#15

"That's my System-chan. I'm sorry again, I'm sure you'll get me next time."

*Ding**Ding* (You bet I will.)

Coen eventually snaps out of it. He tries asking a million questions but I tell him to just relax and try to get to know Temmie, maybe try some jokes. Soon, the evening devolves into a pun competition. With the most laughs going to just how bad Coen's attempts at humor are.

Eventually things settle down and I remember to remake the ice figurine in glass. I've improved since Abby was here, and I'm not screwing around with pure Fire magics so I don't need Amelia to hold an ice shield for me. I don't even need to get up from my seat, just pull out a pouch of silicon dioxide I separated from the soil, and start heating it.

Rea comes over with a twinkle in her eye when she sees what I'm doing. But, I cut her off before she can say anything. "Sorry Rea, I'm not making glass for your new town. Plants are easy, glass is not. Little trinkets like this are about my limit." I'm not exactly lying, as a few dozen of these statuettes really would be my limit. I just don't feel like giving myself any more work than what I've already signed up for.

"Oh." She seems a bit crestfallen. "Can, I at least watch? I can see it glowing from the heat, but I can't feel a thing."

"I think you already figured out that I don't mind an audience." A sly smile forming on my face as the glass starts to take shape. "Mana Control lets me keep the heat exactly where I want it, and I've got a barrier of air magic around it just in case. Though, that's more to keep things out, than in."

"I'd overheard Coen call you an Archmage, I just didn't believe it." She shakes her head. "Nature, light, fire, air." She ticks them off on her fingers.

"Earth too" Coen adds "That's how he's holding it up and shaping it. You're control is amazing, I can barely even feel it from here."

"I told you to try weaving. Here." I place a large spool of shiny white thread in front of him. "Glass thread I made but don't really have a use for. Not realy suitable for fabrics, pretty though. Gold would work too, but you can make that yourself." I chuckle.

"Quit trying to push your textile obsession on every mage you meet." Amelia laughs and picks up the now finished figurine.

"Yeah, yeah. You may not like it but it's still effective, and you know it."

"Did you really unlock Mana Control by doing this?" The earth mage asks. A look of concentration on his face as he struggles with the unfamiliar task.

"Mostly, the last push was actually making one of these figure with nothing but Fire Magic." I explain. "Here, watch."

I take a bale of cotton from my inventory and show him how it's done. Starting with a thick thread, I make examples of the basic weaves. Before halving the thread size and starting again. I keep going like that until I'm down to thread a single fiber thick. I cast Magnify making that single fiber look as large as what I started with. Then, I half it again, and again, and again, until finally, even under magnification it looks as small as that single fiber I'd started with.

"That's about where I was before Mana Manipulation evolved into Control." I tell the wide-eyed mage. Dropping the magnification to reveal a table covered by various grades of cloth, from coarser than burlap, to so fine and sheer it's almost illusory. "Almost every level I got in Manipulation came from this."

"Remarkable." Rea breathes out. While examining a twill so fine that even apricot thought it was fancy when I first presented her with some. "Can you make Starweave?" She asks, somewhat hesitantly.

"That didn't even take him a week to figure out." Amelia says a bit grumpily. But, I can see the pride in her eyes. "Most of our clothes are made from it, actually. I've got so many outfits filling up my inventory that I had to make him stop giving me new clothes."

I hold up my sleeve and cast magnify once more so they can see the detail of the weave. Rea's eyes open as wide as saucers. And Amelia's parents start pawing her clothes, until she dumps a large box full next to them.

"It's so fine. I had no idea you were walking around in starweave this whole time." Amelia's mother chimes in. "And you've got a whole wardrobe full of this?"

I can see Rea being drawn to the pile of clothes, but I decide to ask a question first. "So, about your town. Have you got the plans drawn up yet? We're only going to be here for one more day, after all. I'm happy to help, but even happier to finally be quit of this place."

"Oh, yes." She gets drawn back into herself. "I had originally planned to go with a simple square grid with a small keep around the dungeon opening. But, that lovely orchard of yours gave me an idea." She pulls out a large sheet of paper. "I turned the square keep into an eight pointed star, and ran the roads out octagonally from each point."

"Nice." I compliment the plans. "I see more dots around the edge. Take it you would like me to expand the ring of trees? That's no problem; if you give me plans for the buildings you'd like, I can make models tonight."

"That would be great, they were originally to be made from stone, but you should be able to adapt them easily. Let me go get them." She runs off to get a satchel from a carriage.

Coen mutters "Finally." And I notice his performance picks up, likely due to getting the Weaving skill. Amelia and her parents are already deep into a conversation about textiles and clothing, and their markets. Captain Brant sees Rea walking back with her bag full of plans and decides to join her.

After they arrive we spend the next little while making and adjusting models. There's only a few basic buildings, so they don't take long. And. once they're done, I make a scale model of the town on top of our table. The military man is happy with the changes, the added roads will give his men better lines of sight into more of the town.

Around this point, all the non-Awakened are starting to yawn and most of the soldiers have long since sacked out. So, we decide to call it a night. I throw up a quick cabin for Amelia's parents, based on one of the smaller homes. Adding a bed and some basic furnishings for them, before Amelia and I retire to the Vardo. Leaving only Coen sitting there working on some fiberglass cloth.

The next morning we're up with the sun. Coen looks like he was up most, if not all night, but he's got a huge smile on his face. I'm guessing he got at least one level in Mana Manipulation.

After a quick breakfast, made by a surprisingly good army cook, we get to work. I knock down the palisade and transform part of it into a watch platform for the city planner and guard Captain. The bathhouse only needs shifted a bit, since Rea added a spot for it near the center of town. The Silos, on the other hand, need to be moved to the edge of town. So, I just make them grow legs and walk. Amelia gets a kick out of it, even asks if I can do the same for the wagon. I could, but wouldn't want to keep it up for the whole trip.

Once that's done, Coen starts on the keep while I mark out the roads. Once he's done, he'll come back and replace them with stone. I'm a bit sad to see the grass go away, breaking up my detection spell. But, according to all the records Coen and The Captain were able to access. No dungeon will breach the surface once it's been occupied. I know that's just what Apricot told me, but I still find it hard to trust something that tried to kill me.

The day passes quickly, and the town sprouts up like mushrooms after a rainstorm. I'm over half done before Coen finishes with the Keep. Admittedly, it is a large building and he has to draw the stone up, and compress it enough to withstand an attack. But, I still think I could have done it faster.

We break for lunch then, and Rea comes up gushing about the speed of progress. I just brush it off, but Coen seems quite proud. Apparently he did get some gains during the night, and his speed increased more than he hoped it would.

There's about an hour left in the day when I finish the last house, and grow the last tree for the expanded orchard. Coen finished the main road heading to the Capital, and then started on the outer wall. So, I go help him with that until we get called in for dinner. We work rather well together. He's got a bit more mana, but I'm more skilled. So, he does the heavy lifting of dragging the stone up from beneath the soil. And I the finishing work of compressing and shaping the wall.

Rea is overjoyed, and so is the Guard Captain. Well, as overjoyed as a veteran military man gets. I think he's mostly happy about the outer wall getting so much progress. If it had just been Coen, before his gains, then the wall would likely have taken all of the next day or two to complete. Now the Earth Mage will be able to finish it and the rest of the roads tomorrow.

We eat dinner in the new keep, after I make a new table for us, of course. Rea decided to keep the model, and asked me to mount it to the wall in her new office. Apparently, she got upgraded from city planner to Mayor once the town was complete. I made another copy for Brant to keep in his Conference room.

Afterwards Amelia and I make an early night of it. We're in our wagon, because it's what we're used to. Her parents are in one of the guest rooms at the keep. A good portion of the supplies I made for the Captain were furnishings for the place. I don't blame him though. If I hadn't been here, they'd be sleeping on their bed rolls and using stone furniture until the supply train from the Capital arrives.

"You did good work today, babe." Amelia gives me a kiss. "Kinda freaky though. Usually you like to put on a show, at least, for the big stuff. Today you just walked down the street, trees growing into houses behind you. Where was the flair? The grand gestures?" She teases me.

"Is making a town in a day not showy enough?" I cock an eyebrow. "Besides, they already got their show with the silos, and all those grand gestures take energy. Today was work; get the town a head start so we can get outta here."

"Work, huh? Then why did all the houses have carvings on them?" Another kiss. "Don't those extra gesture cost energy? We spent the whole day walking around exploring, and not a single building was the same."

"That was for my sanity, would have driven me nuts to do hundreds of the same buildings. Beside I mostly just re-used scenes from the butt wipes I made for Charlie. Figured it'd be worth a laugh once some of it works it's way here."

"Oh, that's perfect." She purrs. "But, I can think of something more perfect." She plays with my short hair. "Now why don't you Soundproof Apricot's place so we can get to it."

"Don't have to." I start unbuttoning her shirt. "She said she wanted to spend her last night here with Co."

***

The next day we get off to a late start. I make us breakfast in bed, literally. "Magic is fucking awesome!" I can't help but say, for probably the millionth time.

"Mmm, and you're magically awesome at fucking." Amelia lets out a throaty laugh. "Thank the gods for these extra stats. Don't think I'd be able to walk for a week without them."

"Maybe once we get to the Capital, we can try our best to stay in bed for a week."

"Now, that sounds like a 'fucking' plan." We both laugh at her wordplay. "Now pass me the syrup, I'm starving."

"You know, we haven't used food in a while" I tease, threatening to upend the bottle over her naked breasts. "Ooh. Just wait until we get some whipped cream."

"Quit it." She snatches the bottle away, giggling. "We need to get on the road soon, we can play again later."

"Yes, Ma'am." I salute, almost knocking over my plate.

We then quickly devour breakfast, and even go for seconds. "Oh? Better make extra, Apricot's coming back. You ready for the companion bond?"

"Yeah. I'm mostly just glad we're getting out of here. Morning Apricot. How'd your last night with Co go?"

"Fine, I guess." The tiny woman sighs. "He's excited about all the new people, knows he's gonna get to eat soon. I tried telling him that I'm leaving, but her either didn't understand, or just didn't care. Stupid dumb dungeon."

"Aww, poor girl. Here, pancakes make everything better." I set a plate down in front of her.

"Please don't try to comfort me when you're not wearing any pants." She says after making a chunk disappear from the side of her stack of pancakes.

"What? I'm covered up." I huff. "At least you don't freak out when you see us naked anymore."

"I had every right to freak out." She stamps her miniscule foot. "You'd freak out too if you woke up and went outside only to find a couple naked giants passed out, outside your house."

"Mmm, mountain climbing." I say with a lascivious grin at Amelia's 'mountains', earning a giggle from her.

"Perverts!" Apricot shouts. "Great, bloody, giant, lunker perverts. The both of ya."

"We love you too, Apricot." Amelia Smiles.

"We'll even get dressed for you." I add. "And, it's definitely not because someone's parents are headed this way."

"Ack!" Amelia freaks out and starts fumbling with some clothes.

"Let me." I say. Willing the clothes into place on us, while trying to hide a smile at her antics. "Speaking of parents, are you at least going to show yourself to them?"

"M-Maybe." The pixie squeaks out before clearing her plate, and vanishing into her house.

"She'll get there." I shake my head before calling out. "Morning guys! We're just finishing up breakfast, be out in a second."

"Take your time." Turner calls back. "Our driver's getting the carriage ready, and we asked him to bring your horse over."

"Thanks Daddy!" Amelia calls out between bites.

We end up clearing our plates almost as quickly as our pixie friend did. I'm washing down my last bite with a glass of juice as we walk down the small ladder. It's actual glass too; I'd long since replaced all our dishes with glassware.

"Thank you for giving us yesterday to rest." Turner opens. "Been on the road most of my life, and it's still murder on the backside. Even in a nice carriage." He says, eyeing the vardo's suspension.

"Want me to fix up your suspension a bit?" I grin. "Got all the cushions you could ever want too."

"Oh, you don't ha-" He starts, only to be cut off by his wife.

"That would be lovely dear. If it's not to much trouble that is."

"Be happy too. Here it comes now." I spot their carriage rolling up, the driver guiding our horse next to it. "And here comes our send off too. Captain. Madam Mayor. Good morning." I nod at each, in turn. "No Coen?"

"He's coming." Rea chimes in. "He spilled his breakfast all over his shirt and had to go change. Pretty sure he hasn't slept since you showed him that glass fiber." Her laugh lights up her face.

"I'm here, I'm here!" The man in question comes charging out of the keep, still buttoning his shirt. "Good, you haven't left yet. I wanted to give you a letter of introduction to my master, Devlen. And, to thank you again for showing me that trick with the glass."

He hands over a folded piece of parchment that's been sealed with a dollop of brown wax. There's a hint of magic coming the wax. I can't tell what it does but it has the same feeling to it as I get from Coen, likely some sort of magical signature.

"You're welcome." I say as seriously as I can, given that he's messed up the buttons on his shirt, leaving a gap in the middle. "It was fun meeting, and working with another mage. You're the first one we've met after all."

"Master Devlen will be more than able to help you meet the others. He's well liked in the guild; we're a small community around these parts, and are always happy to have new Awakened join us."

"I look forward to meeting everyone, almost as much as I look forward to finally leaving this place."

"I don't blame you." Nicholas speaks up. "The guards that got here before us said that, aside from watching you make breakfast, it was the most boring post they've ever had. Though, I'd rather have that boredom than the craziness that the next few weeks and months are likely to bring."

"Don't remind me." The new mayor almost groans. "I can tell you folks are ready to go, so I won't keep you with any long goodbyes. I just wanted to thank you, on behalf of myself, our new town, and the entire kingdom for all the aid you've provided us."

"You're welcome. Just promise to make this place worth the time we spent here." I say with a nod.

"We will." Rea says, solemnly. "You all take care on the road."

The Rialta's driver has almost finished hitching our horse. So, I take a minute to upgrade their carriage, before hopping onto the vardo. The others follow my lead and with a parting "Good luck with the dungeon." We're on our way.