Zen felt a little overwhelmed by the revelations of the last day, and he focused on the village of Coral Heights. He had been absent the first few days as he mapped the area, and after he had a meal and a good nights sleep. He started the next morning by using the lord system and getting to know his villagers a little. The first thing he did was pull up Cora and see what the retainer options gave him to work with.

Cora’s character information appeared before him, which had her avatar slowly rotating around in the upper left corner. The general information gave her physical and personality characteristics. According to the sheet Cora’s main attribute were in the physical area, and the highest attributes were her dexterity and endurance. Both of these were at 8, which was actually higher than his. Next came agility and awareness, which were at 7. Her lowest was her intelligence which was at 4, and everything else was at 5.

He also noticed that she didn’t have some of the attributes that he had, and her skills were sorely lacking and restrained to only combat and some tracking skills. He knew that if he added his extra stat points he would be well ahead of her, but if starting out at the same level he was still a little lacking. This made him wonder if players and natives had different types of character stats.

The second part was her personality and it showed her current state of mind. She had scared, confused, insecure, well fed and well rested tags on her showing her as current status. A listing of stubborn, loyal, hard working and curious were listed as Cora’s personality traits.

“Bena have you taken a look at Cora’s information yet?” Zen asked.

“Yes.” Came a voice from over by the couch.

“I think her intelligence is something we have to rectify, which means she is probably illiterate.” Zen mused. “You think that should be the first step for her?”

“I agree, but we shouldn’t neglect her combat ether.”

“Then have her work with Vern with the bow, in the morning and education in the evenings?” Zen suggested.

“That sounds good.” Bena agreed. “I would also have her go out hunting as well and maybe learn how to craft better arrows.:

Zen nodded his head in agreement and looked at the options for her. He went to the progression screen and expanded the options searching for the ones they just discussed. The screen brought up her current statuses which were in blue. The first was Archery, which was at level 3, and he slid the bar over to level 5. The bar showed level 0 to level 3 in blue ending half way between level 3 and level 4. The rest of the bar was in red meaning that she hadn’t attained that rank. He set it to notify him when she reached her goal.

He did the same things with all of the other skills and attributes that he wanted her to improve in, which included literacy that was currently between level 0 and level 1. He made the largest push there setting the target at level 5. These options wouldn’t force her to focus on these skills and stats, but would create opportunities and urge her in the right direction. Zen double checked to make sure everything was set, and then he pushed activate to make his decisions go in to effect.

Zen then pulled up the village activity list, and saw currently the priorities were focused on defenses, which included repairing the wooden walls, and training the villagers to defend themselves. Currently his guards had started to teach some of the villagers how to defend against attacks. They currently only had 89 people in Coral Heights, which excluded those in the manor and any retainers. There were 58 males and 41 females. 11 elderly, 61 adult and 17 children. There had been 4 people that had immigrated to Coral Heights since he took over, not including the family he brought with him yesterday.

He pulled up the statistics of the village and found his overall approval was 79% and overall happiness was only at 43%. The biggest complaint was housing and food, and the largest improvement was in security. Zen felt this was very similar to many civilization building games where he had to have minimum happiness to improve the number of people, and since housing was a complaint he had to start there.

“What type of houses do you think would be best with the natural resources we currently have?” Zen asked.

“Since the winds are strong here and it is an open plateau, then house made out of mud bricks would be the best. Most of the houses here are wood, and the wind goes right through them.” Bena said.

“Do we have anybody that can make mud or brick and show some of the villagers how to do it?”

“Yes Ross has the knowledge.” Bena confirmed. “It would be a good idea to bring him in and talk to him about it and see what he needs.”

“Agreed.” Zen said as he got up from the three dimensional table, and headed for the door where he exited his sanctuary, and entered his bedroom.

Sanctuaries were truly unique, because as he spent time in there, his avatar still remained in the world. Bena had explained to him that when he entered the sanctuary. He left a avatar in his place making it looked like he was working. He also found out that the avatar came in contact with others it would notify him, and he could ether renter the avatar, or control him from his location in the sanctuary. This was something all lord players had.

His Avatar was currently sleeping so when he entered the avatar he came awake and sat up in the bed. He was dressed naked and suddenly he wondered if this choice was Bena’s doing. He only could chuckle as he slipped out of the bed and into his clothes. This was a natural occurrence, but he realized in most games players had a type of underwear or had to equip clothes. He realized he could do it ether way, and this was just another option that led Zen to feel this was similar to reality.

He left his bedroom and walked down the stairs where he was met by Bena. She bowed to him as he made his way across the room to where they had eaten the night before. There were four chairs in place with currently one having dishes in front of it. He smiled and then said. “Bena could you aske Banick and Ross to come here for a talk.”

“Yes my lord.” Bena said as she walked away leaving Elina to bring out some milk and pour it in to his glass.

“Thank you Elina.” Zen said.

Elina’s cheeks flushed a little as she bowed to the thanks and quickly returned to the kitchen. Zen sighed and then took a sip of the milk, and waited for his breakfast to appear. Soon Cora stepped out with a plate followed by Elina with a mug of water and a pitcher. They placed the plate and mug in front of him and bowed and backed away and stood at the side of the room. The breakfast was simple and it consisted of eggs and mutton with a light creamy white gravy. He took a few bites and smiled to the two and then said.

“Elina, Cora, the food is good.” Zen expressed. “Please give my compliments to Bena as well. I will also have Bena explain my expectations of both of you so please pay attention to what she tells you. I believe both of you are special and look forward to your growth.”

Both Cora and Elina bowed as Zen ate his breakfast. Soon after he was finished Banick and Ross entered the dining area, and Zen couldn’t help but smile. Elina quickly cleared his plates away as Zen motioned for both of them to take a seat. Cora stood by waiting for instructions if Zen would need something, and had her eyes looking downward trying not to make eye contact.

“Banick I brought you here because you are head of the guards, and I wanted you to know of my intentions.” Zen stated. “That way if you see a better option you can tell me about it.”

“Thank you my lord for your consideration.” Banick answered.

“Ross I have been informed that you have knowledge of building walls.” Zen said plainly. “Why I don’t intend to build a stone wall in this village at the moment. I do want to make things better for the villagers and relieve at least a little of there anxiety. So I wanted to ask you if you have knowledge of building blocks out of mud and grass, or if you have any other options that you can share with some of the craftsmen of the village?”

“My lord it is possible to build blocks out of mud and grass.” Ross said. “We could build mold for the blocks and then stack them out to dry.”

“I will leave the details to you and Banick, but I only ask you to teach some of the villagers how to do it.” Zen stated.

“Yes my lord.” Ross said.

“Banick, how are the defenses going?” Zen turned to Banick and asked with a smile.

“They are improving by the day My lord.” Banick stated. “We are starting to build some small stands behind the walls so archers can keep watch and shoot at any beasts that approach.”

“Good, but be sure to be open to the villagers about what you are doing.”

“Yes my lord.” Banick answered and nodded his head in agreement.

Zen nodded to the two guards dismissing them and looking over to Cora and saying, “I am going to go to my office for a bit. If there is anything important Bena can see me there, and Cora, welcome to the manor. Your doing a good job.”

“Thank you my lord.” Cora said and blushed again.

Zen walked up to his office feeling like all this blushing and agreement was going to go to his head. He walked in the office and again entered through the portal, and sat down to monitor the village. He brought up the 3D image of the manor and checked to see what everybody was doing. He checked Ross and Banick first and it seemed like they were talking to a muscular man in the village. He then switched to Bena and he saw her sorting through some cloth materials. He then looked at what Cora and Elina were doing, and he saw them together, seemingly in a deep discussion as Elina seemed to be listening to Cora.

“I see you are paying attention to the two girls.” Bena smiled as she was eating a bowl of cereal over his shoulder. “Things get pretty stressful in the first few weeks, but don’t worry so much and relax. Currently everything has been done the old fashion way. You are a platinum VIP so in a few days your portal token will refresh and you can visit the capital to buy some resources to help you. It will help relieve the burden a little.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Zen asked with a gawking expression on his face.

“And ruin this moment?” Giggled Bena. “The look on your face is just too cute.”

Zen put his hand to his face in frustration as he tried to calm his mind. Bena was good at keeping him off guard, but he supposed it was much better than having a emotionless AI helping him. He took a deep breath and then asked. “What types of things can I do when I go to the capital?”

Bena smiled and sat down next to him and patted his knee. “Well you can spend some of your extraordinary wealth there for one thing. You can also gather information about your native neighbors, and purchase contracts for everything from indentured slaves to soldiers and people that can do trade skills.”

“So why doesn’t everybody just use this cheat?” Zen asked.

“Everybody doesn’t have the money or tokens to do it.” Bena said with a sigh. “You just have no idea how rich you are. These markets only take in game currency, and at this point in time your villages currency is bartering. You have no real market and you can get people to work for food. This is how players typically start, but you actually have hundreds of more options to work with. Most don’t have the disposable income, but that doesn’t mean you should go hog wild at the capital. In fact, you should be really cautious, because you don’t want others to notice you till you have enough strength to protect yourself, and more importantly your people.”

“So what is important for me to do right now?” Zen asked.

“Ahhh so sweet.” Bena said as she kissed him on the cheek. “I like it that you don’t pretend to know everything and rely on me. The portal will be available in about two days and once you enter it you only can spend 12 hours in the capital. So you have to pick your time right so you don’t waste it. Right now we need some indentured slaves and soldiers but we don’t have the room to put them. So we will have to buy some bonded slaves instead.”

“Bonded slaves?”

“They are bonded to their master with a magical mark that only their master can remove. Why marked they can’t hurt or plot their master, but on the other hand they can’t grow ether. The problem is bonded slaves can’t be chosen independently, but only in lots. That means you don’t really know what your going to get and if it will help you. It is kind of like a lottery where you have to have some luck.”

“Why do they do it that way?” Zen asked.

“A couple reasons.” Bena explained. “The first is almost all of the bonded slaves are people of other races than the human race. They are natives that have been taken during the continental war. So if they are not bonded then your villagers will feel unhappy. The reason why they are in lots and not sold individually is to prevent from wealthy people like yourself from manipulating and buying the best. It is a balance issue that was resolved this way.”

“Are you coming with me?” Zen asked.

“No unfortunately that isn’t allowed.” Bena said sadly. “You can communicate with me via voice link, but I can’t physically be there, but I can watch you on the big screen.”

“Uhh yea, I wanted to talk to you about that.” Zen stuttered. “How is it that you can see me like that?”

“Just another perk for you.” Bena giggled. “It will help me understand what your facing though. So it is really a good thing.”

Zen wasn’t sure how good of a thing that it was for him if she could see him at all times, especially since their previous conversations. He pushed that aside for now and said. “We will have to go over what I need to look for in advance so I can react properly, and is there anything we need to prepare?”

“There is a few things that I want to get accomplished but I will need your help with it.” Bena mused.

“I will be glad to help.” Zen said.

“In a way I think you will, but that is something for later.” Bena laughed. “I think the rest of the day you should focus on your skills. I suggest having Banick help you with your skills why you have the free time.”

“Agreed.” Zen said. “After we are done here I will go train with him and get some pointers.”

“Good skills increase faster with a trained person guiding them.” Bena said. “That works for players as well as natives.”

Zen nodded his understanding and checked where Banick was and left the sanctuary, and exited the manor and walked among the villagers. He received a number of stares but didn’t mind them ,and only smiled back as he headed for the gate. He found Banick working with a group of kids on how to use a spear effectively. Banick looked up at him and his eyes rose as he took a crude spear from a pile next to the kids and held it at a on guard position. The other kids grinned and followed suit and he started his training session in full view of the villagers.