The 8th day progressed quickly and just like yesterday, my dungeon diving unit returned to camp and get smoked meat rations in order to prepare for hunting and other exercises in the forest.

Before we left, Mia rushed over to my side and stopped me.

[Michael! Something came up…](Mia)

“I can see from your flustered appearance. What’s going on?” – I chuckled softly

[Like you requested, I prepared to build the Wall when sufficient resources were gathered. However, when I selected it from the interface and acknowledged the construction, another notification appeared. Take a look…](Mia) – She said after passing a window tab to me

Wall construction confirmation received!

Please assign at least 1 production point to start the building and design the area you want the Wall to encompass!

Be advised that the longer its length, the more production points will be required.

I turned my stunned face and looked at Mia, which in turn noticed my confusion and brought up another description (presumably after hacking into the system’s main interface again).

Production points are gained by assigning workforce that specializes in building different structures (5 workers signify 1 production point/hour)

“Well that explains it… Can you set up the Wall to encompass the clearing... about 20 meters away from the forest in a circle around the camp? Also, can gates be added?”

[Yes for both of your questions. Here! This is a visual representation of how the building will look.](Mia)

A virtual projection of the camp with the World Tree in the middle and the smaller (but still bigger than normal) trees which were the Elven Huts, was slowly being encircled by a wooden wall. Then as soon as the entire construcion took shape, Mia turned to me to ask about where to put the gates.

[What is that!?](Alexa)

“Eh? You can see this?” - I asked perplexed

[How can I not? Is that the clearing? How did you do that big sister?](Alexa)

[Uhh…](Mia)

“Even if you look at me like that, there’s nothing I can really do about it…”

[This was the blessing given to me by the Chaos God. What you are seeing is just an image of the camp and we can use this to simulate the buildings we will create, like the Wall for example.] – Mia said after glaring slightly at me

[Wow! Big sister is amazing!](A)

“Ahem… What about the gates?”

[Where would you like to place them?](Mia) - she asked while pouting

“...one towards each cardinal direction. Make sure they face the three dungeons and the western continent as well. What about the people we can assign to the building process?”

[… we don’t have any at the moment. Only the dungeon diving unit is currently available.](Mia)

“I see. What about the structure itself? How can we actually build it?”

[We will require to split the trunks of the trees in four and place them at a distance of at least one meter away from each other. They must be firmly planted in the ground and we can leave a space of about 3-4 meters between them for the gates.](Mia)

“Make it 5 meters for the gates. Also, how is that a wall? Won’t there be just random sticks sat one meter away from each other?”

[I am not entirely sure, but that was everything I was able to receive as information from the system. Apparently the World Tree will take care of the rest…](Mia)

[Big sister can communicate with the World Tree?](A)

[Not really… I can only see its intentions…](Mia)

I found it quite funny how bad Mia was at lying, but Alexandra believed it (given that it would have been that much harder for her mind to process the fact that she can command the World Tree to pretty much do anything). However, even I was a bit curious about what she meant by ‘the World Tree will take care of the rest’.

“What about the production points required building it?”

[The requirement is 50 production points to fully build it.](Mia)

“And if the entire unit would participate?”

[All 50 of you could generate 10 points per hour, so it would take only five hours.](Mia)

“That’s acceptable. Do we have axes to use?”

[Following your previous instructions, each tool had its numbers increased up to one hundred. So yes!](Mia)

“Good! Alexa, go and inform the squad that for today we will be focusing on digging and woodcutting. It will be a good stamina building exercise. Also, have them grab one shovel and one axe each and prepare to head out at the edge of the forest. No, actually first gather them at the wood storing spot. We will need to chop the materials ourselves. Mia?”

[One tree equals four units of wood, so 250 trees would suffice.](Mia)

“Well, at least everyone will have an equal share when it comes to the workload... Alexa, go ahead and group up the unit. We have work to do!”

Surprisingly, nobody complained about the hard labor and simply grabbed 5 huge trees each, hacking with great gusto at them. Nobody helped anybody, since individual effort was required as well in a proper elite unit. Soon the sound of chopping could be heard throughout the camp, as 50 people slammed their axes simultaneously, lodging them inside the hard bark, then swinging the hammers down to split the trunks properly. The whole process looked smooth, but was stupidly tiring.

+1 Endurance point received!

Even something like that happened. Moreover, obviously it wasn’t just me! Every elf received the bonus, making them look in reverence at me. I felt a bit guilty since I was literally using future aventuring soldiers as manual labor… However, given our population shortage, there wasn’t much I could do about it.

After about an hour or so, every member of the unit had twenty logs that they began carrying to areas designed by Mia. Each one of us received an area of about 40 meters we were responsible for, in which we needed to dig the holes to plant the logs in. The process of carrying the logs and digging through the not-so-soft dirt, definitely strained my muscles.

+2 Strength points received!

And exactly like Mia predicted, after 5 hours elapsed everyone’s hard work was rewarded by the underwhelming sight of the wall’s skeleton. I turned my head to this pretty all-knowing AI, inquiring with my eyes ‘what next?’, but she simply shrugged showing that she had no idea either.

After a careful look at the logs standing up in the sun, I could see the slightly titled ones slowly straighten up.

“I guess it might be a lengthy process, so let’s leave it be for now.”

“Alright you lot! Go and deposit the tools back from where you took them and get your weapons. It’s time to work up your appetite! Andrea and her chef squad will surely prepare something good for us again!”

After another wave of strangely energetic shouts, the sundown workout began once more. Halfway through it, another notification popped up.

+1 Endurance point received! +2 Agility points received! +2 Dexterity points received!

I was quite happy with today’s gain. However, I began to wonder about the continuous increase in attributes through both workout and through meals. I mean the workout part I get. Even back on Earth, you can improve your body’s condition through it. But the meals? The only thing I could reason was the fact that the ingredients were abundant in mana and as divinity or mana constructed beings, both the elves and myself received those bonus points through increasing the amount of mana concentration in our bodies. If what Mia said is correct, the digestive system has been perfected in such a way that everything we ingest is broken apart to molecular level and then absorbed. Obviously mana as well…

The day was ending and we returned to camp, expectant towards the meal Andrea prepared. Even I was close to salivating due to the exquisite taste the food might have, after tasting what she prepared for us in the morning.

Nevertheless, once again, we stopped close to the entry of the village and saw everybody else grouping up in the same area. Something was happening again…

“Mia?”

[The preparations made by the World Tree are almost finished. The Wall final construction will commence immediately.](Mia)

“Did you inform everyone else?”

[Yes Michael. Was it a bad decision?](Mia)

“Nope! A genius stroke rather! I can tell through my chaos senses that it was the right call to make. Let’s enjoy the show…”

The ‘show’ did indeed begin after about ten, maybe fifteen minutes. There was a deep creaking sound coming from the World Tree, as well as a green glow enveloping each of the logs creating the skeleton of the Wall. The glow quickly increased in radiance until we barely managed to keep our eyes opened and diminished just as fast, stopping the creaking sound as well.

Just as everyone was looking stupefied at the others around, searching for an explanation of what the fuck just happened, something that I can categorize only as a miracle occurred. The logs began to grow branches and their height previously at about three meters, also grew up to about five or six. Not only that, but also the branches kept growing and intermixing with the other two on its sides, leaving no spots visible. As soon as the branches completed the walls, leaves began to grow, beautifying the whole construct through a vibrating green color.

“Beautifu…”

Before I could finish praising the process, yet another strange occurance began. The same branches combined and created stairs close to the gates and at the top of the newly appeared tree crowns into an actual road, allowing people to patrol and keep an eye out for incoming threats while under the cover of the leaves.

“I should train myself some archers and transform the trees into watchtowers. My elven civilization not being able to use bows and arrows… Legolas would be disappointed in me…”

Now that the spectacle ended, everyone headed to the dinner hall as soon as they were able to wash up a bit. The food was excellent yet again and the obvious attribute points gain appeared.

+4 Strength points received! +2 Endurance points received! +5 Agility points received! +2 Dexterity points received! +3 Magic points received!

Pleased with the overall gain of attributes over the last couple of days, I brought up my Status Page and carefully inspected it.

Name

Michael Corbett

Name

Value

Name

Value

Job Name

Level

Progress

Race

Elf

STR

27

Magic

5

Elf

3

32% (?)

Sex

Male

DEX

23

Charm

17

Age

25

AGI

26

Luck

16

World

Midgard

END

23

Free Attribute Points + 15

HP

323/323 (+9.2/sec)

INT

23

MP

227/227(+2.8/sec)

WIS

19

Skill List Name Level Proficiency Identify MAX MAX Blessings Blessing of the World Tree

I nodded pleased at the numbers shown, thinking how they are way above a level three. Not only that, but apparently my experience increased a bit as well. Is not a lot, but it stands to prove that just by training we could acquire experience. After a light wash I went to bed where Mia and Alexandra were waiting for me.

I asked Mia to leave the interface opened and I sat comfy in the bed, reviewing today’s events.

“We were able to only build the Wall, so the Granary and the Warehouse will have wait for tomorrow. In addition, this proved the need to have a proper builder unit since I cannot just move the elves from one job to the other if I want specialized populace. Also, the biggest unit which was the farm-reclamation, is currently overwhelmed by the work they have to put in planting of the potatoes. Even the production unit (still haven’t decided on a name for them) which had twenty people was currently decreased to only half. The cooking unit is already understaffed and I cannot remove people from the resource units. The dungeon diving squad is also mandatory to remain at least this number and I required the craftsman squad to also remain with the same headcount.”

The conclusion was that I required more people... If the elven pregnancy is indeed only about six months and all 130 girls remain pregnant after the Autumn Festival, I can expect an increase of at least 130 in population (if no infant mortality is involved and if no other fertility complications arrive). Also, given that in one month the children will develop at a stupidly fast pace, it means that I will face another problem soon enough: food shortage!

I need to find another source of food ASAP if I want them to develop properly. Not only that, but grains and/or rice are mandatory as well. Even corn would work…

“If I remember correctly there should a social reform that I could adopt, which will increase the food production of the camp. That will help a lot and soon enough I should be able to research the Farming and Foraging technology which is guaranteed to unlock the farmer Job. With that, I will have even more specialized people handling the crops, or the future animals we might rear. There’s so much to do…”

Enjoying the newly found option that allowed me to sleep for recreation, I allowed my mind to rest and my body to recover after today’s worth of physical exercises.

When I opened my eyes, the dawn of the 9th day greeted me.