Mountain of the Immortals

"How long have you been up there?" Aphrodite shouted at me from below.

She was walking along the path leading to our manor's entrance, arm in arm with Artemis and Hephaestus The three of them looked beautiful together despite the tiredness on their faces. Even Aphrodite, who always made sure to look radiant and lively as ever, had begun to let some of the cracks in her perfect façade show.

I smiled down at them. They were doing their best to keep this place together. No, to keep it thriving. The success of our guild—of this whole town—was because of their efforts.

"It's been a while," I replied. "I hope you liked the upgrades."

"Aphrodite's Academy of Spellcasters, was it?” said the goddess of love. I couldn’t decipher whether the tone she used was sarcasm or satisfaction.

"It's only natural, since you’re our only spellcaster," I said, trying to make it sound as logical as possible. "Ares got the melee barracks. Artemis the ranged barracks, and Hephaestus the blacksmith’s workshop. Makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Sounds like he’s really thought this through, doesn’t it?” Artemis said, and Hephaestus giggled.

“Are you coming down soon?” Aphrodite asked.

“I’ve got just a little bit more work to do," I said. "But I’ll be down in a few minutes."

"Don't take too much time," Hephaestus said this time. "We're almost there."

"Not really," I told him as they entered the manor. "We still have plenty of days of XPing ahead of us."

"Well, I'm almost there," he said and shut the door behind him.

He was right about that. He was much closer to earning his level than the rest of us. As soon as he gained his A-grade mastery at level sixty-one, he'd stop leveling up with us and instead start crafting our new equipment. And I was sure there was nothing he'd like more than using all the powerful resources Artemis and her miners were bringing up from the heart of Mount Olympus to craft weapons, armor, and jewelry worthy of gods.

He was also right about me needing to go to bed soon. This wasn’t the time to get sloppy about our training, despite the excitement of the new level we’d gained. Not wanting to spend any more time away from our bed than I absolutely needed to, I pulled up the new list of construction projects.

* * *

Perpetual Construction Projects:

Mana Shield Dome (0/1)

Resource Converter (0/1)

??? (0/1)

* * *

Right off the bat, I was intrigued by the question marks. Trying to inspect the mysterious listing, however, gave me no further information. Not even a new prompt. Since there wasn't anything I could do about it, I decided to let it go for now. Perhaps it would unlock if I built the other two buildings.

With that in mind, I focused on the first structure and expanded the information tab.

* * *

Name: Mana Shield Dome

Level: 6 (Maximum)

Resources Needed: 30,000,000,000 MP

Construction Time: Instantaneous

Description: A vast amount of MP will create an almost impenetratable shield around the whole city. Most physical and magical attacks against it will be nullified, and hostile creatures will be prevented from entering. At the same time, the dome will allow attacks from the inside to damage creatures on the other side. Creatures allied to the core this mana field is generated from will be allowed easy passage through it in both directions. The mana shield dome will become active as soon as it is constructed and will remain there indefinitely. If it sustains damage, it can pull MP from the core to maintain its integrity. If the field falls, it will need to be constructed again from scratch.

* * *

Now this was even better than the dragon ghost protector. A defensive device that utilized the massive amounts of MP stored in our guild core was the absolute best thing we could have asked for. Mount Olympus would never fall, even if all of the titans attacked us at once.

With hundreds of billions of MP to pump into keeping the dome up and a million additional MP generated every passing minute, I felt like I could now say with confidence that we’d finally made it. Our town would thrive through the ages and nobody would ever be able to damage a single building inside our walls.

I happily spent the thirty billion MP to build the dome and the air surrounding the town shimmered momentarily. A semitransparent bubble rose from the ground, enveloping everything until it closed right above the guild core's location. As soon as the dome closed, the mana shield disappeared.

Looking back at the list of available projects, I saw it displayed prominently.

* * *

Name: Mana Shield Dome

Level: 6 (Maximum)

Integrity: 10,000,000,000/10,000,000,000 MP

Description: A vast amount of MP will create an almost impenetrable shield around the whole city. Most physical and magical attacks against it will be nullified, and hostile creatures will be prevented from entering. At the same time, the dome will allow attacks from the inside to damage creatures on the other side. Creatures allied to the core this mana field is generated from will be allowed easy passage through it in both directions. The mana shield dome will become active as soon as it is constructed and will remain there indefinitely. If it sustains damage, it can pull MP from the core to maintain its integrity. If the field falls, it will need to be constructed again from scratch.

* * *

It looked like the first twenty billion were used to bring the shield up while the rest filled up its integrity. By the looks of it, ten billion MP was the maximum and though I wasn't sure how much MP would be used up by each point of damage it sustained, I doubted a single strike would be able to take away all of it at once. Which meant it was really a matter of how fast the core would be able to recharge it.

Regardless, I was feeling pretty satisfied with the state of the shield and our defenses in general. There was only one building left before I could finally call it a day. And what a day it had been.

* * *

Name: Resource Converter

Level: 6 (Maximum)

Resources Needed: 10,000,000,000 MP

Construction Time: 800 minutes (480,000 MP)

Description: In the grand scheme of the Apocosmos, energy and matter are interchangeable. Resources and mana are just opposite sides of the same coin. The Resource Converter can be utilized to manifest basic materials from nothing but mana. The created materials will not be bound to any specific construction projects.

* * *

Ten billion MP was a steep price to pay, especially since we didn't really need the converter at the moment. It would definitely be useful if we could create additional lumber, metal, or even food portions to sell, but I just couldn't justify its cost right now on that basis alone.

However, the perpetual construction project with the question marks had piqued my curiosity. Why would it appear there if it was just going to remain an unknown? I couldn't shake the feeling that if I constructed the other two incredibly costly projects, that one would unlock too. Driven by curiosity and the hope that something great would appear if I did, I spent another ten billion to build the resource converter.

Only nothing seemed to happen. Instead, a flashing icon appeared on the town's general information. That would have been the first thing to check if I wasn't so anxious to see what I had unlocked first.

* * *

Perpetual Construction Projects:

Mana Shield Dome (1/1)

Resources Converter (1/1)

??? (0/1)

* * *

Disappointed was an understatement. I’d just spent a shitload of MP for something that would only be useful to us when we were trading, and the third project simply remained there. It seemed like there was nothing I could do to unlock it.

Perhaps everything needed to be maxed out before it revealed itself but I’d already spent too much for the sake of sating my curiosity. I wasn’t going to spend billions more to get all the houses and farms to level six, or construct the wonder of the world right now. My curiosity would have to wait.

With a heavy heart, I pulled up the new information on the resource converter.

* * *

Name: Resource Converter

Level: 6 (Maximum)

Description: In the grand scheme of the Apocosmos, energy and matter are interchangeable. Resources and mana are just opposite sides of the same coin. The Resource Converter can be utilized to manifest basic materials from nothing but mana. The created materials will not be bound to any specific construction projects.

Lumber Cost: 25,000 MP

Iron Cost: 25,000 MP

Stone Cost: 25,000 MP

...Expand

* * *

The exchange rate wasn't as low as I expected. I’d been so used to buying resources for 10 MP to construct buildings, but the difference was that those resources could only be used for construction inside our town.

At the rate our guild core was regenerating MP, we would be able to buy forty resources per minute. That was great considering we’d be able to sell them or store them, but not great considering we didn't need any more right now.

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice from behind me.

"You shouldn't overexert yourself," Aphrodite said.