Ashford picked up the temporarily enchanted wand and got up from his sofa. He’d sat down after creating the wand, thinking about what he should do next. He gathered everyone's attention before saying, “I need to go hunting,”

At this, everyone’s faces paled, “But… it should be safe for all of you. We haven’t had any attacks while here, so it should be okay.”

This assuaged everyone’s immediate worries, but they were still agitated, “I will be hunting for something to create armor and weapons for everyone. This is going to be important, so I may or may not be gone for several days. As such, we need some way for you to tell me if you are in danger. This is how,” he said while holding up a large firework he’d created a moment before rounding everyone up.

At the realization that there was nothing they could do but pray, they each sat down or went back to their previous actions. After everyone had gone back to what they were doing, Ashford left the library. Going into the pantry, he found that their stocks had fallen by a fourth. It had only been two days, so he knew that before he left, he needed to sort this out. Going into the Library once more, he researched the topic. Grabbing the seeds from the agriculture department of the Walmart, he went outside.

Walking to the west side of the house, he came across the 20-foot gap between the house and the wall. He created a small fence on the side facing him and burned down the grass and weeds. After finishing this, he had a large 20x30 plot. He sunk his mana into the ground, assessing the viability of the land. He knew that the plants would need certain minerals like Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, and, Magnesium amongst about 12 others. He used his mana creation, imbued it with several concepts, the first being the rune Jera, meaning harvest. He also imbued the mana with the necessary nutrients.

After expending most of his mana on the plot, he looked at his notifications.

New Spell Created!

Field Mana Blessing

Classification B, Rank 2

Expedited Growth

Additional Yield

Pest and Weed resistant

Fallowing not required.

Mana Cost: Dependent

Experience Awarded!

10,000 EXP for Grade B Spell Creation

He smiled radiantly at the notifications. It really showed how important humanity’s knowledge is. Using information from science along with runes was able to increase the effective yield of this whole field. It was to be seen just how much the growth speed was increased, but it was likely pretty considerable. Additionally, he didn’t need to worry about crop rotation due to the fallowing not required part of the notification.

After finishing this, he created a simple horse-drawn plow, modifying the lead to be holdable by a person. He ran up, grabbed Canton and went back down. Getting Canton to plow the field. Afterward, he planted the seeds, an assortment of vegetables and fruits from potatoes to a watermelon plant. After finishing this, he walked back towards the gate. He had decided to find a core for his wand, amongst materials for other weapons.

He’d studied dressing an animal on the computer at the same time as the farming information, so he was all set. Ashford looked around the keep of his small castle. The crops seemed to have already started sprouting. He was rather surprised at this speed.

“Have Everett and Rhetta tend to that field, please,” Ashford told Canton.

Ashford looked around to make sure there wasn’t anything he needed to do. Upon finding nothing, he continued out of his fortifications. He’d thought about how exactly he wanted to hunt.

He knew that his experience was rather lacking, and so he decided that he would go out do what he first left his house for. He knew someone who knew more than him, someone who he cared about deeply who he needed to get. As such, he decided at the last minute to take the truck. Right before he left, Sachi ran up to him.

“Where are you going, Ashford?” she asked him worriedly.

“There’s something I need to check,” he responded.

“I’m coming along,” she declared.

Spluttering for a second, he responded with, “No, this is something I need to do alone.”

Not taking no for an answer, she snatched the keys from his hand before jumping in the passenger seat. Starting the truck from her seat, she yelled out the window, “You coming, or what?”

Sighing defeatedly, he jumped into the driver side. Slowly driving towards the recently opened portcullis, he drove out. Continuing down the road in the massive bailey, he finally arrived at the gate. Opening this one, he drove out.

Driving away on the newly paved road he’d made last night, he turned onto the highway. Cautiously driving the truck, he made his way to the one place he dreaded most.

He’d been driving for several hours at 20 mph, and finally, he arrived. Sachi had been silent for the whole ride, seemingly understanding the atmosphere. Looking up at the dark country house, his heart started pattering irregularly. He started sweating before finally turning the truck off and getting out. Sachi was about to get out, but he said, “Please… this is something I need to do alone.”

Acquiescing to his demands, she staying in the truck. Slowly marching up the long driveway, he saw the lack of care given to the lawn and house. He knew that wasn’t caused by the new circumstances. His eyes started tearing up and his nose started running at the memories.

Walking up to the door, he started having flashbacks to that fateful day. He’d been laying down on the floor, coloring a book when they arrived. His father had gotten the door, and upon seeing the servicemen with the folded up flag, his voice broke and his eyes started pouring. Denying it over and over again, the servicemen told him about what had happened.

Shortly after, his father started drinking heavily. He’d often come stumbling home at midnight, out of his wits. What hurt Ashford the most was the lack of attention. From that day, his father said little to nothing to him. He never hit him, never talked to him, never actually told him what had happened. It wasn’t until several months later when his mother was supposed to return back home that he realized what had happened. He’d only been 9 years old when his mother had been killed in action.

Finally surfacing from the flashback, Ashford crumbled on the porch chair. His eyes teared up and he started hiccuping. Ashford’s body curled in on itself in a fetal position.

Several minutes later, Ashford had returned back to what was as close to normal as he had. Slowly standing up, empty, he walked into the house. Looking around, he saw that something sinister had happened.

The house was in disarray with blood splattering the wall. His father always had carried, so his heart stuttered at the blood. Ashford wished with all his being that the blood wasn’t his father’s. Walking further into the house, he collapsed on himself upon seeing who lay upon the floor.

His father lay on the ground, scraggly grey beard obscuring his tawny face. His darker grey hair splayed on the ground, soaked in his blood. Looking down at his slim build, Ashford saw several bullet wounds and a gash in his throat. His world fell down around him. His snot covered his face as he sobbed into his hands, curled up next to his dad’s body.

Looking up at his dad, he saw his gun in his hand. Picking up the gun, he looked to see a single chambered round. His hands started shaking as he thought about what he wanted to do. Slowly pulling the gun up to his temple, his hand shook uncontrollably before he felt someone embrace him from behind.

Hugging him from behind, Sachi slowly took the gun out of his hand. Turning him around, she held him in her embrace for a time. Slowly, Ashford’s sobbing slowed down before finally ceasing.

Unentangling herself from the embrace, she said, “You can’t just do that, Ashford.”

“What’s the point? My mom died decades ago and my dad’s dead now. I’m all alone,” Ashford sobbed out.

“You’re not alone, you have me. You have Canton and Everett and Mairi. You aren’t alone, and people are depending on you. You think that your father would want to see you like this?”

At this, Ashford shook his head no.

“You need to think beyond just yourself. You’re not alone and people are depending on you. The only reason I’m alive now is you. So please, don’t say that. Don’t say you’re alone because you’re not,” Sachi finished.

It took several moments, but finally, Ashford reined in his tears and got up from the floor. Picking his father’s body up, he took him outside. Laying him on the ground next to his mother’s memorial, he grabbed the shovel.

Several hours later, he finished digging the grave. Using the shovel he had, he was only able to dig 4 feet down, but he figured that that would suffice. Slowly picking his father’s body up, Ashford rested his father’s body in the plain casket he’d just made. Lowering this down into the ground with Sachi. He stood there, looking at the hole in the ground. He tried to speak, but all he was able to do was choke out single words.

“Goodbye, Dad,” Ashford finally choked out before devolving into tears once more. Sachi wrapped him in her embrace for several minutes before his emotions were once more back under control. Slowly, he filled the hole back in. By the time he was finished with all of this, it was nearing twilight.

Just as was about to go back inside, he heard a large explosion, and looking around, he saw his surroundings light up green, the color of the firework he’d given the others. Looking up at the sky, his face paled at the realization of what this meant. Jumping back into the truck, he threw it into gear and flew back towards his new home.

It only took him 30 minutes to get back due to his ridiculous speed getting back. He turned out of the highway before paling at the sight before him. Throwing the truck into gear, the truck screeched back as the group of 20 enemies rushed towards the truck, slobbering and slavering to get towards the two of them.

The first creature he witnessed was a bizarre sight indeed. A large oak tree seemed to be standing up, walking on its vast root system. The leaves had all but fallen off. An old, wizened face was carved into the wood. Above one of their heads, a large plate read,

Crazed Treant

Level 13

The group consisted of about ½ of these creatures.

Another ten of the small group consisted of a humanoid wood creature. All of the creatures were gorgeous, alluring women with green luscious hair the color of grass and voluptuous curves made of the dark wood. Their nameplates read,

Infected Dryads

Level 11

Unknowingly dropping into meditation, he felt the world around him slow down to a 1/100th of the normal speed. Looking around himself with surprise, he saw the world moving as if through molasses. Focusing on his enemy, he saw something that piqued his suspicion.

Both of the nameplates mentioned that something was wrong with their mind. Focusing on them, he once more saw the dark-colored mana he saw around wounds in humans. Trying to pull this mana out of them, he strained as hard as possible.

Unable to remove a large amount of the dark mana, he slowly got out of the truck. He knew that manipulating this mana at a distance was stopping his control. Running in slow motion threw him off balance for the first few steps before he got used to it. Getting closer and closer to the slavering group, he pulled the dark mana in a treant with all his might before it finally popped out of the treant, causing that treant to stop moving.

Constantly repeating this phenomenon, he groaned and his legs buckled as his mental fortitude continued to be chipped away by the mana control. Ashford glared at the last one left, a level 21 Infected Dryad was resisting his control even more. All of a sudden, her speed increased exponentially for a moment and she practically teleported in front of him.

Slamming her slim fist into his fist, he was thrown back several feet as his ribs groaned at the impact. A resounding CRACK reverberated through his body as the impact finished, leaving his chest a mess of broken ribs. Finally perceiving what had just happened, his eyes widened suddenly and tears started falling from his eyes as he landed on his back, feeling the tormenting agony in his chest.

He heard her feet pad up to him step by step, ringing throughout his consciousness. Glancing away from the beautiful sky, he saw a vengeful goddess staring down at him in fury. Her hand shot forward as she clutched his throat in her fist and lifted him off his feet. His face turning purple, he became desperate, kicking her body repeatedly to no effect.

Finally, he pulled with his control once more, and using the skin contact, controlled her personal dark mana to greater effect, finally pulling it out of her mana pool and uncorrupting her. Finished with this, he fell back and his head bounced off the concrete with a resounding thud. Finally, he let go of his consciousness in the overwhelming sea of pain.

Several hours later, his eyes fluttered open and he sat up slowly. He was back in his room, with his ribs fully healed once more. Moving his arms slowly, he discovered that he had a full range of movement, with no stiffness that was a side effect of mana healing.

Looking around, he found no one else in the room with him. Slowly lowering his legs out of bed, he sat there for a moment reorganizing his memories. Finally finished with that, he lifted himself onto his feet before stiffly walking towards the door. After several steps, his gait fell into a more natural state and he opened the door. Walking out into the hallway, he felt around with his mana sense to find that 10 people were upstairs, which was one more than they originally had.

The stairs creaked underfoot as he slowly crept up towards the library. He opened the door to find a tall, broad young man sitting in one of the chairs. He sat there, seemingly dozing off before noticing Ashford. Jumping onto his feet, he rushed towards Ashford. Before Ashford could jump back and conjure anything, the man grabbed his hand and started shaking it vigorously. After a moment, his infectious grin spread over to Ashford’s as the man started talking at a mile a minute.

“Slow down, slow down!” Ashford exclaimed at the man.

“Oh… my… god… you were so cool! You stood up to those monsters like a badass! You didn’t even flinch when that tree chick punched the shit out of you! Who even are you?” The man spouted out at Ashford quickly.

“I’m Ashford, nice to meet you? And you are?” Ashford asked, hesitantly proffering his hand to the excitable mystery man.

“I’m Dale, nice to meet you too!” Dale responded, quickly taking Ashford’s outstretched hand once more.

Dale continued, turning deadly serious, “I’m here to represent the others outside your gate. We need shelter, the children and the elderly are already exhausted.”

More comfortable with Dale’s serious tone, he sat down in the seat across from the man. Ashford asked, “How many are you? What… what do you have to offer?” He didn’t enjoy being inhumane, but it was something necessary in this new world of theirs.

Dale’s face fell at Ashford’s words but he said softly, “We don’t have much to offer, except for our labor and the expertise of some of the people in our group. There are 72 of us currently. We need help. Please, help us…”

Ashford slowly closed his eyes as his mind started churning. He knew that they could theoretically house them, but he was worried about food. That many people to feed was intense.

“It depends on a… trial… that I started earlier,” Ashford responded before standing up. He continued outside, down the creaky stairs and out the door into the dusky night. Turning left, he walked over to the field that he’d ‘blessed’ earlier. Looking at the product, he was surprised. Kneeling down, he gingerly raised the watermelon plant’s fruit to find it nearly fully grown. Something that should’ve taken over 80 days to grow was finished in an afternoon.

Looking around further, he saw that most plants were, oddly enough, still growing. Looking up at his entourage, he saw that his whole group and Dale were standing above him. Looking strangely at them, he asked, “What? Why are you staring at me?”

Sachi stepped forwards slightly before saying, “Well, it impacts us, doesn’t it? Plus we want to get your opinion on the field.”

Everett also stepped forward and said with a mad grin, “We’ve already gotten about a week of food for our group from the field. If you can create more of those fields, we’ll have food galore!” Ironically, he said this while biting into a raw tomato. Ashford gazed at Everett confusedly before shrugging off his weird eating habits.

Looking back up at Dale, he stood up and brushed his knees off before saying, “I’ll have to address them and lay down the rules, but the short answer is yes. I will take them in.”

Beaming at Ashford, he thanked him profusely before turning around and running towards the gate. Looking at it for a moment of embarrassment, Ashford finally had pity on the excitable man and opened the gate for him. Gazing out further, he saw a large group of tents sitting near the inner gate. People milled about, not interacting very often, rather tense if Ashford had to guess.

Looking at his group, he said, “Be right back!” before sprinting off towards the still open gate. Getting his mana ready, he created a large pillar of granite upon which he rode into the sky. Waiting for the people to gather around the imposing pillar, he began his address.

“Now, I know that you may not like what I’m about to say, but it is something that is necessary in the current state of our new world. If you want to stay here, safe behind these walls, I need you to commit to certain… ideals.” At this, several men in the large group below him started shouting things out at him. They created quite a row, but he continued to ignore them.

“This is not going to be a democracy, you aren’t going to vote on the best leader. The time for that is long gone. The world has gone to shit, and we need a strong leader.” This seemed to antagonize the people even more. Obviously, they didn’t enjoy being told what to do.

“As such, if you wish to be safe inside these walls, you need to pledge yourself as one of my vassals, so to speak. Those under the age of 18 don’t have to do this, however, upon reaching the age of 18, you will need to take this pledge or leave.” This statement struck them deep as they realized that this was going to be a good chance. Dale had told them of the food available.

Those who do not wish to be a part of my new… kingdom… leave now. However, this does not mean that I am blind to your problems. Every week, I will be holding a… a summit of sorts. During then, you will be able to aerate any issues you have without any fear of repercussion. There are further measures that I will take to not turn into a tyrant, but that does not matter at the moment. For now, you need to decide. Decide whether you will stay, or whether you will go.” At his final note, the group seemed to break apart as the individuals started debating and thinking. Eventually, once the large group settled down and seemed to make their choice, he lowered the column of granite. After arriving down, he looked at the group in front of him.

“Those who wish to leave, please walk towards the gate. Those who wish to join me, please, join a line over here,” Ashford commanded. There was a small group that walked into a line in front of him before the rest of the large group pushed them aside. The man who stepped forwards out of this group had a body rippling with muscle. He stood half a foot taller than Ashford’s 5’10 frame. His posture was meant to be imposing, but recent events caused Ashford’s mindset to disregard this.

“You think that we’d just leave this place? It’s perfect! Large walls protect us while you sit in your little castle, lording over all of us. Who’s to say that we can’t just take it from you? Who’s going to stop us? You?” He laughed out. He took one step forward and pulled out a gun. Before he was able to say anything else, Ashford conjured a two-foot-long icicle and carelessly lodged it in the man’s cranium. He slumped towards the ground before the group behind him started screaming.

Several minutes passed before the group behind him finally calmed down. The groups separated once more. The majority of the 72 man group decided to put themselves under Ashford’s rule. 23 people decided to leave, filtering out of the group and towards the gate.

Before they could leave, Ashford quickly called them over. He shouted out for his inner group to come out and they brought out all the recent produce. The group of 23 would run through all of it in less than half a week, but they were grateful for it nonetheless.

Walking back over to the large 48 man group, he spoke up once more, “Now, I don’t want you to think that I will become some type of tyrant because I won’t. Just because that foolish man had to lose his life doesn’t mean that I will treat you all the same. I pledge as your superior to protect you with all I have and provide you with all that I can. I will let you live safely and thrive. All I ask is that you give me a pledge. Pledge that you will follow me when I ask you to and will listen to what I decree. This little… kingdom of mine will not be created within a day. It will take time, and I ask that you understand that. Understand that I may not be infallible. I will make mistakes. But I hope that you understand and will accept that. That is all.” As soon as he finished his short speech, a blue flashing light caught his attention. As they all repeated a similar pledge to what he asked, he saw the notification light blink even more rapidly. After dismissing them, he ran back into the keep and sat down on the wall once more. Opening them, his mouth hung ajar at what he saw.

Congratulations!

You have created a Kingdom!

When you create a kingdom, you swear to protect your citizens while your citizens swear to abide by your laws. Kingdoms enjoy many benefits that are accumulated depending on the population count along with personal actions by the King or his trusted advisors.

You’ve gained access to the Kingdom Management Page!

You’ve gained 57 new citizens!

Kingdom Management

Kingdom Name:

Choose

Level:

Miniscule

Citizens:

57 (Expand)

Settlements:

1 (Expand)

Mana Vault:

0 (+)

Land:

196,250ft2

Kingdom Benefits

Miniscule:

0/3 (Expand)

Tiny:

N/A

Average:

N/A

Large:

N/A

Gigantic:

N/A

World Power:

N/A

Benefits: Miniscule

Benefit 1:

(Expand)

Benefit 2:

(Expand)

Benefit: Resurrection

Whenever a citizen of your kingdom dies of anything but old age, they will be revived in the local center of faith with vastly diminished statistics, levels, and skill progress.

Benefit: Statistic Growth

Citizens of your kingdom enjoy a 50% increase in the growth rate of a chosen statistic.

Benefit: Architecture

Your buildings are 50% sturdier and will last twice as long. Any fortifications can also be rejuvenated at the cost of mana.

Benefit: Skill Growth

Citizens of your kingdom enjoy a 25% increase in the growth rate of all their skills.

Benefit: Apprentices

Artisans of your kingdom are able to choose up to three apprentices to take their craft, increasing the apprentices’ skills by 75% of the artisan’s. Additionally, the artisan will enjoy a 10% increase in their skill level after each of their apprentice's graduate.

Benefit: Guards

Any citizens of your kingdom designated as guards enjoy a 50% increase in the growth rate of all of their combat-oriented skills and a 100% increase in the growth rate of their statistics. Guards who are resurrected will enjoy a 100% increase in skills and 200% increase in statistics until they are back to their previous state.

Benefit: Farming

The output of farms in your kingdom is increased by up to 100% depending on how much mana is designated to this benefit every month.

Benefit: Commerce

Caravans between your settlements move 25% faster and any caravans headed to one of your settlements from another kingdom will move 15% faster. Additionally, you may increase this by mana put towards it monthly.

Benefit: Dungeon

You have the access to build a Dungeon in each of your settlements for the low, low price of 200 mana. You may devote mana to further along the progress of this dungeon, as it is a growing creature that relies on mana. The dungeon will have specific management options that will be expounded on if you choose this benefit.

Ashford was overwhelmed by the new options for a while before committing to sitting down and studying the new screen. The first thing that he looked at were the benefits possible. Looking at the short list, he immediately knew the one that he would choose. While it provided a grave penalty to dying, it let his kingdom grow.

Thinking about it, he would need people to defend this new settlement of his. Additionally, if his guards, which were the most likely to die, died, then they would be able to get back to their original state. Another important part was that the dungeon would further help those who died to get back onto their feet with a semi-controlled environment.

Selecting the two to no fanfare, he continued studying his Kingdom Management screen. Another mechanic that interested him was the mana vault. It seemed that mana could be dedicated to certain benefits.

Expanding the citizens and settlements options showed him the population of his settlements and expanding the settlements gave him the option to visit the settlement management screen of his new ‘village.’

Additionally, the citizen's tab showed him the statistic screens of all of his new citizens. He knew that he’d have to talk to certain ones and begin constructing new houses and workshops, so he pushed himself back onto his feet before starting down the stairs. But before that, he wanted to explore the dungeon mechanic.