A lot of things were set to occur on Day 16. Nasal and his scout team were set to return from the diplomatic mission to the bullywug village. The village was only a half day for his goblin units, but the tadpole and pollywogs that were returning with them had low stamina when it came to overland travel, so the trip had taken three times longer with frequent stops. It was a mark against them as to their usefulness, but then when it came to aquatic or swamp travel they were like fish in water.
So far what Mark had learned about the succession battle map was that the Endless Bluffs truly were endless. There were even plateaus jutting out of the swamp although they had not looked near as tall or imposing, but after finding the swamp which stretched on for miles, it was apparent that there were other habitats. There was likely at least one dungeon in the swamp; the aquatic units would be useful for scouting that one out. Not that they would likely be doing that any time soon. Survival was still the primary concern, and Mark would want all hands on deck.
The tadpoles and pollywogs would not be able to move quickly in and out of combat, but they could still fight. Amelia had even witnessed them jump nearly 20 feet into the air, which gave them a deadly way to enter combat albeit only being able to do it once. As long as they were defending, standing their ground, they would be as good or better than the goblins.
Another thing set to finish today was construction on the research lab and builders hut. The gnomes had arrived in force in the evening on day 14. On day 15 they had set to it with both building projects making major headway. The research lab started to really come together and the builders hut sprang into existence. At some point today, both projects will be completed. Mark was interested in seeing the specifics of what the research building would give besides giving a second daily RP point.
But most importantly today was the day their fifth RP point had just gone into completing the magic class, and Mark was very interested in seeing their capabilities. Right now their dungeon is currently sitting at 10,076 MP in preparation of building new and better units. Today he would build some mages.
Then assuming they grabbed another RP point today like they had for DP after building a floor in their dungeon, they should have enough RP points to unlock the Brown Goblin Legionnaire for 5,000 MP in two more days. The hope was that when Crassius returned, his armies would not be able to crush their forces as easily, but both new additions were uncertain.
All Mark knew of the legionnaires was that they had a power rating of 1.2. Which was a definite improvement from the yellow hobgoblin 0.8, but Mark did not know how that power would be used. The fact that they were called legionnaires made Mark picture a roman fighting force with well equipped troops and strong formations. Then again, legionnaire was technically a french word, so maybe he had some misconceptions about the term. Hopefully, they will be strong foot soldiers.
From what Mark had gathered about goblins, the hobgoblins would be better versed to be mages or other specialties like scouts that depended more on intelligence. The other goblin types would be better warriors, so there was no question on what type of goblin he would be using for his mages.
Mark had sequestered himself into a corner of their settlement clearing. He was on the opposite end from the construction projects. The gnomes were still not up and around yet, but they would be soon, and Mark did not want to be caught up in the hustle and bustle of their work. They were efficient, but they were also costing him over 2,000 MP a day to hurry production. Mark would love to keep all of them working on building projects, but the gnomes were unwilling to devote themselves for that long and Mark did not have the MP to spare. After today they would go back to only having the 10 gnome builders, and Mark would devote every available MP to building their forces.
Mark brought up the research units tab. Mage level 1 was now available. What Mark noticed first was the exorbitant cost of unlocking level 2. Paying 25,000 MP was not something that they would be able to do anytime soon. Level 2 for the other classes was only 5,000MP. After seeing that the unit cost for giving a unit the mage class was 100 MP, it became clear that mage and healer classes were ten times more expensive than the other base classes. It was a bit of a set back since each yellow hobgoblin mage would cost 220 MP instead of the 130 he had expected.
However, Mark did not hesitate in building his first yellow hobgoblin mage. The hobgoblin appeared with a staff with a polished knob on one end. Other than that there was not much difference between it and the other hobgoblins. He pulled up the screen
Yellow Hobgoblin 32 (35/125) Mage lvl 1 (conscript) Power lvl: 0.8 Morale: 50 (content) Strength 7 Attack: 1 Defense: 1 Endurance 9 Abilities/Skills Agility 8 Mage bolt, Fire Ball Vitality 8 Intelligence 8 Wisdom 5
Like all classes the mage class gave a 10% boost to the unit's power level. For the mage class the boost was actually a tangible improvement of the unit’s stats, with a noticeable boost to the unit’s intelligence and wisdom. This hobgoblin had 2 more in intelligence and 1 more in its wisdom. This was far different than the other classes where the boost increased the unit’s fighting capabilities or something.
The boost was welcome since it meant the unit had more manna to burn through, and would recover it quicker. Mark had already gleaned from the encyclopedia that for each point in intelligence the unit would have 10 MP to burn. Then for each point in wisdom the unit would recover 10 MP over ten minutes. For his level 1 mage hobgoblins this meant they would have 80 MP to use, but could only recover 50 MP every 10 minutes.
The units had two spells. Magic bolt which cost 10 MP and had a 3 second cast time. Then they had a fireball spell which cost 50 MP and had a 10 second cast time. Regardless, it was clear the units would quickly burn through all of their manna, and would hardly be able to replenish any with how quick battles were likely to happen. Perhaps the goblin tree was not the best tree to build mages from, Mark frowned.
Mark had the hobgoblin demonstrate both spells against a large and sturdy tree. The magic bolt was a small little blue ball of manna that streaked quickly from the hobgoblins staff to strike the tree. It left a blackened hole on the trunk of the tree. From which a faint trace of black smoke sifted out of. Mark equated it to being shot with a molten hot bullet. It definitely looked effective, but with how resilient the orcs were, it would likely take more than one to take them down unless the mage scored a critical hit.
The Fireball was about the size of a beach ball when it left the tip of the staff, but quickly expanded at least ten times in size. It splashed against the tree trunk with the greater part of the spell washing around the edge of the trunk. The trunk was left burning for a 3 or 4 seconds before the flames died out, leaving the smoldering charred surface of the trunk. The spell might not immediately kill units, but they would probably be out of the fight or would only be able to continue with difficulty. The fireball would easily hit 2 or 3 units as long as they were close enough.
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Mark built another 9 hobgoblin mages. Then he spent the rest of the morning testing them. The magic bolts proved to be quite versatile. They would accurately hit their target and could be shot with any sort of trajectory. They could fly straight at the target, or they could sail in arcs to any degree. The only limiting factor was the distance traveled. Mark guessed it to be about 200 feet. The steeper the arc the less distance the spell could go since the 200 feet was the spell's flight path. The bolt would strike with the same force as long as it was within the 200 feet, after which it would sizzle out within another 10 to 20 feet and hit with a reduced amount of force.
The fireball spell was less versatile. The effective range looked to be about 30 to 120 feet. It took a little bit for the spell to expand and then it would sail about a hundred feet before it started to break apart. It was a good crowd control spell, and potentially good against a group of units with shields. After gauging the effectiveness of the spells Mark retreated back to the dungeon’s core room for lunch.
They were trying to do at least one meal a day together, so that they could go through what they were doing and contemplate various plans. The meal was usually lunch. Since she was rarely up when he did breakfast, and by dinner time he was more worn down and did not really want to converse or socialize by that point.
What he saw when he entered caused him to freeze. Amelia was in yoga pants and a tank top doing her best to imitate the dance moves from a music video on a barn door sized, slightly translucent video screen. Mark just watched for a minute as she continued on. She actually was not half bad. She was hitting most of the moves with a second or two lag. He had known she had a whole database worth of books, but apparently she had other stuff. Mark felt a slight annoyance at having access to none of it.
Movies, music, and books from whole other planets would be pretty cool. He could not nerd out about dungeon stuff all the time. His dreams were getting pretty game-like since it was all he spent his time doing for the last two and a half weeks. He could use some recreation time away from it all.
Amelia froze when she finally noticed him. A second later the video flipped off. “I was just getting a bit of exercise,” she said, giving him a cheese eating grin.
“I can see that,” Mark responded. “I came back to do lunch. I just got done learning the ins and outs of our new hobgoblin mages.”
“Yeah, I know. I was watching for a little bit, but then I got bored. Don’t know how you can focus on something like that for that long, although honestly I thought you would be slightly longer,” she said wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Mark’s eyes narrowed. How often was this girl watching him. Maybe he should blur himself on the tactical map like she did, but then again she basically had administrative access being the actual contender. She could override or limit him all she wanted, but he could not do it to her. She had started to mess with him lately.
Sometimes limiting his access to certain screens among other things waiting for him to figure it out, and unless Mark wanted to make the trip back to the core room he was forced to change the contrast on his tactical map in protest. His access was usually restored mere seconds later, so he knew she was watching, while probably giggling about it.
Whatever Mark finally decided. Who cares what she did. She obviously needed the amusement he was sure it brought her. “I will go and use some bath scrub and get ready, and then I’ll join you,” Amelia stated walking back towards the hut. Mark sighed. He had already moved on. The exercise outfit was definitely new. A quick glance at his notifications and saw that another 24 MP was gone.
Since Amelia was going to be otherwise occupied for the next 45 minutes Mark started to think about what he was going to do while waiting. He did not have to think too hard. He received a notification.
[Accept negotiation with bullywug village Yes/No. Terms: Provide bullywugs with building tech and give custody of your 3 goblin squads. In return choose 2 techs from the bullywug people and accept the service of 36 units from the bullywug village.]
A glance at the tactical map showed that Nasal and company had just entered their territory. They were still a half mile out, so it might take them a while to actually get to the settlement, but apparently entering the territory was enough. Mark accepted the negotiation and immediately chose Herbology (Unique) and Traps.
Marks intent was to immediately start sifting through the trap options, but he found himself sidetracked with a new notice.
[Notice: You have gained a temporary building option. Option is available as long as at least one tadpole or pollywog is still in your service.]
Mark willed it to go to the new building option.
[Fishery (2200 MP) (0 of 1) allows the ability to allow aquatic type units to grow to maturity. Current types available Tadpole, Pollywog. Required to be built on a source of water in your territory.]
Mark blinked. He knew that there were other unit buildings to allow units to be produced although they were currently all grayed out. At the home dungeon that type of building was not required. However in the future when they had other bases and their associated territories he would need these types of buildings unless he wanted to have to move units from the home dungeon each time. For this, if he understood it right. As long as he had at least one tadpole or pollywog he would be able to develop more. A check of his units tab, did not show them as an option to summon since he had not unlocked them. Maybe it was available since the tadpoles or pollywogs could lay egg sacs in the fishery…
Mark still was not entirely sure how helpful the two types of units would be, but he would rather have them than not have. It would be entirely too easy for these 36 to die, so he would need it sooner than later. He started to scan his territory to see if there was a body of water that would meet the requirements.
What he found was a small pond or algae pool might be more accurate. It was a living room sized pool of water that likely was not more than a couple of feet deep in the middle. The surface was covered by one giant mass of algae. He checked to see if he would be able to build it there. Luckily, he was met with a little note that said it was highly suitable.
Mark hesitated. First he wondered if he really wanted to spend the MP on this. The cost was enough for a good deal of units, and they were in a situation where every unit might matter pretty soon. The second consideration was whether it would be better to build this in a larger body of water. This pool's small size might in some way limit them. They could only ever build one of these, but he currently only really had this one pool as an option. Who knows when they would be able to expand their or get another territory. There were a couple of streams that snaked through their territory as well, but the interface indicated that they were not adequate.
Whatever Mark sighed as he built it anyways. The note said that this pool was highly suitable, and Mark could not resist. He clenched his teeth as the fishery sprang into existence by the pool. The algae was cleared from one side of the brown murky water that was buoyed off. A shack appeared by the water’s edge. It looked like some rundown shack he could expect to see somewhere out in the bayou in states like Louisiana or Mississippi. There was not much, but what really drew Mark's attention was the options the building gave.
Basically the fishery had 30 slots available. A tadpole would take up 1 slot and a pollywog would take up 3. Once a slot was filled it would take one week before it matured. Mark’s mouth dropped. This would basically give them 1500 to 1800 MP worth of units every week. Better yet Mark could spend the appropriate amount of MP to give them a class when the slot was filled, and there was no other associated cost. There was only the condition that he had to keep at least one tadpole and pollywog alive to have them as options.
He did not have to do the math to realize that it was a good deal. In 2 weeks they would easily surpass the 2,200 MP he had just spent. He would have to squirrel one of each type away somewhere safe, or he could just have one of each option always being developed. That would do the same thing. Of course he would run the risk of losing them if the building was discovered and destroyed. The fishery would respawn once attached to the dungeon, but the slots would be empty.
In the end he decided the risk was pretty small. The fishery was out of the way and relatively difficult to get to. Mark decided to build 24 tadpoles and 2 pollywogs for the first batch. This would give him two full squads and two reserve tadpoles with every batch. It only cost him 240 MP to attach the warrior class to each one.
His initial excitement started to settle down as Mark thought about it in prospective It was a good boon to their dungeon. One that would provide a steady stream of low level units, but in the end it was not a game changer. It would help keep them alive earlier in the game, but later as their production increased and they got access to more units it would start to fall behind.