NOVEL NEXT 2.55 - Tea Workshop
The area outside of the mine smelter and blacksmith's workshop was oddly quiet. The grove that Taz had claimed for his own was normally filled with the sound of singing metal, but as Rud emerged from the bushes, he heard only the silence of the forest. It took him a while, but he eventually heard a pick slamming against stone and echoing off the expansive halls of the mine. The dwarf was expanding his home or adding more rooms. It was hard to tell what the man was up to half the time.
Today was a day of upgrades. Rud had promised himself, and silently the others in the grove, that he would upgrade their buildings, and that's what he planned to do. Since the blacksmith's workshop was already at rank one, he instead started with a smelting workshop. It was only level five and had an upgrade that allowed the smelters within to heat and cool more quickly. It also magically made those smelters operate at the ideal temperature.
The other two upgrades that were available the first time he leveled the building up were one that provided an additional smelter and another that made the item more powerful if used in an adjacent production building. That upgrade, called Production Line, actually seemed pretty good, and if nothing interesting popped up for the rank one upgrade, he planned to pick it.
"Are you touching my smelter?" Taz said, emerging from the mine as though his dwarven senses told him something was wrong with his smelter.
Rud had trouble keeping the smile from his face as he looked at the dwarf. He was covered in a layer of dust, and there were flecks of rocks still sticking to his beard. The druid shook his head. "I'm upgrading your smelter. I was going to grab you before I picked the option, but since you're here..."
"Right, right, get on with it," Taz said, walking with a pickaxe slung over his shoulder as he approached. "How many of those core fragments do you have?"
"Enough that we could likely upgrade everything in the Grove to rank one, maybe even rank two. The adventurers have been leaving quite a lot of them, especially since they have an incentive to do so. More dungeons mean more happy adventurers."
Taz wasn't a dwarf to stand idly by and chit-chat. He simply folded his arms and waited for the goods. Rud didn't mind. He began shoving the fragments into the side of the building, watching as they melted and empowered the structure. It rose in levels slowly, the magic intensifying, until it was almost blinding. Then, with a flash, it finally rolled over to level 10, granting the smelting building the title of rank one and presenting the druid with a fresh option to pick from. He inspected it, reading it for Taz to hear.
[Slag Recycling]
Smelting Workshop Upgrade
Description:
What use is a bunch of ruined metal if you can't do anything with it?
Effect:
Slag produced in the workshop can be fed back into the smelters, producing a small amount of the base metal from the wasted material.
"That might be helpful on an industrial scale, but I'm not sure about our little operation," Taz said, scratching at his beard. "Could you read the description of that production one again?"
Rud was all too happy to oblige. He disregarded the Additional Smelter upgrade and instead read the description for the Production Line.
[Production Line]
Smelting Workshop Upgrade
Description:
Using your own resources is good!
Effect:
If an ingot is produced within the smelter and used within a nearby workstation, the resulting item will be more powerful.
"It might feel weird going back and picking an old upgrade, but that one is actually pretty good." Taz said, "If you don't mind, I'd like for us to pick that one."
"This is your building now, so choose whichever option you think will work best for you."
The building pulsed with faint magic after he selected the upgrade. On the periphery of his senses, Rud could feel the change take hold within the smelter. Then, he sensed Taz's desire to get in there and test it out. However, there were more upgrades to perform.
"We're going to work on the mining building next," Rud said. "It only has the one upgrade, and I don't mind spending a few more fragments to get you something that makes your home nicer."
"Aren't you just an altruist? Okay, let's get to it."
The one upgrade the Mining Workshop currently had was an enhancement that weakened the amount of stone within the mine each day. This effect reset at midnight and made it very easy for Taz to expand his home. The upgrades they had declined were both useless, and Rud was certain he would select whatever the new option presented was. However, upgrading a building to rank one wasn't just about obtaining the upgrades. He suspected that all mining actions within the mine would become more powerful, and that might even include the quality of materials that appeared there. But there was only one way to find out. He shoved the fragments into the building and watched as the magic swirled around it.
It didn't take long for the workshop to reach rank one. The magic swirled, and the options appeared. Rud was quick to read the newest one aloud to the dwarf because he knew he would choose it.
[Song of the Dwarves]
Mining Workshop Upgrade
Description:
Dwarves are known for their mining songs. No matter how shallow or deep a dwarven mine is, you can expect it to be accompanied by a powerful song.
Effect:
Singing a traditional dwarven song while working in this mine grants you a significant bonus to all mining actions. If a song is sung for enough days in a row, rare materials appear within the walls.
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"Is there even any question about that one?" Taz asked, shaking his head. "We'd have to be idiots not to take that. Not only is it a great boon to my mining enterprises, but you also get to hear my lovely voice all the time."
"I can't wait," Rud said, fluttering his eyelashes at the dwarf.
"Don't be weird about it," Taz grumbled.
Rud had to think about it, but he suspected there were only two more buildings within the grove he needed to upgrade to rank 1 for everything to be at rank 1. Those were the Barn and his newest Tea Workshop building. Taz had actually held true to his promise to milk the cows every day. It was likely the allure of the cheese. When Rud finished his work on those two buildings, he made his way to the Barn and the paddock. He had previously upgraded it to level 5, granting him the Animal Tracking upgrade. That upgrade was the first one he had selected with a synergy. Connecting to the Observatory, it allowed him to track animals within the grove.
It was a handy upgrade that had nothing to do with animal husbandry.
The druid gave the barn the same treatment that the other buildings had received. He shoved fragments into it and waited for the new upgrade option to appear. It must have been his lucky day because the option that appeared was far better than the crummy farm-related ones he had previously seen.
[Heavy Udders]
Barn Upgrade
Description:
Who doesn't like milk!?
Effect:
Increase the potential milk extracted from milk-producing animals.
Animals will produce milk so long as they are regularly milked.
Note: this upgrade does not force animals which are not normally milked to produce milk for you. We simply cannot have you creating squirrel cheese.
Although the name of the upgrade wasn't entirely appealing, Rud was happy to accept it. More milk meant more cheese, and more cheese meant a happier dwarf. The druid went to his next building to be upgraded. It was a building he hadn't even inspected yet. Standing outside the tea workshop, he pressed his hand against the wall and summoned the interface.
[Tea Workshop]
Rank 0 Level 1 Sacred Tree Building
Description:
A building dedicated to the production of dried tea leaves.
Upgrades:
None
Rud checked in his bag and ensured he had enough fragments to handle this building, but what he found was far more than he needed. He could do quite a few more and still have some left over. With Ban now drawing the majority of her energy from the grove itself, or more likely the Labyrinth, he didn't have to worry about having too many Arcane Fragments on hand. He shook his head, getting back to the task at hand.
The druid shoved the dungeon core fragments into the building. Watching in appreciation as it shimmered with energy, he was so impressed with the way the sacred tree had incorporated these buildings into the grove that he couldn't help but marvel at what he saw. This was another building tied to the Great Spirit of the Land. It was a conceptual spirit that he still didn't quite understand. Only when the system message appeared, informing him that three upgrades were available to inspect, was he snapped out of his thoughts.
The druid went through each option.
[Quick Drying]
Tea Workshop Upgrade
Description:
Why waste time waiting around? Sip your tea NOW!
Effect:
The time it takes for tea stored in this building to dry is reduced.
As this was the first option Rud looked at, he wasn't sure if he would take it right away. It was an incredibly strong candidate, though, since waiting for tea leaves to dry was one of the most annoying parts of his process. He earmarked this one as the best so far and moved on to the next.
[Potent Formations]
Tea Workshop Upgrade
Description:
What's better than tea? Potent tea!
Effect:
Crystalline formations appear on your drying tea leaves, increasing the effects of that tea.
Most production buildings had an upgrade that increased the potency of the items produced there. This was the tea workshop's version of that. It was themed around crystals forming on the surface of the tea leaves, which would enhance the effects. Rud wasn't certain whether this was better than the quick-drying option, but that just highlighted the differences in the upgrades as a matter of speed versus potency. Did he want more tea leaves, or did he want them to be more effective?
For now, he inspected the last option.
[Pests, Be Gone!]
Tea Workshop Upgrade
Description:
Pests that would otherwise infest your stores are banished through the power of magic!
Effect:
Insect-type pests can no longer enter this building.
If pests were a regular occurrence, this would be the option he picked. But Rud had never had insects attacking his stores. That left him to choose between the option that would allow him to create his teas more quickly or the one that would strengthen them. Of course, he leaned toward the option that would make the tea leaves dry faster. The market for his teas was massive, and he knew people would snatch up all the stock he produced. Rud selected Quick Drying as his first upgrade and went back to shoving fragments into the building.
It didn't take long for the next upgrade option to appear. The building reached rank one quickly, shimmering with the same energy that the others had that day. Rud could feel the power of the grove bristling over his skin. It gave him goosebumps and sent a shiver down his spine. When the newest option appeared, he shook his head. If only his other buildings had presented him with something so good. He expected to select this newest one, but still read it all the way through.
[Grove Tea]
Tea Workshop Upgrade
Description:
The tea produced in this building is infused with the power of the grove. Any tea dried here will produce more potent effects, thanks to that power.
Effect:
The effects of your teas dried within this building scale with the power of the grove.
Rud shook his head, trying not to laugh at himself. Anytime an option appeared that was aligned with the power of the Grove, he selected it. This time was no different. He was happy to pick this one and stood outside his workshop with his hands on his hips. A look of pride flashed across his face. He had taken care of all the buildings within the grove, and now it was time to chill out. Or so he thought.
The druid didn't hear Nulsa alight on a branch behind him. Instead, he heard the gentle hoot of the owl. He spun around to spot the great beast there, looking with a curious expression on its face.
"You weren't planning on calling it a day, were you?" Nulsa asked, offering another curious hoot.
"I'm done with all the buildings," Rud said, ticking each one off in his mind. "So yeah, I think we're probably done."
"You've missed one, you silly druid," Nulsa said. "You haven't upgraded the observatory to rank one."
Rud clicked his tongue. "I knew I was missing something," he lied. In truth, he thought he had everything without exception. Somehow, the Observatory—a building he had spent quite a lot of time in—had slipped his mind entirely. "Wanna come with me?"
Nulsa shrugged, flying from the branch and doing circles above the druid. "Sure."
Rud traveled through the nearest thicket, arriving at the base of the observatory tower a moment later. This was a building he had upgraded to level 5, selecting the communication system upgrade that had been so beneficial for him he had dismissed the idea of getting any more. Even though his far-seeing skill was one of his most useful abilities, this building had slipped his mind. He pressed his hand against the surface of the structure and nodded to himself, "You're a good building," he said.
"Ah, our druid is losing his mind…"
"I think I've spent too much time today upgrading buildings," Rud said, turning to offer the owl a smile. "I don't know if it takes anything out of me, but it very well might."
"Your connection with the grove is deep," Nulsa offered in his sage-like way. "You feel the changes here more than most. Sacred beasts align with it."
Rud shoved fragments into the building, watching as it rose in levels. Finally, it rolled over to rank one and presented its newest option. The druid's mouth fell open, and he looked to Nulsa with wide eyes. "Oh, that's going to change things," he said.