After I settled our visitors in the fused-ship barge and made sure they had all the anities they needed, including a new wardrobe for the Queen - I had hundreds of dresses stolen from noble ladies all over the world - I put myself to work hard.
But before that, a quick debriefing on the background of this whole debacle.
Kohlrabi was a small nation on the south edge of the Scorched Continent. Feeling greedy, the second prince decided to throw a coup and take over the throne with the support of the military and most of the nobility, leaving the Crown Prince stranded on a neighbor ally.
His first step was to steal the treasury and assassinate the pregnant Queen - not his mother, she'd died in childbirth. She survived the assassination attempt and fled the kingdom with her supporters. he used the opportunity to pin the bla on the theft on the Queen, which made the King take his own Royal guard and chase her to my doorstep.
That left him as the only Royal in the Kingdom, which he promptly planned to take over by presenting a fake body of his own father with forged jewelry during his coronation ceremony. With the nobility's support, he would disguise his "conquer" the Kingdom, a necessary step to make the System give him the title. anwhile, the First Prince would be left without support and an army to mount an offensive to retake his birthright.
What the treasonous prince didn't expect was that the King would die before he could cent his position and conduct his takeover. The System made the exiled Prince the new King and that exposed the second prince's ruse, ruining his plans of a covert takeover.
Now with enough leverage to get a few nobles and rchants to support him in exchange for promises of advantages when he retook his birthright, the First Prince was hiring rcenaries to invade and retake his own nation.
That's what Kazuyran's spy network reported to . I wrote an answer thanking him for the intel and sent the {ssenger Bird} back.
Then I stretched my arms and legs. That had nothing to do with as Shallot told she was likely to be killed by either of her stepsons. If she wanted the throne for herself or her children, I would go there and knock so good sense into their thick and treacherous skulls, using a few {Force Javelin} as the ssengers.]
No. My work was here, and I needed to create an archipelago.
using the rubble from the destroyed cathedrals along with gigantic boulders carved from the mountains in the continent, I made the foundations for the new islands.
They had to be big enough to hold water tables inside of them, separated from the ocean. That would allow the ground to soak in the plentiful rainwater we had here in this tropical climate, and create springs and streams to nurture the vegetation.
I created four larger islands surrounding the atoll like the letter "C", making it impossible to reach the main island where the rmaids lived without braving open oceanic waters and the treacherous currents or going through them.
We trained a batch of new rmaids to beco [Reef-Tenders] and grow coral on the banks near the islands. That would give us more places to farm fish and also would work as a natural barrier for ships, as they would crash into the reef if they ramd it. I made sure to make a breakwater with rocks in their path to protect the delicate coral.
Ships would need to navigate a mini-maze to reach the islands once I was done with the fortifications. For the larger vessels, mostly military, they would need to wait for the high tide to cross.
There would be no fairy ring in the new islands. Doing that would be a bad idea. That didn't an the fairies couldn't physically cross the distance and visit the island. In fact, a year later when there was solid ground above the ocean, the dryads, spriggans, and naiads ca to help grow the island proper. Vegetation and trees grew ten tis as fast with the fairies' combined help.
Not all my ti was dedicated to smashing mountains and ferry stones, however.
I asked our guests to help educate the rmaids. Queen Shallot repaid the favor of blessing his kids by taking as her personal quest to educate Adyra to beco a proper [Princess].
We hosted our festivals. Now with surface people attending thanks to {rmaid's Kiss} so of the girls that went out to work as rcenaries had - it helped a lot with rescuing drowning people - the party producers put their best to impress the guests.
Stories from both ocean and continent were told back and forth. The girls at the academy learned to fight with Shallot's captain of the guard, a dour and dedicated fellow. Kendel taught them how to defend and use a shield. Useful even underwater although ours were a fra with a thick sh of bone, to let the water flow across the gaps. Marlowe taught magic... I an, {Wizardry}. I taught everything else, from music to gardening, diplomacy, alchemy, and yes, non-wizardly magic.
The girls were encouraged to attend class with a quest here and there. Quests like "Score perfect marks on Marlowe's Basic Magic Diagram tests". Or "have perfect attendance for two months". To these low-level calves, issuing these quests demanded no Exp to . I could spend centuries giving quests without doing anything to gain Exp and I would still have more than I started with because of the tithes.
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I also taught so rmaids to beco [Teachers]. They would educate the next generation of rmaids, born from the sen vials I had stored or through natural ans - sotis the sailors from rchant ships went off for a nightly adventure under the waves, if you know what I an.
Two years after the iceberg fight, the guests moved to the islands, so of them having difficulty finding their land legs again. A village was born. The rchants ca and traded. The village beca a city as so sailors decided to stay. Tourists of all things ca, as well as scholars and sages who were interested in knowing more about the rmaids.
Kidnappers too. The crew of a rchant ship thought it would be profitable to abduct so rmaids to sell as slaves or playthings.
I only found out about the kidnapping when they were already back on the mainland. I was with mom and Adyra when we got the news.
"We must rescue them," Queen Eathelin said. "And make a show of punishing the perpetrators. If left alone, this will encourage others to co and kidnap more of our kind."
"Right. Retrieve kidnapped rmaids, make a show. Punishnt, shock, and awe," I said. "Gotcha, mom. I'll be back in a..."
I stopped because Adyra was giving the puppy eyes. Or the Flipper eyes, more like it.
"I want to go! Please, let help!"
Adyra grew a lot in the two years since her activation. I checked her Status.
[Princess] Adyra of Atlantis
Level 37 Dolphin-rmaid [Wizard]
Strength: 10 - Dexterity: 15 - Endurance: 20
Mind: 30 - Willpower: 35 - Charisma: 25
Magic: 40
HP 4.125
MP 7.917
A respectable Status for soone her level. The Attributes were rounded to the nearest multiple of five because I still didn't have enough to get the full values but that was enough.
"I think controlled exposure to the surface level will do her good," mom said. "And you are more than capable of keeping her safe, aren't you, Arista?"
I uttered a wry chuckle. "Of course. In fact, I'll let her do it. I'll just observe. But first, I need to make her so gear."
With the amount of Energy I could use in a single day, I could enchant a ton of stuff. I went to my house in the refuge, greeted Vesper, and locked myself in the workshop.
First, if she was a [Wizard], she would need a spellcasting focus. To boot, she had the four basic elents and wood as magical affinities. I took a tacarpus from the red dragon's front claw. The long and thin bone could make a good staff. If carrying a staff with more than two ters in length was any good. No.
The proximal phalanx of its smallest claw worked better. I ground the bone to a good thickness and polished the base. The joint with the tacarpus was already concave and would hold a focus gem nicely.
For the focus gem, I picked a diamond. Diamonds were expensive back on Earth because a company decided they should shut down production going as far as barricading mines, and then launched one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever. They were also pretty and reflected light very well, but other crystals could do that. But here in Yznarian, diamonds were valuable because they could have any elental affinity.
Rubies, Sapphires, Eralds, and Topaz were the go-to single-elent for Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind, respectively. Light and Darkness used Onyx. After so thought added, around the diamond, one of each elental affinity gem. The seven gems would catch so light from the diamond's base through strategic openings at the bottom of the setting to glow on their own.
Rummaging through my pilfered gemstone collection, I found a hundred-carat diamond. It had a rectangular cut and was ridiculously large. The damn rock was the width of three fingers. I shaped so gold to hold the diamond and drilled holes to hold the setting in place. A bit of molten gold to create a good weld, and then to carve runes along the polished bone to enchant.
Dragon Princess Staff
Estimated price: 150 kingtal coins
Grants 100% damage and effect with all elental magic.
Grants 50% duration to non-elental magic
Grants 20 to all spellcasting skills.
Grants 20 to Staff Combat Skill.
Stores 50,000 additional MP. Can only be charged by internal generation.
Generates 30 MP/hour.
Hovers in place if dropped or if the caster intentionally releases it.
If stolen, issue a {Royal Geas} to have it returned to the rightful owner. Soul score of 70 to resist and determine effects. Uses MP instead of SP.
Can shed light as a lantern from the diamond.
Indestructible
If used as a two-handed weapon, deals 3d8 16 base damage.
Material: Dragon Bone, Gold, Gemstones.
Able to soul-bond. Can only be transferred willingly and without threat.
I made a set of jewelry granting her ten to all Attributes and another ten Points to Mind, Willpower, and Magic. An enchanted wizard robe for protection completed her set. Adyra's robes were light gray and had five colored bands along the sleeves and the outer trim to denote her affinities. Marlowe insisted it was a tradition among [Wizards].
rmaid Princess' Robes
Value: 45 Kingtal Coins
Reduces damage by 66%.
Self-cleaning.
Self-repairing
Stores 1,000 MP. Can be charged by anyone willing to donate MP.
Generates 2 MP/hour
Creates a barrier of Force whenever the user is struck by a surprise attack. The barrier of Force costs 100 MP, lasts for 0.1 seconds, and reduces base damage by 40.
Material: Living Silk, gold thread, platinum thread. Level: 0
This item set will grow and level up as the wearer or creator gains Exp. It will acquire 1 Perk every 3 levels.
Finally, a set of underclothes, shirt, trousers, and petticoats, all made of living silk along with black dragon leather boots.
Dragon Princess Boots
Value: 15 Kingtal Coins
Increases land movent speed by 50%.
Grants 20 to Dodge Skill
Never slips or skids.
Material: Dragon Leather, Living Silk. Level: 0
This item set will grow and level up as the wearer or creator gains Exp. It will acquire 1 Perk every 3 levels.
I spent as much ti fine-tuning the resonance as enchanting the pieces to put it well under her limit. It must be perfect. One problem of having one's limit of item attunent was that enemies could cause a resonance backlash by making you "wear" another faulty magical item. A common tactic was to throw a necklace over the head, as necklaces are "worn" as soon as they are resting against one's neck.
Another problem was that enchanted items don't shapeshift along with the wearer. If there was such an ability, it was beyond my currently available ones. That's why I didn't use enchanted items myself. Too botherso.
Decked to the nines, and wearing a few King's ransom worth of gear, Adyra stood before us on the shore of the fairy island. "How do I look?"
"Wonderful, my daughter," Eathelin gushed.
The rmaids watching from the water also squealed and talked loudly among themselves. Adyra'd just launched a new fashion trend.
"Okay, okay. it is ti to go, little [Princess]. Here is your transport," I said and shapeshifted into the Quetzalcoatlus around the harness.
Adyra took her seat and we launched her into her first adventure.
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