Chapter 275. Lizard Pits.

I had the structure upgrade token that I’d purchased from the consortium ready to go. Using it on the barracks, the structure grew hazy again as it began its transformation. The housing complexes and the farms were also undergoing automatic upgrades. Having the system choose those structures for my arena certificates turned out to be a solid investment.

A new plot for both a housing complex and a farm opened up, but first, I wanted to get the marketplace upgrade underway. With two storage silos, and one of them arriving fully stocked, I had enough to select something else for an upgrade. I hit the crafting center and resources began to flow from my storage silos at a frantic pace.

A quick calculation showed that there were more than enough resources to finish both structure upgrades before I ran dry. There were two random addon tokens and if I had my choice, I’d want to have an addon for the barracks and marketplace. Those two buildings seemed to be the most important for the future of my little empire.

The addon tokens could only be used on rank five structures, so I was able to game the system a bit by using one now when I only had two structures that met the requirements. Activating the token, I waited like a gambler looking at the roulette wheel. A few seconds later, a smaller structure began to construct right next to the barracks.

You have unlocked the Expeditionary Force Barracks addon. This addon will generate additional troops that don’t count toward your total population cap. These troops will become part of a permanent garrison for each faction you have a mutual defense pact with. One complete squad with attached forces will be sent to each eligible ally.

In addition, a complete squad, including any attached forces, will journey from each eligible ally and take up residence in the new addon. While not under your direct control, these troops will respond to any threats to your cavern. Losses sustained by the expeditionary forces will eventually regenerate, but only after all your own units are at full strength.

For now, nothing was happening as both buildings were still under construction. I had been distracted by the upgrades, and it took Melvin urging me in his armor form, to look at the map. My minions had discovered a small ruin that they were investigating. It was in a section of the desert that was off the beaten path but near the border to the forest.

It looked like a deep pit lined with carefully cut stones. The construction was similar to the road leading out from Shoremarch and was of high enough quality to not have been completely reclaimed by the desert. Khurr was lowered down into the pit where he sniffed and searched for anything of interest. Eventually, he uncovered a broken tablet in the sand with writing carved onto it.

…desert training pit is becoming too dry an environment for the beasts. Breeding facilities will be relocated to the grove location near the…

That was it, just a cryptic message that wasn’t complete. I didn’t think the system would leave it out here if it was of no use. It mentioned a second facility in a grove. My minions had explored a lot of the desert area that was based on the unreliable map, but there were also bits of the forest edge to the south that were included in that map.

I sent my minions to explore along the edge of the forest to the south, hopefully they’d uncover something useful there. If not, I’d just have them continue exploring the zone for anything of interest. Looking back at the map, I saw a gnome caravan was under attack. It wasn’t on my side of the trade route, so I left things up to their warriors on patrol to handle.

The barracks soon completed; it seemed that the upgrade tokens built them faster than if I just spent resources on my own for it. A host of changes occurred when it reached the cap for the challenge. Instead of a single, fortified building, the barracks expanded with a defensive wall surrounding the area around it. The wall even tied into the wall on my headquarters, giving us a small fortress complex inside our cavern.

Barracks, Rank 5.

At this rank, several upgrades and changes have occurred to your barracks. To help defend the structure, and the adjacent headquarters, 2 new squads of defenders will be summoned. These defenders will patrol the walls around the barracks and provide support if the headquarters is attacked. These defenders are additional forces and aren’t included in your population cap.

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Your barracks will now begin to train your workers as militia. Training of the militia will only occur when the barracks is not training any other troops. Militia will be issued gear that is two ranks below your kobold warriors and they will be less proficient in using that gear.

Inside your headquarters, you now have the option to activate a bell to call your militia to action. When the bell is rung, all workers trained as militia in the cavern will head toward the quartermaster’s hut to be issued gear. Once equipped, you may order them to support and defend anywhere inside the cavern.

Please be advised that calling the militia to arms will have a serious impact on your productivity, and a debuff causing a 50% reduction in efficiency will take effect for 2 hours after the militia are released to return to their civilian duties.

It seemed like the system was preparing me for some all-out war, which seemed like a fitting end to the challenge. All I could do now was continue to make my little empire stronger. With all the trade agreements, I had to believe that I was acquiring resources faster than most of my competitors. On the downside, my forces were probably weaker than the other summoned beings who had focused on conquest.

I’d need to keep upgrading as much, and as fast, as I could. Also, any mercenary contracts that appeared, I was going to snatch up. I checked in on the Gavelox Trading Consortium, but their inventory was still empty from me purchasing everything last time. It still showed four slots for purchases, but each had a countdown timer showing how long it would be before they restocked.

The soonest something would become available was in a day and a half, and the longest was three days. There didn’t seem to be a specific reason for the differing times, and even though I hadn’t bought everything at the same time, I had made the purchases over the course of a 24-hour period, not three days.

My housing complex and farms finished upgrading a short while after the barracks. The farms now had raised planters that covered most of the farm area, greatly expanding production. The little storage hut for the workers also had a basement now, where the rare and valuable mushrooms were being grown. When the market upgraded, they would probably help to bump my resource intake even higher.

Out at the housing complex, each of the homes was expanded to a two-story affair, and a sixth home was added to each plot. It would significantly expand my population, and that was even without building out the final plot. Eggs appeared in front of each home, and it wouldn’t be long before we had more kobolds than ever running around.

Around the time my market upgraded to rank five, my minions discovered something at the edge of the forest to the south. Several ruined stone buildings stood partially hidden from view by the dry scrub brush in the area. Khurr, his nose working overtime, had sniffed something out. Only one of the buildings was still intact, and Khurr entered the small structure.

My gnoll tracker emerged a few moments later with a football-sized egg in his hands. As I looked at the egg, a new system prompt appeared. I had unlocked a new structure and one I was more than happy to add to my empire.

You have discovered the dormant eggs of a battle lizard. In times past, a nearly forgotten civilization raised and fought these beasts in tournaments for the entertainment of their population. Eventually, as the breeding program for these lizards progressed, they became larger and more powerful. Seeing their power, the ancient civilization incorporated these beasts into their armies, using them much like some cultures use war dogs.

Your kobolds have an affinity for reptilian creatures and can continue the trend of raising these beasts of war. The Lizard Pit structure has been unlocked. This structure will allow your kobolds to breed battle lizards to supplement your armed forces. The number and power of these lizards is determined by the structure rank.

I definitely wanted some battle lizards in my army. With the market now complete, and the crafting area almost done, I added the rank zero Lizard Pit to the queue. It would take a while to get it upgraded to rank five, but I wanted to at least get a look at what would happen with the building, even if further upgrades might have to wait until my other structure upgrades were completed.

I had an option of where to place the lizard pit. My cavern was getting a bit full now that the buildings were continually upgrading and expanding. I found some room near the rear exit of the cavern, between the defensive wall and the housing complex. Hopefully, the lizards wouldn’t get out and invade the housing complex on a kobold egg eating spree. The location seemed like the best option and gave me enough room if the pit needed to expand at the higher ranks.

The ability for cross-realm assaults has been unlocked. A competitor has unleased mercenary forces upon your zone. Rally your defenses and repulse this attack.

A flashing red icon appeared on the map, one much bigger than the icons for an attack on a trade route. To make matters worse, this one was close inside the forest. Not only was the dot close, but it was also moving quickly toward my cavern. I’d been caught out of position and my minions were too far away to help. It was going to be up to me and my kobolds to repulse this attack.