Maxwell

I laid back on the sleeping bag that was provided with the tent. I had a lot to think about thanks to my friend. I believed him… her. Why would she lie about something like this. Thus… That meant I was dead or at least my body was. I sighed and rolled over unable to really process it. A few hours ago, I was worried about my finals not living my life in some sort of alien computer while they studied me.

I believed Rowena, but damn if it wasn’t surreal. Since I had no choice in the matter, I really needed to make sure my village became a proper town or city. I wasn’t quite so sure about empire yet. I mean, I had only been in this world for a few hours. I was sure there were plenty of lords that had a much better set up than I.

Since I was fairly wide awake and Rowena had gone off to scout the area, I pulled up the menu for the village. I wanted to study everything I could to make sure I wasn’t going to botch this up.

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Dark Elf Village Lv. 1

Name: Alflona

Population: 25

Players: 2

Lord: Maxwell Orfen

Government: Monarchy

Religion: N/A

Architecture: (Select Path)

Defense Rating: 5

Cultural Rating: 0

Health Rating: -5

Buildings: 0

New Settlement Bonus: Protected (Safe for one month from outside forces.)

Dark Elf Village Bonus: Magical Structures (Elves pride themselves on their magical prowess. Their structures require mana but take half as many resources.)

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Fairly straightforward. Even without any guides, I had a good idea of what everything meant. I tapped around in the menu. Clicking on buildings brought up a list of structures that I could build in the village. I needed the resources to have them built. My bonus would mean that it would cost half as many resources to build which was a nice boon. Everything was grayed out though.

I scratched my head as I tried to figure out how to construct something if I wasn’t allowed to construct anything. Finally, I ended up on clicking on the architecture option and another list opened in front of me.

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Master Stone-works: Your city will be beautiful. The stone will be like putty in your peoples’ hands. Every building will gain a +5-defensive rating from being made from stone.

Master Wood-works: Your city will be alive. Your people will grow their buildings from the very ground. Trees will serve to hide your city from the curiosity of others. +10-Concealment.

Master Iron-works: Your city will be strong. Your people will never know fear as your city’s buildings will be made from Iron and Steel. +50-defensive rating.

Master Magic-works: Majesty and unfathomable. Made by bending the fabric of reality to your whim. Your people will never bow to anyone lesser than them. +25-Mana Rating.

--

This was a hard choice! Both stone and wood were decent choices since there was an abundance of the material nearby. The Iron-works might be difficult if there was nowhere to mine iron, but when I was researching the game before coming in, I remember reading that there was an abundance of iron near mountains. Considering half my territory was literally the side of a mountain, I was sure that it would be a valid choice.

If I was being honest with myself, the magic-works were what called to me. I mainly joined this game because of the incredible magics that were talked about on the internet. While the lower spells generally did one thing or another, when you got higher level, it was mostly up to your imagination.

I couldn’t help myself, I clicked on the Magic-works option. Instantly, I felt a rush of energy from my chest that washed over the settlement. I grinned as the feeling of pleasure washed over me. That was going to take some getting used to.

[You have chosen Magic-works. An immigration gate will be constructed once you select a spot.]

Immigration gate? It must be how the village gained new population. I spotted a piece of parchment. Grabbing it, I made a note not to forget the gate. Population was a village’s power. I would need to construct it as soon as possible. Dismissing the notification, I brought the building tab back up.

Everything was now glowing meaning that I could construct them with the right resources. I was worried about the defense of the village first and foremost. I tapped on the wall to see what it would cost. A map of the surroundings snapped into my view. I tried to dismiss it but it refused to go away. Realizing that I must need to layout the wall, I took my finger and traced what I would consider to be the Keep area of my new village.

Once I finished, I removed my finger and the map vanished. A prompt stating that it would cost one thousand mana, fifty iron, fifty stone, and ten wood. I honestly had no idea if that was a lot or dirt cheap. Based on my personal mana, it was downright highway robbery. I saved the blueprint of the wall for now.

The sound of footsteps pulled me from my menus. “Maxwell. You awake?” Of all the things about this situation. I felt it was getting used to my friend’s voice being so… cute now. I cleared my throat and replied that I was. She flipped the tent flap back and sat down across from me. “Good news. We have quite a few resources at our disposal. A few iron, copper and tin nodes that are accessible from the surface. Plenty of wood, berries and huntable food thanks to the forest. Stone all day long.”

“And the bad news?” I asked with a frown. I knew how this usually went after all.

Rowena nodded grimly. “There is a goblin camp a ways down one of the trails. They don’t keep lookouts, so I nearly walked right into the place.”

“Goblins? Aren’t they usually super weak?” I asked thinking about all the games and novels I’d experienced over my youth.

She shook her head. “Not in this game. They are about matched with your normal human, just much more ruthless.” I remembered that my tribe or group had been on the run from goblins in the first place. I guess the goblins had gotten tired of being the bottom of the food chain.

“So, what are we looking at?” I’d rather not deal with a goblin horde on the first day I was setting up my village.

“About two hundred, give or take. They have a den, so I can’t be accurate.”

“Then walls are my number one concern then,” I commented. “Is fifty units a lot or cheap?”

“Fairly cheap. You can get fifty units in about an hour of mining a node. Depending on your mining skill, you can get one unit a minute.”

“What about mana?” I asked thinking my plan through. “I need a thousand mana.”

“That’s not too hard.” She answered with a thoughtful look. “I’m level three and have sixty mana. But my class is more physical based.”

“I only have ten. I chose the lord class after it said I could use mana. I might have been ripped off,” I complained.

“No that’s about right,” Rowena corrected shaking her head. “When you get your first level you have to specialize your class to a degree. Take me for example. I chose Knight. Then when I hit level two. I specialized as a Beast Knight.”

“Beast Knight?” I really couldn’t picture what that could mean.

“I fight at the frontlines as a defender while also summoning creatures to aid in combat. I have to tame them first, but,” she held out her hand and a swirl of smoke engulfed it. A hawk of some sort sat perfectly at ease. “This is Yip. He lends me his eyes to get a better grasp of the battle. In theory anyways, I haven’t really tested it out. Though he did help me scout.”

“That’s awesome!” I exclaimed looking closely at the hawk. It had red feathers and looked like it would burst into flames at any moment. “Why at level two though?”

“You’d have to ask the developers or someone that’s been playing longer. I’ve only been playing a day or two longer than you after all.”

“Fair enough.” I leaned back. “Guess I need to level up.”

“Yip spotted a few boars nearby. We could hunt them and bring them back to feed the village,” Rowena suggested. I didn’t have a good idea of our stores of supplies, but it never hurt to have more resources. Especially of food.

“Sounds good. Let’s do it.”

We left the tent and subsequently the village. I made sure to inform those keeping watch. I didn’t need a panic among the people while I was gone. Rowena led the way. She had more armor in some cheap chainmail and even had a weapon. Me on the other hand was completely unarmed. I had my magic, but that was about it.

A few minutes of walking through the forest found us at a small den with a few boars sleeping outside. I thought I would have made more noise, never having actually walked through a forest before, but my dark elf eyes made easy work of the paths with the little light available.

Rowena tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the boars. I nodded getting that she wanted me to strike first. I thought about the basic spells at my disposal. I pointed at two of the boars, a red sigil formed over each of my palms. Two fireballs formed before sailing through the air at the boars. They exploded igniting the coarse fur of the boars with ease.

Loud squeals went up from the boars. I didn’t let up. I let lose a torrent of fireballs turning the den into a sea of flames. The pyro-maniac in me had a field day until I ran out of mana ten fireballs later. Of the dozen boars, I had managed to take down four of them while setting the rest on fire. They fled but two ran directly at us in their fear.

Rowena readied her mace. She swung just as the first boar broke into the trees. A resounding crack rang out through the woods as the boar skid to a stop. The second boar tripped over its fallen companion. I aimed at its face with my palm and used an earth bullet like spell to finish it off.

“Not bad. Let’s gather these guys up and head back to the village,” Rowena said placing a hand on the boar. It vanished in shower of light. She stored the rest of the hunt then joined me. A little icon in the corner of my eye flashed. I grinned glad that it had been enough for my first level up.