The bridges

Intense days passed, filled with hard work.

Since the construction of the walls, little had changed. According to the blueprint, the next step was to build bridges between the island and the mainland - in all four directions.

This meant that I needed a total bridge length of 600 kilometers, 150 kilometers in each direction.

As these bridges were supposed to meet the highest standards, we needed a considerable amount of Mithril, Adamantite, and stone again.

"How about an overview for these metals, Assistant?" I asked while strolling

through the garden. "Iron isn't in high demand!"

[As far as I know, one shouldn't be too strong when receiving a system], the Assistant replied.

"So, will there be an overview for other resources with higher castle levels?"

[Unknown]

"So, you don't know either?"

[Correct]

I nodded and turned back to Mia. "Shall we have something to eat by the pond?"

"Oh yes, gladly!" she replied excitedly. "Do we have anything other than meat and fruits by now? Even if I cook, it's getting reeeally monotonous!"

"Haha!" I laughed. "Not much longer, and the first residents and farmers will arrive! But first, the groundwork has to be laid!"

"All right!"

...

So, we enjoyed our meal by the pond in our garden.

Afterwards, I headed back to our "mine." Mia hadn't joined me for the past few days as she had lost interest. Instead, she stayed at home and practiced her new healing magic, which she had unlocked yesterday.

As always, I reached the mine after about 15 minutes and jumped into the kilometer-deep hole until I landed after 10 minutes of falling.

I couldn't dig any deeper since that's where the Earth's crust ended, but I was at the perfect level to mine Mithril and Adamantite.

Of course, there were also other rare ores down here, like Mana-crystals Elven-Steel or Dragon-Scales. Well, Dragon Scales weren't actually ore but petrified fossils that had formed countless years ago.

They were excellent for armor, but I had never needed an armor. That's why I stored all the ones I found down here.

Elven Steel was similar to Mithril, only lighter a little weaker, has a lower mana efficiency, and more suitable for fine weapons. I stored this metal down here as well.

And mana-crystals? They were too rare! I found, till now, just four crystals!

With full concentration on the right metal, I continued to dig.

By now, the mine system had reached an impressive size, and it took even me an hour to traverse it.

...

Only when my backpack was filled with the right metals and ores did I head home.

So, every day, I dragged several tons of resources home, and today should finally be enough for the bridges.

When I reached the castle, I leaped over the city wall and landed with an intermediate jump on the lake wall.

You really felt small on it. I had just deactivated the transparency, and you simply felt like standing on a colossus. It was 20 meters wide and enclosed an entire island.

"I want to build the four bridges!" I said.

[Confirm]

I confirmed it, and immediately the world seemed to shake again.

[It will be...] (too much)

After about ten seconds and a few blinks, the bridges stretched across the lake.

Now, there were four gates in the wall at a height of five hundred meters.

The bridge was white again, this time with fine golden ornaments on the edges, and had a width of 100 meters.

So, it was quite massive.

"It hurts to see all the hard-earned resources disappear so quickly," I said. Even my whole stone was almost used up, and the treasury was completely empty, because thenother stuff is stored outside the treasury for more space.

There I still had enough, for the first cornerstone of the capital, which was to be built around the lake.

In each direction, a focal point should emerge, creating trade between the parts. Until I had enough residents to fill everything with a city and build large specialized cities outside.

I planned for significant trade between the cities to grow my economy self-sufficiently.

I opened the kingdom overview and saw that thick paths extended from the bridges slightly away from the lake. About 5 kilometers away, the path had a large marketplace, in the center of it was a teleportation area.

These teleportation areas had each cost a room-mana stone.

I was missing two, so I had to go hunting for a room dragon with sufficient power.

Now, in the middle of the square, stood a kind of purple-white-gold monolith with the kingdom's coat of arms. And this was located, following the bridges, in all four directions.

These teleportation areas were interconnected and allowed for swift transitions between the city districts.

...

One month later...

"I miss you!" Mia said to me as I was on my way to gather materials again.

I sighed. "I miss you too. But I've decided to finish everything as soon as possible so that we can finally welcome residents! You can come with me again if you like!"

She shook her head; „It's not like I haven't anything to do."

I nodded and said the next sentence a little nervous, because we had the day a little quarrel about it; „I'll hurry, if I'm lucky I'll even be finished today."

"I know…, but you said this the last few days too," Mia said softly, stroking her belly. "It's just that I feel lonely. And I think you should spend more time with us…"

A little reliefed and surprised I eyed her. I thought about her words. Something was…Us?

"Oh," she covered her mouth as she saw I noticed something.

"Does that mean...?" I asked excitedly but a little unsure.

"Actually, it should be a secret until I'm sure," she mumbled.

"Yippie!" I rejoiced, lifting her up. I looked deep into her blue eyes and asked, "Why not sure?"

"Well, it could also be that the bleeding just shifts a bit!" she said with a slightly disappointed expression.

"Oh, that'll be fine!" I said. "If not, we'll try again! It's not like it's a hardship!" I grinned but was a little reliefed.

She blushed slightly. "But we haven't done it in two weeks!" she said indignantly. "I..."

I was startled; she was right! I had been so immersed in work that I always came back so late that she was already asleep.

"You're right...!" I let my head hang. "I should be done with everything tonight, for now! Then we can pamper ourselves again tonight!"

The face of my queen brightened. "I'll be in the bath with a view just before sunset! You better not be late!" Then she disappeared under the blanket.

I laughed and said, "I won't be late, I promise! And get ready for something special!"

I watched as the blanket stirred with anticipation and then gave a soft "Just go already!"

With a broad grin on my face, I left the bedroom via the balcony and headed to the usual spot. But this time, I wasn't looking for metal, ore, stone, or wood; instead, I was looking for mana crystals.

These were so rare that I had only found nine so far.

But I needed them to build the central crystal for administration. This was the only thing missing before I could welcome the first citizens.

Of course, the first people moving in would be family and friends of Mia and me. I didn't have any friends, but I considered Mia's parents as my own family.

The last five days, however, had been unsuccessful, and I was starting to despair slowly. Even today, I hadn't found anything since my arrival, and six hours had already passed!

"Come on! Come on!" I cursed. "Where could they be hiding?"

Every hundred kilometers I scanned with a single glance further discouraged me.

To have the best possible success, I scanned the metals in

 front of me with mana, but to no avail. Sighing, I looked down.

Suddenly something glowed in the bright magma.

One, two, three... I counted twenty.

With a slap on my forehead, I wondered why it had never occurred to me that they could be beneath me.

Because I had heard that in rare cases, a mana stone could reach the surface through volcanic eruptions.

I thought scratching my head, isn't the fire Kingdom famous for them?

"Damn!" I cursed but was already undressing to protect myself from burning. I punched a hole in the ground and saw lava bubbling.

I protected my body with mana and jumped in.

I swam through the orange-red glowing lava.

After about ten minutes, I reached the mana crystals. I grabbed one in each hand and swam back.

"Haaa!" I breathed out as I emerged from the lava hole and felt solid ground under my feet again.

I let the crystals cool down and stuffed them into my backpack. That was enough for now, and now that I knew where to find them, the search became much easier.

After finding what I came for, I headed back.