Rick stood up from the VR capsule stretching with a muffled growl. He searched for his phone and returned a text to Amy to meet up with her in the morning for breakfast.

He then grabbed a towel from the hall closet and took a hot shower. In his bedroom, he put on pajamas to sleep in.

Rick cautiously checked the front door to make sure it was locked then flipped off all the lights behind him. Tiredly he climbed under the covers to fall asleep shortly after closing his eyes.

When Rick woke up refreshed for the day he got dressed and cruised over to Amy's place calling her on the way there. After he picked her up they drove to a nice family restaurant near to her apartment. She told him how things were at her job and he told her about the Virtual Reality game he had been playing this week while they enjoyed their breakfast.

Rick drove Amy home after they left the restaurant and stopped to buy a few groceries on his way home. When he got home he put the groceries away, threw away the pizza from the other night and threw his dirty clothes in the wash.

He then made his way to the spare room to get his morning workout in with his home gym. When he finished his workout he tossed the sweaty clothes in the wash with the other dirty clothes and took a quick shower. After a quick shower, he sauntered to the washing machine and tossed his wet towel in and started his wash.

There should be plenty enough hot water left for the wash, I wasn't in the shower that long. He thought to himself.

He redressed in his room then climbed back into the [GATE GEAR] and logged back into the game.

When he woke up in bed it was dark out still and Angelica slept curled up under the covers next to him. Rick activated [Night Sight] then [Sneak] got up out of bed and re-equipped his clothes and boots. With his sneak skill, he quietly left the tower to pour some steel casts from his newly built blast furnace.

First Rick opened the slag pipe to expel the top layer of impurities inside the furnace then cranked it closed again after he drained it out. He then removed the long stone casts he made from the river slabs and centered it under the pig iron drain pipe. He continued to rotate these long stone casts under the pipe as they cooled until he emptied the blast furnace of molten steel.

Touching the switch rune he shut down the furnace and loaded the all the five-foot long steel ingots into his inventory. Standing up he glanced down at the dark barracks wondering if the workers settled in alright. He saw clearly with his [Night Sight] also the partially built chicken coop not far from it the worker barracks.

After looking around he entered the tower and fed the chicks on his way downstairs. Rick turned off his [Night Sight] and turned on the crystal lights around the cellar. He then took a cut of leather and tools from his inventory and set them on the workbench.

He placed his hands on top of a sheet of leather and traced around them with charcoal. Using a pair of leather cutting scissors he cut out a couple patterns of his hand's outline and sewed them together with thick brown thread. Using the leather cord he attached a drawstring around the wrist of the gloves.

After examining it he decided to double layer the knuckle area and fingertips with additional leather to protect the hand better. When he was happy with the pair of gloves he set them aside and started making a thick leather belt and used his iron punch to notch out the belt buckle prong holes.

Taking out a piece of an iron ingot he placed it into the forge until it was glowing. He shaved a thin slice off the ingot and lightly hammered it into a thin strand of round wire. With a pair of pliers and the tongs, he bent the wire into a square then wrapped another two more pieces of the wire around the square buckle to make the prongs.

He quenched the buckle in water and then began to sew in onto the end of the leather belt. Rick used the remaining wire to make a circular ring that he hammered flat on one side of and then bored out little holes to thread bolts through later. Next, he took out his tap and die set to make a few tiny bolts and nuts with the remaining scrap iron.

Rick Cut a couple small sections of leather only a few inches big to sew together. He then cut out belt loops in the top of that leather and used the tiny bolts and nuts to attach the wire ring to this newly crafted square of sewn leather.

"Alright, I now have a hammer belt holder, next I need to make a small multi pocket tool pouch." He quietly said aloud.

Rick fed the hammer holder onto the leather belt and wrapped the belt around his waist while grabbing the hammer off the workbench he slid the handle into the ring and the hammer hung comfortably at his side.

He removed another cut of leather and began to sew together a tool pouch and then section off the interior with different sized pockets to hold screws, nails and small tools. Once the pouch was completed he fed that onto the belt as well.

New Recipe Notice!

You Learned A New Recipe!

Leather Drawstring Gloves recipe

This recipe will allow you to instantly create a pair of leather drawstring gloves.

You Learned A New Recipe!

Thick Leather Belt recipe

This recipe will allow you to instantly create a thick leather belt.

You Learned A New Recipe!

Hammer Belt Holder recipe

This recipe will allow you to instantly create a hammer belt holder.

You Learned A New Recipe!

Leather Tool Pouch recipe

This recipe will allow you to instantly create a leather tool pouch.

These should help the workers out. They can carry their tools around on them and have some basic hand protection now. Hmm, maybe I can make up some leather knee pads later.

With the help of the recipes, he created fifty sets of each to hand out later to the crew. Rick opened his inventory and removed a length of wood that he used to split off a piece about the length and thickness of a spear shaft and put it on the pedal lathe to round off the edges smoothly while forming the end a little thinner than the rest of the pole.

Rick then cut three lengths of wood about two feet long and a half inch thick. Two of these pieces he bored out holes in the center of it and connected them to the top of a cylindrical one-foot long piece of wood like helicopter blades on a rotor shaft. the third piece he bored out holes on both ends of it and slipped one of these holes over the long tapered end of the shaft he just turned on the lathe.

The hole on the other end he fit the shaft attached to what looked like helicopter blades into it. From the two wood crossed blades he hung equal measured segments of a bowstring. He then used some silver to make little weights that looked like fishing sinkers and tied them to the ends of the hanging bowstrings.

Rick thought out the steps used by the Romans that he had read about online while examining his groma. I now have a groma that the Romans used to mark out their roads so straight with. I can get a few VIP option surveyors later and give them all a groma to mark out the streets and land plots. All they have to do is look down two of the strings at a chosen direction and then have an assistant place a pole marker in the distance that lines up with the two strings. When they get all the markers in place they can run a rope along the ground that is tied taunt to the markers and edge out the streets.

Rick used his recipe to make five more gromas and left them all in his inventory. Using the wood he took out earlier he spun out four lengths of wood the size of spear shafts again and received a recipe for them. Next, he cut a square board roughly one foot by one foot and screwed the cut wood shafts to it making a square top stool. Using the extra wood shaft cuts he attached horizontal sections between the legs to give them support. When he checked the notices he saw he also received a recipe for the square top stool.

He put the new stool in front of the workbench and sat down to draw out a basic front view sketch of his next construction that would be needed soon. It was a plain rectangle stone block building with a small crawl space under the stone paved floor. From out the top of the building rose a single chimney to encourage circulating airflow from the floor to the ceiling throughout the interior.

Underneath the floor in the crawl space, he would install wind and fire runes. The wind runes would be installed to blow the heat from the fire runes up through open vents in the floor to heat the inside of the building up. This building was going to become a giant clay kiln used for the clay drain pipes he wanted to make for his city. It could also be used to fire bricks and pottery when needed quite easily.

His current plan was to have running water pipes and sewage drain pipes to and from the housing. His plan for houses would be based on modern apartment buildings. These building would have hallways on each floor that lead to the tenant's apartment door. Off the hallways would be a shared men's and women's bathrooms and at the end of the hall would be a water hand pump connected to the city water system.

This basic sketch should be fine to show Handil what I need the workers to do. I think I will have them knock this out first while I put in the third and fourth floor in the tower. Then when they finish the kiln building they can complete the tower roof.

Rick walked outside the tower into the growing light as the sun started to peak over the eastern plains. Handil and his crew had gathered around the tool shed and were preparing to take out the tools and supplies needed before they started. Rick walked over and greeted everyone and then pulled out the gloves, tool belts, pouches, and hammer holder for everyone and explained what they are used for. They all loved the idea of not having to search around constantly for a tool they laid down and quickly equipped all their new gear.

Rick then showed the kiln house plan to handil and explained how he wanted it constructed. He told the cooks to prepare breakfast for the guys and told them to call them in shifts to eat since the tower only had ten chairs around the table. When everyone had been instructed he climbed up to the second floor to a pleasant surprise of catching a completely nude Angelica preparing to get dressed.

"Good morning beautiful that reminds me now we need to stop by the tailor later and pick up your undergarments and outfits," Rick said while looking over the enticing woman.

"Good morning Cedric, you don't have to worry about it I am still getting used to wearing all this stuff and missing a few garments is not bothering me at all." She explained as she crossed the room still undressed to embrace him.

"Last night I slept so soundly next to you it was such a change from being alone I felt so secure that I slept through the night until now." She whispered before releasing him to change.

If she slept all night that means she hasn't gone to the bathroom yet and I still haven't made anything for her or the workers. I really don't want everyone just squatting down all over the place around here. We need a couple outhouses at least for now.

Rick went outside while Angelica got dressed and the cooks made breakfast. He walked over to stockpile and opened the [Land Management Menu].

Show Land Management Menu!

Show Buy Units!

Buy Laborer!

Show Laborer Division!

Laborer Unit Classes

Barber Cart driver Clay Digger Chimney Sweep Charcoal Burner Cow Herd Cottar Ditcher Diver Falconer Farmer Fisherman Goat Herd Gong Farmer Herbalist Hunter Lumberjack Maid Midwife Miller Orchardist Oysterer Construction Painter Pavior Plasterer Poultry Farmer Roofer Ropemaker Sawyer Scullion Servant Sheep Shearer Shepherd Swineherd Trapper Wood stainer VIP Class Options Animal Trainer Landscape Architect

Show Cottar Class!

Cottar Class A cottar was one of the lowest commoner jobs. They are used as all purpose laborers.

Show Ditcher class!

Ditcher Class The ditcher a laborer who digs anything from a fence post to a castle moat.

Show Gong Farmer class!

Gong Farmer Class The gong farmer removes human excrement from privies and cesspits.

Lovely.......

Show Animal Trainer!

Animal Trainer Class Animal trainers Conduct training programs in order to develop and maintain desired animal behaviors for competition, entertainment, obedience, security, riding and related areas. They feed and exercise animals, and provide other general care such as cleaning and maintaining holding and performance areas.

Show Landscape Architect!

Landscape Architect Class Landscape architects design attractive and functional parks, gardens, playgrounds, residential areas, and public spaces. They also plan the locations of buildings, roads, walkways, flowers, shrubs, and trees within these environments.

Buy two Laborer Ditcher! Buy four Laborer Cottar! Buy one Laborer Poultry Farmer! Buy two Sawyer! Buy one Fisherman! Buy one Wood Stainer!

Rick watched and waited as the new workers spawned in front of him. He had them follow him across the bridge to where Handil supervised the construction of the kiln house and called him over.

Rick told him that he wanted two cottars to be helpers for the stone mason building the kiln house and the other two to be helpers for the carpenters. He then told the ditchers to dig ten four foot deep holes roughly fifty feet from the worker's barracks and one same hole on the south end of tower island. He told the sawyer that they would work with the carpenters and make any lumber they need from the wood on the stockpile. He quickly stored the pot of cement the stone masons had been using and used his recipe to refill it for them and took it back out.

"Handil when the carpenters finish the chicken coop have them build outhouses over all the holes the ditchers dig up." He instructed Handil.

Rick took the fisherman and wood stainer into the tower and he removed the barrel of wood stain from his inventory. He handed the wood stainer gloves, paint brushes, and a sponge then instructed him to start staining the floors and staircases. Rick told the fisherman to have a seat at the table and that he would be right back. Down in the basement, he used the lathe to form out a wood fishing pole and made a few fishing hooks until he received a recipe for them. He then tied approximately twenty feet of bow string to the pole and went upstairs to give it to the fisherman. He told him to look for some worms and try fishing the river so that they could add some fish to the worker's meals.

I now have forty-three workers and fifty beds. I need to go spawn a couple furniture makers so I don't have to keep running to town and buying it all. I feel bad leaving Angelica alone while I am crafting and building every day. She is the only female here out of all these guys maybe I should spawn another girl to keep her company. If I were to get another fighter type like her they could even train and spar together.

It looks like I need to walk back to the stockpile again. Wait a minute if I get furniture makers what are they going to use for mattresses and cushions? I need to also get upholsterers and also buy wool and cotton from town.

Rick went upstairs to start on the staircase and final two floors. Angelica sat propped up in bed now wearing her armor and continued to devour the book he had offered her. This reminded him of all the bookcases full of books still in his inventory. He opened his inventory and located the bookcases and began to place them along the wall opposite of the bed.

I still have those racks of scrolls, but I will hang on to them for now. I want to make a Gutenberg printing press so that I can transfer them over into book form before I allow them to be handled.

"You can also read these books, I found them all like this under a ruined temple of the Goddess Faith made by her followers long ago," Rick explained as he pointed out all the books.

"This is like a small library now you must have close to a thousand books here" She replied in amazement.

"Yes, but they are old and some may be fragile so we must handle them carefully so not to lose any important information that can help us." Rick said.

Rick continued. "I also wanted to ask you about something I was just thinking about before I came up here."

Angelica looked at him questioningly, while silently waiting for him to continue.

"I have have been busy around here and will be many times in the future that I work all day crafting or building new things. I was thinking that I could get another Valkyrie so that you could have someone to spend time with or even train and spar together. Though I am sure in the future our party will grow larger, you can decide if you would like another woman around here for now." He explained his thoughts to her then continued.

Rick sat down on the bed next to her while he spoke. "You can decide what race they will be, but I will make her a Valkyrie and possibly make her first class a Battle Dancer. Think about it for now and let me know how you feel later." Rick softly pat her on the thigh with a reassuring smile and stood up.

"Oh, I am going to make a little noise now up here as well the tower is near completion so I will add the third and fourth floors now and the staircases to them." Rick said as he began removing lumber and tools from his inventory.

Angelica smiled. "I don't mind the noise, actually I like hearing all the people around busily working it is a nice change from the silence of being alone." Then looked down to continue her book.

Rick decided to use his wood carving skill and made a Knight in full plate with a sword point down and both his hand resting on the upturned pommel in front of him. He received a recipe for it and made another and used them as the railing post at the bottom of the stairs. He used the same spindles that he made for the lower staircase and arranged them so that two of the same were not next to one another. He sectioned off underneath the stairs and added two small double doors using his door hinge recipe to hang them. He then carved a border around the perimeter of each door of vines with leaves and flowers growing on them. Then in the center of each door, he carved a large shield with two crossed long-swords behind them. After he finished the carved doors he opened them and stepped in under the stairs. Using his carving skill yet again he made some wood (J) shaped hooks and used his recipe to make a couple long wood shafts. He screwed the (J) hooks to the wall and hung the wood shafts horizontally on them to be used as closet rods.

Later I need to make some more wire to make metal hangers or I could even carve out a few wood hangers until I get a recipe to make more. He thought to himself as he put the finishing touches on the closet and stepped out into the bedroom again.

Now he wanted to make the joists slots in the blocks but the wall was so high now he could not stand on top of it to chisel them out like he did in the past. Rick made two beams and a few more wood shafts. He cut the wood shafts to roughly one-foot lengths and screwed them evenly between the beams to make a wood ladder. He leaned his new ladder against the wall and climbed it to notch out the joist slots on both walls then seated the joists into them to span across the room. Rick strolled up the new stairs and began to nail down the planks until the third floor was completed.

Rick repeated the same construction to the final upper fourth floor except for the bottom posts he carved a female elf with a drawn bow and arrow aimed in front of her. On the fourth floor, he carved out four narrow arrow slits into each wall so that they could shoot down on any would-be attackers of the tower. He then went through the third and fourth floor to tap out holes and fill them with wood pegs to screw the Crystal light fixtures into.

My part of the tower is finished now the rest is up to Handil and the crew to finish after they finish the kiln house. Rick thought to himself as he descended the stairs.

He walked over to the tower doorframe and measured the height and width of it. After writing down the measurements he then went into the cellar and tossed two of his five-foot steel ingots into a smelt pot. Rick opened his inventory and took out stone blocks that he placed on the floor to be used as a cast for the Tower door. When the Steel was melted down he slowly poured in into the center of the stone blocks like a small swimming pool it filled with molten steel to a height of near one inch. He then took out a couple stone pavers and carved out thick hinges in one and big door pins with flat heads on one end in the other paver and used the iron ladle to fill them with the steel from the smelter.

Leaving the steel door and hinges to cool he now need a new tool that he had been missing for some time but had put off because of the sheer tediousness of making it.

I think casting will be the best way to make this hand drill that will help out seeing that making the gears for it will take time and patience.

His first cast he made was a small spoked wheel he carved into a stone paver. Then he carved out a cast that looked similar to a thick modern bottle cap opener. next, to that, he then carved out a thick coin shaped cast. Rick took out another paver and carved a rod shape with one end a half inch thick and the opposite end was a quarter inch thick. On the same paver below the double width rod, he carved out wat looked like a socket with one end tapered to a flat nosed point.

With all of the metal casts for the drill ready he carefully hand poured the steel with his iron ladle into each cast. Surrounded by drying steel casts he took out a small scrap of wood and carved what looked like a classic car gear shift knob and carved out a channel in it so he could attach it to the drill frame later.

Rick had everything prepared to put together when it all cooled so he walked down to the river and filled an empty barrel with water then stored it and took it out next to his anvil in the basement. He quenched the partially cooled drill cast in the barrel of water and then popped them free of their stone casts. He started off with the spoked wheel laying it on the workbench he used a thin metal file to carve small gear teeth around the entire wheel. Next, he worked on the thick coin and used the file to notch out small matching gear teeth on the outer rim of it.

He then took out his tap and die set to thread the thick end of the double width rod. Rick then placed the drill parts into the forge to heat up after he finished making the threads. Removing the bottle opener shaped frame and the spoked gear wheel with the tongs he set them on the anvil and punch out a hole to connect them together with a small flanged end rod. Then he removed the double width threaded bolt and push the thin smooth end of it into the top width of the drill frame to create a channel for it to rotate in later.

He pulled that bolt back out of the frame's channel and placed the coin shaped gear across the inside of the channel and inserted the bolt in again and pushed it through the coin shaped gear and then collared the end of the bolt so it could not fall out of the channel later. His next step was to remove the tapered flat nose socket and screwed it onto the threaded end of the bolt. Rick now need a way to attach drill bits to the threaded bolt. What he had to do was use his knife and hammer to split the end of the threaded bolt into a cross shape that could spread open to hold a drill bit inside of it. Lastly, he attached the wood knob to the frame and hand a new crank drill and a recipe to make more.

Rick then made up ten different sized drill bits from small to large and made a small wood box that he dovetailed the corners and glued together. He carved out a side view of his drill on the lid and carved a recessed rectangle border around it. Inside he made separate slots to hold each drill bit and then took it upstairs and used wood stain from the barrel on a rag to lightly wipe the box down giving it some color. While the box was drying he removed some scrap leather and made a holder similar to the hammer holder but with a small strap that could wrap through the spoked wheel of the drill and be buckled to hang from a tool belt.

Rick used the recipes to make ten of all drills and accessories and took them out to the carpenters. They had completed the chicken coop and were now working on the outhouses. He gifted them all the drill, drill bits, and holders and showed them how to use the new drill and hang them on their belts. They became really excited with the new drills knowing how handy it would be for them. Rick just laughed and said wait to be excited if I can ever somehow create a circular saw for you guys and walked away leaving them all staring at each other wondering what the hell a circular saw was.

Grabbing the heavy duty cast hinges and flat head door pins he put them in his inventory and cast another six flat head door pins then went up to the tower entrance. Taking out his new drill he fit a bit a little thinner than the flat head door pins and drilled out holes in the stone block to hang the hinges. With his tap and die set he threaded the six of door pins and notched the top of them turning them into huge screws that he used to anchor the heavy duty steel hinges to the stone block frame.

Well, that door should be cool enough to hang now let's go check on that next. He thought as he made his way downstairs.

Rick Sent the blocks he used to cast the door back into his inventory and stood the heavy door up against the workbench.

This thing must weigh three hundred pounds. They can bang a wood battering ram off this for a week and have nothing to show for their efforts, but a pile of wood chips.

He brought the door upstairs in his inventory and propped it up off the ground slightly for clearance with a few wood wedges and the screwed the hinges to the door and slid the remaining door pins that the hinges rotated on when opening and closing.

To finish it off he made a four (J) shaped brackets out of steel and screwed two near the top and bottom of the door. He then closed took out two of his five-foot steel ingots and fit them into the brackets to bar the door closed.

Nice, once these two bars are dropped into these brackets they would need dynamite to get through this door.

He pulled the steel bars out of the brackets and placed them next to the door in the corner for quick access.

I guess it is time to go shopping again I need cotton, wool, and more cloth that would work well for upholstering.

Rick went upstairs and told Angelica he needed to travel into Silverhall City for more materials and waited for her to strap her swords around her waist before opening a portal close to the southern Silverhall city gate and stepping through it.