Getting to the meeting I see four scouts. That is to be expected, the other group could not have gotten here so fast. I checked the map only 4 hours ago and the last two were almost 200 miles from our village. They would need days to be back if they follow the planned track.

One of the groups is a little more presentable. They must have gotten back hours ago from what I saw on the map. Having a bath and eating in a familiar setting does wonders for your appearance. The other two, however, are disheveled. Their appearance screams days on the road running as hard as they can. Mud all over their clothes, pieces of grass in the boots, and the sag of their shoulders tell a clear picture of how much they pushed.

“Nash, glad you came quickly, we have important news.” Charlie greets me.

“It’s no problem, what is the news.”

One of the most tired scouts speaks.

“We discovered the most likely way to unlock access to the map room. My partner did the whole trip without sleeping. After we left we were talking. I thought you may have unlocked access because you did the whole trip without sleep. So I stopped two times quickly for 2-hour sleep circles and carried most of the weight. He just focused on doing the whole track awake.”

Inpatient, I prompt him to continue: “And?”

Hitting his partner in the shoulder lightly he says:

“Dave was the only one to gain access to the map room. We cleared the stairs, when he came up he opened the door without any problems. When I repeated, it did not work.”

“Interesting.”

The mayor agrees with it. “Exactly, we find out a good way to unlock. I think only people with at least 25 endurance would be able to replicate the feat. But it might be a little easier. We are probably gonna test smaller distances. That way we can figure out the minimum travel distance needed to get the achievement.”

With my mind going on all cylinders, I say:

“This opens up all kinds of possibilities. For all we know, if someone ran inside the village, it could unlock the achievement. With just 2 people, they can carry nothing, and every hour stops to drink or eat inside the village. Another person could go from place to place, like the mines. He would only carry his weapon and anything he needs he gets in the brief stops.”

“That’s a good idea. For the person inside the city, we can carefully track his progress, and every ten miles he stops in front of the city hall and tries the door. If it works we could have an exact minimum distance. We increase it by a few miles just to make sure. For all we know, it could be a smaller distance like 300 miles. But even if it is only 50 miles less than what you made, it is a significant time investment saved.”

The commander than volunteers:

“Yes, but we don’t need to concern too much right this minute about it. We have two people capable of access. If we post Dave in the map room part of the day and Nash keeps an eye the rest of the time, we already have minimum surveillance capabilities. With four dedicated people in six hours shift, we would be set. That’s round the clock monitoring.”

I volunteer.

“We should also have everybody try the door. They could also be present and visible for the mayor. If there are other unlock conditions we should learn about it.”

“Ok, good idea. Everybody knows what to do, let’s get to work. Nash stay behind, there is something we should discuss.” I wait behind as everybody files out at Charlie’s prompting.

“How are your efforts going? I heard you were setting up a few new industries.”

Seeing his grin, I match it with one of my own.

“Well, you know, just trying to earn an honest living. A few extra silver here and there can open up the way for future profits, and better technologies.”

“You selling +2 items has changed our perspective in the game a lot. Thank you. Giving the guild half the cut has already started to alleviate our concerns about the budget.”

“That’s the least I could do. You guys have been doing a good job given the fucked up situation we are in. Have you bought any new books?”

“A couple, but the information seems not to be worth the expenditure at the moment. I have been told they are not immediately relevant compared to the cost of the licenses. What we did however was to find a new skill. Someone unlocked the Earth shaper class. The skill that comes with it at level ten lets someone shape the ground with an order of magnitude less mana than using the normal process.”

“Normal process? You mean, to draw the Earth rune and will the ground to move in the shape you want?”

“Yeah. Drawing the rune you can do more complex actions, and the result is sturdier. Her skill, for now, is only good enough to level and compact the ground. You couldn’t for example build a house or a wall with it.”

“Now that you are talking about it, why are we not using Earth magic to make the molds and kilns?”

“They do use it for a part of the process, but it is not that helpful. Regardless, on shaping the ground, the girl that unlocked the class would be able to shape a mile of road for every 5 thousand mana. That is the most we could expect a day even after some levels and she accustomed to working with this much mana.”

“Ok, I get it. We could make a super road from here to Sarah’s village in three months with her help. Why are you telling me this?”

“We wanted you to take a look and see if you can make sense of it. We already asked Merlin, but he doesn’t know how to replicate the feat or help someone else unlock the class.”

“Ok, I will talk to her.”

At those words, I hear shuffling behind me and the girl enters. She looks to be 15 years old at the most, a short brunet with an innocent smile on her face.

“Hi, Nash. Do you want to go so I can show you my magic?”

At those words, I look at Charlie and nod.

“We will be taking our leave.”

I tell her to show me the way and we go outside the city to a place good for her to change the ground without getting in the way.

“What can you do?”

“I can only flatten the ground and make the soil a little sturdier. I can’t move the ground too much we are going uphill or downhill. For a couple of meters, I can easily fill potholes, and depressions by taking earth from the higher ground.”

I watch as she works. It is exactly as she describes it. The soil seems to turn slightly fluid and she mostly lets gravity do the work. To finish she compacts a little and it is done.

It is not a perfect result, but it should be good enough now. I move around and chose several places for her to repeat the experiment. Places with rocks, harder ground, places with roots, or uncompacted Earth. The shapes and scenarios are varied, and I slowly start to form an idea of her capabilities.

I pay close attention to the movements and the flow of the mana. I never let her spend more than a dozen points of mana in a single spot. Limiting to two or three in most places.

I’m glad to find she handles the mana I give to her very well. By the end, I’m starting to get a good picture. The exact way she is shaping the mana is of no use for us. At least for now. But the principles behind are very intriguing.

I leave her to talk with Merlin.

“Ok, I will be going to talk with Merlin now. In half-hour pass by Charlie’s office. We should have a better idea then.”

“Ok, I hope I can help the village. I think making roads could be important.”

“No only roads, to shape the taring around, making moats and elevations, to help in constructing and mining, powers like yours will be a big development when we have a few more people.”

With a smile on her face, she leaves. She goes to eat and I keep heading for the training ground.

From my pocket, I take one of the last of the vegetables I brought. I eat it slowly, appreciating each of the nuances of this delicious vegetable. It looks and tastes like a radish, and I relish in the spice taste. It may be too caloric, but it tastes amazing and is full of other needs the human body has.

Almost satisfied, I arrive at his office. He hunches over a book, intending studying the contents. Spread all around him are hand made copies of what we discovered relating to magic. I notice the quality and size of the book. It’s probably from the bookstore.

In a careful approach, I wait for him to notice me. It only takes him a few seconds. He lifts his head thinking and sees me.

“Nash, What brings you here?”

“I heard you were having problems with a new form of magic.”

“Not exactly, but come in. Have you seen the girl shaping the ground?”

“Yes, it is a very interesting way to use magic. I doubt we will be able to use it the same way as her. But we can imitate the process. That is the likely cause of the mana savings.”

“Yes, she sends the mana to the ground, and only after it is integrated, a change occurs. We tend to induce chance it as soon as it leaves our hands.”

“I think that is the result of using a skill granted by the system. The normal process for us is to make the runic conversion in our hands. She only needs to send the mana and after we exert our will. Starting from scratch, we would need to create the malleable effect she does. That is what would require the most experimentation. After that, it is relatively easy.”

We talk for another half hour in the subject and he quickly takes notes of our conclusions and lines of experimentation.

“OK, so you will take care of it and talk to Charlie?”

He answers enthusiastically:

“Ohh yes, I’m going to enjoy unraveling this particular secret.”

Being almost time for the morning meeting, I head there with Merlin.

I hope to see someone being called by the Mayor, but not even the scout who is at the very front is called. A few reasons come to mind but I leave disappointed. We could use another surprise like the map room.

I just go to the forge and start work on something Mr. Blackwood is not gonna be happy to see me doing.

------------------------

“Are you daft or stupid, boy?” I feel a sting as he flicks me in the ear. Ignoring it, I answer:

“I’m both, sir.”

“Now that you mentioned, you look both of those to me, smart pants. I told you not to make currency.” Looking over the die I was starting to clean up from having cast. “A least you didn’t make an imitation for the system coins. The penalties for trying to pass counterfeit currency are no joke. Though make sure to never pay with those coins as well. It is a monumentally bad idea.”

Seeing my nod and he leaves me to my devices. After his previous warning, I had already deduced as much, but an internal coin only for humans could still have its place.

We could pay people in part with these coins and in part with normal currency. For our village, people could buy our products and still gather the money to pay the system at the end of the month.

For other villages, as long as we were consistent, we would be able to not barter with our products or have tallies for customs debt. With coins, commerce would be better and flow faster. At least that was my hope. Let’s see how reality matches my expectations.

We would need to take very good care to make our coin strong. Otherwise, it would be more of a hassle than it was worth. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem. We will only increase or exports and our production was increasing not only in quantity but quality and variety as well.

We had two different metals, weapons, and tools. Soon we would add the inscribed items would be joining the list. Last but not least was firewood. We just needed the shipping capability. If we manage to figure that out, I guess this could be a very important export.

I doubt anyone else would be able to infuse firewood anytime soon. I didn't know why, but so far no one else had much success in infusing wood. Perhaps some hidden bonus of my title was coming in effect.

I work for a couple of hours and leave before lunch. Having already sold another few swords my pocket was getting heavier.

I pass by the smelter and make another few molds and take the coins from a small pile. All of them have a hole in the middle not to be confused with the normal coins and I strike the hammer in a pair of dies.

The small coin is smashed between, and the mark left is clean.

The result is a decent looking coin. In the front, you can see the central tree from Pando and in the back, only a few words show up.

I make it weight as close to ten grams as possible. They are a little bigger than quarters and with a 10 in the front. There are no smaller denominations because for now these would only be used to pay for bigger stuff.

With great care and dedication, I hit every single coin sending a little of my mana trough. I don’t know if it will have any effect, but it never hurts to try.

With each hammer strike, I feel a little closer to Pando. It doesn’t make sense. But it's like I’m starting to bring little of him to this place. And those coins will also make sure people remember Pando. The legendary magic man may just be a fantasy I convinced a few kids off, but Pando’s magic was real. And I would spread word of him to the hearts of every single person.

--------------------------------

Pando’s grove, the heart of humanity

Year 1