Town Builder - 80 - Duchy of Malcum (edited 12-15-24, +300 words no major changes)

Chapter 80: Duchy of Malcum

“Is that the only building in Malcum you have analyzed,” I asked worriedly.

“Yes, it took an expensive reveal scroll to analyze it. It was just too impressive looking not to.” Savior noted neutrally through the voice chat.

It wasn’t going to be the last time this happened to me. A reveal scroll bypassed all obfuscation skills and defenses. At least it was costing people to view my buildings. I checked how long it would take me to draft another set of plans. Twelve game hours on auto-draft, but if I did the work myself, I could probably finish it in less than four hours.

I really needed essences for buildings, and I realized I couldn’t keep going to Divine Deviants for them. Eventually, our interests would diverge, but for now, I could deal with them. The problem with trading the plans for the Watchtower Obelisk was that it revealed how powerful it was once they completed it. Being able to see everyone in disguise and their guild affiliation under the obelisk’s umbrella was too powerful, and Mad Dog had told me to keep it a secret.

“Is there anything else that might interest you?” I asked Savior.

With a suspicious tone, he asked, “What are you offering that might be comparable?”

Yes, Tallis, what is comparable? He would know how valuable the obelisk was if I offered him something over the top. I stalled and deflected, “It is just the obelisk plans take so long to draft, and I have other things I need to work on. Perhaps you are interested in one of these plans that I have on hand?” I quickly sifted through the dozen plans I had remaining and posted two of them.

Very Rare Stone Guard House, Requires Masonry 43, Masonry: Foundations 43, Ritual Enchanting: 7 (Generates one level 50 Combat Mage Commander every seven game days, limit 2) (Bonus: Houses 8 Watchman, Spawn Rate 1 per day, Level 30, limit 8) Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

Very Rare Stone Training Stables (Capacity 50), Health 50,000, Requires Masonry Structures 43 (Bonus +15% to mount statistics, +20% mount speed, once per day has a 5% chance to instantly complete a random mounts training)

The stable plans were slotted for Plainsrider to expand my cavalry training. Once I formed a kingdom, this guard house was slated to be built in Goatyah. Both of these plans shouldn’t have a negative impact on Malcum if traded, and I could redraft them in a day. I could tell Savior was drooling on the other end by his silence. My guess was he sent the plans to leadership for an appraisal.

“Can the stables train player mounts?” He finally asked.

“Yes, but you need to provide the foals to the building and have a competent NPC horse trainer as well. Capturing wild foals is a quest the building will generate.” I thought to add, “Don’t forget that with high-quality building materials, you can improve the building's bonuses.”

“I remember,” Savior said, dazed. He was probably thinking about the benefit of the mounts, which were hard for low-level players to get in the game. The cost was not a hurdle for the large guild, but getting an army of player mounts couldn’t be easy. “Both buildings for the essences,” Savior finally said after consulting with his guild leadership.

Gotcha! Sounded dejected, I replied, “That transaction favors you too heavily. If you double the essences, I could part with both plans. You will probably figure it out, but I used the time essences on the guard house to spawn Master Time Mage Commanders.”

According to Mad Dog, those time mages were worth five NPCs at their level when paired with their guards. As long as their opponents couldn’t resist spells, they would speed up their guards and slow their opponents. Savior had muted his end as he discussed things. I could understand the problem as the essences for building the Dungeon Gate House were substantial.

When Savior returned, “Agreed with one stipulation. We want you to answer questions about your profession to one of our guild members.”

My heart raced at the idea of revealing how I had been drafting my plans so successfully. I was silent as I internally debated, revealing how I became an Eternal Architect. With so many players in the game, someone would probably stumble on it soon when the majority of players reached level twenty-five. The players were quickly approaching this milestone, and I would be helping them prepare their skill trees earlier.

I hedged, “You are asking a lot. As my friend likes to say, information is currency too, especially if you are the only one with it.”

“Name your price, then,” Savior said nonplused.

Dammit. I did some math in my head and figured most of the crafter early start players were level ten by now. Maybe higher if their guilds were supplying them with endless materials. I guessed it would take Divine Deviants two to three months to get their own Eternal Architect. He wouldn’t have the skills levels I did, but it would signal an end to our cooperation.

“Twenty thousand minor essences, any type. Plus, five thousand to be delivered every month for one year—game time,” I added.

“Sixty-eight thousand lesser essences?” Savior responded, slowly in thought. I figured it would not be difficult for a guild as large as theirs. At the same time, my own guild would have trouble with fourteen members. Most of the essences of the Silver Linings Playbook gathered were to satisfy quests.

“Yes,” I replied after confirming the math.

“Agreed. We will draw up the contract to have the penalty of 250,000 gold and 500,000 experience if we fail to meet your deliveries. As to the essences owed for the plans, we can have them ready in a day,” Savior said smugly. “Invincible Butterfly will contact you in an hour with her questions.”

We ended the call. I think I had just underestimated their guild's ability to gain essences. Dungeons were ripe with lesser essences so maybe I had offered too low a price. Still, it was for knowledge that would be widely known in a few months, and I had just gotten a stockpile of essences for my NPC crafters in Malcum who used them.

A half-hour later, the contract dropped into my inbox, and it was highly favorable to me as had been all my dealings with Divine Deviants. I signed it and returned it with two building plans to start the twenty-four-hour clock on the important essences delivery.

I was a bit shocked when, a few hours later, a party from Divine Deviants arrived in Malcum escorting a level seven player named Invincible Butterfly. The leader of the group had all my essences for the first shipment, the twenty thousand minor ones, and the higher tier essences for my construction. I now had enough essences to build two player work camps and two Dungeon Gate Houses.

I talked with the middle-aged woman in a private room at the inn. She appeared just as she did in real life, an odd sight among players who took the opportunity to make themselves look as perfect as possible. She had run her own architectural firm in Boston and had been recruited by the Divine Deviants to lead their builder program in the game. They made her an offer she couldn’t refuse, and she entered the game with five of her best architects. It was a bit scary how much experience the woman had. It was obvious I would be dethroned in a matter of months, if not but her, then another.

Our conversation went past the allotted time in the contract, but I didn’t care as I got a little back in return as she was not wise enough to hold back her own experiences in the game so far. For instance, we had been creating our own stone with magic, but the best quality stone for quantity was quarried in dungeons.

Her questions focused on building methods, using NPCs, and my professional progression. When she left, she was satisfied, and I noted that part of the contract was now listed as completed for me.

Checking my interface, I smirked, seeing that Titus, my NPC Hospitaller, had killed Grey Weasel. Apparently, Titus had unmasked his disguise, and the vampire tried to flee the town. Grey Weasel was not the only agent of Eternal Legacy in Malcum, but he was the only early-start player snooping about for them. Hopefully, that would have that charismatic character rethink his actions.

We started work immediately on the prison work camp. Once this was complete, we would move Malcum to a Duchy. I didn’t participate in the build. Instead, I met with Danny and Ghostly Mermaid. Danny started by thanking me, “Tallis, the new smelters are amazing! My dwarven engineer’s morale almost doubled when we switched over.”

“We need plans for the next buildings, Tallis. What do we need to do to make that happen?” the light blue-skinned elementalkin was practically begging, and her musical voice definitely aided her cause. Both players looked adorable in this planned double-team.

I caved to their feminine wills. “I can spare a day. What do you want next?”

Danny jumped in excitement, “The engineer’s lab and mechanic’s shop. They need to get busy with designing the skyship. We will use the smelters to stockpile ingots for now. The engineers will need the metal casting building when they are ready to build the engine. The drydock will be last and Laeron will build the frame of the skyship there before the dwarves install the steam engines, thrusters, and ballasts.”

A lot of that went over my head, but I nodded. Laeron was my shipwright, but we would pool resources once Goatyah joined the Duchy anyway. “Ok, I will do some research and see what I can do. Give me a day or two.”

I was sandwiched in a hug, and they gave me the simple plans the dwarven engineers had planned to use to build these buildings. After they left, I studied what they gave me. It appeared the engineer’s lab was focused on drafting stations and problem-solving blackboards. It was much like an architect’s drafting room. That shouldn’t be too hard to improve upon.

The mechanic’s shop, however, was more like a mix between a smithy and a machinist's shop. This was a problem as the machines would be designed in the engineer’s lab and then cast in the metal casting building in molds. In my mind, it didn’t make sense not also to draft the casting building.

I spent a few hours online working on pulling what details I could add to the buildings functionality and where I could use magic to replace technology. Thankfully, I didn’t need to be 100% accurate with everything, as the game system would fill in the blanks.

I fielded several questions from my people as I worked on the plans. Malcum’s player population had grown to almost 1500, creating shortages in quest offerings and goods in the shops. I would either need to cap the player population or expand Malcum, starting with the Adventurer’s Guild Hall. The players were greedy but still contributed significantly to Malcum’s NPC growth. Not only did the players keep the NPC crafter supplied with materials, but they also purchased goods. With all the bonuses my NPCs got to crafting, they were leveling quickly.

Players also liked to complain about everything, from the prices being too high in Fareth’s Inn to all the construction to the guards being too good in town. Still, overall, the players had been relatively well-behaved. It helped that my high level NPCs cast a long shadow.

The engineer’s shop was the first building I drafted. It was the easiest for me and went relatively quickly. I made eight stations at the facility, larger than I had been drafting capacity in the past. I wasn’t going for any NPC spawns for this building, as Danny already had her engineers.

Rare Engineer’s Drafting Studio (8), Requires Masonry Structures 43, Masonry Foundations 23, Woodcraft 23, Ritual Enchanting 7 (Bonus: +6 to all engineering skills), (Bonus: Epiphany chance 1%) Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

I was acutely proud of the effects of this building. The Epiphany effect was rolled for each occupant each day, on success, they would have a 10% bonus for all skills and actions performed in the building for eight hours. The effect only functioned eight times a day, so there was no rolling endless NPC or players through the building each day. And I was pretty sure from the effect description, it applied to ALL skills, not just engineering skills.

I took a break for a nap with Jaesmin, as it was late at night, and it had been a few days since I had rested. Jaesmin left Joy with me the next morning to work on the prison work camp. If everything went well, they would finish by the evening.

The machinist's shop was the next building I decided to try drafting. This one was a reach for me due to my unfamiliarity with it, even with the internet and terrible common plans Danny supplied. I kept the number of workstations at eight, figuring it was a good balance between cost and utility. As for the future machines, I kept a lot of space open and hoped whatever filled the space would give their own bonuses. Maybe with the NPC auction coming, I would use one of my bids on an engineer. I was sure it was one of the overlooked skills by the Guilds for the moment. To my knowledge, no one was ambitious enough to lay the foundation for building steam-powered skyships, or even the simpler non-steam-powered ones.

Joy interrupted me many times during the drafting process, but I didn’t mind as I was starting to see a correlation between her presence and the quality of my drafted plans. She was having some effect I couldn’t put my finger on, but I was guessing it was a secret blessing from the Matriarch. The mechanic's shop had some unexpected bonuses.

Rare Mechanic’s Shop (8), Requires Masonry Structures 43, Masonry Foundations 23, Woodcraft 23, Ritual Enchanting 23 (Bonus: +7 to all crafting skills), (Bonus: Perfect Alignment) Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

The general bonus to all crafting skills was a surprise. I thought I had set the runes to focus just on a machinist’s skills. The perfect alignment bonus ensured any parts made in the shop would always fit but didn’t guarantee their quality. I sent the details to Ghostly Mermaid and Danny and curbed their enthusiasm as we wouldn’t build them until the Dungeon Gate House was built.

I only had one more set of plans to draft, and that was the metal casting building. I had already worked more than a day on this project, and things were happening in Malcum while I was secluded in my Lord’s Manor. Mad Dog and the others were handling the problems, giving me the time to focus.

Jaesmin returned as I was working on the last set of plans. I had already received the notification that the Prison Work Camp was complete, and four players and two NPCs were being transported to it. Galana would staff it with her own guards until the structure spawned all its own guards. I was glad that was out of the way and went into the interface to take the final steps to become a Duchy. One building was needed to upgrade Plainsrider to a town, and Danny just needed to confirm her vassal status to me.

It would all happen in about twelve hours. Then, we would focus all our builders on the Dungeon Gate House to establish it as a new outpost. I still needed to draft the support buildings around it to eventually make it into a Dungeon Town. But the gatehouse was massive, and even with all my builders focusing on it, it would take two days.

I rushed to finish the last set of plans in the twelve hours so I could join everyone in the dining room of the Manor to celebrate becoming a kingdom in the world. Black Beauty was organizing it, and the entire guild would be present, as well as Danny and my most important NPCs in Malcum.

It felt like things were moving extremely fast. I was tempted to go to the forums to see what was happening elsewhere in the game world, but I would wait till after the party. I was sure Mad Dog and others would give me the cliff notes version and would have alerted me to anything momentous.

I was able to finish the plans in time but was less satisfied with them compared to the others.

Uncommon Casting Factory (8), Requires Masonry Structures 43, Masonry Foundations 23, Woodcraft 23, Ritual Enchanting 23 (Generates one level 25 Laborer every seven game days, limit 2) (Bonus: 8% chance to improve quality one rank on items produced), Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

I had been targeting to have the building generate foremen rather than workers so that was a failure on my part. With a good structure build, the 8% should turn into 12%, but I didn’t understand all the steps in building a steam skyship. Maybe I had invested too much time in these plans for an eventually useless product.

“One hour,” Black Beauty said, sticking her head into my drafting room.

“I’m coming now.” I grabbed the three plans and brought them with me. The large dining hall had been made into a ballroom, and dozens of NPCs and guild members were eating, drinking, talking, and dancing. Grinder was dancing with my huntress, and I wondered how far he had gotten in seducing her. Would I lose her as an NPC if she became his companion? I hadn’t thought about it, but it seemed like a real possibility.

“All Hail the Mighty Duke Tallis!” A drunk Blood Crisis yelled. A huge cheer went up in the room. I waved them off and delivered the plans to Danny to hold onto. She could select the build sites at least. She was shocked that the casting factory was among them.

Danny came in, hugged me for a long moment, and was obviously drunk. “That just leaves the dry docks! I have a great plan for them. We can build the cradle up on the cliff out of sight of the other players. That way, no one will know we are building a skyship!”

Mad Dog joined us as Danny released me from her gratitude hug. “Hey, Mad Dog, give me the worst of it that I missed in the last day and a half.”

“Bloody Hell Mate, we don’t have all night!” He laughed at me. “I suppose the latest post by the player named Broken Dreams will cause the next shit storm. It already has, in a way. Have you looked at the arrests in Malcum recently, mate?”

I hadn’t, thinking that management was being handled by someone else. I opened the tab to find twenty-nine players had been arrested and sent to the work camp in the last six hours. “What the? Why?” I said numb. The players had been respectful for a long time.

“It was Broken Dreams,” Black Beauty said. “He was one of the first ones to be sent to the mining work camp. He got the mining skill and ALL the bonuses your citizens get from the buildings and you since he was in the radius and technically working for you. He boasted that his mining skill went from one to nine in a day.”

“Shit, really? What does it mean?” I asked numbly. A lot of Malcum’s secrets were revealed by the bonuses the player received. I noted the player also had chosen to become a worshipper of the Sullen God. That is probably why his bonuses were so extreme.

“Means you need a bigger prison, mate; every player who wants to learn the mining skill will be rushing to Malcum.” Mad Dog said patting my shoulder in sympathy. “It’s fine. You couldn’t have known, and we will deal with it.”

Black Beauty interrupted. “It’s almost time! Danny, you are up!”

A drunken Danny went into her interface a few minutes before Plainsrider would become a town and allowed me to annex Goatyah. The system processed the request, and more tabs appeared in my interface to administer another town. The promotion order was pushed through next as a world announcement.

The First Player Kingdom Has Been Established! Congratulations to the Duchy of Malcum!

A private announcement hit me as my interface was in the process of updating from city management to kingdom management.

We are sorry to inform you that as a hard-wired, pre-launch test player, you are not eligible for “World Firsts” bonuses. Your accolade, The First Player Kingdom, has been rescinded.

“Well, fuck the admins,” I hissed.

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