Mike spent the next week making various weapons, armors, and tools. He made a dozen epic rarity items, and at least a hundred rare items. Mike’s reasoning for this was that when the new currency was introduced, they would need to be given value in some way. His plan for helping with this was to sell his new creations, making them at least worth something. He would also get the side benefit of getting quite a bit of money from the venture. He finished his most impressive armor set yet, which was an epic set of armor crafted from the same material the gold coins were made from.
It was a sparkling yellow, with trims made from the silver material. Overall, it looked like armor a king should be wearing. It was better than his spider carapace armor, but not by much. It was a bit too lavish and shiny for Mike’s taste, so he decided that he would just sell it for an exorbitant price. It did have a minor enchantment in it that allowed mana to be accumulated and released, but it wasn't as good an attack as the poison his own armor could build up. Thanks to the large amount of crafting, his levels got to enjoy a nice boost.
*Profession level up x3! Prodigious Artisan of the Arcane (level 34)*
*Race level up! Human (level 33)*
A week in isolation had done him well, given the large gains. He left his workshop, his eyes needing a second to adjust to the light. Mike was surprised to see that a lot more buildings had been made in the time since he started working. He had taken the occasional break of course, but throughout the week he had stayed by his forge the entire time. This did heat up his home quite a bit, as the forge ran for a week straight, and a blast of hot air swept over all who were near his house when he left. He examined the buildings, trying to get a feel for the expanding settlement. He saw the hospital that had been requested, some more homes, an honest to god restaurant, and a bath house. Apparently people missed taking showers just as much as they missed sleeping in a bed and eating good food.
He walked into the restaurant, which had a very similar feel to the mess hall, just smaller. He smelled the food, which was absolutely heavenly to his nose. There was only one man capable of making Mike’s nose twitch in such a way, and sure enough when he looked, he could see Otto cooking through the window that opened into the kitchen. He took a seat at one of the tables, and waited for somebody to come take his order.
Nobody came, and he thought he must have missed a sign or something outside, but he was surprised when a plate was placed in front of him. The smell from before filled Mike's nose once more, making his mouth salivate from the scent. He picked up the fork he had been given, digging into the food. He was halfway through the food, savoring every bite, when he identified the dish, wanting to know what divine dish had been placed in front of him.
Fried Tarantula (Rare)
Mike choked on his food, trying not to spit out the bite he had just taken. Thankfully, he was able to use Freedom on the piece he was choking on, disintegrating the meat stuck within his throat. With far more calm than he felt, he stood up, picked up his plate, casually walked over to the trash can, and dumped the rest into the garbage can. To the many in the establishment who were also eating, it may have seemed like sacrilege to throw away something that good away, but Mike had enough tarantula bits accidentally enter his mouth when fighting them to not want anymore in there, cooked or not.
He stood by the window of the kitchen, flagging over the overworked head chef. Otto came over, still mixing some mystery stew in his arms as he approached. Mike subtly identified the stew, not liking the result.
Tarantula Stew Mix (Uncommon)
“Care to explain why you are cooking up tarantulas?” Mike asked, spotting little bits of carapace still floating through the meal.
“Because they give a good effect when fighting the spiders. Plus we have an absolute abundance of meat, and we need something to do with it.”
Mike was surprised at that first part, and checked his active effects in his menu. Right at the top was a 2% poison resistance given by the meal he had just eaten. It likely would have been higher, had he finished the dish.
“Whatever, just don’t put another spider on my plate without telling me. By the way, when is the last time you have left the kitchen?”
“I had to switch over from the mess hall to here just a few days ago. My sue chefs have been trained well enough to run that place on their own now.”
“So, you have been cooking for over two months straight?” Mike asked, mouth agape.
“Close to it.” Otto responded, injecting some of his mana into the stew. “I have been quite busy, and there are a lot of hungry mouths here in Thudfall. Great name by the way, reminds me of when you passed out in the middle of the camp after running from some spiders.” Otto then pulled a small tarantula leg out of a nearby storage container. “Does this scare you?” He waved it around at Mike, with the fighter batting it away.
“Shut up, it wasn't that bad.”
“Yes it was. Anyways, I need to get back to work now, talk to you some other time.”
Mike walked out of the restaurant, muttering under his breath as he left. “Dick.” He threw an identity at the man, wondering what so much work would do for his level.
Human (level 31)
Apparently, it did quite a bit. It wasn't as high as Mike’s level, but he also hadn't fought against monsters that could threaten this whole settlement. Mike left, his stomach longing for the delicious smell he was leaving behind.
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“Shut up you.” Mike said to his growling belly. “It's a trap, and you know it.” He wandered around a bit longer, looking at just how much they had grown in such a short period of time. Hobbes approached him, with a shockingly tall woman by his side. She stood at least six and a half feet tall, and that was not taking into account the 6 inch heels she had on. Very impractical in Mikes opinion, but to each their own.
“A nearby encampment, named Newer York, has sent somebody who can fill in for Devin as logistics manager.” Hobbes said. Mike found the name funny, and found it even funnier when the tall woman rolled her eyes at the name. She stuck out a hand, with Mike shaking it as she introduced herself.
“My name is Beatrice. It is a pleasure to meet you.” She said, still towering over Mike by a good bit.
“I’m Mike, I’m sure it will be a pleasure working with you.”
With introductions done, Hobbes took her away to go and fill in for Devin, who Mike just knew was going to have something to say about his idea for giving the new currency value. Mike was right that he would have something to say about it, but was wrong in assuming his idea would be shot down immediately. He was a bit disappointed honestly, as he had already thought of counter arguments to whatever the man might say. He had not been for the man to wholeheartedly agree with the plan.
“That is a wonderful idea.” The settlement's secondary leader said. “We need to make these coins have some kind of worth, beyond just the materials to use them, or else some of the smiths may just melt them down for materials.”
Mike hadn't even thought of that being a potential issue, but he supposed it was something he might have done if he was in need of materials. No matter how much the man annoyed Mike, he was in fact good at his job. Much to Mike's delight, since he was so good at his job, all the responsibilities Mike had could be handed off to him. Hobbes came back shortly after, and Mike asked for a status on how close the coins were to being completed.
“We have roughly 750,000 copper coins made, 40,000 silver coins made, and all of the gold coins that we will need.” Hobbes responded.
“Really, that many already?”
“Yes sir. The smiths were eager to jump on making the coins after hearing they would be getting a portion of all they made. That's why the gold coins were finished so quickly, because everyone wants as much as they can get.”
“How long until they are finished?”
“We should have all the coins we need in just 3 more days.”
“Ok, then we need somewhere to hold them all.” Devin cut in. “We need a centralized bank.” Mike’s expression grew dark at that. He had wanted to avoid piling so much wealth in one location, but it was truly inevitable he guessed. Hobbes responded, and Mike realized just how much could happen without him involved now that Devin was in charge of nearly everything.
“I will let Grant know that is our next priority. Of course, I will also pay him a sum of coins to incentivise it getting built sooner rather than later.” Mike just left the conversation after that, not wanting to get another headache from all the moving parts involved in that. Mike had checked his settlement management menu several times recently, and knew that once they had a standardized currency in place, they would just need to raise their population in order to rank up to a village.
Hopefully, that would make the monster raids even less frequent. Speaking of the monster raids, Mike couldn't remember the last time one had happened. They were quite a few days over due now for one, and that was making people antsy that it would be a big one.
That night, the awaited raid finally arrived in force. Mike stood atop the wall, ready to intervene if necessary. Thankfully, it wasn't. Nothing over level 35 had appeared, and the guards were skilled enough and coordinated enough to hold their own when the level 35 Earth elemental had appeared. The walls they had built were truly the most valuable project the settlement had completed, and they held against all attacks.
If he truly needed to, Mike could break the walls open, like he had when throwing Klint through the wall, but he also had a ridiculous strength stat which was now at just over 2500, and was over double his next highest stat. Perhaps it was time to invest a bit more in other stats. He got a large bonus to Constitution and Fortitude thanks to his Trait, so each point he put in those would just be that much better. Truly though, he enjoyed the feeling of overwhelming strength.
The monster raid had concluded, and the sun rose just a few hours later. Mike stayed atop the wall for a while, chatting with several of the guards as he looked over the horizon. Mike saw several large groups of people walking towards the settlement, and when he asked about them, a guard explained.
“They are from encampments that didn't hold out too well against the raids each night. We didn't manage to get help out to many of them before they fell. Hell, we even have had two other settlements worth of people come in after they fell to the first raid of that magnitude.”
It was a bit gruesome, but Mike knew they couldn't help everyone. Everyone needed at least some who were strong if they wanted to survive, and not many were strong enough to defend others. It did fill him with a touch of pride though. People came to his settlement when they were in need. He had protected his people, and others saw hope in that. He turned, looking inside the walls at all that was getting done.
He saw Beatrice towering over some laborers, who were clearly intimidated by her size. He saw buildings being put up at speeds that a pre-system construction crew could never match. He knew he hadn't done that much though, as it took more than one gear to make a machine. He got several notifications as another group entered through the gates, putting the population of Thudfall at just barely over 10,000.
*[Planet Notification] Earth has raised its first village. As a village, monsters no longer attack as frequently, instead attacking on average every 50 days.*
*[Village Notification] Thudfall has increased in rank, and become a village. As a village, monster attacks become less frequent but are stronger than before. May this village grow and prosper.*
*[Village leadership Notification] Title slots available increased to 10. As a village, Thudfall can support up to three vassal settlements. More information about vassals can be found in the village management menu. As a village, mana density within the village's aura has increased, as well as aligning further with Thudfall’s leader.*
Mike wasn't sure how Thudfall had ranked up when they hadn't even introduced the new currency yet, but grimaced when he remembered that Hobbes paid Grant with several of the new coins. Apparently, the system counted that as the coin's official introduction. The mana in the air also felt both more prevalent, as well as feeling even more reminiscent of Mike's own mana. Anyone with a good grasp of mana would be able to tell the difference, and people who weren't adept with magic would still feel that something had changed. Mike sighed, walking over to the town hall, knowing that he was going to have another laundry list of things that needed his attention.