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  “Oi!” shouted Karrow, his voice seemingly covered in a deep layer of gravel. “Wha’ deu ya wa’t! I’n bout ta be busy, ya cut pies of coa’!”

  Joselin had found him on his way into the underground cave network where the Surveyors had found the iron and copper veins. He was pulled away from a trio of other miners that Rhamiel had not recognized, and he did not recognize the man either.

  Rhamiel watched the man make a noise out of his mouth. It sounded like words, but all cut short with weird half-growls and quasi-sounds. He stood taller than Joselin at a little over six feet tall, wore a heavy steel helmet covering most of his dark hair, and a dark and heavy beard covering his face and chest. He wore what Joselin called heavy woolen overalls, a dark and dirty shirt under those, and heavy leather boots that rode up his calves. In his burly and calloused hands, he held a pickaxe with a metal head made of some dusky blue metal.

  She gave him a confused look, close to what Rhamiel would have looked like if he had a face.

  “I’m- I’m sorry, what?” Joselin apologized.

  The man’s mustache twitched as he growled. “Wha’,” he said slowly and carefully, enunciating slowly and pausing. “Wha’. Do. Ya. Whant. Ya. Cut. Bits. Of. Coal?”

  “Cut bits of Coal?” Rhamiel asked Joselin as the man paused.

  She snarled. “He is calling us stupid or… pointless.” She continued a moment later after she glared at the huge man. “Why would you cut coal?”

  Karrow chuffed in a way that sounded like a laugh.

  “Oh,” Rhamiel said in understanding. Then, a little indignantly, Rhamiel used the Aspected Analysis Perk to determine if this man was worth it.

  Unfortunately, Rhamiel felt they needed this man’s help despite the massive speech impediment that made the conversation drag on. The Maxed-out Mining Skill made that obvious without even thinking about it. Several of his abilities caught the Core’s attention, but the conversation was moving on, and he needed to pay attention.

  “We are here,” Joselin started, annoyed, “because. Rhamiel, the Core helping us, was hoping to get your help. He wants to have some of his Drones mine when we are resting, but-”

  “No, no, no, no, no,” Karrow repeated over and over. “No! No one shoul’ dig if they deu no’ ‘ave the trai’ing. No, thei coul’ ge’ hurt or maik it harder for otha’ to dig that aria? Ne’ermind tha’ Why ‘aven’t thi’ Core come ta say ‘ello yet? He ‘as seen e’eryone else, ‘ut me. Why is ’at, little Miss?”

  “Uh,” Joselin took a moment to process his words. “Why has he talked to everyone else but you? Why?”

  “Ye’!” Karrow hissed, grumbling under his breath.

  “Uh, I’ve been busy?” Rhamiel answered through the still-active Communication Crystal. Even though he doubted that this excuse would work, he could not think of anything else to say to the man.

  “Ah!” the man shouted, raising his pickaxe defensively. “The Hellmouth speaks!”

  “Hellmouth?” Rhamiel asked, unsure how he should feel about this name. “No, I’m Rhamiel.”

  “No,” Joselin sighed. “He’s calling you a Hellmouth. It’s what the Dwarven Citadels called ALL Spirit Cores.” She eyed the huge man, “Maybe this is why the Core had not spoken to you yet! Maybe because nobody likes being insulted when you first meet!”

  “Eh, wha’e’er,” the man said. He relaxed his posture after confirming that something terrible would not jump out of the nearest shadow to eat him. “It is ‘ot like tese tings hav fee’ings.”

  “Hey! I have feelings!” Rhamiel shouted. “If you hate me, why have you become one of my Citizens?”

  “E’erbody wa’ Doin’ it,” Karrow shrugged. “And if I did’t, t’en I woul’ ‘ave to lea’. Whe’e woul’ I go? Besi’es, I owe Corinth,” he carefully enunciated Dad’s name. “So, I sta’ to ‘elp ’im and his family, not ya’,” the Miner grumped.

  Joselin eyed the man incredulously, “Then… why aren’t you helping me by helping Rhamiel? He wanted to learn from you to get the Settlement going faster; Mom said you would be the best one to learn from.”

  He raised his eyebrows.

  “Yeah!” Rhamiel cheered at the comment.

  “Can ‘e ‘elp wit’ ‘he work?” Karrow asked. “I’ve seen those things building the stuff around here, but can they dig and mine?”

  “Well, ‘e, I mean, he can,” Joselin confirmed.

  “Yeah, I can make Miner Drones,” Rhamiel told him. “But I haven’t used them yet, and we want to make sure I can order them to mine an area safely.”

  “Why?” Karrow questioned. “I though’ ya ’ad a lot of o’er tings to be doin’, why are ya worryin’ bout minin?”

  “Because I wan’, I mean, I want to use my Miner Drones and get Basalt and everything else I need quicker. My Drones can work faster than you fleshy people,” Rhamiel answered. “I want to build my city, but you guys are slow!”

  Karrow’s bushy eyebrows furrowed in thought momentarily before his mustache curled upward. A rambunctious burst of laughter left him, sounding like a grinding rock, and a hacking cough rolled together. “Wha’ is wrong wit ya’! Ya… ya just tell all us fleshies,” he mimicked Rhamiel’s word and manner of speech. “How it is! Hahahahhahaha!”

  The Core regretted that course of action. Karrow’s laughter actually hurt his... whatever he used to hear things. He didn’t have ears.

  “Ha, Okay then,” Karrow took a step towards Joselin. He leaned in close and looked at the Communication Crystal in Joselin’s hand, the origin of Rhamiel’s voice. He opened his eyes wide to view the Crystal properly and scratched the side of his face with his free hand, moving the pickaxe over one shoulder. “Ya a straight shootah, Core. Ya remind me of a Dwarf li’e that, How abou’ this, Core, I’ll ‘elp ya if ya can do one thin’ for me.”

  The man did not wait long enough for either Rhamiel or Joselin to ask before he said, “I wan’ a sleep somewhere unda’ground. Bein’ up here,” Karrow looked up to the sky and cringed. “It’s unseddlin’, I wanna live with an earthin roof above me. Where I cannot see te infini voi’ o’ te sky above us.”

  Rhamiel was not expecting that. “Uh, I guess so. Can I promise you that for later? I need this training now or later; filling that request will take a little time.”

  “Tha’ alrigh,” Karrow shrugged. “I can give ya’ a little time ta build it. Jus’ hurry, please,” Karrow said, looking back up and shivering again. “I am ‘ery uncomfor’able up ‘ere.”

  Rhamiel answered ‘yes’ to the Prompt and waited as Karrow looked through the Prompt, asking if he wanted the Position.

  “Ca’ I refuse la’er i’ ye’ cannae mee’ me needs?” Karrow questioned.

  The Core took a moment to parse what the man was saying and repeated it. Can you refuse later if I cannot meet your needs?”

  “Aye,” Karrow confirmed. “I cannae wai’ for ye’ tuh un’nerstan’ mae bedder o’ eve’ speak ta Deep Speech.”

  “Uh,suree,” Rhamiel said, unsure if he translated most of his speech correctly.

  “Ah, Goot,” Karrow nodded.

  “Good,” Rhamiel said happily. “Now, can you show me now or-”

  “Naw, Gi’e mae a Dae or Tah. Once wee Mine owt a little, I ‘ill sho’ ya. Som’ stuff. Agree?” Karrow asked.

  “Fine?” Rhamiel agreed, unsure what he just agreed to. “Just get me some iron as soon as possible. And if someone finds some Basalt, I will offer them first dibs on the houses when we get them built.”

  “Aye, I’uhl pass i’ alon’,” Karrow said, nodding. “Any’hing else?”

  Rhamiel thought for a moment while the man looked at them expectantly. Then a thought occurred, and he used his Aspected Analysis on a few of the man’s powers that weren’t as obvious to his knowledge.

  “Rhamiel, do you have any more questions?” Joselin questioned, snapping Rhamiel away from his thoughts.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Ah, no no,” Rhamiel said. “Thank you, Karrow, I look forward to working with you.”

  “Eh, we’ll see, won’ we?” Karrow shrugged, then turned to look towards when his earlier companions had kept walking without him. “Bah, Damned Pyrite Miners.” He muttered as he moved after them towards the entrance carved into the earth, allowing them to walk down rough stairs where Joselin had climbed out with his Core intact.

  A minute passed in companionable silence as they looked at the work around them. Homes were being built, items were being crafted, and animals were being butchered for food by the fire. While Rhamiel did not pay too close attention to that later, all of it was good progress toward the City he was building.

  But even as he looked at it, there was still much to do. Basalt was needed for his Eldritch Cathedral, iron was needed for better buildings, and there were a lot of production buildings like the forge and workshop. He knew where he wanted to continue, but that would be a matter of time, given that Lamar was already preparing to create the glass for the Basic Mana Lights.

  “So, what now?” Joselin asked, looking at the Communication Crystal in her hand.

  A good question, but Rhamiel returned the question to Joselin. “What do you think would be best to work on right now? I mean, there are so many things to work on.”

  Joselin thought about it for a long moment, turning away from the entrance to the underground and walking back to the Settlement Center. “Okay… uh, what do we need?”

  “Uh, time?” Rhamiel answered. “I think if we got more time, it would solve all our issues.”

  “Well, yeah,” Joselin smiled. “But what else?”

  “Uh, I don’t know, all you fleshy people need a lot of stuff to survive… Water, food, shelter, magic, friends?”

  “Food, okay, let’s start with that. We can’t hunt all the wildlife here forever; the meat will eventually become scarcer. And wild vegetation is unreliable.” Joselin paused in thought, her eyes moving back and forth as she continued to look through her invisible menus. Then, in a moment of thinking, she asked, “Didn’t you get Farm Blueprints?”

  “Yeah, why- Oh, yeah,” Rhamiel said happily. “I could have My Drones build the Farms.”

  “Yes, and work them between other assignments. We have a few other farmers here, and Yule can help manage the fields until we get an Alchemy Lab built for him.” Joselin thought out loud. “We have plenty of space.”

  Rhamiel opened his System and selected the Farm Blueprint. It was straightforward and had few requirements to build. But when he selected it to build, a Prompt appeared.

  Rhamiel willed the Prompt away and discovered why the Farm had few requirements to build, only some wood. Once the minor construction was complete, the Farm was a plot of land that could grow a specific type of plant. He selected his Drones and put them to work, building several Farm Plots, each a few hundred feet square by default. It only took an hour to make one. The wood used in the construction was only to create a short fence meant to separate this Plot from the ones next to it. It was shoddy work, but it did the trick.

  “Oh, nice,” Joselin said, looking at the just-created Farmland. “Nice. Shall I call the Farmer over here to see what they think?”

  “In a minute,” Rhamiel said, then looked at his available Drones. It was not that he had more Drone’s to summon, it was that he remembered that at Tier 2 of his Summon Drones Perk, he got the ability to summon two new types of Drone.

  “Question,” Rhamiel said, capturing Joselin’s full attention. “When my Builder Drones work in construction, they get faster and build better than my average Drones, right?”

  “Yeah,” Joselin said slowly.

  “I can also summon Farming Drones. What do you think they will do if I put some to work on a Farm?” Rhamiel asked. “It’s not like they can farm faster, right?”

  Joselin blinked. I-II don’t know.” She began looking through her system menus, minutes dragging on as Rhamiel tried to remain patient.

  “- don’t know,” Joselin answered again. “There is nothing in here about that sort of interaction.”

  “Oh, I see,” Rhamiel said somberly. “Shall we find out what happens?”

  “Yeah,” Joselin lit up.

  Rhamiel took a moment to unsummon one of his Drones, one that seemed a little twitchy. Then, in a moment, he summoned a Farmer Drone.

  This new Drone stood tall, its translucent and ethereal form elongating to his sight. The basic Drones looked like small blue-white wispy orbs covered in sparks and embers of silver flames. Builder Drones were similar, but shades of sunset gold and orange. The Farming Drones looked mostly the same, but their forms were emerald green shafts, emanating deep green vapors and fragments like falling leaves.

  “Wow, pretty,” Joselin smiled, looking at the Drone.

  “I like the color,” Rhamiel agreed.

  After ordering the Drone, Rhamiel moved it to one of the plots of Farmland and assigned it to begin working.

  “Huh, what is a Mana Herb?” Rhamiel asked Joselin.

  “Why?” Joselin asked, watching the Farming Drone move over to the Farmland.

  “I can grow them. It says I can grow Wheat, Carrots, Cotton, and Mana Herbs. What are Mana Herbs?” Rhamiel pressed.

  “Uh, I think they are used for potions, mostly,” Joselin shrugged. They have other uses, but… eh, I don’t know. Yule would likely know better than I, I’m not an Alchemist.”

  “Oh, soooooo, should I grow that?” Rhamiel checked.

  “Yes!” Joselin said excitedly.

  Selecting the Herb, Rhamiel watched as a phantom image of the plant appeared above the Plot of land. The image, a deep blue-green leaf with three slightly curling prongs and violet berries near the base, sank into the earth, and the Farmer Drone reacted. Tendrils of its sunset light began to sift through the dirt and soil, tilling it as it moved slowly through the Plot. Minutes passed, and Rhamiel saw a new window appear above the Mana Herb plot.

  “How long does it take for plants to grow normally?” Rhamiel asked.

  “Months, maybe less, depending on the crop,” Joselin shrugged. “Why, what do you see?”

  “It already says that Mana Herb Crop is at point one percent grown.”

  “What?!” Joselin exclaimed. “No way, that is… fast.”

  “I can see that,” Rhamiel agreed. “Is this bad?”

  “No, this is good… very good,” Joselin breathed out excitedly. “This isn’t life-changing fast or anything, but if we get a few of these going, we won’t ever have to worry about going hungry.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Rhamiel said excitedly. “Food is good!”

  “It is,” Joselin agreed. “But what about the other plots?”

  “I think…” Rhamiel started, and then he was interrupted.

  “Hold it. Hold it!” a middle-aged human woman shouted, getting Joselin and Rhamiel’s attention. She stood about average height for humans and elves, strong of build and arms, with dirty beige sleeves rolled up to exposed toned biceps. The woman had dark tan skin like used leather and a stern face that was turned down into a frown.

  “Oh no,” Joselin sighed.

  “What are you doing?” the woman said with incredulity. “Are you- taking jobs away from our few hard-working farmers here who have just been waiting for the word that the land is ready for them to work?”

  “Taking work from- what are you talking about?” Rhamiel questioned. “I have no idea what is going on.”

  “I’ll tell you what I am seeing!” she put fists to hips in annoyance. “I see you having some of your godless Drones working the land that our people could be working to pay their way in this unforgiving world.”

  “Who are you?” Rhamiel asked, confused by this woman’s attitude.

  “Me, why I am Barbara-Ann Hutchins, and I am the Farmer’s Union Representative,” she said with a definitive pride in her voice.

  “Uh, Miss Hutchins… don’t you mean Guild?” Joselin asked. She looked a little unsure of the question but pushed on anyway. “Never heard of a Union before.

  “No, I am pushing for the Farmer’s Union instead of the Farmer’s Guild. The idea of a guild has been co-opted by the elitist Adventurers and Mercenary Guilds, pushing away the common man who just wants to work hard and get paid well for their labor. Hence, why I represent the Farmers’ UNION, an organization for the common working Farmer.”

  “But, I’m not trying to do that. I’m just trying to use my Drones to help.”

  “Well, let me and my Farmer’s do it,” Barbara-Ann told them. “These people have been trying to help, but this,” she gestured to the plots of land waiting to be used. “Is something they can do now and be helpful.”

  “But my Drones never need to stop working,” Rhamiel argued. “They can keep growing your guy’s food perpetually until-”

  “No,” Barbara-Ann dismissed. “You need to stop this. Seriously, Our people, the non-elites here, need to do what they’re good at. If you don’t let them work because your drones can do it better, then I am afraid I will have to have anyone I can convince to stop working to do so.”

  “Seriously?” Joselin shook her head. “We need to work together to survive and you’re suggesting a shutdown?”

  “I am, we need to be respected and our work recognized,” She nodded.

  Joselin shook her head. “Fine, we can make you the… Farm Manager,” she said with a defeated sigh after confirming the Position’s name. “With it, you gain certain benefits, such as seeing the range of Rhamiel’s Farm Plots. I don’t think it matters what food you grow as long as it will feed all of us. If- If that’s okay with you, Rhamiel?”

  Rhamiel shrugged. “It sounds good to me. Just ensure you don’t abuse your Authority without good reason, Barbara-Ann. We need all this food soon and as efficiently as possible.”

  It only took Rhamiel a moment to find the menu to send a request to Barbara-Ann, but they hesitated. In a moment of insight, the Core asked, “How many Farmers do you have?”

  Barbara-Ann raised her hands, muttering names under her breath as she raised her fingers, one at a time. “Not including those with animal-based farm classes, nine. And they need a way to gain levels as much as your warriors.”

  “That is not my point,” Rhamiel said, wishing his eyes would roll to show his exasperation. I made sure we had plenty of room inside these walls. I will need to make more land plots for farming. We need to turn a harvest over quickly before the hunters run out of things to hunt.”

  “And we can’t keep eating monster meat,” Joselin added. “Dad says the higher the monster level, the more the mana becomes toxic in their flesh after death. Without Cooks with special Perks, we cannot prepare the meat without getting poisoned.”

  “And?” Barbara-Ann questioned. “What do you expect me to do about it?”

  “I- We expect you to make a deal. We will give all your farmers enough feels to work to keep advancing their classes, but some of the excess fields will be worked perpetually by my Drones.”

  “But-”

  “And if we get more farmers, we will make more fields for them to work. We just need to get through the next few weeks, and I think we will be much more self-sufficient on just the… Non-Drone worker’s food yields… right?” Rhamiel asked, turning its words to Joselin.

  “Y-yeah,” Joselin said mutely.

  “What’s wrong?” Rhamiel asked, concerned. “I know this woman is annoying, but-”

  “Hey, you can’t just talk about me like that.”

  “No, no, it’s not that. Something just doesn’t feel-” Joselin froze.

  Her eyes were wide as she slowly turned to look around her in sudden terror. Rhamiel didn’t know what caused her current reaction and focused on trying to find anything that seemed out of place, anything that would have caught her focus. But as much as he tried, he became more unsure of what she might have heard while she kept looking around.

  The forest was silent as if every animal had gone quiet to let him try to hear whatever it was that made Joselin react-

  “Something’s wrong,” Joselin whispered. “I better get everyone who can fight; something is about to happen.”

  “What do you mean?” Rhamiel asked her fleeing form. She had turned to hurry towards the Architect’s Library, where Mom should be, and a quick check confirmed that Dad was there too.

  “Everything seems fine, right?” he asked himself as he began to feel the quiet dread sink in.

  “Hehehehahehe!” A feral laugh echoed through the Settlement.

  “Core!” Rhamiel heard from across the Settlement. Looking, he found Bernard Lawry standing with his spear facing this portion of the Wall. “We have a big problem!”

  The Wall shook and fractured, portions bending and breaking towards Bernard. The man flinched, raising his arm to keep the flying splinters away from his face.

  The laughter peeled away into a manic, high-pitched voice. “I found you! Finally, I found you!”

  “It’s the Werejackals! They found us!”