Clement had a few more errands to run at the Sect. Now that he had agreed to join my House as Seneschal, he had to have some discussions with his former Clan and immediate family. He was going to arrange for any family members interested in joining him to immigrate.

I didn’t think anyone would take the risk. And helping a new House, Clan, and Fief would be a risk. Whoever agreed to come would be leaving behind the protection and certainty of an established House and Clan.

I had to be honest with myself; if Flowing Water Sect had reigned in their entitled young masters, I might not have taken the risk to join Four Element Sect and begin the journey that got me to this point.

Clement was also planning to put out feelers for talented people within his Clan’s holding that might want to give kingdom building a chance. Fief Myche was still barely established. I’d only been Baroness for barely a year, and half of that time had been spent in a Mystic Realm.

There was so much work to do. Although we had made great strikes and created some technologies that should see us prosper, there was still so much of the day-to-day minutia that needed to be addressed. Problems where skilled and knowledgeable people might make all the difference.

It never hurt to have a second set of eyes and opinions from those who had been practicing and perfecting the manner in which a House, Clan, or Fief expanded. Safely and profitably.

With the expansion of Xiwang and a few of the other towns in my territory reaching the city level, there was even more work needed to make sure the foundation the territory was built on was sound.

I’d managed to find Clement before I returned to Xiwang, and he had been so bold as to leave me with a list of tasks I needed to deal with once I returned to Xiwang. The most pressing issue is under discussion now, how do we make room for the influx of people, any additional people that might immigrate, and see the city protected?

“We can expand Xiwang outward,” Ming said, her voice interjecting between the raucous debate that had been going on for a quarter hour, “but if we do, that section of the City will have none of the protections of Xiwang.

“The eight-trigram array cannot be expanded to cover more area, not without being destroyed and re-created. The triad of Spirits might be convinced to expand their coverage, but that would be a problem for Baroness Jai to solve.”

A problem that probably could be solved now that I had Toi’s knowledge and experience to call upon. Toi had explained that the triad were Spirits, not spirits like she was. They were elemental aspects of the world, nature personified- born and gifted with a small amount of authority over the elements of nature they controlled.

They had limited intelligence, but they weren’t truly sapient. They were aspects of nature given physical form and had no drive or goals. They cared nothing for procreation, gaining strength, or evolving. They had been created by the world to serve a specific purpose, and they were content to fill that purpose by protecting Xiwang.

“There has to be something that can be done,” Gwen replied.

Gwen and Zui synergized well in helping me to run my territory. Each buttressed any weakness the other might have and had done an admirable job of running my Fief while I’d been cut off and inside the Mystic Realm. Even more impressive was their easy transition back to one of my right hands when I returned. Neither expressed any disappointment at the need to discuss events with me before making decisions.

Gwen honestly had no regrets that she was no longer the person in charge. She had taken her stint as ruler of my territory as a necessity, not an opportunity. Her work and decisions had not been without issue, but that was to be expected. No two people would have the exact same opinion on how something should be handled. But those issues had been dealt with.

As far as I could tell, she had never been tempted to subvert, skim funds, or allow cronyism to take root while I’d been away. Perhaps it was because she had lived under Lord Chon’s rule, and she had seen what corruption out of hand would look like.

“If we can’t expand outward,” I responded, “what about upward and down?

“Vertical housing apartments tens of stories high. Vertical Gardens. An underground shopping and business district. And expand the acreage we make use of at the docks by creating underwater warehouses, freeing up the dock to be repurposed for business and housing.”

I was thinking of using Singapore from Earth as a base for expansion. That city had been a marvel of innovation when it came to expanding, infrastructure, and economic growth. The small city-state had found itself in similar circumstances, with limited land tied to a small series of islands, and had managed to overcome its limitations by expanding upward.

I decided to show those gathered what I meant. I cycled my Qi releasing enough water and fog to create an illusion. I had been experimenting with this since I’d encountered the computers the Sect had supplied, and although I hadn’t perfected it. Yet. I had come close. The Sect computers used the same elements of water and fog, along with light, to generate the images displayed, and in what spare time I had, I’d found I could replicate that process.

The water and fog were layered with the smallest amount of lightning sparks. Each spark moved as I directed to give substance, depth, and shadow to the expanded city I was envisioning.

Entire sections of the town were repurposed. I created buildings twenty stories tall, subway entrances that opened into an underground business center with professions like blacksmithing placed underground in locations that released pollutants in vented hoods above ground to fields of Golden Laodicea.

The dock was drastically changed, with a pier that extended into the very center of the bay and the warehouses located under the pier. The old dock was repurposed into a wharf focused on entertainment, businesses, and homes with ocean views.

I borrowed the idea of Coney Island here- an amusement park including rides, a water park, an aquarium, and food kiosks. It would require the use of arrays and dimension expansion to fit everything I’d added, but formations and runes allowed me to bend the rules of what was possible and how everything might fit together.

This type of array adaptation was something we had developed for the arena. We needed an expanded field for aerial acrobatics and duels that allowed for freedom of movement while allowing paying customers a clear view, and runes had made that possible.

It was fashioned by using the reflections you would find in mirrors to bend light so that what you saw depended on where you were sitting or standing. Combining that with a spatial array would make doing something like that possible on the shore, where we could control access.

The eight-trigrams formation wouldn’t allow for the significant changes we would need to make to allow for the same type of spatial additions. That formation was a balancing act of precision and permanence. Changing the land to make use of the mirrored techniques we had developed might affect that precision.

“What is this?” Zui asked, standing to get a better view. Her movement seemed to release the rest of the group, and each person moved to inspect the image closely.

“It might work,” Bob, the builder said thoughtfully, going so far as to get on his hands and knees to see what the illusion looked like from underneath.

“Is this a reflection of ideas you gained in the Mystic Realm?” Aki asked, her attention split into asking her question and copying the illusion I had formed onto parchment.

“Some,” I agreed, thankful that the multi-story buildings had existed in the Mystic Realm.

“The pier, warehouses, and wharf idea are new, something I have been thinking about for a while.

“The arena will continue to draw tourists and contestants, so I had been wondering what else Xiwang could offer to draw those tourists and part them from their cores and spirit stones.

“The idea of an entertainment area, an amusement park- one focused on fun, education, and foods from different regions seemed the most obvious answer. And the entertainment sector is suitable for children, so entire families might make the voyage since there will be something for everyone to enjoy.”

“The families would make use of the park while waiting for arena events,” Gwen replied thoughtfully, “allowing our city to fleece them from more of their money.”

“I wouldn’t say we are fleecing them,” I answered quickly, “we will provide a service. It will have a cost, an appropriate fee, that a family would feel justified in paying for such a unique experience.

“A destination travel event,” Zui agreed. “It might even be popular enough to draw the wealthy who can travel across the ocean.”