“Are you ready, young one?” Elphaea arched a graceful fern-like brow in my direction.

In the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed since I’d volunteered to work for the foreman. In that span of time, I’d learned something: The builders worked hard. If not for my already superhuman endurance, I imagined things wouldn’t have gone so well for me.

Still, it was more than worth it. In that time, the bathhouse had grown to completion in leaps and bounds. Now, with all of the standard building complete, only one thing remained: The water enchantment. The entirety of the builders and the shadows had come out to see it, including Hartha who stood to Elphaea’s side, her class ability allowing the Dryad to walk outside of the forest.

Before responding, I gave one last look over the soon-to-be bathhouse, marveling at how such a structure could have been built in two weeks. I’d helped to build it, and still I hardly believed it.

Much larger than I’d initially expected, the building had a rough stone exterior paired with a slanted wooden-tile roof. The wood, sourced from the city’s forest, still had dark veins running through it, giving the entirety of the building a slightly imposing aura.

As for the interior, the door opened into a small entry room. Attached to that was a much larger locker room which also housed the furnace that supplied heat to the baths. From there, the building grew much wider, with the locker room opening to a hallway which connected to the baths themselves.

The main bath was on the larger side, about 40 meters across. Unlike any of the other rooms, it was open air, with stone walls on all sides but no roof. While that probably would have been a nice design in other cities, here it just meant that the eerie perma-dusk was always on full display.

Off to the sides of the main bath were a few rooms for single person or smaller-party baths. On its far side, an empty room stood, which the foreman had informed me was where bathers could get massages after their baths. With no one in the town who could fulfill that role, the room was to remain unused for now.

A shout from behind snapped me from my appreciation: “Say yes, girl; say yes!”

I turned to find Tuk, visibly antsy, not even trying to hide his incredible excitement at finishing a rare building. For a split second, I considered drawing it out a bit longer just to tease him a little, especially seeing how hard he’d driven me these past few weeks, but I discarded the thought with a chuckle.

“All right, all right. Whenever you’re ready Elphaea.” I gave her the thumbs up, and she nodded back, raising her hands as she did so.

For a few seconds, nothing happened as she seemed to prepare the spell. Then, all at once, strands of mana extended from her hands. She began to tie them together, gracefully and intricately, like a delicate game of cat’s cradle. Up till now, I hadn’t seen a spell which required external movements quite like this, but then again, I doubted I’d ever seen a spell this high level.

As her hands moved, a ball of water began to coalesce above the bathhouse, slowly growing larger and larger as all the onlookers had their eyes glued to it. Once it reached the size of a well-inflated exercise ball, a steady trickle of mist began to fall from it. The mist descended behind the stone walls and towards the exposed main bath, presumably starting to fill it.

In a matter of minutes, it was done. The ball of water disappeared fully, and in its place came a notification, along with a set of whoops and cheers from the builders and shadows alike. The city finally had its first building!

I thanked Elphaea before moving to the foreman to congratulate him, reading through the notification as I did so.

Congratulations! Your city has built a Stone Bathhouse.

For adding a Rare building to your settlement, you gain 5 Prestige.

The quality of the building is: Superb

Quality bonuses:

Foreman skill level (Journeyman): +5%

Worker skill level (Avg - Apprentice): +2%

Vertical bonus (Special boss drop): +15%

Blessed by Master water mage: +25%

Built with mana-infused materials (Darkwood): +5%

Ability bonus - Lead From the Ground: +5%

Total bonus: 57%

Building quality bumped up from a base of Good to Superb.

Well damn! I wasn’t sure how big a deal it was for something to be Superb, but some of those bonuses seemed pretty hefty! I understood all of them, save for the last, up until I continued through my notifications.

Congratulations! You have gained a new ability: Lead From the Ground

You may be a settlement owner, but that doesn’t stop you from getting your hands dirty! The citizens of your city will respect you for putting in the extra work.

+5% quality bonus to any building or city crafting task you take a significant part in.

I’d take it! Coupled with the awesome 15% vertical bonus the building had gained because I’d nabbed the plans from a boss, that meant I’d personally bumped the building up by 20%!

I kept reading, noting that my Construction skill had jumped all the way to 6 for completing a Rare building, and then made my way to the final set of notifications, eager to see what all those bonuses were actually for.

The following bonuses will be applied to your building based on its quality and the manner in which it was made.

Superb bonus:

Increased durability

+10 City Morale

Anyone who bathes in the bathhouse will receive +3 to Constitution and +1 to Dexterity for six hours.

Special bonus: Dryad’s blessing.

The water of the bathhouse has been blessed by a dryad. On top of the baths being self filling and self cleaning, bathers will also receive a +1 to Wisdom for six hours. Wounds will heal faster while bathing.

Material bonus: Soothing Darkness

This building was built with a large amount of mana-infused material (Darkwood) and has taken on some of the characteristics of the material it was built with.

All bathers will find it easier to fall asleep at night and will wake up feeling better rested.

That was no joke! I’d already seen how much city morale was responsible for, and those stat bonuses were practically two levels’ worth for a non-Protagonist. And never mind the stat boosts — it looked like the waters cured insomnia! Move over Melatonin! If I paired the water with my nightgown, I’d never have a sleepless night for as long as I stayed here. While I did have my necklace to keep me clean, I’d definitely be testing this place out.

Even as I was still dismissing my notifications, Tuk intercepted me and began animatedly gesticulating.

“The plans dropped from a special boss? You gave me plus twenty percent? My building is Suuupeerb? If you weren’t a few decades too young for me, I might propose on the spot! Hah!”

I tried to respond, but he glanced behind me before his attention fully shifted.

“And YOU!” He ran over to where Elphaea stood, all sense of propriety washed away by his enthusiasm until he neared her. Then, all at once, he appeared to recall who he was speaking to, and his demeanor changed rapidly.

“Ah, I meant- uh, honorable dryad. An honor, ma’am. In any case, I’m not sure you know how many class quests you just helped me out with, and how much it means to me. A whole 25% bonus! I’m in your debt, truly.” He inclined his head to the wood nymph as her lips quirked upwards in amusement.

“A debt, hm?” She turned to me and raised her voice. “Tess! I want a bar!”

I coughed. What? Caught off guard, I wasn’t sure what to say. “Like, a bar bar? The drinking kind?”

She nodded. “Indeed. I’ve heard many tales of the escapades which take place in bars, but even with all my years, I have never experienced one. I would like to own a bar. Right inside the forest. This is acceptable?”

A dryad wanted to… own a bar? Well, stranger things had happened. Probably. She’d certainly earned it a few times over. What the hell? Why not? “Y-Yes? I guess? I mean, it’s not like we have any alcohol to serve or a large customer base for you, but, sure?”

She nodded once more and turned back to the foreman. “Good. Please make me a bar. Wood walls. Inside the forest. This is acceptable to you as well?”

Obviously not having expected to be tasked with an entire new building, Tuk stammered out a response. “Ye- Absolutely! Yes! An honor! We’re supposed to be heading back after we get the city situated with housing and all of that, but if you don’t tell the king, I won’t. Consider it done!”

“Excellent. I’m eagerly awaiting its completion, so if you could get it done as fast as possible, I would appreciate it. Let’s say, sometime within the next 40 years or so?” She tilted her head to the side before moving on. “But in any case, I leave the details to you. I believe it’s about time I returned to the forest.” She nodded quickly to us both, and Hartha waved before the two walked off, leaving the foreman standing there in a state of stupefaction.

“Did I… just agree to build a dryad a bar? Hell of a day. Hell of a day,” he muttered.

Leaving him be for a moment, I turned to the spectators who instead of dispersing were now eyeing me expectantly. I couldn’t figure out why until Amak spoke up from a distance.

“Ah, Tess. I believe many here were hoping to give the waters a go. Is the bathhouse open for business?”

Now that he mentioned it, I could more clearly see a fair number of the shadows and builders alike staring at the bathhouse hopefully. And truth be told, my enhanced Perception was making it known to me that a few of them were in sore need of a bath.

Feeling silly for keeping them all waiting, I shot the shadow a thumbs up. “Go for it! We built it so we could use it!”

A few cheers sounded, and the crowd began to move towards the newly minted building. In fact, it felt like a good idea to follow suit. I could certainly use some relaxation after two hard weeks of work.

On the flip side, as much as I’d been trying to embrace the whole “new world, new me” mind frame, I didn’t think I was entirely ready for communal bathing yet. Thankfully, the bathhouse architect had had the foresight to include the private baths, which I decided I’d make use of.

I trailed behind the crowd, happy to see someone lighting the furnace before I could even ask. Much like Elphaea’s blessing allowed the water to automatically refill itself, there’d also been the option of making the baths automatically heat themselves. Unfortunately, we’d lacked the necessary fire mage — or the alternative of heating gems — so the water was heated in a more mundane way.

It hardly mattered. I escaped the throng and made my way into one of the private bathing rooms, undressed, waited for the water to heat up, and sank deep into the bath. A groan escaped my lips as a host of previously unknown aches and pains melted away, accompanied by the appearance of the previously advertised buffs.

I think this is possibly the best bath I’ve had in my entire life, I decided. If I could just get this world’s chefs to recreate peanut M&Ms for me, I’d be set for life.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. After lounging about for long enough, I exited the bath with a titanic surge of willpower. We hadn’t yet installed any drying gems, nor did we have the material for towels, so I was stuck awkwardly air drying for a while. Thankfully, the water was exceptionally hot, so it evaporated rather quickly from everywhere save my hair.

Well, glad that’s all over. Maybe I’ll go take a nap while I’m feeling all relaxed like this.

I exited the bathhouse, only to find a slightly wet-haired Tuk lying in ambush by the exit.

“Tess! There you are! Don’t think I didn’t notice that nifty new ability you grabbed. A +5% on anything you work on! Well, you’re the boss, and I wouldn’t dream of ordering you around. But seeing as I now have an extra bar I need to make, and we’re on a tight schedule, I wouldn’t mind a touch of help right now…”

Especially for an older man, the foreman did a shockingly good puppy-dog eyes look at me, to the extent that I even questioned if he’d picked up a skill for it. Could I say no to that?

Ugh. Well, he was right. We were on a tight schedule. And it wasn’t as if I hadn’t just had a nice break.

“Fine. You win.”

“Excellent!” he yelled. “Then once again: Let’s put you to work!”

Stat & Level Updates:

Construction 1 → 6 Prestige 759 → 764

Character Sheet:

Name: Tess Age: 26 Race: Human Class: Arcane Arsenal Level: 7 Experience: 4897/7250 Prestige: 764 Health: 190/190 Mana: 200/200 Stamina: 200/200 Stats: Constitution: 19 Strength: 21 Endurance: 20 Dexterity: 19 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 20 Perception: 26 Charisma: 17 Luck: 23

Skills:

Weapon & Armor Spears: 8 Archery: 8 Small Blades: 4 Unarmed Combat: 4 Swords: 3 Hammers: 2 Staffs: 2 Axes: 1 Medium Armor: 4 Heavy Armor: 1 Movement Dodge: 3 Magic Life Magic: 5 Water Magic: 5 Fire Magic: 4 Spells: Minor Healing: 6 Conjure Water: 6 Flameploof: 4 Resistances Trauma Suppression: 9 Poison Resistance: 6 Heat Resistance: 2 Detection God's Eye: 6 Detect Trap: 5 Detect Secret: 4 Tracking: 2 Social Drinking: 4 (+5) Conversation: 4 Trade: 3 Flirt: 2 Deception: 1 Gambling: 1 Craft Woodworking: 6 Jewelry Making: 5 Herbalism: 2 Alchemy: 2 Construction: 6 General Reading: 1