The visual of the white crystal dissolving into the air plays over and over in my mind. I wouldn't have managed to catch it, or even sense it, if I wasn't specifically looking for it.

I'm almost positive I just managed to finally obtain one of the most valuable magic items in the world.

However, I'm going to need to replicate this process again and bring it back to a safe place for some test crafts before I can be 100% sure. Considering this, I don't bother to mention my find to the others until I'm certain of this discovery's legitimacy. For now, I'll stay focused on the main task at hand.

We fly back to the abyss where Aries' doubles are still training, and I create a double of my own to send off to the canyon to go and farm the 39th floor for more stones.

After that recent rank up, my mana control has drastically increased again, so I'm confident I'll be able to defeat the Mutant Elite Minotaurs even without using Qi.

Once my double is off, Arie gets back to training with his doubles and practicing concentrated Demonic Energy control in his main body. I lay back on the side of a desert sand dune and watch the sunset with Ember standing close by, admiring the final golden glow before the desert turns to night.

The only visible light on the horizon is the town full of workers, grunts, and one of my body doubles standing in as me, The Flame Emperor, keeping everyone in line.

After almost half an hour of calm silence staring off into the open desert, my next plan of action comes together. I finally speak up to Ember and point toward the town.

"Want to see another project I'm working on? I'm curious to see the progress myself."

"I sense almost 400 humans in that village. If that's what you're talking about, then yes I'm very interested."

I get to my feet and look over to Arie still hard at work training with his doubles, but he senses we're up to something so he drains his core temporarily to speak.

"Go off to the town if you want, don't let me hold you back. I just need a few more hours and I think I'll be able to break past this next plateau. I just need more practice. I'm confident enough to train in my main body, so leave me here and I'll meet you guys there once I'm too tired to train on. I know my limits."

I give him a nod, and look back toward the canyon.

"Keep an eye on the dungeons too, there's still 6 active breaks in there. If any monster overflow occurs, it'd be helpful if you could get rid of them before they escape too far. Also, my double should be getting back from Valor City in the near future with all our teammates, bring them to the town if they arrive."

"You got it."

Ember and I head off toward the town while Arie continues to train by the Abyss.

The closer we get, the more the bright lights of the town below begin to shine, and structures that were not previously in such good shape begin to come into my field of view.

I use conceal to create the Elegant Flame Emperor Appearance I left with, and put up my Qi barrier, increasing the density considering the low amount I have left to use. Even with 20% of my base left, it is still more than enough to shield my aura. Ember suppresses his mana control as well, and we both touch down in the middle of town.

We find ourselves standing in the middle of the main square. An enormous octagonal stone structure has been built around the fountain in the middle of the town with 8 doors and large windows that all lead into it from any side one approaches.

It towers 3 stories high, is almost 25 meters in diameter, and looks to be built from very sturdy stone summoned and molded by earth magic. It's decorated and brightly lit up with orbs of light on its outsides and entrances.

Upon closer inspection, I appraise that they're mana crystals imbued with my [Flash] skill inside large glass containment casings. It's an interesting idea I was thinking of trying, but it seems my double already tested this theory and it works quite well.

I make the motion to step inside the building because there is a very familiar mana reading waiting for me there. Once the door is opened, I'm greeted immediately by my body double rippling with black flames and wearing a mask.If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

He looks at me, then holds his gaze on Ember for much longer before speaking.

"I thought I'd be the one to show you a surprise, but it seems like we're both been very busy. I take it this is a perk of ranking up."

I nod, and my double turns to let us inside for a short tour.

Inside of the building, there's an even smaller octagon with 7 glass windows with slots to pay for goods and receive money for sold items, on the 8th wall there's a sturdy locked door. Each of the stations is unmanned at the moment, but looks as if this place is being set up to run a large operation.

The rest of the room is completely empty. Ember and my footsteps echo in the wide-open well-lit halls, but I can picture its potential. I can see a future public gathering place filled with hunters, villagers, businessmen, tables, and bulletin boards with quests as we walk through.

I speak up to my double once we make it to the center room.

"The beginning of a Guild Hall, and one that will be very busy it seems. I like it."

My double unlocks the door into the center room. It's large and spacious enough for a team of up to 10 workers to work inside it without getting too cramped, but my attention turns to the spiral staircase leading upward.

My double looks up too.

"Those floors are empty for nowl, the middle floor was planned to be sectioned off for offices while the top floor is left for you as a working study."

The double's flames die down for a moment and he reaches into his item storage to pull out the small silver tablet that controls the underground lair, then hands it to me.

"I think doing this will explain things a lot faster than showing you around the place."

As I take the tablet from my double, it points a finger at its forehead and instantly falls to the floor and begins to dissolve into pure mana.

A rush of memories come back to me, and I relive the past few hours in an instant.

—

From my doubles point of view earlier today, I see the awestruck looks of the 20 grunts in the middle of the square as they see my body double descend from the sky after killing their leaders and taking on the 6 dark entities of unknown power.

Next, the memories of my double forcing each of the higher-level grunts to drink the same [Elixir of Suggestion] that they fed to these slave workers. It's only right to give them a taste of their own medicine.

Some of them resisted at first, but I gave them the option of death or taking another dose.

All of them fell in line shortly after. I doesn't matter if they praised me for taking down their leaders and opening their eyes to the charade. They may have followed orders from me regardless, but each and every one of them participated in forcing innocents to work until their hands bled and minds broke.

So, they will face the same fate.

Over the next few hours, I watched and ordered all of the grunts to collect and sort the valuable materials and goods and bring them to the center of town.

Meanwhile, I managed to create a weaker version of the [Full Restore] potions using high-quality C-Grade HP potions and imbuing them with my self-regeneration skill. The result of this craft is called a [Regeneration Potion]. It heals all minor wounds instantly and nullifies any toxic substances in the bloodstream.

Many of the workers were restless and craving more of the original elixir when I found them due to its addictive nature, but after a single [Regeneration Potion] every last one of them broke free from the curse.

However, this doesn't mean they're fully healed. Many are mentally and physically exhausted from many weeks or even months of nonstop work and torture. I have no idea the extent of madness they've been through, so I just make it top priority to give them all stable food and shelter, then figure out their futures once they've recovered.

One by one, I brought all of the groups ranging from 10-30 workers each into the town square.

Many of the shops and structures near the center of the square have residential housing above them or nearby.

I used access to the dungeons in the canyon to stack up on mattresses, pillows, blankets, necessary sanitary products, clean clothing, and higher quality food and water supplies.

All in all, it only took about an hour to shop, and cost under a hundred gold total at the supermarkets back in Solara, Vice City, and even one back in my small hometown to get enough materials and not take too much from any one store. Considering the stash of gold and high-grade items left behind in the underground bunker, this is a small price to pay.

I used my earth magic and crafting skills to make lighting fixtures throughout the center of the city and fixed all structural damages caused by my fights or the past dealings in the city before I came.

Minor fixes, supplies, and item sorting, along with miscellaneous grunt work are done by the 20 strong C-Class rated slave drivers turned slaves themselves under my command. They are to report back to the middle of the town every 4 hours to give written reports and consume more elixir until I'm satisfied they've paid their price.

Once this process started to reach its end, and many of the rescued workers found a place to call home for the night, I began working on constructing a base in the center of the town where all can come for information, hired work, and purchasing goods.

The guildhall's outer-layer of construction came to a stable point of my liking just as the sun began to set.

Then, my real body and Ember arrived.

My past memories stop here once my double kills itself in front of me.

—

I let out a light gasp as I take in all this new knowledge rushing into me, then click the silver tablet to open a hatch in the floor leading down into the mana shielded bunker below.

"It seems I've been very busy... but there is a lot more to do. Come on, let's begin the preparations."