Essence Wave Book 2 Chapter 23

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

So I finally got my office back! Finally had good enough weather to put in the epoxy patches over the worked concrete and repaint the floor. Joy even put in a new solid-core door, so next to no sound gets through!

I've decided to name this book Energy Barons, kinda following the naming scheme of the first book. What do y'all think?

Enjoy!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

“There are a number of things I need you to do that I can’t,” Josiah said. “At least, until you delegate authority for them. First off, I can’t pay anyone out of the city funds.”

“Well that’s not good,” David said, stepping up to the map. He activated the City System, and saw hundreds of pending notifications. “Uh.”

“Yeah, that,” Josiah said. “We want to get an economy going, and we need the permissions to do so.”

“Ah, here we go,” David said, then appointed Josiah as his Chancellor. Under him, he set Michelle as the Seneschal of the city, and delegated a significant amount of his authority. “Okay, so you’re now Chancellor, not Seneschal, which comes with more power. I’ve also delegated all power with regards to city funds to you and Michelle. That should let you appoint people to positions that the city pays.”

“Good,” Josiah said. “Can you increase the tax rate to ten percent? I already informed people that it was going up.”

“How’re people making credits?” David asked as he ticked the rate up as he was asked.

“We can sell crafted goods, artworks, and resources through the Market,” Josiah said. “The city gets the tax rate on sales as well as purchase, so we’re doing okay. Michelle worked with Braxton and a few others to create a plan that will give us a self-sustaining economy.”

“Cool,” David said with a grin.

“Now, we need to explore the Dungeon you set down. What does the System say about it? All I could see was the location.”

“Let me check,” David said. “Well, right now it’s three rooms, the last has a Grunt Alpha that is level six with four Gremlins and four Imps. The first room has six Gremlins and a Grunt, while the second is eight Gremlins and four Imps. Probably a good fight for five level fours, but six is the maximum size.”

He spent another minute looking at the outputs, “We need to clear it in the next ten hours or the first room gets set free.”

“Barracks, this is Seneschal. Send six to dungeon, two hours. Clear?”

David didn’t hear anything, but Josiah nodded along. “Barracks, thanks,” Josiah said. He looked at David, “(name) will send six to the Dungeon. You said you could place a second?”

“Yeah,” David said. He pulled up the map, and saw four locations highlighted. With a few clicks, he shared the map with Josiah. “Not a whole lot close to us, but we can designate areas up to,” click, “five kilometers away from our borders. These spots give bonuses, like the first did.”

“Why those?” Josiah asked.

“Uh, cultural and geographic significance?” David said.

“That makes sense for these two. This one is a museum of an old school house,” Josiah said, pointing. “And that is a prominent overlook. This one, though, doesn’t make sense.”

The last location he pointed to was about a short distance into Browns Canyon, before the walls really closed in. They both spent a few minutes looking through the interface to try and figure it out, before David accidentally opened an overlay that drew bright yellow lines across the map. Three of the lines intersected at the location that confused them. Two lines intersected at each of the other spots. “Ley lines!” David exclaimed. “That’s why! And look, three of them intersect here too. I wonder if that is required to make a City Crystal.”

Josiah scrolled the map sideways, “The fish farm only has two, and so does the fortification.”

“I’m slightly confused, though,” David siad. “I thought ley lines would be straight, but these curve and wiggle all over.”

Josiah just shrugged. “This does show us that we can put an outpost here,” he tapped the map about thirty kilometers down the old railroad, just after it cross the Arkansas but before it turned. “There is a good chance that a Corruption has formed there as well.”

“Can you get someone to go through as far as the map goes and map out possible Corruption targets, and then get scouts out to examine them?” David asked.

“Yes, sir,” Josiah said with a smirk.

“You were probably going to do that anyway,” David said while shaking his head and holding in laughter.

“Always better to give an order that you know will be followed,” Josiah winked at him.

“Back to dungeon plotting,” David said. “I get the feeling that the location with three ley lines will be better, but that might also be better for an outpost or fortification.”

“Then here, just off the county road. It's only three kilometers away, so we can send people to train more often than the Bridge Dungeon,” Josiah said.

“Sounds good,” David said, then dropped his last free dungeon. “Oh, nice, I got more options here. Whoa, I can designate this as a metal mine. As the dungeon grows, it’ll generate mining rooms where it turns Essence into metal. It starts producing both copper and tin. That’s bronze, right?”

“Yes. The Forge can produce bronze. How do we make the dungeon’s stronger?” Josiah asked.

“Kill Daemons inside them,” David said. “Uh, any Mana and Energy use inside also makes them stronger, so letting people train in them after a clear would be good too. It doesn’t say how long after someone defeats the dungeon that it will repopulate. Maybe it’ll tell us once one is empty?”

“What does the one you just selected say?” Josiah asked.

“Good point,” David said, then poked at it. “Uh, same setup as the previous dungeon. It says that it is already populated, and we have twenty-four hours to clear it.”

“Can you change the type of the Bridge Dungeon?”

“Hold on. No, it is set as an Essence producer. Huh, the Daemons defeated there provide twenty percent more Essence, and the area around the dungeon will have more Essence. It doesn’t give a percentage there. Um, so more mutated animals,” David started.

“Faster growing plants and animals,” Josiah said. “How big of an area?”

“Not that big to start, two hundred meter radius, but that will increase as the dungeon grows,” David said with a grin. “I guess that is good for the city.”

“And having more dungeons will give more benefits,” Josiah said. “But there might be an Essence producing outpost instead.”

“We’ll see,” David shrugged. “Who is down at Salida?”

“Clancy is the scout, Elijah leads the team that went after him. Callsign is Prophet.”

David shook his head, then tapped his ear. “Prophet, this is Lord and Seneschal. I saw that you formed a city?”

“Uh, yes sir,” a nervous voice answered. “There were nearly a thousand people left, and only a small Corruption. Clancy told us how you all took down the first one, and there were four hundred people with Mana Dart to blast away the slime.”

“Nearly a thousand!” David exclaimed. “That’s amazing.”

“Yes sir. Uh, I’m leading five hundred back towards Hope’s Refuge, sir,” Elijah said.

“Why?” David asked.

“They don’t feel safe enough here, and, well, it’s much harder to get everyone set up without the Market,” he responded. “Most of them want to stay, but the mayor of Salida and some of her advisors are coming to shop and then return. Twenty guards plus five of them, and they got nearly all of the credits from everyone who stayed to buy stuff.”

Josiah talked a bit more to him, asking questions about setup, while David looked to see if he could build another Market down there. “Looks like we can build a subsidiary Market, but only once we’ve upgraded the village to town and we have connected to Salida with a System-approved road.” David told them. “Layering the road on top of the current one should reduce costs a bit at least.”

“Michelle already started building one,” Josiah said. “(Name), we’ve got another five hundred citizens coming. Can you come back here to help plot out? Get Christine and Duke as well. Let’s figure out the next step for advancement.”

David tapped a few buttons and pulled up the current requirements to upgrade the city.

Upgrade Hope’s Refuge to Village Tier 2

Population Required: 342/100

Buildings Required: 29/18

Wall Upgraded to Level 2 Tier 1: Yes

Mayor’s Manor upgraded to Level 2 Tier 2: Yes

Farm food output equal to half required for population: Yes

Production Buildings Required: 8/5

All buildings upgraded to at least Level 1 Tier 4: Yes

“Uh, we can upgrade the Village to Tier 3,” David said. “I’m guessing you still can’t do that? And wow, these numbers are awesome. Might be able to upgrade the town again immediately afterwards.”

“Probably could now, but not before you promoted me,” Josiah said. “Go ahead.”

David clicked the button and a golden flash crossed the entire city.

Congratulations! Hope’s Refuge is the first Village to advance to Tier 2!

Reward: 1500 credits to each citizen! Miniscule increase to City Essence gathering!

Upgrade Hope’s Refuge to Village Tier 3

Population Required: 342/200

Buildings Required: 29/24

Wall Upgraded to Level 2 Tier 2: No

Mayor’s Manor Upgraded to Level 2 Tier 2: No

Researcher’s Hall Upgraded to Level 2 Tier 2: No

Total research projects completed: 9/10

Upgraded at least two production buildings to Level 2 Tier 2: 0/2

“Alright,” David said. “Can’t upgrade immediately. We have to upgrade the Wall, Mayor’s Manor, Researcher’s Hall, and at least two buildings. Also have to finish one more research project, but we aren’t given a limitation on what.”

“Research project will finish soon,” Michelle’s voice said in his ear. “I’ll get teams on upgrading the buildings.”

“We’ll get out of this one and start on it,” David said. “While you return.”

Josiah nodded, and then marched out of the room. He stopped into the classroom, where four people David didn’t know left, followed by Blake. No one else was in the building, so when David left, he immediately triggered the upgrade.

Do you wish to upgrade the Mayor’s Manor? If so, please provide Resources, Energy, and Mana.

Resources provided: 0/14 Units worked wood, 0/5 Units worked stone, 0/3 Units worked metal, 1/2 City Upgrades (Essence Storm Lightning Rod) provided.

Energy Required: 2,856,912 (2,000,000 to substitute for City Upgrade)

Mana Required: 3,176,345 (2,000,000 to substitute for City Upgrade)

“Uh, so we need to install a City Upgrade before we try to upgrade the Manor,” David said. “Otherwise, it’s two million Energy and two million Mana.”

“What are our options?” Blake asked.

“No idea, back to the map room,” David said. The four students left, Josiah directing them to help out with the upgrade for the Wall.

“The Wall upgrade needs an Inscription,” Josiah said. “The System might help with that, but it will cost a ton, just like the Manor.”

“Get Ben and Julie on it,” David said. “I’ll go help once we’ve figured out the City Upgrade things. Ah, here it is. Holy guacamole, analysis paralysis here I come. There are literally thousands of options here.”

“Yeah, but is a miniscule increase in fertility something we want to select,” Blake said, pointing at an option to build a small shrine to a fertility goddess. “And how does that even work? Are there gods and goddesses?”

“No idea,” David said. “Let’s avoid those options for now. Ooh, here. Upgrade the map room interface to allow two portable connection points. Fifteen thousand City Essence, though.”

“We’re at thirteen thousand, nine hundred,” Josiah said.

“Okay, any other options you see worthwhile that we can afford right now?” David asked, looking back at the list.

“Ten growth posts,” Josiah said. “One thousand each. They last for forty days and increase growth speed on a Farm by a miniscule amount.”

“Can we get less?” David asked.

“Not if we want it to count as a City Upgrade,” Josiah said.

“Okay, purchased,” David said. The City Crystal flared with light, and they quickly left the room to check on it. A two-meter long and twenty-centimeter diameter rod formed, with one end tapering into a rounded point and the other flat, on the ground underneath it. It took nearly a minute to create it, looking like a 3d printer was generating it one layer at a time. Once the first one was created, another immediately started to form beside it.

David checked the upgrade menu, “Looks like just starting the City Upgrade counted. We need worked wood, metal, and stone. Still generic, though who knows how long that’ll last.”

“I will go inform the Forge, Woodcutter’s Hall, and Stonecutter’s Hall,” Blake said, turning to jog off.

David gave him a thumbs up before he left, then sat down next to the building and started to channel his Mana and Energy into it. Even pushing as much Mana through his channels as he could, though, his pool didn’t drop at all. Man, I’ve got to work on this. I wonder why I can blast out a thousand Mana in a second using a Skill, but not when I’m directly controlling it? The System must do something with it, or the runes are the key. Well, I guess I can work on tempering or training at the same time.

He kept the flow of Mana going, but stopped the flow of Energy. Instead, he carefully directed a tiny stream of Energy to corkscrew through his channels, one unit at a time, and gently pushed against the edges with it. It hurt, something about the motion making the channel feel like it was burning and tearing at the same time.

The first time he tried, he grunted in pain and lost control of his Mana and Energy. The Energy just dissipated, but the Mana flow cutting off caused pain, the backlash feeling like heartburn and triggering a migraine. The pain dissipated quickly under the guidance of his Skill, but it still took him a few minutes to get back into the groove.

A thud caused him to look to the side and see six long planks of wood placed down next to the glowing hologram overlain across the Mayor’s Manor. Blake grinned at him, then turned and ran off, obviously enthused to be back into a younger man’s body.

David laughed, then focused. More pain, but he grit his teeth through it, This is worth it. It is. It’s just pain, pain is transitory, but the gain will be worth it. Especially since I can temper and channel Mana at the same time.

An hour later, he finished one full cycle through his Energy channels, and switched to Mana. He used pure Mana to start, and the pain it gave was freezing and tearing instead of burning. An hour after that, five other people were helping with the building, actually placing the planks and stone where they went. This dropped the Energy cost, and the items themselves dropped the Mana cost to where the Manor was upgraded before he was able to do a second run through the Energy tempering cycle. He pushed through, though, and finished up yet another hour later.

The sun was still up, the planet now having a significantly longer day/night cycle than previously. He stood, stretching from sitting still and cramping muscles from pain, then looked over to see the wall flash with light as it finished upgrading. “Oh, nice!” David said, then jogged over.

A harried looking Ben was huddling behind Jamie as dozens of people chanted his name. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Jamie wasn’t having any luck dispersing the crowd.

David pushed his way through, “What happened?” he asked loudly, engaging Invigorating Shout to overpower the crowd’s voices.

They quieted, then Eric, one of the Inscriptionists, shouted, “Ben created a new Inscription that let us finish the wall super quick. It was awesome, how he just looked at the attempts me and Bryan had tried and then immediately started sketching away.”

“That is awesome,” David said, looking over at Ben, “but there is more work to be done. How about you all disperse and find some more projects to work on, and I’ll reward Ben.” A cheer rang out, and then everyone left except for Jamie and Ben.

“Th, thank you,” Ben said, looking down at the ground sadly.

“Hey, not liking crowds isn’t anything to be ashamed about,” Jamie said, patting him on the arm.

“I’m thinking a parade is out for a reward?” David asked jokingly.

Ben shuddered, “No th, thanks.”

“What do you want? You saved us a bunch of time and resources,” David said.

“Uh, upgrade the Workshop?” he answered.

“We’re going to do that anyway. I’ll look to see if I can find a book on Inscriptions in the Market,” David said. “It’ll be yours exclusively.”

Ben nodded excitedly. David led them to the Market, but Jamie and Ben kept moving to head to the Workshop instead. David ducked into the Market and found all the stalls were in use. He politely got in line for one, but everyone else in it immediately stepped aside. Even the person shopping quit their progress and moved. “No, really, you all have just as much right to the Market as I do,” David said.

“Sir, your time is worth much more than mine,” a middle-aged woman said. “Getting you out of here faster keeps us all safer.”

“Okay, thank you,” David said. He popped into the menu, and quickly searched for books on Inscriptions. There were thousands, but when he filtered for a cost of fifteen hundred or less, the list was significantly more limited. After browsing for a bit, he found a book titled ‘Initiate Rune Building Blocks’. It was fifteen hundred credits exactly. There was one for Journeyman Runes, but it was fifteen thousand.

David walked out with the book, his reward for upgrading the city spent to reward Ben. Ben was ecstatic about the book, saying, “This w, will give me a better f, foundation on making new Inscriptions. Th, thank you.”

“Thank you,” David looked at both of them. “Only together will we save the world. I cannot do it alone.” He gave Ben a fist bump, clapped Jamie on the shoulder, then left.