Chapter 263: Brotherly Planning

Surprisingly to Kalli, the men weren’t waiting outside when they finished their showers.

The gravity had been turned back to normal, so there was no need to rush back outside, and usually the men were quicker to shower, as they had shorter hair.

Or none at all.

But apparently, they had decided that they needed to hold a tactical meeting about the dungeons in the showers, and they were still in there, chatting happily away about the many variations of bacon sandwiches that were possible.

"Should we send someone in to get them?" Yara asked.

"Nah, let them unwind. We’re not on a tight schedule, they’ve got all day to finish the dungeon and four hours of skilled labour. It’s not exactly a challenging schedule.

In fact, they can even go pick tubers if they want, or help with the gardening.

That counts, but I suspect that most of them have an actual trade skill that might be useful.

We’re actually short on everything from plumbers and electricians to carpenters, tailors and everything else. The civilians don’t wear battle armour, they wear clothing made from cloth that we weave here in the city, or the uniforms of the Arks that they arrived on.

So, I don’t think that anyone will have trouble finding work that they can do.

Your family did run front businesses, right Yara?

Not just the legitimate ones that hired outsiders and knew nothing, but actual front businesses run by the made men and blood brothers?"

Yara gave Kalli a confused look. Those weren’t words that anyone in Marimgar would use. The families here didn’t use the terms, but they were actually ones that her home nation did use.

Which only made it more strange that Kalli would know the slang of her dialect, when she was clearly not from the region.

After a moment, the men came out as one large group, all geared up and ready to go to the dungeon.

Despite the fact that they didn’t know the fights, and they were going to be getting group members assigned by Yara, so that the actual fighting powers and skill sets were balanced.

"Matteo, do you have the others I asked for?" Kalli called.

"Yes, Ma’am. We’re all here. I take it that you’re pulling us from the dungeon runs?"

"You’re a quick learner, I like that.

Yes, I’m going to put you to work right away. We have a few projects that I need a techno wizard for. You see, we’ve got a number of conventional vehicles that still run on jet fuel, and I don’t want them to.

If you can fix that for me right quick, we will have much more affordable troop transport than the utility hovercraft that I sent to pick up your team.

Those are already claimed by the hunting teams, anyhow. The silent movement gives them a huge advantage over a helicopter."

Matteo chuckled at her direct demands. "So, you want me to convert attack helicopters to mana burning turbines?"

"Transport helicopters first. Then, we can start on the attack helicopters. A transport helicopter with a Pulse Cannon at either door is good enough to get people from point A to point B."

"Do you think that’s enough firepower?" Matteo asked sarcastically.

The locals had explained the concept of a Pulse Cannon to them last night, and it was definitely overkill for a troop transport, which would normally only use a light machine gun at each door.

They weren’t intended to attack armour, just enemy infantry.

Though, these days, "Enemy Infantry" could also mean Ogres and Giants, so Kalli might have a point.

"There is no such thing as enough firepower. Now, follow me, and I will lead you into the city to set up new workshops for you.

If the tinkers want to join the ones we already have, you can all work together. There’s more than enough room in that shop for two more, and they’ve got plenty of experience with everything that we need to get done to keep the city running and the heroes fighting.

The Techno Wizards I will upgrade an industrial space for."

None of them were quite certain what Kalli meant, but they all followed her to the Tinkers workshop, where everyone stopped what they were doing to greet the Coordinator.

"Kalli, what brings you by? Emergency mission?"

Kalli shook her head. "No, but I will see if we can get some new quests soon. I’ve got two new Tinkers for you from the Rossi Family. And then I thought that I’d upgrade the workshop to Epic Grade. Or, build you an Epic Grade expansion to the shop.

I’ve got a couple workshop construction bundles at Epic Grade, and I’m going to give one to these Techno Wizards, so I see no harm in putting one to the Tinkers who keep all our equipment functioning."

The Tinkers smiled, then waved off Kalli’s idea.

"Don’t change this workshop, we’re almost done training the recruits on how it works. Soon, they’ll be close to getting a Tinkering related skill. Just make us another one to work on the advanced projects in.

You can make it attached if you want, but don’t change this one."

Kalli nodded. "Alight, I can work with that. I’ll just attach it to this workshop. That should be good enough that it doesn’t mess with productivity. That’s the important part, I think.

Having two more with the class will help, though.

Any preference on where the building attaches? Or I can stack it on top."

"Please don’t."

The group with Kalli chuckled at the man’s flat rejection, as if Kalli really would simply stack the buildings one on top of another.

Kalli shrugged and picked the open spot behind the current workshop, if you were looking at it from the driveway, which served as the main road through the Academy area.

"Alright, now, let’s go see how that turned out. It’s the first of the Epic Grade workshops I’ve placed," Kalli explained, as the Tinkers all crossed their fingers for luck.