Finally done with the settlement systems, Darius made his way outside. People were already using the extra space he’d provided. Off in one corner, he saw Carlos’s new vehicle with its hood up. One of the newcomers was digging around, bouncing from one area to another around the van-looking car. Darius recognized him as the guy with the giant wrench that used some kind of force-field magic to block one of the giant icicle spears the Drauger had launched at their walls. Not remembering what his name was, Darius Used Identify as he approached.
Michael Rodriguez
Artisan Level 9
HP: 70/70
SP: 150/150
MP: 280/280
“Yo, Michael, Carlos. What you guys up to?” Darius asked once he was close enough.
Michael popped his head out from under the hood and looked at Darius. “Dude, this shit’s insane. The engine is nothing like our old cars.”
“Really, how so?” Darius asked.
“Well, if anything, it’s a little like an electric motor, but it doesn’t use electricity at all. I have no idea how this Power stuff actually powers the engine. I picked up one of those primers from the System Marketplace, and have begun studying it. I already got the first rank of E-Tech Engineering from it. Oh, that reminds me, where did you want me to set up shop?”
“Set up shop?” Darius asked.
“Yeah, bro. I have that Vehicle Workshop from that perk we all got. I can stick it on one of these walls,” Michael said while pointing at the outer wall. “there isn’t exactly enough room on that little wall you put up over there. Not with the others putting their shops there.”
“Wait, you have one of those workshops too?” Darius asked. He thought they had accounted for all the workshops everyone had selected, but apparently they had missed one. “Damn, we missed that somehow. But we left enough room for six workshops. Each doorway is about five feet wide, and we left five feet between each one.”
“Oh, that’s because mine is made for cars. The entryway is like twenty-feet-wide and ten-feet-tall. I’m actually excited to get this van into the shop so I can really start figuring this thing out.”
“Hey,” Carlos interrupted. “No taking it apart. I need it in working condition, not strewn about some repair shop floor, você entende?”
“Sorry?” Michael asked. “I don’t speak Spanish.”
“Spanish? Spanish! I am Brazilian, I don’t speak Spanish, I speak Portuguese. Burro de merda!”
“Dude, chill, sorry.” Michael said. “I didn’t mean to insult your heritage or something. But I need something to take apart so I can get hands on with figuring this shit out. The drive train is easy enough to figure out, it’s just pure mechanical engineering. It’s the engine and this Essence converter stuff I need to figure out. That and how it works with the displays and all that.”
“Have you tried finding anything on the System Marketplace?” Darius asked. “Something cheap that you can tinker with?”
“There is one, but I don’t have enough credits to buy it.” Michael said. “I found a small, portable Power generator that runs on ambient Essence, but it’s about four thousand credits.”
Darius nodded. While he wasn’t a car guy, and didn’t really understand how electronics worked normally, he still understood how important it was to figure out the E-tech stuff. It seemed to be the only form of technology that worked in the new world. “How much are you short by?”
“I really only had the two thousand we got from that Warmonger quest, and I already spent half of it on two primers, E-tech and Mechanical Engineering. They were both enough to get me the first skill rank for those skills, and they are the main focus for my shop.”
“So, you only have a thousand credits left.” Darius let out a long sign and considered his options. He only had a little over a thousand credits himself, but there were also eight thousand credits in the Settlement’s account from looting the undead monsters. He ran his hand over his scalp, absently noticing the stubble that he’d normally keep shaved off. They still needed to distribute the loot to the people who’d fought. As it stood, everyone would only get three hundred eighty credits if they divided up the entire amount evenly. But understanding the E-tech stuff could lead to them making their own cars and stuff, without having to buy it from the Marketplace, or get them from perks. “Here’s what I am going to do. I will give you three thousand credits to buy the generator. Your job is to figure out how it works and how to re-create it.”
“Dude, I just got a quest, nice. You can count on me. I’ll get right on it.”
“Hold up just a sec,” Darius said as Michael immediately started walking towards the Headman’s hut. “I will build another section of Wall for your shop. Is over here good for you? It will probably be the last place we expand into, so it will give you room to move vehicles in and out easily enough.”
“Yeah, that works for me. Easy enough. We good here then?”
“Yeah, but I still need to give you the credits.”
“Oh shit, right!” Michael laughed over his own eagerness.
Darius held out his hand, and when Michael grasped it with his own, focused on transferring the funds from the Settlement account to the mechanic.
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“Got it, thanks. You won’t regret it.” as soon as he finished speaking, Michael turned and went to make his purchase. Darius followed him to the office and as soon as he was finished with the City Core, Darius went in and built three sections of wall in the south-east corner of the compound. He had to draw from the Settlement account to cover the four hundred fifty credit cost, but it manifested in just seven minutes. Allowing Michael to have a permanent home for his workshop.
With what should be the final bit of construction complete, Darius moved on to the next thing on his list to figure out. He made his way to the Craft Wall, as he’d started calling it, and found the doorway that led to their shiny new library. “Hey, David? You in here?”
“Yeah, come on in.”
Darius entered the library and took a moment to take it in. The near side of the large room was filled with empty tables with chairs around them, the far side was filled with rows of floor to ceiling shelves that stood barren of any books. To the right of the doorway, several computer-like terminals lined the wall. Between the shelves, Darius could just make out a door going to another room in the back. The door stood open and Darius managed to glimpse David moving around on the other side.
“What’s all this?” Darius asked as he entered. There were several empty vats, a table with clamps and various tools, even what looked like a stretching and drying rack for leather.
“These are for papermaking,” David said as he gestured at the vats. “This is a book binding station. We can make parchment from skins over here, and this lets us make various kinds of Ink and writing tools. In the other room, we have the research terminals, and in the back is a table with scribing tools, plenty of seating for reading and studying, along with shelves to hold our future books. There’s even a printer I can use to print out the digital books I have on my tablet, so long as I have a license for it. Fortunately, the system doesn’t require a license to print books from our own world, just the stuff I get through the System Marketplace.”
“That’s great. Actually, you touched on what I wanted to talk to you about, research. Have you figured out how that works?”
“A bit. The Settlement needs a dedicated Researcher, which is some kind of job assigned by the Settlement leader. It also needs the permission of the Settlement leader to connect the portable library to the settlement, though once that happens, it will no longer be portable and will actually become a full-sized building, instead of a pocket dimension.”
“So, you are saying that if we make this library permanent, I will have to find a place within the walls for the building to pop into existence?” Darius could already feel the plentiful open space they had dwindling by the second.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“How big of a building will it be?” Darius asked.
“That’s where it’s going to be a bit of a scroat flick. The building footprint is about sixty by fifty feet. It’ll be the biggest building in the Hamlet.”
“Damn, that’s almost a quarter of all the space inside these walls.” Darius pondered his options. He’d hoped to be able to enjoy the extra space for longer, but Research was something that he was sure would be critical for their continued survival. The only other option would be to build a library using the blueprint in the settlement shop and spend the essence on manifesting it. It wouldn’t be as big, but it was a hell of a lot more expensive than using this one they got, basically, for free.
“Okay, first things first. Will you be the Hamlet’s Researcher?” Darius asked.
“It would be my pleasure. Research has always been one of my passions, and why I pushed to be the librarian in my old town.”
Congratulations,
You have filled the Settlement Job, Researcher for your Hamlet. The Hamlet Researcher is now David Reynolds.
David Reynolds' Research skill is currently Rank 1
Hamlet Research speed increased by .1 per day
Knowledge-based skill growth is increased by 1%
Congratulations,
As you have personally offered a Settlement Job to one of your Citizens and they have accepted, your Skill Administration has ranked up.
Congratulations, your skill Administration has increased.
Administration Rank 2
Darius nodded in appreciation at the increase to his Administration skill. he knew that it had a direct impact on the loyalty and morale of his citizens, and the higher it was, the happier everyone would be… somehow.
“Hey, that got me the Research skill,” David exclaimed. “Hmm… looks like I’m going to need to really grind it to get the most out of it.”
“What does it give you?” Darius asked.
“Here, see for yourself.”
Research: The Research skill is essential for advancing technologies within System Recognized settlements. Each rank in Research increases the number of research points generated per day by 0.1 points and boosts the chance of an Epiphany, a sudden insight that significantly accelerates the completion of a Research Project. The Epiphany bonus is calculated as 2% of the Research points generated per Research skill rank plus half of the researcher's Intelligence score, rounded down. This skill is vital for driving technological progress and innovation, making it a cornerstone for any thriving settlement.
“So, an epiphany is free research points? Nice, you definitely need to level that skill as much as possible. Now I guess you do your thing to ask permission to link your library?”
“Yeah, Um… I think we should step outside for this next part.”
Darius agreed, and they walked out. David took an extra step by using his remote control to close the doorway to his library, leaving a blank wall in its place.
“Okay, now just give me just a second and…” David’s eyes unfocused for a moment, then a new window popped up in Darius’s vision.
Researcher, David Reynolds wishes to link the Complete Portable Library (Enhanced)
With the Hamlet, Zuri. Warning, this Linking is Permanent and will result in the extra-dimensional portability function to be lost. Ensure there is sufficient space for the Safe Manifestation of this structure.
You accept this request?
Y/N
Immediately after Darius selected yes, the familiar wireframe window of the Building menu appeared and the box representing the Library was already there, ready to be moved around. Looking at the space he had available, he decided to place the library in the southwest corner, directly across from the bathrooms and the Headman’s hut. Confirming his selection, the rainbow-colored fog flowed out of the ground and took on the shape of a large building. Well, large for their little hamlet.
In next to no time, the building finished manifesting, and they gazed upon the massive edifice to knowledge. The building was built from large stone slabs that fit perfectly together without any apparent mortar. It had a pair of large iron banded oak doors and several thin slits for windows. If Darius didn’t know any better, he would have assumed it was some kind of medieval stone fort. It made the rest of the Hamlet, built using adobe bricks, look like shit.
“Well, that’s done,” Darius said. “let’s go-“ Darius was interrupted by an unexpected window.
Congratulations, Headman of Zuri.
You have completed your first Tier 4 Building.
For constructing a Tier 4 Library, you are rewarded with the following.
+100 Settlement Morale
+100 Settlement Loyalty
+400 Research Points
4 free Research Primers
Administration Skill +4 Ranks