I briefly considered counseling InnerSectDed13 against scouting for me too aggressively, only to find a group of volatile turtles… But I decided he deserved it from failing to warn me about how to play the game.

*Ding*

A small noise brought my attention back to the corner where income was displayed. I grinned. My luck was finally in; not only did I receive my original income, but it appeared that the Crystal of New Spring was already in effect: my wood income had already risen 12, herbs to 6, and population to 4.

Notifications popped up everywhere, and suddenly turtles were wandering to and fro, talking to each other, interaction, swimming, eating, one was trying to farm…

I could now differentiate slightly between the types of notification. The light blue exclamation points were basically yes/no decisions, and related to daily sect life. Two turtles got into an argument and asked me who was right. One pair of turtles wanted me to officiate their wedding. After some thought, I accepted, though I wondered whether I should consider my position. But as our population was currently only 35…

Tortua wanted permission to attach the crystal to a staff, which I swiftly acquiesced to.

Red exclamation point were due to the factions. Or basically me choosing one of the options available. I could only choose one, and each person had to be dealt with, or their happiness would go down.

The most interesting thing I discovered, however, was that after I dealt with her black exclamation points, a red one appeared above Tortua’s head.

‘Does that mean that they don’t order by priority, but by time…? So I could miss a red option by doing it first. But at the same time…’ I glanced at the timer. Only 38 minutes until my next batch of income. I grimaced. ‘As the sect grows, discovering all of the secret options will become impossible. It will be more a matter of luck…Chaining them in the right order could matter too...’

Which, I supposed, would make it accurate, in that regard at least.

Unsurprisingly, Madam Shellton wanted the herbs for creating baths for her trainees. The herbal bath would apparently boost the recovering time, and allow them to improve the strength of their bodies faster. She also wanted the wood to build a basic palisade around the sect. It would cost 15 wood, and we only had 14 currently, but she figured almost complete would be better than nothing.

Dr. Slowand wanted the wood to build an alchemy workspace, to refine the herbs gathered into elixirs. The elixirs could be used to boost cultivation, but because we were an animal race, they weren’t so useful to us. But Dr. Slowand assured me that as the experience of the alchemists grew, so would their usefulness, and they would be able to assist body cultivation. Surprisingly, Derek Shelley threw his support behind Slowand, although his motivations were to sell the cultivation elixirs to traders to obtain weapons…

Ultimately, it was Tortua’s suggestion that I decided to support. She wanted to build a home at the edge of the forest, which would also function as a base of operations for harvesting herbs. The cost was 10 wood, which was nicely below the current stockpile, and I could throw the rest towards Madam Shelton’s palisade. Besides, Dr. Slowand would appreciate the additional herbs for medicinal areas, even if there wasn’t a location to refine the herbs into medicine.

So after accepting Tortua’s suggestion, I sent a small passage to Dr. Slowand about focusing on herb production.

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To Madam Shellton: “I agree with all of your points, Madam, but I believe that while walls are needed in the long run, what is of the greatest importance now is increasing the strength of our warriors. I have the utmost faith in your methods, and have decided to provide you with all the herbs you need to aid in their body training.”

After sending the messages, a notification came up.

Current number of production buildings have reached maximum capacity: 2 of 2. Current production buildings: Doctor’s Quarters, Herb Gatherer’s Quarters. Maximum number of production buildings will increase every 25 population. Next production building available at 50 population.

...huh. Well, if I had known that earlier, I’m not sure I would have made that decision so easily…

But I supposed that it is better to keep the maximum number of production buildings at all times, even if it was extremely possible to find a new, more valuable building in the interim.

I watched the turtles for a while as they began to walk to the Herb Gatherer’s quarters and leave with a woven basket. They were quite adorable. But a large black exclamation point appeared above the main house of the sect. There were a lot of little blue exclamation points appearing as they gathered herbs.

There was a moment of hesitation, but with the rate the blue exclamation points were appearing… I wasn’t sure I could deal with all of them before the black one would expire. Would it ever expire…?

Once more I cursed my friend for his vague explanations and uselessness in regards to the specifics of the game. Due to its size, and previously unseen style, I clicked on the large black exclamation point.

A strange menu came up, filled with strange buttons and different boxes. Along the side there was a column with 6 pictures of squares, 3 of which were simply question marks, that seemed to show pixely turtle faces. In a way, I could sense I was supposed to drag the turtle pictures to the different places, but I didn’t really understand what they meant. Outer Sect…? Inner Sect? Core Disciple? Chosen?

Luckily, a tip popped up.

Welcome to the Disciple screen! Using this, you will manage what status disciples will have in your sect, as well as how many resources will go to each. You may determine level of each of the disciples of your sect now. Warning: your decrees will only be recommendation, the rest of your sect may not respect your decisions based upon relationships. Warning: your allocation of resources might not be respected, depending on who you choose as administrator.

Rubbing my forehead, I considered the available information. So I just basically gave them titles…? It seemed as though I currently only had two types unlocked, Inner and Outer Sect, so for the moment I put I dragged them all down to the Outer Sect Area. The first 3 I recognized: Snapper, Tortua, and Young Master Peebles. When I selected one of the ? Mark turtles, another box popped up.

Congratulations! A turtle with talent for body cultivation was born into your sect: T. Gulper. Physique: 3/10. Cultivation Talent: 1/10. Comprehension: 2/10. Total Potential: 9/100

The ?’s disappeared, a picture of a male-looking turtle appearing in its place. And honestly, that was more of a guess than anything else. So these stats were to help me determine in what grouping I should put this disciple…?

Well, for now, he would go in the Outer Sect with everyone else. There was only 6 of them. I clicked on the next one.

Congratulations! A turtle with talent for body cultivation was born into your sect: C. Kreepin. Physique: 2/10. Cultivation Talent 1/10. Comprehension: 2/10.

Total Potential: 8/100

Welcome, C. Kreepin, oh androgynous turtle disciple. Into Outer Sect Disciple group you go.

Congratulations! A turtle with talent for cultivation was born into your sect: A. Yawnin. Physique: 2/10. Cultivation Talent 2/10. Comprehension: 2/10. Total Potential: 11/100

Hum. It was hard for me to judge from 3 how important each point in the first 3 stats were, while the 4th appeared to be a more general idea of potential. But the fact that this turtle had 2 for cultivation…

I briefly considered placing A. Yawnin into Inner Sect, but I decided to wait. No reason to play favorites just yet. All that remained was…

To choose who would train the disciples, and who would control access to the resources...