“I’ll ask about it,” said Serin, the day after. Alfed mentioned that he wanted to try building something but was stopped by the NPC guard
“What do you want to build?” asked she
“I don’t know … how about fence around campfire, and benches?” said he
“Wait a bit,” said Serin. After a few moment pass, she said again, “it’s approved. You may,” said she, “but it will probably take a while till the order arrives to the guard. So let’s hunt again,” said she
So the three entered the dungeon again.
Fourth floor of the dungeons is the furthest they can go. The dungeon actually has 5 floors, but the last floor is occupied by monsters that drop attribute stone. Attribute stone may be processed into magic scrolls, hence has some value. A lot of high level adventures carry a lot of magic scrolls, just in case. Some build even consider the magic scrolls as part of the general strategy. For example, it is not uncommon for solo oriented archers to raise INT so that they can have decent damage on fireball they cast, which may be a life saving thing if he is trapped. A lot of magicians with full power build – that is, they sacrifice their maximum mp in order to gain a bit more Magic Attack stats -- also carry them around. Hence, it can be sold for some amount of money.
And thus only guild members may enter.
The leveling speed is lower because they now have same level as the enemy, but the party gain steady exp. Like the day before, they partied non-stop for several days. Meri reached level 172 and Alfed 160, before they decided to leave the dungeon again and done for the day.
As they went out, the guard approached Alfed, saying that he has permission to start construction. He nodded, and said that he will do so later.
The three logged out again after the promise to meet at the same time the day after. Alfed quickly went out to get dinner, take a shower, and then start sketching
As for the campfire, he just planned to put several logs in intertwining order. As for the bench, he sketched three different types. He sketched three: One simple bench out of wood, one bench with a lot of ornament, and one large simple bench.
He made three in order to see the difference. Before committing more of his time on a work, he wants to know whether ornamental and larger size building may have better stats.
With that in mind, he logged in again to the Royal Road.
As he was about to gather the wood, though, the guard stopped him again.
“You need permission to harvest the three here,” said he
“Didn’t I have permission?” asked Alfed
“You have permission to build campfire and benches, but unfortunately you do not have the authorization for cutting the tree,”
“… not again …” Alfed sighed
The next day, Meri laughed at him
“Well. I can relate a bit,” said Alfed, “if you remove certain trees, the camp’s view may changed. That, may be something that they don’t want. Also, there is no monster coming to the area near the camp, which is a pretty good thing. What if, by cutting a few trees, I accidentally change the equilibrium; the algorithm in monster’s detection changes, and then they came to the camp? Would not that be terrible?” said Alfed
“That’s a lot coming from people who are actually stopped,” said Serin
“That’s how it is in the real world,” said Alfed
“I see,” said she
“What’s your job?” asked Meri to Alfed. She knew that Alfed is paid to be architect, but she did not know more about it.
“Architect,” said Alfed
“Not your job in Royal Road. Real Job, I mean,” said Meri
“I’m college student by the way,” said she again, “19 years old,”
“My real job is architect, though technically I have yet to graduate. Last semester of school,” said Alfed
“Oh. Wow,” said she
“And you Ms Serin? How old are you”
“Well … this and that,” is her answer
Even though Alfed is curious, because Meri did not push the agenda more than that, he was forced to let go of his curiosity
They hunt again in the dungeon, but not for a long time this time. Afterwards they went out of the area, and then help Alfed cut some trees. It’s fortunate that one of Dimension Mage’s skills was gravity manipulation and levitation, so they carried twenty logs at ease
Alfed had previously bought some tools like saw, nails, and ropes. He tried a bit here and there before able to finish what he intended to create
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‘Bench’ is created, the message appeared in his screen
Regular bench. Because it is created by a great architect, it is sturdier than regular branch and have special attributes. Hp: 12. Increase recovery rate by 1% for people who sit on it. Weak to Fire,”
“Well. I suppose a bench is just a bench,” Meri laughed at him
Even though this bench has special stats, 1% increase recovery is so minuscule that no one probably bothered.
Alfed and the other two finished other benches and campfire.
Even though the stats was as terrible, the campfire actually is a bit useful, because the benefit can be felt by people nearby.
Even though it’s also only 1% increase in recovery
By experiment, it seems that the bench with ornaments have higher stats. Its Hp is 13 and same 1% recovery, but probably if the scale is larger the difference will show. Larger bench is the same.
Alfed’s Architect+ skill barely increase to level 2 because of logging and creating the 4 item. Craftmanship lv 1 only increase by 10%. Considering it takes a few days RR time, it’s not exactly a good thing.
“Seems like increasing expertise in architect skill is not that easy,” said Serin
The three then conclude the day. Meri needed to go to the city to buy some stuff. Serin also said that they should try new dungeons because hunting there provides too little experience now.
After reaching the city, Alfed logged out first. He wrote the report to TSA on his progress and what he find out about the architect skill, and then went to sleep early.
Little did he knew that there are some changes in real world that will soon affect him
It all started with a world architecture conference in Shanghai.
After a not-so-exhausting day, the upper managements of TSA (and pretty much everyone else in that conference) went drinking. One drink led to another, and one bar to another.
And then on the third bar, they met their fellows
They sensed it from afar. The men were dressed in blue suit with crème tie, a few women in the similarly colored suit and skirt. They sat at the VIP table in front. The assistant manager, an attractive Chinese lady, was with them all the time, smiling, part of it because its her job and part of it because of the expensive liquor they kept ordering
“The bastards,” grumbled Mr Anderson.
All of the TSA executives knew them. Pretty much most of the people knew them.
They were BAK, a British architectural firm, whose half of the members carried with them a part of blue blood.
The name is actually British Architectural Knight, but because it was so lame, for the sake of greater good and in mind of other’s feeling, most people called them BAK only.
And they spotted them
“Mr Anderson! Mr Murhphy! Mr Gordon! Fancy meeting you here,” said one of them
It was Sir Henry Sherwood, one of the executive of BAK
TSA executives reluctantly nodded
“Come come. Let me treat you a drink,” said Sir Henry, chuckling, “I need to brief you on the status of our new Clock Tower quest. The Royal Library is going to hold contest to build a clock tower that may symbolize the rapid development of the Eastern Cities! Ah, it’s a B-Class quest though, probably too hard for you,”
Everyone agreed that BAK members were jerks. Or at least the executives were.
And all of them were the addicts of Royal Road. They were all under one guild – BAK Guild, and most are at level 300 and more, with pretty awesome equipment (that’s mostly purchased)
Sir Henry started talking about how high his affinity with the kingdom, and how then he was invited by the Royal Librarian to see the development of the newly conquered cities in the East, and how BAK Guild manages to defeat a lot of invading monsters there and on.
But this time Mr Anderson held his tongue and listen carefully. Because he has a great idea
The day after, Mr Anderson send Alfed a message, “TSA will start the Clock Tower Quest. We will take care of the prerequisite quests, while you are to improve your skills as high as possible. One month real world’s time, let’s meet at Rosenheim Royal Library”