“Say that again,” Jacob asked while massaging his temples.

“We can make St. Peter into a massive city. We take down the Black Forest, we keep the mountain at our back and build a fort on top of it, take these two cities, Fort Oak and Fort Mountain, and use them as two other forts. We dig the ground even to all St. Peter, make it into a plateau and then start digging again once we get to the edge of our sketched-out city. We could probably hold millions with no problems if we build it neat enough.”

The Vermillion Tyrant, all his strongest warriors and Jacob’s most trusted people were all in the war room. There were so many of them that many people had to stand with their backs to the walls.

“What’s next, Terraforming?” Epagogia scowled.

“Once we get someone with the right Affinities, why not?” Hektor smiled.

Jacob looked at the sketch the Vermillion Tyrant had brought him to discuss during their first council. He was basically his second-in-command and the person with the most authority, second only to Jacob himself, and not because Hektor wouldn’t able to tear away power from him on a whim.

The plan actually made a lot of sense. Jacob had thought they would need much more time and that they should take it slow. But now that they had a huge number of people on their side, they could easily do that.

“Well, let’s do it,” Jacob started writing out all the details people suggested. Most of the incumbencies of a normal city could be bypassed thanks to Inscription Pattern. One above all, they wouldn’t need sewers thanks to simple Inscription Patterns that would simply—well, dispose of the waste in an ecological and odorless way. The soil would become much richer very soon; that was all that needed to be said.

After spending the better part of an hour jotting down all requirements and starting to divide the people for the necessary tasks, they went on a different topic. A more important one, for certain aspects.

“So, how do we plan on getting humanity on top of everything?” Hektor asked.

“Not just humanity, Hektor,” he swiftly glanced at Epagogia, “also every other friendly race.”

“We are killing the sea people, though, right?” the hero furrowed his brows.

“Yeah, we are killing them,” Jacob sighed, “they are cannibals and we could never really get into any sort of peace with them, could we?”

“I think there’s a bunch of them in the Adriatic Sea, you know? We might start there with wars,” Hektor was already brimming with energy at the thought.

“Nope. First order of business is cleaning up Abruzzo and Marche. Both regions have very low populations, which means we will be able to kill most threats with your current men.”

Jacob eyed a skinny and lanky man at the Intermediate Stage of the Oriole Realm. Jacob would bet that Epagogia could take that man no problem, but he wasn’t the only warrior at the Oriole Realm. Every single fighting élite in Hektor’s group was at the Oriole Realm, with a couple of them in the Advanced Stage.

Jacob shuddered when imagining how many people must have died to raise warriors so strong so quickly.

But it was still impressive, a feat worthy of the Vermillion Tyrant.

“Well, Jacob,” the Vermillion Tyrant looked pensive, for once, “what about you, though? We need to find the resources needed to raise your natural talents, don’t we? If we robbed the sea people blind, I bet we would find more than a few Alchemical resources that could help us with that.”

Jacob had only barely considered the issue, but Hektor made a point.

“You will guide the liberation of those cities and bring the people back here,” Jacob said, “I will have Epagogia teach people all they need at their current level. We will provide books and the tools to read them after we loot more things. I will take a few people with me and go treasure hunting.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to clean up those places really well and then I’ll join you Dungeon Diving,” Hektor smiled fondly.

“Sounds like a plan,” Jacob nodded.

…

Jacob was inside the pub with all the lights out. The meeting had gone on for almost four hours before they had all the details needed to start. Luis Albert was in overdrive and had to request more computers with Inscription Patterns so that they could better coordinate.

Jacob was lying down on one of the bench at the tables, slowly taking puffs from his cigarette. Maybe, his time would be better employed if he could cultivate. But could he?

He wasn’t in the right frame of mind, so it would only be damaging to his future.

“Jacob,” he heard Juliet’s voice inside the pub.

He had felt her coming closer and closer, until he had been able to pinpoint her location. The Ancestral Bond was growing stronger and stronger.

“What’s up?” he asked, already knowing what was going to be the topic of their conversation.

“I should ask that question,” she looked at him, worried sick.

“I—” Jacob struggled to find the words while Juliet felt all he wasn’t telling her through the Ancestral Bond. “I—I feel overwhelmed. Whenever I did something on this scale, there were many people around me. I rarely led myself. And now, I’m calling shots big enough to ruin humanity, myself and all of you. So, I don’t know. I guess I’m shitting myself? After Hektor came back, I…”

“You have considered leaving,” she said gloomily.

“I have considered leaving,” he nodded, pained by his own admission. These were the times he wished he didn’t have the Ancestral Bond. “I don’t know. I thought that maybe now that Hektor is changed, I could leave stuff up to him. Go roam the world on my own once again. Still fight for humanity, just take a step back. I’m not that strong, Juliet. My cultivation is not what it should be. Epagogia could snap me like a twig, and let’s not talk about Hektor. Hell, I’m sure that if you used the Forbidden Technique I gave you, even you could probably take me down with you.”

Juliet stayed silent.

She looked at him and slowly sat down on the bench in front of his.