The valley was quiet.
Too quiet, actually. No birds singing. No insects buzzing. Just wind moving through grass and trees.
I stood there for a minute, just breathing. Really breathing, without having to pretend or hide. It felt amazing.
My mana flowed freely now, no suppression holding it back. I could feel every living thing around me—deer in the woods, fish in the river, even tiny creatures in the soil. The whole world was alive with energy.
But I was also completely alone.
No servants. No family. No support system whatsoever.
Okay. Think. What do I need first?
Shelter. Food. Water. The basics.
The river solved water, so that was easy. Food... well, the forest had plenty of game animals. I could hunt.
Shelter was trickier.
I walked deeper into the valley, looking for the best spot to build. The valley was maybe three miles long and a mile wide, surrounded by steep hills covered in dense forest. One entrance at the southern end, narrow enough that a small group could defend it.
Near the center, I found what I was looking for.
A flat area next to the river, slightly elevated to avoid flooding. Good sight lines. Close to fresh water. Perfect.
"Right. Let's start small."
I didn't have construction tools. No hammer, no saw, no nails. What I did have was magic and knowledge.
Earth magic could shape stone. Fire magic could harden wood. Water magic could transport materials. Air magic could lift heavy objects.
And my comprehension ability meant I understood structural engineering better than most architects.
I started with a simple shelter.
Using earth magic, I pulled stone up from the ground, shaping it into rough blocks. It was harder than I expected—manipulating that much material took serious concentration. My mana drained fast.
After an hour, I'd made maybe twenty blocks.
This is gonna take forever at this rate.
I sat down, thinking about the problem.
Traditional magic focused on direct manipulation. You wanted stone? You moved stone with your mana. Simple but inefficient.
What if I thought about it differently?
In my old world, we had machines that multiplied force. Levers, pulleys, hydraulics. They didn't create energy from nothing—they just redirected it efficiently.
Could I apply that to magic?
I spent the rest of the day experimenting.
Instead of directly lifting stone, what if I used earth magic to create pressure from below, pushing it up? Like a hydraulic lift made of compressed soil?
It worked. Sort of.
The stone rose faster, but my control was sloppy. Blocks came up crooked or cracked from uneven pressure.
More practice. More adjustments.
By sunset, I'd figured out a technique that let me raise and shape stone blocks three times faster than before, using half the mana.
[ORIGINAL TECHNIQUE CREATED: EFFICIENT EARTH SHAPING]
[RANK: D]
[EFFECT: Reduces mana cost for earth manipulation by 50%. Increases speed by 200%.]
Not bad for one day's work.
I spent the night under a tree, too tired to do anything else. My stomach growled—I hadn't eaten since morning—but I was too exhausted to hunt.
Tomorrow. Food tomorrow.
Day two started with me almost getting eaten by a bear.
I woke up to something huge sniffing near my head. When I opened my eyes, I saw a massive brown bear, easily eight feet tall, staring at me with interest.
My heart stopped.
The bear huffed, hot breath washing over my face.
Very slowly, I reached for my mana.
The bear growled.
Okay, bad idea. Don't make sudden moves.
We stared at each other for what felt like forever.
Then the bear just... left. Wandered off into the forest like I wasn't even interesting enough to eat.
I lay there for five minutes, breathing hard.
Right. This valley has predators. Need to set up defenses.
After that wake-up call, I got serious about survival.
First priority: food. I used air magic to catch fish from the river—created a current that pushed them into a small pool, then scooped them out. Five decent-sized fish. I cleaned them with water magic, cooked them with fire magic.
They tasted amazing. Or maybe I was just starving.
Second priority: basic shelter. I worked on the stone building, using my improved technique to raise walls. By the end of the day, I had a small structure—maybe ten feet by ten feet, with three walls and no roof yet.
Progress.
Third priority: defense. I walked the perimeter of my future settlement area, placing warning markers. These were simple earth magic constructs that would vibrate if something large crossed them. Like a magical burglar alarm.
Not perfect, but better than nothing.
That night, I slept inside my three-walled shelter. Still no roof, but at least I had protection from three sides.
The stars were incredible out here. No light pollution. Just thousands of points of light across the sky.
I thought about my plan.
Building a kingdom alone was stupid. I needed people. But I couldn't just recruit randomly—anyone I brought here would need to be trustworthy, skilled, and willing to follow someone who was technically a five-year-old kid.
The system mentioned gathering oppressed people. Finding them is the problem.
I'd need to venture out eventually. Visit towns and cities. Look for people desperate enough to take a chance on a crazy offer.
But first, I needed something to offer them. A real settlement. Safety. Opportunity.
Which meant more building.
Over the next week, I fell into a routine.
Wake up at dawn. Fish for breakfast. Work on construction until lunch. Hunt for meat—usually rabbits or deer, occasionally wild boar. More construction in the afternoon. Magic practice in the evening. Sleep.
My little stone building grew. Four walls now, with a proper roof made from wood I'd cut and treated with fire magic to prevent rot. A door. A window with wooden shutters.
It wasn't fancy, but it was sturdy.
I also started expanding. Built a second structure for storage. Dug a proper fire pit with stone lining. Created a simple latrine away from the river (because I wasn't an animal, even if I was living alone in the woods).
The system gave me updates occasionally.
[SETTLEMENT PROGRESS: 5%]
[STRUCTURES COMPLETED: 2]
[POPULATION: 1]
[CURRENT SETTLEMENT RANK: CAMP]
Apparently I needed a lot more before this counted as a real settlement.
On day eight, I had my first real problem.
I was working on a third building—planning to make it a workshop for future crafting—when my warning markers triggered. Something big was approaching from the east.
I grabbed my mana, ready to fight.
A group of people stumbled into the valley.
There were five of them, all looking rough. Torn clothes, dirty faces, some with visible injuries. Three men, two women. And they weren't human.
Cat ears. Tails. Fur patterns on their skin.
Beastkin.
They saw me and froze.
We stared at each other.
One of the men—older, with gray streaks in his orange fur—raised his hands slowly. "Please. We mean no harm. We're just... we're running. Hiding."
His accent was thick, words slightly slurred. But my language comprehension handled it fine.
"Hiding from what?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral.
"Slavers," one of the women said. She was young, maybe early twenties, with black cat features. "They raided our village three days ago. We escaped but they're hunting us."
Slavery was legal in the empire for non-humans. I'd read about it in the library. One of those ugly realities I'd been planning to deal with eventually.
Didn't expect to confront it this soon.
The older man noticed my hesitation. "We'll leave if you want. We just needed to rest. Thought this valley was empty."
I looked at them carefully.
They were exhausted, scared, probably hadn't eaten properly in days. The youngest—a boy maybe ten years old—was trying hard not to cry.
My original plan had been to find oppressed people later. But here they were, literally walking into my valley.
The system did say to gather oppressed people. This counts, right?
"The slavers," I said. "How many?"
The older man blinked, surprised by the question. "Six. Maybe seven. Well-armed. Professional hunters."
"How far behind you?"
"Half a day, maybe less. They have tracking dogs."
I did some quick math. Six or seven armed adults versus one five-year-old kid.
On paper, terrible odds.
In reality? I had A-tier magic and they didn't know I existed.
"Okay," I said, making a decision. "You can stay. But we need to deal with the slavers first."
The black-furred woman laughed bitterly. "Kid, that's brave but stupid. You should run too."
"I'm not running. This is my valley." I pulled on my mana, letting just enough show to make the air shimmer around me. "And I don't like slavers."
Their eyes went wide.
The older man dropped to one knee immediately. "You're... you're a mage? Out here?"
"Something like that." I looked at each of them. "Can any of you fight?"
"I can," the older man said. "Used to be village guard before..." He gestured at his current state.
"Me too," said one of the younger men. "Not great, but I can hold a spear."
"Good. Everyone else, hide in that building." I pointed to my storage shed. "Stay quiet. I'll handle this."
The black-furred woman started to protest, but the older man cut her off. "Maya, don't. If he's offering help, we take it."
They moved to hide. I prepared for battle.
My plan was simple: ambush.
I found a good position on the hillside overlooking the valley entrance, concealed by trees and bushes. Then I set up traps.
Earth magic let me create pit traps covered with thin layers of dirt and leaves. Air magic let me set up invisible barriers—nothing strong enough to hurt someone, but enough to trip them or slow them down.
And for the finale, I prepared my strongest combat spell.
It was something I'd developed during my secret training. Combined fire and air magic to create a compression explosion—superheated air confined in a small space, then released all at once.
Devastating. And very, very loud.
The slavers arrived two hours later.
I heard the dogs first, barking and baying. Then voices, rough and confident.
"Trail leads this way. Those cat freaks can't have gone far."
"Better be worth it. I hate chasing runners."
"Chief said bring 'em back alive if possible. Dead if not. Either way we get paid."
Seven men total, like the refugees said. Leather armor, short swords, crossbows. Professional equipment.
And six dogs, huge mastiffs bred for hunting.
They entered the valley cautiously, spreading out in a loose formation.
I waited until they were all inside, past my traps.
Then I triggered the first pit.
The lead slaver dropped straight down into a ten-foot hole with a yelp of surprise. His companions rushed forward to help—and triggered two more pits.
Three down. Four left, plus the dogs.
The remaining slavers drew weapons, looking around wildly. "Ambush! Defensive formation!"
Too late.
I released the air barriers, invisible walls that suddenly appeared in their path. Two slavers ran face-first into them, stumbling backward.
Then I hit them with the compression explosion.
A massive boom echoed across the valley. Superheated air detonated in the center of their group, throwing men and dogs in all directions.
When the smoke cleared, three slavers were unconscious. One was groaning, trying to crawl away. The dogs were scattered and whimpering.
The last three slavers were still standing, but they looked terrified.
"What the hell?!" one shouted.
"Magic! There's a mage here!"
I stepped out from my hiding spot, walking down the hillside.
They saw me and their faces went through several expressions. Confusion. Disbelief. Then fear when they felt my mana.
"Leave," I said simply. "Or don't. Your choice."
The leader—a scarred man with a crooked nose—spat blood. "You're just a kid. What're you gonna do?"
I raised my hand. Fire gathered above my palm, a sphere of white-hot flame that made the air around it waver and distort.
"Test me and find out."
They ran.
Left their unconscious companions, their dogs, their equipment—just turned and sprinted back the way they came.
I let them go. Killing people, even slavers, wasn't something I wanted to do at five years old if I could avoid it.
The unconscious slavers I dealt with differently. Used earth magic to create cages—stone boxes with air holes. They'd wake up trapped, but alive.
I'd figure out what to do with them later.
The refugees emerged from hiding, staring at the aftermath in shock.
"You... you actually did it," Maya whispered.
The older man approached slowly, then knelt again. "I am Garon, formerly of the Nightwhisker clan. You saved our lives. We are in your debt."
"I'm Aldric," I said. "And I could use some help building this place, if you're interested in staying."
Garon looked at the others. They exchanged glances, having some kind of silent conversation.
Finally, Garon nodded. "We have nowhere else to go. Our village is destroyed, our families scattered or captured. If you'll have us..."
"I'll have you," I said. "But I need to be clear about something. I'm not just building a house here. I'm building a settlement. Eventually, a kingdom. It's going to be dangerous, probably illegal by empire standards, and definitely difficult."
"A kingdom?" Maya laughed. "Kid, you're five years old."
"Six next month," I corrected. "And yes, a kingdom. One where it doesn't matter if you're human, beastkin, elf, dwarf, or anything else. Where slavery is illegal. Where people have actual rights."
They stared at me like I was crazy.
Maybe I was.
But Garon slowly smiled. "A mad dream. But I've seen you throw magic like a master mage. Maybe you're mad enough to pull it off."
"So you'll stay?"
"We'll stay."
[MILESTONE ACHIEVED: FIRST CITIZENS RECRUITED]
[POPULATION: 6]
[SETTLEMENT RANK: HAMLET]
[NEW QUEST: ESTABLISH BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE]
[REWARD: ADVANCED CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES]
I grinned. "Good. Welcome to... actually, I haven't named this place yet."
"You built it," Garon said. "You should name it."
I thought about it. This valley would be the seed of something bigger. A place of new beginnings, free from the old systems and prejudices.
"New Haven," I decided. "This is New Haven."
The name felt right.
We had a lot of work ahead of us. Building. Planning. Defending. Eventually, expanding.
But for the first time since arriving in this world, I felt like things were really beginning.