Gamer Reborn
Chapter 505

Chapter 505

Planting the fortress tree seed wasn’t all that exciting, the one thing that the mages had been looking forward to was Ajax’s use of Life Mana to ensure the seed would at least have a good start. From there it would be the royal family’s duty to ensure it would grow healthy.

“Do you have a plan for who will be the guardian of the fortress?” Ajax asked as he focused his Life Mana to help the seed speed up the germination process without harming the seed. As always Life spells were extremely Mana intensive.

“Not yet.” Xavier shook his head. “We received a small bit of information on how to properly grow the tree and a guardian won’t be something we need to worry about for a few years yet.”

“Even after that I don’t imagine this would be that important of a location that a powerful guardian needs to be selected for.” Lexi gave her own opinion. “Though if war ever starts with the Empire that might change.”

This was all essentially a very expensive trial run for the royal family. But it was a very valuable trial, with the recent expansion that all the nations were about to undergo new border fortresses would be essential, not only to guard against other kingdoms but also against whatever comes from the Wild Lands. Being able to replicate the elven strongholds at new locations would be invaluable for Gryndor, not to mention it would also make it a lot easier for the Royal family to settle its nobles along the border if he gave their House a homestead fortress to defend.

“You’re heading straight back to the capital aren’t you?” Ajax asked Xavier.

“I am.” Xavier nodded. “Without rushing there it will take me almost a month, Arianwyn should be arriving a week after I do.”

Ajax was already looking forward to the future when he could establish something similar to a highway from his duchy to the capital and cut that time in at least half. But until then he had other things to focus on for now.

The first of which was the new trees he would be bringing back to his manor. He might have only asked Xavier for a single branch but since his friend had gone through the trouble of preparing ten of different sizes Ajax would take all of them.

“You really think there is something special about that tree?” Lexi asked as she watched Ajax and a few other people secure the branches to the cart they had brought along, something made all the more difficult by them only being potted in water.

“I can’t explain it.” Ajax shrugged. “I just feel like the tree is important.”

“Lord Hearthbound, I’m so glad I caught you before you left.” Grandmaster alchemist Janus Deepbreath approached Ajax with a few papers in hand. “I took a look at the questions you had, but I have to say they are a little too vague for me to give you any sure answers.”

Ajax had taken full advantage of having a grandmaster alchemist feeling like he owed him something and asked him a few questions about how his cement formula might react to scaling up its Mana density. Of course he didn’t reveal any of the actual formula but he did ask some general question about increasing the mana density in the reactions that were taking place.

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“I do feel I have to warn you to be extremely careful when trying any of this out.” the alchemist continued as he passed the stack of notes to Ajax. “Dual reaction processes are very complicated to control once Mana density rises. More than that however I have found that they tend to amplify different parts of the reaction more than others. I highly suggest avoiding producing any explosives until both your skill and Skill increases.”

Ajax had followed the man’s explanation all the way until he mentioned explosives, he was so surprised by the tangent that he wasn’t prepared to hide his befuddlement at the change in direction.

“No need to look so surprised.” The grandmaster alchemist smiled. “Though you were sufficiently vague I can tell that this ingredient specifically is volcanic ash. The only reason to use high Mana density volcanic ash is in the making of explosives. While they are effective they are also highly unstable, I recommend only making them to order for use and not to keep in storage.”

“No.” Lexi said as soon as the alchemist was out of ear shot.

“But I-” Ajax tried to argue but was interrupted.

“Volcanic ash is not all that abundant, let alone Mana infused volcanic ash.” Lexi shut down Ajax’s argument. “I know you are more of a researcher than a merchant but we will absolutely need that cement.” 𝐑Ἀ₦ȏᛒЕŝ

Lexi knew very well that despite Ajax’s deep interest in alchemy he was different from most alchemists. While they were happy to work on perfecting their craft and pushing for profits Ajax was much more similar to her grandfather. He was more interested in the pursuit of new discoveries in a field rather than perfecting something he had already created. It was why her grandfather changed the spell he was working on once he had an acceptable chant instead of continuing to figure out its ideal Mana usage per cast and proper output.

Ajax didn’t try to push the matter further. He knew Lexi was right, more than that as the premier expert when it came to cement he owed it to his family to work more on increasing the efficiency of the formula considering how much of their family’s wealth would be invested in the roads and buildings made all over the duchy in the next few decades.

Both Ajax and Lexi spent the rest of their return trip relaxing and enjoying each other’s presence. They both knew that once they returned to Lessis they would both be pulled back towards their obligations.

Ajax was looking forward to a change in his routine. The tunnels beneath their estate were almost finished and he would no longer start his day with such a huge Mana sink. All that extra Mana could instead be well put to use with his newest Legendary Skill, one he planned to use to make a statement once Arianwyn and the elves arrived. He was after all the only known humanoid in history to gain [Telekinesis].

Ajax wasn’t the only one making plans geared towards the visit of their neighbors. While he, Lexi and Lancel had left the rest of the family had also managed to find the time to look towards the future outside of the duchy they had been so focused on for the past almost half a year now if you count it from the time they had received the conformation that this would be the duchy they would be granted.

“Are you sure this will be fine?” Elija asked after he heard the proposal.

“I’m sure.” Alana said with a nod.

“I agree it will be fine.” Silvia also nodded in approval. “But you’ll get a chance to reassess the situation before we commit.”

Alana’s plan is to have the first large delivery from House Hearthbound to head towards Sylvanthal following princess Arianwyn’s departure from Gryndor. Part of the plan is to provide a small amount of concrete to the elven royal family to serve as advertisement for them. With the lack of rock and gravel cement would be more of a luxury in the elven forests and something the noble families will surely be willing to pay a lot for the exclusivity. At the same time any visit from elves following the spread of cement to Sylvanthal would make House Hearthbound looked extremely extravagant by paving the roads in their duchy.

“It’s not the business plan that makes me skeptical.” Elija said with a nod towards Alana, he recognised Alan’s talent in running a merchant organisation and accepted as part of the family by now. “It’s the political side, last I saw none of the elves present during my negotiations were all that fond of Ajax, with a single exception that could cause an international incident.”

“Arianwyn got over her crush.” Alana objected. “More than that Elara and her family are rather pleased with Ajax after he helped Elara develop her Domain, you’ll see when they come here.”

“I’m not worried about Arianwyn and Elara.” Silvia also added, she had been together with Alana when Ajax arrived in Sylvanthal’s capital. “ It’s the other elves that I’m worried about, quite a few people didn’t seem pleased with the interactions between Benedict and Elara, that’s not to mention Xavier and Arianwyn. This will be their first dungeon following the capital, it’s probably where they’ll look to work out some of their issues.”

“Lexi and Tom will both have their work cut out for them.” Aurora said as she took a look at the list of visitors they could expect, it had recently arrived along with the message from the royal family about what they could expect from the visit.

“More like Lexi and Fluffy.” Judy laughed as she looked over the list of names.