“Uhhhggg,” Mark groaned, sitting up.
“You feeling better?” Amelia asked. She was currently standing next to her cot with one foot up tying her shoe.
Mark ignored her, hastening to the bathroom. It was not the first time she had tried to engage him in the last few days. The last time he had just groaned before turning to face the other way in his cot. Two and a half days had passed since the two kobolds had infiltrated their territory. This was not Mark’s first time getting up. He had woken up several times as biological needs dictated. He would go to the bathroom, drink some water and then it was back to his cot. Although yesterday he had even taken a few bites of some porridge-like dish Amelia had left out for him, before going back asleep.
Overall he felt like a grape that had all its juice sucked out and been turned into a raisin. Which he guessed was not too far off. He had lost a lot of blood. The potion Amelia had given him had fixed his wounds, but it did not replace the blood. The potion provided energy, but it was his own body that had fixed itself. The process was apparently pretty taxing to restore someone back from death’s door.
Exiting the bathroom, he sat back on his cot. He still felt a bit sluggish, but was not so tired that he would be able to go back asleep. He started nibbling on some crackers that Amelia had left out.
“I guess you feel better now?” Amelia once again inquired.
“As well as you could expect, after getting beaten up by an overgrown lizard,” Mark mumbled. Honestly, Mark’s pride was a little wounded. Like any other able bodied guy, he liked to think that he would hold up pretty good in a fight, but he had barely been able to hold the creature off. Sure it was a monster, but kobolds were likely even weaker than goblins if they were at the same power rating since their intelligence was supposedly higher.
“I thought you did pretty well,” Amelia said plopping down on her own cot across from him.
Mark nodded. “And how are you feeling?”
“Well it did hurt like hell,” she stated, flashing a fake pout face to garner sympathy. Mark’s face remained passive. She sighed. “I’m good now. It was not as worse off as you were. A few minutes after taking the potion, I felt practically like normal. I don’t even have a scar. It will make a good story someday. How many people can claim they actually got shot before,” she added.
“Oh, I did not realize you actually got hurt,” Mark said, looking away. He had been more so asking about her emotional or mental state.
“Hmmm, well I guess that makes sense. You were a little busy with the other one. Both the kobolds had these one time use crossbows. The one you hit with the spear, shot me in the back as I was trying to escape.”
Mark grimmaced. He knew there was not much more he could have done. It had actually worked out rather well, but he still felt bad about her getting hurt. Honestly, Until the kobold had stabbed him in the gut the final time, he had not really felt the other wounds. The adrenaline pumping through his veins had dulled them out almost entirely. He was aware they had happened, but he had only felt a dull echo of pain from them. The knife in the gut had been different. It had been overwhelming. It was all he could do to hold on to the kobold as long as possible as he felt his strength waning.
“I’m sorry, so how have things been going the last few days?” Mark asked, deciding to shift topics.
“It’s fine,” Amelia replied curtly. “It's as if you think like you think things would burn down to the ground as soon as you take your eyes off of them.” Amelia’s eyes narrowed.
“Not what I meant,” Mark said before adding with a smile. “I mean I obviously had things running pretty smoothly. It would almost be a surprise if it all went south after only a few days.”
“Huh… the two kobolds sneaking into our territory happened under your watch,” she ‘hmmfffed’. Mark could tell she was not in any way upset. She was being more playful. “By the way, how did they do that?” Amelia’s face scrunched up.
“No clue, maybe their specialization or some other feature we don’t know about. Important thing is we will have to be more careful. I hope you have been taking guards with you when you go out.” Mark had been in and out much of the last few days, but often Amelia had not been there.
“I’m not that dumb,” Amelia glared at him. “I have been taking half of the entrance guard everytime I leave. I even have them periodically check the surrounding trees and bushes before I arrive somewhere and before I leave.”
“That works, better to task them then the others that actually have something to do,” Mark said. The entrance guard had become the cushy job that all goblins desired although its ranks were only filled with the 20 legionnaires and eventually some mages, so there really was not any turnover. “But how are things in the dungeon?”
“Pretty good, the gnomes finished all the mountain climbing spikes and rope you requested.”
“That soon,” Mark interrupted.
“Yes, they finished yesterday. As I was saying… I was planning to wait till you recovered before we sent that mission. However we did already establish contact with the neutral kobolds. I even made a deal.”
“Oh?” Mark looked at her quizzically.
“That’s right, they came with our scouting party back to the village. I met with them personally,” Amelia said studying him.
“That so…” was all that Mark said.
Amelia’s eyes narrowed. “That’s right. The only tech we could get from them is mining. They did not have any special tech like the bullywogs had…” she paused.
“So what did we offer in return?” Mark said, deciding to play his part.
“Get this. They want us to hunt down a creature that has been terrorizing their mines,” she said smiling brightly.
Mark smiled as well. The mining tech cost 15 RP, so was already a good haul, but perhaps getting a third floor guardian out of the deal would make it exceptional. He supposed the gnomes might start to grumble. Theoretically, they were supposed to get a portion of the life essence as part of their deal, but then they did not have a way to use it other than reanimating corpses yet.
It was probably why they had gotten away with using all the essence the spring could produce for themselves. However, there was one project in the works that would soon change things, the vitality bomb. It had barely been over halfway three days ago. It was probably a bit closer now. They might only have another week or two of getting all the essence to themselves, before the gnomes started wanting their due. Unfortunately, the life essence was the weakest of the three essence sources they had access to.
“So what kind of beast is it?” Mark asked.
“Well… Perhaps a bit poor timing given our recent encounter, but it is some kind of lizard monster,” she paused studying his face. Mark rolled his eyes. It was not like he hated or disliked all reptilian creatures now. Not like Amelia who hated or disliked well… pretty much everything in this battle. There were no cutesy creatures in the battle that they could get… Thank God there wasn’t, or perhaps he could have been stuck with fairies or something. He nodded for her to continue. “They are just calling it big white. From their description it sounds like some sort of salamander or a newt. Smooth, sticky skin. Since it's too powerful for them, I can only guess that it's pretty strong.”
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Mark nodded. A bear, a wasp, and now what sounds like an amphibian. Mark guessed all lizard-like creatures fell in the same category for the girl, or maybe they did not classify things the same way. Or perhaps she just did not know the difference. It would not be the first gap in her knowledge he had seen. Not that he would ever point it out. Smooth, sticky skin was clearly an amphibious trait.
“Well it will be a couple weeks before we even have enough life essence to reanimate another one,” Mark stated.
“Obviously, I thought about it. I told them we would not be able to go for another two weeks,” Amelia said, sticking her nose in the air in victory.
Mark nodded. It had been about ten days since they had wrung the spring dry. In another two weeks there should be at least as much as they had gotten the last time. The researchers should not need anymore for a while, so they could save it all up. Even better, the timing would work out almost precisely for when they would have enough DP to buy the third floor. Almost suspiciously so. Mark wondered if the girl had actually thought about it during the negotiations.
Mark pulled up his interface to the side, making it visible so Amelia could follow along if she wanted. They were sitting at 41,828 MP. It was a good amount. Enough to unlock the orc branch in another day if not tonight, but he probably should hold off. Any attacks that came at this point in the game would have hundreds of units. They really did need to keep about this amount of MP available. Not doing so, would be taking a risk. Still Mark could not say he did not feel a constant pull to buy the things he wanted as soon as he could. It was like having a button to push, but not being able to push it.
Flipping over to the research tab, Mark saw that domestication had completed. A quick check showed that a bunch of basic animals had become available on the units tab. Chickens, piglets, sheep… There were a bunch of options, and they were cheap too. There had been several building options available for such things. A chicken coop, a pig pen, a stable… Mark had dismissed them, but he could see the benefit.
There was only so much wild game in the woods for units to forage. Already most units came back empty handed. The domesticated animal buildings had cheap daily upkeep rates and the animals themselves were cheap. The animals would then grow at an accelerated rate. It was a cheap way to keep morale up for about the same cost of the cheapest of rations a day. Mark decided to add a few more goblins today to work on some of these projects. He had been meaning to restructure their forces anyways. They could run these new projects themselves. It hardly mattered how well a pig pen was built, and they might actually be excited about these projects. They might not even grumble… Well, that was probably a bit much to hope for.
Mark shifted to the Unit enhancement tab. There still was not much. Just the same basic classes. The only two that were not unlocked were healer and the mount class. Before they had not really needed healers early in the game. The weak goblins were hardly worth healing. Mark was doubtful that they would be able to heal the reanimated corpses, but it hardly mattered. They would regenerate if they were not killed outside the dungeon. Inside they regenerated even faster. There might be enough justification for healers now, but it was lower on his list than the mount class.
The mount class had been unavailable until domestication was researched. Mark felt that it was due to the semi weak reason to need the tech if riding had not been included. Unfortunately, the mount class like healer and mage cost 5,000 MP to unlock the first level. It would also cost 100 MP to give a unit the class. The extra cost was to keep balance in the battle. Otherwise, everyone would just have 1,000 mages charge an enemy dungeon. It was not a bad idea, but the cost was too prohibitive to make it work.
Mark took only a few moments to deliberate before just unlocking the class. Only techs required RP and therefore the conversion, so there really was no reason to wait. The class was soon available, and Mark saw that upgrading the class to level 2 would cost 25,000 MP. It was the same for upgrading the mage class to level 2.
Strangely, the class did not actually raise the unit's strength rating or affect any stats. However it did state that a unit would have an effective 25% increase to their effective power rating when mounted. Additionally, the mount would enjoy an effective 10% power rating with a rider since the rider was adding mutual support. Mark would have been extremely excited, if he did not see the caveat just under it. Without riding equipment both percentages would be reduced down to 10% and 5% respectively.
He supposed it made sense. Bareback riding was difficult. Riders could not have as much leverage without stirrups. The 25 and 10 percent were based on top notch saddles and supporting gear, meaning the actual percentage could fall anywhere in the range based on what they were able to put together. It was frustrating, but once again Mark was kind of happy for the caveat since other dungeons would deal with it. Could they possibly design and build better saddles than Mark, with help from the gnomes, could. Perhaps it was a way for them to have a bit of an edge over other dungeons.
Mark flitted through the various tabs. Content that there was nothing else, he set to reorganizing their forces. It was overdue. Just like with the expedition he would start organizing the squads into larger patrols, each with a red hobgoblin mage acting as a lieutenant. Legionnaires would be shifted to take over as the sergeants for squads with yellow hobgoblins becoming corporals. There would be some grumbling with the shifts, but it was better to do it now than later.
Mark added up the units. They currently had 145 greens, 13 yellows, 1 legionnaire, and 0 mages to use for his patrols. These numbers did not include the 20 legionnaires that were serving as entrance guard, the 20 red mages, or scout teams. They all already had their obligations. Mark decided on making six 37 unit patrols. Mark paused. He should give upgrades when he could.He went back to the unit enhancement tab and unlocked warrior class level 2 for 5,000 MP. If he was going to build more legionnaires he should at least give them a little bump.
Warrior level 2 would only give another 10% power rating increase on top of what was given for level 1, but it also only cost 30 MP per a unit instead of the 10 MP required for a level 1 class; still it was far more manageable than paying the 100 MP for mage and mount class level 1. It was needed. He would only be giving classes to the 17 legionnaires and 23 new yellows he was about to summon. However, Mark frowned upon seeing level 3. It would cost 25,000 MP to unlock warrior level 3. It would be a while before they could afford that expenditure.
Mark finished the summoning. In total it had cost him 10,785 MP to form the 6 patrols. Each would have a red mage, 3 legionnaire warrior lieutenants, 6 warrior yellow hobgoblins, and 27 unclassed green goblins. From now on this would be their standard patrol that they could buy for 2,765 MP. It did not seem like much, but the old standard squads had only cost 405 MP. Greens were just dirt cheap, but it was good for the patrols to have a little more muscle.
Mark wanted to keep going. Unlocking the cockroach unit would only take 4,000 MP. It would certainly be good to discover the intricacies of that, but Mark gave the idea up. They were already down to just over 21,000 MP. The responsible thing would be to hold off on it… for now.
Mark briefly swapped over to the research building. Currently only two things were completed, the piercing and defense enchantments. However, four stat enchantments were making good progress. Vitality enchantment would be the next one done. What Mark really could not wait for were the duplicate projectiles and now the energy shield enchantment that had swapped over from being undefined within the last few days. However, there was another undefined enchantment project in the works. Good things to come, he guessed.
However, the previous projects under the specialized classes had been dropped when he had swapped out the researchers. However he was still quite pleased. There were two projects that were currently undefined. Even more exciting, one of them was a combination project with life essence.
For the essence focus, there were only three projects not including the combination project with specialized classes. It was the focus with the most researchers, but it was also the focus that was the hardest for researchers to make progress. One was still undefined. However they knew the other two. One was called Rock skin pill. The other was called a vitality bomb. Mark did not know the specifics on what the projects would give, but he could infer to some extent based on their names.
Mark finally sighed as he forced himself up to his feet it was time to go outside. Just like Amelia, Mark decided to take a contingent of the entrance guard with him, although he only took 5 legionnaires. He was not particularly thrilled about having goblins follow him around, but it was necessary. Even if he thought he could just run away from threats, who was to say he would not catch a bolt to the neck.
Their dungeon was far different than the clearing it had once been. It was far larger with many trees having been cleared. With all the earth that had been moved, one could not see across it at ground level. Large mounds of dirt and other obscurations made good defenses, but definitely made infiltration easier as well. That might change once they had a guard tower with a higher vantage point, but enemy units would still be able to sneak in during the night. Well, even during the day, with how good of a job goblin sentries would do.
Anyways, five legionnaires should be enough to stall while he got away from most threats. They would scout out where he was going as well as surround him with one in every direction. It was all really rather a hassle, but he could deal with it. Last thing he wanted to do was die and leave Amelia all alone. Getting assassinated would be the absolute worst.
Mark had a lot to do today. He needed to make sure the double level pagoda watchtower and barrack projects were proceeding smoothly. He would allow the goblins to get started on their own, what Mark would call morale projects. He doubted a pig pen or chicken coup would take long, since they would not have oversight. If they turned out crappy it was their own fault.
Mark took a breath of fresh air upon exiting the dungeon. It was certainly nice to be back on his feet. The weariness he had felt the last few days would soon become a distant memory. In another day or so the fatigue would likely be completely gone.