Another six months came to pa.s.s by and the camp they once considered temporary had already become a small community. Through Isaac"s administration the improvement on the walls that were once fences came along and has been upgraded. The residential buildings that were once huts also came to be because of the help of merchants that traded with their potions.

They also erected a building for hosting guests that wandered through their community as well as the merchants that came from further away and could not leave when night came. Through these things, the development of the once small camp, reached a point where they considered furthering it into a village that can even welcome guests.

However, considering their lord"s current predicament, they could not decide on the bigger things like that. Isaac could only do the administration and improvements because he was authorized by Clay to do so. And he is following his orders not because he was afraid but because he felt loyal towards the sleeping lord that they came to truly admire.

The alchemists have also begun to produce potions that had varying effects like curing any kind of poison that is plaguing the body. However, it only works for poison that they themselves have tried. This recklessness would have gotten them some scolding from Clay as well as his admiration for their innovative spirits.

Even as they continued to research on what kinds of potions they would create; they accidentally discovered an effect of an herb that restored a negligible amount of mana in the consumer and started to research further on it 2-3 months ago and have now become able to produce Mana Recovery Potions which they decided to use only for the camp.

If this kind of potion was introduced to the market, the troubles that would come as a result would be very troublesome indeed. Even though in the camp, they don"t have a use for it since mana recovery was not an issue. There was no one who really consumed so much mana in practice here anyway. Because of Clay"s method of using magic, the consumption of mana and the efficiency of a drop of mana became so that a single what would be mid-level spell would only consume that amount, a drop of mana.

The Elementalists have also progressed and begun to dabble in uniting their affinities to create effects that would utterly make high-ranked magicians in any kingdom pale. The Earth Elementalists combine their magic with the Water Elementalists to create a bottomless mud swamp; enemies caught in this would die a slow and painful suffocation. While the Wind and Water Elementalists would create a blizzard through their combined elements. The combinations vary and the effects are always devastating.

The few men who were tasked with patrolling the community had grown strong enough to defend the place from B-ranked monsters as well. Six months of wearing gravity rings, yes, rings; they have been able to advance their training to being able to carry the burden of at least 6 to seven times the gravity of the world which was a lot easier than how much the leaders of the community had. At times, they would come together and share their experiences and every time, the men would go home in awe and adoration that would further encourage them to strive harder. It was a stupid but beneficial bragging by the leaders.

The supplies for the upgrades of course were handled by merchants. At first some of them did not treat the community very nicely, although they were also not treating them badly, just enough to be called cordial. However, when the alchemists introduced the lesser potions to the merchants other than the ones they first contracted it with, they changed their tunes and even threw in bonuses for the community which Isaac did not let pa.s.s by.

Through all the transactions that came off of that and the following effects of that, the community became a place where the residents could proudly say, "it"s growing." Isaac capitalized on the potions and then started to expand on other things such as pelts and whatever else he could get his hands on to sell and profit. The herbs were kept within the community because these were the herbs used for potion making and there were no writings about how to create the potions which made Isaac admire Clay"s way of cunningly doing things. Training the people directly and making them master the craft instead of teaching through theory. That way, the secret could only be extracted from the alchemists themselves, and even that would pose a huge problem for those who would want to try as the alchemists are also students of magic and the magic techniques of this community was on a level that would not be seen outside. If someone tried, they"d be burned or drowned without second thought. Such decisiveness was taught by Clay himself.

[Sir Isaac, how do we deal with the monsters that have taken the bait?] One of the men that took to hunting in the times that they were not a.s.signed to guarding the perimeter, asked.

[That"s good. If the monsters caught are those that are larger than bears then kill them, else, separate them by species and we"ll try cultivating and domesticating them. That way we won"t have to always hunt for meat and also sell them to merchants when the time comes.] Isaac ordered. He wanted to remedy the shortage of people but if the few men are the only people to guard the perimeter and also hunt then that would be a problem that he would have to face in the future if not addressed early.

The solution he found was in herding the monsters such as the Mad Boar and the Deer Horned Bulls. Those were monsters that had meat that could make people salivate just thinking of eating it. If they are successful, it would surely eliminate the problem he talked about since the women could take care of herding the monsters once they become a bit more docile and used to them.

[Yes sir!] The man went back and did what was asked of him.

[Hey Isaac, we caught this Deer Fiend just below the peak earlier, you think we can have a feast with this tonight, maybe you know, wake Sire up with the noise?] The hopeful Jon, who planned to make a lot of noise to wake the still sleeping Clay, asked with a tinge of depression in his voice.

[I don"t know if it would, we"ve tried all the methods we know off and he still wouldn"t wake up. We"ve already gone feasting one every month to try and wake him up, fed him potions and two of the pills he entrusted us and he still would not wake. We know from this that his body is fine even without eating or drinking but he"s already gotten quite thin. We even enticed him with women but nothing happened. Doctors also came but found nothing wrong except that they said it was a matter of the mind. So what else can we do but hope that our ruckus would wake him up?] Caltec said with a despondent face on. Then,

"Come on man, that plan is so old school, I"ve grown tired of hearing you people"s loud voices. Can"t someone sleep peacefully here?"

A voice similar to the one they have missed hearing suddenly resounded in their ears and their bodies stood erect immediately as if jolted by that same voice. Suddenly, [Dammit, Mor! You"ve been doing that since two months ago, imitating Sire"s voice as if it was fun! It"s not funny for the nth time already!] Isaac scolded the mischievous kid.

[It"s not like you don"t miss his voice as well. A good thing that I clearly remember his voice so that I can give you guys even a piece of Sire to go on. Che!] Mor defended himself and shut Isaac up. They all could not deny that Mor was right. Because of that impression he does, they would get a good laugh off of simulating how their lord would react in his awakening.

The trio was done with their training and if Clay were awake and saw their stats he would have told them to get out of here. He would have seen STR and DEX to have Heroic as their rating. And that"s only talking about their strength when the rings are worn, what would happen if it weren"t? The thought alone would have excited Clay and tell them to hunt down the things they feared the most from Moribor"s peak. And they would have come back victorious.

[Shall we have the usual then?] Isaac asked the three of them, to which Caltec answered, [With pleasure.]

*Boom!* *Bam!* *Bang!*

Fists collided with each other, fists landing on their bodies, and feet landing on the ground heavily. The sound of all that resounded almost simultaneously as Isaac and Caltec"s fists collided, Jon"s fist landing on Mor"s torso and Mor"s fist landing on Jon"s chest while their legs stamped on the ground. This was their sparring session and each time that it happened, the merchants present would be surprised or even take bets from other guests. It was an even that looked as if ordinary sparring by strong people but it carried and did a lot more than just sparring and training. It also served as warning to the guests and as they spread that fact, a warning to those who would think to visit their community with ill intentions to not mess with them as monsters are residing here. It was Isaac"s idea to do this to deter those who would try to take advantage or even try to be foolish and attack the community.

[You"ve improved again I see?] Isaac said to Caltec.

[Yes I have; however, you"ve also done and catch up with us again. How hardworking you are.] Caltec replied to which Isaac smiled and chuckled.

[Hey Mor, those two are always competing with each other, who do you think will win?] Jon asked Mor and Mor who happens to be quite serious in training said, [Look away and you will be pummeled!] as he sent his fist towards Jon.

*snap* *flap* *pok*

Fists rained on each other until the clear winners emerged in their little sparring. Caltec bested Isaac through his matured sense of fighting in combat experience while Jon bested Mor clearly because he used tactics against him. These four were the leaders of the community that they have built up. And days pa.s.sed by each day until a year came to pa.s.s.

Clay has been asleep for more than a year now and he showed no sign of waking up. Knowing that their lord had been lost already, they with all their power brought him up into the peak of Moribor and there, he left him, encased in earthen walls as if they had already buried him.

[Sire, we four owe our life to you. You"ve shown us the way to become stronger and also given our families new ways to prosper in this world. We swear by this place and in your name, we will not pa.s.s on our knowledge that we got from you without your permission. Please, find us below the mountain where our camp had been at the start. We will be the guardian of your resting place from henceforth.]

[We have received your kindness and we will guard this place"s entrance until our last breath.]

[I am very grateful for your teachings sire. You have made us stronger than we could ever imagine. We owe you this.]

[Sire, I have already become able to contain my leaking power that plagued me since you"ve seen me first. Thanks to the method that you said would most probably work. My body was the problem and your method worked wonders, sire. I only wish I could tell you this when you are awake, yet, we want you to rest in peace without the disturbances of humanity. I, Isaac will forever be in your debt, Sire. When you wake up, you will find that the little people you gathered have already become something that not all the realms of Alleucanth can trifle with. This we swear.]

Swearing oaths to the resting Clay, the four subordinates that he left in charge of things while he was not around stood in front of him and solemnly put their hearts and lives on their sleeves to show Clay that they were his loyal subjects.