Chapter 423: Really Julia?

Joshua made his way into the largest guild building and wasn't surprised when he saw construction robots still working on the inside of the place. Although the outside of the seven story tall building was already in place the inside was still nothing more than empty rooms and walls. The stairs that lead up to the higher floors hadn't even been put in place yet making the bottom floor the only one that was accessible at the moment. Joshua was interested in seeing how the building would end up, but he'd let the architects figure that out. For now he was just looking for one to talk to about how things were going.

Since Joshua could only see robots moving around when he entered the place he used his aura sense to see if he can find anyone inside that could clue him on what was going on at the moment. It didn't take him very long to find two familiar aura's a few empty rooms over alongside a few other people. Out of all of the aura's that Joshua was currently sensing there was only one that felt developed which hinted that they were an explorer and not a regular citizen like the rest of the architects. That was one of the familiar auras that Joshua could sense.

When Joshua reached the room he recognized Oscar and Julia right away standing around a large table with some other architects that were all looking over some screen displayed on the table with designs of the entire town. This wasn't all of the architects involved in putting the town together, but it seemed to be all the more senior architects that were involved in the project along with Julia.

Joshua was used to seeing Oscar work this way after having him lead the construction plans of James Town. The old man was fairly hands on in his designs, but he knew when to just give instructions and allow the other members of his group to shine. At the moment it looked as if he was showing all of the other architects the next steps they need to take in forming an actual town instead of just a bunch of well-placed buildings inside of a walled off area. Oscar had a way about making such militarized areas still seem homey in the end. James Town still looked like a place where a bunch of people could live normal lives together at in the future even with all of the turrets on full display. It looked like he was well on his way to making something similar when it came to this town.

Julia looked like she was hanging on every word that Oscar or any of the other architects said. It was clear that she was enjoying learning about what she planned to focus on spending her life doing before the world changed. Last time when she stayed around while James Town was being built she mostly just watched while giving out a few ideas every now and then along with Henry, but this time around Oscar seemed to be getting her even more involved as she was spending more time in the group instead of just following Oscar around and commenting on things from time to time.

Joshua wouldn't be surprised if Julia was actually a rather big help when it came to things outside of the design of the town on an expert level. Although she didn't have nearly as much experience as the rest of the architects what she knew more about than anyone else involved with putting the town together was how strong beast were. As an explorer she had fought several different types of beast and could point out some issues with the town's design when it came to dealing with certain abilities of creatures in the nearby area. She also helped them out when it came to designing things with the idea of a territory war in mind which came in handy.

After finding the people he was looking for Joshua decided to make his presence known as he entered the room and walked over. "I was wondering where all of you guys were, letting the newer recruits doing all of the hard work at the moment?" Joshua asked with a teasing tone to his voice. Oscar smiled in reply as he turned his attention away from the design on the table.

"Oh, so you finally decided to come by and check in huh? It's been over a week. I've seen Julia and Henry around here far more than you, and don't even get me started on the other alliance leaders. It's like they're scared to stop by." Oscar replied before turning to look at Julia. "At least one of you kids is interested in all of the work that's going on here."

"Well I'm more about the medical field personally…and well of course combat, but that's an entirely different story. As long as the buildings work well and can be used well into the future for explorers and civilians alike then I'm happy." Joshua said with a shrug. "I'm sure it's the same way for most of the explorers you will meet in the alliance. Julia is just the odd one out."

"I'm right here you know. No need to praise me." Julia said without ever looking up from the designs that were laid out.

"Praise?" Joshua asked a bit surprised by her response.

"The fact that you're saying I'm nothing like the rest of the muscles headed explorers you've worked with is a compliment in itself. Just imagining being like Jayce is enough to make my skin crawl."

"Don't believe what she's saying she gets just as hot headed as any other explorer when she's going on a power trip while manipulating her flames. She might not be the type that likes to run around with swords and guns, but she's definitely the type to laugh while burning her enemies alive. That's just as crazy if you ask me." Joshua said getting a chuckle out of Oscar and the rest of the architects while getting an annoyed glare from Julia in response. "I guess that's enough joking around for the time being. How about you guys fill me in on how things have been going with the building process this past week."

"Things have been going remarkably well so far." Oscar said as he waved Joshua over to stand beside him and pointed to the designs laid out in front of everyone. He tapped the table and suddenly the lay out of the entire town was displayed in a large three dimensional model that they could look at from above. "All though we haven't finished putting all of this together quite yet this is what we have designed so far."

Joshua looked over the display laid out in front of him and he was impressed with what he saw. The design they had set up had all of the buildings they planned to construct already laid out in their proper places. The market area was set up with easy access to get to and extra streets and alleyways that would lead to the area and through it. It was clear that the market area would be a busy location in the future and planning for the traffic and other issues that might pop up was essential to keeping a well running town on the larger scale. That would become even more obvious in the future when it came to cities with several location with similar set ups.

There was also a design where the river way could also be used in many different ways to help out the city. There were designs for a few water wheels along the river to help generate some extra power. Small boats that could bring supplies or civilians from point to point throughout the town. Lastly the water supply made it easy to set up a plumbing system throughout the town without having to set up a water supply through the system. They still used the system for disposing waste though with some of the different machines and other supplies that it had that could help keep pollution from becoming a problem once again. The last thing they needed was for the purple haze to come back to the area because they weren't wise enough to prevent the pollution in the first place.

The housing district looked far more unique than the one that had been set up in James Town. There were multiple different house designs and there were even large apartment complex's that were closer to the center of town where people could get a room and live on their own. There were also hotels set up for those who were just planning on taking a short break in the town itself instead of going back to the hub city. There were layer upon layer of ideals that were set up as fail safes just in case things changed to where it became a necessity to live on earth again and the hub city was no longer an option.

Joshua smiled as he looked over all of the designs that were laid out before him and turned back towards Oscar. "You guys have come a long ways. This is far better than anything we could have asked for."

"The bigger the project the more we aim to please." Oscar said with a grin. "Besides big projects bring out my creativity and give me a chance to get all these other young guns an opportunity to prove themselves. I'm glad you gave us the chance to work on this place. Plus having Julia around is a bonus, she has come up with several good ideas."

"Oh really. I guess I can see that. Unlike Henry she's got a passion for this stuff." Joshua said with a shrug getting another annoyed glance from Julia.

"Well she was a big help this time around. Her knowledge on the creatures in the area really came in handy when it came to setting up the defenses for the town. Not to mention having her around to tell us the perspective of an explorer so that we could have some ideas on how to set up the town for both explorers and civilians to have an easier way around."

"Yep, the apartment complex was my idea of what explorers would most likely prefer for housing over large houses. It'll be closer to the guild halls and market so they can get their supplies and missions quickly before heading out on expeditions. Besides they don't spend every day in one town like most civilians will." Julia said with a shrug.

"Any other ideas you've got for the town Julia? " Joshua asked after being impressed with her forward thinking. Even now he barely spent any time at home outside of sleeping.

"Of course." She said with a big grin as she pulled out a large stack of papers that was filled with all kinds of blue prints for buildings and foundation structures.

"Well she might have been a little too enthusiastic." Oscar said with a sigh.