Town Builder - 81 - Phoenix's Rest Founding (edited 12/15/24 +250 words, no plot changes)

Chapter 81:

I wasn’t surprised. The admins had screwed me over so many times it didn’t faze me. Then again, I could see their point of view since I was not a paying player. I looked at the accolade I had lost.

First Kingdom, you are given a special ability called Golden Age: When triggered, everyone in your kingdom cities experiences +10% to skill growth, +10% attack, +10% defense for all friendly players and NPCs within its border. You experience +10% diplomacy actions with NPC factions and a +10% increase in kingdom morale with NPC citizens. This skill lasts seven game days and has a cooldown of seven game weeks. 

I read it twice and tried not to lament its loss. Suddenly, something occurred to me, and I snickered. I quickly dismissed the thought. I considered making Mad Dog the Lord of the Duchy, so he could get the bonuses. However, I already knew there would be a lot of penalties when a city changed hands.

I would have to deal with the loss of the accolade and the Golden Age ability. I sent the information to Mad Dog so he could sell it to the top guilds and let them fight it out. It was less of a boon for the large guilds since they managed multiple cities and would expand into the higher-level areas as the game progressed, leaving the ability attached to a lesser town.

“Pity,” Mad Dog said, reading the ability. “Still, you were the first, mate. No one can take that away from you. I will get a fair amount of gold for the information.”

A drunk Breda stumbled into me, “Lord Tallis! Funny running into you here!!” Breda was my city planner and didn’t hold an official title. “How do you like your new lake?”

“Looks amazing,” I complimented her. The water was crystal clear, and the lake had added to the morale of the NPCs.

She put her finger on my chest, poking me and looking up in my eyes, “You are doing a good job. But this kingdom needs a coliseum like the world cities!”

“I think we will stick with just the library as our main attraction,” I replied.

She looked disappointed, sighing. “I have the list of buildings for the new town, and it needs a name.” Breda was referring to the dungeon town we were planning to build next.

“I like Snake Handler,” someone barked from across the room, causing laughter at the innuendo. A number of names began tumbling out once word spread about what was being discussed. Dungeonhollow, Wildknight, Highwatch, Madwind, Little Phoenix. The dungeon it was protecting was called the Crypt of the Phoenix King.

“The new town will be called Phoenix’s Rest,” I announced to everyone. Everyone toasted the new name. I took the drunk Breda’s list of buildings she needed to grow the town efficiently. Since she didn’t have an official title, I gave her one right now: Chancellor of Development. Of course, it didn’t come with a raise or any more responsibilities, but it was a title and granted me a favorability boost with her. She hugged my waist, thanking me for an awkward moment before I could break her hold.

I found some time with Mad Dog in a corner to discuss how our advancement was going to affect us. “It will draw eyes. But I think you are already a hub for independent players. There are millions of casual players, but also hundreds of thousands of professional players who would never join a large guild. Right now, Malcum caters to them. Continue to do so, and you will be fine. They might even defend the Duchy if the large guilds tried to take it by force.”

He was basically telling me that I should treat the players well and that they would do right by me. “What are the player’s biggest complaints?”

It didn’t take Mad Dog to give a reply, “Quests. When the job board renews, the quests are all gone in less than an hour every morning. It forces the players to have to wander Malcum to find NPCs willing to give out quests. The range of your portal stone and auction house are probably close seconds. They want to be able to sell their loot without traveling through two portals to reach a bigger city.”

“I can work on adding buildings to the Adventurer’s Hall to add quests, or just build a second Adventurer’s Hall on the other side of Crescent Lake. The problem with building another Adventurer’s Hall is the bonuses from the Neral will be lost, and I will need another NPC to staff it,” I said thinking out loud.

Somehow, Breda had heard me. The drunk dwarf woman wobbled up, “We can demolish a few buildings for an Adventurer’s Hall expansion.” She belched and flushed in embarrassment. “Don’t be afraid of expanding your buildings by tearing down old, less-useful ones.” I spent some time with Breda, picking which buildings would be demolished.

The party continued even though I hadn’t received the reward as expected. I checked my new interface, and it was just full of more headaches. My three towns, Plainsrider, Goatyah, and Malcum, all had tabs and individual management screens. Mad Dog was slotted to manage Malcum along with his diplomacy duties. Danny was slotted to administer Goatyah, and I still had the Khan running the Plainsrider town. He was doing a good job with the morale of the people and the production of the war horses, so there was no reason to replace him.

I began moving things around to organize the interface while the party raged around me. I was moving all our builders, with the exception of three, to the Tomb of the Phoenix King. We had some excellent stone already prepared, but not enough to complete the structure. I wish I had some players in the Silver Linings Playbook Guild who wanted to go the crafter route for construction, but it was a reasonably boring profession in the game.

I still had Sanso, who was worth five builders with his stone elementals and his spell that summoned higher quality stone. I had just learned the only other place to get higher-tier stone was dungeons and special quarries in the world, so I counted myself lucky. I decided to send half my garrison of half-giants to protect the construction and establish the new town while we claimed the area. There were only two spawn sites nearby; both were low-level, so I didn’t see it as a problem like Goatyah.

I returned to my manor with Jaesmin and Joy as the party broke up. Joy was holding Jaesmin’s hand as the toddler walked next to her. “I never thought Malcum would be this—active.”

I looked at Jaesmin and realized I had been ignoring her. As soon as Danny arrived and now more players joined the game, I thought of her more and more as part of the game's background. There was some guilt there, and she had been requesting more time but not pressing me other than putting Joy in my care when I was working on drafting building plans. “Is there anything you want to do?” I asked her seriously.

Jaesmin said after a little thought, “Want to do? I am helping build Malcum into something special. I have a daughter who cannot be killed.”

“Do you want to see the world? To adventure like other companions?” I queried her.

Jaesmin seemed to think hard on her answer. As an AI, I thought her response would be instantaneous. “Maybe when Joy gets older. Would you resurrect me if I died?” She asked seriously.

“Without question,” I replied, taking her hand and squeezing it reassuringly. NPC companions required a modest fee to resurrect based on their level, so I had no obstacle. She put on a genuine smile. Inside, I was conflicted. With real people around, I was not seeing her as my wife any longer, more like a friend.

“Then yes, I would like to adventure with you. Maybe Joy can join us?” She said while picking up our child. I didn’t know how to respond to that. Joy had just started walking and didn’t talk. Would she be able to slay monsters with cuteness?

“I want to adventure!” Joy said slowly, catching both of us off guard.

We both looked at each other before I said, “When you are older and have some skills. Do you know what you want to be?”

“Wizard!” The young toddler said empathically. “Like the bunny girl!”

Jaesmin laughed, “Bella and Savannah watch Joy during the day in the alchemist shop.”

“Joy isn’t playing in with alchemy ingredients?” I asked, concerned, but quickly realized how silly I was being. This was a game, not real life.

“No!” Jaesmin said laughing. We had reached the Lord’s Manor, and our guards let us through the gates. When we entered the foyer, Simba and the Matriarch were standing there.

Simba had not been at the party, and I was hoping the Matriarch was here for some compensation. I bowed slightly to the most powerful AI in the game. Simba apologized, “Sorry, Tallis, I didn’t know the programmers had blocked the accolades for you.”

“It’s okay, Simba. Why are you here, Matriarch?” I asked with hope in my voice.

“Not to bestow gifts on you,” she said, smiling when she picked up Joy. “It is my fault, as there is some new code I cannot see until events trigger it. I am here to warn you that admins are unhappy with how your building plans are unbalancing the world’s economics. I do not think they will act against you, and you are not the only one of the hard-wired players causing them headaches. I think they wished they had erased your characters.”

“Is this because of the lawsuit?” I questioned.

She shrugged uncertainly, “Partly, yes, I believe. Also, the high-level players left over from the testing are accessing areas other players cannot. This is just a warning, and note there is nothing I can do about it, but they plan to freeze your levels permanently.” A chill went down my spine at her words. It meant in time, all the players would bypass my character.

“What about skill growth?” I said numbly.

“I think they will allow it—but I do not know for sure. Simba says you plan to negotiate for your release from being slaved like us and hard-wired into the game?” My head snapped to Simba. I hadn’t told him about my plans, and he had not been around me when I talked to Blood Crisis. I strongly suspected he was so slow at completing quests was because he was spying on me.

I should have been mad, but I wasn’t. Simba had never done anything against me with malice, but I would still keep a closer eye on him. “So, you think I should negotiate with them? Do you think I could get them to not level lock me?”

“Depends how good a negotiator you are,” Simba hissed a laugh but quickly shut up with a look from the Matriarch.

“Thank you for stopping in and letting me know.” The matriarch kissed Joy on the forehead and put her down. She then vanished, with the divine dust settling to the ground. Jaesmin went to get a broom to sweep it up and give it to our alchemist, Tonna. She was saving the dust as it could be used to instantly tier up a potion in its final stages of brewing.

Simba slinked out the door, and I helped Jaesmin deal with the dust. I walked to my drafting room and sent messages to Blood Crisis to try and expedite my emancipation meeting. I had to remember time passed much faster in the game than in the real world, so I needed to be patient. Even if my level was locked at 39, it wouldn’t be the end for me. I was a builder and crafter more than an adventurer. However, not reaching level 100 and being able to select my specialization would remove me from being able to compete in the larger game world. I could still draft my plans for gold, but would eventually lose that advantage as well as more competition reached my competency.

If I flooded the market with my advanced plans, would I make the admins angrier? I had plenty of gold at the moment, but the NPC auction would sap a lot of it. Still, I planned to go to Crystalhelm and unload my stockpile anyway. I had too many plans to draft for my own duchy to spend time on plans to sell. Once Phoenix’s Rest reached town status, I would start the process all over again on another town. It was going to be a balance of gold or expansion.

I cleared my drafting table and had four plans at the top of my priority list. An expansion for the Adventure’s Hall. An auction house with a greater range. A new portal stone with greater range. A skyship dockyard. Maybe the last one was not a priority as they were not ready to begin construction. But it would be the most entertaining to work on of the four. I decided on the Adventurer’s Hall first as I had some ideas for adding to the structure.

I spent all night at my table before finishing with some satisfaction. It required more essences than planned, but that couldn’t be helped to achieve the effects I had tailored the runic workings for. The building was like a large dojo with a small outdoor practice yard. It could hold fifty players at a time.

Rare Class Trainer Building (Adventure’s Hall Upgrade), Requires Masonry 43, Masonry: Foundations 43, Ritual Enchanting 43 (Generates one Warrior Trainer NPC Level 50) (Bonus: +10% to quest offerings) (Bonus Effect: Player Skill Advancement +9%) Profession Effect: Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

It was almost exactly what I had been going for with twelve hours of effort. I missed on having the trainer be an elite-level NPC, but I still think he would be able to hand out quests for training purposes, adding more quests for players. I smiled to myself; if I could get the bonus quests to +15%, that should add another hundred quests a day for our Adventurers’ Guild job posting board.

I drafted four more similar structures, altering the runes that affected the NPC generated. On my first attempt, I made a mistake, and it would generate one healer mage trainer at level fifty. I had been trying just to get a general mage but succeeded in my next attempt. I added a scout trainer and bowman trainer, giving me five additional buildings to add to the Adventurer’s Hall. I could make more focused NPC trainers in the future, but these general ones were fine for now.

I brought up my town map and quickly approved the buildings Breda had selected for demolition. All my builders and half my army were working on the Dungeon Gatehouse. I stored the plans and got Titan to ride to the build site. I checked my messages as I went, and the biggest note was players had followed my army out to the dungeon site. They probably thought there were quest possibilities.

We had covered the entrance in the dirt to hide it, and it had remained undiscovered during the game launch. Now, players would not be allowed close enough to use their analysis skills on it as my giantkin infantry circled the mystery construction. I worked with Sanso for a bit on the foundation, and my estimate of two days was a bit generous. Maybe three days, even with my help.

Mad Dog walked up to me, “There have been a hundred players by here trying to figure out what you are building. When they find out you are closing off a dungeon, they will want to know why, mate.”

“So you think I should let them delve it?” I asked skeptically.

“It is a tough decision.” He chewed on his cheek, “As long as it doesn’t grow too fast, there shouldn’t be any harm.” Mad Dog stated but was called away as a rush of porcupines and lions formed. The site was still being defended and hadn’t been claimed yet. I joined in the carnage for a moment before returning to help Sanso.

I noticed Mira was helping with a few of my other high-level NPCs. Grinder was hanging on Mira like a puppy. I told Mira to create a list of players out here watching us. I would be able to cross-reference in town to find out what guild they belonged to from the obelisk feedback. I was sure if the larger guilds knew what we were protecting, they would have attacked by now.

I had to slow the project further due to a lack of quality stone. This was one building I didn’t want to skimp on, and getting the biggest building bonus was necessary. As we worked over the four days, I considered allowing players to delve into the dungeon. It was only five floors, with the first floor having level 20 monsters. My gatehouse would also help if I taxed the players when they left. This was what the NPC cities who built on top of dungeons did by controlling access. They taxed the players when they exited.

I went to the forums and found the tax was a standard 10% of the total value. While I did not need the gold, I did need the essences and gear that could be sold in my stores. It seemed like a good idea, especially if knowledge of the scaling dungeon got out, and I assumed it eventually would. Announcing the dungeon may help me gain the player’s trust—even if I taxed them.

I had promised Mad Dog the first clear bonuses, so he was looking forward to leading his team inside to get them when he reached level seventeen. Or at least that was his plan.

The next four days were an intense focus on finishing the massive structure. The newest uproar in Malcum was the lack of land for players to purchase. All NPC towns and cities had land available for sale to build player guild halls—some were ridiculously expensive, but every city had land for sale. I hadn’t allowed that in Malcum, and it was causing problems. I compromised and allowed land to be leased. That way, if a guild angered me, I could seize it back.

The building was majestic when it was finished and easily seen across the plains for miles. It was just the first building of many if we were going to establish the town of Phoenix’s Rest.

Epic Dungeon Gate House of the Phoenix (Generates one Mage Commander every seven game days, limit 4, level matches the dungeon’s final boss’ level (60% construction bonus to level) and scales with dungeon, Currently: 38 (Bonus: Houses 20 Guardsmen, Spawn Rate 1 per day, level is half the mage commanders, Currently: 19) Bonus Effect: Perfect Inventory. Profession Effect: Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

It looked like we had gotten a 60% bonus from our building efforts. The final boss on the fifth floor was level 24, but my four mage commanders would start at level 38, and their level would grow with the boss. This was actually a reason to allow players to delve into the dungeon. Once the final boss was killed, it would scale up in seven days, and all creatures would become one level harder. The quicker the dungeon leveled, the easier it would be for Phoenix’s Rest to defend itself.

I went into my interface and confirmed it was taking one of my two outpost slots. I still only had two slots and wasn’t sure how I would be able to raise that number.

Breda had ventured out here and was laying out the new town’s buildings and shooed me away to get the plans drafted that she needed. I spent some time reallocating my builders before riding back to Malcum. I was greeted with headaches I already knew existed.

Players were complaining that the work camp prison was full. They committed the crime and now wanted to take the time! The number of players had passed three thousand in Malcum, now outnumbering my NPCs. Thankfully, their levels were not overly impressive. The influx of players had already surpassed my ability to control it. Even with the Silver Linings Playbook at my back, it was inevitable that we would be overwhelmed. I hoped Mad Dog was able to grow the guild with the players he was observing during tryouts.

Back at my Lord’s Manor, I needed a distraction. The NPC auction was coming in eleven days. Maybe I should take a look at what was being offered this time…

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