Chapter 113 Budding Magic Society
If before, Ikaris had an ordinary size and build compared to teenagers of his age, now he had the shape of a mature fighter and the attitude of his subjects had changed accordingly. While his immature facial features were considered pleasing to the eye a few days earlier by most humanoid species, his handsomeness now had the perfect ratio of charm and manliness.
His jet black hair and flawless pale skin from his Crawling part had intensified due to his mutation into a Nephilim and he now emanated a poise, an ethereal charm that a normal human would have a hard time replicating.
Without the addition of his Dire Black Werewolf Bloodline he would have been a gorgeous pretty boy, but it had given him the virility and bearing that he lacked. Now he was the perfect embodiment of a chad in all its glory.
As he breathed deeply, hundreds of scents were registered by his nostrils and Ikaris became aware that he had no idea what most of them were. This was another aspect he would have to focus on over the next few weeks.
Halfway through the afternoon, Last Saint was at its busiest. The loggers and hunters had returned from their expeditions and the builders were working hard to make sure everyone had a place to sleep.
Several skilled villagers had already learned to carve the protective runes and several trades were beginning to appear in the village. Although a functioning economy with an official currency had not yet been introduced, Ellie, Kellam, and Nardor had established a clear system of remuneration based on food, lodging priority, and other advantageous conditions.
At the bottom of the social ladder were the lazy ones who refused to work. Thanks to the incentives put in place by Ellie, Kellam and Nardor, there were almost none left. They were generally new migrants who had not yet acclimatized to their new life.
The two slackers of the first day, Taguchi and Juliette Hafner, had both passed this stage and were now actively participating in Last Saint's development. And in a brilliant way at that.
Juliette Hafner was a manager of an insurance company in Switzerland in her former life and despite the fact that she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she was not stupid. Quite the contrary, she was overqualified and had a lot of degrees.
Now that the village was starting to grow, she could finally put her skills to use. All the technical administrative decisions that Ellie and Kellam had been struggling to manage had been delegated to the businesswoman and since then everything had been running smoothly.
The entire wage structure had been devised by her alone and Ellie, Kellam and Nardor had only followed her guidelines.
Taguchi was even more impressive. Ikaris hadn't visited him in the past few days, but he had learned from Ellie that the Japanese otaku had an unexpected talent for magic. He had created Sparks with interesting potential, including a System Spell very similar to his own.
This had aroused Ikaris' curiosity and he intended to visit him very soon. But before that, he had other priorities.
Although Taguchi didn't like to fight, the anti-social shut-in had great self-control after his mutation into a Werewolf and he could replace Ikaris when it came to appraising the unknown herbs, foods and raw materials that the hunters and gatherers encountered during their expeditions.
The orc Xuk in particular regularly requested his services and had forcibly assigned him to his team. Today, Taguchi had practically become his assistant. Plume also frequently called upon him when she had doubts about a plant.
The Nature Fae had also embraced their new role and hundreds of acres had already been reclaimed east of Last Saint Village, on the banks of the Bleeding River, to grow all sorts of edible fruit and vegetable plants.
Villagers who did not like to build, lumber, or venture into the woods rushed to accept these job opportunities and the clearing of these arable fields was well underway. There was a lot of work to do, but every day new villagers joined the project.
To attract them, Juliette had implemented a system that had proven itself on Earth. A piece of land had been allocated to the volunteers and in the future when a concrete currency was introduced, they would be paid a percentage of their harvest.
In the very long term, with the introduction of privatization, these farmers could even buy their own piece of land instead of being employed by Last Saint. This, of course, was not for tomorrow.
The positive consequence of this move was that new residents were already figuring out in which directions they needed to develop their Sparks if they wanted to have a comfortable life in the future. Plume was regularly consulted by these apprentice farmers and they had started to create basic spells like Watering, Nurturing, Fertilizing and so on.
Similarly, several budding masons had also come up with their first spells focusing more on body strengthening such as Enhanced Strength or Stamina. Some others had set their sights on more utilitarian spells such as Disinfection, or Fire Lighting.
Nardor had also recruited several volunteers to build the forge, and while watching him manipulate earth and metal, several novice blacksmiths were inspired. Little by little, everyone began to specialize to form a thriving society based on magic.
There was, nonetheless, one limiting factor that Ikaris had no influence on: talent. By choosing to focus on spells that facilitate their professions, these villagers were forgoing the optimal growth of their Primary Sparks.
Those with manual occupations who chose a spell like Enhanced Stamina or a utility spell like Rest as their first Spark could be considered on the right track, but for farmers and the like, the spells they chose had little influence on the overall quality of their bodies or minds.
Each time their Divine Spark grew, the magical radiation coursing through their bodies would grow stronger, until one day their cells and minds could no longer take it.
Ikaris had not wanted to deceive these citizens and he had been very honest from the start in revealing everything he knew. An informative booklet had even been written, accessible to all, and those who had understood these mechanisms thoroughly, such as Kellam, Danchun or Plume, were willing to answer all the villagers' questions.
Even so, as the Lord he knew that these villagers had made up their minds, but he couldn't help thinking that they were like misguided teenagers proud of smoking their first cigarette. Because magic was something new and fascinating to them, like smoking, they were overlooking the much darker reality that by making the wrong choices they would probably get lung cancer when they got older.
The thing was, it wasn't in his interest to convince them to correct their misguided ways, because these flawed job spells were helping Last Saint grow. His budding nation needed all these future specialists.
For this reason, he was thinking of various solutions to compensate them. Their innate talent, especially their Soul Strength, was difficult to alter by conventional methods, but Ellie had given him an alternative by requesting him to turn her into a Werewolf.
With increased stamina, toughness, and lifespan their progress would be faster, their Sparks would evolve quicker while their potential would definitely be higher. However, if their Soul Strength did not increase accordingly their magical efficiency would stagnate.
At the moment, Ikaris had no way to boost their Soul Strength quickly in a short period of time unless they were forced to devote themselves to focus or intelligence enhancing spells. Those who made these choices were rare and in his mind he called them the Carrierists.
Regardless of an individual's Soul Strength, Plume and Danchun agreed that meditation, visualization, or mindfulness exercises could optimize the output of a spell, allowing each person to better utilize their mental assets.
In addition to the daily physical training compulsory for all villagers, Danchun, who spent most of her time cultivating in a meditative pose, agreed to oversee such mental training modules as long as they did not disturb her own practice.
After completing his inspection tour and chatting with a few villagers, Ikaris then went to the basic forge built by Nardor. Upon seeing him enter, the dwarf's eyes lit up with joy and he immediately ran to him with a familiar gold coin in his hand.
"My Lord, I did it!" He exclaimed as he placed the warm coin in his cupped hand.
Studying it more closely, Ikaris saw that it was not the gold coin he had lent him a few days ago. Seeing the sand mold sawed in half on the table and the forge's lit furnace he suddenly realized what it meant.
"We can finally mint our own money."