I went from one building site to the next, dismissing my constituents' shower of praise and prompting them to continue their work. I was checking in to see whether everything was okay in their daily lives and if there were any complaints they would rather share with me than with Aphrodite, not to hear how grateful they were for allowing them to live here.
The manors looked like they were close to being finished now, with most of the workers building them giving me promises that they would work even harder so they were done by tomorrow, as if the completion time would change according to their will to finish. Looking at the completion percentage of each building showed that we would soon be seeing a massive increase in the number of people living on Mount Olympus.
The farmers seemed both excited and annoyed at the lengthy upgrade times for their farms. Of course they were looking forward to them leveling up but at the same time, they had been waiting for quite a while now and were getting tired of working around a construction site and calming their animals, who were becoming jumpy because of the constant noise.
After a few dozen thank-yous and a couple of complaints that the upgrade of the farms had stressed the animals and therefore reduced the milk and egg production numbers, I was able to continue my trip around the town to the melee and ranged fighting barracks where everything looked like it was working perfectly. It was almost as if they'd been expecting my visit and a possible inspection, which was probably exactly what had happened.
The commanding officers of both buildings performed a series of drills to showcase how well their warriors were being trained and to further illustrate the importance of their buildings in the wider training and well-being of our city and community. All that was to eventually say that they would be more than thrilled to see their buildings upgraded so that they would be able to better serve me.
I promised them I would consider it and moved along to the next destination on my walk. I had told them that I would think about upgrading their buildings in all honesty, but I'd actually been caught slightly by surprise when I saw that both fighting barracks were still at level three.
Apparently, I'd decided against upgrading them at some point in time as they weren't really a necessity and had never bothered looking at them again. However, I could now see that leveling up buildings wasn't always about immediate necessities and how a single upgrade might serve the city as a whole. It was also about the people serving in that place.
Working or training in a building that was two levels lower than those around you sent a message that your training wasn't valued as much in our society, and that couldn't have been further from the truth. I didn't want them to think that. I wanted our citizens trained and ready for battle, which was exactly why I wanted all of them equipped as fast as possible and had focused more on our resource gathering until now.
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I pulled up the information about the barracks to see what was needed for their upgrade.
* * *
Name: Melee Fighting Barracks
Level: 3
Level-Up Requirement: Settlement Level 4 (Met)
Level-Up Cost: 4,000x Lumber Units (40,000 MP)
: 2,000x Stone Units (20,000 MP)
Level-Up Time: 1,440 minutes (864,000 MP)
Description: The perfect place to train for melee combat. The barracks are equipped with all the necessary training equipment and magical automations needed to 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 cost was small, especially considering that we had most, if not all, of the necessary resources already in storage. I briefly considered upgrading the building instantly but didn't want to make it look like their perfect performance during my inspection had had such a big influence on my decision, and so I simply started the construction and sent a few workers to get started.
* * *
Name: Ranged Fighting Barracks
Level: 3
Level-Up Requirement: Settlement Level 4 (Met)
Level-Up Cost: 4,000x Lumber Units (40,000 MP)
: 2,000x Stone Units (20,000 MP)
Level-Up Time: 1,440 minutes (864,000 MP)
Description: The perfect place to train for ranged combat. Everything a fighter needs in order 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 do their training here will see an immediate increase in their agility and control over these weapons. The troops that train in these barracks gain a 6% increase in Physical Attack and Attack Speed.
* * *
The construction time and resources needed for the ranged barracks were exactly the same and it wasn't like I was going to have them watch the melee fighter's barracks being upgraded while theirs remained at the same level. I focused on leveling it up as well and soon enough workers rushed around the building, carrying lumber and stones from our warehouse.
The next stop on my walk was the warmage academy, which was still not looking particularly lively. The same few spellcasters were doing the same types of practice and study as the previous time I'd visited the building. This made me even more eager to find more people that would dabble in the arcane arts and at least a couple of spellcasters that had already upgraded their class to teach in there. An academy without teachers wasn't going to be very useful either way.
The workers at the lumberyard and the mining camp were beyond excited that I had upgraded their structures to the maximum and promised me that they would soon be hitting their capacity output as the new citizens moved in. I thanked them for their hard work, all the while trying my best to seem excited about it. It wasn't like I wasn't happy for them and pleased with their eagerness to work but having heard the same story from almost a thousand people in a matter of a few hours, it was now becoming a bit taxing. Nevertheless, I nodded in agreement and praised them for their dedication and devotion to seeing our city grow. The rest of the day went by uneventful. I finished my walk around the various districts I had established, heard a few minor complaints, promised to consider them in my future plans and finally went home to my mansion. Aphrodite would be done with her bath by now and I was looking forward to cherishing this short time of rest with her. Perhaps I would even take a nap before dinner.