. The last piece is the onos and terminals. Once those are in place, then we can wait, build up our reserves.” Josh said.

“Why do you have so much faith in Dave and Suzy?” Cassie asked.

“They’re good friends of mine and I know that on Earth, they’re really good with managing these kinds of things.” Josh said.

“You’re not going to tell me who they are on Earth, are you?” Cassie asked.

“They left that life alone to become who they are now. They’re E-heads to the core.” Josh said.

“Well, ready to add another E-head to that roster?” Cassie said with a smile.

“Are you sure?” Josh asked, holding back his excitement. Becoming an E-head was a big deal.

“I’m bored of all the publicity, the damned meetings, wearing skimpy clothes to get more followers. This is where you are and I prefer to be here with you.” Cassie blushed, looking at her hands.

Josh laughed, hugging Cassie to him and kissing her. She didn’t stop him this time.

***

Dave walked into the training area. It had some of the strongest magical coding written into the walls as some of the most powerful Players on Emerilia duked it out here.

It didn’t take him long to find Deia and Anna fighting it out. They were using swords and magic. With their abscondita armor, a full powered blast could take out half of their power reserves. With a charge of two million, their strength was becoming scary.

And we haven’t even reached the level of some of the more famous POE adventurer groups. Dave smiled, there was always someone stronger. He had but stepped upon an incredibly long path.

The Council of Anvil and Fire had been meeting nearly everyday with the ongoing Dwarven Tournaments. He had been watching some of the fights that his fellow Master Smiths talked about. It seemed like the hidden stars of Emerilia had come out to show off their strengths.

Some of the arenas had needed to be rebuilt after some of the preliminaries.

Dave had wanted to join in on the fights, but he had too much work to do and he didn't want to give away his new fighting style.

An orb seemed to materialize in his hand.

He had multiple metal orbs circling him at all times, but with their stealth runes, he was the only one that could sense them. He'd been working on the magical coding more and more, trying to reduce all signs of them.

The orb disappeared again, floating around Dave as he once again looked to the fight.

Some of the Stone Raiders had been able to get into the tournament. Steve, Kol and Gurren were off watching it while Malsour was working with Dave on their secret projects with Suzy, Induca was off in Devil’s Crater visiting with Fornau, Quindar and their children.

Alkao entered the side of the arena. His eyes found Dave and waved to him, Dave waved back to the large Demon King.

He waited at his spot, Alkao making his way over.

“Come to see your girlfriend duke it out?” Dave asked as Alkao got close enough, the two of them clasping forearms.

“It’s fun to see her beating up other people.” Alkao grinned.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that you two have been having private training sessions.” Dave grinned.

“A man has to keep some of his dignity. She beat my red ass across the damn arena.” Alkao sighed.

Dave clapped Alkao on the shoulder.

“That I can understand, the trouble with going out with a strong woman. Damn stubborn and one hell of a fighter!” Dave laughed.

Alkao chuckled.

“The strength of your partner reflects well on you, better to rise together than dominate the other.”

“Damn, looks like she might have actually knocked some knowledge free in there, or do you have a concussion?” Dave looked at Alkao as if he was injured.

Alkao rolled his eyes.

“I saw that you are now making those floating orb items. What are their uses?” Alkao asked.

“My cast time with complicated objects takes a long time, like with the armor. Hell, nearly fried my damn brain making everyone armor back in Devil’s Crater.” Dave said, his voice turning sober at the thoughts of all those that had died.

If only I had been faster if, I could have come up with the idea before.

“It was a great loss, but without you, many more of my people would have died,” Alkao said. He seemed to read through Dave’s thoughts, his voice neither condemning or carrying pity.

Dave looked to Alkao, the two of them sharing a moment before Dave turned to the fight.

“Well, much like the bracelet, I needed to have things set up that I could call in an instant. I used the idea of Shard and Steve’s runed spheres. With a little movement, the orb’s can carry out multiple different spells and orders. With the originals, I conjured them.” Dave had one of the orb’s appear. “These, I made out of real materials and placed a soul gem core at the center. All I do is conjure metal inside, move the inner parts to the correct formation and send it off to carry out what I want. Instead of memorizing and casting a huge spell, I just need to change a few runes and move a few pieces.”

“Never fight Dave even when it seems there’s nothing around. Got it,” Alkao said, releasing the orb. It faded into non-existence.

“We’ve fought some powerful enemies and I’ve recently figured out just how powerful some of our opponents are going to be,” Dave turned thoughtful. “Our path moving forward is not going to be easy. We’re going to need every trick that we can come up with.”

Alkao nodded in silent agreement.

They watched Deia and Anna fighting, their powerful attacks cancelling each other out. The air around Anna was distorted, taking on the white windy appearance of the sky guardian that she had used against Esamael’s forces.

Deia’s flames seemed to make wings from her back and under her feet.

After seeing the strength Anna gained with augmenting her body with Air, Deia has been working harder on her augmentation. Denur’s lessons had sunk in, using less mana but in a focused way to alter her battlefield and the way in which she fought.

“Deia is powerful when attacking but lacking in defense. Whenever her momentum is halted she tries to attack harder instead of waiting for an opportunity to regain the offensive,” Alkao said, Dave doubted that the Demon King would have said that a year ago.

“Anna is calm and calculated, but she is using the same attacks and feints as before. Her movements are really simple when you break them down but, she combines them constantly, changing them all the time. With her processing power, it’s hard for someone to beat her unless they have overwhelming power. I wonder if this is the power of an artificial intelligence inside the body of a Beast Kin?” Dave said.

“It does make for an impressive fight, but there are always people beyond the predictable,” Alkao said as the two fighters sped up, their blows ringing out, the barriers flaring slightly from the fallout of the two women’s attacks.

“If someone is able to fight faster than Anna or just faster than her mind, then her plans would be thrown into chaos.”

Dave nodded. “You raise a good point.”

It made Dave think about his own stats. He had a really high Intelligence, but his Agility was comparatively low.

At first, he had been fighting on the front lines with Steve, Anna and occasionally Deia, but since Lox and Gurren had joined Party Zero, there were five, sometimes six melee fighters, out of the nine party members.

Dave’s strength was his ability to support others. Add an enchantment here, give a person a weapon there. Drop a mana bomb there. While he was fighting, he needed to split his thoughts, to focus on fighting.

He wanted to be at the front, to be fighting toe to toe, but as he continued to ponder on this, he came to the conclusion his biggest impact would be as a rear support.

My Vitality hasn’t ever been the strongest, now Deia and Anna can take it out with two hits. What’s going to happen if something we fight gives me three hits?

Steve was a pure tank. His hit points were high and his mana barrier was stronger than Deia, Suzy, Anna and Dave’s abscondita armor combined.

Gurren and Lox had been training hard. While their Strength and Agility were still less than Dave’s, their Vitality, training, gear and classes were all directed to make them stronger fighters. They were specialized Dwarven tanks.

Dave could trust them to take the front. He wasn’t going to try and change his weapons master class. It was still a great boost to his stats and if he did stay back, there might be a time when he needed to run forwards and cut down those that put pressure on his frontline teammates.

“You look rather deep in though,” Alkao said.

“I just thought that I should stop fighting at the front. Sure I’m decent at it, but with my orbs and my knowledge, I’m better at conjuring items to support my people. I’m a walking, talking, magical coding and enchanting machine. ‘Bout time I started thinking and fighting like it.”

Alkao grunted.

“I’ve learned that sometimes it is harder to stay in the rear than be amongst the fighting.”

Deia's blow went too high, Anna jetting from one side and then back in and under the attack in a blur. Her sword stopped just centimeters from Deia’s front.

Deia jumped back, pausing before lowering her weapons. She bowed to Anna slightly. She was showing now. Dave had altered the armor so that it would change with her as she and the baby inside her continued to grow.

Wish she would take it easier. Dave thought, frowning.

Anna and Deia looked over to where Alkao and Dave were standing in the bleachers.

Alkao and Dave waved.

“Guess we should get down there,” Dave said, making his way to the stairs leading down into the arena.

“After you,” Alkao followed him down to the Arena floor, Deia and Anna were talking and gathering up the gear that they had put to the side.

“How did the meeting go?” Deia asked as Dave greeted her with a kiss.

“Good. Looks like the Mage’s guild and college are happy with us. Also, seems like Alkao and Devil’s Crater are going to be getting a lot of laborers in the near future.” Dave said.

“It won’t be long until winter is gone. There’s plenty of work to be done,” Alkao said.

“You decided to come and watch, trying to pick up hints on how to beat me?” Anna teased.

“One day, I will get through that stubborn shell, though for today, I will settle for taking you out to get some lunch.” Alkao smiled, the two of them only having eyes for one another.

Dave wrapped his arm around Deia as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“What are you two looking at?” Anna said, noticing their looks.

“Will you go out already!?” Dave said, Deia giving Anna a look that agreed with her fiance’s words.

“This again?” Anna groaned.

Alkao smiled, putting a teasing arm around her. She let it settle there, the corners of her mouth curling upwards.

“Will you join us for lunch?” Anna asked.

“No can do, we’ve got a check up.” Dave said.

“Looks like you’ve got him well trained.”

“He remembers this stuff more than me. I feel like I’m some kind of prize winning cow!” Deia said.

“I would never say such a thing!” Dave said, looking to Alkao for support.

“You best not or else I’d be kicking you out of bed,” Deia threatened, nestling her head into his neck.

“I don’t think you can sleep without your body pillow,” Dave said with quiet confidence.

Deia looked up at him with thinned eyes.

Dave’s stoic expression broke into a smile, Deia’s lips quivering for a moment before she looked away, trying to hide her amusement.

“Alright, well, we’ll get together sometime later,” Anna said as she and Alkao started to walk away.

“Have fun!” Dave said, leading Deia in another direction towards their apartment.

“I thought we were going to the appointment?” Deia asked, intertwining her fingers in Dave’s

“We are, but you’ve been fighting with Anna for a few hours.”

“Oh,” Deia sniffed her pits. “You might have a point,” she said, blinking as if she was about to pass out.

Dave shook his head at her antics.

***

Jules looked up from her desk. She had been working for four days straight after the battles in Gudalo. There were wounded streaming in from everywhere it seemed, from their allies and Stone Raiders, to Esamael’s people that were found broken on the ground.

With magic, they had been able to save a great number of people, though not everyone had survived. The streets and apartments of Terra had been filled with the worst cases. The Stone Raiders’ allies sent their healers to help.

Jules had turned to looking after the people left in her care or taking time to recover. Those with lost limbs took more time to heal due to the cost of magic and the toll on the person regrowing the limbs.

When Dave knocked on her door with Deia in tow, Jules’ face lit up.

“Come in!” She said with a wide smile, dealing with so many injuries had put her in a rather somber mood.

Having Dave and Deia there with her expecting brought some much needed happiness into her day.

“Hey Jules.” Deia said walking into the room. Dave closed it behind them.

“Hello Deia, how are you feeling?” Jules said, moving to the examination table, tapping it.

Deia jumped up on it as Jules rubbed her hands together to get them warmed up.

“Good, the nausea has reduced. I’ve been training some.” Deia paused at Jules’ severe look.

“Oson’Deia, I told you to calm down on the training. You do it or else, I’ll damn well hound you down at the arena!” Jules said, her eyes boring into Deia.

“Okay.” Deia said in a small voice.

“Good, simple exercise is fine, but heavy strain on your body is only going to hurt you and your baby. You Elves give birth faster so you’re nearly halfway through your pregnancy. Just another three months and your boy or girl will be out and ready to bug you two.” Jules said, pushing Deia back onto the table and moving her shirt out of the way as she ran her hands over her stomach.

A smile reappeared on Jules’ face as she could see the tiny baby within Deia moving around. The baby, gave a slight kick making Deia and Jules smile and giggle a bit.

Jules’ eyebrows rose as she examined the child.

“Do you want to know if it will be a boy or girl?” Jules asked.

“No, we’d like to keep that a mystery,” Deia said.

“Very well,” Jules nodded, checking things once again and then taking her hands away.

“Okay, well they look healthy as far as I can tell. Also, they're going to be pretty damn powerful on the magical side.”

“Good, need someone to compete with Deia,” Dave smiled.

Jules moved to her table, Deia and Dave taking seats in front of her table.

“Okay, for the next three months, take it easy. Don’t use more than fifty percent of your magic. Try to keep away from big fights, definitely not on the front lines. Also, tone down the training. Stress on your body and the baby is doing no one favors,” Jules warned Deia.

“I’ll tone it down on the rigorous stuff and the fighting.” Deia said.

“I’ll make sure she does.” Dave reassured Jules.

“Good!”

“What am I going to do for three months?” Deia moaned.

“Well, could see your family some, read, visit the Aleph and Demons. I know that they’d be interested in learning some fighting skills from you. Also, we can go see the Dwarven Tournaments or go on a few scouting trips.” Dave said.

“Okay, maybe a break would be fun,” Deia said, touching her jaw.

“Could see your mom and your sister as well, after all your mom’s in a similar situation,” Dave grinned.

“Still weird how elven grandmothers and granddaughters will be pregnant at the same time as if it’s natural,” Jules said, shaking her head.

***

King Sigaird finished signing the final proclamation. Lord Orkan of the Orcs and Gnomes to the southwest and Lord Fea’Iso of the Elves to the southeast put down their own quills.

The pieces of paper seemed to turn together, light filling the room as they combined into one single scroll.

A pop up appeared in front of the leaders and their people.

People of Gudalo! A treaty has been signed between the Gnomes, Orcs, Elves and Humans of the continent, revoking the borders to the south of the country. All hostilities will cease immediately. A forum made up of the best and brightest will be made from the citizens of Gudalo.

Applications and testing will begin in one month.

Together Gudalo will become stronger than before!

“Well, it looks like we're finally done!” Sigaird said, looking to the other leaders.

“What will you do now?” Fea’Iso asked.

“Well, make sure that it is a smooth transition from my reign to the new leaders of our nation, clean up any of the remaining mess left behind by Esamael and then retire as a King.” Sigaird stood.

“Oh, and start adventuring again with my wife.”

Sigaird grabbed Lady Merguine’s hand. She let out a shriek as he pulled her close and kissed her.

To any that were analyzing her, her last name fell away, changing to Sigaird.

“Strong man does what he wants, not what he is told.” Orkan said with approval.

“How were you able to hide your identity that well?” Fea’Iso asked Merguine.

“Think of it as a blessing.” Merguine said with a smile.

The Lady of Air had been the one to bless her. Her aim had been to unite Gudalo, but Esamael had started to move.

Still, she had not left her two Champions to their own devices. It seemed that she had a role to play in getting the Stone Raiders to act.

With the information that the Stone Raiders were able to gather on Esamael and his people, little effort was spent in rooting out his supporters amongst those with power and positions of nobility.

Once they were gone, there were few that openly opposed his move. Sigaird's hope was that with the unification of the people under one government and the integration of all cultures, Gudalo would never again return to such polarity.

I never thought that I would be happy about Esamael’s greed, though it will certainly aid in paying the Stone Raiders.

They had saved Gudalo and given them a path forward. Esamael, who had been taxing all of the people around him, as well as the businesses selling to Per’Ush and the teleport pad in Emaren, had amassed a large amount of wealth, wealth that was returned to the crown.

Sigaird had lowered the cost of entering Gudalo and people were flooding in.

Gudalo had seen the darkness of greed, but now with the rot cut away, they could once again grow and prosper into something that would make the world look at them with respect.