---Minas Mar, Delta---The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.
With a sigh of relief, Mary put together a stack of papers and laid it to the side. Some of her most pressing worries had been resolved over the past month. The construction for the Pythian Games was finally finished. Although there had been some problems with Cade and some of the people of Gamma, they blew over without greater implications after Gamma Resistance's Garwell offered to act as a mediator.
After a month, the food prices had stabilized across the three stations. The solution was easier than expected, as many people changed their classes with the rise of food prices. It had taken some encouragement from the local governments, but agricultural classes had a chance to shine and show their worth. With a mix of skills, magic, and hydroponics, the Tree Stations managed to mostly cover their own consumption, making them almost self-sufficient in food matters.
The new connection with the Mur Empire also helped. Although the project of a subway between the stations stagnated, Karina finally fulfilling their promise of a tree in Thres had tremendously strengthened their relationship in the eyes of the public. Quite a few Merchant Caravans had added Thres to their destinations, increasing the exchange of goods.
With the influx of Golems, Arget Nore also seemed to have stabilized their situation. After an official apology, they not only started paying for the initial order but made even more orders. It seemed that they decided to invest heavily in the golems since they had not been able to recover the force that was lost on an “expedition”.
According to Seth, most of these Golems actually stayed in Urth. There were quite a few reasons that could have been the case, but the most likely one was that they intended to use the golems as the main force in case Spatia attacked, giving them a chance to recover their dwindled number of undead. The only unsettling detail was that they were still unable to catch the culprit behind the undead rebellion.
At this point, if they added one-to-one, it seemed clear that the terrorist attack on Delta and the upheaval in Arget Nore were meant to destabilize Delta, Minas Mar, and the undead empire. There was someone in the dark, trying to weaken them all and the chances that was Spatia were high.
However, after these two incidents, it had been silent for the past two months. There were no greater incidents around the connected world, giving them ample time for their own moves. While Seth had been working on raising the capabilities of the crafting teams, Leana, Mary, and Luf had tried to recover the influence Minas Mar had lost when Al'Zalsar left.
Delta's biggest ally had turned into a potential oppressor. At that point, the people of Delta would be stuck between a rock and a hard place, since the Demon District had also become more and more dangerous over the past month.
It came at the worst possible time as the deadline Master Mountain had predicted also drew near. The chance that cultivators would start appearing in the Districts once again was rising and it was unlikely that it would stay peaceful.
Despite the brewing disasters, she was quite happy she managed to finish some of the pending problems and projects. It was good to know that not everything was in a constant downward trend.
...
Seth was also quite happy. With Tored managing the blacksmiths, he was able to fully concentrate on cranking out items. In this month he managed to raise his <Sewing> to craftsman lv.1 with the help of Nädel's tutelage.
His skills were not all that had grown. Just recently Seth was also able to raise his level of existence by one. Gaining roughly 205 points per day, Seth had been able to accumulate just enough to raise his level. Currently, he had 50/15000, just 14050 more and he could rise to lv.4. Seth tried to stay positive in the face of these abysmal numbers. He looked forward to the tournament, which would not only promote Python but also his skills. Hopefully, this would speed up his growth.
With Leana's message that the initial preparations for the tournament were finished, he decided to finally start on his new project tomorrow, so it was finished in time for the announced start date of the tournament.
Since he reached craftsman tier in <Sewing> he was just good enough for what he was planning. Although his goal was the master tier, he had reached the bare minimum to go through with it. Over the past weeks, the project had taken even better shape in his head as his experience with the work grew.
He had already made sure Neeco was ready for the work...