The party had finished off their attempts at opening rooms for the evening in the barrows, and headed to bed and to their temporary home after dinner and some reading–and a little bit of fun.

He couldn’t help but laugh when Kaya quickly escaped from the bathroom after the wolfling girls when Winny wanted to give him his hero’s reward, as she liked to call it. Apparently, it would take Kaya a bit of time to get used to the idea of seeing her best friend in this way. Though, now Winny found a fun way to tease her for a bit.

Nick had practiced his first casts of the dream cantrips, first doing the wolfling girls. He could only give them vague impressions of what type of dream to have, following his wife’s instructions. But as Eirwen helped him practice, he was able to kind of sense what was going on in their dreams. 

When he moved on to Kaya, he did his best to give her a happy dream about her mother, but it hadn’t worked. Eirwen helped him try a second time by clearing her slate, but after that, she had to accomplish his goal for him, with him sensing instead.

Casting the dream magic hadn’t cost that much mana, but Nick found it surprisingly took a lot out of him, especially the attempts on Kaya. Some kind of mental energy was expended, and now he understood why Winny had trouble making complex dreamscapes.   

The wolfling girls had finished opening the second stall, and to Nick’s surprise, they had headed out to train with Andross first thing in the morning.

Its value shocked the whole party. It was called a Condensery, where smaller items like those odd necklaces could be broken down for their essence and condensed into pearls of it. These could be used in various crafts, and to his surprise, were completely unsuitable for cultivation.

Some essence was lost in the creation, but Winny had made some quick comparisons for her armor repair skill and found that what was created was better than she could accomplish for her own purposes. 

The odd machine which looked like a hydraulic press likely had skills comparable to the second stratum or better for this purpose, meaning their budding kingdom’s crafters would not surpass it in this aspect. They would benefit from their creation, and would be like a secondary currency of its own.

The items coming from the Ordeals were better raw, but it required specialized techniques or abilities to get the most out of every kind of item. What the machine used appeared to use a sort of jack of all trades process, to give a decent efficiency for everything that they tried.    

Andross and his wives worked to open the next room, and it was a much more mundane tannery. It produced condensed leather strips and swathes of leather hides from the corpses given, having no problems creating some patchwork sections out of some drake hide ready for some armorer to make something with. 

Nick started to wonder what the limit of these stalls was going to be. Would they get an actual leather worker later? There were so many stalls within the larger mall.

Eirwen had made her attempt at opening a stall, choosing her Class challenge. She was forced to fight off some angry beaver-like creatures and drag away a wounded party member from danger. Unlike Kaya’s Lord, it was an incredibly lifelike human dummy, Nick supposed because it was required to be accurate for her to heal it. 

The creatures weren’t overly strong, but they were angry. A crossbow bolt and a powerful hoofed kick sent two tumbling away, but she needed her omni barrier to protect her charge, while a third and fourth bit into its legs. 

Despite sending them sprawling with kicks as well, they continued their murderous charge as she rapidly reloaded, and then began using her body and heavy pack as a shield against them.

After her second bolt shot, she stabbed another in the eye with a knife and knocked another away with her pack with a twist. She then finally got control of the situation as she dragged the lifelike figure away from the beasts’ den. The healing from there was simple, winning the class challenge. 

When Rebecca had done her imperfection challenge, she was attacked by a bunch of strange shadow mice. Apparently, she had difficulty steeling herself to harm the cute critters, as she froze during their approach. After some bites tore into her leg terribly, she sent a powerful spiritual wave outward, killing them. In all, it seemed an easy challenge for her, to Nick.

But she cried, and wanted to head back for the day. Nick was shocked at how much killing the strange shadow creatures had shaken her.

After some breakfast together with the girls in the morning with Rebecca, they killed some time before the merging in his study. The girls happily browsed the shelves and continued their research, and Nick had picked out a comfy recliner.

Once again, he read through some books about his possible racial core options. The number of them was surprising, but he noticed something important.

“Where am I going to find resources to form the basis of my core? All of this stuff seems rare.”

Eirwen’s answer sounded sure. “Just complete the Ordeal. It will offer you what you need.”

“Huh? It’s going to know what resource I want to form my core?”

Rebecca nodded. “Definitely. Essence is driven by desire, and the Towers of Orion are in tune with it. They also steer you towards strength, and may try to offer another option. In the end though, it will try to go along with your will if you are determined enough.”

Nick would have to keep that in mind. So far, he had been looking into details about his mother’s race. Her people were an evolved form of ice fiend or imp monsterfolk, called Frostborne Ascendants.

Forming a racial core from her bloodline would likely involve creating either their special gem-like third eye, or a special frost or ice related core, as far as he could tell.

But he already had a special set of eyes thanks to being an Archaen, and he wasn’t so sure he wanted an elemental core. He had already determined his mana was too limited to be a mage, and they were the ones that would benefit from such a core the most.

At the same time, his frost aura would be significantly enhanced, even more than it already was from his new frost king trait. If he accepted forming this core early, he even had a potential prospect for where he could find a special material for it: his new mines.

Nick had a few goals before he attempted breaking into the second stratum, but if he was honest with himself, part of him really just wanted to condense his current two cores and just be done with it. That was the old Nick in his mind talking, and he needed to listen to the new one: and set his foundations properly to become the strongest hero he could be.

In truth, the effect of creating his core early was somewhat marginal. Any MMO gamer knew though, that marginal benefits ultimately added up, like a snowball rolling down a mountain. Five percent was nothing, but five percent here and five percent there, eventually the difference between two that kept making the lesser choice would be significant.

This was why even these traits earned by the Optional Tests and completing the Trial were so important. They would have a direct impact on entering the next stratum.

Nick closed the book. “Looks like it’s about time to go meet with Lothar, and see our new city.”

Kaya closed her book and stretched her arms above her head, her tail swishing. “Yes! This should be neat. I wanna see how everything changes.”

Eirwen smiled as she stood, her ears wiggling. “I’m excited too! I’ll get to see Becca’s library! I don’t think I’ve even heard of cities merging like this before.”

Rebecca nodded. “This sort of thing is very rare in the first stratum for sure. Within the second, mostly only the warmongering tribes and similar accomplish this, and they are often targeted for destruction.”

Nick raised his brow. “What’s this now? I’m going to be targeted for having three cities in one?”

Rebecca frowned. “I don’t think so, unless they don’t take our words for it? You subordinated us through Pacts, not through Conquest. Your actions were sanctioned by Orion. Others can conquer a claimed Ordeal by killing the leader and taking the Crown Sanctum if they are an Ordeal or Trial Conqueror, though. If you did that without being sanctioned by Orion, you would be seen as an evil faction by Orion itself.”

They exited the study and his house, to meet up with Andross and the wolfling girls in the central plaza. There were just a few minutes left, and various people from Havendale were gathering, including the mayor.

“How are they doing in their training, Andross? I saw the girls fight well yesterday.”

Andross chuckled. “Them and their brethren are thirsty for strength and pick up knowledge like a sponge from me and my wives. Really, I’m shocked that they–”

Kaya interrupted, “You and your wives, you say? Which of them is learning from you?”

Andross scratched his head at the interruption. “They are actually all learning from all of us. If I had to say though, Fang has been spending extra time with me on her shield work. Sable has been working more on practicing with a bow and scouting. Lastly, Luna has focused on trying to sense and use magic from my wife.”

Nick was unfortunately graced with the mayor’s presence, his stomach twisting as the man neared. 

The mayor said, “This is an exciting time! The essence has really already started to pick up in density here in Havendale. Folks have already leveled some of their common classes that have been stuck for ages. The Ordeal’s Path must really be a powerful one.”

“It is, but it’s about to double by having two more Ordeals here. We’re going to have to work hard to keep the people safe here.”

Just then, Nick and everyone else received a prompt.

[Orion System Warning: Merge from Trial Closure now in progress.]

Suddenly, the monolithic tower lit up, with white lines and glyphs filling it. The light then followed lines along the ground of the main thoroughfares, heading all the way out to the new, stronger walls that surrounded the city.

A wave of white light filled the air, and Nick found he could not move. He was frozen, and his consciousness seemed to fade away as he spotted changes occurring throughout the city. 

He was jolted awake suddenly, and where he stood had shifted significantly. It was as if Orion had frozen his mind or shifted him in time to when the changes were completed. 

The entire geography of Havendale and its surroundings had changed, the city growing significantly.

Three Ordeals now stood in the city, with his tower in the center at the highest point. It was now a city on a hill or mountain, and Nick could see a significant distance away. There was a lake at the base of the mountain, along with a river through the nearby valley. 

Having paid a bit of attention to the map before the changes, the road had to significantly change as it weaved through the valley itself, as one went toward Shadowvale and the other to Silverbrook. There was only one path out of the city now to the South, and it branched off into those two directions further South.

A large mountain stood in the northeast which came out of nowhere, several miles away. It had snow covering its large peak, and seemed to emanate coldness into the surroundings, the trees and encircling area covered in ice and snow.

A second mountain stood miles to the southwest, and Nick immediately understood what it was: the volcano from the Trial. There were various other geographical features that appeared to be new, a dense forest and jungle to go with several lakes, hills and waterfalls within ten or twenty kilometers.

Within the city, a lot had changed. A circular plaza was nearest his tower with walls lining the outskirts, with closable gates down each thoroughfare.

Then, there was a secondary inner ring, where it appeared towers and their own inner rings could sit. Roads followed the eight cardinal and ordinal directions from outside these inner rings, and the two subordinate towers appeared to be placed just along these before the roads began.

The city was completely reborn. Nearly all the ruins were now gone, and Nick guessed that most of them were destroyed for essence, leaving the occupied buildings and the sparse ruins surrounding them. 

Originally, the city was quite large in comparison to Nagduros and Zura, but so many buildings were decayed or lost to the ages. Now, nearly everything looked brand new.

The second ring just outside of the ordeals was clearly where all the tower climbers were meant to live, with many of the same home templates in that ring. 

The orcs of Nagduros and the humans of Zura were placed in the south and southeastern sections, while much of Havendale’s homes were spread along the northern section of the city. Overall, there were not that many, Nick guessed less than two hundred lived within them.

Lothar’s watch towers were set up along the edges of the city in the four cardinal directions, along with the training grounds in the south. Seraphara’s Cathedral was seen in the southeastern section, its large stained-glass windows and majestic aura towering over everything but the Ordeals.

The people were all placed within the inner ring, a large crowd formed around. Lothar and Agatha appeared near Nick, and Rebecca smiled at her priests and priestesses.

Nick asked Lothar, “Everything go smoothly?”

Agatha smiled, and Lothar laughed. “Of course. Our people have gained much! But most important of all, my people are ready now.”

Nick knew somewhat what to expect, but was a little surprised. “You’re already ready for raids?”

“That’s right. This is why, in the end, you helped me achieve my goal years earlier. Now that we don’t have that Bishop scheming against us and too difficult of targets nearby, my people are finally ready.”

Agatha added, “The gains from the minor Tribulation were substantial. We now have many warriors ready to break through, when we would have preferred to be deep into the second stratum at our old location. Getting them some experience with some raids is important for our people.”

He was somewhat concerned about these raids, but realized that it was only a matter of time before he came into conflict with Blackthorne. Odds were, the bandit lord would treat such a threat differently than a single party simply overthrowing Davon. 

Nick then met with the priests and priestesses of Seraphara, and began getting to know the people with Rebecca’s introduction. There was even a councilor, which was like an ordained mayor class. 

The mayor of Havendale looked a little worried about this detail, but it turned out Nick could in fact have more than one mayor, a sort of administrator for a district or section of his larger city.

Nick addressed his new people once more, welcoming them all to his renamed city: Frosthaven.

It was the beginning of his kingdom in truth, the Noblefrost family reborn.