Town Builder - 84 -

Chapter 84:

“What is the Lost City of Elyendell?” I asked Kuba as he paged through the restored tome with interest.

“The Moon Elves are a mystical race of elves whose cities only appear when all three moons are aligned and full in the sky. The city can be entered for the six hours when it appears. But once the time is up, the city vanishes, and you are expelled unless you can become a citizen in those six hours.”

“When will the next lunar alignment be?” I asked excitedly. The Matriarch had just given me an impressive quest.

“Oh, they only occur once every four years.” I deflated, but then Kuba smiled, “But I think the next one is just a month away.” Four years in the game world was just one in the real world. So, this city appeared for a very brief time, once a year. That sounded extremely special, and I wondered what wonders might be held within.

“So, with that book, you can find where the city will appear?” I said eagerly.

Kuba laughed an old man’s chuckle, “Goodness no. There will be clues in here, but it would take a lot of research and a complete library to find the lost city. It never appears in the same place either, so you need to be able to forecast its location.” He winked at me, and his eyes twinkled a bit.

My excitement faded. I doubted the Matriarch dropped the book in my lap for no reason, but there was no way I was going to be able to complete the library in a month. Or maybe this was her way of motivating me—or Kuba was trying to leverage me. I opened some screens and did some building projections for the library. Ugh, no, maybe four months if I devoted almost all my builders and resources, and that would stunt the Duchy’s growth.

“Do your best, and if you need to hire anyone else, do so.” I encouraged. 

“Cart Blanche?” Kuba said, smiling mischievously. I didn’t like these devious NPCs.

“No,” I said in a panic. “I meant a single specialist to find the Lost City.”

“Well, the specialist would be me,” Kuba stated with a lack of humility.

“Well, maybe an assistant to help you manage your time then,” I offered flippantly. Instead, Kuba rubbed his chin in thought. I smirked, guessing if he hired someone, it would be another high-level NPC for Malcum. I left the archeologist pondering the possibility.

With the NPC auction closing in less than a day, I needed to focus on that, rather than leveling. In a study in my Lord’s Manor, I got comfortable with Joy in my lap and opened the array of screens in front of me. She swatted at the screens and I didn’t realize she could see them. She couldn’t affect them but knew they were there. NPCs didn’t have screens like players; did that mean Joy had screens? “Joy, do you have screens like this?” I asked, getting the toddler’s attention.

“Not as many as you father,” she said simply.

“Can you show them to me?” I asked, curious.

“No, father. Just for me alone,” she said innocently. “I am going to become a mage like a bunny girl,” she affirmed.

Her speech was simple but was improving quickly. Her AI kernel had enough processing power to surpass the smartest human on the planet. Somehow, she was being forced to contain it and appeared childlike. Joy huffed and slid off my lap to play with some toys. I turned my attention to the auction.

Of the twelve experts I had bid on, seven had been overbid. Not by a large amount. I pushed the bids on those twelve higher and considered what to do with my five remaining bids. I was going to be bidding on master-skill NPCs.

I had compiled a list of priority NPCs. Rather than builders and crafters, I was going to focus on administrators. The large guild had an abundance of players for roles to administer their holdings, but it appeared they hadn’t figured out the usefulness of NPCs like Neral. Neral had immensely boosted the Adventurer’s Hall ability. I supposed it was natural that they were not aware, as buildings with buffs were extremely rare in the early game.

It wasn’t long before I got frustrated. I didn’t know what skills would translate into bonuses for the buildings. I looked at Joy and tried to get her to pick some NPCs for the list, thinking maybe she was influenced by the Matriarch.

Even though she could somehow read, she was interested in rabbitkin and mages. Well, I tried. I knew she was somehow affecting my drafting with her proximity. I summoned Neral, and the fire giantkin arrived a few minutes later, a contented expression on his face.

“Lord Tallis, how may I be of service? The Adventurer’s Hall is doing splendidly, and your facility expansion is remarkable. Thank you for your trust and investment in me.” He gave me a bow and sat in the chair opposite me.

“I know you can not see my screens, but I was hoping for some help. I need to recruit NPCs who can modify buildings like you do,” I stated plainly.

Neral frowned, “I prefer the term: enhance. What buildings were you looking to aid?”

“I apologize. The player auction house is a high priority. I need to extend the range and maybe increase the tax rate without angering the players. Increasing the portal stone range as well, since that is tied to the Auction House. From there, I have the Dungeon Gatehouse, the buildings for the steam-powered airships, and any NPCs who can enhance my military buildings,” I added.

Neral nodded sagely, “I am sorry I can not help much. You are looking for administrative skills but they would probably not be the primary skill. My understanding is you can unlock to see more skill in the auction.” He said auction with some derision, and I guess it would seem like a slave auction to the NPCs. I didn’t see it that way, as I still had to convince them to stay afterward. “Have you consulted Simba?” Neral asked suddenly.

“Simba?” The suggestion baffled me.

“Companions have more—freedom than the likes of myself. Access to more—hidden knowledge.” Neral was hinting at something without openly saying it. With all his player interactions, Neral’s AI had definitely been upgraded, another benefit of running the Adventurer’s Hall in Malcum.

I was going to have to talk with Simba. I tried another approach, “Do you know anyone who could run the Adventurer’s Hall in Goatyah or the one we are planning to build in Phoenix’s Rest?” My question seemed to stump Neral momentarily.

Neral spoke slowly and carefully. “I am well connected. I might know one or two people who are looking to get out from under a bad situation. It would probably not make you any friends, though.”

“Players or NPCs?” I asked.

Neral paused before answering, “Both. Currently servicing players but under the heel of NPCs.”

“Contact them. I can offer them what I am offering you, but the building expansion would be reliant on how busy the Adventurer’s Hall is.” Neral nodded, not responding but shaking my hand and leaving. Was I kicking a hornet’s nest? You had to be selfish, strong, or both in this game to progress.

I reluctantly summoned Simba, who was currently between tier one quests. When he sauntered into her, he had a feline grin on his face. “How may I serve, mighty Lord Tallis?” He exaggerated his bow before seating himself comfortably. I supposed the game would be boring if all my companions were as subservient as Jaesmin.

“I need to target five expert-level NPCs in the auction to enhance my buildings.” Simba looked thoughtful.

“Allow me access to your interface,” he said, grinning. I had locked Simba out of being able to look at my interface since he was spying on me. As a companion instructor, he could access them to run mini-tutorials for me. I spent a few moments thinking about what I wanted and allowed him access to just the NPC auction tab.

He hissed softly, but began talking. He went a long explanation on how the tab and the auction worked. A preprogrammed tutorial and made a gesture not to interrupt. I think I understood what he was doing. He was doing his job but would eventually get to a point where he could slip my information past the system, backdooring the knowledge I wanted.

After a twenty-minute lecture, Simba coughed. “Now that you understand the process, let’s see you select an NPC and bid on them.” Simba had just finished explaining how to sort NPCs, and I took the hint, bidding on a master catkin clerk at the top of the list that no one had bid on yet. With the title of clerk, I could see how he was overlooked, but he was level 133.

Petyr. Clerk 123. Catkin: Leopard. M. 37. Master Organizer

“Good work!” He said, sounding slightly condescending. “Now, if you wished to drop your bid on this NPC, you would lose all your funds. It will free up a slot for you in the auction, but you will also not be allowed to bid on this NPC again.”

Simba smiled a toothy grin, “Now we can talk about how to outbid your opponent.” He quickly sorted the NPC list, and I noted the NPC at the top. We repeated explanations of the tutorial until I had completed bids on a total of five NPCs. Three of them I had outbid others on. Some of his choices seemed questionable as most were catkin, like himself.

Petyr. Clerk 123. Catkin: Leopard. M. 37. Master Organizer

Balan. Barkeep 144. Catkin: Lion. M. 27. Master Brewer.

Filbert Machinist 122. Catkin: Panter. M. 58. Master Finetuning

Merilsa Merchant 135. Human. F. 20. Master Mathematics.

Bryce. Jester 155. Gnome. M. 33. Master Juggling

I was most confused with the gnome jester. Simba knew what I needed the NPCs for; I trusted his judgment. I already had a master brewer in Malcum and even if Simba was deceiving me, I was sure these NPCs would help in some manner.

I watched the screens as the auction clock slowly ticked down. There was some competition for my twelve experts, but the incremental increases were small. From that, I was guessing the player or guild on the other end of the bidding didn’t have a lot of gold. The truth was the majority of players were only making a few gold a day in the game. The true wealth was coming from outside investment in buying game gold. Each player was still limited to 10,000 gold daily.

As the clock reached zero, I had been outbid on three master-skill NPCs: the merchant, barkeep, and machinist. The clerk and jester were completed with no competition. I had competing bids on five of the twelve expert NPCs, so we were going into the next phase. It was not my first rodeo, so I quickly placed astronomical bids on all my contested NPCs. It felt good wielding such wealth.

The merchant and the machinist were the only two I ended up getting into a serious bidding war on. The machinist ended up costing me 23,600 gold, and the merchant 44,000 gold. After spending so many hours staring at screens I relaxed happily, having gotten all seventeen of my targets. I didn’t even have to do the next part of convincing them to stay by completing mini-quests. Mad Dog and the others were already waiting at the portal stone to meet the new arrivals and settle them in.

“Tallis, is the machinist for me!” Danny yelled through voice chat.

“For the skyships, yes. Remember to treat the NPCs like people, they are not slaves,” I reminded her.

“Ugh, I have been doing an awesome job. Have you seen the moral of Goatyah?” she rebuked.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her the boost in moral was mostly the bleed effect from Malcum she was getting when I annexed Goatyah. “Yes, you are doing awesome.”

“So, Mermaid and I were wondering when you were going to draft the skyship dock? We are close to getting enough supplies,” she asked politely. I had told them when I reached level ten a number of times, but the two skyship-crazed women asked me incessantly. I was only level four and had a long way to go.

“I do need a light break from grinding. I can draft a lesser dock for now so you can experiment with building your first skyship,” I said seriously.

Silence. Danny eventually came back, “Ha Ha. You are teasing me. Not funny.” Both Danny and Ghostly Mermaid were jokingly flirtatious, and she thought I was getting back at her. My drafting skill was only at level 9, which meant it was novice rank, but how hard could a dock be?

“Well, if you don’t want it…” I started.

“No! We do! We will do any favor you want of us,” Ghostly Mermaid’s voice joined the voice chat suggestively. A few more comments flew back and forth before I ended the voice chat. The two of them were dealing with the new machinist who had arrived with his family in the square. They needed to satisfy his needs to retain his services.

I waited to pass judgment on Simba’s help until the new NPCs were evaluated. I had dinner with Jaesmin and Joy and then entered my drafting room. As I researched and worked on the skyship cradle, I followed messengers from my guild.

Mad Dog was orienting the human merchant woman. The good news was that Merilsa specialized in trade logistics. That was amazing for us, as she could maximize profits from all our trading and find new markets for the goods we produced in Malcum. However, this was less critical since we had unlimited gold with my building plans. She would be much more useful in the Player Auction House. The current structure didn’t have a station for an NPC administrator, so I was going to have to update the building to find out. Extending its range was also on my to-do list.

Grinder was guiding the barkeep. We already had a minotaur brewer in Malcum who made our Jungle Brew. Grinder questioned Balan for his other skills since we couldn’t see them. Balan specialized in assessment skills. At first, I was confused as to why Simba had recommended him, but then it clicked. With the Obelisk, it would be a little less useful, but maybe if Balan worked in Phoenix’s Rest, he could keep an eye on players. I would have to build a tavern for him in Phoenix’s Rest.

The machinist had already been escorted to Goatyah by Ghostly Mermaid and Danny. They were optimistic it would not take much to ensure he remained. I just hoped he got along with the dwarves.

The clerk was being handled by Black Beauty and was a perfect manager for the Adventurer’s Hall in Goatyah. Hopefully, the catkin would be able to help pull some players from Malcum to Goatyah as we were getting overcrowded.

The master NPC was a jester class. Blood Crisis was handling this NPC, and I was confused as to why Simba had selected him. Well, I had selected him, but Simba had sorted the lists and put him at the top. So far, he had hit on four of four, so what was this NPC’s hidden talent? Blood Crisis was not having luck in finding out so I just had him focus on retaining the jester’s services.

My work on the skyship plans proceeded. I modeled them after a real-world drydock. Since my skill level was so low, my priority was keeping the docks hidden from the sight of players as it was being built. The site was high in the cliffs above Goatyah, so I had some creative freedom. I spent a half day on the plans and was satisfied with the result, given my skill level.

Uncommon Eagle’s Nest Dry Dock, Health 100,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23, Ritual Enchanting 23. Bonus: +10% speed to all skyships built. +30% hull health to all skyships built. Bonus: Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

I got a good chunk of experience from drafting the new plans, which was welcome. Not enough to reach level 5. The speed bonus was welcome, but the extra hull health was not impressive at first glance. I could get that or more using better materials on the skyship. Then, it took me a few minutes to realize that is was a compounding bonus. So, if I built a skyship with 100 hull health and materials that gave me a 50% bonus, the final hull health would not be 180 with the drydock bonus. Instead, its final hull health would be 100  1.5  1.25 = 195.

This also did not include the possibility of enhancing the drydock quality. Our builders were good enough to get at least a 50% bonus, so I was expecting a 15% speed bonus and 45% hull bonus. So, that 100-hull health ship could be 217.5. I sent Ghostly Mermaid and Danny a copy of the plans.

I only had two days to grind experience before the next Incursion started. I made some progress, closing in on level five, but didn’t reach it before the system notification for the next Incursion hit all the player’s interfaces. Players had been doing preparatory quests to help prepare Malcum, but I was not too worried. Even with all the added players boosting our population, we were still not going to get a challenging portal opening near Malcum.

We felt prepared, and the Incursion portal opened in the exact location as last time. Mad Dog was standing next to me on the gate. He was level nine and closing in on level ten. “Players are chomping at the bit to die for you, mate.”

I looked down the walls, and they were densely populated with players. The novelty of the Incursion was still strong, but eventually, I would guess there would be less excitement. The players had generally got their ass kicked last time when they rushed the remnants after Bella the Lightning Mage had decimated the undead. A number of spectators were among the players, hoping to see the same show again.

It was a mystery what would come out of the gate this time. The twenty-three other realms had not been published, and so far, we only knew there were a bug realm and an undead realm. A massive beetle flew out of the portal, and at first, I thought we were getting the bugs again. But the beetle was suddenly engulfed itself in blue flames, and an army of flaming, disorganized men rushed out of the portal toward the walls of Malcum. It looks like we were being invaded by a fire realm. More flaming giant beetles flew out in aerial support.

One of the giant beetles exploded in a ball of fire after being struck by a lightning bolt. But they were spread out across the sky, and the beetles started regurgitating flaming projectiles at the walls. As an explosion scattered a dozen players on the walls, it looked like this was not going to be as easy as the first time…

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