“So that’s basically the layout and what I had in mind.” Shaun had done a proper tour of the castle so that he could not only show Eric and Gabe the castle in full but also lay out exactly what his thinking was.
He started with the dorm areas which would be the main sleeping area of the school and took up and entire wing of the castle. Like in the current school it was split between boys and girls and had rooms accommodating groups of four through to single rooms depending on age. Overall it would sleep several thousand kids.
On top of that he showed the rooms where adults would sleep and even where the rooms were that were like self-contained houses for the families and other people who would live here that didn’t directly involve themselves into the day to day running of the school.
After that was the training areas, all of them were built with a specific purpose from magic practice to swordsmanship. They were fully equipped with whatever he could think would be needed. There was also the training courses made with the purpose of boosting the different physical stats.
He then moved on to showing the outdoor gardens, some of the larger balconies where people could hang out and even the large dinning hall which was attached to a huge state of the art kitchen. After that they did a proper walkthrough of the shopping area where all of the stores were and finally they came to crafting area where every type of crafting he could think of had a dedicated spot.
When comparing it to the current school it was hands down better than what they currently had. It had a more formal feel to it but that didn’t bother them as it would be needed sooner rather than later if it continued to grow from what it currently was.
Finally, they came to the main office which would be Eric’s. It was much larger and had its own connecting balcony and rooms. Eric didn’t hesitate to take the chair behind the desk and get comfortable. He took to his new office immediately.
“You really went all in on this place. You didn’t think of just our current students but you literally took into account thousands more coming here. I can only imagine what it will be like in a years time, even 10 years from now. Every parent is going to want to send their kids here for training.”
“You up for that? I know running a school for a settlement is one thing but running an elite school for everyone on Earth? You will end up having to turn people away eventually.”
“We will figure that out when it comes to it. That will be a while away from now and who knows what will change between now and then.”
He liked that attitude, and now with the tour done and all of them comfy in the office he moved onto the last few things he needed to deal with.
“Its time to use this settlement reward then and see what options we get. You guys ready for that?” They both agreed and he was about to start the process when Gabe stopped him suddenly.
“I know she doesn’t really have a say, but maybe we should let Viv know your about to use it. It did say it was going to extend and upgrade the settlement, you don’t know what that entails so maybe giving everyone a heads up is a good idea?”
He was right, yet he hated having to clue Viv in that he was doing it. She would probably make a fuss about wanting to be included. “Fine, let her know. She isn’t coming here though.”
“I will let her know as soon as I can.” Gabe left the office quickly and that just left Eric and him alone.
“With Gabe gone, there is something else I am going to show you. The only thing is I want you to pass this off as part of the reward, not something I have given the school. This stays between us.” Eric looked resigned to going along with what he had in plan. He didn’t look happy exactly with more secrets but he didn’t argue against it either. It was now just part of their relationship that secrets needed to be kept.
“I trust you Shaun. I will keep your secrets and will go along with what you ask as long as it wont hurt anyone or the school.”
“Good, then follow me.” They didn’t have to go far as he had planned to put down the training cube somewhere close enough that it could be controlled yet still accessible. When they got to the destination, he had in mind it was just a big empty room with a pedestal in the middle with a place for him to place the Orb.
Eric looked around but after not finding anything turned to him. “I don’t see what I am supposed to be keeping a secret?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Rather than reply he took out the Instance Orb from his inventory and walked to the middle of the room. He placed the orb on the pedestal and when he did he got a notification around its placing.
**Do you wish to place the Mythic Instance Orb? Note: When placed the Instance Orb can not be moved.**
He agreed to the placing and when he did the orb went from being deactivated to glowing with a white light that spread its power throughout the large room.
“Touch the Orb and tell me what it says.”
Eric looked at the orb and then at him before slowly walking up to it. The power it emanated was probably more than Eric had ever seen or felt so he understood the hesitancy. When he finally got to the orb and placed a hand on it he looked very confused for a while and seemed to be reading off of the messages it was providing.
“Its asking me to pick a skill to train, it has a list of all my class skills to pick from. What is it Shaun?”
“It is called an Instance Orb, what it does is help you train your skill levels up without being in a life or death situation. When you pick the skill you want it will push you in different ways by creating instances for you to really push your skills. Its purpose is to level up your skills to the max so you have a better chance of surviving in the dungeons. It was meant for me to push my skills to the max before I move into D grade. I don’t need it though, I am already ready to upgrade my class. So, instead of keeping it, I am giving it to the school.”
“That’s…..broken. Completely and utterly broken. Do you have any idea what something like this would do for the lower level people? You and I both know that skill levels are one of the most important things in a fight. The idea you can raise them like this, without threat of getting hurt or dying, before even stepping foot into a dungeon. It the ultimate training tool! Where did you even get this?” Eric, stared at the orb more intently and then gasped. “Its Mythic!”
“Yeah, it is. Use it well Eric. And remember what I said, it is all part of the reward from the event.”
“You didn’t answer my question Shaun! Where did you get this? There should be no Mythic level anything on this planet, not yet. Where did you get it? Actually no. Don’t answer that. Its just part of the reward. I know nothing else about it. Just part of the reward.”
Eric had changed his mind mid way through the questioning which was smart. He either figured that he wouldn’t tell him or he realised that knowing the answer was not worth the risk.
“Lets get back to the office before Gabe comes back.” Eric seemed like he wanted to run from the room and all of the unknown origins of the orb.
They made it back to the office quickly and they spoke no further about the orb although Eric seemed to be thinking about it continuously. It still took another 20 or so minutes before Gabe got back and when he did he looked annoyed.
“You were right, she wanted to be here for the reward. She kicked up a massive fuss about it and tried to follow me here. Thankfully she had no access to the D grade area through the teleport so she couldn’t come with. But damn, she is pissed. She knows that you are going to focus everything on this area, she said it was selfish and that it would take away from everyone else in the settlement. Its not like she deserves anything form it though, the only reason we won was because of you and our group, which she wasn’t even apart of!”
That was about what he expected form Viv, but now she knew and they could get on with it all. “We ready now?”
After both had no more objections he pulled up the reward screen.
**Do you wish to upgrade the settlement you are currently inhabiting?
Warning, this upgrade will be instantaneous, all current areas will be expanded to twice their size and an additional layer of F grade areas will be added to the current F grade area including the addition of settlement crystals and dungeons which will automatically be folded in to the current settlement.
Warning, current settlement has an incorporated ward, upgrading the settlement will require extending and changing the ward. This will have no effect on the ward but will require further changes which may impact current inhabitants. No one will be harmed in these changes but may cause disorientation and displacement from current location.
Warning, due to current ward being incorporated in the walls surrounding the settlement walls will need to be extended and changed to encompass the new area being added to the settlement.
Warning, due to the complexity of changes required above the simple expansion of the settlement additional settlement rewards will be reduced from 5 to 4.
The fact he was going to lose out on a reward was annoying but he didn’t really have an option so he just accepted the prompt. Being in the middle of the D grade area he didn’t feel anything change but when he brought up the settlement map he saw that there had indeed been instantaneous and massive changes everywhere else, specifically in the F grade area. He shared the map with both of them and they looked at it further
“Viv is going to have a hell of a time sorting out the areas which people were already living. Look at the changes to the gaps between each of the cities! The entire settlement has more than doubled in size and with all the extra land there is no way that there is enough TE to do anything with it. They are going to have to move to doing things the old way! That or earn enough gold to purchase things they want. It will be years before this place is anywhere close to being at capacity.”
Gabe was right in everything he had pointed out. It would take a good amount of time to reorganise things and with so much extra land Viv would need to make a choice between moving into the E grade areas or further out to the new F grade boundary. Either way it would take a long time to fully turn this settlement into a full blown empire.
“You guys ready for the fun part?” He was excited for the choices he would get for the rewards, if the base reward was this big he could only imagine what choices he was going to get to choose from now.
**Please choose 4 of the below specialised rewards for your settlement and their placement.**
“Holy shit!”