The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

Everyone returned to their homes before sunset, with a few notable exceptions. Ragnar, Bjorn, Verni, Vernon, and Ian met in the Grand Library of Avalon and quickly made their way to one specific bookcase.

"Look at this!" Ian tapped his finger on a picture inside the book he just pulled from the shelf.

"This is... Ohhhh! I want to build it!" Ragnar's eyes shone like stars in the night skies.

"This will be a lot of work!" Vernon took out his sketchbook and started copying the picture. "I already love it!"

"You know that Stella is going to kill us? Remember how bad it was the last time?" Verni scratched his neck. "When do we start?"

"Guys! Guys! You are forgetting about one very important thing." Bjorn crossed his arms in front of him. "We can't build it."

"Because the King and Stella are going to be angry?" Ian looked at his friend, who shook his head in denial.

"No! We need much more wood!" Bjorn laughed. "There might be just two sticks leftover in the warehouse!"

"Let's then think of ways to get more wood..." Ragnar took out his notebook.

•••

I woke up feeling heavy. As I opened my eyes, the reasons for that feeling became apparent instantly. Luna was sleeping, laying on her stomach directly on top of me, and she was wagging with her fluffy tail in her sleep. Amber and Irene were sleeping cuddled at my sides, rendering me functionally immobilised. Last night was, let's just say, intense, so it was not a big surprise they were still sleeping soundly. Amber purred like a cat and snuggled herself even tighter into my arm, as she smiled happily in her sleep. I kissed her forehead and decided I was going to focus on building and I closed my eyes.

•••

I was looking at the heart of my kingdom from above, seeing some of its people waking up. The bakers and cooks headed towards their workplaces to bake fresh bread or prepare the food in taverns while the farmers were performing their morning tasks. The guardsmen regiment was assembled in their courtyard, listening to Colonel Nathaniel Drake. The Royal University of Avalon would be officially opened next week after Amber, with Luna's help, appointed at least some of the new teachers. Which was a bit harder than it seemed, since most of the new Avalon residents were Guardsmen. Besides- most of the residents could hardly read or write, so before Amber could move forward, I ordered mandatory classes covering elementary knowledge. Since we had just ten proper scholars, most of Avalon’s Adventurers and Guardsmen previously responsible for logistics were tasked to be teachers, and I didn’t have much choice in the matter otherwise.

I could have used my Fairies, but they were currently insanely busy with expanding the defences of Avalon. Speaking of which, it was time to continue the expansions, as I had promised. I had focused mainly on properly building the basic zones of the Dungeon part of Avalon. Despite the recent size change, I still had ten zones, or as some people like to call them sections, in the above-ground portion of the dungeon. Section seven and section eight were my farm zones, connected with the southern Middle Castle, and they were not accessible from the lower castle grounds. The farms were surrounded by enchanted stone walls that stood fifteen metres tall, similar to the external wall of Avalon, but much thinner, reaching barely four metres wide. I left the specifics to Ian, who knew better than me what we would need and in what quantities, and I simply made sure that the soil there was the best one possible.

Counterclockwise to the farms was the beginner zone that had two gatehouses- one connected Avalon with the outside world while the second was a well-guarded passage to the City. The zone itself hadn't changed much; it was still mostly plain with a small lake and tiny river that flowed from the next zone over. But it was much larger and many people could use it simultaneously. The most notable difference was the largest Respite Tavern in Avalon, which could easily shelter about twenty Adventurer parties in rooms of various sizes, which now had a large camping area where even more people could safely sleep during their dungeon delving. It also acquired a Guild office and a shop, so once we sorted out everything, it would be a very convenient base of operations for random people, including adventurers, willing to try their luck.

Section Ten still contained a river, a lake, a forest, and the cave entrance. However, the forest was much bigger now, which was extremely good since construction wood was always the most lacking resource. I doubled some of the nodes, focusing mainly on pine, spruce, yew, oak, maple, and a few types of ironwood. Hopefully, I would manage to replenish my stocks of wood, and I wouldn't get any crazy ideaaa... And there was one now. My legions would need plenty of construction wood to build movable fortifications. In that case...

...Section one. A very important feature that came with the conquest of other dungeons, was the privilege to copy and use their spawners as I saw fit. Demesne had plenty of rare mining nodes and a few common food nodes. The spawner that I should have copied a long time ago was actually a rare hunting node; a deer spawner. According to the description, this was going to be a Cervus Elaphus, more commonly known as the red deer. So if I needed wood, I was going to create a forest here. This one was going to be denser, with spiders crawling in the forest canopy and wolves hunting in packs. The precious tree nodes would grow here, maybe not in abundance, but enough to make it worthwhile to dwell in the forest to gather mahogany and ebony wood trees. The ironwood nodes would be easier to find here and other, more common tree nodes would make this section a favourite of all carpenters. The sparse clearings and rivulets would also fit perfectly into the overall theme.

Section one also had a gatehouse to the outside world, which meant I would place a small Respite Tavern near it. It would have just a handful of rooms and a camping site, because this section started to become challenging. At least for other people, anyway. I didn't expect my residents to have any problems. I smiled as I recalled the memory of my resident's shock when I announced that I expected them to level up. While the guardsmen were delighted and couldn't wait to fight against whatever I had in store for them, the civilians were scared. However, their fears quickly changed into anticipation when they saw that Marie, Fiona, Nicole and Clovis were currently at level 95, which only encouraged everyone else to improve. I wondered if Marie was following my order, though...

•••

It was nine in the morning and Marie yawned as she waited for the new kids to arrive at the training grounds. Fiona and Clovis were talking with Auburn, who was sent here as an additional healer, in case Clovis couldn't deal with something. Marie wanted to know the real reason why Auburn was trying to get along with Clovis for some time now.

"Marie?" Nicole waved her hand in front of her eyes. "Are you with us?"

"I spaced out for a moment." Marie shrugged and looked at the kids standing near the entrance. "That's everyone?"

There were maybe eighty kids in ages ranging from five to ten. The older kids were sent to Iris, Rose, and Lilly. Queen Irene asked Lanka to reorganise some of her office before she arrived later today. Dahlia was busy reviewing the Guardsmen Academy candidates as she received secret orders from Queen Luna. Come to think of it, that could have explained why Auburn was helping Clovis, since he usually wanted to help Dahlia all the time. She shook her head and focused on the kids in front of her. They appeared scared and frail, with every one of them being level 1. Marie took another moment to contemplate an idea, remembering she was once just like them.

"Hello everyone!" Nicole's voice made everyone fall silent. "We are here to help you all start leveling up."

"We will show you all you need to know and what to do in various situations," Fiona said with a warm smile, but quickly reminded them. "Just remember to restrain yourself as teachers told you yesterday when you picked your first class, at least until you are sure about what you want to do."

"Don't worry about any wounds or injuries. The Apothecary Auburn and I, the Runic Warpriest, are here to make sure everyone will be fine." Clovis pointed at his incredible shield with the caduceus, the symbol of healers, which was the same as the one Auburn had on the pauldron of his black and blue plate armour.

"What you will be fighting for the next few years, except during emergencies, will be slimes, spiders and skeletons." Marie pointed at three pictures of the denizens she just mentioned and one older kid raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Why only those three types of monsters?" he asked a little too boldly.

"Because you are not ready for anything else. Even the four of us are not allowed to fight anything else and we are level 95. We fight in training zones until we get older," Marie responded and saw his unhappy face. "I see you are not happy with that. Why?"

"Because my dad was a soldier, and they used to train by killing the wolves in the woods!" he protested.

"Yes. They might do that. But you are kids." Auburn responded and crossed his arms in front of him. "Queen Irene forbade any child in Avalon to kill anything outside these specially prepared training grounds to prevent any of you from developing traumas. You may not understand this now, but trust in the Saintess."

"I don't like blood..." One girl said from behind, which caused most of them to nod in agreement, but Auburn just smiled.

"Don't worry. None of these three monsters has any blood in them. The slimes will just dissolve into water or gel and the spiders you will be fighting here are small ones with just a little of ichor." Auburn smiled wider, looking at the more confident kids. "Also, I have to assure you all that skeletons don't bleed at all."

This finally made every kid laugh, relaxing them. Marie looked at the kids again and pointed towards the tables where everyone had prepared a round shield and a club. "All right everyone! Pick up your training equipment and let's go!"

•••

It looked like the kids would begin their first training. Which was good. They would need it... I focused on expanding the dungeons sections just after Nicole welcomed the class. So now was the time to do something about Section Two. This section would be a swamp. This was such an obvious idea; it was like a revelation from above. The marsh and small lakes would create a perfect swamp, with a simple and narrow path, allowing one to reach the next section. The wandering fog would make fighting here challenging, adding the low visibility issue to the already demanding surroundings.

Snakes, with the occasional Naga that would act as area boss, along with skeletons, spiders and hunter slimes, would be a perfect mix of entities to live here. Crooked swamp trees and vines would make excellent decorations and keep this section gloomy, but hardly creepy... well, maybe during the night. To make this place worthwhile, I would plant some precious herbalism nodes required to brew some potent healing potions. Ah, perfection!

The next section, Section Three, was already quite established. It had the cemetery guarded by the Praetorians who were going to keep this place calm, reminding anyone to pay respect to those laying there. The grave of Marcus and Sidri already was a very important monument, as it already became a place of pilgrimage. For the people of this world, the Hero Marcus was the closest thing to a knight in shining armour you could get. While I didn't agree with the way he lived, I would never dare to destroy his legacy. I built a grand monument of Marcus, standing defiantly, as he raised his sword and covered Sidri with his body and shield. The people who saw it loved it, drawing inspiration from the final actions of the fallen hero. The other parts of this section included another unguarded graveyard and the Mausoleum.

The unconsecrated grounds were where the most despicable and evil beings would be buried. So far, only two beings were bound to this place to eternally serve me: the Lich and the Incubus that tried to kill Amber. Most of the dead slavers were also buried here, but I allowed their souls to move forward, albeit without any buffs provided by the cemetery. The Mausoleum was the main place to fight in Section Three. It spanned a few floors underground and was connected to the underground caves from Section One. Really, there was not much to do there except provide some interesting resource nodes.

I still had three sections to go… and maybe I should tinker with the caves. I wonder what they would think of them...