While Rick walked down the west main street after returning from his dungeon discovery he used his Cartography skill to make an updated map of the city.

Spoiler: City Map.

Very nice I see that the city streets are now completely paved now. I need to track down the road construction crew and surveyors and see what they are currently working on. I can also see that the horse stable is complete. Jerem and his crew are probably up ahead here working on the crafting buildings. Once Jerem's crew has built a few of the crafting buildings maybe I will have them start on constructing the walls.

Rick put the map away and walked on down the street to find that Jerem had his crew had begun construction of the first crafting building. He walked over and used his recipes to make the parts for a new treadmill crane and assembled it next to the building foundation. Rick taught Jerem and his Cottar "general laborers" how to work the crane and told him to have Handil's workers show them how they break it down and transport it.

Rick then flew off to the south and found Daisia working on the rubber tree farm. He landed near to her and she ran over jumped up and hung around his neck with a big smile.

"Hey, there cutie are you having fun out here?" Rick said laughing.

"I actually am having fun with all these new exciting plants and trees you brought me!" She answered while still hanging from his neck with a huge smile.

"Oh yeah? Well, I have a nice surprise for you then." Rick told her as he opened his inventory.

He took out the fruits and fruit tree cuttings he took from the dungeon and held them up. Daisia released her grip on his neck and slid down to her feet and curiously stretched out both hands to take the fruit and cuttings Rick held before her. She began examining a fruit while Cedric spoke up.

"I just found these strange looking fruit trees in an underground cavern that was lit up like daytime by huge crystal gems that covered the cavern ceiling. I am not sure what they taste like or how safe they are to eat, so please be careful with them. Maybe I can experiment with when the healer is with us sometime, but for now just go ahead and grow a few in your garden." Rick instructed her.

"Hehe, Cedric, are you forgetting I'm Dryad I can communicate with all of these trees and plants. I can just ask this fruit tree when it grows up if the fruit is dangerous to eat." Daisia said.

"That's a great idea, so you're not only cute but smart," Rick said crossing his arms and looking down at her with a smile."

Daisia rolled her eyes and ran off across the street laughing with the cuttings and fruits toward her garden.

He just shook his head chuckling. "Yup, definitely a little firecracker."

Rick flew up high above the city and scanned the surrounding area with Far Sight.

The road construction crew and surveyor crew were currently working together along the southern road. With their concentrated efforts, the road that led to the quarries was progressing at a rapid pace. Along the river bank further north of the road crew the shipwrights diligently worked on the sailboat, while the Wagoner crews kept them supplied with lumber that was being continuously cut at the northern sawmill.

All of the city streets had been paved and the road construction crews had even connected Tower Island and the surrounding buildings to the west main street with paved roads or paved footpaths. With the entirety of the city and Tower Island completely paved this vastly helped to speed up the deliveries and in turn speed up the city construction projects.

After his scan of the surrounding area and workers, Rick decided to gather more supplies that were quickly dwindling on the stockpile behind the tower. He flew off to the west across the river and landed on the edge of the huge forest his elven scout had just returned from investigating. He took out his axe and used repair on it to make it like brand new. Rick walked the forest edge to pick out large trees and chop them down each one down. With the increase in his strength and agility, he was able to now chop down these large trees with only a few swings of his axe. This led also led to quicker gains in lumberjacking, but also seemed to increase the rate at which his axe durability decreased.

Even though it was only a quick touch to repair the axe he found he needed to use the skill after every tree. Even with all this, Rick soon had a line of one hundred felled trees that he stripped of branches and stored into his inventory. He also kept all of the hardwood branches to burn into ashes that would be used to make lye water. When he had gathered up all the trees he opened the blinking notification icon.

Spoiler: New Notices! Skill Increase: Lumberjacking: Level 1 Intermediate 21% Attribute Increase: Strength +3 Attribute Increase: Stamina +5

Now with a large stock of trees, his next stop was the limestone quarry. Landing on the border of the quarry, Rick used [Move and Shape Earth] to strip the soil and expose the limestone hidden below it. When he had stored the cleared soil away he cast [Move and Shape Stone] on the layer of limestone to cut out ten 10x10x10 limestone cubes. He lined the large cubes up near the quarry pickup location and used [Move and Shape Stone] to cut each cube into 2x1x1 blocks. Each cube then provided 500 limestone blocks giving him a total of 5000 limestone blocks now stack and ready for delivery.

Rick collected the piles of limestone dust and broken block fragments that he used to make cement with and also mixed in with the sand he provided for the road crews. When the quarry was clear of debris and dust piles he went back to where he had cut the cubes and cut out twenty additional 10x10x10 cubes and stored them into his inventory.

He decided since the marble quarry was only over a mile east of him that he would fly over there. Once his mana was fully regened, Rick cut another twenty cubes of White Marble and also stored it away. Now with a large supply of limestone and Marble on him, he was done with the two quarries.

He flew north along the river to stop and supply the shipwrights with enough lumber to complete the boat and then continued on to the sawmill. Rick stacked fifty of the large stripped trees next to the sawmill to be cut by the sawyer and kept the rest for himself.

After his visit to the sawmill, Rick had dropped off a large supply of limestone blocks on each of the plots along the west main street for Jerem's crew to use for the construction of the crafting buildings. The next resource delivery was for Handil at the temple construction site. He left them a large stock of limestone and marble that would help them to complete the temple sooner without having to wait on cart deliveries that could carry only small amounts of limestone per trip.

Rick then took out a table and chair and sat down to draw up a building design. He would soon need to spawn in a few government units to help him out with city planning and organizing. He had been dumping a lot of extra work on Handil and it was at a point that if he gave him, even more, tasks the poor guy wouldn't even have time to sleep. So decided to design a building that he could make more than one of like the apartment buildings, except these official buildings would be used by different branches of his kingdom's government.

Spoiler: Government Officials Building.

When he and decided on the design of the building he packed up the table and chair and walked to the open lot just north of the temple. He mixed up a large batch of cement and got right to work laying limestone blocks and cementing the joints. Even though Rick did not build that often these days when he had done a fair amount of construction when he first began to establish a settlement on and around Tower Island.

When he had first started the game he had been given through his test the Masonry level 9 Intermediate 80%. Since that time he had now raised this skill to a Level 8 Expert 92%. Since Rick hadn't built for a few days he surprised himself at how fast he could actually lay down, cement, and cut stone blocks.

He felt like he had become some type of automated construction machine as he pulled blocks from his inventory set them in place and cement them in one quick motion. Each block he had set and cemented took a couple of seconds with the combination of his intelligence, strength, agility, and the masonry skill working as one. He quickly laid out the foundation and went on to build the four entrances and stairs that lead to them. With the pre-cut and shaped pillar sections that were being made at the quarry, building the pillars was just a matter of stacking each section one on top of the next while cementing each layer.

When the four entrances were built he built the walls up from the foundation and cut limestone blocks to frame the window sills with. As the walls grew higher he activated his Flight skill and flew around the building while setting the blocks. After a couple of hours, he began hanging the roof rafters and nailing down the plywood. He made the decorative dome on the roof out of wood and covered it and the roof with clay shingles. The statues in his design were currently left out to be sculpted later. He thought to make a statue of each of the original officials that worked in the building after he had spawned them.

Even though it was getting late in the day now and the sun was soon to set, Rick decided to continue playing. Rick was ready to pull out the big table he normally used to draw on, but changed his mind and took out his wood working tools. Using his Carpentry, Wood Carving, and Wood Shape Skills he made a small simple wooden drafting table in no time and even acquired a recipe to make more.

Spoiler: Wooden Drafting Table.

Rick packed up his tools and sat down at the table to draw up a new design. He used his charcoal pencils to draw up a gatehouse design and a drawbridge concept drawing to be added later to the gatehouses when the moat was dug.

Spoiler: Gatehouse and Drawbridge.

Rick tucked the drawings into his inventory and flew to the end of the east main street and began work on the gatehouse. As the sun set and it grew dark he activated his Night Sight and worked in the darkness. When he completed the gatehouse he made measurements of the entrance and went down into the castle basement and sat down to plan out a portcullis winch, weight and pulley system and a steel portcullis gate.

Spoiler: Gatehouse Portcullis Design.

Rick used his recipes to make the pulleys, chains, and steel round bar needed for the winch. He put a few of his five-foot steel ingots into the forge and used them to make the Portcullis, weights, and gears for the winch. When he had assembled and finished all of the portcullis sections he received recipes that would help him when he constructed the other gatehouses.

Rick made his way back over to the east gatehouse and installed a few crystal wall lights and turned them on to light up the interior. He then climbed the stairs to the second-floor and installed the winch and pulleys. He took out the chains and wrapped them around the winch and then fed them up and over the two pulleys and fed the chain hanging from the pulley down through slots in the floor.

Rick descended the stairs again and took out the steel portcullis and connected the chains hanging from the upstairs pulleys that connected to the winch and welded them to the top of the steel portcullis gate. When he was upstairs cracking the winch and raising the portcullis up and down to test if it worked properly Handil and Jerem both showed up with their crews.

They saw that Rick was working alone on the gatehouse as they were ready to quit for the day so they came over to give him a hand. Rick tried to tell them it wasn't necessary, but they felt that if he was going to work late then they wanted to also. Rick gave in and had Handil leave part of his crew and had him go get Jerem and his men assigned to the furnished apartments first before it had got too late.

Rick had already finished the gatehouse so he began working on the walls. He mixed up cement for him and the workers and dumped out a few huge stacks of limestone blocks from his inventory. He had the worker crew build the wall to the north and he built the wall to the south. With his flying skill and being able to carry the blocks in his inventory, he was able to build faster than his work crew until Jerem and the rest of Handil's crews came back to help after figuring out where they would live from now on.

The two crews joined up and worked together to complete a section of wall. When Rick had finished his south section of the wall and the work crews finished the north wall section, he met up with the crew leaders marked out where to put the first corner towers and how big to make them. They all built two large towers and continued on to build another short section of the wall before Rick sent everyone home. He thanked all his men for the extra effort and flew off toward Tower Island. Rick did not have any classes tomorrow so he didn't mind being up late like this and was happy to have a section of the walls finally started.

Even though I don't have have classes my store will open for business in the morning so I don't want to be up all night. Rick thought as he landed just outside the tower door.

He used Stealth to quietly walk upstairs and unequipped his armor and weapons. He climbed under the covers with Angelica who was already sleeping and disconnected.

Disconnect!

Rick climbed out of the VR capsule and went to use the bathroom and then made a two simple turkey cold cut sandwiches with mayonnaise and peppers. He sat down to eat at the table and cleaned up when he had finished his light meal. He went right to bed afterward and woke up after six hours of sleep. He went and worked out right away in the spare room and then took a shower and shaved. When he was dressed, he checked on his video and deleted all the spam comments and PMs he received from players wanting to know the dungeon location.

He placed a sticky comment in his video thread stating that the dungeon was located close to where he was building and would not be releasing the location until his city was secured and defended from any possible attacks or thefts. He also wrote that when he had the time he would make a video of his progress into the dungeon so everyone could at least see what it looked like.

After answering quite few questions about his store opening and the items he sold, Rick shut down his computer and connected to Kingdoms Online.

Connect!

Rick climbed out of bed and equipped his black formal outfit that he hadn't worn of late since he made his armor sets. He also put on few enchanted rings along with a long gold necklace that an expensive looking gold and jewel pendant hung from. When he was fully dressed with all his jewelry on he looked like a wealthy Duke ready to attend court.

Rick made his rounds from the tower cellar to the workshop collecting all the items made to be sold at the store. He then opened a portal to his office in the store and stepped through. When he opened the door to his office to go stock the store with the items he had just gathered from the Island he stopped dead in his tracks. The store had only been open for roughly twenty minutes and it was packed with players and citizens of Silverhall City.

How the hell are we going to keep track of all the sales and money coming in if these customers all start making purchases? I don't have a cash till drawer to keep money or a place to place receipts. Rick thought as he was caught completely off guard by this mob of customers.

Rick went directly to the warehouse and unlocked the basement door and went down to his workshop. Using his leather crafting tools and tailoring supplies he cut thick pieces of leather and sewed them together to craft a small pouch with a flap. He then made a thick narrow leather belt and crafted small gold ring rivets for the buckle tongue. This would allow the belt to be adjusted to different sizes.

He attached the pouch to the belt with two gold rings by folding the leather around the rings and using small gold nuts and bolts to tie the leather ends together around each ring. He used his dye sticks to make decorative design into the leather and acquired a recipe for it that he named "Leather Hip Pouch." Rick used the recipe to make twelve leather hip pouches and went back upstairs locking the door behind him.

Spoiler: Leather Hip Pouch.

When Rick left the warehouse he found his floor manager Nellie busily walking back and forth between the saleswomen and he also saw his store manager Barat standing at the door welcoming the stream of people who were still coming in to browse the store.

Rick let out an anxious sigh while rubbing the back of his head. "Isn't this just a little exaggerated? I know that this store is a new concept, but this is crazy." He said softly under his breath.

Then he recalled when he had studied up on the first department stores in Earth's history and remembered that they also had crazy turnouts with lines of shoppers that stretched around the block. Rick snapped out of his trance and activated Aura: Charming Presence while weaving through the crowd towards Nellie.

The people of the world who entered his auras influence stopped to bow or curtsy toward him. Rick's aura, presence, and the way he dressed made it obvious to everyone that this was a noble and they all showed respect as he passed.

Nellie remembered the presence she suddenly felt from when she first met Cedric and turned toward him before she knew he was even approaching her.

"Good morning Nellie. It seems we have quite the crowd already."

"Good Morning Sir," Nellie said with a curtsy.

"Nellie please just call me Cedric, and I may be a noble but you can refrain from such formalities," Rick said placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Nellie blushed at his touch and nodded in agreement with a shy smile.

She didn't act like this last time I saw her. It must be the combination of my White Knight title and my aura. Ah, That's right I forgot I also put ten points into my charisma and my fame and honor has doubled. I will be remembered and recognized much more now by the NPCs of the game world.

"How are you and your girls handling this unexpected swarm of customers? Are you able to keep up with all of them or are they being overwhelmed?" Rick asked

"We are trying our best to help everyone, but yes it is a little overwhelming. There are just so many customers and only a handful of saleswomen," Lily said while looking down as if she was expecting to be scolded for a poor performance.

"Don't worry about it Nellie you girls just do the best you can. None of us could have ever even dreamed that this many customers would have shown up like this. I will also help out around the store if you have any questions or need help with anything don't hesitate to come find me." Rick reassured her.

Nellie lit up with a bright smile. "Thank you, Cedric, I will be sure to do just that then."

"That's more like it a smile suits you much more! Before I forget I have something for you and your girls that I just finished making."

Rick had Nellie follow him over to the counter and he took out twelve leather hip pouches, twenty-four charcoal pencils, and a stack of parchment. He used his scissors to cut up the parchment into small squares and divided it between the twelve pouches. He then placed two charcoal pencils in each pouch after showing Nellie how to sharpen them with a small blade.

"These leather pouches are to hold the money from your sales. Tell the girls to write down everything they sell and the sales amount on these cuts of parchment with these charcoal pencils. The sales girls are to keep the sales receipts and coins in their pouches and give them to Barat at the end of the day so that he can write them all down in the store records book. This way I can review what is selling and what has not. This will help me to keep the store properly stocked with merchandise. Now please go pass these pouches out to the girls and explain to them everything I just said. I'm going to see Barat and give him one even if he doesn't really need one." Rick said with a smile and walked over to the front door.

"Good Morning Barat this is quite the turnout we have for so early in the day. If I knew it would have been so crazy I would've shown up sooner."

"Count Crownguard a good morning to you sir," Barat replied with the same formal respect.

Rick started laughing. "Not you too! I just went over this with Nellie please continue to call me Cedric and you do not need to be so formal. I am not one of these nobles who demands salutes and bows." Rick informed him.

Rick shook then shook Barat's hand. "Does the crowd show any sign of receding or is it still a constant stream of customers?" Rick asked.

"They still keep coming sir, but for some reason, a good amount of chosen have also been showing up and asking for you by name. Some have even asked about a dungeon location?" Barat reported questionably.

Rick shook his head in aggravation. "If any chosen come around asking for me by name or questioning you about a dungeon you tell them that you have no idea what they are talking about. I do not want to be bothered by any chosen who come looking for me directly. Tell them nicely that this is a place of business and if they are not here to shop to kindly leave the premises." Rick instructed.

"Yes, sir I will inform the staff as well of this," Barat said.

Rick then gave a leather hip pouch to Barat and explained the whole process to him about the sales slips and sales records. He then walked off toward the back of the store and went upstairs. Rick rounded up all the military units on the 2nd floor and instructed stand guard in shifts of two at the front door during business hours from now on.

Looking through his inventory he took out sets of the decorative armor that were made to sell in the store and assigned ownership of a set to each of his guards. He used a recipe to make each of them a red silk cape and placed fancy artisan longswords on red dyed leather belts around their waists. Each of them looked they were military parade dress ready while wearing these stunning weapons and pieces of armors that looked like they should be on display and not worn into battle.

Rick then took a minute to make a small leather coin pouch with drawstrings that he dyed red. By using the recipe he acquired, Rick produced enough coin pouches for all the men before him. He then removed gold coins from his inventory and filled each pouch with a handful of gold coins and handed them to each one of his men.

"You men look better than the town guard and even those showy looking library guards as well now." He said with a nod of satisfaction.

"Take these gold coins so that you can all go out to eat and enjoy yourself on your time off. Just please don't do anything that will dishonor my name in this town. I have hundreds of people counting on me and if this business isn't successful I will have trouble feeding and housing them. So have a good time, but always be gentlemen that can be looked up to by the local population. You men have done a great job guarding this place and I feel bad that you have always been stuck in this store with nothing to do. This money is for a job well done so have fun and keep up the good work!" Rick shook all their hands in turn and made his way back downstairs.

As he passed through the clothing section he heard groups of richly dressed women talking with a saleswoman about the sexy undergarments and exotic looking dresses. The richly dressed female customers spoke disrespectfully to his young saleswoman like she was their servant and he caught a few unguarded whispers commenting on how the young sales girl was selling such beautiful clothing while wearing such a plain commoner dress. Rick began to look over all his young female employees and the plain dresses they all wore.

Spoiler: Plain dresses worn by the young saleswomen.

Rick had never thought his sales girl's clothing looked shabby but compared to the bright colored frilly dresses of his customers and the clothing he had on display they looked quite simple and plain.

He then remembered even Nellie who dresses a little nicer than the saleswomen had seemed to desire the dresses he had shown her and even one of the negligees.

I doubt there is any business in this city that provides uniforms for their employees. They are probably almost expected to wear clothing that fits their social status. When their social status in known by the clothing they wear then they will be treated according to their rank since this is a feudal society.

Nellie seemed to fall into the same feudal rank as the younger saleswomen even though her clothing material was of a higher quality and had a decorative pattern with satin edging. She must have used the extra money she made as a floor manager to purchase finer clothing.

These women are my employees and I won't have customers coming in here and degrading them all day. I want them to be confident and enjoy their jobs. If they are submissive and down cast they will never become true saleswomen that will help this store to prosper.

I think the best thing to help remedy this is to make them a few nice outfits that they can wear to work every day and I can also sell those same outfits. When these snooty female customers see these young pretty girls wearing classy outfits and dresses unlike any they have ever seen then they will also want them. This will also make the customers respect them and listen to what they have to say earnestly.

Rick walked through the crowd to his office and shut the door behind him he sat down at his desk and took out a charcoal pencil and a sheet of parchment and began to draw. He drew up a few different styles of women's business suits and a two types sleek China dresses.

Spoiler: Saleswoman Store Uniforms.

Rick then put away the drawings for now and left his office to return to Barat who continued to greet customers at the front door.

"I have asked my military units to take shifts at standing guard here at the front door during business hours. If you or the girls have any problems with anyone ask them politely to leave the store if they refuse then have my men escort them out." Rick instructed Barat and then turned toward the two men standing guard.

"You two men inform the other guards that you are to work together with the store employees. I want you to protect them from anyone looking to start trouble here. If someone refuses to leave the store you can physically remove them, but do not attack anyone with weapons unless they decide to draw one on you first. Later tonight after we close I will also set up some type of alarm system that can be used to alert the men upstairs of trouble so they can come down and back up who ever is on guard." Rick explained to the military units.

"Understood sir!"

"Alright Barat I will leave the store to you, for now, I have a few things I want to take care of and then I will return," Rick said.

"Thank you, Cedric the ladies and I appreciate you sending the men down to help watch over things. I will be sure to take care of everything until you return." Barat replied with a slight bow.

Rick nodded and walked back to his office and opened a portal to the Tower Island stables. He found the animal trainer washing one of the horses and told him of the new stables he had built. Rick instructed him to begin moving the horses to the new stables and to have the Wagoners help transport all the horse food and equipment over there as well.

Rick and the animal trainer walked a couple of the horses over to the new stables and Rick went inside with him to look around. The new horse stable was much larger than the one on the island and had many more stalls to stable any future horses he may buy or even tame.

There were also two large rooms to be used as a tack room to store saddles, reins, stirrups, and horse blankets and the other room would be to store bales of hay and bags of grain feed. The back of the horse stable had two large doors that opened up to a big fenced corral so the horse could run around outside with each other. Rick left the animal trainer in the stable and walked next door to the completed crafting building.

RIck went through the first building and built runic forges in every shop on the first and second floor. He used his recipes to make a few workbenches, tables, and chairs for each store and left them in the center of the rooms for the worker who was assigned the store to arrange how ever he wanted. He then opened a portal to the tower cellar and stepped through to take all the anvils, blacksmithing tools, ingots, iron ore, weapons, and armor. He told the weaponsmith and armorsmith to finish up with what they were working on and to follow him through the portal.

Rick placed an anvil and tools in each store on the first floor and met up with the two dwarfs when they came through the portal from the cellar. Rick gave each of them their very own store on the first floor. The two dwarfs were ecstatic that they had so much room to work now without tripping over one another all day and that their stores were right across the street from where they lived. He left them to arrange their new stores and told them he would be back with the blacksmiths and glass workers that would also have stores in this building.

Opening another portal he stepped through to the Tower Island Workshop and had everyone finish up what they were working on and then had them all gather around him. He explained that they would all be assigned their own store in the city and would work there from now on.

After he had gone through the entire workshop collecting everything until the place was empty except for the workers patiently waiting on him. He opened a portal to the restaurant and had them follow him through.

Most of them had seen him use the portal many times in the past and knew it was safe, but a few looked a little reluctant to step through. When they saw the other workers going ahead of them and using the portal they felt they could no longer stall for time. Closing their eyes they stiffly marched through to the other side to where Rick and the other workers waited on them with a sigh of relief.

Rick told the workers to sit down, relax, and wait for him to come take them to their new shops in groups.

Rick called over the glass workers, Poleturners, and blacksmiths and had them follow him right away to the crafting building with the runic forges. He gave the two blacksmiths their own store on the first floor and the glass workers were assigned their own stores on the second level. Rick then went to each of their stores and hung a smelting pot. In the glass workers stores, he gave them the metal tube rollers and set it up on the metal table tops they had in the workshop and told them to continue making pane glass.

The Poleturners were also assigned to the second-floor stores and he gave them back the pedal wood lathes and tools they had been working with all this time. Rick instructed the Poleturners to continue working with the smiths in the building who were making tools, weapons, and armor.

He instructed the blacksmiths to continue making tools and to also make a few anvils and smelting pots. While the workers were all settling in and arranging their stores he went around and dropped ingots, iron ore, sand, wood, and tools that he had picked up earlier.

I am starting to get low on iron and coal I need to go visit Hibal's blacksmithy soon and buy some more. He considered while going to pickup more workers. He assigned the rug weaver/artisans, tapestry maker/artisans, and quilter/artisans with their tools, equipment, and supplies to the second buildings. The third building was assigned to furniture makers, and furniture maker/artisans. The fourth building was assigned to tailor/cobblers and tailor/artisans. The fifth building was given to the siever, soap maker, locksmith, spectacle maker/artisan, wheelwright, and Cartwright.

Rick then customized the Cartwright's store by adding two large double doors onto the side of his shop. This way he could continue to make carts and carriages indoors and push them out the double side doors when he had finished each one.

After he had finished and tested the double doors he walked over to the tailor/artisans and sat down with the new designs he drew up earlier. He gave them the materials he wanted to be used and had them start making twelve copies of every design. While he they began making the outfits, Rick took out his drafting table and sat down to draw a few more designs. Firstly he drew up three new men's suits.

Spoiler: Men's New Suits.

Rick took the new suit designs over to another tailor/artisans store and had them start making a few copies of each suit for him.

He then left them to work on the new outfits while he went down into the castle basement workshop and sat down to make yet another design. He wanted to make something to hold all of the clothes he was going to give his employees and yet be nice enough to sell at his store. When it came to carrying clothes the first thing that came to mind was a suitcase.

He did not want his new container quite as bulky as a modern suitcase so after sketching out a few ideas he came up with a wooden Travel Chest.

Spoiler: Wooden Travel Chest.

He took out his wood working, leather, and blacksmith tools and crafted a metal latch from iron. He used his wood carving, wood shape, and carpentry skills to craft the chest and screwed it all together. Lastly, He tacked leather straps and a thick leather handle to the chest to allow for easy carry. Rick completed his chest after a few minutes of crafting and acquired a recipe that he named "Travel Chest."

Rick used his new recipe to make fifty Travel Chests and then made his way back to the tailor/artisan stores. He collected all of the new outfits when they were finished and made twelve neatly folded stacks with one of each outfit for the girls. He placed a stack with one of each new outfit into a chest and carved the young woman's name elegantly into the travel Chest lids. He also made a chest for Barat filled with one of each new suit design and also carved Barats name into the chest lid. He assigned ownership of all the clothes in each chest and stored them away.

Rick left his new outfit designs with his tailor/artisans and told them to add them to the current list of clothing they were to be made for the store. He then jumped back to his store office and went out to help the customers. He answered questions and made sales while moving from one section of the store to the next helping out wherever he could. As he was selling a set of armor to a player his dwarven blacksmith teacher Hibal walked over without Rick noticing him.

"Hmm, this is great work." He said while admiring the new armor he was currently selling.

"It wasn't long ago that I was teaching you blacksmith skills and now you're making weapons and armor the surpass the quality of my workers." Hibal continued.

"Hibal! Welcome, I was actually just thinking of you earlier and here you are now!" Rick exclaimed.

"Is that so? Were you thinking of the time you gave me your word that you would never open a store in the city and compete against me if I taught you blacksmithing?" He asked with a sudden scowl.

Oh my god! I forgot all about that promise with everything that has been happening!

Rick looked down with a sudden embarrassed look then spoke up. "I ashamed to say that was my original plan, to never open a store in this city, but when I came across this store and the trouble the employees were in I only had thoughts of saving them and possibly finding a way to make money until my city gates were opened to the outside world," Rick explained.

"It was never my intention to break my promise, but forgetting about it is unforgivable. I am prepared to pay any financial penalties for breaking my promise to help offset any losses you may have incurred from this unfortunate event." Rick explained with a serious look.

"Hibal let out a long sigh and his scowl turned to a look of sadness. "That won't be necessary Cedric. To tell you the truth I am proud at a far one of my students has advanced in such a short amount of time and I am also disappointed that it turned out this way at the same time. You are one of the very few humans in this city that treats dwarfs as equals and I have always enjoyed your visits and talks about blacksmithing and your city. I am afraid that we can no longer continue as friends. You may not know but, we dwarves base everything on our honor and when someone gives us their word and breaks it...well I am sorry Cedric we can only continue on as business rivals from this day forth and I can no longer sell you supplies or equipment that will be used to compete against me." Hibal said with a sad tone.

"Hibal stretched out his hand and Rick shook it not knowing what to say. "I am truly sorry Hibal I will never forget everything you have done for me and if I can ever do anything just ask me."

Hibal quietly nodded and turned to leave the store and stopped a few feet away. "This is one beautiful store though," he said over his shoulder without turning around and walked out the front door.

Rick finished up with his customer and went back to his office and fell into his chair.

Idiot! I need to watch my words with the dwarves from now on. It couldn't be helped that I bought this store but now I lost a good friend and resource supplier over it. Rick thought sadly.

As Rick sat thinking about the current situation his eye was then drawn to the flashing notification icon in the corner of his vision and he opened it to review the new notices.

Spoiler: Show Notices!. New Title Notice!

You Have broken your word with a Dwarf.

This is a major offense to their race and is grounds to be challenged to a duel of honor by the victim.

You have been awarded the title: Oath Breaker

fame +1000

Honor -5000

All Dwarves will have serious doubts about any promises you claim to uphold in the future.

Currently displaying title: Benevolent Leader

All awarded titles stack with the currently displayed title.

I guess it wasn't enough I lost a friend, but now the game system needs to kick me in the balls while I am down? I guess I deserve it from what I am reading here this was a serious thing and Hibal could have challenged me to a duel over it. Rick thought while mentally sighing.

New Title Notice!

You have come forward to admit your fault along with offering the victim Reconciliation and compensation.

You Have earned the title Honorbound

Fame: +1000

Honor: + 10000

People will see you as an honor bound man who feels obligated to do the right thing and will even reprimand his own wrongdoings.

Currently displaying title: Benevolent Leader

All awarded titles stack with the currently displayed title.

So the first one hurts my standing with the dwarves and the second one helps improve my standing with everyone else? These two almost seem to cancel each other out when it comes to the dwarves.

Let me see what these titles did for my status.

Spoiler: Show Status!.

Cedric Crownguard Strength: 117 Level: (47%) 17 Stamina: 90 Health: 950 Vitality: 95 Mana: 1180 Intelligence: 118 Piety: +175 Wisdom: 60 Fame: +22,000 (locally respected) Agility: 60 Honor: +26,000 (village hero) Charisma: 30 Alignment: +4000 Leadership: 35 Satiety: 81% Luck: 10 Class: Druidic Mage Health Regen/Sec: 5.0 Mana Regen/Sec: 5.5 Feudal Domain: 2600 Race: Chosen Human Feuadal Title: Count Unused Points: 0 Awarded Titles Title: The White Knight Alignment +/- +1000 Title: The Honor Guard Alignment +/- +1000 Title: The Duelist Alignment +/- +1000 Title: Black Hand Interrogator Alignment +/- -1000 Title: Benevolent Leader Alignment +/- +1000 Title: Explorer of the Unknown Alignment +/- -none- Title: Oath Breaker Alignment +/- -1000 Title: Honorbound Alignment +/- +1000

My fame and honor increased again even though my alignment seems to be stuck in yo-yo mode.

Rick took a deep breath, closed the notices, and left his office to get back on the floor and help out. He has customers who have gone out of their way to visit his shop and purchase his merchandise, he couldn't stay holed up in his office feeling sorry for himself all day. When he left his office Nellie asked for his help with his custom made jewelry. She had a few wealthy citizens and nobles who had come to browse his store and had seemed to be curious about his enchanted jewelry.

When Rick walked over with his Aura: Charming Presence active in combination with his titles even this group of the upper class were taken back.

"Good evening Ladies and gentlemen I am Count Cedric Crownguard the owner of this establishment how can I be of assistance today."

The group was quite amazed to learn of this noble they were unaware of until now was the one who owned this new store that sold so many new and exciting products. Rick explained he was a Chosen and had only recently come to their world, but was lucky enough to have raised his rank from a Freeman to a Count since his first arrival.

After introductions, he found that they had questioned Nellie about the jewelry description tags. The group just couldn't believe that his jewelry was not only beautiful but could boost the wearer's power. They thought it to be some type of exaggeration and Nellie just could not get them to take her word that it was all true.

Rick smiled after figuring out the situation and used his recipe to quickly make a thirty-pound dumbbell. He showed them how to curl it and the men got a feel for the weight struggling to lift it. He then brought out two rings with +10 to strength and had them wear them and lift the weight again. The group was shocked when the weight the men had struggled with a minute ago was lifted multiple times with ease.

When he finished the demonstration he went through all the rings, necklaces, and pendants explaining what attributes they boosted and how they would benefit the wearer. Nellie had stood by his side the entire time listening and observing everything Cedric said and did. She was quite impressed how these wealthy people who were earlier looking down on her were now like attentive children listening to Cedric's sales pitch.

When Rick had taken the time to educate them on all the current jewelry he sold and wrapped up his lesson the excited group all scrambled to buy a good portion of his displayed jewelry. They all excitedly joked and laughed at how they would make the other wealthy citizens and nobles jealous and be the center of attention at balls and parties. Rick then had an idea an spoke up.

"Well these will surely make them jealous but I have something else that will make them even more jealous," Rick said with a mischievous smile.

He escorted the wealthy group upstairs and brought Nellie with him to show them all the completed carriages he had on display. He let them all climb up inside the carriage interior and sit on the comfortable cushioned seats.

"Now picture yourself pulling up to a grand party with all of Silverhall City's elite in this carriage while they arrive in simple wooden carts or on horseback. While everyone else is traveling exposed to the rain and cold you will always stay comfortably protected from the outer elements while riding around town in style." Rick explained.

He then touched the crystal wall lights he had mounted inside and outside around the carriage. "Even in the dark, you can easily illuminate the interior and exterior of the carriage without smoke or threat of fire. You just need to charge the storage gems with mana when the light no longer turns on. We offer a recharges for a fee or if you are a mage you can charge it yourselves"

He then pushed up and down on the front of the carriage and it smoothly bounced up and down. "This is another option I have added to these carriages. When you drive it over rough roads it will not jar you around like a cart. These carriages are designed to travel over bumps and holes while you comfortably relax and enjoy the passing scenery."

He even showed them the gypsy style wagon with its beds, small wood stove, table, and storage areas. He explained if they ever needed to travel long distances it was the perfect carriage that provided them with the comforts of home no matter where they were. Rick thought even if this affluent group did not by a carriage they were sure to brag about being shown such an advanced carriage to their friends and provide him with future sales and advertisement.

His efforts did end up paying off in the end because he sold two carriages with the glass pane windows and side doors. He had the two men pay for the carriages and wrote them receipts of sale. Then told them to come around with their horses in about an hour and he would have their carriages waiting out front. Rick disassembled the one on the floor and reassembled it out front and then opened a portal to the System Gate.

He then spawned in four Cartwright/artisans and walked them over to the Cart shop. He told them all to work together to speed up the carriage production and called Handil to send one of his men over to help the four new workers find an apartment and show them around later.

Rick flew over to Tower Island and disassembled all the completed carriages off to the side of the workshop and went back to the store where he assembled the second carriage out front. Just having these two carriages out front was drawing a huge crowd of onlookers who wanted a look at them.

Wait til people see these two carriages driving around and outside of town. I wouldn't be surprised if every noble in town came to buy one or more. Just like on earth everyone wants to outdo their neighbor.

Rick walked inside and asked his guards to keep an eye on the carriages out front until they were picked up. "It was fine for people to look but do not allow let them mess around with them since they were already purchased." Rick said."Tell the people who want to touch or climb in them to go up to the second floor and observe the display models."

The two guards saluted him and went outside to stand in front of the two carriages. Rick made his way through the crowd to go back upstairs and spent some time setting up the carriages for display. When he finished all the assemblies it was near time to close the shop so he went downstairs to find Nellie and Barat and told them he wished to talk with them and the sales girls before they went home for the night.

He left them after they agreed and went into the warehouse to stock the shelves with all the surplus products, new Travel Chests, and furniture he had gathered in his inventory. When he went back up front he had the girls inform all the lingering browsers that the store was closing and that they were open every weekday.

When the store was finally clear of customers he led all his employees into the break room and had them sit down.

"Everyone did a great job today dealing with the large crowds of customers. If it continues to stay busy like this in the days to come I will hire a few more people to take some pressure off of you ladies."

Rick then started to take out the Travel Chests that held the stacks of clothing in them and read the lids and put the box with each person's name on it in front of them on the table. Everyone looked at each other curiously wondering if anyone knew what was going on.

"This is a new product that we will sell in our store. I call them a Travel Chest. If someone is traveling or needs to carry stuff neatly around town these are perfect for the job. As you may or may not have noticed each chest before you have your names on them. These particular Travel Chests are gifts for each of you."

Everyone grew excited and began looking at their new chests. "Now open the small latch on the front to see the best part." All of the girls and even Barat opened their chests to find the fancy modern earth style clothing neatly folded and stacked inside each chest.

"These clothes are a gift from me as well. I have seen today how the wealthy customers and nobles who came into shop looked down their noses at you. With this clothing, you will be able to hold your heads up high and receive the respect that you deserve. You are all my employees and I won't let anyone disrespect you. We will work together to make this the most popular store in the city and improve all of our lives while doing just that. When this store grows and brings in more money then so will you all. Now one last thing I am currently building a city that is just getting started so if any of you ever need a place to live or are having trouble paying rent you are more than welcome to live for free in my city. Okay, I've kept you all long enough, please be sure to drop off your hip pouches with Barat before heading home and have a great night everyone!" Rick explained and then released his staff.

The employees all cheered and then took off their pouches to lay them in front of Barat. The girls all quickly went back to their chests and began carefully taking out the clothes and a lot of oohs and ahhs were heard as Rick left the break room. He looked out the front window and seen the carriages had been picked up and the guards went back upstairs.

Ok time to make an alarm system now that the store is clear of customers.

Rick used his wood carving skills with his wood chisel to carve a circuit of runes around the very bottom of the store walls. He then ran a circuit path upstairs and around the bottom of the 2nd-floor walls and into the bedrooms of the military units. With the runic circuit now encompassing the entirety of the stores interior, he began to carve switch runes behind the store counters and one in the corner by the front door where the guards stood guard.

Rick then went downstairs to his workshop and sat down think of a way to make a sound that would warn everyone. He thought of a doorbell and started working with the idea until he had drawn up a new design he thought would work.

Spoiler: Bell Alarm.

His design was a box with a hollow channel that a small wind rune would blow a blast of air down and out a metal tube. The blast of blowing air would push small metal cups welded to a free spinning axle. When that axle spun a round a metal striker bar would hit against the edge of four copper bells. Rick fired up the forge and used it to heat up some copper that he made the bells from he used some steel to make the center axle, striker rod, and small cups and welded them together.

He then made a small wooden box with the inner wind channel and installed the bells and spinning axle into it. Rick socketed a crystal gem to the side of the alarm box and connected it to a small wind rune. He used the recipe to make an alarm for all the bedrooms and offices. He even made one for his workshop downstairs and hung them all in place and connected them to the runic circuit he carved earlier.

Rick went over and pushed one of the switch runes to test out how the system worked.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

A rapid series of bells sounded off inside the store from all the small alarm boxes reminding him of the fire alarms that they had in schools. Rick then rounded up the military men and walked them through the store to show them the switch locations and how to use them. He let them all test out the system so that they had experience on how to work it and what it sounded like. When they were all familiar with the new alarm system, he let them go back upstairs to relax or watch for trouble from the upper windows.

Rick examined the displayed merchandise in his store to figure out was had been sold and began restocking anything that he could with recipes or from the warehouse stock and then recharged the storage crystals in the lights and fountains. While he was upstairs recharging the lights he looked around at how empty the 2nd floor was since he did not have enough things to sell yet. It was a big open remodeled room that had some of his carriage models displayed and that was it.

He stood wondering what else he might display up here as he went through his inventory and then came across the goblin and orc weapons and armor he had. Rick then came up with an idea and took out one of the trees he had chopped down and used his Shape Wood skill to break it up into different lengths. Rick took out his wood working tools and began carving these different lengths of wood to look like actual sized goblins and orcs that he had fought.

With the use of his Wood Carving and Wood Shape skills he carved the replica monsters into different poses of fighting stances and used his paint sticks to color them realistic skin hues. When he finished a few goblins he took out the ragged armor and weapons he had stripped from the those he killed in the forest north of Silverhall City and dressed up the wooden goblin in the armor and carved their hands to hold the weapons. When he finished with the goblins there were six real looking wooden goblin statues brandishing swords and spears around him.

Rick then moved onto the orcs that he fought earlier. He carved a couple statues of the orc minions. orc bowman, orc impalers, orc berserkers, orc troopers, orc shamans, and the dreaded orc warlord. Rick with the help of his PhotoReading skill was able to remember the details of all the orcs he fought and could add specific features and colors of each class even down to the scar locations he had seen on those he killed.

He carved them in fighting poses with ferocious expressions on their faces and dressed them accordingly to how each class. He had not taken the robes from the orc shaman he killed so he used some black cloth to make a couple replicas that he placed on the statues along with the staff and wand held up in their wooden hands as if ready to cast some offensive spell. He made the orc bowman hold their bow in a drawn and ready to fire position. The impalers were set in crouching defensive stances their spear tips pointed forward as if ready to receive a charge. The berserker a copy of the one he fought with its scarred body and crazed expression was in a sprinting pose with its large axe held aloft and wore the battered and charred armor of the original.

He then worked his way through all the classes to the warlord who he made to have that same calm and calculating glare that seemed to look right through you. He carved it to stand in the same readied stance it used when it was floating in his reverse gravity spell. The statues wore the same iron plate armor and held the huge black sword up with both hands looking like a baseball player ready to hit a home run.

When Rick had finished carving and outfitting the orc warlord he thought the statue was missing that dangerous presence of the original. He then used a small chisel to carve out the warlord statues pupils and socketed small quartz crystals into the eyes and used the same runes to make them light up as he did with his light fixtures. Using a paint stick he colored the crystals red and then carved a small switch rune on the back of the orc's neck. Next, Rick connected the eyes to the switch rune and a small socketed storage gem.

Rick touched the small switch rune when he had connected everything and the eyes began to glow a sinister red. He heard a small gasp from behind and when he turned around he noticed all of his military units that were currently off duty had gathered around to watch him carve the wooden statues. He had been so focused on his work that he had not even realized that they had all curiously gathered around him.

Rick with a smile began to go through the different classes of monsters and tell about how they fought and the fights he had with them as he arranged them around the room. When he talked about the warlord as he set it against the wall with its glowing red eyes he explained the dangerous presence and how it did not panic and just stood trapped but waiting for him to approach. He watched the looks of caution grow on his men's faces and a few began to grip the handles of their weapons as if they expected this wooden monster to come to life before them.

Rick had arranged his statues along the far wall and then opened his flashing notification icon afterward.

Spoiler: New Notices! Wood Carving: Level 8 Expert 54%

Rick closed his notice and then used his skills to make small wooden post sign with a base and used the recipe to make up enough for each statue. He carved the name and description of each monster into a sign and placed it next to the representing statue.

If I keep this up I can make a small monster museum that will draw people into the store and get them to look around. Then they are sure to find something they want and increase overall sales.

Rick cleaned up the wood shavings and packed up his tools. He said goodnight to the men and portaled off to his bedroom in the tower. He unequipped his gear and climbed into bed as the room grew too dark to see without lights and disconnected for the night.

Disconnect!