Town Builder

Chapter 52

Breda had a report from Sanso that there were large iron deposits at the base of the mountains. “Untapped iron deposits Lord Tallis! That means the first time a deposit is mined; it is automatically one quality level higher! It may just be iron, but it will be a gold mine as it is the only iron deposit within 300 miles outside of dungeons.” Her excitement was uncontrolled.

“No,” I started. “We can’t afford the attention it would draw to us. If we started trading iron, then the human kingdom to the south would surely move to conquer us. Let’s focus on growing the orc outpost to produce heavy calvary secretly.” Breda was smart, too smart, by her next response.

She had a self-satisfied grin, “To make heavy calvary, you need heavy armor and barding made from steel.” Breda’s eyebrows were arched expectantly.

I sighed, “The next NPC auction is coming in a few days. We will build the mining outpost if I can get a miner or two.” My instinct was to wait till we were stronger, but we needed raw materials on the cheap, and iron was one of them.

Breda’s face turned into a frown, “Well, about that... The deposits are in a region with spawn sites for giant mountain goats. They are level 90. We have to clear the spawn sites, construct a building, and defend it for 24 hours to dispel the spawn sites.” My eyes squinted at her, and I got a growing headache. I had increased the mountain’s difficulty recently.

“Let us shelve the mine for now. Any miners I recruit can mine the copper deposits for now,” I said, closing the subject. The conversation reluctantly turned to the buildings I needed to raise the quality of the monuts. There were four buildings: a granary, a rare or higher stables, a livestock veterinarian, and a water purification building. The last one was easy, as Breda stated that Sanso could build a well.

Next, we talked about the road that needed to be built to the outpost. Breda convinced me the bonuses from a road were too good to postpone. The road wouldn’t need to be paved, and Breda was certain Sanso’s earth golems could make a dirt road in a single day. Then Breda wanted all our town builders to go out there for the next week to get the outpost started. I wasn’t sending Jaesmin, but the rest were fine to go. It would hurt to lose Sanso for a week, but we could manage. I had a lot of drafting to do, and I could start building my new manor with Jaesmin over the next week.

Mad Dog was in the inn drinking with Grinder relaying his epic battle to his friend. He paused his third retelling of the heroic tale. “Tallis, what is the word, mate?”

“Thank you for helping Mad Dog. The annexation was painless with your help. Do I owe you anything for all the potions you used?” I asked while sitting at the table.

“Nah, mate, it was epic. What’s 300 gold in potions between friends?” Mad Dog said waving his hand. Was that an amount for me to repay him? I had a workaround.

“You can go see the alchemist. I will give you a 300 gold credit at her store.” I said, trying to repay the debt.

“Really mate, no need. The experience from the quest got me a level, and a Khan’s sash. It is worth more than 300 gold easy,” he smiled and knocked back a mug of juice. My dinner was placed in front of me, and I ate it with gusto. I listened to Grinder and Mad Dog talk about the fight while I ate and then excused myself. I had a lot of drafting tonight, and I wanted to spend some time with Jaesmin.

Jaesmin was meeting with the rabbit bakers when I entered our home. “Tallis! These wonderful people came by to thank you. You were not here, so we decided to have some tea and talk. They also had a gift.” She looked around the room, grabbed a scroll from the end table, and handed it to me. I opened the scroll.

You have found a scroll of greater teleport. This can be used to transport you anywhere in the world or can expand the range of a portal stone by 1,000 miles

“Wow, this is quite the gift. Thank you!” I was going to use it on my portal stone for sure, but maybe it could add to the auction house range. I would have to ask Persephone. “This gift far outweighs what I have given you. Is there anything I can do for you two?”

The two rabbitkin looked at each other and then at me. The female spoke, “Savannah, the elf alchemist, has been talking to our daughter Bella about how you gave her the apprenticeship. Could you find Bella an apprenticeship in magic? Any magic. She has always wanted to be a mage.” They looked at me expectantly.

I had a few mages in town, Sanso the earth mage, Manto the old lightning mage, Persephone the enchanter, and Titus, my gnome Hospitalar. “I can’t promise anything, but I will ask around.” This response got me furry hugs, and they left our home happy. I immediately sat on the couch and pulled Jaesmin on top of my lap for an old-school make-out session.

Later, I was at my desk and working on the new stable design. It was going to be an important building, so I planned to spend the entire night on it. I had my notes and decided to make it large enough for 50 mounts. Breda had told me two stables with a combined capacity of 100 would yield 20 mounts a month. That was my ideal number for the growth of my calvary.

Before the sun rose, I finished and looked at the end result.

Very Rare Stone Training Stables (Capacity 50), Health 50,000, Requires Masonry Structures 43 (Bonus +15% to mount statistics, +20% mount speed, once per day has a 5% chance to complete a random mounts training instantly)

The magic ability to accelerate a mount’s training was a surprise. I had only half-attempted to include an enchantment on the building. It added a lot of cost in terms of magic essence to the construction and meant I would need to be present during the construction to empower the enchantment. It seemed like I was never going to get time to myself. I had time to draft the granary and had plans for a stone granary ready to go with the stables.

Uncommon Granary, Health 20,000, Requires Masonry Structures 23 (Bonus: anti-vermin aura, 100 feet)

It looks like I was going out with everyone else today. Jaesmin wanted to come, and I let her. As long as I was there to protect her I felt comfortable with her coming. I had Jaesmin gather our build teams while I traveled to Manto’s tower.

The old mage was sleeping when I knocked but didn’t seem upset when he opened the door, his hair in disarray. “Manto, I wanted to check with you and see if you are willing to take on an apprentice,” I asked without entering his tower. He yawned in response to my question.

“Apprentice? I have taught a few people magic skills in town, but an apprentice? Who did you have in mind?” The old mage asked.

Was it really this easy? “The bunny girl who hangs out with Savannah.” Manto’s face was thoughtful.

“Young. Energetic. Charismatic. Kind of Heart. Yeah, sure. I was getting bored. Do you want her to focus on healing, lighting, or air magic?” Manto asked. Those were his three specializations.

“All of them?” I responded more as a question and hope. Also, the fact that Manto had said he was getting bored tingled something in the back of my mind. An NPC AI was getting bored. Should I be worried about it?

Manto’s eyebrow arched, “Fine. I have a spare bedroom. She can move in today. I will be expecting her.” He shut the door softly. That seemed too easy.

I went to the bakery to give the bunny girl the good news. I had been expecting Manto to say no and Sanso to be the one to acquiesce. Bella, the bunny girl, was in school, but I told her parents and got sandwiched between the two fluffies in a hug.

I went and found Jaesmin and my build team ready and mounted. Sanso’s golems were there as well. Four of them would complete the dirt road to the outpost following us. As far as I understood it, they were going to till the earth and compact it. We had to clear any spawn sites in the path. When the spawn site was cleared, it would just relocate out of the aggro range of the road. Tanguin planned to have eight cavalry patrols on the road three times a day to satisfy the requirements to keep the spawns off the actual road. If he didn’t, then they were free to wander onto the road.

We had to ride slowly as most of our group didn’t have the riding skill. I sent a message to Grinder to see if he could get me plans for building a portal stone at the outpost. I already knew I needed my three enchanting skills at level 23 to draft plans for a portal stone myself. I just knew when I reached that 23 trifecta for all my enchanting skills, I would be able to draft some pretty amazing plans.

I handed the plans to Sanso as we rode. He looked them over and spoke, “The master of guilds was asking for you to build a special building. Did he talk to you yesterday, Lord Tallis?” Sanso asked.

“No, what do I need to draft to make him happy?” I asked, liking the slow pace of the ride. We had the patrol riding in front of us and caring for the spawns, so we had nothing to do.

“He called it an adventures hall. It is a special building. It’s like an inn/tavern, but it spawns quests on a quest board. He said you would be interested because the rewards would not be drawn from the town’s coffers.” Sanso said. I stopped and looked back at Malcum. I wanted to rush back, talk to my Master of Guilds, and give him a hug. Then, draft the building right away with his input. If I had quests available for players that gave good rewards, then we could support more players in Malcum.

I wasn’t going to leave Jaesmin, so I continued on my ride. I let Sanso look at the plans for the Lord’s Manor as well, and he estimated four days to build with all the builders, but the bonuses were too good to postpone construction. I checked the bonuses again.

Very Rare Lord’s Manor, 500,000 health, Requires Masonry Structures 43, Woodcraft Structures 23 (Bonus +10% to the productivity of subjects, +10% experience to subjects) (Effect: Palace Guards 6, Spawn Rate 1 every 12 hours, Level 50)

We were still gathering high-quality lumber and stone for the project. I was hoping for as much as a 50% boost to the bonuses and the guard’s level. Well, at a minimum, a 20% boost for all the preparation. I didn’t want this building rushed, as maximizing the bonuses could accelerate Malcum’s growth substantially.

We arrived at the orc outpost and got to work. With all our summoned stone, I hoped to be able to finish one stable and the granary today. I also got notifications of the soldiers dropping morale as we built the new buildings. I was going to have to draft the smaller barracks tonight. After the two buildings, we even had time to build a townhouse today.

The golems completed the road late in the evening, and Sanso volunteered to stay overnight at the outpost and have his golems start on some earthen walls. I thanked him for his dedication and returned with everyone else to Malcum. Too many buildings were needed in both locations, and I did not have enough builders.

On returning, my crew got a meal on me at the inn, which was packed tonight. A table was cleared immediately as the builders had a very high standing in Malcum from their tireless work. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to receive the large influx of NPCs.

I left them eating and went to find my Master of Guilds. He was at the town hall and was talking with Breda. Were they actually getting along now? Breda excused herself when she learned I was here for Neral, the giantkin Master of Guilds. Neral had dozens of updates that I patiently listened to. His managerial skills gave small bonuses to each guild in Malcum, which more than made up for his 25 gold a month salary.

Finally, we reached the topic of the Adventurer’s Guild. He said I could draft a basic adventurers guild hall now that I had the enchanting skills. The quality of the building would determine the range of quests that appeared on the board. It sounded too good to be true. I spent an hour with Neral as we sketched out the building. It would need to be manned by someone for the guild quest board to work. Neral said he could do it since he could do his Guild Master duties from the structure with a large enough office, and that would add even more bonuses since his skill level was so high.

When I returned to my drafting table, I started on the barracks first. I tried to make the building self-sufficient, at least, that was my mentality going into the project. Halfway through the night, the plans were completed.

Very Rare Barracks (Capacity 52), Health 100,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Masonry Structures 43 (Bonus +25% Stamina Pool Recovery, +25% Health Pool Recovery, (Effect: Medic, Level 30)

Another NPC spawning building with a high essence cost in materials. Thankfully, I had Mad Dog and crew to fetch the required materials. I sent the group the list. They would gather the materials and then sell them to Malcum’s general store at the minimum fair exchange. The building only had one NPC but a very useful healer. A healer that would never leave the structure, but that was fine. It would take me five hours to redraft a second set of building plans. I finished the second barracks and handed off the plans in the morning. The builders were going back today without me. Jaesmin and I were going to demolish our house and get ready to build our manor.

Taking down my first home in the Malcum was emotional. We had built a small tiny one room house in the gardens maintained by my stick golems, and it just had a bed and a drafting table for me. We would take all our meals at the inn until we completed our new residence. I wouldn’t miss Jaesmin’s cooking even though it had improved. By noon the small building was complete, and I left Jaesmin for the demolition as I sat at my drafting table. When my magic pool was replenished, I would go outside and create stone, but that was all my contribution to the build efforts.

There were just too many plans to draft. I started with the second stables and then did a granary building for Malcum. The pest control effect was too good to pass up. It was late evening, and I joined Jaesmin for a meal at the inn. She was exhausted from demolishing and hauling away debris for recycling. Of the Silverlings Playbook Guild, just Mad Dog was at the inn.

“Tallis, mate, how is the manor coming? We dropped off the essences on the list this afternoon,” He said while sitting at our table.

“It is going to be a long haul. I need Sanso and the other builders here to complete it in a timely manner. With just me and Jaesmin; it might take a month,” I said, cutting into a delectable lion steak.

“Isn’t your NPC auction closing soon? Could you add some more builders?” Mad Dog said while sipping a red juice. I checked on the auction; two more days till it closes. Maybe I should start pushing my bids.

“Forty-nine hours till it closes and goes into the second phase. I have…” I checked my village finances and was very happy. Our deficit was shrinking as Kytalia got the economy going single-handedly. “I have 23 platinum to spend. That still gives me a buffer of three weeks of reserves.” Even that was tight.

“Since our pods are all paid up, we have been pushing money into your economy. I am surprised you have just 23 platinum extra,” he said, sounding concerned.

“Well, Malcum’s deficit isn’t bad, but the new outpost added a governor and his two attendants to the payroll. I assume the two attendants are his shamans, and their combined salaries are just over a platinum.” I stopped Mad Dog from going off with my hand, “It is actually a fairly low wage considering their levels and rank. The two attendants are classified as elite NPCs, and Dashkil is a boss NPC.” Mad Dog’s eyes went wide. Boss NPCs were notorious for being difficult to beat. I was now certain Kytalia had been correct in assuming he had thrown the fight. “So, what do you know about adventurer’s guild halls? I think I am going to draft one tonight.”

Mad Dog’s arched a brow at my statement. “Adventurer halls are just a place players go to get quests. It saves the player time from talking with NPC’s. They are common in the big cities but NPC quests generally have better rewards,” Mad Dog explained. His explanation left me wanting. Neral had made these buildings sound fantastical.

“I have been told the quest rewards from the posted quests will not draw on Malcum for its rewards,” I said. Mad Dog’s eyes widened and understanding and started nodding.

“Then it is a good idea to build one. That would save us some time from having to go to other cities for quests. The quests were not that exceptional from the few boards I read, though,” Mad Dog offered.

A large man sat unannounced at the table. It was Neral who was smiling. “I heard your conversation from over there,” he waved his hand at a table of giantkin. “You are correct, Mad Dog. You need to register with the Adventurer’s Guild and then do quests. You will have a rank in the Adventurer’s Guild; the more you level up your rank, the more complex, difficult, and rewarding quests will be available to you.”

Mad Dog’s jaw didn’t work for a moment. I said, “Not public knowledge, I am assuming.” He nodded slowly. I guessed he missed an update for Adventurer’s Hall. I continued, “Go. Go and sell your information before someone beats you to it.” He ran upstairs like a kid late for dinner. Neral and I talked more about the Adventurer’s Guild Hall. He wanted it to have a capacity of 100 rooms, which seemed excessive, but he was the master.

I retreated to my box in the woods with Jaesmin. She changed and lay on the bed while I sat at the drafting table and worked hard at trying to make the perfect building.

I worked late into the morning, and after 14 hours, I felt I was tapped out and finished the plans.

Epic Adventurer’s Guild (Capacity 250), 250,000 Health, Requires Masonry Foundations 43, Masonry Structures 43, Woodcraft Carpentry 43, Enchanting Ritual Magic 23 (Bonus: +15% experience for eight hours after resting for eight hours in a room, Effect: Spawns 250 Tier 1 quests, 200 Tier 2 quests, 150 Tier 3 quests. 50 Tier 4 quests, 10 Tier 5 quests, 50% chance for 1 Tier 6 quest, 10% chance for 1 Tier 7 quest daily)

Six hundred and sixty quests a day! I felt the epic nature of the building was due to Neral’s professional input mixed with my skill. The two sub-basements were packed with unique rooms. The first floor had training rooms, a tap room, and a vault. The upper five floors were all player rooms. If Neral were correct, I would earn an entire gold from each room monthly! The players would also count as residents if they rented a room! There was a tax on all profits from the global Adventurer’s Association of 10%, but that was tiny compared to all the potential revenue from the building.

Now, building it was an issue. My masonry foundations were 38, 5 short. Woodcraft Structures was 33, but Varrine was over 43 in the skill, so that didn’t matter. My ritual enchanting skill was only a level 9, a long way from the required 23. I had been stuck in this nightmare before!

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