iating with Elora to get our debt reduced was only partially successful, and it was very stressful. She made it clear that what I was doing was treading a very fine liweeiating and threatening. I respohat what they had done was treading a fine liween helping aortion. The bad forth tinued behind closed doors until it was agreed that we'd only have to pay half of the cost previously agreed upon, meaning a quarter of the total cost.

  Thankfully, we also should be able to pay it ba the form of paper, though we'll have to make almost aire ton of paper as payment. sidering it took us quite some time before we actually restarted paper produ, we'll be paying some now from our reserves, and then the rest year, when our produ should be fully ba line.

  I've started ging gears away from rebuilding the city, as most of that has been pleted. I've been w with Zaka some to help facilitate using Lu for some of the goveral roles that none of us want to do. That has been it's own problem though, as Lu currently doesn't speak either the demon nguage, nor the dwarven one. As a result, he's been forced to work alongside Elora who speaks both human and dwarven, and has beeing much better at the demon nguage i few months.

  I also have to deal with Tiberius who seemed heavily disappointed with the dition of our city. I only guess that he believed we were some kind of metropolis with teologies beyond his imagination. Though the fact we grow giant crystals seems to have intrigued him enough that he stopped causing a fuss when I finally showed him the bathhouse. Food measure, he's being escorted everywhere he goes, to make sure that he doesn't do anything rash. He seems like the type that would break the crystal just to see what happens.

  Since we found a sulfur deposit on the isnd, I'm very keen on attempting to find more ore deposits. Volic sulfur deposits are usually a det indicator for lead, silver, and copper. We've already found native copper, but copper sulfide, lead sulfide, and silver sulfide are easy ores to refio get their respective metals. Lead is especially of i, because we could make lead acid batteries, as well as using some of the lead for ammunition.

  After versing with Lu some, although paper is a nice export, more tries are willing to trade ial, and it tends to be more stable as a odity so he reended expending some more effort in attempting to discover new metal deposits. So I've asked Konkur if he'd take charge of a small workforce to find more mineral deposits on the isnd. I'm pulling two stone shaping goblins off the stru ford setting up a recurring job for foblins to help this group with exploratory mining. If they find anything of value, we'll probably make a separate dedicated mining force at that point.

  After ten days, Tiberius came to me with a few questions, and also wao do an experiment. I was a little frustrated because it was the middle of the night, and I was in my semi-scious state cutting stone from ahat will bee the basement of an apartment building. So I fully woke up so I could answer his questions.

  The first question he asked was what animal's blood we used in pce ore blood for our blood powered steam ons. I felt like a bit of a monster when I said that we had used Zaka's blood for ic steam ons. This didn't seem to bother Tiberius at all, which disturbed me somewhat. When I asked how they gathered the rathgore blood for their ons, he said they captured them alive, then exsanguihem to collect all their blood. He didn't seem the least bit ed what that practice might do to the rathgore popution as a whole either. I made a mental hat under no circumstances is Tiberius allowed to have any free authority on the isnd, because he's likely to cause some unrecoverable problem if left to his own devices.

  His sed question was how I made the crystal. I refused to answer him uhe premise of it being a national secret. He immediately followed up by asking if I could make more if he had any ideas for experiments. I was hesitant, but told him that I could if I determihe experiment worthy of it. That prospect led him to telling me about an experiment idea he wao try, which I immediately shot down.

  He wao take one of these rge crystals and shatter it. Despite telling him what I experienced when I broke a medium sized crystal, he insisted on wanting t to break a rge crystal. I promptly told him that I would not participate in that, nor provide him with a crystal to attempt it with. A moderate sized crystal could potentially be arranged as a promise, but that would be the most I was willing to do, and he'd have to wait a signifit amount of time for that, as making the crystals takes a signifit amount of effort and time.

  After having that idea shot down, he had a sed experimental idea which I was less resistant to, though it did disturb me somewhat after remembering that I myself did blood testing. He wao collect blood from all the different magic-using life on the isnd. To which I told him that I wouldn't let him buy blood off the goblins. He was wele to collect blood from any of the sea life though, if he wao test it. sidering we know of a few kinds of fish that are somewhat dangerous thanks to magic, I told him that he could work with the fishergoblins on that, though his best odds are going to be at catg them off the inplete jetty. I also told him that while he start with blood, I suspect that for some of the fishes, it might not actually be that blood is the best souragic.

  My reasoning for this are my own hands. More specifically, thermal hands. It's isoted to only my hands, and I suspect that there is something physiological that is the drive for that. Ultimately, I offered to give him a hand by usionise to drive mana into whatever he wanted. To which he asked if he could dunk the ans ihhouse water to ihem with mana instead.

  Thinking ba it, that's not actually that bad of ahough I don't want the bathhouse to be ruined. I myself first figured out about all of this thanks t to find a det ductor for mana years ago when I first was w with the giant crystals. So, I told Tiberius that I'd promise with him. I'd help him set up a research b a little ways away from the city, and then we attempt to get him some crystals to work with there.

  I don't feel great about having him outside the city where it will be harder to keep an eye on him, but as long as we have someone cheg in every day, it should be fine. Ultimately, it's probably safer for the rest of the city to have him further away as well, despite the risks. I recalled when I first brought a giant crystal down to the city and caused all the giant lizards on the isnd to siege the vilge, and decided that it's best to have some distaween new experiments and the general popuce.

  I spent six days w on b space before the mert finally returo our isnd. It had been two years, but they brought our trade goods that we had requested previously. That said, a lot has ged, and although we had many things we wao trade for, we were g in trade goods of our own to send this time, so we ended up not getting many trade requests made. I hope year, despite what we'll have to send to the elves, we'll have a surplus that we trade with.

  The b itself is actually going to take some time to build. Due to the nature of smaller crystals, I'm digging a deep underground chamber to hopefully allow medium sized crystals to exist within it, though transp them to this location will require some problem solving, though it should be doable.

  After I get the underground chamber built, I pn on having a detly rge facility above ground as well, though most of it will be empty for now. That will leave plenty of room for various experimental setups if I have any of my own experiments I want to run. Though Tiberius will be using the b for now, I pn on using it myself, along with having any future dangerous experiments raoo.