Chapter 270. Trade Routes and Tariffs.

I kept watch over the map in my headquarters, but no other immediate threats showed themselves. Those forgotten ones creatures were creepy, but it looked like their attack was a one-off event. Turning my attention back to the resource silo, I could see we had enough to start another building. As long as the current trade caravans weren’t somehow attacked, they continued bringing in a strong flow of resources.

I was excited to see how much I’d receive once the oversized wagon from Shoremarch arrived at the marketplace. It had the longest way to go, though, and it would be some time before it reached us. Once it left the paved road through the desert, its pace was going to slow down quite a bit.

That made me decide to make the trade routes my next construction option. Picking that option in the interface highlighted the various routes that were currently in operation. I had to build each route individually, which made sense given how much work and resources a road would require compared to a single building.

I started with the route between the cavern and the human village. It was part of the route that the caravans coming and going from Shoremarch would have to traverse, so I’d get double the benefit from it. That stretch of the trade route was the second largest one given that the human village was further out than the gnomes or the elves. Confirming my selection, I waited to see what would happen.

To my surprise, a group of kobolds holding various tools walked out of one of the housing complexes. There were ten in total, and they didn’t show up on my population totals, so they were in addition to the population cap. They walked to the entrance of the cavern and began to make motions with their tools.

Normally, when I upgraded a structure, the building sort of went blurry and grew into its new form. With the road construction, there was a blurry area where they were working, and as the work crew slowly walked down the caravan trail, a rough dirt road was created behind them. Resources were draining at a sedate pace from my silo as they worked.

The resource drain was slow enough that it wouldn’t delay my next construction project by very much. If I tried to run multiple road crews at the same time, I’d probably have to wait before I could build anything else, but for now, keeping that one crew working wasn’t going to be too much of a burden.

That left me with enough resources to start on a second project. The kobold sorcerers hut was still a dinky little rank zero shack, so I ordered that to expand to rank one. It wouldn’t be too costly to go from rank zero to rank one, and it would probably be competed rather quickly.

So far, I hadn’t seen any kobolds resembling what I’d call a sorcerer, but I chalked that up to still waiting for more eggs to hatch, and for them to finish training. There were also no instructions on how I would get to assign them. I had a feeling they were linked to defense and would have to assign them to some of the existing warrior squads or defensive positions, but until they hatched and were trained up in the sorcerer’s hut, I couldn’t say for sure.

My minions were now closing in on the area of the desert that was supposed to house a point of interest. I shifted my view to the minions and watched as they walked over a sand dune to get a peek at the position marked on the map. There was nothing there, but I could see Khurr look around the area, then point off into the distance. His tracking and scouting skills were coming in handy.

The team traveled over a few more dunes, then finally stopped their progress at the top of one. Below them was a small oasis, looking just about what I’d expect one to look like based on movies and cartoons I’d seen over the years. A small pond, several palm trees, and tufts of greenery covered a space about a football field in size.

At the edge of the oasis was a small, rough stone building that looked ancient and worn down by centuries of sand blowing against it. A single doorway led into the dark interior, giving the structure a foreboding look. Khurr moved toward the structure while the other minions took up defensive positions around the oasis.

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He sniffed the air like a dog, then slunk forward, keeping out of line of sight of the entrance. Khurr edged his way slowly along the wall toward the entrance, his hand crossbow ready in one hand, and his shortsword in the other. As soon as he peeked inside, a system prompt appeared. The prompt startled me as I focused intently on Khurr and what he was about to discover.

Forces under your command have discovered the entrance to the Temple of the Forgotten Ones. The Temple of the Forgotten Ones is a tier 2-3 ranked dungeon. Dungeon creatures will occasionally spawn and head toward the nearest target if the dungeon is not regularly cleared by adventurers.

Please note that the forces you command, and your minions, are not able to enter the dungeon. Since this dungeon is in your territory, your faction will claim ownership of it, though it can be taken from your possession by hostile forces.

New construction options have been unlocked.

I was a bit disappointed that my team couldn’t make a run at the dungeon, and it seemed that the system was considering it more of a build location and resource node than anything else. As soon as I inspected my build options, I quickly spotted the new structure I could construct.

Tariff Station. This small tariff station will impose a modest tax on all loot extracted from the dungeon. Once enough resources have been gathered through taxes, they will be sent by caravan to your faction’s marketplace. Please note that these caravans carry substantially more resources than a trade caravan of similar size, making them attractive targets for hostile forces in the area.

Nice, I could use some more income, even if I really did want to get a peek inside the dungeon. I had a feeling that this one wasn’t a true dungeon as it was system generated for the challenge, but there was always the possibility that the system had sent a true core here, and I might have been able to communicate with it.

I’d never know, since I couldn’t interact with it directly. What I could do was build the tariff station. My sorcerers hut upgrade was almost done, and I’d start on the tariff station right after. My minions couldn’t do anything at the dungeon, so I sent them on their next task, investigating the trading consortium fort that was near the forest.

A new wave of eggs hatched inside the housing complexes, and I was happy to see several of them head inside the barracks for training. Four were waiting outside the sorcerer’s hut which was just finishing up. As it completed, I could see that the hut had grown a bit in size, but other than growing a bit, the rest of it looked about the same.

The four sorcerer trainees walked inside, and I could see some flashing lights inside the hut as they learned whatever spells they would wield. They exited about the same time as the latest batch of warriors did. Each of the sorcerers wore grey robes and had a dagger on their belt as their only physical weapon.

A system prompt explained how they would function for me.

You have trained your first sorcerers. Kobold sorcerers use the innate magic of their race to support your troops and damage your foes. With a rank one sorcerer’s hut, your sorcerers know the spell, Burst of Flame. Burst of Flame is a ranged spell that does minimal initial damage and has a slight damage over time component as the impacted area burns for the next three seconds.

Improve your sorcerers hut to unlock higher ranks of existing spells and to learn new spells.

By default, your sorcerers will attach themselves to any existing squads of warriors. You may also choose to group them inside their own formation. All adjustments can be made at your headquarters.

At rank one, my sorcerers weren’t all that exciting. Their spell was just them chucking a small burst of flame at their enemies. The system didn’t explain their maximum range, or how many spells they could cast before running out of mana or spell slots. I was also restricted and couldn’t choose which squad to attach them to, and it looked like it was a totally random process.

I could choose to make a specific sorcerer squad but decided to just let them bolster the other forces for the time being. Given how sorcerers were unarmored and only had a dagger for defense, it was too much of a risk to send the only four I had out on their own. I had a feeling that they would be much better when paired with the more durable kobold warriors.

There were only four of the sorcerers, and I’d have to wait and see if more of the eggs waiting to hatch gave me any additional spellcasters. Some activity at the dungeon caught my attention as the map flashed and a notification appeared.

The Temple of the Forgotten Ones dungeon has expelled several creatures that will now seek to attack the nearest target location. Attract adventurers to clear the dungeon and build defenses to prevent future outbreaks. Should your dungeon remain uncleared, the waves of hostile creatures will increase in number and strength.