The farms were the next projects the mortals had been assigned to but only after the resource-generating buildings were operating at maximum efficiency. This meant that the level three lumberyard and mining camp had sixteen people working on each of them every hour of the day. Since mortals usually only worked for eight hours, this meant ninety-six citizens were occupied there around the clock.
The rest of them built all the farms and upgraded them until we had eight level-three farms. A few of the citizens also took it upon themselves to plant seeds for vegetables and brought some cattle, goats, chickens, and the likes from Dion. The farms turned out to be the most enjoyable part of the settlement for the children, who ran around the valley, playing and having fun without fear of monsters or bandits attacking them, something which turned out to be a major selling point for more people to join us from the foot of the mountain.
And from what people were telling me, it wouldn’t take long before we saw more people arriving in Dion from elsewhere, pledging their loyalty to the mighty thunder god, and coming here through the portal. The merchants trading in or passing through the recently renamed city were pleased to hear that three gods had taken up residence here.
To the mortals, the presence of gods meant two things. Prosperity or war. Both of those were great opportunities for expanding their wealth, for it was only those who already had some capital that were able to take advantage of these situations. And spreading the word about this place would maximize their chances of turning a profit from it.
What they didn’t know, of course, was that once my position was revealed to the outside world, it likely wouldn’t be long before disaster struck—in the form of a titan wanting to avenge his defiant son. There was no escaping it, only preparing for it to the best of my abilities.
And that included building both the melee and ranged fighting barracks. These buildings started at level three and looked exactly how they sounded. They were places for mortals to train in fighting. Troops that were trained by a skilled professional in these buildings would also earn a six-percent boost to their attack stats when using the weapon they were trained in.
This bonus might not sound like much on an individual level but if a whole army was blessed with such a boost, they’d be able to deliver considerable damage. Especially with the wide range of weapons that benefitted from it.
* * *
Name: Melee Fighting Barracks
Level: 3
Level-Up Requirement: Settlement Level 4
Level-Up Cost: ??
Level-Up Time: ??
Description: The perfect place to train for melee combat. The barracks are equipped with all the necessary training equipment and magical automations strengthen the body and increase in aptitude with all close-combat weapons. Troops that train in these barracks gain a 6% increase in Physical Attack and Attack Speed.
* * *
The melee fighting barracks had almost every bladed and blunt weapon I’d seen. From daggers to two-handed longswords, and from small axes to great war hammers and lances. The ranged fighting barracks on the other hand focused on improving aim, proper technique, and fighting while moving with bows, crossbows, slingshots, and everything in-between.
* * *
Name: Ranged Fighting Barracks
Level: 3
Level-Up Requirement: Settlement Level 4
Level-Up Cost: ??
Level-Up Time: ??
Description: The perfect place to train for ranged combat. Everything a fighter needs to excel in this style of fighting can be found in these barracks, from moving targets to a multitude of training weapons and projectiles. Fighters who train here will see an immediate increase in their agility and control over these weapons. Troops that train in these barracks gain a 6% increase in Physical Attack and Attack Speed.
* * *
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The thing missing from our settlement at the moment was a place for the spellcasters among the mortals to study and better their craft, but I guessed that such a building would be unlocked at subsequent levels. It wasn’t like we had many of them anyway and none who had completed their level-twenty class-upgrade quest. But I knew that having a school of magic would raise the chances of manifesting a spellcasting class in the next generation of our citizens.
Whether it was because I expected people to start flocking to our settlement or because I didn’t feel that danger was imminent, I initially focused the workers’ efforts on building more houses and working in resource-generating roles. While our storage was finally starting to fill with lumber, iron, and food rations, we hadn’t even started building the wall around the town yet.
The information I’d gotten when I looked at the construction option for the first time was another reason why I hadn’t initiated that particular project just yet.
* * *
Name: Walls
Resources Needed: 4000x Lumber Unit (40,000 MP)
Construction Time: 3000 minutes (1,800,000 MP)
Description: A wooden wall that surrounds the entire settlement. Although the wall is not made to hold any people or allow for patrols along its top, it is a great defense against normal-sized enemies.
* * *
Four thousand lumber units were nothing to joke about but, mostly it was its freakishly high construction time that deterred me. Walls were an important part of any settlement and I probably would have prioritized them if I was just starting out. But three gods at levels in the mid-fifties had nothing to fear from whatever “normal-sized” enemies appeared on our doorstep.
I knew I’d have to build the wall eventually, if only to protect the villagers from wild animals that might find their way up here. Especially since the snowstorm that had been raging on the mountain while we were ascending seemed to have died down now that I’d claimed the place of power.
I wasn’t planning on upgrading the divine portal just yet either. I wasn’t entirely sure what the upgrade would even mean but if I had to guess, I’d say it would make it larger, which wasn’t really something we needed at the moment. Plus, the upgrade required another five Divinity Points.
Although my DP had just completely filled, I was considering upgrading the god’s watchtower so that we would have a larger window to prepare ourselves if there were attackers coming our way. And, of course, there was also the issue of what other divine realm construction projects might appear with the clan hall leveling up.
Artemis and Aphrodite were keeping themselves busy exploring Mount Olympus’s caverns and mapping the deep underground complex of naturally-formed tunnels. Not only did this make the work of the miners who accompanied them safer and more efficient, but they had already discovered veins of metal ores other than iron, as well as a precious metal deposits.
They had gone on another one of those excursions, leading a group of miners down the south side of the mountain and were about to return when the timer for the clan hall’s upgrade finally ended. I’d been getting so anxious in anticipation of the upgrades that would be revealed when the clan hall became level four that I was just waiting outside our house for the notification to come in.
* * *
Congratulations, you have upgraded the Guildhall - Divine Realm : Mount Olympus to level 4.
You can now upgrade all upgradable buildings to level 4.
You have unlocked 3 new construction projects.
You have unlocked 1 new divine realm construction project.
* * *
I felt the rush of excitement that always came with leveling something up and greedily opened the available divine realm projects menu.
* * *
Available Divine Realm Construction Projects
Divine Portal (1/1) - Divine Realm Construction
God’s Watchtower (1/1) - Divine Realm Construction
Hexagonal Prismatic Ambrosia Cell Tower (0/1) - Divine Realm Construction
* * *
I had absolutely no idea what the new project was. I’d never even heard of ambrosia but if the previous projects were any indication, this might just provide me with another tactical advantage that human clan hall owners would never get access to.
* * *
Name: Hexagonal Prismatic Ambrosia Cell Tower
Resources Needed: 5 Divinity Points
Construction Time: 4000 minutes (2,400,000 MP)
Description: Ambrosia is the food of immortality. Just as bees are capable of creating honey, so can places of power claimed by gods produce ambrosia. A series of interconnected hexagonal cells will produce enough ambrosia for one ration per day.
* * *
Having absorbed the information about the building, I still had no idea what it was. Granted, the food of immortality sounded very interesting but I was immortal already. After finishing my Apotheosis quest, I had finally defeated time and would forever remain at the age I was, unable to die of old age.
Instead of looking for more clues or simply spending what was needed to build it and see for myself, I tried focusing on the one word I wasn’t familiar with and hoped might be just what I needed in order to understand what this would do for me.
* * *
Item: Ambrosia
Type: Consumable
Durability: 1/1
Grade: A Grade
Weight: 20st.
Description: The food of immortality. Ambrosia can only be created in places of power that have been claimed by a god. A mortal or god who eats ambrosia will gain one instance of immortality. This means that if a person who has consumed it dies, they are returned back to life with full HP/MP and without losing any XP. Each individual can only consume one unit of ambrosia per day.
* * *
This really was the food of immortality, only not in the sense that I had expected it to be. I had heard of consumable artifacts that would immediately bring you back to full health without losing any XP, which meant not really dying at all. But I never expected to find one, much less be able to construct a building that would generate it on the regular.