The morning arrived cooler than the previous day, a slight breeze carrying the smell of earth and fresh timber across the farmland.

Darion rode out with Garren and Seren, the three of them making their way along the familiar path that led to the construction site.

When they arrived, the carpenters were already there, moving between the marked sections. They had definitely arrived earlier and had started work since then.

Wooden stakes covered the ground in neat patterns, each one marking a corner or a boundary that had been carefully measured the day before.

The carpenters moved between sections, checking their work, adjusting stakes that had shifted slightly overnight, and marking measurements into the soil with the tips of their tools. Piles of timber sat waiting at the edges of the site, the raw wood still pale and fresh, smelling of sap and forest.

Darion dismounted and tied his horse to the same fence he had used yesterday, then stood at the edge of the site and watched. A week ago, this was just an idea in his head: build livestock pens. Something he had thought about during quiet moments, discussed with Garren, planned for but never really believed would happen so soon. Now it was becoming a reality. The stakes were in the ground, the timber was stacked, and the carpenters were already beginning to dig the first post holes.

Who would have thought Percvale would later be in a position like this? Anytime something good was happening to Percvale, Darion always went through this phase in his head.

A few months ago, the barony had been starving, its knights too weak to hunt, its farmland too dead to grow anything. Now they were building pens for livestock they hadn’t even bought yet.

It felt like a dream sometimes, the kind of dream that could shatter if you looked at it too closely. But Darion had learned to stop second-guessing himself. The work was real. The progress was real. And he was going to make sure it stayed that way.

He watched the carpenters work for a while, noting the pace at which they moved. It was from this moment that he would know if the current workers they had would be enough to actually finish the project.

They were efficient, clearly experienced, clearly organized, but there was a limit to what a small group could accomplish in a day. At this pace, the basic structures might take four to five days. The pens first, then the fencing, then the shelters and storage areas. It was a solid timeline, but Darion couldn’t help wondering if they could do better.

With more men, it would be faster, of course. More hands meant more work done in less time. But then again, he had no reason to rush. They weren’t facing a deadline. The livestock wasn’t arriving tomorrow. The animals would come when the pens were ready, and not a moment sooner. Hiring extra workers would just mean spending more money for no specific reason.

The reason would be to finish faster, but why? The work would get done either way, and there was no enemy at the gate demanding they hurry. He decided to stick with the men they had. They should be done in a week and some days, maybe a little longer if the weather turned, but that was fine. Patience was a luxury he could afford now.

One of the difficult parts of building something like this was the planning: the measurements, the layouts, the decisions about where everything would go.

But now that the measurements were done and the stakes were in the ground, the work was straightforward. Pens. Fences. Shelters. Storage areas. Nothing complicated. Just timber and nails and men who knew what they were doing.

After watching for a while, Darion realized something. He didn’t need to stand here. Garren was already handling everything, the carpenters respected him, the farmers listened to him, and the project was moving forward without any direct involvement from the Baron.

Darion had done his part. He had made the decisions, allocated the resources, and set the plan in motion. Now it was time to let the experts do what they did best.

He had another thought. His knight inventory was full. Completely full. One hundred and fifty undead knights, all waiting in wherever they were, ready to be summoned at a moment’s notice.

He had reached the cap, and there was nothing more he could add until the system expanded his capacity. He would just be waiting for extra spaces to be given now, which meant his focus needed to shift elsewhere.

His animal undead inventory, on the other hand, was almost empty. Ten out of seventy slots occupied. That was a problem. His knights were strong, but animals had their own advantages.

The wolves were good for aggressive fighting, tearing through enemy lines with the kind of brutal efficiency that made soldiers hesitate. The Rops were terrifying in their own way, their four-eyed faces and wide mouths sending a chill down the spines of anyone who saw them. And the bats, the bats had been useful for scouting, for infiltration, for spreading venom through enemy barracks without anyone ever knowing they were there.

He needed more animals. Wolves, bats, whatever he could find. The forest was full of creatures that had died naturally or fallen to predators. He just had to find them before the scavengers did.

Also there were many wild and different creatures in the forest, ones he definitely hadn’t seen before. The woods beyond Percvale stretched far and deep, and most of it remained unexplored. The knights only hunted in the safer sections near the barony’s borders, not venturing too far into the unknown

Who knows what he might meet there? Maybe very dangerous and deadly creatures that would be superb as undeads. The thought was appealing: a massive beast, something with claws and teeth and raw power, something that would make even the toughest enemies hesitate when they saw it coming.

He had already raised wolves and Rops and bats, but there were surely larger things lurking in the deeper parts of the forest.

If he could find one of those, and if he could raise it, he would have something truly formidable in his inventory. Something that could change the course of a battle all on its own.

Darion turned away from the construction site, his mind already shifting toward the forest and the work that awaited him there. As he walked toward his horse, Seren noticed.

"Leaving already?" she asked, her voice carrying just enough curiosity to make him pause.

Darion looked surprised. He hadn’t expected her to ask. She had been standing at the edge of the site, watching the carpenters with her usual quiet intensity, and he had assumed she would stay there for the rest of the morning.

"Yes," he said.

"Where?" she asked.

He hesitated for a moment, weighing his words. There was no reason to lie to her. She had seen him do stranger things. "The forest."

Seren raised an eyebrow. "The forest?"

Darion nodded. "I’m going hunting."

She immediately became interested, her posture shifting slightly, her eyes narrowing with the kind of focus she usually reserved for archery practice. "Hunting?"

Darion explained: not normal hunting. He wanted animals. Dead ones. To raise. The words came out simple and direct, the way they always did when he talked about his necromancy.

Seren paused, letting the information settle. Then, without any hesitation, she asked: "Can I come?"

That was definitely a surprise to hear at the moment, Seren coming with him to the forest to hunt. He had expected her to stay at the construction site, maybe watch the carpenters work, maybe head back to the castle when she got bored. But following him into the woods? That hadn’t crossed his mind.

He looked at her, trying to read her expression. "Why?"

Seren shrugged, her arms still folded, her posture relaxed. "Why not?"

She explained it simply: she’d been sitting around watching construction all morning, and there was only so much of that she could take. The carpenters were good at their work, but watching timber being measured and holes being dug wasn’t exactly entertaining.

Going hunting with him would be something different. Something active. Something that didn’t involve standing in the sun and counting stakes. Or she would just be bored here, and she had already spent enough of her life being bored.

Darion considered her request. The forest was dangerous. That was the simple truth of it. Creatures lurked in the deeper sections, things that didn’t announce themselves until it was too late. He had almost died there before, and he had his undead to protect him.

But then again, Seren wasn’t helpless. She was an elite archer, one of the best he had ever seen. She had proven herself during the hunt, during the battles against Valdenmoor, during every moment she had been tested. She could handle herself. And if something did go wrong, she could put an arrow in it before it got close. Or he would just have one of his Undeads protect her.

Eventually, he nodded. "Fine. But don’t get yourself killed."

Seren smiled.

"Wasn’t planning to."