I took a deep breath and reached out to the Tower, feeling the mana that it drew in from the world. It felt like simply taking a breath of the freshest, sweetest air I could imagine, but once I started, it began to increase in volume. It was like taking a drink from a straw; you sucked it in, then found the straw was somehow pouring the liquid into you, growing faster and faster. As the milliseconds passed, the straw became a firehose, mana pouring into me at a horrific rate, making my eyes bulge as my body began to shake from the power infusion. I’d drawn on it for less than three seconds, and I was starting to feel like I might explode, when Oracle was there.
Her mind was suddenly nestled within my own, guiding the strings of raw mana, the lifeblood of the realms, into the channels the Tower held for it.
Instead of the huge weight of mana about to crush me, a slim siphon existed again.
The mana returned to its proper channels, and the Tower gave an almost imperceptible shudder, returning to the task of repairs, as the channel Oracle had guided began to branch out from me, splitting into smaller and smaller strings, then threads, reaching out to link to the hearts of the people that stood before me.
I blinked, seeing the beautiful tapestry that existed all around me, the mana seeping into people and spreading throughout them as it connected them to the Tower… and to me.
The sound of voices rose all around me, the people each taking a knee and pressing their right hand to their heart in salute, speaking the words in a staggered, but heartfelt way, as each read at a different speed.
As the final words rang out and silence filled the courtyard, broken only by the distant mutterings of Lorek and his men, I let the latest notification pop up.
You have gained nineteen (x19) new Oathsworn Citizens! The average morale of these citizens is: Optimistic! Adding these to your current total citizenry of Thirty-Four (34) has resulted in an overall rise of morale to: Optimistic!
The Morale Bonus for ‘Optimistic’ of 10% increase in productivity and population growth has been added to your settlement.
I frowned, not realizing the opportunity for such a bonus before, but I quickly dismissed it and the rest of the notifications, feeling a resistance like I was mentally closing a dozen virus/porn popup windows from the early 2000’s. The notifications really seemed to want to be read!
When I focused on the real world again, I saw Oracle hovering before me, watching me.
“We need to talk,” was all that she said, making sure I understood how serious this was before flitting to the side to allow me to interact with the people first.
I drew in another deep breath before forcing a grin at people, making sure I’d made eye contact with all of them before I spoke.
“Thank you all for your faith in me. I, Lord Jax, do swear to protect and lead you, to be the shield that protects you and yours from the darkness, and the sword that avenges that which cannot be saved. As the Tower grows in strength, so shall you.” I smiled at them then, a genuine smile as I relaxed a bit more. “Okay, people, if those that have been chosen to be hunters can head straight up to the Airship, you will be able to find Barrett. He’s hard to miss, as he’ll be the one making everyone clean and scrub the ship! When you get there, he’ll have some gear ready for you. Farmers, I want you to head up to the first balcony garden and find out what plants we have there. Clear away the dead ones and see what you can do to improve the yield, as well as putting together a plan for raising the food we will need. Lastly, my workers.” I looked to the five that stood in the middle of the group.
“I want you to work directly under Seneschal. If you head straight to the main floor, the one that you landed on, I’ll make sure he gives you direction. It will be hard, but he will also be giving me recommendations based on your aptitudes, so remember, who you will be is entirely up to who you show yourselves to be from now on.” As the groups started heading for the stairs in a rush, I sat back down, reaching out to Seneschal.
“Hey, buddy, you there?”
“Always.”
“Coolio. Well, I’ve sent you five people to help with the rebuilding, I know they’re not going to be anywhere near as useful as the Golems yet, but they’ll learn fast. Also, can you pass word to Barrett and have him get the weapons and armor we discussed ready for the group of prospective hunters? Lastly, ask Barrett to join Oren, Cai, and myself in the Command Center once he’s gotten them all sorted.”
“Very well; however, I remember being extremely specific on the process for drawing the mana to seal the citizens to the Oath. I believe I was exceedingly clear on how to make sure you did NOT tap the main mana collection intake?”
“Yeah, about that buddy… I was wasted. I basically only remember bits of the conversation, like little bits. The bit about ‘whatever you do, don’t draw from the mana collectors directly’ kinda only came back to me when I was already pulling on them.”
“Jax, I understand you deal with many serious circumstances using levity and a laid-back attitude, but in this case…”
“How bad is it?”
“It’s not how bad it is, it’s how bad it would have become! In another second, you would have begun pulling from the second channel as well, and your body would
