System Change

Derek walked out of Roman’s shop by himself. Brandi chose to stay there and learn from the high-level Alchemist, and because she chose to stay behind, Malorie did the same. Silvi also chose to stay with Malorie.

Both Mal and the bunny liked to cook, and Silvi knew she would learn more by staying at the woman’s side than by staying by Derek. Plus, Malorie still had some fresh food in her storage ring that Silvi would be able to con out of the woman.

Knowing the girl had a mentor in the Alchemy craft allowed Derek to breathe a little easier. Everything would go better if Brandi didn’t have to learn everything by herself. The only problem was finding people he could trust to mentor Brandi. If she slipped up and accidentally let her class be known, it was better for it to be to someone like Roman… someone who would be relying on Derek in the future.

He had a good feeling about the halfling. His gut instincts rarely led him wrong. If their cooperation in the future worked as well as he believed it would, he wouldn’t have to worry about the man at all.

Derek wished he could find Brandi a mentor in Runesmithing. It seemed to be one of the most flexible crafts. For now, he would settle on finding some books for the girl to learn from. She was smart. It wouldn’t be as fast as learning from a teacher, but she could do it.

Derek sighed. With all of that settled, it was time to see the construction of his own shop. He turned on the street and began his journey to his part of the city.

A bit later, Derek arrived at his plot of land. Construction was already in full swing, so he looked around until he found Geoffrey standing with a clipboard, overseeing the project.

“How’s it going?” Derek asked.

Geoffrey jumped before turning around. “Oh, you scared me.” He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Yes… the project is coming along quite well.”

Derek looked over at the current construction. Currently, there were multiple people standing in a giant pit. It seemed like Derek had gotten there after the earth mages did their thing.

One person was walking around the dirt walls with his hand dragging along them. As he moved, the dirt packed itself and hardened. Every step the man took caused the wall behind him to perfectly straighten, becoming ready for the next process.

Another man was doing the same, except with the dirt floor. Derek quietly watched as the pit turned into a perfect square.

“It must be nice for a construction company to have earth mages.” Derek muttered.

“You aren’t considered a real company unless you employ at least two.” Geoffrey said.

Derek nodded. “I can see that. It’s like they are laying the foundation for the foundation.” He said. “Do people ever forgo the extra material and rely only on the hardened dirt and mud for their basement?”

Geoffrey shrugged. “Not in this city, but it’s common for adventurers who have earth mages in their team. They can construct a makeshift building underground pretty quickly. It’s more comfortable than sleeping outside in the elements.”

“Gotcha.” Derek said. “What’s next?”

Geoffrey pointed at a third person in the pit. She was leaning against one of the completed walls, watching the other two work.

“That’s Terri. When Ron and Phillip finish what they’re doing, they will begin laying the Bola Stone atop the ground. Terri will come in behind them and form the stone together, creating one smooth stone foundation.” Geoffrey explained. “Unless you would prefer her to meld the pieces together. Some people prefer to see the separate stones instead of one smooth structure.”

Derek shook his head. “One structure is fine. It’s probably faster as well.”

Geoffrey shook his head. “It’s quite a bit slower. It’s much more mana intensive, so Terri will have to take breaks in between.”

“Is there a difference in structural integrity?”

“A little. The fused stones will be better than those joined together.” Geoffrey explained.

“Then that’s good.”

At that time, the two earth mages finished their job and started laying done the Bola Stone. That process was fast, but Terri’s job was painstakingly slow. She put one bare foot on one stone, and her other on another and closed her eyes.

Derek watched on as the two stones magically fused into one complete stone. Terri then did the same with the next two stones. Each fusion took over a minute, so she would be at it for a while.

“Not many earth mages have the fusion skill, so she is a real talent. I was lucky to find her.” Geoffrey said.

“I see.” Derek said. “It looks like the basement is going to be deeper than I originally planned.” He noticed how deep the pit was, and that the stone foundation wasn’t thick enough to make up the difference.

“Yeah, I made an executive decision.” Geoffrey said.

“How so?”

“Well, the forge I plan on installing is taller than you may have expected. So, to have enough room for it, I made the basement taller. I hope you don’t mind.” Geoffrey explained.

“Oh, that’s fine then.” Derek said.

“We have the forge and anvil. I guess you have everything else you need? Hammers, tongs, vices?” Geoffrey asked.

Derek nodded. “For the most part. I wouldn’t mind if you had a spare workbench lying around.”

“I’ll look into it.”

“Hey boss!” A voice called out from the side.

Derek turned his head to see Rudy jogging towards them. “Hey Rudy, what’s up?”

“Nothing much. I’ve been talking business with Judd… the contract maker you met earlier today. The man knows his stuff.” Rudy answered.

“I doubt Geoffrey would have hired him if he didn’t.” Derek said and Geoffrey nodded.

Rudy smiled. “I guess so.” Then, the contract writer snapped his fingers as if remembering something. “Oh, yeah… Jacks and Rayna stopped by earlier.”

“Oh? How’s their training going?” Derek had wondered what kind of help Jacks would offer to Rayna after seeing them earlier.

Rudy shrugged. “How should I know? All I know is that Jacks told me to tell you that they would be gone for a few days, so don’t worry about them unless they are gone for longer than a week. Then, they took off out of the city.”

“Is that so?” Derek shrugged. “I guess Jacks has a plan.”

“I guess.” Rudy nodded. “Oh, boss. Jacks said something about communications crystals before he left. I think we should look into buying one for everybody. It would be good to have in case something happened, don’t you think?”

Derek nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I just haven’t gotten around to doing it yet. I didn’t expect Jacks and Rayna to leave the city so quickly.”

“Red or blue?” Geoffrey cut in.

“I prefer red, but blue would work.” Derek answered.

“How many do you need?”

Derek thought about it. He could mentally communicate with Silvi from a good distance, but it would be a good idea to get her a couple blue crystals since she was running low on green ones. It would probably be worth it to look into buying a skill scroll with a telepathy skill on it. He was sure he could find one somewhere.

“Three red and eight blue would be for the best.” Derek said.

“Phew!” Geoffrey whistled. “That’s going to cost you a good chunk. The blue should be manageable, but the red will cost you.”

Derek nodded. “I don’t need the red ones any time soon.”

“I know a guy who can give you decent prices on blue crystals.” Geoffrey said. “I’ll stop by his shop on the way home today and have a quote for you tomorrow.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Derek and Geoffrey stood watch over the construction of the building for the next few hours. Around sundown, the earth mages had finished the entire floor of the basement and two walls. The process was slow with only a single mage like Terri, but Geoffrey reassured Derek that once the basement was finished, the construction speed would ramp up.

So far, everything was well done. Derek thought the single fused Bola Stone looked much better than if the pieces were held together by a type of clay or puddy.

“We should finish building the basement by midday tomorrow. After that, we’ll begin with the Pixy Yew. We’ll build fast and go directly to the living quarters after making the base building. By the day after tomorrow, you and your people should be able to stay in the building.” Geoffrey explained.

“That would be great. Hotels are expensive.”

Geoffrey nodded. “Once we finish with that, we will layer the oak onto the yew. Then we will furnish your building with all the essentials. Finally, we will draw all the runes that you need. The total time should take four days or less. If you had chosen the other option for the Bola Stone, we could have finished in two more days.”

Derek nodded. “That’s fine. I like the look better this way. Plus, you’re doing me a favor as it is. I have no reason to complain.”

“That’s good.” Geoffrey said. “We will end work here. I’m not one that likes to work my people too hard. Terri has to be suffering from a mana headache by now.”

Derek nodded. “Do what you need to.”

Soon, all of Geoffrey’s people packed up and left, leaving Derek and Rudy alone at the job site.

“Go back to the hotel and make sure everyone got there safe. You might want to pick up something to eat on the way. I’m sure Silvi will be pissed because I didn’t take her to get a big lunch. Though I haven’t heard anything from her, so I’m sure Malorie has kept her satiated.” Derek said to Rudy. “I’m going to stay here. Make sure to let everyone know that we’ll be able to move in here in a couple of days.”

Rudy nodded and ventured off into the night.

Derek smiled and began meditating. He was glad that everyone had something to do now. He was also happy that he was going to have a place of his own. A place to rest. A place to come back to when he finished with an adventure.

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