The biggest change for him was learning to adapt to using magic instead of simple physics for everything. Fortunately the craftsmen weren’t used to having access to magic either, so they were a blank slate for his ideas. At least every other ED, which was short for Elorian day as compared to DD for dungeon day, another craftsman would show up wanting to see if he had a way to improve their trade or sometimes with the nugget of an idea themselves.

  A few of the research projects were military in nature and aimed for the upcoming defense of Eris’ Rise, but the ones that got Dave the most excited were the ones that would improve their future lives. The loom that the tailors were working on was just one of the many things that were going to improve their lives.

  The extensive projects were a series of things meant to work together. The water mill, for example, was just one project. If they could develop a reliable way to build a series of waterwheels, then the Sienna River could generate power for the village. A water mill was only an initial stage; the ultimate goal was electrical energy to light and heat homes.

  Speaking of heating homes, one of the carpenters was working with a blacksmith and a farmer on a project that was intended to have multiple uses. The carpenter hoped to build a better fireplace that wouldn’t allow as much smoke inside for the homes. The farmer wanted to find a better way to water the fields. Dave had made a couple of suggestions about flues and irrigation pipes, and soon they were badgering the blacksmith.

  The poor man already had his hands full, as he and Dave were working on making barrels for projectile-type weapons. As much as he didn’t want to bring modern Earth warfare to Eloria, he couldn’t do less than possible to protect his people. Besides, as the notifications were always telling him, Eloria is conflict.

  Another carpenter by the name of Henri turned out to have a huge natural talent for all kinds of earth magic. He had already reached level fifteen in two weeks and had Shaping, Conjuration, and Divination Magics that he had learned, but the only spells that he seemed able to master had to do with manipulating, conjuring or studying rock and soil. A few suggestions from Dave had him researching how to make concrete.

  If successful, it would revolutionize their construction efforts and make damming the river much easier. Since the man had no preconceived notions, he freely mixed Earth science and Elorian magic in his efforts. Dave enjoyed watching as the man had even created a spell that allowed him to become a walking cement mixer.

  Other projects included improvements in ore refining, development of alloys, and creating synthetic materials, all of which were being helped along by magic. Further improvements in farming plows, chemistry devices for making potions as well as brewing alcohol, and even simple things like the invention of a wheelbarrow all had their own distinctive Elorian angles. Sometimes it was as simple as the wheelbarrow they designed being far too heavy for a human on Earth to use, but here with farmers that had increased their Strength to beyond twenty-five, it was a different matter altogether.

  All in all, the efficiency of his people was greatly increasing, and morale was at an all-time high. That thought prompted him to pull up the LRI.

  Land Ruler Interface (LRI): Barony/District—Capital: Eris’ Rise (Town)

  Bonus (Doubled for dual nationality—now bonded)

  Citizen Productivity and Fertility: +30%

  Building Construction Rate: +40%

  Crops and Livestock Growth Rate: +40%

  Current Morale: 97/100 (base 37) (-10% productivity till raised above 50)

  +50 bonded people—Two races become one

  +20 satisfaction with rulers

  +13 high employment rate

  +16 increased construction progress

  -2 looming goblin invasion (-40 +38—We will face this together)

  The impact of the oath ceremony and the people being united was visible in a dozen different ways every day. Now though, seeing it in print before his eyes helped explain it more. 97 out of 100 morale seemed exceptional, especially considering the impending attack come spring. Speaking of spring, the +30 to fertility rate explained the number of couples he had heard were expecting babies.

  Dave had already attended seven different announcements by elven couples. Emily and some other elves explained to him that this level of pregnancy was unheard of amongst the elves. In a community this size, one pregnancy in a year would have been considered cause for celebration among the long-lived race. This many in two weeks was preposterous.

  It did raise another issue. Dave was worried about the safety of the children and pregnant mothers during the attack. The solution had been obvious after a moment’s thought, though. The time dilation in the dungeon would allow the mothers to give birth long before the snow melted, and he would simply have to negotiate with Altracia for a safe place in the dungeon to keep the children and other noncombatants during the invasion.

  Strangely enough, while the human women were greatly relieved that they wouldn’t be pregnant during the invasion, the elves didn’t seem worried at all. Given the way in which children were so rare and pregnancy so sacred amongst them, he had expected much greater concern. The bigger shock was finding out that elven women would keep working and fighting next to their husbands until right before they gave birth.

  It made a little more sense to him once he understood that pregnancy did something to elven women. Apparently it increased their overall power. He tried to understand it, but they kept saying that it wasn’t something for men to worry about. Eventually, years of marriage kicked in, and he stopped pressing for an answer.

  From there he looked at the population issues. Despite winter being upon them, Eris’ Rise was continuing to experience an increase in population. There were elven refugees from the goblin attacks. Each group, whether it be those refugees or the steady stream of humans from the south, was given three days to get the feel for the community, and then they either had to take the oath or leave.

  There was always some initial grumbling, either about serving the forgotten gods or about elven heathens; none of it mattered to Dave. The people all either worked together or they were made to leave. So far, no one had left. The general attitude of the town just made everyone so excited.

  Population: 2374 (M:915, F:577, C:882)

  Employment: 99% (456)

  Administrators: 3

  Alchemists: 4

  Blacksmiths: 9

  Brewers: 5

  Carpenters: 136

  Child Care: 30

  Cooks: 64

  Druids: 7

  Enchanters: 1

  Engineers: 4

  Farmers: 184

  Fishermen: 58

  Fletchers: 15

  Forest Wardens: 25

  General Store: 1

  Herbalists: 19

  Hunters: 39

  Jewel crafters: 2

  Knights:

  Barony/District: 4

  Shanelle: 15

  Mishpat: 15

  Leatherworkers: 19

  Loggers: 63

  Meiyo Eihei: 22

  Minotaurs: 1

  Monks: 6

  Miners: 19

  Painters: 1

  Paladins:

  Shanelle: 5

  Mishpat: 5

  Pottery: 5

  Priests/Acolytes:

  Shanelle: 5

  Mishpat: 5

  Karbanot: 2

  Rune crafter: 2

  Scholars: 6

  Scouts: 1

  Sculptors: 1

  Soldiers:

  Barony/District: 350 (80 new recruits)

  Shanelle: 78

  Mishpat: 75

  Tailors: 33

  Teachers: 24

  Teamsters: 18

  Tree Shapers: 29

  Mages: 44

  Healers: 18

  The population had gone up by 456 with a mix of humans and elves, although a third of them were children. They had gained more hunters, farmers, and craftsmen as well as more researchers, a druid, and a handful of forest wardens who had been displaced by the goblins. Many of the existing farmers and some newcomers volunteered as soldiers right away.

  They now had 350 barony soldiers, not counting the church soldiers. Dave didn’t want to have a standing army that large, but it was for the best now. He also knew that there were numerous farmers, loggers, hunters, carpenters and fishermen who were all willing to fight as auxiliaries. The question was how many they could train during that time. Gaining levels automatically made them more effective, especially if they placed their stat and character points appropriately, but a bunch of individuals were never as effective as an organized fighting force.

  Probably the most significant leap was the eighteen new healers and forty-four mages. The healers all had other magical abilities too, but anyone who had access to Essence Magic was termed a healer. Each of the churches then fought over them, trying to recruit them as priests or priestesses.

  The elves had done a better job checking for magical potential, so by and large the new casters were all human with only two exceptions. One mage and one healer were elven. The elf had created quite a stir in their blended society when she chose to join the church of Shanelle. Still, what once would have erupted into conflict only caused whispers now. How could they fault her, after all, when Lady Emiri was the Chosen of one of the deities?

  The other elf, who was a mage, had tremendous potential with destructive magic, particularly fire.

  As much as the extra bodies helped to strengthen them, the growth of Eris’ Rise was seen best by the rapid increase in construction. The first snow had fallen, but the work continued and would until the weather got too bad. For now though there had been huge progress made on almost all fronts, and it no longer resembled the little village that the Nelsons had first discovered. It was well and truly a town now.

  Buildings:

  Ruler’s Residence: complete

  Citizen Homes: 196 built—current rate: 12/day

  Dining Hall: complete

  Town Hall: complete

  City Wall: 81% complete

  Church of Shanelle: complete

  Church of Mishpat: 25% complete

  Church of Karbanot: 9% complete

  Warehouse: complete

  Library: 26% complete

  School: 54% complete

  Hospital: 52% complete

  Blacksmith: 3 complete

  Stores: 4 complete, 3—average 57% complete

  Tannery: complete

  184 Farm Plots: 83% complete

  There likely would have been more completed buildings, but so much of the research and crafting went on in the workshops inside the dungeon. There were days that Dave thought if he could have completely trusted Altracia, he would simply move most of the town into the dungeon. That wasn’t an option. The core was an ally but not a friend, other than to Sara, and she had her own way of viewing what was in her best interests.

  The rapid expansion wasn’t really shocking, though. When your workers suddenly doubled their Strength and Stamina, it was a foregone conclusion. Which really baffled Dave again as to why other nobles had not figured this out before.

  Their resources were a bit of a concern. No matter how much they produced, they seemed to use it all. The craftsmen were voracious in their appetites for raw material. The only good note was that they had a warehouse full of food, as the farms were no longer producing, except the strange fruits that were growing, and of course milk, eggs and meat.

  Resources:

  Farm Production: 5,093/day

  1 Multi-Mine/Dungeon: 100% explored. Current production: N/A

  1 Multi-form Dungeon: Bastion of Thralls—Tier 4 (87% explored)

  1 Iron Mine: 82% explored

  Iron Production: 144 units/day

  Iron Usage: 16 units/day

  Lumber Production: 567 units/day (9 per logger/day average)

  Lumber Use: 489 units/day (surplus of 1789 units)

  Hunting Production: 1032/day (43 per hunter/day average)

  Fishing Production: 2668/day (46 per fisherman/day average)

  Alchemists/Herbalists: 3:81% / 15 operational

  Blacksmith: all functioning at 87% capacity (surplus in dungeon)

  Brewers: 77% set up

  Cooks: current capacity 10,400 meals/day

  Enchanting: fully operational

  Fletching: 10x fully operational

  Jewel crafting: 2x fully operational

  Leatherworkers: 11x fully operational

  Pottery: 5 fully set up but need permanent facility

  Rune crafting: 2 fully set up but need permanent facility

  Tailors: 23—1 clothing store up and running at 193% of capacity

  Sacred Ashwood Production: optimized and continuing to network with surrounding trees.

  Current SA production: 389 units per day (mostly to wall).

  Stimulating growth of nearby trees and fruit bushes to 1075% of normal.

  Current Food Needs: 6754 units/day

  Current Food Production: 8793 units/day

  The surplus food stores were likely sufficient to carry them through the winter and even into a short siege of the town. If it came to that, hopefully the elves and Albia would send support. Either way, Dave felt strangely confident about the upcoming battle. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but he felt they were going to be up for the task.

  The only truly utilized resource so far was the second dungeon. It was several hours away from Eris’ Rise and felt to be too vulnerable to use either as a dungeon or a mine at this time. Still, it was something to look at after they dealt with the goblin invaders.

  Having a patron for Eris’ Rise was producing more changes than expected. The increase in tier was significant, and Dave never regretted that choice for one minute. It had brought hope and even excitement to his people. Then built upon that, it was bringing power and the security that comes from that.

  It turned out to be even better than he had hoped. The moon elves no longer referred to Shanelle as a forgotten goddess. Oh, they weren’t jumping on some bandwagon to worship her. Now they just called her Lady Shanelle, Patron of Eris’ Rise.

  Dave worried a little about how this might affect their relationship with the moon elves as a whole, but that was a problem for another day. He trusted Emily to sort that out and knew that she had kept Yua, who was essentially the moon elf queen, updated about the developments.

  The other groups he had worried about were the Churches of Mishpat and Karbanot. Less so the God of Sacrifice. His church seemed content to play second fiddle to the other churches. Given their chief virtue, it made sense. The larger conflict he worried about was between justice and redemption.

  Based on the paladins of Mishpat, that church was a decent but strict group. They taught that truth and justice were the highest of values. Evil was to be rooted out wherever it was found, and they held themselves to high standards just as much as they did others. That wasn’t a bad thing. If they were hypocrites, Dave would have kicked the lot of them out of Eris’ Rise, no matter how badly their swords were needed.

  They weren’t though. In fact, Sir Mun Hagen had become fairly pleasant after the period of silence and meditation was over. He claimed that he had received a vision of Mishpat standing next to Shanelle.

  Everyone around town knew of the vision because he shared it, and it even became a point of unity as various interpretations sprang up. As Dave understood it, in the vision Mishpat had been standing there with his sword pointed downward. The tip was in the ground, and blood ran from where it pierced the soil.

  Out of the stream of blood, small flowers were springing up. The flowers were of a rare variety called night lilies. Mishpat’s hand was upon the sword, and standing next to him was Shanelle with her hand upon his.

  As visions went, it was low on action but high on interpretative value. Dave thought the God or Gods of Eloria were similar to what he knew from Earth. In that while there were lessons to learn, much of it had to do with how a person chose to live out those lessons.

  Mun Hagen had started to preach that the lesson he took from the vision was that justice must be tempered by redemption, just as a sword must be tempered to be useful. He said that justice had no purpose unless it was to restore and protect the faithful.

  Whatever the lessons should be, Dave knew that three days after the vision was announced, the entire town had received another quest. If the vision had stirred up conversation, the quest even more so. Most of the villagers had never gotten a quest in their entire life.

  New Quest Discovered: Unity of the Virtues

  Day and night are both necessary and both incomplete without one another. Hunger is necessary lest we fail to know the value of food. In the same way, the virtues of freedom and all the others do not stand alone. They build each other up. There is more to be gained from unity than division, and even those values such as justice and redemption are not actually in conflict.

  You, the people of Eris’ Rise, have made your patron proud in how you have embraced unity already. You are all deemed to have successfully completed the first stage of this quest line.

  Reward: All Citizens of Eris’ Rise gain the following perks while within 20 miles of the city limits:

  Healing spells are 10% more effective.

  All weapon skills are treated as though they are 2 levels higher.

  Wisdom and Luck are each boosted by +3.

  Additionally, all citizens gain 1 additional perk by reaffirming their loyalty oath. This may be done in private, but must be said to one of the two leaders of Eris’ Rise. Upon affirming their commitment, they will gain 100 bonus character points so they may diversify themselves as they gain a better understanding of the virtues.

  Second stage of the quest: Learn more about each other. Share your virtues with one another. Come together. Random acts of kindness are never random; learn why. Seek to expand your understanding of the virtues.