“Are you sure this was a good use of wishes?” I asked Callie as I rolled my shiny new D-ranked chit over my knuckles. “Because we can just like…manifest buildings. We have a month, it’s not like there’s a rush.” Well, we had twenty eight days at least, but still, I’d expected the City Planner to excitedly start raising buildings overnight.

The portly man, whose name is learned was Alvus, was every bit as excited as expected, but it wasn’t at the thought of instant buildings, it was at the FOUNDATIONS. He’s heard about the way we laid out the wall and was over the moon.

When he heard my question, the jovial planner turned to smile at me. “A good question, my boy. This is the best possible use of wishes. How much do you know about Ascendant architecture.”

“I know that it happens spontaneously when someone makes a wish and pays me for it.” I said wryly. “Or when Benny uses Inventing, we got a pretty awesome building during a trial back in the day, should we do that again?”

His eyes went wide in panic. “No!” He shouted, waving his hands. “It is NEVER wise to Invent buildings. Inventing allows maximum use of powerful reagents and crafting materials, the more powerful the better, but also the more unpredictable. It’s also nearly impossible to impose any controls on building spawns because of the way they manifest.”

I raised an eyebrow. “But ours was fine. We got a cool sentry tower and a nice place to hang our hats for a while.”

“I assume this took place on a low ranked planet?” He said patiently. At my nod, he chuckled weakly. “As I thought. Inventing uses ALL the ingredients available, and that includes the natural energies of the environment. Higher level planets have more of that energy, and as such, contribute more. That’s not even mentioning possible structures like the Undertrek, which might influence things.”

I nodded as I started to get it. “Oh. That’s why you said they’re unpredictable. Trying to use your soul to influence that much power would be difficult, even if I assume the actual result wouldn’t surpass the level of your materials.”

“Quite so.” He said with a laugh. “Invented buildings can have…drastic results, even within their rank. Cursed manors, infinitely spawning machine factories, monster spawning dens, flesh pits that consume the unwary, there are an unlimited number of unpleasant outcomes to using such a risky ability on a higher rank planet.”

That sucked to hear, but it meant Benny could still add some new buildings back on Callus when we eventually went home. That might be interesting.

“You were talking about Ascendant architecture?” Callie prodded, rolling her eyes at my tendency to get sidetracked. I shot her a charming grin that she couldn’t see but obviously felt through the bond because her lips quirked up in a small smile, though she looked no less exasperated with me.

“Oh!” Laughed Alvus. “Quite right. My apologies. Yes, Ascendant architecture is a fascinating subject. You see, buildings are complex and require multiple skillsets, but most of those overlap within the various crafting professions. Work crews are also often staffed with people with different Jobs, a Carpenter, a Mason, a Plumber, and so on. However, the creation of a foundation is a delicate bit of work for multiple reasons.”

I paused, thinking it over. “Because it’s earth based? I know there are people with abilities that let them shape earth and they do big business in construction back home.”

The man waggled shook his head. “It helps, but one of the main benefits of the Job system is versatility. Stable and consistent growth along with a variety of supplemental skills for your profession. No, it isn’t that. What sets Ascendant architecture apart is the variety. The Skills that crafters have vary, with each main Skill being the ability that person was born with.”

“And those Skills affect the outcome of a building project.” I filled in. “So foundations need to be constructed differently for each one?”

He shrugged. “Need is a strong word. A basic foundation can be laid for any building. Dig out the ground and pour in the material to hold the place up, but for a true Ascendant structure, just like for Ascendants ourselves, the more solid the foundation the more you can bring out of the materials. Even with the proper crafting Skills and disciplines, with a generic foundation, you’re limited in what kind of building you can make.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Thinking back to Callus, I wondered if the Unity building in Rajak had a specialized foundation, or maybe the materials were too low level for it to matter. Still, this did explain a few things.

“Well I didn’t understand the specifications you gave me.” I said with a shrug. “Smart idea writing them out and wishing for foundations that matched the specs on the paper. Mind explaining what each building will be?” I glanced at Celine. “Assuming it’s not like…a state secret or something.” I was mostly kidding, I knew my friend would tell me if I asked, but I wanted to let her know she wasn’t obligated to share.

She waved me off. “Of course not. As I said, you’re always welcome here. This might be my land but it’s your home.”

My heart warmed at that. I trusted Celine. It might be stupid in some people’s eyes to do that after she’d betrayed me, but that was WHY I trusted her. I’d seen what almost losing Benny had done to her, and seen how much she regretted it. I trusted her not to want to go through that again, and so extending her control over this territory was a calculated risk.

So far, she hadn’t disappointed me. At her nod, the portly planner grinned, escorting us back to the very first foundation he’d laid. It was at the edge of the water, and represented the far boundary of the future…settlement? Complex? I wasn’t sure exactly.

“To understand exactly what kind of benefit we have here, you need to understand how buildings work in the Empire.” The planner said excitedly as he led us to the lakeside foundation. “Much like Jobs, there are regional variations of structures developed over time by the residents of different biomes and areas to take advantage of features.”

He gestured down to the large sunken pit with the dark blue metal frame in it. “Now, these particular buildings can’t be built just anywhere, they require not only special plans and materials, but special foundations that take into account the land and energies around them.”

My eyes lit up. “It’s like a formation!” I said with interest. “They use the natural environment as part of the enchantments.”

With a snap, he pointed at me happily. “Exactly! I already mentioned this in regards to Invented buildings, but any Ascendant structure works on a similar principle. The difference is the amount of control you have with each, which is why we use Enchanters, which are the most stable form of magical crafter.”

“So, because of the wish crafted foundations.” Callie said slowly. “We can use buildings that would normally only be constructable in special locations?”

He nodded excitedly. “And that is a huge advantage! Every territory has their own specialties. Some their horses, some their shipping, but these are all maximized by the nobles in charge over generations to bring out the absolute best of what their land has to offer. Because of the unique foundations you can construct, not only can we get the best of what our crafters can do, but we can go beyond that.”

“Ok.” I said with a laugh. “Enough buildup, what is this building going to be?”

Puffing up, he gestured to it grandly. “A pearl farm. The Delton family in Count Eston’s territory are famed for their specialty pearls. Because of a special collision of natural energies and geography, they’ve learned to create a building that can induce and speed the growth of pearls inside a special type of clam.”

I blinked at that. “Ok, that’s,,,cool?” I said slowly. “Are these pearls valuable?”

“Immensely!” He gushed. “They’re a special water type crafting material, and can be used to make a wide variety of expensive goods.”

That did sound pretty cool. “Ok, that one is neat.” I admitted. “What about the others? There are six more foundations, and can your people make the best of them?” He’d mentioned the benefits, but it sounded like we’d need more than just the foundations, which seemed to act as a pseudo environment.

“They can.” He said solemnly. “But we’ll need to use tomorrows wishes on blueprints. That isn’t an issue though, because we can not only get the proper plans, we can wish for modified versions that take advantage of the external conditions on TOP of our constructed foundations.” His excitement was palpable.

Once he was done hyperventilating from joy, he dragged me around the rest of the fledgeling village and showed me the various other useful buildings we were going to have.

I had to admit there were some cool ones there. On the other side of the lake, closer to the waterfall, there was a foundation that would become a power station, where the energy of the waterfall would be harvested to charge gems with Might that we could use in both crafting and battle.

Closer to the inn was going to be a special kind of sentry tower that could let them sense enemies and showed their positions on some kind of giant map display of the area, even having some features that showed relative strength.

There were a few that were less impressive to me. A butcher’s shop that increased the speed of meat curing (also apparently the taste). A bar that made extra potent ale which I was told was imperative. And one I thought was amazing,a barracks based on one that was apparently situated on some kind of sword tomb that made training people faster when they focused on the blade.

That last one was damned impressive and I was excited to see it in action, but the last building was the one that really blew me out of the water. With Spencer coming we needed safety more than anything, which was why I was shocked when I was escorted to the long foundation at the entrance to the valley.

“This.” Said the City Planner. “Will be the most complex building we construct. Even with the foundations, there are a limit to the number of buildings that can be woven into the natural flow of the world without damaging the natural energies. This won’t be the last, but it will most likely be one of them, and it will be worth it.”

He gestured grandly. “This, will be a Mistshroud Gate. When constructed, it will hide the entire valley in a natural concealment formation, making it invisible to anyone who doesn’t pass through this archway.”

“Wait…you’re going to stealth the whole valley?” I gaped. “That’s possible?”

He shook his head. “Well, invisible is perhaps the wrong word. Camouflage might be more accurate. It’ll create an area of confusion for anyone looking. Now in order for this to work it needs to be at least D-rank, which would normally be impossible. But with the correct plans, wishes to gather materials, and specialized tools…this valley should be hidden from any but the Earl himself!”

Which meant it would be hidden completely. If the Earl tried to get involved it would violate the terms of non-interference Zeke had given him. I grinned as I stared down at the long trench with the stone and metal base of what would be my greatest defense. If we could get this done, we would have an unassailable base from which to pick off Spencer’s people.

I didn’t expect the sociopathic Tolbert to stick to the same back and forth doctrine as Clairdon and Camden, and this solved that problem nicely. I couldn’t help but grin as I considered how best to maximize this advantage. I had so many ideas.