I reach the usual spot where we pick up the mount, and the deer is already there, waiting for me. Without a rider they could buck off and break their neck, they go super fast. What takes a couple of hours on foot, they cover in minutes.

I mount, grab onto the white bones, and the deer leaps and starts galloping. And dodging trees. My stomach protests a little, but we get there right away.

As soon as we slow down and stop in the small clearing at the entrance to the gigantic cavern, the totem, who must have been waiting for me, approaches. His lips are curved in what looks like a triumphant grimace, which lets the tips of his two lower fangs show.

"Welcome, great leader Bianca. We have wonderful news: the females have given birth."

Like I said, vermin. In many ways, they're more like animals than human beings. For example, no mayor I know would think to call the women in their town females.

"Yes, I already knew. That's why I came today: we're going to establish the town hall."

"You already knew? That is wonderful, our leader is truly wise."

His eyes shine. I'm not sure with what emotion. Admiration, greed, excitement? Hmm, I'm leaning more toward one of the last two. I hope he's not considering what battles and what heights I can take the former Splintered Fang tribe to.

We enter, and the common cavern is full of babies—small ones, but not small enough that four or five could have fit in the pregnant belly of one of the female goblin. I'm guessing since last night, they must have grown.

The atmosphere is quite homey, with fires burning, pelts spread across the floor, and mothers nursing their little ones two at a time.

But seriously, with how big they are, they look like two-month-old human babies, and on average, a human is quite a bit taller and sturdier than a goblin.

The pup comes out of the side pocket of my backpack and returns to his real size. The goblins, seeing him, greet him respectfully. The babies, who still can't do anything but move their limbs and wail, don't seem to react to his presence. Too small, I guess. Better—I wouldn't want thirty-nine goblin pups trying to get close to pet the pup. Or worse, kneeling before him like demonic babies from a sect like the one Ronan is investigating.

"Leader, Gump is glad to see you. Will you help us with the cavern expansion? We've prepared three new ones, just as Ronan told us, but we don't know how to proceed," Gump tells me.

He's just entered the main cavern from one of the branches and is now approaching us.

"Continue?"

"Yes, we're not really sure what kind of furniture a potion lab needs. We also need more stone bricks to reinforce the walls and the cave entrance, as Ronan requested. Last night he spoke with my brother and told him to ask you for help, Leader—also to make some rock pillars to keep the smaller caves from collapsing."

What?

I can't help my confusion. Ronan, without a control interface, made a forge, a fridge, a smokehouse, and now he wants a laboratory and for me to keep making bricks?

"Leader?" Gump repeats.

"Sorry, Gump, I think that furniture thing is better left to Ronan."

"But I can't ask him. Sergeant Ronan told my brother, Galp, that he'd be busy for a few days and to only contact him in case of an emergency."

"Then wait until he gets back. He's on a mission right now. When he returns, he'll tell you. And the bricks and columns too: we'll wait."

I'm not going to get involved in his expansion plans for my village, since I have no idea what he's planned. What I can and will do is take care of the town hall.

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"So we have no work?"

From the disappointed look in his eyes, something's off here. Is Ronan giving them some kind of reward, or are these goblins just thrilled to improve their settlement?

"No, I have work for you: we're going to create a town hall."

Upon hearing me, both Gump and the nearby goblins and females burst into cheers.

Perfect. I smile, pleased. Let's do this!

The first thing I consider is where to put the town hall. The system says it can be a building or a room. Since we're developing the goblin settlement in caves—my other option, which I haven't completely ruled out yet, is taking them to the mountain pass, that zone between kingdoms where I think the orcs are—the town hall will naturally be a cave. In other words, a room. And it should be large, I assume, since that's where the control pedestal will go, and I imagine it'll be a good place to hold meetings. Also, if we need to keep any records or files, wouldn't we do that in the town hall too?

"Can you show me the empty caves we have left?" I ask Gump.

"Of course, leader, follow me."

Not just me, but also the totem and several curious goblins follow Gump as he shows me various caves, most of them too small or narrow for what I have in mind. There are a couple that could work if I expand them. But yeah, I wouldn't want to accidentally collapse the terrain. Luckily, my earth control and stone control let me sense what's around me.

Rock.

The entire section of the mountain around us that I can sense is basically rock.

So I'm going to have to use stone control, which I have at low level, with a range of 50 meters and allowing me to manipulate up to 25 cubic meters.

We return to the first of those two caves. I walk to its back and cast the spell again. I notice there's an empty space about 20 meters away. On the mental map I've been drawing, if I haven't gotten disoriented, that's the fridge. On the other side, I already know I can't expand, since that's where the cave we came from is, the one that connects to this one.

We're in a rectangular-shaped cavern. After seeing I don't have much space in the back, what I'd like then is to expand along one of the sides so its base resembles more of a square. I approach one of the other two walls and cast the spell again. I only sense rock. Perfect, I could excavate there. However, I'd rather check the other cave first, the one with the rounded shape, to see if I can enlarge it on three sides. That would give me more future expansion possibilities than this cavern.

The whole time, I'm thinking about expanding by creating a square base, straight lines. That's because my mind still thinks in city blocks and Earth skyscrapers. However, I know a hemisphere or a shape with curved lines is more appropriate for a cavern.

Because at the academy, in earth magic class they teach you things like how to dig a hole without the ceiling collapsing on you.

Basically, the professor told us that a rectangular or square hole, like a window in a house wall, needs materials resistant to bending to avoid giving way under the weight above it.

I mean, the professor didn't use the term "bending stress," but I remember it from my time on Earth. I learned that in high school.

Here, in magic class, they told us that to make holes in the ground that last, we had to mold the stone so it had no cracks, no air bubbles, and no defects. That way, it could hold up. And if we were working with earth, we had to harden it very carefully.

Apparently, as the control spell levels up, for those mages who manage it, the best thing is to use metal, since it handles those stresses well and, if working under too much weight, it bends before breaking like stone would.

What does this mean? That if I take my time to check all that rock and leave it free of cracks and imperfections, I can make square rooms. However, if I want more security, for example because I'm going to open a very large or very deep space (with a lot of weight from earth and rock above), then I have to go with curved shapes. This is because arches, vaults, and domes distribute lateral and vertical loads to the supports and reduce tensile and bending stresses on the upper surface. Well, he didn't explain it exactly like that, but with my knowledge from Earth, that's how I understand it best.

In other words, what stone resists well is compression and, for example, with the semicircular arch, what the Romans did was transform the stresses the arch stones bore into compression.

So, we go back to the other cave and yes, I can excavate my room there. Since I want it large, not as big as the enormous initial cavern, but with a surface area of about a hundred square meters, I decide to use a dome and make it without corners. The base will be a circle. I'm also going to excavate to make the ceiling higher. Specifically, I want the lowest part of the dome, the part that will be in contact with the cave walls, to rise about three meters from the floor. Of course, that height will be much greater at the center of the cavern. The reason is because Ronan is starting to animate increasingly large zombies, and I'd like them to be able to stand in at least some area of their new home without hunching over.

Possibly, I'll later enlarge the tunnels that crisscross and connect the main cavern with this one, and reinforce them with a few circular sections in a horseshoe shape. And of course, I'll check that all the stone in the walls, floor, and ceilings has no cracks or internal imperfections.

It's going to be a pain in the ass.

And I was complaining about Ronan making me create bricks?

Pfft.

Thank goodness this spell has no time limit, because I can see myself using a single control spell for hours.

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