Path of Dragons

Camen kneeled on the floor, her face only inches from the tile as she inspected the inlay. It was subtle, intended to only be visible in direct light. However, just because it wasn't meant to be seen wasn't an excuse for shoddy work.

"This tile needs to be replaced," she announced.

"Miss –"

She shot a glare at the assistant loaned to her by the city. The goblin girl was positively tiny, with enormous, bat-like ears and eyes the size of softballs, with green skin and the other exaggerated facial features of her race. Wearing a dress that definitely wasn't appropriate for a construction site, the girl definitely seemed out-of-place. But she was extremely competent, with an Administrator archetype that gave her many advantages in her chosen field. Since the beginning of the expanded project, she'd been invaluable.

But that didn't make her any less annoying to deal with.

Before the girl could continue, Carmen said, "I don't want any of that 'miss' nonsense. I've told you, Lasha – just call me Carmen."

"Yes. Right," Lasha said, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her large ear. "But this is the seventy-third minor detail you've noted, and that is just today. There were even more yesterday."

"And? It needs to be perfect," Carmen stated. That was one thing she hadn't anticipated. Apparently, all crafters weren't quite as dedicated to their crafts as she was. Some were perfectly willing to do the job only so well as it got them paid. If they got a little experience along the way, that was even better. Few truly pushed themselves in pursuit of perfection, which left Carmen extraordinarily frustrated.

Because the Great Forge project needed to be as close to perfect as they could manage. Carmen practically winced when she looked at her previous efforts. The sloppy inlays, the slightly imperfect blocks of dragonstone, and the inefficient flow of ethera – tiny details added up to create big problems. She'd already been forced to redo much of her previous work, and it was markedly higher quality than that of the other craftsmen.

Some of them were just downright lazy, and what's more, quite a few didn't seem to care about the project as a whole. They couldn't see how her vision could affect their futures. All they knew was that they had a job to do, and they were going to get it done. Quality was a secondary concern, and that characterization was being quite generous.

Lasha cleared her throat, saying, "I understand that. However, I must point out that you're stuck in the craftlock spiral."

"The what?"

"Craftlock is a colloquial term from my world where a Tradesman – usually lower-leveled one – progresses enough by the end of a project that they choose to endlessly re-craft instead of moving on to the next job," Lasha explained. "It represents stagnation. Sometimes, it's best to simply move on rather than focus on minor improvements that won't make much difference."

Carmen frowned. It was the first time she'd heard of craftlock, but it was a familiar problem. However, she didn't think it applied with the Great Forge. And that, ultimately, was the problem. She realized that only a few moments later, when she stood and looked around.

By any measure, they had made a lot of progress on the project, with the foundations having already been expanded to represent the new plans. They'd even excavated a significant amount of earth and shaped multiple underground levels that were intended for storage, both of finished products as well as raw materials. Yet, she knew they could have gotten much further if she wasn't such a perfectionist.

But was she taking it too far? Was she stuck in craftlock? In some ways, she certainly was. She was self-aware enough to admit that. Yet, she didn't think the term was applicable to everything in the Great Forge. Sometimes, the work just didn't meet her standards, and when that happened, it needed to be redone.

Still, she could recognize that she'd fallen into that spiral on more than one occasion. So, she sighed, "You're partially right."

"I am?" asked a surprised Lasha, looking up from her notes. From what Carmen understood, the girl's skills meant that she didn't need those notes, but she kept them anyway.

"Ouch. Am I that bad of a boss?" Carmen asked, realizing that she wasn't exactly effusive with her praise. "Don't answer that. I know I'm not great at this kind of thing, but I'm still learning. Hopefully, once the Great Forge is finished, I can get back into the smithy. This overseer stuff is just not my forte."

"You could hire someone to do it," Lasha suggested.

Carmen shook her head, saying, "That's not going to happen. It's too important for our future to pass on to someone else."

After that, she continued her inspection, and though she'd taken her self-admonishment to heart, she wasn't any less strict when it came to her standards. The layout of the building was both simple and complex. The main hall – which was where she and Lasha had performed their inspection – was intended to be the central hub from which a series of other buildings stemmed. The idea was based around the Wheel of Creation, a symbol from the dwarven world meant to represent how all crafts were interconnected and, at their best, contributed to a final product.

The individual crafting spaces were arranged in a circle around the main lobby, with nine having been planned. For now, there was a smithy, a tailoring workshop, a leatherworking studio, a jewelcrafting space, a room dedicated to woodworking, an alchemy lab, a space for enchanters and runecrafters, and an engineering chamber. The final room was dedicated to a communal space where different disciplines could work together to forge complex creations.

There were additional, unused spaces planned for below, but the layout would maintain the same spoked-wheel design.

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The second floor contained an immense library dedicated to crafting that, for now, was only intended to extend above the main lobby, but there were tentative plans to add individual sections above each crafting space. As it stood, the library would house books devoted to crafting. As Ironshore's Scholars advanced, some would eventually take Archivist classes that would allow them to shift the information in those books to crystals not unlike those created by the Branch of the World Tree.

That was how established factions in other worlds stored information, and Carmen couldn't deny the advantages. After all, those crystals were far more durable and, she had to admit, more user-friendly than books. Accessing one was not unlike searching the internet with one's mind. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

Regardless, it would be some time before Ironshore's Scholars reached that point. Until then, they intended to compile information in books.

Carmen was happy with the new design, and she recognized that it was far superior to her original plans. Back then, she'd only intended to create a forge, and as her intentions expanded, she'd haphazardly added to the planned building. By the time an actual Architect took a look at it, it had become an absolute mess. Almost everything she'd accomplished had needed to be torn down, with the lone exception being the central piece of the foundation. That remained intact.

With the help of actual Builders and other Tradesmen, construction had progressed quickly, and even with her high standards, they'd already managed so much progress.

The only thing holding them back was the building materials. Specifically, the dragonstone blocks needed to be perfectly carved and inlaid with a very specific set of glyphs that would, according to the city's Enchanters and Ethereal Engineers, help to concentrate ethera in the crafting spaces. That, in turn, would serve to keep the crafters inside alert and aid in concentration while creating an environment conducive to saturating raw materials with ethera.

In short, the complex was everything she'd hoped it would be, which was why she'd become so focused on perfectionism. It needed to be done right, and Carmen refused to accept lesser efforts.

Finally, her tour of the project ended, and she told Lasha to distribute her notes to the appropriate people. The other crafters wouldn't thank her for making more work, but she didn't require their happiness. They'd understand her perspective once the project was finished. Until then, they only needed to follow her directions.

Once Lasha was gone, Carmen returned to her own forge to see a disaster area. The constant need to go behind everyone and inspect their work had left her little time to keep her smithy clean and organized. So, there were tools, failed products that would be turned into scrap metal, and half-finished projects scattered throughout the smithy. When Carmen saw that, she immediately embarked on a quest to tidy up. An organized workspace was incredibly important, and not just for efficiency. When everything was where it was supposed to be, it calmed her mind and let her focus on what was important.

Cleaning was cathartic, and as she put everything in its place, she felt a sense of satisfaction that, of late, had been lacking. She knew the reason, too. With all the planning and overseeing the Great Forge, she had done a lot of work, but without the payoff of a completed project.

That last bit was important for a crafter, and without it, she felt adrift.

So, it wasn't long before she started up the forge. There wasn't much time left in the day, but it wouldn't be the first time she'd worked into the night. Lately, she found that she needed less and less rest. Sure, she still slept most nights, but it was less because her body needed it and more because it helped to reset her mind. She could go without, though, and easily enough.

Because of that, she got deep into forging a new sword – probably her favorite thing to make – before she even realized how much time had passed.

"I figured I'd find you in here," came her son's voice, interrupting her. She looked up from where she had been etching intricate runes into what would become the sword's crossguard. Miguel stood there, a pack slung across his back. Carmen recognized it as Gavina's work, which meant that it was a high-quality item that would hold far more than it seemed from the outside. At least twice as much, if she remembered right. "You've been working too hard."

She sighed, setting the crossguard down and straightening her shoulders. Her back popped, evidence that she'd been hunched over the project for hours without rest. "Sorry. Didn't mean to make you worry," she responded, pushing herself to her feet. The statement made her feel like their roles were reversed, with him playing the role of disapproving parent while she was the unruly child who'd stayed out too late. "What's up?"

"I was waiting on you in the grove. I didn't want to have this conversation here," he admitted. "But I need to leave."

"What? Why?" she asked. "I thought you needed to stay in the grove."

She'd hoped that was the case. If he was in the grove, he was safe.

He shook his head, unshouldering his pack. She noticed he had his sword strapped to his hip, and he carried a new spear in his right hand. He also wore his wooden armor, which wasn't new, but had clearly been recently repaired. Carmen recognized that it had lost a little of its viability, but it would still offer some protection.

"I got a message from Isaak," he said. "He's been trying to contact Elijah for the past couple of weeks, and when he couldn't reach him, he messaged me. Argos is in a tough spot, and he asked me for help. I'm escorting Wilhelm there so he can get some teleportation spires started."

Carmen was aware of that plan. Originally, Elijah meant it to facilitate commerce, but with the dark elf threat, the advantages for mutual protection were obvious. The ability to instantly travel from one city to another would be invaluable if either city was attacked.

"Why you?" she asked.

"I'm not going alone," he said. "The city is sending twenty other fighters. I'm the only one that knows the way, though. They could probably figure it out, but with me, it'll be a lot faster. Plus, I've been thinking about my future, about my progression. I can't really get any levels here in the grove. Not quickly, at least. And with everything happening, I need to get stronger. So, once those spires are finished and active, I'm going to start running towers. I'll come back between runs, but I…I need to do this, mom. I know you don't want me to. I can see that in your face. But I have a combat class, and if I don't get stronger, I'm going to end up dead when I need my skills. I can't let that happen."

"Is there anything I can do to stop this?" she asked, knowing the answer. She'd long since accepted that they lived in a dangerous world, but she had hoped that when her son had taken a class associated with Elijah's grove, Miguel would be forced to stick around. Clearly, that wasn't the case. He shook his head, and she sighed, "Of course not. I don't even know why I asked."

In that respect, he was so much like Alyssa. However, his uncle's influence was obvious as well. Clearly, Miguel idolized Elijah, and he endeavored to emulate the man's wanderlust.

After that, Carmen spent a couple of hours with her son. She learned that he had met a new friend – Hope was her name – and it didn't take her long to recognize that there was more than friendship there. That Miguel was willing to leave even when he was borderline infatuated with the girl was a testament to his dedication to progression. In the end, though, it was obvious that she couldn't keep him chained to Ironshore.

"You know I'll always come back, right?" he said before he left. They'd just shared a long hug, which only made her stomach twist into knots with worry. Alyssa had always said the same thing.

"You'd better," was all she could say. "Remember that I love you."

"I love you too, mom."

With that, he hitched his pack higher on his back, then left the forge. He was only gone for a few minutes before Carmen sank into a chair and began to cry.