With an orange tint to the sky, Arthur and Cisse arrived at Avalon just as the sun was sinking beneath the horizon. It cast an orange glow on the land, painting it with hints of solemnness and hope.

Whoosh!

With a massive flap of his wings, Rapix softly landed before the village manor.

“Welcome back, sir!”

Just as Arthur hopped of Rapix, a familiar voice spoke within his consciousness.

Arthur smiled. “It’s good to be back, Jarvis.”

As Cisse dismissed Rapix, a black figure and a white figure strode leisurely over from the village manor, seemingly at peace with one another, Aegon and Luna.

A bit surprised by how well they were getting along now, Arthur grinned as he gave them both hugs and asked how they had been. Hearing positive responses, Arthur continued to ruffle their fur as they described their mini-adventures over the course of the week.

….

After playing around for a bit, Arthur walked into the village manor as Aegon and Luna closely followed behind chatting with Cal.

During his absence, a few changes had taken place within the circular hall of the manor. For one, at the center of the hall sat a large wooden circular table with intricate designs and a few ornate wooden chairs. There were also these small orbs that were placed intermittently around the hall, casting soft lights into the hall. The once empty hall was now given a purpose – the brain of Avalon.

Dancing a hand over the back of some of the chairs as he walked, Arthur finally stopped and took a seat.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Status Report.”

“Affirmative.” Responded Jarvis as a blue translucent screen appeared before Arthur.

[Village Name: Avalon]

[Village Chief: Arthur]

[Village Grade: 1 -> 2]

[Village Population: 102 -> 433]

[Civil Index: 2 -> 2.7]

- Based on (Village) Growth and Political Prowess

[Millitary Index: 0.01 -> 0.03]

- Based on Internal Security and Strength of military

[Industrial Index:0.03 -> 0.07]

- Based on Production and Resource allocation

[Economic Index: 0 -> 0.02]

- Based on Monetary circulation and Trade.

Village Upgrade Requirements:

[Grade 2 -> 3]

Population: 500

Village Properties:

Current:

Five Pillar of Civilization: ….

New:

Loyalty Mark (II)

For those who bear the settlement’s Loyalty-Mark, there is a slight boost in their attributes. (i.e., intellect, strength, agility, talent.) Note: The more the settlement grows, the more of an increase this gives.

Looking at the changes, Arthur nodded in satisfaction. But was slightly confused why some indexes had changed so much, in particular the economic one. Hence he asked Jarvis.

Jarvis then explained.

“With the influx of people, a few things we’re able to be finished ahead of schedule hence the civil index growth. Siegfreid also fulfilled his duty of picking some able-bodied people to join the military, primarily the former guards of the Akan tribe, which led to the military index growth. The industrial growth came from having more people to work within the resource pillars. And the economic growth came from Myrddin implementing a contribution point system. Reaching a certain point allows people to move from siheyuans to private houses. The points can also be traded for things like food. It works well in the gradual implementation of an economy.”

Hearing this, Arthur let out a low chuckle. It seems that over the course of his departure, everyone had been working hard.

Leaning his chair back as it balanced on two legs, Arthur began running through ideas and plans for the future. With the dramatic changes, the realm had just experienced, and with Hiems (Latin for winter) just around the corner, this was the best time to build and solidify foundations for things to come.

Pausing his thoughts for a moment, he called Jarvis. “Inform the heads to come to the village manor in around two hours.”

“Certainly, sir.”

As for why Arthur chose two hours. For one Cisse, had just arrived and needed to see his family and needed time to explain his current changes. He also needed to layout the topics for discussion and his ideas before starting the meeting. And the other was give his people a bit of time to relax. The sun had just set, meaning they had all just finished a day’s work. Hopping into a meeting right after, wouldn’t be ideal.

And there Arthur sat, with a translucent blue screen before him as he jotted things onto it while shifting things here and there.

….

….

….

Two hours later, people began to walk into the village manor. After welcoming Arthur back, they all took a seat. Those present included Myrddin, Cisse, Siegfried, Imhotep, and the other’s that orignially arrived in the valley with assistants.

Not one to waste time, Arthur stood up and dove right into the meeting.

“As you all know, there have been significant changes all across the realm. With our current strength, we hold little hope of being able to weather the upcoming storms and chaos. But it doesn’t mean that we have no hope. For one, with Hiems just around the corner, this is the best time for us to build and solidify our foundations. Luckily for us, we just happen to have access to virtually unlimited resources. But as we currently stand, we can’t utilize them to their fullest potential.”

Hearing this all the heads, silently nodded. What Arthur had just said was true. Though their potential was limitless, their foundation was nothing to write home about. Though they had some of the basic areas covered, they were quite a few empty positions that needed to be filled to utilize all they had in their hands to the fullest potential. But unfortunately, no one currently qualified to fill those spots. If these areas weren’t covered, their growth would simply stagnate.

It was also because of this that the Civil Hall and the Military Halls hadn’t been built yet. There were simply too many positions to be filled before they could properly function. If they were built now, they would simply be empty shells. Hence if they wanted to grow without imploding on themselves, they must raise people to fill these areas to solidify their foundations.

After waiting for a few seconds, allowing his words to sink in, Arthur continued. “And thus, I suggest the first thing we focus on to begin building our foundation is education. What do you guys think?”

Hearing this, the first to speak up was Marie, the researcher. Her eyes lit up as she cleared her throat.” I agree, with our current population, our present labor far succeeds our needed. Within just a week, we already have a significant surplus in raw materials. If we can find those talented in certain administrative roles, teaching and guiding them will prove far more useful than having them needlessly work.”

As Marie said this, she received nods of agreement.

Myrddin then spoke.” I also agree, however, even with the most effective teaching methods known, will we be able to have qualified people in the right positions before Hiems is over?”

Arthur smiled. “With current educations methods, no. But what about a new and improved one?”

[Tidbit 1: Probably should have mentioned this earlier but, all the original heads are historically relevant people. They’re either father or first of their respective fields. For example, Imhotep was the first Known Architect in History. As one of the officials of the Pharaoh Djoser, he designed the Pyramid of Djoser (the Step Pyramid) at Saqqara in Egypt in 2630 – 2611 BC.]