A few hours later and James had made enough +1 Ironwood armor for his entire guild with enough left over to equip a few guards. They could always nick it back if the need arose.

(For those of you who do not know Ironwood is a spell from the old editions of D&D look it up)

By the time he was done with the armor he examined the wooden planks and found they were dry enough to use. James checked the time, almost time for his date, so James bid his guildmates goodnight and logged off.

James and Reo have a nice date and a very fun night together.

James woke up in the morning and some morning fun and breakfast, James walked home to take a shower and log back into Yggdrasil. His next objective was to build an irrigation system for the soon to be farming floor.

It did not take James long to dig out a basic irrigation system, he had the all-purpose farming tool after all. When he was done with the digging, he began using his Transmutation ring to transmute the dirt walls of the canals into stone.

Being as the stone canals would be considered a part of the base, they would be maintained as part of the bases upkeep. That was good it would prevent James from needing to occasionally repair them. He remembered that was just a part of life with him growing up in the countryside.

James went to cut down more trees to make fence posts. Then he began to divide up the third floor into sections. Each section would be its own mini village. Each mini village would have its own people to maintain it. Each would have a crop or service that they would be specialized in, but they would also need something from the other farmers. So, as the farmers traded for what they needed a sense of community would be formed.

That was the plan for when they arrived in the New World anyway. For now, it he still had much work to be done before he could even start making the farmers. He had to fence off their areas. He would wait on having their fields plowed. He would build their homes first and then make the NPC farmers plow their fields themselves.

The only places he excluded when he was sectioning the floor, were the 20-foot wide dirt roads that he would later be improved upon. One road lead from the door to the second floor which he called The North Road, three more roads branched out in the cardinal directions. He named them The South, East, and West Roads, respectively.

The roads all met in a large circular path 50-feet across that encircled the shore of the artificial lake he had constructed. He connected the cardinal roads to the bridges that he had bought to cross from the shore to the island in the middle of the lake.

James remembered more than a bit about building houses, he had taken some classes on construction in both his lives. It helped that he had gained lots of hands on experience with building and repairing homes back on the farm in Georgia.

James was very thankful as he began constructing the many homes for the many villagers, that he had magic, practical super strength, and the ability to fly aiding him in the construction efforts. He started by laying down where each home would be.

James quickly realized he had made a small mistake, which needed to be corrected before it became a huge problem later. James took an hour flying around, redrawing the sections to include 20-foot wide roads that would be placed between the farms. This would allow for carts and people to get to any one of the mini villages far easier. While he was at it, he left a 20-foot wide section between the edge of the canal, where he would place a fence, and the farms. All so he could have a road that encircled practically the entire floor.

James was not worried about any of the NPC’s having to defend the base from intruders. That was not their jobs. The job of Floor guardian and floor manager would fall to the people he placed on the island in the middle of the lake. He had at least 2 level 100 NPC ideas, to help fill those roles.

With all the sections redrawn to include the roads he had allocated room for, he started working on the homes once more. James did not do anything fancy, not yet anyway. He had the idea to make each mini village have a different race as its citizens.

This would serve two purposes, one to show that people of different races could live together in peace, cooperation, and friendship. The second being, he could more ethically achieve Demiurge’s Happy Farm. The whole floor and every villager who lived on it would be part of this Happy Farm.

He would not force any of them to do anything. He would simply need to wait for nature to take its course once they reached the new world. It could take decades for anything of note to happen, but when he would be there, he would have all the time in the world. With so many people it would be bound to happen eventually.

It took James nearly 9 hours to build all the farmhouses, even with help from his guildmates. Each home was a simple two-story home not including the attic, with windows, and not much else. The homes were barren for the most part. The best home was the one he chose to build by himself for the floor guardians. The three-story home, not including the attic, had twelve-foot ceilings.

Every house on this floor had a screened in porch that wrapped around the first floor of it. James planned to implement many magical versions of everyday thing into the homes, both to remind him of where he came from, and so that his NPC’s could have good lives when they arrived in the New World.

He would give them things like magical fridges and freezers, cupboards that kept food from spoiling, and magical AC. He was very excited for magical AC. Unfortunately, those things would have to wait. James investigated the item store and began buying seeds, it did not matter what they were he bought them. 50 million gold later, he had bought at least one packet of every type of seed from the store.

Before he began making the NPC’s he would need to decide what races he would make, what they would do, and so on. That would take time, so he decided to hold off until next weekend on making the NPC farmers.

(I have lost track of how much gold James has. Please give me a rough count in the comments, after this chapter, if you would be so kind.)

James spent his remaining hours crafting fencing for the farms and to stop people from falling in the canal at the edge of the floor. Before James logged off, setting himself a reminder to place cleansing wards into the canals to help keep the water good.

James logged off and went to sleep.

Monday

James strolled into work feeling refreshed from his weekend of building. James went to help some teams that were working on improving the performance of Yggdrasil. He taught them a thing or two about how to improve the performance of a game. It had become one of his hobbies while he attended college in his first life. He had made some games that were nearly unplayable due to their performance issues run like a dream. This hobby had made him quite a bit of money.

Tuesday

James decided to check on how the Powered armor update was going. He learned that even with his improvements and aid that the release date would not be changed. Instead it gave them more time to try ever more irrational things looking for bugs.

James knew that given enough time and effort even the smallest bug could be found, and then exploited to no end, leading to game breaking consequences. It reminded him of Minecraft’s oldest anarchy server, 2b2t.

There were no rules, and so many players devoted nearly all their time to finding things that they could exploit and exploit they did. James did not want Yggdrasil, or the New World for that matter, to become 2b2t because of him, so he helped the team fervently.

Wednesday

James was called into a meeting by Mr. Takahashi. He was chosen to represent both the Administrators of Yggdrasil and one of the players. He had to help convince some investors that their money would be well spent with them.

Some gaming chairs had even been reserved by Mr. Takahashi so that James could show them the game. He was told to simply show them around his guild base. James was very happy to log on and not see his base being raided or having been raided.

They loved his base, how beautiful the world was, and they even appreciated all of James’ hard work when he showed them the third floor.

He showed them the ease at which he could control the entire floor from his control panel, they really liked that. They asked him how he had started the game and he, in as much detail as was reasonable, regaled them with the story of how he had gotten to where he was now.

One of them even stated that they wished to play the game. James told that man that if he did join, he would take him into his guild and show him the ropes of the games. That man seemed genuinely happy at his offer, which he quickly accepted. They made quick plans to meet up on Saturday, he already knew where James had his base.

(They make plans for James to wait in the limbo area, a waiting room for player to interact with each other before entering the game, cannon by the way. All so that he could help him build his character.)

James and Mr. Takahashi shook the hands of their new investors after the long day was done. James received a sizable bonus for his contributions, and commendations for the how well he handled their concerns.

Thursday

He checked in with Subaru to see if his idea had been accepted. He found that it had been but was very expensive. For one of the items it would cost him the equivalent of 500 USD. This made James wonder. ‘Does my helm work on cache up items?’

James spent the rest of the day helping the cache up item team improve the performance of the items and work out any bugs they could find.

Friday

James returned to the Cache up item department, who he had found out also ran the normal item shop. He then began helping them fix miscellaneous issues with the occasional item. Overall, it was a relaxing day.

Saturday

James woke up bright and early did his morning routine and then sat down to play Yggdrasil. Since he was skipping breakfast, he set an alarm to go off at lunch. He had planned to meet the guy, whose name he could not remember, at 10 in the morning. Since it was 8 that gave him 2 hours to work on the base while he waited for the man to come online for the first time.

James took out his rod of warding and began to edit the wards responsible for accelerating the water, granting them the additional property of cleansing the water as well. James had the idea to use some clever warding to create gates for the flow of water into the fields.

The warding allowed James to ensure that each field got the right amount of water. The ward worked like a physical gate to either block or allow the flow of water into the field. He could control ever one of the gates on the floor from his base panel. He saw him having the only control to be a problem. So, he called in a friend, Takeda.

Takeda said he was busy now and that he would help him out at noon. By the time he was done with his call to Takeda it was time to help the new guy. So, James logged in and sat in the waiting room.

After James had helped the guy out, he wanted to be called Hell, as he had chosen to go with the theme of Hel the Norse god of death, a male version anyway. When it was time for him to finalize his character, James realized a problem. He did not have a way to get him to his base.

However, it was at that moment that Takeda showed up, not as Slender man this time. He appeared basically as himself. James explained to him the situation and Takeda used his admin powers to move Hell, the player, to James’ base. He immediately invited him to the guild, as to prevent him from becoming the target of his guards.

That raised an idea for James. “Hey, Takeda, can as you a favor?” “Sure, what do you need more things to do from your base panel?” James was about to say no but then he thought about that for a moment. “Yes, and can you make it, so this place is recognized as both my base and the beginner area again? I want people to be able to come here again and to do business. It would be a great asset.”

Takeda simply laughed, “What?! You mean that you thought it wasn’t anymore?” James real face paled as the realization dawned on him, “You probably set those guys to attack anything that got to close, didn’t you?” James’ face simply made Takeda laugh louder and harder.

James quickly pulled up his base menu and checked the setting for his guards, cursed at himself, then he set the guards to neutral unless attacked. He dropped the gates and then asked Takeda, “How do I reset some guards to open and close the gate?”

Takeda finished laughing saying, “Ill handle it for you as a favor for the good laugh. What did you need for the base panel?” James was about to speak before he turned back to Hell the Asgardian standing next to him. “Sorry this will only take a moment more.” “No, take your time, I’m just enjoying the sights.”

James turned back to Takeda, “Can I make small panels that can control certain parts of the base. I want to put controls for the water gates in each of the houses. Basically, I want to control certain thing from predefined places.”

Takeda smiled, “I will gladly help you with that.” James smiled at him, “Alright Hell, let us go to the third floor, I’ll make you some better equipment. Takeda you want to come?”

“Sure, why not this place is one of the best bases in the game, that’s not only my opinion. We had a pole among a lot of the top Admins, and most of them said they loved your base more than any other in the game right now!”

James was very happy they liked his work, but they had not seen anything yet! They had a quick stop before they went to the third floor. The stopped where he had placed his first NPC, Hephaestus. James had forgotten to name the shop, he quickly opened the console and said, “I dub they, Black Moon’s Cradle.”

James was amazed when the name he had entered in appeared in bright gold lettering on the shops front. He received applause from both Takeda and Hell. They entered the store to see Hephaestus the humble blacksmith/ shop keeper.

James pulled out the Stone of the Craftsman. James heard the, Oohh’s & Aahh’s, of those standing next to him as he pulled out the beautiful stone.

James did not know what the stone did, it was obvious there were many secrets hidden inside this fist sized, seemingly perfect, sphere of multicolored crystal. Looking into it he could see that it almost seemed to shine in the light, no it was if it almost gave off a light all its own. So, James examined the item.

Stone of the Craftsmen- A stone invested with the love and passion of a true craftsmen. In this stone he engrained his finest work and his greatest secrets. Crafted with secrets long lost and forgotten.

By my blackened hand! – Unknown

James tried scanning the item with his helm, the response it gave him, he would have to work for the rest of his days in Yggdrasil, and quite possibly beyond to ever have a hope of crafting another item like this. With great reluctance he lifted Hephaestus’ hand and placed the orb into his open palm. To his surprise Hephaestus closed his palm and the item disappeared. Several notifications appeared.

Your NPC, “Hephaestus” has used the (Divine item), “Stone of the Craftsmen”

Greater effect will occur due to NPC, “Hephaestus”, being of the race, (Goblin)

“Hephaestus”, has obtained the title, “The Black Smith”

Black Smith- A title granted only to those few undead that forsake their hatred for a passion. A title only granted to undead who reach the highest levels of Craftsmanship.

Congratulations your NPC, “Hephaestus” has discovered the hidden magic system, Rune Crafting.

Rune Crafting, (Greater) description has been unlocked due to use of the item, Stone of the Craftsman, by the NPC, “Hephaestus”

Rune Crafting- A form of magic thought that only the dwarves could use. However, one day, a small goblin proved that thought wrong and learned to Rune Craft. One day, a nameless goblin, while observing a dwarf he wished to kill saw him Rune Crafting. He became entranced by the work the dwarf was doing. At nights fall the dwarf laid down his hammer and retired from his Smithy.

The goblin being a silent and skilled thief easily made his way into the locked shop. He looked and took all that shined placing many rings on his fingers, including a ring of strength. When he turned to leave, he felt compelled to try the anvil, to try what the dwarf had done, at least once.

He located the hammer the dwarf had used, and a blade upon which to try. He swung down with all his might sundering the blade with the sound of scraping metal. Part of him simply wished to leave after his utter failure, but that swing had awoken something within him.

He swept the fragments of his failure from the anvil and replaced the blade with another. This time he tried to restrain his new strength. This time he had dented the blade but not broken it. He moved to swing again, but something inside him told him it would not work with this blade, for it was bent.

Once more he replaced the blade, this blade was from a far-off land where the sword was king. He tried again and to his delight a single faintly glowing mark formed upon the blade. The goblin continued his work through the night and past day break. So enamored with his work was he that he did not hear the dwarf who owned the Smithy yelling at him through the window.

Not even when the city guard crashed down the door did his arms stop. The owner stopped his fellow dwarves from harming the goblin for he saw what was within that little goblin slaving away on his anvil. He saw true and natural potential.

James was shocked at the lore dump he had just read. He turned to show Takeda and Hell, but they had been reading over his shoulders. He was amazed that NPC’s could gain titles. They… could gain titles? ‘What about my own titles?’ James thought. When he brought up his status it was only then that James noticed it. Equipping a title only displays it, all titles are always in effect.

‘Does this extend to my system? The original only allowed one to be equipped at a time.’ Thought James, so he pulled up the system of Solo Leveling. There it displayed his title, “Craftsmen”. ‘Did the title systems work together?’ It appeared that way for now, this merited further investigation later.

James shook himself from his thoughts and asked Takeda and Hell, “Are you guys ready to go to the third floor now?”