“Witchflame Burst,” I said, for what felt like the ten-thousandth time.

Apparently there was a huge jump in experience needed to go from levels nine to ten; I hadn’t been keeping a close eye on the actual amounts that I’d needed to level previously, but I would’ve been surprised if the experience requirement hadn’t suddenly doubled.

Green flames ripped over the many golems trailing behind me, the air thick with yellow damage readouts: Eighty, seventy-five, eighty-two.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I kited the golems for a bit while watching my cooldowns, then threw out another burst combo, dropping all of the golems I’d gathered except for two.

I circled around the stragglers and finished the pair off with a few melee attacks, then headed for dry ground to wait out the respawn, as I’d pretty much cleared out the entire Drowned Quarry. Again.

I checked my experience bar; only three percent level to go until level ten.

I suppressed a yawn. It was already getting late; we’d spent pretty much the entire day leveling up, aside from the travel time. And at this rate, level eleven was feeling pretty unobtainable without higher level mobs to kill. Which got me thinking.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I said, as I sat down on a flat rock that protruded about six inches above the muddy water.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said. Basic Guardtower implies that there’s a more advanced type of tower available, right? Maybe we’ll be able to upgrade stuff once everything is finished? Never seen a second level, but I also haven’t ever finished all of those upgrades in the same playthrough.>

I said.

We continued chatting as we waited out the spawn, and when it finally came, I made short work of gathering the golems up and burning them down. When the last round of golems fell, I finally got the prompt I’d been waiting for:

Ding!

Congratulations, you reached level 10!

Your 3 bonus points have been allocated for you!

Additionally, you have 2 stat points to allocate.

You unlocked your Tier I class change quest!

See a fast travel node to begin your Tier I class change.

You unlocked an Armorsmithing Specialization!

Progress to Intermediate Armorsmith to select a Specialization.

I had to just stand there and breathe for a little bit—that wave of bliss had been by far the strongest I’d ever felt, in the grounds or otherwise—and judging from the profound silence coming from Ezzie’s end, she’d found it just as overwhelming.

she said, finally, but it still felt like she was grinning through the link.

The Constructor bobbed over, flitting from one body to the next.

I started back, and it was twilight by the time I reached the fast travel node. I activated the fast travel system, and this time I was actually afforded a choice: travel to my private estate, or to a destination with no name, and no marker on the map. I selected the latter choice and got a prompt:

This quest unlocks at 6:00 AM tomorrow.

Ezzie said.

I nodded and headed that way, receiving a prompt the moment I stepped through the gatehouse:

Congratulations! Rivercrest has reached level 2!

Additional Structures have been unlocked.

Ezzie said.

I laughed and let out a deep sigh of relief.

The villagers really had accomplished something; everything, in fact. The walls were seamless, not a single gap to speak of, and finishing the wall had obviously strengthened it: enormous cross beams had been added to its length, their weight supported by even larger vertical pillars.

The wall had been widened, too, and a walkway had been built atop it, wide enough for three people to walk abreast.

The guard towers were impressive as well, rising about thirty feet into the air, with wide, tall battlements that would offer plenty of cover for the archers to snipe from.

But the catapults were the best part by far. They were massive, about ten feet wide and fifteen feet long, with a graceful central arm capped by a bucket that was large enough for me to sit in.

However, as far as I could tell, they seemed to be built in place with no wheels or anything like that. Which obviously was not ideal.

Ezzie said.

Wall Upgrade: {Basic Moat and Drawbridge}

Effect: Creates a ten-foot-wide, fifteen-foot-deep moat around Rivercrest and fills the moat with wooden spikes. Each gatehouse will be upgraded and provided with a drawbridge.

Operation Requirements: None

Cost: 800 man hours

I said.

I said.

Ezzie shrugged through the link.

Basic Catapult Upgrade: {Bronze Mortars}

Effect: All Catapults are upgraded to {Bronze Mortars}, which utilize a long range, AoE attack that deals 300-500 physical damage to enemies within a 15-yard radius of the impact zone

Operation Requirements: 1-2 villagers (assigning more villagers to this object will increase its attack speed)

Range: 75-350 yards ({Bronze Mortar} may not attack targets within 75 yards)

Attack Speed: One projectile every 40 seconds

Cost: 10 Bronze Bar per (max 6 Bronze Mortar})

Ezzie said.

I said. I went ahead and queued that upgrade for completion.

{Basic Infirmary}

Effect: Assigning villagers to this building will upgrade them into Clerics.

Operation Requirements:

Cost: 100 Lumber, 20 Bronze

{Basic Barracks}

Effect: Upgrades 20 villagers into Soldiers

Operation Requirements: 5-20 villagers (assigning more villagers will result in more Soldiers).

Cost: 100 Lumber, 20 Bronze

{Basic Academy}

Effect: Upgrades 20 villagers into Mages

Operation Requirements: 5-20 villagers (assigning more villagers will result in more Mages).

Cost: 100 Lumber, 20 Bronze

Ezzie said.

I shook my head.

Ezzie said.

I said.

I said.

After a few minutes of wandering around—Marcus had left his stall for some reason—we found the trader sitting on the stoop of a very, very ugly house. I could hear children playing inside, running about and screaming and crying. On second thought, they were mostly crying.

Marcus was sitting with his knees tucked to his chest, his head in his hands.

And more importantly, there was a teal exclamation point hanging above his head.

I said.

Ezzie said.

“Impossible,” Marcus muttered, mostly to himself.

I cleared my throat, and he practically jumped out of his skin.

“What do you want?” he said.

Ezzie said.

“Looks like you need help,” I said. “I wanted to see what I could do for you.”

Marcus stared at me for a long moment, then looked away. He sniffed, stood. “This way.”

I followed him up the stairs and inside the building, the interior of which was even more broken down than the facade. The whole place smelled like piss, and there were rat holes the walls. There were probably six kids in the central room, all of which were lying on nasty-looking bedrolls. And one of them in particular was hacking her lungs up.

Ezzie said.

I paused at that, wanting to argue. These kids were sick and hungry and living together in a tiny little house with an obviously questionable adult in charge…but even then, it was still better than the life I’d had before. I let the argument pass, though. Wasn’t worth it.

Marcus led me to a long table, upon which stood ten blue, plate-shaped outlines. “Any extra food you got, you bring it here,” he said. “Kids’ll thank you for it. That’s about all we can offer.”

New Quest: The Hungry and the Wolf

Objective: Supply Marcus’ orphanage with meals.

Reward: 80 Renown per meal turned in (max of 10 turn ins). Meals must be crafted.

Failure/Decline Penalty: None.

Ezzie said.

She yawned through the link.

Which made me yawn.