Matthias stared out at the devastation. He leaned heavily on the carved wooden cane that he had made to help him walk as he considered the damage. Ash and death spread out as far as he could see but stopped perfectly along the line of evenly spaced trees that marked the beginning of the forest.
Off to the side, a dozen Golems worked to finish the moat. They dug out handfuls of loose dirt, then compacted it and used it to shore up the sides of the deep pit. This would ensure a minimum of leakage and water loss when they expanded the water channel into the forest. Something that, oddly enough, made him quite nervous to do.
“Hey Boss!” Alyssa said, dropping down out of the sky. “Just finished my circuit of the area. I have the lizard-kin clearing the ash lands to the south to start planting. We need more resources to build stuff Boss. The lizard-kin can burrow into the ground to make more nests, but building anything above ground using only stone is super hard. ”
Matthias shrugged. “I had planned on just expanding everything underground honestly. I think that may be the way to go for now. Easier to defend. Let’s set aside really expanding our little settlement here until we actually need to hire more people. As for planting, I picked up a few seed groups from the {BAZAAR}. They are on the table inside the gatehouse.”
Alyssa saluted and zipped off to grab the seeds. He chuckled at the thought of her reading the labels and being completely confused at what was on them. Unlike most farms and their products, Matthias had gotten several species of mana infused plants that could not only grow into vegetables and fruits but also a meat analog. The gorgu plants grew long cylindrical ‘fruits’ that contained the same nutritional value as a steak and tasted a lot like breakfast sausage. Not the greatest find, but something that would be easily grown practically everywhere and would sustain the rapidly expanding lizard-kin population.
On top of the meat fruits, he had ensured he got volari trees, a fast-growing tree that could be harvested several times a year from the stump for lumber, ant wheat, a mana strengthened wheat that hibernated and required replanting only once every few years and snap peas, carnivorous peas that ate the insects around them and added to their nutritional value. Overall, he had done well in selecting the species that he had, even if the investment had been steep. He still needed to get a professional farmer out here to help with the growing of the farms once they were planted, but that was for future him to figure out.
He sighed and watched the ongoing work. He was nowhere near the number of Golems that he had before. Matthias had the survivors of the fight gather up what materials they could and get them to the Assembler. So far he had made two batches and added another eight of the constructs to his roster. But he needed far more, and for that, he needed a quarry for the stone and iron for the cores. Both of which were in short supply at the moment. He couldn’t justify the expense either.
On the other hand, he had a staggeringly huge supply of raw biomatter. Between the giant lizard, the dead raptors, and the constant inflow of charred sabretooth cats they found regularly, he had enough to print more mobs. He still had raptor cavalry in mind, but for now, he needed more laborers. After the third batch of Golems were complete he would create more lizard-kin, followed by their larger cousins the Saurids.
He was broken out of his thoughts by movement inside the tree line. The Golems were getting close to beginning their excavations into the forest, and this had, apparently, triggered some kind of response by its residents. At long last Matthias got a glimpse at what called the forest home, and they did not seem happy.
Standing just inside the trees, near trunks that he assumed they could use to escape, were two green woman. Matthias recognized them immediately as being either tree sprites or the far rarer Dryads. Either way, they had shown themselves now because he was about to intrude on their domain. Something that he had both hoped would and wouldn’t happen. Sentient residents means that access would have to be negotiated. Non-sentient residents meant there would probably be another battle fought.
Either way, it would cost him something.
“Stop before you enter the trees!” he called out to the Golems, causing them to immediately halt as they were a few yards from doing just that. Alyssa heard him call and turned. When she saw the two green women standing patiently she zipped over to him.
“Boss! Those are Dryads!” she said fervently. “Dryads! I thought they were extinct!”
Matthias huffed to himself and began limping over to the pair with his Fairy in tow. Alyssa hadn’t been wrong. Dryads were insanely rare, and seeing two of them together meant that there were probably more. It was unheard of. The last of the Groves had been annihilated in the Great Game, a war between the Gods themselves that was waged right up until the System slammed down on everyone and ended the conflict.
Hobbling up to the pair, Matthias stopped just on his side of the line that divided the Ashlands from the green grass of the forest proper.
“Greetings Dryad sisters,” he said cordially with a small bow at the waist. Proper etiquette dictated that he move both hands to the far sides, but he was only able to use one hand for this as the other gripped his cane and prevented him from falling over. “I am Matthias, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
The pair of Fey women looked surprised and returned his greeting with their own. They both crossed their arms and curtsied in a physical movement that any mortal being would have found nearly impossible to perform.
“We greet you, Matthias, in the name of Thorn’s Grove. I am Ora, this is my sister Vera,” the taller one to his left said. They straightened up and he followed suit. “We have been amused by your actions since you have arrived. You do not bear any aggression or ill will towards the forest, so we have respected you. However, we understand that you plan on… digging through the soil to the river. Is this correct?”
Matthias nodded. “That would be correct. We both need the water to regrow and restore the area and to create a barrier for the safety of those I bring here,” he explained. “However, I do not wish any conflict with the … Thorn’s Grove. If you have an alternative or other ideas, I am very much open to discussing them.”
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Ora harrumphed while Vera giggled. A giggle that he immediately recognized. “See sister?” Vera said with a smile, “He is more than reasonable. I told you that simply speaking with him would see us on a path to avoiding conflict.”
Vera turned to him, “My apologies Matthias. My sister is far more martial in nature than I. She was… not exactly hoping for a conflict but expecting one. As is her duty as a Guardian of the Grove.”
“Understandable. I hope for the best and prepare for the worst on a regular basis myself. It pays to be prepared,” he responded, waving off the apology.
Ora seemed interested in his response, but Vera was first to speak, “As for your needs, we can certainly come to an agreement. Our wish is for damage to the forest to remain at a minimum. Carving a large channel into the earth to bring the lifeblood of our Grove to a new area is… counter to this at best.”
“Lots of ways to bring that water over without digging a visible channel,” Matthias said, thinking it over. “Not a whole lot of ways to actually get it over here without doing something to transport it. The only thing I can think of is a portal, and that would not be… possible here. It could rip the entire island apart.”
The two looked at each other nervously for a moment before turning back to him. “We would like to avoid that if possible. We enjoy our home,” Vera said. “What we propose is to allow us to grow a root pipe into your channel.”
“By root-pipe, I’m assuming that’s some kind of hollowed-out tree or plant root? Probably fairly large?” Matthias reasoned. When Vera nodded with a smile, he knew that he had hit it on the head. “Ok. Does that take long to grow?”
Ora stepped in at that point, “Six nights demon-spawn,” she growled. “Six nights and the root will come out from the channel you have dug up to the forests border.”
“Uh-huh. Not a demon-spawn by the way,” Matthias said, gently correcting the Dryad who now looked confused. “Half-breed. I can’t help who my parents were. I can only determine who I will be.”
Vera clapped her hands together with a dazzling smile, “Well said Matthias! Well said!”
“Now, what would you like in return for growing the root?” he asked, getting a pair of puzzled looks in return. “Ah, you weren’t offering that to me for free were you?”
Vera nodded, “In return for not damaging the forest, we would ask for nothing in return.”
“Unacceptable,” Matthias replied sternly, staring them in the eyes as the two Dryads frowned together. “You will only be taken advantage of in the future if this is how you interact with others,” he explained.
Vera nodded, “We have no need for any currency. We do not use NEX as you do. We have no need for items or housing. Nor goods. Nature, the Grove, and the forest provide all we need.”
“So, you have no problems? No issues? No tasks you need completed?” Mathias probed, pushing harder. Vera, oddly enough, looked firm in her commitment to need nothing. But Ora’s face, on the other hand, was twinged in thought.
Before her sister could say anything, Ora spoke, “We do have some problems within the Grove. But these can only be addressed by the Grove Mother, it is not something we can discuss openly. But I am curious, why do you press so hard for a trade of equivalent services?”
“Nothing is free,” Matthias said simply. “You spent energy to create this root-pipe. You used time and effort to prevent damage to your forest, true, but that damage would have been negligible. If you offer everyone a service for free, or for no return investment of time and energy, then you will be taken advantage of. It is how the other Groves fell,” he explained, taking a liberal guess with what little information Alyssa had given him.
The two blinked in confusion. “What other Groves?” Vera asked, eyes lit with curiosity. “There are no other Groves on the island.”
“See? Already we find something that I can trade to you,” he chuckled. “Go back and speak with your Grove Mother. Discuss my offer of knowledge or assistance with a problem. I don’t just want to trade; I want to be neighbors and partners. You never know when such a relationship will come in handy.”
The two sisters looked at one another, communicating in a way that he couldn’t track. After a few moments Vera turned back to him, “We will relay your request to… parley to the Grove Mother. We can promise nothing at this point; however, we did enjoy our discussion and your honesty. We can designate you, if nothing else, friendly at the very least.”
Matthias was going to respond, but the pair turned abruptly and simply walked into the nearest tree, vanishing from sight.
“That was… the weirdest thing I have ever done,” he muttered. “Well, maybe not the weirdest. But definitely in the top five. What did you think Alyssa?” he turned to the Fairy but she was frozen in shock, eyes wide. So he poked her in the side, causing her to flinch.
“Hey! Why? What?” she grumbled at him. “Those were Dryads!”
He rolled his eyes, “No kidding. Now come on, we have things to get done. We can stop the expansion of the moat here. Let’s focus on finishing it up around the gatehouse and rock. Then we can work on finding a source of stone and iron. You said those deposits were in the desert? I think we should work on getting a road together and out there to create an outpost. If we can get the Golems mining and transporting back ore, we will be set. I need you to scout out the area and mark those deposits. Ge back to me when you find the closest four or five… or if something tries to eat you.”
Alyssa rolled her eyes but zipped off into the distance.
Matthias spent the rest of the afternoon and evening directing Golems and completing repairs on the Masterwork. It wasn’t until the sun was nearly set completely that he headed back inside the tunnel of the cave. The lizard-kin followed him inside as well while he left the Golems on guard outside. He didn’t want anything to sneak in at night and kill them all. Those raptors were far too sneaky for their own good.
He settled into his makeshift bed at his desk and began searching through the {BAZAAR}. He needed to hire several specialists which included a miner, farmer, and goods manager. Once the rock and iron began coming in he would have Golems to sell along with lizard-kin eggs. Those would be his staple for right now. In fact… why not put the listing up immediately?
Chuckling to himself, he did just that.
The listing was under Mob Inc. for unhatched lizard-kin eggs. He specified that they could be tailored to need for various abilities and environments. His tests had shown that lizard-kin were adept with nearly all the base elements including water, fire, earth, wind, nature, death, light, and darkness. They really only lacked the ability to wield holy and unholy magics, as the two that he had hatched hadn’t been able to do so to date.
Thinking it over, he removed the description he had and put in the four basic biome types and their needs for a hatchery to live in. Along with an outline of their general intelligence and capabilities, he specified nutritional needs and abilities that could be assigned to each type. An important, and vitally key aspect was that any lizard-kin bought would not lay eggs. If they did someone could simply breed them and then price him out of the market. That would be unacceptable and was done more often than not to eliminate small companies who could possibly become a competitor to the larger ones.
Closing the System interface, he yawned. Sleep would be welcome after such a crazy few days. He only hoped that tomorrow would be a bit slower, and give him the opportunity that he needed to work out a way to fix his losses. He was running out of NEX, and when he did… he was screwed.
All the better to start selling things now, even for a small amount, than hit an insurmountable wall later.