Thy Kingdom Come

“What?” Verida asked, resting a hand on her hip as she took in everyone’s slack jawed appearance. “Did you expect me to stay up there all day?”

“More like we weren’t expecting you to turn into a bombshell,” Aeolia said under her breath.

Verida smiled. “I’m glad my appearance is pleasing. Took forever to get right, but well, time works a little differently for me.”

“How differently?” Vivian asked excitedly.

“I don’t think there are words to explain it, sadly,” Verida answered. “Or, if I started to, it would overload your minds and drive you crazy.”

Vivian blanched, a reaction most of them shared. Verida shook her head. “Now, let’s not dwell on that. We have a lot to discuss and work on. John.”

“Yeah?” he responded, a little surprised to be put on the spot.

Verida grinned. “Start going through those notification things. Need them out of the way for the next step.”

“‘Next step’?” John repeated.

“What, think I was planning to host the Order picnic style?” the goddess remarked with a laugh. “No, the big star has the development of this place all ready to go. Just need to go through the paperwork.”

“‘Big star’?” Vivian asked. “Is that connected to what you said to the Warden. ‘Highest Star’, that’s what you said, right?”

“That’s the name I know Gaia by,” Verida answered. “But we can get into all that once we move things along. If you please, John.”

“Right,” John said. It had been bothering him that the numerous notifications had been going unread, a frustration that had grown greatly once the Order had left. “One litany of popups coming up.”

Quest Complete: A New-Land
You and your allies have successfully fended off waves of beasts intent on becoming a part of the Kingdom. Even if there were some hiccups along the way.

Rewards: 4999 (555) EXP, Access to Kingdom Management System, resources needed for one build

Level Up!
5 Stats Points Gained

New Achievement: Banked Rewards
Your hard won experience and loot.

Rewards: 4059 (451) EXP, $10,000, Bag of Loot

Level Up!
5 Stat Points Gained

New Achievement: Spanner in the works
Lucky you, being right at the center of things as a delicate working of magic gets FUBAR’d. At least if you're reading this, you survived.
Reward: Arcanist’s Managraph

New Achievement: Unexpected Team Up
Enemy of my enemy, am I right? Hopefully this won’t just be an alliance of convenience.
Reward: Golden Shield

New Achievement: Favored by (a) god
Got a god in your corner. I don’t count, I’m just here for the entertainment.
Reward: Steelwood Tree Seed

New Achievement: Witness to Ascension
Rejoice, mortal! You bore witness to the first manifestation of a god. And you weren’t driven to madness. Maybe that should be enough of a reward?
Rewards: 1350 (150) EXP, Celebratory T-Shirts

New Achievement: Divine Arbitration
Have a god mediate some mortal dispute. Good thing Verida’s a peaceful one.
Reward: Binding Pen

“Well, that’s all of them,” John said, shifting his attention to Verida. “I’ve got a feeling that first one is what you wanted out of the way, right?”

Verida snapped and pointed at John with her index finger. “Got it! If this place was just out in the Abyss somewhere, I’d have a good amount of control over how it looks, at least for a while. Gets harder to change something once it sets. But this place is kind of torn between having my power tied to it and Gaia’s through your game thing. It’s kind of a mess.”

And whose fault is that?

“Don’t go bringing my mother into this!” Verida shouted upward.

“Wait, you can read my pop ups?” John asked as he cleared away Gaia’s interjection.

“No, but she still said what I presume showed up in front of you,” the goddess answered, her hands resting on her hips in an exasperated pose. “Something about fault, right?”

“Yeah,” John replied, his mind putting two and two together. “And I presume your mother is Yerda, right?”

Verida nodded. “It’s a little more complicated than that, but we’ll stick with that for now. I think a conversation like that is a little lower on the priority list than the Order business. And for that, I think you should get to building somewhere more comfortable. We can use that conversation as a test drive of the conference.”

“Any clue how long it’ll take?” Aeolia asked. “After all that fighting, and dealing with the Order sticking their noses in our stuff, I could use some food.”

Verida tilted her head to one side in thought. “Something to eat does sound nice. Hmm, that’s a bit odd for me to say, isn’t it? I personally haven’t eaten. I haven’t had a mouth for more than an hour. But…”

She trailed off and shook her head. “Losing ourselves among the weeds isn’t going to make things grow any faster. But, you do need to eat. Perhaps someone can go fetch some while John looks at the system. Oh, and it probably would be best for everyone who helped grow the seed to remain. Just in case.”

“So that would just mean me, Harker and Martius,” Lynn muttered, then sighed. “And I’m the one with the car and license.”

“We can go without food for a bit longer,” John said, not wanting to aggravate the alchemist, not only because it was against his somewhat placid nature to do so but also because he didn’t want to impose on Beth’s sister and ruin whatever positive inroads he’d made with her.

Lynn sighed again. “No, it’s fine. Honestly, I’m hungry too. Moving around that much liquid isn’t any less draining than swinging a sword around. I’ll go and pick up the grub.”

Verida looked at Lynn curiously. “You eat grubs?”

Beth snorted and Lynn pinched her nose. “It’s just a saying.”

“There are people that do eat grubs and other insects,” Vivian interjected.

Lynn groaned and Beth broke into full on laughter at her sister’s plight. “Are we going to continue this discussion or are you going to let me go and get some damn food?”

“F-food’s good,” Beth wheezed out, working to rein in her giggles. “We getting Cammie’s?”

“Won’t say no to that,” Aeolia commented before letting out a small chuckle. “We should get them to cater all our life or **** struggles. Maybe make them the official cooks of this place.”

“I’d hold off on that proposal until we find out what buildings we can make,” John said. “Wouldn’t be right if they don’t get the best kitchen.”

“Bet they’d want to experiment with some of those chicken looking things that showed up in round two,” Aeolia remarked.

“The ones with the blue feathers?” Vivian asked.

“Yeah, looked like they had a good amount of meat on them,” John answered before shaking his head. “We’re getting off topic again. So, food run. Any idea how much it’ll go for?”

Aeolia shrugged. “Doubt it’ll be more than a grand. Hell, Mason would probably try and give us a discount.”

John nodded and summoned the money, before offering it to Lynn. “I can cover the cost and gas. Least I can do since I’m stuck here.”

Lynn took the money then pulled out her phone. “Alright, what’s the order?”

---

It took another ten minutes for all of them to decide their choices, not helped by the lack of a proper menu to work from. But between John, Aeolia and Vivian’s memories, they were able to remember something for everyone to enjoy. Everyone, that is, except for Verida.

“You sure you don’t want to try anything?” Vivian asked the goddess once more, a concerned look on the redhead’s face.

“I can go without for now,” Verida replied with a smile, before her expression turned somewhat thoughtful. “I’m not sure if I can eat. I have no need for it. As long as this domain remains tended to and full of life, I shall be sustained.”

John wanted to ask about how godly mechanics worked, a sentiment Vivian looked to share given her furrowed brow, but managed to quell his curiosity. With the conversation hitting a lull, Lynn clicked her tongue and slipped her phone into a pocket, the list of orders safely transcribed.

“Right, I’m off,” the alchemist said as she ambled towards the exit point. “Don’t turn this place into a hellscape while I’m gone.”

Before anyone could retort, she vanished.

“What does she think we are, twelve?” Beth remarked snidely.

“Given our track record, it's not an impossible outcome,” Vivian admitted before looking to Verida. “Though I think we probably have enough failsaves to prevent anything from going too crazy, right?”

The goddess tilted her head in thought. “The Highest Star is more in control with this building system,” she said. “By way of whatever gets put in front of John when he powers it up.”

“Most settlement building systems start off calm,” John remarked. “Get the foundation set then the world events start. Although we started with a world event, technically, so who knows? There’s going to be weather patterns, right?”

Verida nodded. “Yes. Everything here functions just as it does back on Earth, more or less. My powers are not suited for weather manipulation, so I couldn’t prevent storms.”

“So nothing without a roof, got it.” John chuckled. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

With a thought, John activated the Kingdom Management System.

Welcome to the Kingdom Management System. Here, building options for (unnamed Kingdom) can be accessed. A preloaded assortment of buildings have been added due to quest completion. Additional building plans and materials can be obtained by completing Kingdom Quests. Materials gained through other means can be used in building if they match certain requirements. An outline of the building will appear upon selection. Move it to your desired location, and place it with a thought.

Buildings Available: Central Hall (Amarlian Style), Hunter’s Lodge (Amarlian Style), Crafting Hall (Amarlian Style), Pathway Arch
Note: You have (1) instant build available. Once used, builds will be completed over a period of time, determined by type, size and material.

“We got one building I can just poof into existence,” John announced for those who couldn’t see his displays. “Everything else will take time to build. The ‘Central Hall’ option is the only one that sounds like it’ll serve our needs. Don’t think the Order is going to like having the meeting under some mounted deer head.”

“Don’t know,” Aeolia chimed in. “They’re high class British, right? Just get some expensive booze and cigars and I think we could make it work.”

“They’re knights and holy warriors, not big game hunters,” Harker interjected. “An armory would be a more fitting location.”

“A joke, Harker?” Martius guffed.

“Given what we just went through and what’s directly ahead of us, a bit of levity can’t hurt,” the sanguinmancer said with a shrug.

“Suppose that’s a good sign you’re recovering,” the gnome said.

“Anyway,” John continued, looking to Verida, “got any insights before I tap the button?”

The dragon goddess shook her head. “The only thing I know for certain is you’re going to be limited to building in the clearing. I think there will be quests given to you to claim more settlement areas.”

“Right, makes sense. Designated plots of land to build on,” John muttered. “The quests for more will probably involve dealing with some monster, maybe having to actually cut down trees and prep the land.”

Shaking his head to clear away thoughts of future development, John tapped the ‘Central Hall’ option.

Central Hall: A two story building, grown directly from tolgal seeds using Amarlian cultivation techniques. Modeled after classical Amarlian designs.
Resources needed: 5 (5) tolgal seeds.
Time to completion: 24 Hours (1 Instant Build Available)

Do you wish to build (1) ‘Central Hall’?
Yes/No

John gave everyone one last look before he hit ‘Yes’. After confirming he was going to use the instant build option, his vision was overtaken by five beams of translucent light, four forming a long rectangle with the fifth sitting in the center. Several thinner beams of light emerged from the pillars, creating the outline of a building. With a thought, John moved the beams slightly.

‘Full mental control, cool,’ he thought before saying, “Looks like we just got the rough outline. Anyone else see them?”

The party members all chimed in that they did, meaning Martius, Kiera and Verida were the only one’s not seeing the beams, though from the way the goddess was looking right at one of the pillars, John presumed she was aware of them even without sight.

Looking at the goddess, John asked, “Any idea what’s the best place for this?”

Verida tapped her chin in thought. “I think growing it close to the tree would be in poor taste. And unless we have the materials to build that Pathway Arch, and if my assumption that it will allow us to move where the entry point is is correct, you can’t put it too close to where the entrance is now.”

She trailed off for a moment. “Since we have four available buildings at the moment, perhaps we could divide the clearing into fourths.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Vivian chimed in. “And, unless these buildings are tremendously large, we could place a few in each quadrant as needed without needing to find more locations.”

“Anyone have any issues with this?” John asked, sweeping his gaze over everyone. When no objection was raised, John moved the building outline around to find the best placement. Eventually, after some debates on the value of sun exposure over the course of the day, John settled on a spot in the northern part of the clearing, around 30 meters from the world tree, the front of the building facing the tree.

“Okay,” John said, “here we go.”

He mentally placed the outline and it vanished. A second later, five trees burst out of the ground, starting as thin saplings before rapidly maturing to full size. Their branches began to weave together, forming the walls, floors and a gently sloping roof of the building, with some smaller ones extending out to form a covered passageway towards the arched doorway.

Leaves bloomed over the roof, and smaller patches sprouted at random along the whole build, breaking up the otherwise uniform facade.

New Achievement: John the Builder
Can he build it? Yes, he can!
Reward: Furnishings for the Central Hall.

John closed the popup and blinked as gray curtains suddenly appeared in the arched windows dotted across the building, as well as within the entryway.

“Guess that means we won’t have to place everything,” John remarked before turning to everyone. “Shall we do the tour?”

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.