Social Media was taking a big hit. Reactions were all over the spectrum. One side believed everything posted was real and wanted to experience magic. A few comments made them appear gullible. The other side thought of it all as CGI, edited, or just a sloppy engagement tactic to steer away from other important issues. Between the two were skeptics, but also curious about whether it was real or not.

  Magic has become a top ten trending topic for the past few days. It then went up to the top two after the phone call recordings were released on global broadcasts.

  Julius scrolled through many social media platforms on his phone, while his neighborhood had begun construction.

  Ever since getting rid of the city council members and the chiefs, he had acquired full power over the city. Technically, that would put him as the sole ruler of Colemond. Of course, publicly revealing that right now without changing the story would be problematic. A facade has been made to hopefully drag out the governmental concerns for the time being.

  Julius was standing outside his backyard, looking at his neighborhood. Ten of the neighborhood properties stayed. The neighbors, who refused to go and stood their ground, proved to him that they could be an opportunity. Julius saw it that way and allowed it. To maintain good relations, he handed each of the ten neighbors fifty thousand dollars in cash.

  Most of the neighborhood and its untouched acres of land were under construction. Most of the former neighbors' residences were demolished. The Raal people were a community-based society. Working together for the overall benefit was in its nature. When they learned about Earth's mansions and how one regular family could live in it, it was their culture shock. Having organizer experience was typical; it also meant that portions of the crowd were civilization designers. Alan and the hired city engineers had to direct them not remove any pipelines, insisting that they build new buildings and their foundations on them.

  Access to water was an interesting one, as it was magic-based technology. Pipelines didn't exist, so most were confused and took advice from construction workers, engineers, and architects in the field as much as possible.

  Even with new knowledge, they were pretty fast. It was almost midnight, and two buildings were constructed. They were called Moal Units. Raal's equivalent to Earth's apartments. But much taller, sturdier, and more durable. Same structuring as Julius' residence post-renovation.

  Some wanted regular houses on their own. A twelve-hundred-square-foot home with two stories was their cup of tea.

  After some more scrolling on the phone, Julius put it away and took meds. His sickness was less frequent, but it didn't go away. He now has warning symptoms, telling him to take the medication Empress Cai and Lian provided. So far, no health attacks yet.

  A quick embrace of the wind before he went back inside.

  4/17/2019

  1 PM

  Julius stood alone outside his garage. He was waiting for two deliveries. One was a big stock of mail, and the other was two vehicles.

  The construction in the neighborhood was almost done. Forty thousand were already settled down. Raal refugees did try an attempt to build an earth-like building. If it weren't for magic, they would fail because of Earth's mass-produced products. A group decided to live outside the neighborhood, but not far away. Julius quickly gave them legal access to the empty land. That area was completed.

  Because most of them were settled, the deliveries were Julius' next step. As he waited for the deliveries to arrive, he opened the expanded garage. Two of his vehicles were parked at the back. The three garage doors and the front entrance were the only things that hadn't changed. The right garage door, which used to be where he parked his F-150 Raptor, was now a workshop.

  Solomon was inside, working on a new project. A garage has turned into three thousand square feet of open space. Solomon was in full equipment. He was working on a new project, welding the frame of a car together. Julius has no idea what car he was constructing. Ever since his Raptor was upgraded, he has been excited about his future projects. Looking at the frame, he didn't recognize much of the familiarity. It looked alien, or he assumed it to be Raal-like.

  "Is this the new project you are working on?" Julius asked, walking up to take a look at the frame.

  Solomon turned off the lighter, lifting his welding helmet. "Yeah…I need to fix up the back before I move to building the platform."

  "Do you think this will beat the American market?"

  "I don't know yet because I haven't finished it yet," Solomon said, then looking at Julius' Ford Raptor. "But your truck, it served you well after a week of upgrades. If that goes to the market, it will be breathtaking. Nothing on Earth has gotten to this level of durability. We have the secrets and the process. They don't."

  "One day, when we have allies. Technology is going to spread. Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

  Solomon lowered his welding helmet. "What do you need?" He turned on the lighter and continued working on refining the rear part of the frame.

  "We are ready to make the next move. A new military of our own. Magical wielders will be called mages. They will protect this city and our shared interests for the future."

  Sizzling.

  Crackle.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "Have you talked to anyone about this?"

  "I'm about to. You're the first one to know."

  "What are you going to call it?"

  Julius turned away, looking at the driveway. "I'm calling it the American Mage Federation."

  The sounds of a large truck with a car carrier trailer echoed in the garage. It backed towards the garage. Using telekinesis, Julius flicked the switch of the other two garage doors. He greeted the truck driver, and the latter handed him a signing shit on the clipboard.

  "Wait a minute. There are six vehicles on here."

  The truck driver climbed down from his seat. "The next customer I was supposed to deliver the four to was cancelled."

  "Do the sellers not want it back?"

  "Surprisingly, no. The dealers said it's extra inventory, and they wanted out of their lot. So, it's yours now with no extra charge."

  Julius looked at the trailer. The two vehicles he ordered were another F-150, but no Raptor, and a new Toyota Camry. The other four he got included for free were brand-new Toyota Sienna minivans.

  The idea of a soccer mom vehicle being an overpowered transportation for various purposes was an interesting idea to dive deep into. Julius looked over the papers and gave them back to the truck driver. He then had an offer in mind. "Who do you work for?"

  "I'm a contractor."

  "Okay, how about joining us if we have any offers for you. It's fine if you say no now, but the deal is always open."

  "Yeah, like you said, let me think about it," the truck driver said. He smiled a little but walked back from it. As he went to get the trailer ready, Julius told him no need.

  He unlocked all the locks and took all six vehicles off the trailer at once. Telekinesis was so useful, Julius thought. He guided them into the garage.

  The truck driver was astounded by what he saw. "So, that story on TV was real…I'm satisfied." He hopped back inside as Julius closed up the trailer.

  The latter guided the six vehicles further into the garage before heading back into the residence.

  People were waiting. He went upstairs to his office. A crowd was standing near his desk. Julius performed a flash step from the hallway to next to his chair. "Thanks for coming, please relax." He sat down as others did.

  "I apologize for the wait. Yesterday, I talked to a few former town chiefs and librarians. What we've discussed is here today," Julius said, summoning his paper of notes. "Most of the fifty thousand Raal men and women want to start working immediately. For example, farming, education, and eateries. Good news is that this neighborhood is currently under registration to become a city. Of course, that would mean needing the state's approval, which is ironic for an independent city's territory. So, we put it in mine and Colemond's terms instead."

  Empress Cai, dressed in a fully red armored outfit like a king, had one question. "Do we have enough space to fit for the next round?"

  Julius nodded. "After seeing your words in play, I think we can do a few more. If it wasn't for Alan's plan of buying extra land from my conglomerate's investment money, then we wouldn't have the opportunity to."

  Lian was dressed in a suit, which looked strange on her. Not in a bad way, but it had a different impression. She was drawing stuff for the past two days and brought one poster sized canvas into the room. "I want to show you this." She handed it to Julius.

  "A map of the neighborhood…Wait, what's this area?" He gestured his finger over the circled area.

  "Of course, I'm not the only magical wielder specializing in the darkness attribute or liking dark-themed colors. I came from a school of these kinds of studies. I want to bring them over and set up a new school within that circled area."

  "It looked small. Are you sure that's big enough?"

  Lian shook her head. "Yes, it's quite big, actually. There are underground layers to account for as well. That area is very hilly and uneven terrain, so that gives me a good idea of how deep it can go."

  "Describe everything to me."

  "I'll open a different portal that will lead them directly there. Afterwards, the construction begins immediately. One tremendous tower and many residential houses and buildings surrounding it are kind of like what you call a university. A courtyard with a pergola walkway and our native nature that will generate energy and an invisible barrier to protect the school."

  "Would there be a need for our resources?"

  "No, we can take dirt and the ground into resources that we need if we run out."

  Maybe Lian should be careful saying that because Julius learned that there are rivalries. Even if it was all good intentions, the competition was fierce. In the matter of Lian and her entire academic history, building without depending on or needing the resources was a sign to cause jealousy among others who heard the details. Julius didn't exactly remember who told him that, but it was either Hilde or Konigin Gertrud.

  Sects and clans are inevitable. His neighborhood would hold one sect. More would come in the next rounds of portal openings. He has insisted on not putting them so close to each other. Colemond has a big city limit, so that was great for the planning by the founder. Because Lian mentioned that, Julius detoured from the notes to talk about this topic.

  Everyone in the room offered opinions and discussed together what to do for the upcoming week. Julius learned for the first time that it wasn't a few sects and clans. There were actually at least fifteen, putting him into a headache. He grudgingly asked how many he expected if all of them settled.

  Mizuhana, who was close with a few sects and clans, said a hundred thousand.

  The one good outlook Julius could take from this was the military perspective in terms of manpower and numbers. True capability could only be determined in action. Unfortunately, that would be in a war.

  A potential bad outlook of all these sects and clans coming into the city was the management side. Somehow, it directed to what Julius actually wanted to talk about, which was the formation of a united group.

  No more calling magic wielders. The general term was switched to mages. One united military organization called The American Mage Federation.

  "So are we Americans now?"

  "Yes…Raal Americans."

  Qiang Zhao had something to say. "America loves guns. The Zhao clan shares the same values, and we want to get involved in its future. But I want to say that I am absolutely bored…And I don't mean bored like that. I'm bored because we are not starting yet."

  Julius smiled. "We are starting today."

  He summarized the rest of the notes, and everyone afterward just desperately wanted to create a purpose right now because they all jumped out of the chairs and exited the residence, heading to the remaining buildings and area of construction.

  The American Mage Federation has formed from a home office.

  What could possibly go wrong for the next week?