Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 215 - Harvest Festival

The weeks leading up to the start of Winter were full of activity. With Stone readily available being bought and quarried, the Outer wall was finished up rather quickly, only waiting for Gabriel and I to engrave it.

While we did that, work began on the Inner Wall.

The roundabout way we constructed the city was rather odd, but it would soon be finished. The Keep was first for defense reasons. We used it as fortifications against the Waves and in case we were attacked.

The Outer Wall was next. It took the longest amount of time and the most Stone to construct, while also being the part that drained most of our stores of precious metals.

For the Wards we designed to work, the inlaid metal needed to be able to handle the mana forced through it. Which ruled out most of what we had available to us and the only usable material was what we brought with us.

If I hadn't bought so much from the tutorial store, we would've had to settle for a lesser version of the enchantment.

That being said, the Frosted Silver we had a stock of was now completely gone.

Silver was one of the best Metals to use for enchanting for its Mana conductivity alone. It wasn't the strongest, so inlaying a sword with the stuff was a terrible idea, but a Ward hidden under inches of Stone would be fine.

Additionally, the type of Ward and the effect being powered by Ice Mana made the cold-aligned Frosted Silver the best choice. Using [Mana Infusion] for months on end only made it better.

It took a lot of trial and error to figure out which metal was best.

Gold worked, and so did extremely pure versions of Copper and Aluminum, but they usually burnt out at a much lower threshold. Stronger metals that were harder didn't have the conductivity needed. Steels, Irons, and their various alloys didn't have the property we needed. We didn't have the time to test why which metals worked and didn't, but that was on my long list of things to do once things settled down.

A list that was getting continually longer.

The only reason we knew to purchase Silver in the first place was because of the Intro enchanting books.

It was kind of depressing that I was always forced onto the next urgent thing but I hoped the rush would settle eventually and give me some time to catch up on all the cool things I was blowing by.

I was slated to live for over two hundred and fifty years and I was barely 26. I would get some time to relax eventually. Especially with my coming evolution extending that even further.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do with 700 years of life. The not even two years I had already experienced since the Change already felt like a lifetime alone.

With that peachy thought aside, I returned to focusing on my work on the Wards. They were the last thing I had to do before I was free to leave.

The walls were built and they were strong, I doubted anything could breach them while they were defended, but the Wards made them even stronger. With my planned journey taking me away from the City for most of the Winter months, I wanted to make sure everything would be fine while I was gone.

It was a bit nerve-wracking to think about leaving after what just happened but I would not delay it. After missing my chance last Winter, I was not going to wait another year.

With the supposed 'test' still on the horizon, I couldn't afford to wait another year. I was surprised it hadn't happened yet.

Maybe there's a trigger or something we haven't set off yet. Someone reaching D-rank maybe?

I wouldn't rush my evolution no matter what, as it was the foundation for my future, but it did put me in a hurry to finish what I needed to get done.

A Tier 3 Law was unlikely, but I at least wanted to push my Wind law to Tier 2 to catch up with my Ice one. My body was due for an upgrade as well. I even had the technique book ready for it. I already had my Anchor so I was good on the Spirit side, and it was growing nicely. The last was Mana Cultivation but that was already in the plans.

Other than the Paths of Power, my Racial traits needed some work as well. The Paths of Power would improve the rarity of Class I would be offered and greatly boost my power, but I couldn't ignore what advantages my Race held because of it.

Rachel was already working on purifying her Bloodline and I needed to do the same. Empower it and purify it.

I was behind on both.

To top it off, and complicate matters even further, I somehow needed to find parts to use. How I was going to do that was beyond me though. I wasn't the only one in the same boat and people much more knowledgeable than me were looking for solutions.

Some were waiting to evolve to E-rank for that exact reason, they weren't willing to miss out and shoot themselves in the foot.

The leading theory was becoming a Baron and upgrading the pylon would unlock the feature to buy things from off-world but those were only guesses. We knew that option would come eventually if we upgraded our pylon enough, but assuming it would come at the Baron rank was mostly guesswork.

Bah, I'm thinking about stupid stuff again.

I had been working on the Wards for months by now and it was hard to keep my mind from wondering while I did it. What was once a sweat-induced attempt to be extremely precise, was now common enough that I could let my mind wander while doing it.

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The levels and new skills made it much easier.

The levels were a bit of a sore spot though, as I wasn't receiving as many as I hoped. I knew why, but it was still aggravating.

The bulk of the essence would come when the job was finished.

And taking months to finish a job delayed the levels I would gain for the same amount of time.

The windfall would be huge, and my level would jump, but it was annoying to only get trickles of essence when I knew what I was doing was worth way more.

To make up for it, I helped Vinny in the forge. Well, I didn't forge, he did, but I enchanted. What started as a way for me to get some easy levels turned into one of our most profitable exports.

Vinny's forging ability already made good equipment and me slapping some Runes on it only made it better. It gave me some easy essence and sold for more coin.

I was probably downplaying my portion of the work but it was hard to feel like I did anything when Vincent was the one doing most of the work. He spent hours forging various equipment while all I did was take his finished work and alter it.

The work was good, I wouldn't purposefully add shitty Runes, but I didn't really create anything new. Not like I did when I worked from scratch.

It certainly helped even my levels out. I was nearing level 70 already and once the Ward was finished, I wouldn't be surprised if it pushed me through most of the 70s.

Darn, I did it again.

This time it did cause me to make a mistake. Cursing, I undid the last bit of infill and corrected the lines. While it was annoying to redo, it wasn't the end of the world. The hard part was the engraving and that was already done.

If I had messed up the carving, it would've been a much harder fix. Depending on the severity, it would take getting an Earth mage out to fix the stone or replacing the block entirely.

That was never fun and the entire construction crew would grumble at me while they undid their work only to redo it after I adjusted the carving. After it happened a few times in the beginning, I made sure to not make any more mistakes.

My work continued until sundown when I finally took a break.

Lack of sunlight wasn't the hindrance it used to be with heightened perception but it was good to keep a work balance. Rushing through without breaks would cause mistakes and those usually took longer to fix than just waiting until morning.

The stars were out in force and it was nice to gaze up at them once again.

A new constellation was out and one that I always loved. It heralded the beginning of Winter. At least to those in the Northern Hemisphere, but since I had never stepped foot below the equator, that was always.

The three stars were bright and shining, forming the belt, more twinkling lights filled out the body but the rest weren't visible in the night. Some days were more clear than others.

Seeing Orion was always a joy. Even if it meant I was on a tighter timetable than before.

My arm was already taking in as much healing as my body could handle and it was growing by the day. The Healers had trouble at first, as my Fortitude and Refined Body made it difficult to heal, but they overcame that and were better for it.

It was already regrown to below the elbow, all that was left was the forearm and hand. Which, admittedly, were the hardest part. I didn't imagine the small hand bones would be easy.

I sighed and made for bed. My body's endurance made it so I didn't require sleep every night, but it had been a few days since my last snooze and I was due.

And it would let me get some shut-eye before the Council meeting the following day. Those were always a drag.

Most of the meeting was like any other. We spoke about the events and direction while informing everyone of what problems people were dealing with. How the Quarry and Crystal Mine were doing along with how the Dungeons were growing now that we were feeding them mana crystals.

Everything was going like it had countless times before, until a new idea was brought up.

"We should have a harvest festival or something," Abigail said. "We haven't celebrated any holidays since the Change and it would be nice to celebrate for once."

"That's not true. We got together for Christmas last year." Sam said.

"That was two years ago and I'd hardly call that a celebration." Abigail corrected.

"What about the feast we had after the Demons?" Jonathan chimed in.

"Our victory feast isn't an annual celebration and was a special occasion." She stated, "Unless you plan to get attacked by Demons every year so we can have an annual holiday, we need something else."

"Why a harvest festival though?" I questioned.

"It doesn't have to be a harvest festival, it was just what came to mind. All the crops are in and the fieldwork is slowing down. It seems like the perfect time. Plus, you'll be gone for the Winter so it's now or never."

"Isn't it a bit late for a harvest festival though? Aren't those usually done right after the Harvest is in?"

"It's not that late. The last of the crops are only just now getting stored away. Without advanced combine harvesters, there's more work to be done than just cutting down the stalks."

"Alright then. I'd call for a vote but I see no reason to say no. Unless anyone objects, we move forward with the festival." I said.

No one said anything and that was that.

We now had a festival on the books.

"With that finished, we should talk about the changes to the pylon. Elliot filled Guard Captain and we have a few more spots to fill and now's the time to recommend someone if you know anyone." I said, moving to our next topic.

"Phillip has done a nice job as Construction Foreman, I think promoting him to Master Builder is a good idea." Abigail volunteered. There some grumbles about getting Uncle Brayden to reconsider, but he firmly said no when we asked.

Phillip was a good dude, used to work Construction before the Change, and did the exact same thing now. Kind of funny really. He had a Rare Construction Management Profession and would work well in the role.

"All for Phillip being Master Builder."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Then it's settled. Have him come to my office later so I can promote him and get his Oath." I said, "Anyone else?"

"Have you given any thought to getting an Assistant or Secretary?" Abigail poked, bringing up a topic I had thought was shot down.

While I worked on the Wards my work as City Owner had started to pile up. She had hinted at getting an Assistant or Secretary a few times already but I always put it off.

"Would anyone actually want to be an Assistant?" I questioned.

It didn't make sense to me that someone would choose that for their Profession. Sure, Blacksmith didn't sound all that powerful looking back, but at least it was better than Assistant.

It at least created something.

"You'd be surprised. If someone chose Messenger, then someone will choose Assistant." She said.

That reasoning made sense but it was still weird to think about. I knew not everyone chose their Profession based on the stats they gave and if they would help them grow stronger, but Assistant just seemed dull.

"Fine, I'll get one on one condition." I stated while everyone waited to hear my condition, "That you get one as well. I will not allow you to do everything yourself."

She'd done a wonderful job, but I knew the workload was starting to outpace her. Especially with the new arrivals coming in all the time.

Houses needed to be prepared for them. Jobs needed to be arranged and that was only dealing with the migrants and didn't even account for her work to continue growing the city.

She hated letting other people help even Before, and it was even worse now.

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"Fine." She huffed, "I already have some candidates for you to look at so we can start when you're ready."

Of course she did.