Chapter 47:

I woke early and was highly motivated today. I drafted three copies of the apartment plans and one shop/residential plan. I gave them to Jaesmin to get started on building. I planned to stop by the town hall today before finding Mag Dog and the crew.

The town was abuzz with activity. It seemed organized as people looked in a hurry and knew where they were going. I found my new generic city guards on patrol in the town in groups of three. These were dumb mobs that were programmed in the Lord’s interface. I hadn’t delved too deeply into the commands of my twelve level 22 guards…well, getting closer to twelve as they only spawned at the rate of 1 per day. I took a moment to check on my commands for them. It was basically to keep the peace and attack anyone or anything that attacked town residents. I gave Galana equal control over their commands while I was in editing mode.

I climbed the stairs to Breda’s office. We had gotten on the same page, so I wanted to check in with her. She was huddled over her town model. “Breda?”

She spun about, clear wild excitement in her eyes, “Lord Tallis! Come look!” I cautiously approached the model to find a new massive structure adjacent to the central park. It was the epic library. “Don’t say a word! Just look!” She waved her hand at her model city. It’s not just the library but also a magic academy, Lord Tallis. Just think we can be the center of learning for this entire region! The envy of all nations and races!”

“Uh, this is great, Breda, but first, we need people to build your vision here. And we are trying to prepare for a large influx of those people. I came to check and see when we should put these tannery plans into the building queue. I also have a very nice set of plans for a paper mill,” I said as I produced both plans. She looked them over intently.

“Yes, we will need paper for the library…very wise, Lord Tallis…even the possibility of producing runic paper! Although it is a tier 1 runic paper, it is still extremely useful. We can place the paper mill here….” She grabbed a blank block from her desk and placed it next to the lumber mill.

Ok, I needed to reel her in again. “Breda, no library will not be started until we have the people with the necessary skills to build it. And I don’t have the skills or time to draft a magical academy.” I gestured at her new building.

My harsh tone seemed to slap her into focus. “Oh,” she breathed out solemnly. “We could start the…”

“No!” I affirmed again. “You should know everything needs to be done in order. Populace and infrastructure and then the seven wonders of the world.” Her eyes got contemplative as I said the last in reference to a game I played when I was younger…and was terrible at.

She seemed to gain focus, so I continued. “I need you to tell us where to build to emphasize increasing our consumable production. I don’t want us going hungry.” She nodded slowly but still looked longingly at the library model in the center of the town.

“Yes, Lord Tallis. You can count on me. Galana is out hunting but said you should see her sometime today. It had something to do with gnomes applying to the town guard.” Breda finished. Gnomes as town guards? I doubted she was referring to Titus, my gnome hospitaller quest giver. No, he had a different role. How would players treat town guards who were only as tall as their belly button? Why did problems come just as fast as answers?

With Breda appearing back on track with the tannery and papermill, I went to see my Master of Guilds. Neral, the fire giantkin, was in his office buried under paperwork. “Ah, Lord Tallis! I was just about to finish my report for you. I have seven more guilds that will need to elect their representative…which may be hard since there are no members with the skill rank of the master!” He chuckled at his joke.

“That sounds fine. Just have them reelected every six months…eventually, someone will reach the master rank. But I wanted to ask you about your prior issue with Breda,” his face soured when I said that.

He leaned and whispered to me, “We have put many of our differences behind us, but she wanted to give the guilds absolutely no power within the city! You can’t expect them to pay taxes and get nothing for it! Whenever I broached the topic, she said, “You are not bringing dirty and loud crafting professions within my city walls! She wants the city to be a pristine place of peace and quiet!”” The large man huffed like he was out of breath. “She has angered Manarag and Curraen repeatedly with her demands.”

“And why wasn’t this brought to me while this feud spawned and grew wings?” I asked.

“Well,” he scratched the back of his head. “You seemed to be avoiding Breda, so we didn’t want to distract you.” So it was my fault. I nodded slowly. I had kicked the can on confronting Breda, which created more problems.

“Are Manarag and Curraen both ok?” I asked, somewhat concerned about my master crafter’s disposition.

“Yes,” he sighed. “They thought highly of you and were deflecting Breda’s attention from you.” A look of concern crossed my face, and he read it, “Don’t worry. She is much better now that Manto cares for her…needs.” Did he insinuate that the dwarf and old human wizard were intimate? Seeing my surprise, he whispered, “She stayed last night in his tower and had a glow to her this morning.”

“Oh, they probably just spent last night testing new ales,” I responded. He just nodded at me like I was an idiot. How the hell was I supposed to be able to read NPC dispositions toward each other? I had enough problems with humans.

“Oh, your bookseller arrived last night. Elice assigned him a shop, and he was asking about the town library,” Neral added. Oh, Garn Steelhand, the dwarf I recruited from Willow’s Bend.

“Send him to Breda. He can appreciate her model in her office. I'm afraid there will be no library for quite some time.” I turned and left the man to figure out the guilds.

I went to find my construction crew, Jaesmin was leading them, and there was no Sanso. He sent one of his golems with a note that he was taking the morning off today. He was resting in his tower. I hadn’t visited his tower in a while, so I left my crew to see him and invited Mad Dog, Grinder, and Black Beauty. They were on fetch quests in other cities, so they were unavailable.

It was only a 2-mile walk north to his tower, so I didn’t need Titan but had the elf twins get him ready anyway. They actually joined me for the ride as the horses needed exercise. Please don’t ask me why virtual horses require exercise. It definitely changed Titan’s disposition when I took him out. I even whispered to him that we would go leveling soon after we settled all the refugees.

Sanso’s tower looked the same as when I visited for the first time. It felt like so long ago. I knocked on the door and was shocked when Elice opened it. She didn’t look surprised at all. “Come in, Lord Tallis,” she said loudly, alerting Sanso. Sanso was dressed in light cotton clothes.

“I am sorry for taking the morning off, Lord. I just wanted to….” I held up my hand to stop him.

“No, I shouldn’t have interrupted. Your contract gives you one day off in seven and only a work week of 40 hours. You have far exceeded that every week you have worked for me. You are indispensable to Malcum; therefore, I am doubling your wage,” I finished with a smile.

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Yeah, so I felt a little guilty about disturbing Sanso’s sleepover. He usually stayed in town with Elice. The extra money wasn’t enough to cover the value of his summon rock spells or all the work his small army of golems did in helping grow the town. He was more responsible for the quick growth of Malcum than me.

I sat in his first-floor room. Drying mushrooms hung on wire in the small kitchen with a stone dining table. It definitely needed a few womanly touches. Elice sat with us. “So, I wanted to ask you about our prospects for mining. I am about to review the auction site for skilled workers. Do I need to hire some miners? The mountains have high-level monsters, but you found copper under your tower?”

“I apologize, Tallis. I have missed my quota for copper coins. I am just so tired.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t think it would be wise to venture near the mountains. Not just because of the monsters, but the dwarves that reside deep inside the range might also take exception,” he said. I hadn’t considered other kingdoms. Zion, my sheepherder, had said his wife’s clan lived in those mountains, but I hadn’t given it much thought to it.

“So, should I hire a skilled minter? Or stamper? Or whatever a coin maker is called? That would take it off your plate completely. Your golems would need to mine the ore,” I said, giving it much consideration.

“My golems have been kept busy by Breda. If they are not building with me, then she had them expanding sewers, moving buildings, hauling rock to upgrade our outer walls to stone…” Seeing my brow furrow, he added, “…I agree with her priorities completely. I kind of wish I had decided to build my tower in the town zone. I just didn’t know how I would be received when I arrived,” he looked at Elice and they smiled at each other.

“Do you two want a tower in town? We can change this to a mining tower or something,” I offered.

“Yes,” Elice answered for him. “He used to like privacy, but he is coming out of his stone shell,” she said. Sanso looked uncertain but nodded after seeing Elice’s smile.

“Good. Make me some rough drawings of what you want, and I will draft them for you, and we can build it together. How about next to the guild hall?” I offered the last as that land still belonged solely to me, and I wouldn’t have to confront Breda about it. Also, having a friend like Sanso so close would be nice.

With that settled, we all walked back to town. Titan ran circles around us as we walked, urging me to push him on a long ride. Soon, but not today.

We walked to the site, and the Silver Linings Playbook guild house was still under construction. It just wasn’t a priority project. But I was able to indicate the 1.5 acres of land they could build a new tower on. Maybe they would want something more conventional than a tower. After that, we ate lunch at the inn packed with locals. Fareth was being kept busy with her promise to feed the townsfolk who helped prepare. She was extremely happy cooking for everyone, not complaining.

We then joined the build team for the afternoon, completing five structures. It was less than the seven we did yesterday, but it was excellent considering we only had Sanso and me for half the day.

Before turning in to go drafting, I made two stops. I wanted to check on Savannah, my little aspiring elf alchemist, and talk with Persephone to see if she would teach me the two enchanting skills she knew. I wanted to start working towards being able to draft magical buildings, and yesterday, I was told what three skills I would need to do that.

Savannah was sweeping the floor when I arrived, “Savannah, how is Malcum’s youngest alchemist.” She looked up, and her hair was a little singed, but she still had a bright smile.

“Black Beauty bought all my potions! I tried to brew a large batch of my hair growth potions, and it blew up for the second time this week! Tonna says I need to slow down and think while I brew. I think she is just mad my potions are selling so fast!” she giggled. “Sorry, Lord Tallis, I don’t have any potions to sell you today.” Her face went sullen.

“Don’t worry! I will keep checking in. I have an order for potions for myself for the next time I go out adventuring. I will leave it with you, and Tonna can get to it when she can.” I wrote out the health and stamina potions I wanted on paper. I then talked with the excitable elf girl for 30 minutes as she gave me the town gossip. Apparently, all the young children were off trying to get as lucrative an apprenticeship like Savannah. Savannah was doing what she could to help them.

Tonna returned from her dinner and smiled at me when she entered her shop. She praised the young elf girl for her progress, making the child—no—young woman beam. Her body was maturing rapidly in the game, and she looked closer to a teenager. Where was the time going?

My walk to the enchanter’s tower was met with many friendly waves and greetings. The street lamps with magic globes were being charged as I walked. It was a nice touch, and their symmetry let me know that Breda had definitely been involved.

Persephone was home and entertaining Kytalia. They discussed installing some alarm signals on the earthen works for those harvesting outside the walls. We didn’t have enough patrols yet, so early warning of threats would be important.

I sat with them and complimented them both on the job they were doing. There were boxes and boxes of material on Persephone’s floor, and then I remembered that she had pissed off Black Beauty, so Black Beauty got her 100 times the number of ingredients she requested. Since it was a repeatable quest, Persephone had to pay out 100 times the reward! I planned to never anger Black Beauty upset.

“So I am here to get instruction in two skills I wish to learn from you, Persephone. Enchanting and Runic Script. Can you teach me these skills and let me know the best way to level them?” I asked. Kytalia excused herself as this had nothing to do with her. I just told her she had already earned her monthly bonus for her fantastic work in just a few days!

“So, you wish to be an enchanter, Lord Tallis? I can teach you those skills. It should just take an hour or so to impart the knowledge.” She added, bemused, “As for leveling them…actual enchanting—that will take time and practice.” I had been hoping for some cheat to level quicker.

“So be it. Teach me the skills…” I said, groaning as it was just another thing I had to level up before the game launch.

Enchanting Tier 1 Unlocked, +1 Channeling, +0.1% chance to improve object’s rarity

Enchanting: Runic Script 1 Tier 1 Unlocked, +1 Dexterity, +2% speed in enchanting

With the basic knowledge from the skills, I finally understood much more about the enchanting arts…at least how little I knew about the enchanting arts. The other skill that I needed was called Enchanting: Ritual Magic. Persephone didn’t have this skill, so I would have to order a skill book. I would check the player auction house on the way home and hopefully get lucky. I spent another hour with Persephone and helped her do some basic enchantments she was preparing. Both my skills leveled once!

It was because, as a teacher, her skill was so much larger than mine that I learned at a much faster pace! Unfortunately, I didn’t have a few days to remain under her tutelage. And it didn’t appear she would have the patience to teach her Lord for more than the three hours we had spent together.

The auction house was highly beneficial, though. The novice skill books were extremely cheap, just 20 to 30 silver each! A novice skill book raised a skill up to level 7 at most—one point per book. An expert skill book, up to level 23 and master up to level 43. With such a large and varied number of skills, I felt lucky to find two novice skill books on ritual magic for enchanting subskill. I immediately purchased three copies of the enchanting and a single copy of the runic script skill. It made sense as there were not enough players, and the books were being dumped cheaply. Getting a skill to level 7 in the game was not very difficult, and all the testers probably had selected their array of skills weeks ago. Expert-level skill books were ten gold or more.

I had a number of skills under seven myself. Skills that I had forgotten about. I bought 19 skill books to raise my own skills. Skill books were common dungeon rewards, and I had not been delving into dungeons, so I had been missing out. The issue was each book took an hour to use…so that was 25 hours of my time in using these books in the future.

I had a few dozen golds in my pocket…could NPCs use skill books? A quick search, and the answer was yes, but they only benefited once…it took 24 hours for them to use a single book as well. Another benefit was that the skill book was not destroyed like when a player used it. Also, an NPC had to have an open skill slot, and they were usually already maxed out.

Still, I dropped 59 gold on 218 different skill books. I tried to focus on useful crafting, magic, and gathering skills. Kytalia would be able to make the best use of this haul. If we had unskilled laborers coming, we could start them at level 1 in a skill, and they could work their way up to become productive.

Mad Dog texted me back and said NPCs usually just learned skills from other NPCs, so they were typically not interested in skill books. Well, we were about to diversify for a small town like Malcum!

I dropped the massive pile of books off with a note in Kytalia’s office in the town hall. It was very late, and only a few automated guards wandered the streets. I returned home and got to work on drafting. I had no inspiration for drafting magical buildings and was focused on completing at least seven copies for our next build-a-thon tomorrow!