The following morning at the fortress Ben used his Zoom spell to teleport to his store office. He collected the large number of coins from the past few days sales which were left in his top desk drawer by his store manager Baynard.
It was still early so the store was closed and his employees would not arrive for a few hours. Ben investigated each department to see if anything needed restocking but it seemed Cordelia was doing a great job and he didn't need to worry.
Ben left the sales floor and walked into Baynard's office to leave two hundred gold coins in a pouch with a note explaining that he had been, and will still be out of town for a few more days. The note also asked Baynard to divide the money he left in the pouch between him and the other employees as a bonus for their excellent performance.
His store was beginning to become more popular and sales were increasing daily and he had once promised he would increase his employee's wages as the store grew so the next time he was here with them they would have to discuss raising their salaries. For now, he left them a bonus to show his appreciation of how hard they were working every day.
Since the store was ready for business he teleported back to the keep and left his bedroom. Mythia must have already been awake because she opened her bedroom door when Ben's door open as he stepped out of his room.
"Good Morning, do you want to go grab breakfast with me at the Restaurant?" Ben asked when he saw Mythia pop her head outside the bedroom door.
With a smile, she stepped out into the hallway.
"Yes! I love the Restaurant there are so many delicious meals to choose from and then when you eat the food it makes you feel all tingly inside."
Ben laughed at her description and explained the "tingly" feeling was the QI and Mana circulating through her body. This was what would help her to improve her physical condition.
There were so many meal choices now that Ben had improved the menu selection by adding every recipe from his cookbooks it made it difficult to chose. Everything looked so good that people could end up spending fifteen minutes just trying to decide what they wanted.
Mythia was unfamiliar with these succulent looking meals so she ordered an Earth-style breakfast at Ben's recommendation. She had scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns, and a three-ounce steak.
Ben wasn't hungry so he kept Mythia company and looked through his books on healthcare and fitness. He found that even when he was reading books through the system he could still use his Photo Reading skill to absorb an entire page of information at a glance. Just like the description, it was if his mind took a photo of the page and he could pull up every detail from every page at any given time.
He read through a few books and then went to the System Store menu to purchase a few things. Mythia was much too small and frail for her age and it was obvious she was not growing properly from the years of not being given enough nutrients.
At her age, it was an important growing period in a young boy's or young girl's lives and he wanted to help her get into proper form.
From the store, he bought a few large cases of different supplements to help her along.
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Mythia's Supplements
Liquid Protein Nutritional Supplement
High-Calorie Liquid Supplement
Creatine Capsules
Multivitamins with Iron and Calcium for teens
Omega 3 Fish Oil Softgel Capsules
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They went back to the Keep and Ben purchased a shelf from the System Store for Mythia's bedroom. He placed the shelf against the back wall of her closet and neatly arranged the unboxed supplements on each shelf.
Mythia still couldn't read so Ben had to go over how much of each supplement she would take daily. The liquid protein and high-calorie supplements were pre-mixed in plastic bottles and the other supplements were purchased as capsules so Mythia would not need to worry about mixing the proper amounts.
She would need to drink a bottle of liquid protein and a bottle high-calorie liquid supplements along with a creatine capsule, multivitamin capsule, and an omega 3 capsule daily.
Ben then sat down at the desk in his room and made a simple weekly schedule for Mythia. He purchased a simple ballpoint pen and used the paper he sold at his store. He drew up a schedule and a workout program for her. The workout program listed the machines she was to use and how many sets and reps she would need to perform at each machine.
He knew this was all foreign to her so he would need to take her to the Gym and physically show her how to use proper form on each machine. They would also need to figure out her strength to approximate how much she would lift without putting too much strain on her growing body.
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Mythia's Weekly schedule
Day 1: Lower Body: Weight Training
Day 2: School
Day 3: Upper Body: Weight Training
Day 4: School
Day 5: Cardio: Exercise Bike, Treadmill, Stairmaster
Day 6: School
Day 7: School
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Her weekly schedule included working out at the Gym and attending school. First, she would need to attend the Basic Education For All school with the other people living in the fortress.
Ben bought a cork bulletin board and a couple packs of thumbtacks and he hung her schedule and workout routines on the bulletin board in her bedroom.
Now that he planned to have her attend a school he needed to build additional schools. It would only take her a week at most to learn how to read and write but he wanted her to continue forward with her studies.
Ben and Mythia crossed the main street that the keep was located on and went to an empty section of the fortress. They walked to the next street over just east of main street and Ben began to build.
He built three new schools which were the [Elementary School], [Intermediate Education For All], and [High School Education For All].
Mythia was out of the age range for the Elementary School but the Intermediate Education For All covered everything you would learn from first to eighth grade. Ben had decided to build the Elementary School because he hoped there would one day be kids living in the fortress settlement and the Elementary School needed to be built to unlock the High School Education For All.
[Elementary School]: Provides children with a modern Earth education. Covers 1st grade through 5th grade. [Locked until: built basic education] [requires: stone-wood-glass] [costs: 200g]
[Intermediate Education For All]: Provides teens and adults with a modern Earth education. Covers 1st grade through 8th grade for teenagers and adults. [locked until: built house] [requires: stone-wood] [costs: 200g]
[High School Education For All]: Provides teenagers through adults with advanced modern Earth education. Covers 9th grade through 12th grade. [Locked until built elementary school] [requires: stone-wood-glass] [costs: 200g]
Ben was curious why there was an Elementary School and the Intermediate Education For All. The Intermediate Education For All covered the same material as the Elementary School so why were there two of the same education facilities?
The only reason he could come up with was the person who designed the system was taking the children's feelings into consideration. It may scare or unnerve the children by being plugged into the system-link chairs with a bunch of adult strangers around them.
There were still additional schools that Ben could build but he figured this would do for now it would take some time for everyone to make past the High School. There was a Junior High School that could be built but without children attending Elementary School yet it wasn't needed.
Ben brought Mythia into the Intermediate Education For All school after the initial shock wore off from watching three large buildings spring up from the ground in front of her. Ben explained how the system-link chairs worked and that she could comfortably lay on the chair and the system would gradually teach her various things.
From there they went over to the Basic Education for all school. Ben told her she would need to learn how to read and write from this building. Once the system informed her she couldn't learn anything else there then she would begin attending the Intermediate Education For All school.
The two of them went over to his Chancellor Rayner's home and Ben introduced him to Mythia. Ben had Rayner join them and they walked toward the Clinic as Ben explained the different schools he had just built and that Mythia would be attending the school with them. Ben also told Rayner to have the people attend the Intermediate Education For All school after they learned to read and write.
On an empty section of land across from the Small Clinic, Ben began the construction of a [Hospital].
[Hospital]: A large building that will cast a Superior Healing Spell, a Cure Poison Spell, and a Remove Negative Conditions Spell on up to fifty patients. If the Hospital is upgraded to Level Five it is possible to regenerate lost limbs and damaged organs over an undetermined amount of time. [Locked until; built masons guild-research center] [requires: wood-stone-steel-glass-marble] [costs:1000g]
For an extra five hundred gold, Ben decided to upgrade the Hospital to Level Five. The description stated at Level Five the Hospital could regenerate lost limbs and damaged organs so it was a given he would spend the money to do just that. This was a huge benefit if any of his people lost an arm, leg, or sustained severe internal injuries the Hospital would heal them back to perfect health.
Ben explained the new options of the Hospital and how it was much more effective than the original Small Clinic for Rayner so he could relay this information to the others.
When the three of them went inside they found a large white sterile room that had fifty hospital beds arranged in neat rows. The patients would lay on these beds while the hospital healed them of their injuries. Depending on how severe the injury it would determine how long they would need to remain at the Hospital.
The three of them left the Hospital and walked north of the Gym and Ben began building two new places. From the Entertainment Build Menu category, he started construction on a [Tavern] and a [Movie Theater].
Ben was producing a decent selection of alcohol, he even had his own brand of wine. The tavern had the ability just the same as the Restaurant to remove supplies from the warehouse. People could visit the tavern and order drinks directly from a menu and the dirty glasses would be gathered and cleaned by the system to be reused.
[Tavern]: Adults can order alcoholic drinks and listen to music all through an interface menu. [Locked until: built brewery] [costs: 200g]
[Movie Theater]: just like on Earth people can sit down and watch blockbuster movies on the big screen. Movies must be purchased from the Store or downloaded from the Programs section. [Locked until; built recreation center-research center] [costs: 2000g]
Ben looked at Rayner seriously and told him if the people began to abuse the tavern, cause trouble or start fights from getting excessively drunk he would tear the place down and never build one again.
He didn't mind if people wanted to go and have a few drinks and get tipsy at the end of the day, but if it became a disruption for the settlement he would simply deconstruct the Tavern.
The Movie Theater was a scaled-down version of a modern movie theater from Earth. It had one cinema but it was possible to set movies to play at different times throughout the day one after another. The system downloaded all the movies Ben had under his Programs section and any other movies he wanted to add would need to be purchased from the System Store.
Ben purchased "The Wizard of OZ" in color and had everyone gather at the new Movie Theater to watch it. They were all instantly blown away by the classic movie. For people who have never seen a movie or a television, it was hard for them to separate what was happening on the screen from reality. To them, it was like they were looking through a window in the wall that had another world just on the other side.
Throughout most of the movie they enjoyed themselves but when the flying monkeys were sent out by the wicked witch to attack Dorothy's party it scared the crap out of everyone watching.
Even though Ben felt bad that they were frightened and thought the monkeys on the screen were profound beasts he couldn't help but laugh at their reactions.
He did stop the movie momentarily and allow everyone to calm down. He began to give them a more detailed explanation of how movies worked at that anything they saw on the screen was only a moving image like a drawing or painting. It was not alive and it could not harm them in any way.
Mythia also had a blast watching the movie but she would cling onto Ben every time she saw the nasty wicked witch. When the wicked witch finally died and the munchkins paraded through the streets singing "Ding dong the witch is dead" she was just about bouncing out of her seat wanting to join the celebration on the screen.
At the end of the movie, everyone was ecstatic over the new Movie Theater which would provide them all with a new exciting source of entertainment. People of any world loved stories and to not only hear but see a story made it all the more exciting.
When they left the Movie Theater Ben told Mythia that he had to prepare to bury his soldiers. Right after he told her this he began to feel guilty that they had left her family and all the dead townspeople unburied. At the time he was in such an emotional state that he had not thought about it.
'I hope the king will send some men down there to clean the town up. I feel bad for Mythia now that she did not get to see her parents burial.'
Mythia decided to tag along with Ben she didn't say anything but she felt grateful to the men who gave their lives to kill the invaders that had destroyed their town. They had played a part in helping her survive and this made her want to attend their funeral.
Ben walked over to the stables and had the carriage with the bodies hitched with horses. One of the stable hands drove it over to the Barracks while Ben and Mythia followed behind.
The two generals had the troops assembled outside in their armor and bristling with weapons awaiting Ben's arrival. Without any delay, Ben told the coachman to follow them down to the Cemetery.
The long line of troops quietly marched down Mainstreet and left through the five-story Gatehouse to enter the lower valley. They all entered the new Cemetery and Ben had the carriage enter and park near the white marble Mausoleums.
Ben purchased a coffin for each man and had them carefully placed into them. He stood before his men with the twelve sealed coffins spread out on the ground below him.
Looking around at the faces of his troops Ben began to speak.
"These brave soldiers gave their lives to defend lands which were not ours! They were ordered to fight an enemy who wasn't our enemy! The Trareniel Kingdom chose to attack our ally, thus making them our enemy! You all were forced to defend against far superior numbers and each of you made me proud of how ferocious and Courageous you stood against their larger army! Still, even with their greater numbers, you proved a smaller well-trained army can defeat a larger inferior army!"
"These fallen men and each of you are now heroes who saved thousands of lives! If it was not for our intervention the entire Aregard Kingdom would have been slaughtered in the same manner as that small town we rescued those few remaining survivors from! The king would have never been able to gather an army in time to stop the surprise attack by the Trareniels!
"I believed in your strength and never doubted that even though we were outnumbered you all would defeat them so I volunteered to block the invasion! If any of you are upset about being sent into such a lopsided battle which had nothing to do with us then you can blame me! It is fine if you are angry with me over losing your comrades, I understand your pain because I also mourn for their loss and will not let their deaths go unanswered! I will continue to recruit more soldiers and train each of you to be this world's strongest most advanced force and one day we will travel to the Trareniel Kingdom and make them pay for the loss of our fellow soldiers!
A great cheer went up from the assembled men with looks of pride and tears on their cheeks they called out to their young lord.
"We could never blame you, my lord!"
"We stand behind you, my lord!"
"We will gladly fight those Trareniel bastards again and prove our prowess!"
Ben felt warm in his heart from the encouraging words his troops shouted out as they cheered. He stood there with a smile as he looked at each of their faces as if to remember this moment.
When they had all began to quiet down Ben had his two generals help him place a coffin in each of the white marble mausoleums as the army watched in silence. After Ben had sealed doors of the small mausoleums he led the troops and the now empty carriage back.
The troops returned to the Barracks and Ben left the stable hands to unhitch and return the horses to their stalls in the stable.
On the opposite side of the Barracks from the general's homes, Ben brought up his Build Menu. Under the Landscapes and Decorations section, he used the Statue tool to design a large circular tiered dais that stood four feet high. On top of the dais, he made life-sized figures of his troops.
There was a male and female Elven archer, a Female Fairy mage, and a male human knight on horseback. Each figure wore a replica of the armor and weapons they were currently issued. All four figures were looking off in different directions and they looked poised for battle with a look of fearless determination on each of their faces.
Under the proud figures, Ben wrote out an engraving.
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"[The Victory at Sandy River]"
"[The defense of the Aregard Kingdom]"
"In the battle at the Sandy River, a small force of Ben King's troops fought against superior numbers led by Genera Victor and General Justinus. Three hundred and thirty troops were able to defeat three thousand enemy troops, two royal cultivators, and a fire elemental mage. This victory saved the lives of every person living in the Aregard Kingdom. Each man and women who fought and died in this battle will forever be remembered as heroes!"
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Ben nodded at the design on the system screen and finalized his creation. A few minutes later the impressive victory monument stood next to the barracks for anyone to see who passed along the road here. He had placed it up close to the corner of the street because he had plans to build more victory monuments here in the future.
'It won't be long until there is a victory monument for the invasion of Trareniel here as well!'