The entrance of the Town Hall was at the top of a handful of wide stone steps. The building was moderately sized, reaching only half the height of the fort wall. Six white columns dominated the facade, holding a triangular pediment that gave way to a gently curved rooftop. A steeple marked the peak, centered on the top of the roof where it jutted toward the sky.
Coop didn’t spend any time admiring the building that would become the seat of government for Ghost Reef. He jogged up the steps and through the tall double doors, with Jett uncomplaining as she draped both paws over his shoulder and kneaded at the air.
The inside of the Town Hall immediately opened into an auditorium. Comfortable looking rows of seats formed a half-circle that faced a low platform with a podium in the center. A square shaped balcony level duplicated the seating of the first floor, looking over the platform between white columns above the entrance and both sides. The domed ceiling made the room seem spacious, and it contained an impressive skylight, shaped like a five-pointed star, that was situated underneath the steeple that he had noticed as he approached from the outside.
He spotted Marcus facing down a winged humanoid in a cloak, near one of the doors that lined both sides of the auditorium. Large black feathers poked from the sleeves of the alien and out from the bottom of the dark cloak. Coop thought they were on the verge of fighting, or at least Marcus was about to find himself on the receiving end of a beating. The alien gesticulated wildly and kept moving closer to the advisor, jabbing black feathers at his chest like he was scolding a disobedient child.
Marcus was slowly stepping backwards with his palms out, trying to keep the alien calm. Neither had noticed Coop’s entrance from across the auditorium.
Coop set Jett down on the nearest seat and rubbed her chin. He left her, purring, when she began to clean her paws. He quickly navigated through the rows of seats, approaching the aggressive alien from behind while it continued to berate Marcus on the state of the civilization shard.
Marcus noticed Coop approaching and greeted him, pleasantly, even while the alien persisted. “Welcome back, Coop. Did you find what you were looking for?”
His greeting also alerted the alien of Coop’s presence. The alien spun around to see who approached. The alien’s hood extended all the way over its eyes like a blindfold and was looped onto a brass colored bar that pierced through a black, slightly curved beak.
“I did, and a bit more, but what’s going on over here?” Coop asked, pointing between the pair while taking a better look at the alien clerk. There wasn’t much to see, just black feathers, a black beak, and a black hooded cloak. “I don’t like the way you’re speaking to my advisor.” Coop stated, furrowing his eyebrows while he stared at the alien’s beak, not sure where else to look when he was addressing it.
Marcus spoke up. “Ah, Zakronaw doesn’t mean anything by it, he’s just passionate about the safety of the shard.” Coop glanced at Marcus to make sure he wasn’t just saying that out of duress, but he seemed genuine. Still, every other alien had been appreciative when they arrived, thanking him for selecting their service and so on. This one was puffing up to continue his ranting, directed at Coop now that he had another target.
The bird seemed to come to a realization and turned to confront Coop. “Perfect! The Champion arrives! You are the reason the settlement is in such a precarious state! Are you here to begin correcting your ways?” Zakronaw shrieked like a raven imitating speech.
“Well, what’s the problem?” Coop played along, curious to see where the alien’s expectations would be, but with only so much patience left.
“The problem!? You have set the civilization shard up for failure. The vast majority of residents are linked to you. When you perish, the population of the settlement will drop to 97. 97! That is not enough at this stage of development!” The bird stepped closer to Coop, waving his wings like he was communicating with gestures even more than words. “Even worse, more than half of the permanent residents are considered elderly or children! Invaders will easily claim this territory. Plus, the shard shouldn’t be exposed to the elements! Don’t you understand that it is extremely valuable, shelter it!”
When the clerk got close enough to try jabbing Coop with his feathers, Coop swatted them away before they touched him, and turned back to Marcus, ignoring the bird. “I don’t like this guy. Let’s replace this Town Hall with a different one. We’ve got the funds.”
The clerk watched his feathers float to the ground, seeming stunned that they had been batted away so easily. He slowly looked up and something else caught his attention. He stared beyond Marcus and Coop toward the lectern in the center of the auditorium’s platform.
“We don’t need to do that, I think his heart is in the right place, and we really should save the credits when we can.” Marcus argued.
Coop followed the clerk’s gaze and watched Jett make herself comfortable on the podium. She seemed to think it was a good place for a quick nap. Coop looked back at Marcus and raised his eyebrows. “This guy is the worst alien I’ve met so far. Even the Empire’s prison guard was friendlier.”
“He’s just desperate to make sure the civilization shard is taken care of.” Marcus continued to plead his case for Zakronaw. “Did you know that the civilization shards dissolve into mana when the settlement is defeated by invaders? Zak’s species dedicates themselves to preserving as many as possible.”
“It seems like he’d let us rot though. I want to make sure we survive with or without a shard. I don’t think I’ll trust any guidance he tries to provide if he doesn’t have our best interest as a priority.” Coop declared.
“I believe he is operating under an assumption that we are far more primitive than we actually are. Imagine if we hadn’t developed any societies at all yet. It’s only been a month since the assimilation began. He would need to emphasize the importance of the collective organization of a settlement, starting from scratch.” Marcus continued.
Zakronaw cleared his throat. “Forgiveness. I didn’t realize this was a blessed settlement.” His tone had changed completely once he realized Jett was there. Coop noted that it sounded more than a little fearful rather than deferential.
“What? Cause we got a cat?” Coop scoffed. “They’re all over the place, man.”
Zakronaw froze for a moment, “A blessed planet.” He stated respectfully, correcting his statement more to himself than anyone else.
Coop turned to Marcus. “If he keeps scolding people like they’re kids, we’re getting rid of this town hall. He can wait until some other unfortunate settlement recruits him.”
“I’m sure he’ll adjust quickly.” Marcus promised. Zakronaw seemed to agree, bobbing with a half-bow, half-nod instead of ranting and raving at his new employers.
Coop moved on to the Field Boss situation, explaining to Marcus that they needed to isolate the northern basement until they could clear it properly. Marcus took it as an opportunity to sell some of the town hall’s usefulness to Coop.
While inside the town hall, they could access the civilization shard’s menus remotely. Coop was able to view the settlement from the top down perspective and observe how Marcus had spent the settlement’s basic credits. One of the side streets, opposite the training yard, now had a Blacksmith, Tanner, and Armourer which cost 10,000, 5,000, and 5,000 basic credits along with the Town Hall which cost 50,000 and Coop had already covered. The initial purchases, along with the Clothier, would provide the army’s defensive gear.
Marcus also had additional features when accessing the shard from the town hall as an advisor. He utilized one to request a messenger. A minute later, a wraith arrived and Marcus relayed a message to be delivered to Shane. The messenger ran off, leaving the auditorium and heading toward the entrance of the fort. It was a lot more efficient than how Coop just ran around the settlement to speak to everyone individually, but it was still a far cry from phones or radio. Shane would organize the quarantine of the basement for them.
Apparently, the town hall had several upgrade paths that would unlock all sorts of new features. Marcus was really excited about their prospects to the point that Coop understood his tolerance for the pushy town clerk. The system would provide far more real-time information on resident demographics, building performance, and settlement finance than a pre-mana city manager could have dreamed of. Instead of taking surveys and polling the needs of citizens, the information would be automatically gathered by the shard. It sounded like Marcus would eventually have all the tools to develop the settlement as if he was playing a city-building game.
Marcus had calculated the cost of the rest of the services that Ledwidge had requested. The Coliseum was a major investment, at 125,000 basic credits, but the others could all be purchased for a total of 174,000. He further grouped them into subcategories by categorizing them by function.
The cheapest group of related buildings was the Bowyer, Fletcher, and Range, which cost a total of 7,000 basic credits. This would allow them to equip archer type classes, a useful role for defending the fort.
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They could also get the Furnace, Smelter, Bladesmith, and Swordsmith for 52,000, which would provide for the vast majority of melee fighters and have the added utility of helping with their manual construction efforts through iron processing and steel production.
The most expensive was the Whitesmith, Gemcutter, and Druid Circle at 115,000 basic credits. Magical instruments were by far the most expensive, but they weren’t limited to weapons. Defensive magical items would be useful to everyone and their regular weapons could be enhanced as well.
On the one hand, Coop wanted to save as many basic credits as possible, and focus on the cheapest archer services only, but he also wanted the army to be well-rounded. He could also justify the melee services, since they would also save them credits if they were able to start building on their own with the additional materials produced. He’d seen Charlie casting spells without the aid of any magical tools enough times to be unsure about the value of the most expensive group of services, but he wasn’t sure if that was because her class was special.
Coop thought about it before making his suggestion. “I think the Archer group is a no-brainer. It’ll cost less than what I made today, fighting in the basement, and archers on the walls of a fort just makes sense.”
Marcus nodded along. “I think so too, but should we get Admiral Gideon to help us make our priorities before committing?”
“Nah, we don’t need to make him choose. Just get everything except maybe the Gemcutter and Druid Circle. We can save those for later.” Coop decided, not wanting to waste anymore of their limited time. “I think, of all the archetypes, the casters will be the least impacted by having less than ideal weapons to start with. They’ll still have suitable armor, right?”
“Yes, and from what I gathered, the Whitesmith will be able to craft suitable caster weapons. They’ll have options in any case.” Marcus validated Coop’s prediction. “Plus, the Gemcutter and Druid Circle are the two most expensive services at 50,000 basic credits each, so that saves more than half of the total cost.”
Coop thought that would work. He could save 100,000 basic credits and get the army started with all of the basic archetypes. With a flick of his wrist, he transferred another 74,000 basic credits to Marcus to let him construct the buildings. Coop still had a bit over 250,000 saved, but he needed a million.
Marcus confirmed he received the funds and brought up another topic. Mr. Gibson had brought a list with the work experience of all the new residents and delivered it to Marcus. They had several more highly qualified people that would be useful to developing and organizing the settlement, especially among Charlie’s neighbors.
It seemed like they had everything they needed to start building on their own. They had two different architects among the retired, multiple people with carpentry experience including Hana’s father, a roofer was among the husbands of Laurie’s group, and there were a few different kinds of engineers.
Once Marcus had Coop’s approval, he was ready to organize the Ghost Reef construction company. Coop was happy to let Marcus handle it, since Coop didn’t actually know everything that went into construction. His experience was limited to simple projects and maintenance around the island. He just made sure that Marcus would rope in Balor and some of the other aliens. Coop thought they would be enthusiastic volunteers with valuable insight into the incorporation of mana to share.
He left Marcus with Zakronaw and retrieved Jett from the podium, putting her on his shoulders like a scarf. He caught the alien town clerk watching him through his hood, clearly uncomfortable with the casual handling of a feline. Jett didn’t mind, she was half dozing even while he carried her. Usually, her daily routine didn’t begin as early as it did today, so he figured she was tired from keeping an eye out for him while they hunted Ruin Excavators and from the meeting of her first Field Boss. She seemed to value sleep even more than Coop did, which was really saying something.
Coop stopped by the new buildings to see what the system provided smithing services were like. He found the Blacksmith and walked inside. The rhythmic striking of a hammer on metal was loud and clear, even from the outside, but on the inside it was accompanied by a wave of warm air. Jett seemed to approve.
The Blacksmith noticed his door open when it rang a bell. The hammering stopped as the smith paused to check on his visitor. He surprised Coop by greeting him before Coop had noticed his presence. The Blacksmith was tiny, maybe three feet tall, with a wide head that was shaped like a football. He had huge, expressive golden eyes, and dog-like ears drooping almost to his shoulders. His skin was a gray color and his four-fingered hands had strong human-like digits, but with two thumbs on each hand. He wore a thick brown leather apron and had several tools tucked into the front pocket. His oversized welding goggles were pushed off his face and rested on the top of his head.
“‘Ow can I help ya?” The alien greeted Coop.
Coop gave him his more practiced spiel about being the Champion and welcoming him to the settlement. The alien grunted his way through the conversation until he noticed Jett.
“Oy! Are you wearing the pelt of a feline? That’s a bold choice!” He laughed in astonishment, barely masking his anxiety.
“Oh, no, she’s alive.” Coop corrected him. It seemed like Jett was the perfect ambassador for these aliens. He’d need to bring her around more often, and if she wasn’t up for it, Sunny would probably have a similar impact.
“Ah! Thank the Maker! You’d have been invitin’ all sorts of’ wrath if that was a fur.” The alien seemed truly relieved. “Name’s Garod. Ya got any special orders for me?” He asked, looking hopeful, but when Coop denied, he frowned before he explained. “It’s all well and good that ya got an army that needs equippin’ but it’s right boring work. I can’t wait ‘til they’re comin’ in to upgrade, but you’ll need more than basic materials for us to make anything interestin’.”
Coop raised an eyebrow at the diminutive alien’s confidence. “What else can you make?”
“All sorts! I’m a genu-wine Master Blacksmith!” The alien harrumphed like Coop should have guessed.
Coop accessed his spatial storage and pulled out the bejeweled dagger that Parker had attempted to assassinate him with. The black metal blade seemed to absorb the light, but the jewels glittered like crystals. “Can you make stuff like this?”
The alien grabbed it and held it up to his eyes, inspecting it like it was a precious gem. He handed it back to Coop after a moment and made a face that told Coop all he needed to know. “It’s trash! Basic garbage with some cheap jewel embellishment. I make better items just to junk them! And just about any type of Bladesmith could do the same!”
Coop looked at the dagger himself. He had no eye for quality, but it seemed sharp and the jewels looked fancy. He supposed that was the point. The alien spoke up while he looked at the weapon.
“The red jewel adds 1% damage effectiveness based on the wielder's Strength, the green jewel does the same for speed and Agility. The white jewels are just decoration. Real quality ones would multiply the effect, but it’s not worth creating a true array with such low quality Strength and Agility gems.” The smith explained.
“Can you improve it?” Coop wondered.
“Need a gemcutter for somethin’ like that, but the base dagger is the real problem. It’s better to junk it, I’m tellin’ ya! I can make better even without better materials and before a jewelcrafter gets their hands on it! Your army will have better even if it's boring.” The crafter declared.
Coop looked at his spatial storage, absolutely stacked with random materials that he had been collecting ever since he first claimed the shard. He pulled out a Jagged Metal Tooth and showed it to the master smith. It was only an Uncommon item he scavenged from the Ancient Prowlers.
“Now that’s good stuff!” The crafter declared, reaching his hands up like a child trying to grab candy. Coop handed it to him. “By the Maker… Really good, you don’t get pure mana materials like this after the assimilation is complete and they are really rare to find. You should hire an Artificer to work with a treasure like that.”
“Please tell my advisor to put an Artificer on our list.” Coop delegated to the alien. Garod nodded absently while he turned the finger-sized tooth in his hand. It looked to Coop like a large shark’s tooth that was hastily cut out of rusted iron by a dull tool. Coop looked around the room before he interrupted the master smith’s inspection. “Can you do something with it?”
“I could make the single best weapon ever made on this planet!” He declared. “But really an Artificer could enhance an already excellent weapon to new heights with a material like this.”
“Do you need any other materials to craft better quality items or do you just need something like that?” Coop wondered.
“I supply all the basic materials, which is how your army is getting their stuff. Somethin’ like this will add a flavor to the item based on what it is if used as a core for the recipe. It’s a reagent for preparing the metal itself for mana reinforcement. Basically, the next step up from just shapin’ the basic materials into weapons.” He squinted at the Tooth. “This would give a weapon a minor debuff application as an example.”
“The quality will increase based on the quality of the core material. Normally, it’d be one step down, but you got the pure stuff, and I’ve got the skill, so it’ll match up.” Garod flipped an ear back with his hand. “Then you got the gem arrays that enhance the item, but that ain’t my job.”
“Do you have more room in the back?” Coop asked the diminutive alien.
“Of course! I have my own material storage. Ya’ wanna see?” Garod didn’t take his eyes off the tooth as he led Coop around the counters.
Coop followed to a larger back room that was half storage and half workshop. A partially completed spike rested on a table next to a blacksmith’s hammer. He moseyed along the opposite wall until he found an empty container. “You mind if I use this?” He asked.
“For what?” Garod asked, finally looking away from the material. Coop tossed him another Jagged Metal Tooth and his already huge eyes grew wider as he held one in each hand.
Coop dumped 5,000 more of the Uncommon materials into the container, making a pile that threatened to overflow from the freezer sized crate. The boring basic gear for his army would be slightly better than basic if Coop had anything to say about it. He looked back at the stunned smith.
“You got any more containers?”