Chin propped up on my palm, I listened with rapt attention as Brodel spoke about the intricacies of creating an array for constructing various objects.

Behind me, my tails fought to free themselves from where I’d trapped them against the chair, but I refused to allow their excited wagging to make a fool of me in front of the disciples who were also listening to the priest’s lecture.

Creating an array to construct an object was not a simple process. Using his Kitsune magic, the priest created a floating illusory image, resembling the blueprints used in building construction. The image was covered in scrawling scripture detailing the flow of magic to create the building.

To form a building required not one array, but several overlapping arrays that chained onto each other. The order of the circles was also extremely important. If the foundation array was not first, or you placed the roof before raising the walls, you’d end up with a rather odd looking building or none at all.

There were also the mana requirements to consider, and the type of matter being formed. Different matter required a varied amount of mana when transmuting one form of matter to another.

The other issue I had not considered was the effect of manipulating the ground to form the walls. We were not pulling matter from nowhere, but manipulating the ground to form the buildings, and if we did not account for the loss, the houses would be built on unstable ground. Thus, each building would come with a basement level, using the earth removed from that area to form the walls and roof.

As Brodel continued speaking, I came to the realization that the lab previously built, and later destroyed in Sēkrit, would not have lasted long. When I constructed the room, I had given no thought to foundations or from where I was pulling the sand I used to create the sandstone.

If I’d been the one to build the underground encampment in Sēkrit, we might all have died in a cave in. I thought with a grimace, knowing I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what Trismegistus did with the encampment.

The disciples around me broke out into excited whispers as we followed Brodel outside for his demonstration, and I did my best to keep my tails under control as I walked behind the main group with Nadir, Roswyn and Kip.

When we arrived outside the temple, Brodel glanced over at me briefly, and I realized I had neglected to tell him where to build the house, or grant him permission to manipulate the land I owned.

Mentally connecting with the priest, I directed him to build the house beside the stable, as I would later use it for housing those who would be hired to care for any animals residing at the stables.

At the same time, I slipped my hand to the pocket of my robes to find the hidden pouch that contained the land management token connected to the plateau.

Eyes locked on Brodel’s form as he walked to the stables, I used the transparent interface to grant Brodel permission to interact with the land. I would wait to add the disciples, as it would be several days at least before they would be ready to begin construction of the village.

Brodel had informed the group that after he demonstrated the construction of a full sized building, he would spend a day teaching the array in a smaller scale.

Using this array, the disciples would create model houses to form a miniature version of the village. This would ensure they could properly use the arrays before moving onto full-scale buildings.

It also gave us a chance to see the proposed layout of the village, before reaching a point that changes would be difficult to achieve.

During this time, Darius and the guild could work on preparing the wood needed to furnish the building interiors.

Allowing a smile to curl over my lips, I thought about how swiftly the village would come together with the aid of Brodel, and the guild.

Lost in thought, I almost didn’t notice the showy display by the priest as he melted away the snow in a perfect square around the area where the building would be built.

With a gesture for the disciples to remain out of the area he’d cleared, Brodel strode forward with an air of confidence, and turning to face the group, he stomped one foot on the ground.

Gasps came from those around me, and I struggled to contain my own sound of awe, as the arrays the priest previously demonstrated slowly carved themselves into the ground.

Beside me, Kip swore under his breath, and I heard Roswyn muttering to herself about using transmutation to carve arrays.

My cheeks burned, as I thought about all the time we could have saved ourselves when carving the undying fire array onto fire wisp cores. The entire time, we could have simply used transmutation to imprint the array directly on the cores.

Though on closer inspection, I noticed the priest had first layered an illusionary image of the circles that formed the array on the ground, using it as a guide to carve them out into the dirt.

Tilting my head, I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched the priest use his staff with its oversized transmutation amulet to activate the array.

The ground beneath our feet trembled, the circles carved into the dirt glowed before disappearing from sight as the dirt sunk downwards to form the basement level of the building. The displaced earth flew upwards to create walls, and the flat roof, before the dirt building hardened into smooth dark gray stone.

While the display of magic was impressive, the building was less than awe inspiring.

There were no windows, or doors, it was nothing more than a large stone rectangle. Though, I’d been the one to request the flat roof, as I intended to convert the space on each building into a series of rooftop gardens that would be used to grow various plants and herbs.

Pressing a hand to the nearest wall, Brodel formed a rectangular opening, revealing the interior of the building. No one went inside, as the floor was several meters below the doorway, but each disciple took a moment to peer inside before moving away.

As Brodel spoke about the building's creation, the mountain air blew across the plateau, bringing with it a harsh chill that had the disciples trembling. Seeing this, the priest directed them to return to the temple.

Turning back towards the temple, I saw Darius making his way towards us, his expression stern.

With a sigh, I hung back as the group left, and instead headed towards the stable where there was a furnace to keep the building warm for the horses.

Entering the stable, I made my way to Arion’s stall, where I stroked the stallion's muzzle as I waited for Darius to join me.

“How was the snake hunt?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder at the guild leader as he closed the stable door behind him, and came to stand beside me.

“Two deaths,” Darius said with a sigh, as he leaned against the wooden door of a neighboring stall.

Seeing this, I briefly considered reminding him that Victoria’s horse, amusingly named Horse, was aggressive and prone to biting those it was unfamiliar with, but decided against it.

If Darius was foolish enough to put himself in biting distance of the feisty mare, then he only had himself to blame when Horse stopped eating long enough to notice him.

A quick check of my team ring assured me it wasn’t a member of my team, as I knew Pia, Victoria and Rainy had all partaken in the hunt, with Kip opting out in favor of listening to Brodel’s lesson. That only left Victoria’s brothers, or Roswyn’s teammates.

“The snake was killed, though, right?” I clarified, getting a head shake in response.

“Retreated into the water,” Darius grumbled. “Nothing we did brought it back up, so we’re going to need another plan. Until then, I recommend you seal off that cavern so the snake can’t access the other areas while we are mining the mana crystals, or find its way into the temple.”

I nodded, eyes drifting passed the guild leader to the gray mare who’d lifted her head away from the wall mounted hay feeder long enough to notice the unsuspecting fool leaning against her stall.

The mare lunged forward, slamming against the stall door, and Darius sensing the approach of an attacker instinctively flung himself to the side in roll.

Hand covering my mouth to suppress my laughter, I watched as the guild leader sheathed the dagger he’d pulled as he came out of his roll, and stood, brushing hay off his trousers.

Scowling at Horse, who was pacing in her stall, the guild leader shook his head with a barely audible remark about demonic horses.

“Speaking of horses, when are you going to Bovia to fetch your own mounts?” I asked, gesturing to the newly built stalls inside the stable.

“I’m planning on making a trip to Bovia tomorrow, from there I will be going with Roan’s team to Rivera. We need supplies for the village, and I can acquire several items on your shopping list there as well.”

“I’d like to go with you to Bovia,” I informed him, giving Arion one final pat before heading for the door of the stable. “I need to visit a bank, and I also need to collect my wagons which got left at the stables there.”

“I was actually going to ask if you would allow us to use the wagons for the trip to Rivera. It would be preferable to ride in a wagon than in the freezing snow. '' Darius said, and I thought for a moment before nodding.

“I am not opposed to allowing the guild to use my wagons,” I said, a smile curling over my lips as I spoke the next part. “For a fee.”

Darius chuckled, his tone teasing as he spoke. “We’re going to Rivera for things you need, and not charging you for them, so how about you waive the fee this once? And further usage will be discussed later?”

I nodded, tails swishing behind me as we walked past the newly constructed building, pausing briefly so Darius could peer inside, before carrying on towards the temple.

The guild leader promised to have work start on the building today, using the left over wood from the stables so that at the very least the first floor would be completed by the time he left.

I had already agreed to allow the disciples Brodel brought with him to reside in the temple until the first building was completed. The issue was that to reach the sleeping quarters of the transmutation tower, the disciples would need to pass through the second floor library, and neither Brodel or I wanted them to have access to those books until the priest decided they were ready for the material within them.

Instead, the disciples would be offered beds in the hall of astrology if they felt the need to sleep, with the exception of Nadir, whom Brodel would be making a direct disciple.

The priest also offered to take Kip, and Roswyn as his disciples, but only the gnome agreed. Kip wasn’t interested in transmutation other than to create items to sell, and expressed his desire to leave soon for Bovia in order to set up the store he’d purchased.

According to the dwarf, the building needed repairs before a store could be opened, and he also needed to have cabinets made with anti theft enchantments in the storefront.

The plan was for Kip, Pia, and Victoria to spend time in Bovia getting the store ready, before returning to bring May to the town once everything was complete.

Kip, along with his mother, would be living in the attached house and running the store, with the dwarf making sporadic trips up the mountain to resupply the store with potions produced in the temple.

This store would act as a point of sale for products sold by not only the temple's disciples, but also the guild. This meant I wouldn’t have to worry about people swarming the temple seeking the items we produced, as they would be able to purchase them without climbing the mountain.

Entering the temple with Darius, we moved to the lower level, and into the first cavern, where we passed by Rainy who was working on trying to grow the Arcanium Fungi harvested in the Sēkrit dungeon.

The fungi only grew in mana dense areas, and with the abundance of Arcanium crystals, I was hopeful the dryad would be able to get the remaining fungi I had to grow in the caverns under the temple.

Pia and Ethan were standing guard in the last cavern, their eyes intently focused on the water, and their weapons held in tightly clenched hands. With the entrance sealed behind a wall of stone, Darius instructed the pair to join the others in the staff tower for lunch, after which he would be assigning new tasks.

As we exited the caverns, I eyed the mana crystals thoughtfully, mind churning with ideas of what I could do with so many crystals. I had agreed to allow the guild to harvest the crystals for their use.

Officially, the guild would purchase the mining rights from me, and I would get forty percent of the crystals mined, while the guild took the remaining sixty percent.

I’d also asked Darius to sell the mined mana crystals to any disciples that wished to buy them from the guild at a discounted rate, and he’d also agreed to discount all guild services to inner, and direct disciples.

Though, it was decided that mana crystal mining would be secondary to the construction of the village, and I’d made it clear to Darius I didn’t want too many people knowing about what the caverns contained. The last thing I wanted was for people to try and steal my mana crystals.

The guild leader had assured me that Roswyn’s team, whom I was most concerned about, were all trusted members of Eternia, who’d been a part of the guild for several years before coming to Kaledon.

In comparison, my teammates, and Victoria’s brothers, had been members of Eternia’s feeder guild, before being absorbed into the main guild pre-transfer into Kaledon. In reality, if someone wanted to betray us, they would, regardless of how long they had been a member of the guild. It was a matter of integrity, not longevity.

As I separated from Darius and the others, I briefly considered rejoining Brodel’s lesson before heading up to my office.

There were things I needed to get done if I was going to join the group heading to Bovia in the morning. I didn’t plan on being away for long, but I’d fast learned that nothing went according to plan when in Kaledon.