A bad idea. It was a really bad idea to open my mouth.
The moment I agreed, a literal waterfall of demands crashed down on me. The elders and Alastia seemed to be competing to see who could come up with a wilder location, more incompatible with life. They surrounded me, waving scrolls and interrupting each other.
"Zenhald, there must be a lot of rooms! A hundred at least!" shouted one grandpa, spraying saliva.
"And it needs to be warm!" another chimed in.
"No, it must be cold! Waist-deep snow! Cryomancers need proper conditions!"
"But at the same time—plenty of water! An ocean or at least a giant lake right under the windows!"
"And heat!" a third butted in. "There has to be lava! We need access to tectonic fault lines and open fire!"
Everything jumbled together in my head. Warm, cold, snow, lava... Do they want me to find them a volcano in the middle of a glacier?
But the list didn't end there.
"A city must be nearby to supply food!" proclaimed the "black" Dis.
"No cities!" some old woman immediately countered. "Complete isolation! There are spies everywhere!"
"Build further north!"
"No, further south, the climate is milder there!"
"A river is a must! Flowing water is the key to clean canals!"
"And there should be plenty of food, and drink, and..."
I stood there, blankly staring at this circus, and felt the remnants of my common sense packing their bags and walking off into the sunset. Lava next to snow, a city in a desert, which is also in the absolute middle of nowhere in the north, but at the same time in the south...
Fragments of old maps surfaced in my head. Thousands of years ago, I knew this world like the back of my hand, but now the names of continents and countries blurred together, replaced by some colored spots.
Too many words, I thought, feeling my temple start to throb. Too many desires for one little cripple.
I looked at Alastia. She seemed to be getting genuine pleasure from watching me get buried under this nonsense.
"Is that it?" I asked when a moment of silence reigned in the hall because the elders ran out of air in their lungs. "No more requests? Maybe you'd also like me to set up a portal to another dimension in every restroom? And have elite wine flowing from the taps?"
The elders froze, seriously considering my proposal.
"Now that's an idea..." one began, but I quickly turned around and headed for the exit before they added pet dragons for every student to the list.
Now I had a task: to find a place that is simultaneously a freezer and an oven, located everywhere and nowhere, and where the food is free. Perfect. Just perfect.
I walked out of the building and immediately began the search.
POP.
The teleport threw me to the very edge of the other side of the continent. Mountains, mountains, mountains—nothing but solid, sharp peaks biting into the sky. I started jumping across the terrain, probing the space.
BANG. POP.
Won't work. Some aggressive creatures were frolicking here in full swing—a clan of beastmen had unleashed a bloody war against the local humans. Screams, the smell of burning, the clash of steel... Too noisy. I needed a place far away from other people's squabbles.
POP. BANG.
I found myself in the heart of another mountain range. A massive mountain, inside—a whole network of deep, comfortable caves. Warm, dry, a perfect hideout. But the moment I took a step deeper, suspicious bearded faces poked out from the shadows. Dwarves. And judging by the number of crossbows aimed at my belly, they weren't planning on sharing their living space. Had to leave.
POP.
Now I was standing on the bank of an incredibly wide river, from which a whole twenty channels branched off like fingers. Beautiful, fertile, water for days. But a miss here too. Huge, noisy cities sprawled along the banks, reeking of booze and slavery from a mile away. Markets of live goods, crowds of guards, the stench...
"Further away from here," I muttered, feeling a headache coming on.
For a whole hour, I jumped around the world, blinking through space like a broken flashlight. I was looking for at least one quiet, peaceful corner, but reality was disappointing. No matter where I moved, everywhere I stumbled upon traces of wars, ashes, and human greed. The world had filled with fuss and filth, as if someone had dumped a pile of garbage onto the clean tablecloth of my memories.
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At some point, I simply hovered in the air above the ocean, catching my breath.
Maybe this world really does need a miracle so it stops devouring itself? a thought pricked me.
But finding a place where a hundred kids could study without fear of catching an arrow in the eye or shackles on their necks turned out to be a tougher task than summoning a thunderstorm. The world had become too cramped.
I decided to be done with cities and teleported to the absolute north. To a place where you couldn't get any further north.
POP—and I was met by the icy breath of the ocean. It was so freezing that my spit turned into a piece of ice before it even hit the snow. Perfect.
I wandered along the shore. All around was a solid snowy steppe. The nearest forest was left somewhere a hundred kilometers behind; the nearest human city—two hundred. But here, in this silence, lived scattered tribes of beastmen. They maintained peace simply because fighting in such cold was more trouble than it was worth.
Soon their dwellings appeared—semi-dugouts, some even made of stone. I was met by creatures with thick white fur, looking like a cross between wolves and bears. They studied me for a long time with their intelligent eyes, and then one of them asked:
"Are you a wanderer?"
"Essentially—yes," I smiled, trying not to let my teeth chatter. "Or maybe your future neighbor."
"Are you not cold, human?" another asked in surprise.
"Nope. I just wanted to ask: that territory over there by the shore, is it occupied?"
I was escorted to the elder. Contrary to expectations, the leader turned out to be a young beastman with a very sharp gaze. He circled me, sniffing.
"You seem to be a strong human, since you made it to these parts alive. And your eyes speak of great power. I am listening to you."
"By the shore, in the lowlands... is it occupied there?" I repeated my question.
He frowned:
"That is the Dead Bowl. No one lives there."
"Oh, excellent. Then I'll settle there."
"How will you live there?" the leader was genuinely bewildered. "The snow there never melts. You cannot fish there because the ice is too thick. And even if you find an ice hole, the local fish will more likely eat you instead."
"Absolutely wonderful!" I beamed. "Exactly what is needed for a quiet life. Anyway, it was nice meeting you."
The leader merely shook his head:
"Go on then, human cub. Good luck to you."
POP.
I teleported back to the "Dead Bowl." I froze for a moment, looking at the ice hummocks. Right... what am I doing here? I think I was supposed to build a house... Right, a house for mages. How many of them were supposed to be there? A hundred? Two hundred?
"Unlikely," I muttered, rubbing my forehead. "There's definitely a lot of them. Probably a thousand. Yeah, exactly, a thousand kids."
Who asked me to do this? Elvindor? Hmm... no, he supposedly died. Or Mira?
"Oh, right! Alastia asked," I remembered, though I wasn't entirely sure. "Well, since they asked—let's begin."
I cracked my knuckles.
I dropped to one knee and touched the frozen earth with my palm.
The snow around me instantly flew up in thick steam. My body began to heat up to a glow, turning into a living torch in the middle of the icy desert. The ground under my feet trembled, and then, with a deafening crack, split into deep faults.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The soil began to rise rapidly. I felt tectonic plates bending and tearing beneath my fingers. A massive mass of rock burst from the depths, rushing toward the sky.
The cracking sound was like the bones of the world itself were breaking. The mountain vibrated in wild agony, and I guided this chaos.
I didn't want to dig tunnels by hand again—too lazy. So I immediately formed the mountain to be hollow. I left huge empty halls and intertwined corridors. At the very bottom, in the deep foundation, I ran streams of red-hot lava, and from above, I let in icy meltwater so it would cool the stone and create steam. A natural heating system for a thousand... or however many there were... kids.
The rise didn't stop until the peak pierced the layer of gray clouds.
I sat at the very peak, high above the clouds. Absolute, ringing silence reigned around, broken only by the quiet hiss of steam escaping from the fresh cracks in the stone. The mountain was still breathing, settling and cooling under my weight.
I looked at the white sea of clouds under my feet and lazily thought:
What is all this for?
I woke up with the first rays of the sun. The dawn at the peak of my mountain looked impressive, but the results of my work—even more so. A monstrous fog had risen around: the glaciers and centuries-old snows had begun to melt rapidly from the heat emanating from the depths. I'm afraid it will hardly be possible to take a normal walk within a hundred-kilometer radius now—it's a solid steam bath.
I descended to the foot and went inside. The halls weren't just warm, they were truly hot. The lava hadn't spread through all the channels yet, so the heating system was working in overdrive. Pitch darkness reigned in the corridors.
"Oh well," I shrugged. "They'll figure it out themselves."
Who will? flashed through my head, but I immediately waved the thought away. It doesn't matter.
I walked through the empty rooms, bouncing cheerfully and humming under my breath:
"Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo... Doo-doo-doo-doo..."
At some point, I froze in the middle of a huge, echoing hall. Spun around in place, listening to the echo. Something was missing.
"Right! What's a mountain without residents? Empty walls are boring."
I needed to bring someone here. Or... I could just make them.
I stomped my foot, and figures began to emerge from the frost on the walls. One, two, three, four... Ice knights in heavy armor stood frozen, awaiting orders. But this wasn't enough.
"Oh, I know!"
I waved my hands, and a massive, shimmering serpent began to form from the crushed ice. It lazily moved its head, spreading its transparent scales.
"Alright, golems, listen here," I addressed a dozen massive ice figures. "Go and spread my words across the world. Tell everyone... hmm... what should I name this place?"
I thought about it. The name should be simple.
"Mount Slick. Yeah, that works. Tell everyone: Mount Slick will accept anyone who wants to work, trade, or just live under its protection. Got it? Forward!"
The golems synchronously took a knee and began to slowly walk away into the fog.
"Not enough," I grumbled. "Need to send another dozen, or else it'll take them forever to stomp to the outskirts."
I added another batch of ice couriers and rubbed my hands in satisfaction. Can't wait for the first guests.
Fragments of knowledge about politics started popping into my head. Alright, what does a growing state actually need? Food, goods, money, resources... Right! Need to establish an economy. I think I started something and lost it.
Ah, whatever. We'll figure it out as we go.