The closest city to the fortress that was being raided by the Willow organization was the city being built by the people from Baramore. New Avalon still didn't have a teleporter up and running but they did have a shadow tunnel that had been enhanced several times.

Lucan left Shadowsweep and entered the shadow tunnel.

He pushed his way past as he hurried through.

On the other side, he was amazed to see how much New Avalon had developed in just a few short days. There were tens of thousands of buildings already built, showing just how massive this city would be in the future. And the people moved about their new lives while bustling through the streets. Groups of hunters gathered together to venture into the dark territory to hunt for food and other resources.

From the reports that he received, Lucan knew that numerous villages had been established all within a two day ride from the city. Some of the villages were filled with livestock that was being raised, while others were on the center of massive farming plantations.

A couple villages were near quarries and mines, while another was on the edge of a nearby lake. Of course there was also a village on near the century forest, which was the forest that provided most of the wood for new Avalon.

In the end, the people of New Avalon branched out and started a village anywhere there was resources. The villages would send their goods and products towards the city who would make use of them before sending their tax to Lucan who then took what he needed before he paid his dues to Raze.

Seeing the progress, Lucan nodded happily. The only thing that concerned him was the speed at which New Avalon was growing. Which was precisely the reason he wanted this fortress. If he could take this fortress it would be the perfect place to house a part of his military might and keep and eye on the people who migrated from Baramore. While the whole situation was quite hectic, Lucan was thankfull that the king and most of the nobles from Baramore fled. It was much easier to keep the common folk happy compared to arrogant, power hungry nobles.

Lucan summoned his flying carpet and took a seat as hey flew towards the looming fortress in the distance.

As he came closer, he could see that battle between the Windy Willow organization and the elementals. After watching for a minute, it seemed like the people from the Willow organization were only fighting half heatedly. And the elementals seemed to be responding in kind.

He landed his carpet inside the formation protected encampment ans walked into the command tent. Sturdy was their waiting.

"We have run into an issue. I didn't want to make the decision myself, that is why I called you." Sturdy said.

"What is going?"

"It is like this. We started to make good progress and cleared the walls and outer courtyards. We had just entered into the fortress when the elementals underwent a change. After we went inside, every time we got close to killing one that was above the grunt level, they self-destructed. I thought it was just a coincidence the first few times, but then I realized something was wrong. After spending only half an hour inside the fortress halls, two towers were brought crashing down due to the numerous self-destructs."

"I see, this is problematic." Lucan said.

"Indeed, I fear that if we keep pushing into the fortress like this, when we eventually kill the boss elemental, their will be no fortress left, rendering our efforts useless. Once I realized this, I order for my people to withdraw. Now we are just fighting a few casual battles around the perimeter. As long as I don't send to many people, and we stay outside, the boss inside isn't ordering his people to self-destruct. But I don't believe we can use this strategy to take the fortress. Who knows how long it will take to rid them all if we are just fighting casual battles outside. And there is no guarantee that the elementals will keep coming out to fight. We need to think of a new way."

"Have any scouts managed to record the layout inside?" Lucan asked.

"Yes, the perception of the elementals are not as strong as the dragon race who guarded your other fortress. We managed to get the layout and we even were able to lay eyes on the boss a few times." Sturdy said while he unrolled a map on the large table."

"What do you think about assassination?" Lucan asked.

"It is probably our best bet, but the boss isn't going to be easy to deal with. The fewer people we send, the easier it will be to get inside, but on the other hand, the few people we send, the harder it will be to kill the boss. The boss itself seems to be a crystal-like humanoid creature capable of wielding several different elements. Perhaps because of the realm we are in, or the fact that fortress is on the edge of the dark territory. But from our observations, the boss tends to use the shadow element the most."

"Hmm, alright, let me consider this for a minute."

Sturdy and the others stepped out of the tent as Lucan concentrated. After considering all his options, Lucan really only came up with one idea. Sturdy seems to think that the elementals were self-destructing under the command of the boss. Lucan hoped that true, otherwise getting rid of the boss, wouldn't stop the self-destructing elemental explosions from destroying the fortress.

"All right, call everyone back to the base camp." Lucan told Sturdy after walking out of the tent. "I have a plan, we will put it into motion and see what happens. If the whole fortress ends of destroyed, you won't be held responsible."

Sturdy Willow quickly passed the order to the others who began to pull back from their probing attacks into the fortress.

***

Silent stood before the foundation of four large buildings that had just begun construction. Bo Hekin, Lucan's uncle stood beside her as they watched the construction teams work around the clock.

Uncle Bo had already used the gold he saved up and bought through his connection to invest into one of these hotels that was being built. Right now this place looked like a hectic and crazy construction sight, but he believed in the vision of his nephew and his nephew's wife.

Under the agreement with Silent, Uncle Bo was a majority owner of a single one of these hotels. Although he was the majority owner, he still wasn't allowed to change the exterior design. But he was given free reign over the interior design. On top of that, the bottom ten floors of the hotel didn't house any rooms. They were vacant and would-be latter rented to business. Uncle Hekin had the ownership rights to six of the floors. As long as those floors were able to turn a profit, it didn't matter if anyone stayed in the hotel or not, Uncle Bo would easily be able to earn his money back.

After Silent finished talking with the site foreman, Uncle Bo walked over to her.

"How long do you think it will take till this project is completed?" He asked her.

Silent thought about it before answering. "If we don't run into any issue with sourceing the materials, I estimate, that we will be able to start decorating inside withing three weeks and will be open in a month, or maybe a month and a half at most."

"Good, good, that isn't long at all. Construction in a fantasy world is really much easier."

Silent nodded in agreement while they watch an elementalist float into the air with a large chunk of raw ore. Under the magic of the elementalist, the ore began to refine itself and transform into tne different beams, each over forty feet long. As the elementalist floated higher, the beams rose and joined to the others that had already been incorporated into the structure. When the two beams touched, they fuse together as if they were always one."

As the elementalist rose higher, a mage came behind him and turned stone into brick, laying down several hundred pieces of brick with a single movement. Things were moving quickly, much the appreciation of Silent and Uncle Bo.

Although, Lucan had come up with the idea and started this project, Silent had complete taken it over. Things were now done according to her wish and she didn't bother to consult Lucan about any issues that arose. It was unnecessary, she knew what he was aiming for, and she agreed with his goals. She would carry this project to its finish and Lucan agreed with it. Destol was fully her domain now, so Lucan was happy to see her take charge of what was happening in her city.

Three of the builds were going to be fifty stories tall while the last one was going to be fifty five stories tall. Each builds lower floors were going to be rented to business and hopefully in the future, this would become one of the landmark areas in this city that weas developing with the entertainment industry in mind.

Although she underestimated the immensity of this project, she was still excited to have the opportunity to lead it. After going over and check to make sure everything was being built according to the designs, Silent left the construction site and headed back to her manor for the next set of meetings. This afternoon, several chefs were coming buy to audition for the high class restaurants the would later take up a few of the lower floors in the hotels.

Uncle Bo was going to join her, it was the perfect chance to snag a free lunch and keep an eye out for future employees.