Opening my eyes, I’m in a brassy crystal jail cell. Looking around, no one is with me, not even Colt.

The door to the room containing the cell opens just then, a familiar, tall, muscular blond man swaggers in. He turns to me, adjusting his crown with a grin on his face.

“...Brandon?” My mind spins, trying to figure out why the deceased King of Portland is here.

“Thought you got rid of me, huh?” His gaze grows darker, more malevolent.

“But I- I defeated you! You should be dead!”

He slams his hands on the bars of my cell, screaming now. “Say it without denying what you actually did. You killed me, not defeated! The hero, Lucas, beloved by all of Portland. A murderer. You’re not any better than me.”

“The death of this entire city was inevitable under your control! And you… assaulted… those women…”

“And that gives you the right to take my life? I was protecting these people, Lucas. They couldn’t survive without me.” His voice is seething now, a low tone of rage.

My heart drops, guilt making me fumble my words. “I was- I was out during one of your collection trips! That silk snake attacked and it took forever for your guards to arrive! Without us there, those people would have died.”

“And look how many I kept alive in the city. A few sacrifices for the lives of the rest. How many died after you ‘saved’ them?” Brandon makes air quotes around ‘saved’, sneering at me.

“I- they- their survival under you was a dictatorship! At least they died free, and I tried to save as many as I could! I didn’t know all those monsters would break loose the second I… killed you.” Saying the last part seeds further doubt in me.

“I- I didn’t want any of this to happen! If you would have just let everyone level up normally, they would have been strong enough to defend themselves earlier!”

“Or they would have died without me protecting them. Face it, Lucas, their lives are on YOUR hands. And so is mine.”

The scene shifts instantly with me standing bent over Brandon in a crater, Argo’s tip pierced through his heart. He coughs blood, staring up at me. “Murderer. You killed all of them, their blood stains your hands.”

The light leaves his eyes as I watch Brandon die once more.

“No! I di- I didn’t- I didn’t want any of this to happen! No! NO! NO!”

Through my screaming, I hear a voice calling out to me. A familiar one. “Lucas! Lucas! Wake up! What’s happening? Come on! Wake UP!”

Opening my eyes, I look up from the floor to see everyone staring at me. Colt is holding on to my arms, shaking me before he realizes my eyes are open.

“Lucas, what happened? Are you okay?” Adreanell steps close but a hand stops her.

“Not now, Adreanell, let Colt handle this one.” Mrs. Kaine pulls her back, frowning and shaking her head slightly. “You good, Colt?”

“I am. Thanks, mom.”

Mrs. Kaine guides them out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Everyone gives me looks of concern before walking out.

“Lucas, what happened? You were screaming.” Colt’s face is a mask of concern.

“I was… dreaming. About Brandon. Colt, I fucked up. So many people died because I killed him…” My eyes well with tears; the guilt that I’ve been holding on to breaking through to the surface.

Colt pulls me close as sobs wrack my body. “That’s not true and you know it, Lucas. They weren’t living under his control. It was a horrible, controlled existence. They were crammed into those houses like cattle.

“It’s not your fault that they died. Brandon could have let them train and get stronger, but he banned all weapons. Everything was about control with him. Those people were going to die sooner or later on those collecting trips. The population could only go down. You gave everyone a chance!” He hugs me tighter, his own eyes filling with sympathetic tears.

“I can… look at your argument… logically and understand it but… I still killed him. Another human…” Hiccuping, I manage to stop my tears. Colt hands me a piece of cloth and I blow my nose on it, noting moments later that it’s one of his shirts.

“I contributed, Lucas. So I get what you’re going through here. Unfortunately, if more people become Agents of Restruct, I think that’s just something we’re going to have to come to terms with doing.”

Balling up with my arms around my legs, my voice is a whisper. “That doesn’t stop me from feeling like a horrible person…”

“Lucas, you are anything but horrible. You’re smart, kind, courageous, confident, funny… handsome.” He blushes slightly at the last one, still getting used to being open about his sexuality. “You’re… amazing. You make me want to be a better person every day.”

My heart swells, pushing away some of the darkness. “I don’-”

“Don’t you dare say you don’t deserve it. If you say that, you’re calling me a liar.” His voice is firm and his face is set. The faint, multicolored lights in his grassy green irises glitter wildly as his eyes bore into me.

“I just ...it’s- it’s going to take me some time... to come to terms with... this. ...Thanks, Colt, for supporting me. I feel like an idiot, being dramatic like this…”

“You are not an idiot you knucklehead. Everything you’re going through is valid. I’m here for you, any time you need to talk. Hopefully, next time, you can remember that in your dreams. ...Let’s get back to bed, okay? We can talk about it more in the morning if you want to.”

He smiles slightly at me, his eyes remaining sad.

“...Sleep sounds nice. I’m calmed down enough now.”

Climbing back into bed, Colt wraps his arms around me and pulls me close. The buoyoberry bed undulates from the force before settling back into place. The strange levitating berries make for a surprisingly comfortable sleeping surface.

It takes a while, but I finally fall back asleep, no further dreams plaguing me before morning.

My second time waking, Colt is shaking me once more. Blearily, I turn to look at him. “Wha? Was I screaming again?” Waking up a little more at the prospect, I glance around and note the tiniest of hints of light in the sky.

“Oh! Sorry. No, you were fine. I just thought you might… want to watch the sunrise?” Colt glances to the side, clearly feeling awkward asking.

Smiling at him, I clamber out of bed and peck him on the lips. “That sounds like a great idea.”

He smiles back, clearly excited. He raises a hand toward the ceiling and the wood opens up, then points a hand to the floor and a circular pad of wood lifts slightly. “Hop on!”

Grinning, I stretch for a second then turn to him. “Nah, I’ve got this.” Squatting down for a moment, I leap using Shaper’s Soul to ensure the right angle. My body fits through the hole in the roof and I land on top of it without issue.

Colt rises up a second later with a whirl of air and lands next to me. With another wave of his hand, the ceiling closes once more, the wood and stone sealing back into place.

“I figured after last night you might like something like this, a fresh start of sorts…” He looks on to the horizon, where the first few hints of sunlight are showing themselves.

Taking a deep breath, I enjoy the cool, crisp summer morning air and stare out across the forest in the distance. A number of evergleam firs glow, lightning up spots here and there along the forest.

My attention turns as a hand grasps mine and I look over at Colt. Suddenly, a whirl of wind engulfs the both of us, rising us high into the sky. Giving Colt a look, I can see the strain on his face to lift the both of us. His magickal Fae body is much lighter than I am.

“I figured this might give us a better view.” He has to talk loud over the whipping winds. Deciding to make it easier on him, I take something out of my hold.

The silky golden potion glows faintly in my hands as I raise the bottle to my lips and take a dose. Like a warm caress, light runs through my body and I can already feel the effects of the potion.

You have gained the temporary Skill: Flight for 5 minutes 12 seconds.

Mentally activating the Skill, Colt gains an expression of shock on his face as his own strain lightens considerably. The wind dies down as he brings it to levels appropriate for himself. “Flight potion?”

“Mhm.”

Feeling out the Skill, I figure from how the cost feels just hovering here, I can last longer than the duration of the potion.

Colt taps my arm, getting my attention and points to the horizon in the east once more. “Look!”

The sun finally rises above the horizon, lighting up the sky in hues of gold and blue. It casts long shadows across the treeline, causing the trees to look like black silhouettes wreathed in warming light.

For all the magic I’ve seen and done so far, this takes my breath away, watching a sunrise while I’m flying in the air. Turning to Colt, he has the same look of awe on his own face. “Thank you. This is exactly what I needed.”

Pulling him into a quick kiss, I let go and let myself fall backward. The landscape around me becomes a blur of motion before I reactivate Flight and take to the skies once more.

Whooping and hollering, I bring myself up to an appropriate speed and enjoy the exhilarating freedom of flight. The cool, misty air of the morning feels refreshing on my skin as I glide along the treetops.

Only a few smaller bird monsters are just waking up, they look on in shock as I fly past their half-asleep forms.

Just then, a bright green blur speeds past me in a gust of wind. Colt stops in midair, winking at me before bringing himself up to speed once more.

“Oh, a race, huh?” Carefully pouring mana into Flight, my speed increases, making me catch up to him. He simply smirks and the air around glows green and he bursts forward.

“Damnit, I can’t match that speed if I wanna have mana for the rest of this duration…”

With about a minute left on the potion effect, my mind turns scholarly. Looking into the setup of the Skill with Runic Matrix while I fly back home, my confusion only grows.

No matter how hard I try, something about the runes just doesn’t feel right to me, I can’t mimic any of the processes.

Just then, the timer runs out and I realize I’m still on the sky. “Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!”

The ground comes at me fast as I plummet towards it. Raising a hand out in front of me, I pull as much water from the dew and the misty air as I can, supplementing the rest with my own created water using Hydromancy.

Catching myself in a tube of water, I slow my fall enough and land on the ground unharmed but soaked.

Shaking some water off of myself, I think about what I’m doing for a second. “Wait… I have magic.”

With a small use of Hydromancy, I dry myself off in seconds by simply pulling the water out of my boxers and off of my skin. ‘I probably should have put some more clothes on before flying away from the house…’

The house is only about a two-minute walk away, so I make it in half that at a jog, glancing left and right to make sure I’m not spotted by anyone while I’m so exposed. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem many people want to be out at this hour as I don’t see anyone.

Once I arrive back at the house, Colt lands next to me with a burst of wind, grinning widely “I win.”

Chuckling, I raise my hands up. “You got me. I don’t have the capacity or regen you do for flying that fast.”

“It helps that my Wild Magick is well attuned to the natural elements, it cuts down the cost a lot.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you had bonuses like that. Does The Construct tell you a percent?”

Colt opens a hole in the wall to our bedroom and leaps up to it, landing gracefully. “Yeah, it’s a 30% reduction to earth, nature, water, and air. Things like fire and metal are 30% more expensive though…”

Jumping up myself, my bare feet land softly on the wood floor, plenty of points in Dexterity as well as the Nimble Feet Perk that went into Promethean allowing me to balance after such a leap without issue.

“Oh, well you’ve got me for firepower. Speaking of magic, can you teach me Aeromancy and Floramancy now?”

“Sure thing, just uh, could you put some clothes on? It’s… pretty distracting.” He scratches at the back of his head, feigning that he wasn’t staring.

“I can do that. I kinda forgot I store most of my clothes in my hold until you just reminded me. Somehow I’m still not used to The Construct...” With a quick use of my menus, I equip a pale beige t-shirt, some white khaki shorts, a cloth belt, and my crystalline steps.

Colt notes me admiring the crystal-adorned leather boots. “Do you wanna practice outside so you can try your new toy too?” His tone is fake-mocking, he’s clearly interested in how they work too.

“...Yes.” Colt opens the wall once more and I leap to the ground, deciding to go for flair I activate the boots just as I land.

My mana flows through them and my landing erupts in a burst of jagged amber crystals poking out of the ground in a circle around me.

Colt whistles, impressed, then jumps down and lands next to me inside the circle. He runs a finger along one of the crystals. “This is impressive. The mana flow feels like Geomancy, just more… refined. When you’re done with them do you think I could try them out?”

“Sure thing, you’re teaching me two kinds of magic anyway.”

“Do I sense gemstones?” A head of curly brown hair pokes out from the side of the house. Adreanell grins at us, slight greed in her golden eyes.

“Oh, good morning Adreanell, did we wake you? I was just about to teach Lucas Aeromancy and Floramancy, do you want to learn?” Colt summons a flurry of wind and a vine from the ground to demonstrate.

“Nope, I was already up, some asshole was shouting, and sure! That sounds like fun!” She walks up next to me, looking excited.

Heat reaching my ears in embarrassment, I don’t comment about who the shouting asshole was.

Colt takes a bit to explain how the flow of mana works for Aeromancy. It’s extremely free-form yet fluid. To some extent, you have to let the mana do what it wants to do under your guidance. Restricting it too much will only make it too structured and lose power.

“How does that work for compressing air like your boots do?”

“Oh, that’s a whole other level that I’m still figuring out, it seems like it has something to do with encasing the free air with another spell structure.” Colt seems lost in thought for a second.

“Well, I have Runic Matrix, so could you show me some Aeromancy up close for a second so I can get a good look at it?”

“Of course.” Colt gestures a hand at me, the wild green aura of his magick indicating the activation of his Aeromancy. Torrents of wind gust around me, but he keeps them away from my eyes so I can observe it.

The runes give me the same kind of idea that Colt indicated, they’re extremely freeform and loosely linked together.

Delving deep into myself, I think on what I know of air and wind. My mind goes back to trips to the beach as a kid. A gust of wind kicks up sand, blowing it past me. The small pieces of broken up earth skate across my skin, giving extra sensation to how the wind feels.

My next thought comes to autumn on the playground. While playing with my friends, a gust of wind kicks up in a circular flurry, gathering leaves around me in a spiral. The experience almost feels magical to my younger self.

With these thoughts in mind, Adreanell and I spend a bit practicing this. Eventually, I manage to create a blast of wind and finally gain the messages I’ve been looking for.

Congratulations Lucas Creo! For manipulating the elemental force of air and bending it to your will, you have gained the Skill: Aerokinesis!

Congratulations Lucas Creo! Your perk Elemental Dominion has caused a Skill Upgrade to occur. Your Skill: Aerokinesis has become Aeromancy!

Affinity Acquired: Low Air Affinity 1/100!

‘I forgot about affinities, how are those doing anyway? Affinities.’

Affinities:

Low Air Affinity 1/100

Low Earth Affinity: 20/100

Low Fire Affinity: 40/100

Low Metal Affinity: 3/100

Low Water Affinity: 97/100

‘Wow, water affinity is pretty close.’

“Lucas? Earth to Lucas. You there?” Colt is waving a hand in front of my face.

“Wha?” My mind comes back to present and I realize they’re both staring at me.

“Oh, sorry. I learned Aeromancy and got distracted looking at my affinities.” Scratching an ear, I glance to the side away from them awkwardly.

“Right. Well, Adreanell picked up on it after you, so we’re moving on to Floramancy, you ready?”

“Sure thing!”

Adreanell gives a thumbs up, a saccharine grin on her face.

Colt takes time elaborating on how nature magic works. His explanation shows signs of Pasivier’s influence due to some hoity-toity talk about refinement of spell structures.

Overall, the instruction for Floramancy boils down to moving mana in a way that encourages growth from a small size into larger, organic structures.

Colt demonstrates by creating a chair out of roots springing up from the ground. As he performs this process, I watch how the runes seem to build off of each other, connecting into a final, stronger whole.

Taking a moment to get into the right mindset, I think about my experience with growth. My mind goes back to my small herb garden I kept before The Construct. Watering the plants every day, seeing how new shoots come up or new leaves unfurl, it all gives me a sense of what growth is.

Pointing my hand at the ground, I push all these experiences into my manipulation of mana, encouraging a patch of grass to grow taller.

By the time I finally get the grass to begin growing under my control, the sun has come up from the horizon, bringing the day to full light.

Congratulations Lucas Creo! For manipulating the elemental force of nature and bending it to your will, you have gained the Skill: Florakinesis!

Congratulations Lucas Creo! Your perk Elemental Dominion has caused a Skill Upgrade to occur. Your Skill: Florakinesis has become Floramancy!

Affinity Acquired: Low Nature Affinity 1/100!

Level up! For learning two new “mancy” style Skills, one of medium difficulty, your Talent: Fledgling Mage has reached (38/50)!

“Yes! Colt, I did it!” Pumping my arm in the air, I’m happy with myself for gaining yet another magic.

He laughs and raises two arms, causing huge tufts of grass to grow around me, taller than me. “Alright, now reach this level of skill.”

A use of Hydromancy slices away all of the grass around me with a blade of water. “Show off.”

He chuckles. “Sorry, couldn’t resist. How’s progress coming along for you Adreanell?”

With our focus returning to her, she’s staring angrily at a single blade of grass on the ground. “Grow damnit!”

Walking up to her, I lay a hand on her shoulder. “Adreanell I don’t think yelling at the grass is gonna make it grow.”

“Yeah, you just need to change your mindset, follow what I said and think about what you think of growth.”

She glares at him with misdirected anger. “Growth to me involves a bank account…” She storms off, setting the blade of grass on fire before she does so.

“She’ll get it eventually, Colt. I’m sure of it.”

“I know, it’ll just take time. I’ll find her later and try again. For now, I have a lot of house building to do, sorry. What are your plans for the day?”

“No clue, what do you think?”

“Well, the people could always use help building those stone walls around the city. You probably have a much bigger mana pool than any of them.”

“Good idea, I’ll go help out for a bit. I’ll… see you later then?”

“Sounds good to me.” We kiss quickly before Colt flies off in a gust of wind.

“...Guess I’ll go on foot.” Deciding I need to clean up first, I move back into the house using the front door, Colt having sealed up the wall already.

Greeting Becky and Mrs. Kaine as I walk by, we exchange pleasantries and I head upstairs to the bathroom. Taking out my toothbrush and toothpaste from my hold, I get hygiene out of the way, using Hydromancy to rinse afterward.

With morning maintenance complete, I leave the house at a quick clip, not exhausting for me but faster than a car could move. ‘Stats really are amazing, this landscape is practically blurring by.’

When I arrive at the edge of the northern walls minutes later, a few people point me out and whisper to those next to them, clearly aware of who I am.

The next part of the day is good practice with my magical Skills. Not only do I use Geomancy to help sculpt more walls into appropriate thickness and shape, but people also found scrap metal which I flatten out and hold up to the walls with Metallomancy so others can rivet it into place.

It seems that a lot of the “kinesis” and “mancy” skills have become widespread with people teaching each other. If anything good has come out of the bad, it’s people’s natural collaborative efforts.

Time goes by quickly as I chat with others while working, learning people’s Skills, Talents, names, and more. Some people have come up with some extremely interesting Talents and Skills.

Sydney’s touch seems to have reached here as well. Plenty of people have animal companions with them, mostly cats and dogs as they’re the most domesticated animals, but there’s even a few farm animals as well as some rodents and lizards.

They display an array of Skills of elements I wouldn’t even imagine. One woman has a cat sitting on her shoulder that rends earth with its metallic claws, assisting her in shaping the walls.

Screams in the distance distract me from my observations and I sprint over to find the source. One of my early fears with The Construct realizes itself as I spot a massive, sickly bright green spider with a bulbous, liquid-filled abdomen.

Acrid Orb-Weaver

Traits: Acid Production, Acidic Venom

Description: This orb-weaver spider produces highly acidic webbing to melt its prey’s defenses before biting into them with its venomous fangs, melting them into a nutritious paste.

A man facing the spider looks slightly familiar but I can’t put a finger on it until he uses a skill.

“Cold Front!” A blast of cold air hits the spider, causing it to reel back as frost forms on its legs.

‘Oh! It’s the weatherman, no wonder I recognize him!’

Leaping the rest of the distance, I shift my boot mid landing to cause a spire of crystal to stab at the spider. The tip breaks off on its carapace, melting away.

‘Shit, don’t know if I can use Argo against an acidic enemy, he’d probably be fine, he’s Palemetal after all, but I don’t really want to get up close either... Magic it is then I guess.’

The spider shrieks, turning its attention to me. “Everyone get back! I can handle this, I don’t want you guys getting hurt!”

Some people back away but others with ranged weapons raise them. Some people even have guns, surprising me that they still have ammo after this long. ‘I wonder if Construct Shops sell bullets.’

Shaking my head, I refocus on the enemy in front of me. It’s skittering at me quickly. It turns around just as fast, firing bright green strands of acidic web at me.

Dodging to the side, the ground sizzles where the web lands, melting away. ‘Okay, definitely can’t let that be me.’

Jumping high into the air, I gather mana. “Flame Swathe!” Fire engulfs the colossal spider, causing it to screech once again. It leaps into the air at me, spewing acidic webs.

Summoning an orb of water around myself, the webs sizzle as they make contact with it. Suddenly, I lose control of the orb and it falls around me. The liquid burns as it touches my skin. “Ah, fuck!”

‘Does Hydromancy not count once it’s mostly acid? Shit.’

Falling to the ground, I land lightly on my feet. Immediately, more webs come at me. Deflecting them with bursts of Aeromancy, I dodge away one more.

Several arrows scrape across the spider’s carapace, melting immediately on the acidic film covering it. Bullets end to the same effect, the exoskeleton of the arachnid is too tough for them to penetrate.

The spider turns its attention back at them, causing them to back away fearfully.

‘Looks like I’m gonna need some boosts here.’ Taking out the purple and green swirl springlimb potion, I down a dose, feeling the springy effect enter my limbs. A timer appears for 1 minute 38 seconds, so I down the second dose to bring it up to 3 minutes 16 seconds.

Activating Mantle of the Hero next, I allocate the boost to Intelligence, increasing the strength of my magic. Bursting in, I create several large blades of water, slicing at the spider.

The first few blades explode in bursts of steam but finally the following strikes land, having cleared away the acidic film. The spider skitters backward momentarily, but finds itself boxed in after some people create high earthen walls.

It charges me once again, firing more and more acidic strands at me. Swiping away each with more water, only enduring a few minor burns, I Plot Courses to dash to the right of the spider, the springiness of my limbs enhancing my speed. Creating a huge swell of water, my mana pool drops.

Making it spin and form into a conical point, I fire the aqueous projectile at high speed. It shears through the carapace of the acidic arachnid, cutting off one of its front legs. Bright green liquid spews out, melting the ground it comes into contact with.

Looking around me, the ground is coated with acidic webbing everywhere, severely limiting my mobility. The rampaging spider skitters at me, about to fire more webbing.

Cursing, I pour mana into one final attack. With force of will, I compress more and more of the water I created into a singular orb. Just before the spider reaches me, I release the pressure forward in a thin line.

The blast bisects the creature, causing the two halves to fall to the sides of me. Acid pours out from the corpse, melting the ground around it. ‘Wow am I glad I have auto-loot, who knows if the drops would survive this much acid.’

Stepping carefully away, the people nearby cheer. The glow around me fades as the mantle deactivates. A few moments later, the literal spring in my step is gone as well.

Checking over my boots, they, fortunately, didn’t get damaged, their high quality likely keeping them durable enough to withstand the acid. My clothes, however, are marred with holes and my flesh is currently healing up from acid burns.

The Construct prompts me with the results of the battle.

Level up! For clever use of your magic to distract, and manipulation of mana to empower attacks beyond normal limits, your Talent: Fledgling Mage has reached (41/50)!

For reaching your eighth Talent milestone in Fledgling Mage, you have been awarded applicable stat points to Intelligence, Attunement, Willpower, Insight, and + 240 XP.

‘No perk? Guess a fusion is coming up soon!’

You have gained the resistance: Acid Resistance (1/100)!

Acrid Orb-Weaver defeated! 3,403 XP awarded!

Acrid Orb-Weaver dropped: 24 Glints, Skill Tome: Acid Arrow

‘A skill tome? I’ll have to check that out later.’

Noticing people staring at me, I quickly swap out the clothes I’m wearing into some non-acid-washed ones.

A familiar face walks up, smiling.

“Gabe! How are you?” Greeting the man, I shake his hand that isn’t holding a fireman’s axe.

“How am I? How are you, Lucas? I saw that acidic water hit you, your skin burned quick!” Gabe looks at me incredulously, seemingly surprised that I’m not too affected by what happened.

“Oh, I heal fast and I’m used to pain by now. Besides, I got a resistance for it!” Posing proudly, he laughs.

“Well, we’ll clean it up from here Mr. Tough Guy, you go home now and get some rest.” He pats me on the back and shoos me away.

“You sure you don’t want my help?”

“Nah, we’re fine here. Portlanders are a resourceful bunch. You’ve helped enough today, especially after that fucker.” He gestures to the spider corpse on the ground near us.

“Well alright, I’ll see you later then, Gabe!”

He waves as I walk away. Some people approach me on my way home, thanking me for helping out.

Arriving home, it’s reaching the end of daylight. As it’s summer that likely means it’s somewhere close to 8 PM.

“I’m starving…” I had some food with the people near the walls earlier, but nothing beats Colt’s cooking. Opening the door, I hear the clatter of dishes upstairs.

‘Thank you, whatever food god is out there looking over me.’

Taking the stairs two at a time, I find everyone sitting around the table chatting. They greet me happily.

“Great timing, Lucas! We just finished setting the table!” Adreanell levitates some of the cutlery, showing what she really means.

“Perfect, I’m starving.” Everyone chuckles lightly and we cheer as Colt brings food out from the upstairs kitchen.

“I’m still getting used to cooking with Pyromancy so, sorry everyone… Oh, Lucas! You’re home! Say uh, when are you going to enchant the house?” He gives me a questioning look as he sets plates of meat and vegetables down on the table which Becky hungrily reaches for immediately.

“Oh, I can get on that tomorrow for sure.”

“Sounds good!” He smiles at me, filling his own plate with food.

The rest of the dinner goes pleasantly with everyone chatting, talking about our days. Mrs. Kaine apparently spent the day instructing some people in spear techniques.

Cassandra tells us that she decided to open her own candy shop and sell her alchemical candies.

“Oh, Cassandra, what if you did that here? Adreanell could handle money from the sales, the downstairs main room is super empty right now anyway.”

Thinking about it for a moment, I realize how many different item-creating talents I have at my disposal that could help people too. “Honestly, a shop sounds like a good idea for me too. I can make tons of potions, and my forge will be set up soon too…”

“...I’d like to renovate the back yard and open my own patio restaurant…” Colt chimes in quietly, sharing his piece.

“You’ll need more growing crops to supplement those plans, I can help with that.” Mrs. Kaine smiles as she brings a glass of some fruit juice to her lips.

“Sounds like a plan then.” Looking between everyone, we begin to plan out what this whole business will be like.

Our plans are to make affordable gear and supplies for the people of Portland so that they can both have the incentive to get stronger by fighting monsters to earn money and good options outside of the more simplistic supplies the Construct Shops sell.

‘I’ll need to check out exactly what the shops sell so I can make sure my stuff is better quality…’

With dinner reaching an end, we chat for a couple more hours about all we can do to make the house shop-ready as soon as possible.

By the end of the night, we all go to bed feeling more assured by our plans for the future. They’ll be beneficial both for us and for the people of Portland.