CHAPTER 14: PREPARING
I went to the NPC auction window with anticipation. I selected a master enchanter that fit my needs. She was a sun elf with mastery over all three enchanting skills. I hit the bid button. A message popped up.
You do not currently have the minimum bid for this NPC. 1 platinum coin is needed.
What? Crap. I had one platinum coin. I checked, and nope, I didn’t have any coins. I had given them all to Elice. I walked over to the store and withdrew one platinum and one gold. I placed them in my bag and bid one platinum on the enchanter. With the gold, I could bid on one expert.
So, what did I need most? A potion maker, an alchemist. There were a large number of experts. I could choose pretty much any race. I limited my selection to just sanguine temperament again and then found a female elementalkin: earth in the list. She was also an expert in nature magic and herbalism. Guess I was playing matchmaker today for Sanso. I hit submit for the bid.
It was late, and I had just spent a few hours doing NPC refinement searches. I stretched and went outside just as Jaesmin was coming down the path. I smiled at her, and she went inside. I headed off for the inn. One more round of casting today should complete the lower basement floor.
I looked down into the pit at the site and saw a massive boar trapped. It looked like it had fallen in, the ends were too steep, and it obviously didn’t know how to climb. I saw Simba on the far side of the hole. He was staring at the boar. He looked at me and yelled, “Bit more than I could chew. I led the beast here into the hole, and now it is trapped. Guess you will steal my kill now.” He seemed bitter. I analyzed the boar.
Shiverwood Forest Boar, Level ??, Health ??, Experience ??, Attack ??, Defense ??
“What? Were you going to use it for a scratching post? How did you get it across the river anyway?” I asked as I walked over to the cat. The massive boar focused on me as I walked.
“It was on the far bank, and I cast a few entangling vines on it to get it to swim across. I was hoping the vines would tangle it and drown the beast. When that didn’t work, I led it here.” I moved next to Simba and looked at the boar again.
“Well, it is almost dark, so Galana should be back. No point in angering the beast just to have it get out and wreak havoc on the town.” I could see Galana’s large form coming from the west with the day’s hunters as if on divine summons. I waved to her to come. It took her a little while to cover the quarter mile. On seeing the boar, she raised her eyebrows for me. I just pointed at the tiny cat to take the blame.
Galana went to fetch the militia in town. Best to kill it quickly. Once we had fourteen of us surrounding the pit, we opened fire. The boar raged, trying to escape. It ran and leaped from my rocks and the arrows but could not escape. After a few volleys, it fell dead. The ladder was smashed, but I was able to summon two slabs in the shape of stairs to lead into the pit. Galana had one of the militia harvest the boar. I finished expending my magic on slabs to complete the floor. I then returned home with Simba in tow.
Simba said, “I need a more powerful spell. My nature skill is at 13. So a tier 7 spell would be best.” I raised my eyebrow at the kitten. He was becoming dangerous, and I was happy he was on our side.
“Excellent work getting your skill so high in a short time. I have recruited a master nature magic mage. When she arrives, you will get what you want for spells.” Simba seemed satisfied with that for now.
I went back to my house and decided to take a nap. A roast with potatoes was on the table. Jaesmin. I ate quickly to get my satiety bar to maximum and went upstairs. She was sprawled on the bed in her sexy negligee and asleep. I stopped in the doorway to admire her figure, my lust stirring. With a focused will, I continued to one of the guest rooms and slept there.
After a few hours, I woke up and went to my drafting table. As I worked on drafting the library, I thought about my goals for the coming day. Should I hunt or build the inn? My experience was bringing me closer to level 11. A good hunt today could get me there.
The inn was important because I thought that if I could finish before the next auction ended, I could raise the village’s quality and bring in more expert NPCs. However, I had no wood after the foundation was done. Hunting it is then, but I would expend my accrued magic pool on slabs on the way to the tower.
I had finished using my magic on slabs and was walking through town toward the tower. I ran into Sanso in town on the way. He told me the buildings were all petrified wood, essentially stone, and asked where he should build the second tower in town. I thought about it and said next to the docks to watch the forest.
He was to make it big enough to house everyone in the village who would not be fighting if the orcs came. I figured the warriors would meet them in the field, and everyone else could take shelter in this new tower. The tower would also keep watch on the river and forest. I told him I would give him plans tomorrow morning for the tower, and he was free to do whatever today.
At the west tower overlooking the plains, I found 14 militia and Galana. That meant only four guards were in town. It was getting close to the time the orcs could be mounting an attack. The earthen wall was coming along, but it would not make a difference. It would help eventually, but not for this attack. I talked with Galana and analyzed my militia.
Ten were level 9, two were level 8, and two were level 7. I wondered if NPCs got anything for reaching level 10. I opened the wiki, and finding the information took a few minutes. NPCs could only learn five total skills up to level 9, and at every level that was a multiple of 10, they could learn another skill. I turned to Galana and asked her how many skills she had. She said 11. So, did that mean she was between levels 60 and 69? Wow.
I decided to take the four lowest-level militia and two-level 9s. Galana was going to run out and collect the quills at the crypt with two-level 9s and return. Galana helped me update my map. Now I have 15 pride master respawn points.
I created a route that would hit nine of these pride masters and go out to the buffalo plains area. We headed out and soon the day became repetitive until we came across the first buffalo. They were huge at around seven feet in height. We picked one of the smaller ones to start. It came down quickly, but our attack drew a larger one to us. I went into melee to hold its attention. The beast could barely hurt me with my armor.
The exp gain was good as well. The new plan was to harvest buffalo and get what we could into our bags. I figured five hours before we had to return. I leveled three hours into the grind. I put two points into intelligence and four into magic. For my skill points, I put into masonry and woodcraft.
We finished the allotted time and returned home, picking off a few more creatures. Everyone was in high spirits as everyone had gained a level. We also had harvested over 80 buffalos! The herd just milled about as we had plucked one or two at a time. Easy experience.
The sun was down when we got to the tower with minimal light. I had the militia deliver the hides and meat and went home. Jaesmin was reading a book. It caught me off guard. I asked her about it. It was a story of the king with many wives who favored none. One conspired against him and caused turmoil in his house. It was some convoluted drama, I guess. It was the first non-skill book I had seen, and I asked to read it. It took me less than an hour to read the trashy book. However, my reading skill leveled twice! I guess skill books didn’t count as reading in the game.
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Dinner was a burger with veggies. I went to my drafting board to complete the river tower. It was a simple design and took only half the night.
Uncommon Stone Guard Tower/Barracks, Health 15000, Requires Masonry: Foundations 7, Masonry: Structures 7
I had made the walls extra thick. It was also three stories. The first story had a large open kitchen and dining hall and a small secure armory. The second story had room for sleeping bunks for fifty people. The third story was half storage and four large private rooms for officers. There was roof access as well. The tower was fifty feet round with small windows for light on the floors. I knew the summon stone would make this project manageable as Sanso could alter the shape of my stone summoned, and he should be able to build a decent structure with the plans. I hoped Jaesmin could help Sanso because, looking at his home, I knew he had no masonry skills.
I had a few hours, so I also made a simple stone schoolhouse. I had decided the library was not going to be for the kids.
Uncommon Stone Schoolhouse, Health 7000, Requires Masonry: Foundations 7, Woodcraft: Carpentry 7
I think my high drafting skills made the buildings uncommon and allowed for lower requirements on skills when building. I definitely wasn’t trying to do anything spectacular. The school was just a two-story building with two large rooms on each floor. Each floor had 30 desks, so the school could accommodate sixty students.
The sun came up, and I went to find Sanso. He was walking from his tower into town, looking for me. He had a big smile on his face. He had been excavating under his tower and found a copper vein. The vein was on his deeded lands, but the majority extended into my lands.
We got into a discussion about what to do with the copper. He could use his magic to make copper coins. He just needed a design for the two sides. That would solve the village’s currency issue, so I agreed. I would have to work on the faces of the coin tonight or maybe use an existing one. There were many coin designs, and the coin composition and size mattered for value.
We went over the two plans, and I told him to get Jaesmin to help with the building as she now has some construction skills. I ended up walking to the future building sights of the school and guarding the barracks tower while Sanso worked in case something from across the river showed up. Jaesmin joined us after a bit. Sanso quickly cast the foundation for the schoolhouse next to the general store and a few walls while Elice was watching us. I think he was trying to impress her, but I was not sure. It was about 20% complete in 30 minutes! I conserved my own magic for the inn. When we got to the site of the river tower, I marked it off and left Sanso and Jaesmin.
I worked on the inn by myself, draining my own magic before heading to the plains. It was mid-morning when I arrived.
Galana had already returned from her porcupine harvest. She was on one of the black mounts and looked quite intimidating. We chatted briefly before I gathered the six lowest-level guards and went to the plains. Our route to the buffalo was more direct than before, and we only harvested six pride masters, but we would get four more on the return trip. I will say the repeated monotony grinding was losing its allure and excitement. We knew our prey now, and there was no challenge.
We did find an alpha bull boss, but he was very little challenge to the seven of us. We returned at dusk with our haul, and I left the militia to handle the distribution of the spoils.
In town, Elice found me. Apparently, we had so much cured meat in town that there was nowhere left to put it! Every family had enough meat for two years, and their store’s basement was full! The herbs, fruit, and veggies from my garden were selling like crazy as well. The town now recognized the little wood elementals as a boon. Much of the produce was wild varieties that were hard to raise on farms and difficult to find in the wild. That was good news. I would have to think about the meat issue and leave to check out my ‘garden.’
Two of my elementals were at work, and the garden was almost twice the size as before, covering an acre of land. There were even some fruit trees now. I opened my interface and selected a four-acre area for my ‘garden’ and restricted the elementals to cultivating only four acres of it. I marked the border for a stone wall in the future.
The third elemental arrived from the woods with a bright yellow leafy plant. They were tireless workers. I called them all over. I gave them a short speech on how impressed I was with their work and the variety of the garden. I told them they could take time off but not let the plants wither in the garden. They seemed to nod and understand, but when I was finished, they went right back to work. The spell was a great investment in the village.
Jaesmin had made me a beef stew with buffalo meat inside the house. Her cooking was still so-so, and I had to add salt. She told me about her day while I ate. They had half the school done. Which made me unhappy because the tower was the priority for the town’s safety.
Jaesmin also confirmed my suspicions that Sanso was interested in Elice. That was why he had focused on the school next to the store where she worked. Jaesmin said they had laid out a few slabs for the tower, but it was less than 5% complete. Should I order Sanso to work on the tower over the school? I had not given it to him as the priority, but I thought he would deduce it on his own. No, what will be will be.
I did need to increase our defenses. I would order Galana to train another ten archers tomorrow. Paying a militia was just a few silver a month, and we needed the security. I wished I had done it sooner, but my previous line of thought was that the monetary cost and taking people away from their regular daily activities were detrimental.
After dinner, I went to my drafting table and worked again on the library. As morning approached, I decided on my coin images. One side would have a wolf’s head, and the opposite side would have the silhouette of the library I was drafting. Under the library, I put, “Knowledge has a beginning but no end,” in Latin. Under the wolf’s head, I put, “The strength of the wolf is in the pack,” in Latin. When morning came, I went to find Galana.
Galana was at the site of the new tower. She was looking confused. “Lord, why do you have so many projects? This new tower is far from the probable point of attack of the orcs.”
“It is to serve as a refuge for the townfolk that are not fighting. Speaking of which, I would like you to train more militia to wield a bow.” I replied.
“I thought the stone mage was making each home secure with his petrification spells? I have twelve bows in inventory so I can train twelve more militia.” She was still staring at the stone slabs by the docks.
“Twelve would be good.” Better than 10 I thought. “Spend the day with the volunteers.”
“I have twenty-two volunteers, Lord Tallis,” She turned to face me. “Everyone who has an available skill slot and can wield a bow. I was hoping you would have called on them earlier.”
“You should have asked to increase the militia. I would have allowed it,” I said, slightly annoyed.
“It is not my place to question your decisions, and I figured my currency for additional troops had run out. We already have a large military force for the size of this village.”
“Train all twenty-two. Have them share a bow while they train until you can make enough.” I walked away. I was feeling stupid. I was used to video games making victory possible. I had also been distracted by my compulsiveness in drafting this library.
I passed Sanso working at the school and shook my head. I did stop and handed him my drawings for the coin faces. Then, I traveled to the plains to get to the other guard tower. I arrived to find eleven militia there. I put the nine best into a group and told them to hunt today. They were to avoid any combat that would endanger anyone. They were also to return with all haste to the tower if they spotted the orcs.
This was a huge risk in my mind. If the orcs caught them on the open plains, they would be massacred. I added the order they were to remain within 2 miles of the tower. I told the other two militia to remain in the tower and send word for two more guards. Opheela was due to drop food off soon so she could relay back to the guards resting in the village.
I went to the site of the new tower. I used up my magic on slabs, then worked with my hands until my magic was replenished. About midday, Sanso arrived with news that the schoolhouse was almost complete. Jaesmin was doing the detailed work. I was not mad at him. I should have been bold and changed his orders, but I was not assertive. He smiled as we worked together. He produced a mushroom-based rice dish from his bag and gave it to me. It reminded me of rice pilaf in taste.
Dark Mushroom Rice Bowl, +42% magic recovery, duration 1 hour
This would help, but really, what I needed were magic potions. When evening struck, Sanso let me know he was headed home for the night. I thanked him and watched him go briefly. His presence was a big boon, and I should have made efforts to keep him happy.
I continued to work into the night under torchlight. I could see and hear things in the forest, and it was spooky working in the torchlight. Jaesmin found me with some food and joined in my work. I was shocked when she cast a spell that molded an existing rock! I stopped my work and talked with her. Sanso had taught her earth magic yesterday and stone magic today.
“I didn’t know you had more skill slots. This is great!” I praised her.
Jaesmin smiled, “Oh, I didn’t, but when I became your companion, I got more.” Once she became my companion? She opened more skill slots? Companion? What?
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