It turned out that the scouts were back and reported a massive horde of beasts that were coming from the direction of Franschhoek, at the rate they were traveling the first wave would reach Paarl early the next morning.

"Do you have numbers and descriptions?" Louie asked the scout.

The woman dressed in what looked like a modified ghillie suit looked up from the report she was writing.

"The first wave consists of mostly mutated rats, meerkats, mice, and some other vermin-type monsters. I used and got twenty different swarms. Driving and hunting them were spiders, again a lot of different spiders and big ones, they, in turn, were driven by some kind of insect. I couldn't get closer than that, but they were definitely heading in this direction."

Louie nodded to thank her. "I can't fail to notice that you said they were being driven?"

"Yea, there was the feeling of approaching danger from behind. They were definitely running from something. Soon as the vermin got a bit ahead and rested, the spiders reached them and started fighting, then the rats and others would break away and the insects would hit the spiders till they break away, it's like they were all being herded in this direction."

Louie looked at Arnold. "This is the third wave to come to hit Paarl?"

Arnold nodded, "yea."

"Somebody or something doesn't like you and wants this town gone. I wonder why?"

The scout paled as she heard his words.

"If we survive this, then I think I might go look in that direction to see what's going on down there."

Suddenly he felt the familiar pull of his Seekers quest activate, but surprisingly the pull was away from where the wave was coming.

"Shit."

Sher looked at Louie. "What?"

He shook his head. "My quest just updated. It's that way." He pointed to the North West.

"How urgent is it?"

He shrugged, "Just a faint feeling."

Arnold gave them an inquiring look.

"It's Louie's class quest, he gets a feeling where he should go to advance it," Sher told him,

"The stronger the pull, the more urgent it is, at the moment it's just a vague feeling that I should look in that direction."

"Ok, so do you have any plans for today?"

"I was going to explore a bit more and then see about turning the marketplace into a system outpost, but this is more urgent."

He looked at the map and thought for a moment.

"I'm going to sculpt a dry moat and then raise some walls halfway across the main road, like a kind of chicane barriers and link them to the compound and shantytown walls, make it like a narrow maze, we can then place archers and people with wands on those walls, and as the monsters are forced to slow down they will be bunched up as they traverse the barriers, the people can shoot down on the creatures from on top."

"Good, like shooting fish in a barrel. Now we must just give them a reason to go down that road and into the maze. I will work with the scouts and figure something out."

"Ok, talk with Celia, most of your guys have been through two beast waves before, they should be able to buy improvements on their weapons, I told her that everything is going at cost price. I will also drop all my excess weapons and armor at the guard tower in the market, you can look through them there if there is anything that you guys can use."

"Much appreciated, I will send the sergeants with their men to go have a look."

"Ok, that gives us about 16 hours to make ready for them. What are your plans?" Louie asked as he looked at the street map of Paarl that was laid out and the new walled sections that were drawn in.

"I'm going to check over the walls, make sure they are strong enough to withstand the waves…"

They discussed and made plans for another hour before Louie left to go see where he is going to place the capstone.

He left the FOB at the wall and as he was walked down the main street he created the barriers and thought about which building was the best for the capstone.

First, he wanted to place it on the guard tower of the market and named the outpost a market, but after he had gone up the tower and placed the capstone he saw that the Shrine and the Treehouse together with the guard tower were highlighted to be suitable for placement of the capstone, the fact that all three these buildings were in the one complex made him wonder what different kind of perks was available with each option.

He soon found out as he placed the capstone on each.

Guard tower for Market.

Turns the marketplace into a system recognized structure with lighting, and working kitchen and bathrooms with running water and sewage removal in each apartment, each big store will have a ground floor workshop at the back linked to a store in front for selling and buying items, and a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor above the store. The smaller stores will be on the third floor with a single bedroom apartment in the back and a walkway linking each store out front.

10% less crime (Thieves will feel like they are constantly been observed)

+10% improvement in the quality of products sold due to the quality of living in a safe environment.

+10% buff to the merchant skills for merchants of the market.

Improvement of all deals between merchants and buyers.

Druidic Treehouse in Market

Turns all structures into a system recognized structure with lighting, and working kitchen and bathrooms with running water and sewage removal in each structure, each big structure will have a ground floor workshop at the back linked to a store in front for selling and buying items, and a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor above the store. The smaller stores will be on the third floor with a single bedroom structure in the back and a walkway linking each store out front.

Plants, herbs, and any materials grown and used by Druids will last 25% longer in the shade of the house.

Treehouse of Gaea's Druid acts as a Mana Tide totem that restores 5 HP and 6% of total mana every 3 seconds to all in the vicinity.

Treehouse of Gaea's Druid has the same effect as the Tree of Life. While the shrine is in a tree its shade will increase healing received by 25% and remove poison and healing over time spells will be 25% more effective, and the mana cost of these spells is reduced by 20%.

Temple for Gaea surrounded by Market

Turns all structures into a system recognized structure with lighting, and working kitchen and bathrooms with running water and sewage removal in each structure, each big structure will have a ground floor workshop at the back linked to a store in front for selling and buying items, and a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor above the store. The smaller stores will be on the third floor with a single bedroom structure in the back and a walkway linking each store out front.

+10% HP&MP regeneration inside the church compound

+10% chance to advance healer priest (all clerics) and paladin classes

+10% to all attributes to lawful good people while inside the compound.

Classic option available from a staffed temple.

Sanctuary if asked.

Room and board for the faithful

Temple Library access or other research to the faithful

Holy Water for sale

Divination spells or services for sale

10% less crime (Thieves will feel like they are constantly been observed)

+10% improvement in the quality of products sold due to the quality of living in a peaceful environment. ( Gaea: quality of potions made by Druids)

+10% buff to the merchant skills for merchants of the temple market.

Improvement of all deals between priests and buyers.

Training provided by the temple.

It depends a lot on the type of temple, a weapon master at a temple of Ares who could teach a fighter/war-cleric/paladin/ranger. A temple of Hephaestus or Surtr would probably have a forge and be able to craft armor or weapons etc.

They were all the same for the shops but each option had more perks due to the main building that was capped with the capstone, and since he knew that Gaea practically runs the System and from the last BB he got the feeling that She really wanted him to place the capstone on the shrine.

'Best talk to Sher about this and then talk to the leaders.'

Louie grabbed a couple of the teens that were always hanging around at the forge and sent them to see if they could gather the leaders for a quick meeting.

Half an hour later the leaders sans King were all present for the meeting and the imminent arrival of the Beastwave and the preparation to fight the beasts was the main topic after which he brought up the topic of the capstone.

He shared with them the BB.

Sher brought up the fact that it will be a Temple and that priests should be able to cast regeneration spells and that at higher levels they should be able to regenerate missing legs and arms and that there is a possibility that paladins could resurrect fallen allies.

Sally, who was chosen as a Paladin of Tawaret (Lady of the Birth House) has a rebirth spell, they were hopeful that resurrect spells will be a thing later.

Rebirth: (Touch)

Must be cast within 10min after death, and the deceased will be reborn with his/her memories intact. (12hour cooldown)

The spell is tricky since it isn't technically a resurrection spell but a rebirth spell, which as far as Louie could work out means that the spirit of the slain will be reborn in the next baby with all its knowledge intact, which could be hell for a person, a thinking person trapped in a babies body.

Sher was also hopeful because as Gaea's Druid she was also seen by Gaea as her paladin and according to the games all paladins have a resurrection spell.

After talking to Sher it was decided to cap the shrine and get a Temple.

They all decided to stay and see what happened with the activation of the capstone.

As a precaution, Leon sent the guards to remove everybody from the marketplace and to wait outside even though Louie assured them that he had done this before while people were inside the Fort.

The traders were not happy to leave their stock in their stalls but they were assured that nobody would touch their merchandise.

Everybody but the Leaders were told that they were going to do a transformation spell on the market since the last thing they wanted was for the king, who was right next door, to find out about the ability to create outposts.

The bandits in the 'safezone' had realized that something was about to happen as they saw everybody streaming out of the marketplace. They lined the wall of their 'safezone' expecting some kind of trickery or attack, they were astounded as a green glow enveloped the whole tree and surrounding structure.

The glow became brighter till it was too painful to look at it, suddenly there was a bright flash.

Wiping the tears from their eyes, they stood in shock as a loud bell-like tone reverberated through the recovering town, and everybody received a BB.

SYSTEM-WIDE NOTICE

The first Temple of Gaea has been erected.

All Nature spells become 5% more effective

Louie just read the first of a slew of BBs that populated his vision before he swiped it all away for reading later.

Leon and the gamers present looked at Louie in shock as they read the System-wide notification.

"Shit, I did not expect that."

"Yea, shit is the right word, this will put a big bullseye on our back, it would have been great if we knew that there would be a System-wide notification when we agreed to this."

They looked at Sher who just gave a shrug

"I'm just Her Druid, and you know, I don't think She is bothered over these little things."

Louie shook his head.

"What's done is done."

He turned around and looked at the massive tree that had grown even bigger after the installation of the capstone, it used to be over a hundred meters high, now it's easily ten times higher. It now dominates the surroundings. There were clouds moving through the topmost branches of the tree.

Everybody slowly entered back through the gate and looked around in wonder, the traders were the first to rush off to where their stalls were.

The huge tree from before was gone, in its place was a tree unlike anything seen by humans before, it was massive and Louie knew that Gaea meant for this tree to be the center of the town to be, maybe even a new Capital City on this continent.

Somehow the marketplace has grown in size, the new tree would not fit in the old marketplace.

Employing some System magic fuckery, the marketplace was now nearly twenty times bigger than before and somehow all the space in Paarl had reshuffled to accommodate the new tree without anybody noticing anything.

"Damn, this reminds me of the world tree in Vin Diesel's Witch hunter movie," Kotche remarked.

"The what? … Nevermind."

Louie turned back to the tree, the shrine was gone, in its place was what looked like an entrance carved into the bark of the tree, an entrance in the shape of church doors big enough for four semi-trucks to drive through side by side.

As they neared the doors, to what Louie assumed was the Temple, it slowly opened up and they all stopped and gawked as they stepped through to the inside of the Temple.

Louie took a step back and looked around at the marketplace just to make sure that they hadn't inadvertently traveled through a portal into another dimension or something.

'Nope, still here.'

The roof of the Temple was at least twenty meters high and light spilled in through the big arched windows illuminating the inside of the building. He did not miss the fact that the light shining through the high temple windows should not be possible since the windows did not look out on a courtyard but should technically be inside the tree.

'More system fuckery.'

In Front where the pulpit would be, in an ordinary temple, there was a giant menhir with a carving of Gaea as a warrior woman on its front; the first thing that he noticed was that she didn't seem to be pregnant anymore.

The inside of the temple was filled with all types of plants. There were also large bugs that could be seen flittering among the assorted flora, none of the bugs attacked them and just continued moving around the plants as if there were no mana apocalypse going on. There was also no seating inside the temple; instead, it looked as if nature had taken over, creepers and vines grew up the walls, everywhere there were moss-covered boulders, and plants and flowers grew from the grass-covered floor and moss beards hung from the branch-like rafters. Fairy lights were seen floating between the plants and along the roof giving everything a fantasy forest glade feeling, it would not have been unexpected if a deer walked out of one of the alcoves to nibble on the grass.

There was a stream meandering around the rocks in the middle of the big space only to disappear into a crack in the wall next to the door.

Louie stepped outside again quickly to look for the exit. He noticed that the water flowed out of a round opening only to fall into a natural pool, a pool that wasn't present when they entered the temple, right next to the stairs leading up to the front doors and from the flashes of color in the pool, there was already fish present.

The alcoves had stairs that led up into the tree and down into the ground, Louie meant to come back later to explore those lower and upper temple rooms further.

Outside to the side of the temple doors was another alcove with a set of stairs leading upwards around the trunk of the tree.

Louie started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Sher asked.

Still smiling, "you wanted to build your house in the tree, now this tree is about a thousand meters high, you will have to climb the stairs every day."

He stood to the side and leaned against a pillar and indicated that they are free to start climbing.

Some of the leaders groaned as they thought of the long climb to the top of the tree, and declined the offer saying that they will go check up on the changes in the marketplace.

As soon as Sher and the other leaders disappeared up the stairs and around the bend he stepped away from the wall and looked at the runes engraved between the vines on the pillar that he leaned against.

When he had first seen the runes it immediately reminded him of the runes next to the staircase in his tower.

Rune (ᛟ)

The Elder Futhark Odal rune (ᛟ), also known as the Othala rune, which is also the rune representing home.

Louie smiled as he pressed down on the rune and imbued it with a bit of mana.

There was a soft green flash and he was standing in another alcove that exited on a branch nect to the patio of a house looking out over the town far below at the bottom of the tree.

He took out one of the camping chairs from his inventory and made himself comfortable on the patio with a cold jive from his bracelet.

Even with their system enhanced constitution, it took them nearly half an hour to climb the spiral stairs around the kilometer high tree.

Sher came to a stomping halt before him and placed her fists on her hips. "HOW? How the hell did you get here before us?"

"I used the elevator."

"The what? Where? Where is this elevator?"

"Well not really an elevator, more like an escalator."

Louie smiled and started handing out cold drinks to the tired-looking leaders as he showed them the runes and the one that would take them to the bottom of the stairs.

Rune (ᛒ)

BERKANA is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the b rune ᛒ, meaning "birch". This rune refers to a happy family event, (a wedding, birth, etc..) This rune also represents new beginnings.

"It's the rune representing the bottom of the staircase, the beginning of the long climb."

They shook their heads as they entered the front room of the building that would not have looked out of place in the elven city of Lothlórien.

The structures were what looked like a mix between Japanese and elven architectural design if it were designed by drow using spidersilk.

The posts and lintels support a large and gently curved roof that folded around the branches and, while the walls are paper-thin, movable, and not load-bearing.

The Inner space was huge, and different room sizes can be created with the use of screens or movable silk framed walls. The large, single space of the main hall can easily be divided into small rooms as needed. For instance, some of the walls can be removed and different rooms joined temporarily to make space for more guests. There is nearly no separation between inside and outside as entire walls could be removed.

The verandas would appear to be part of the building to an outsider, but to those that were inside, it was part of the rooms.

The building was made to look and blend into the natural environment as can be expected from a building belonging to a Druid.

"Well, hell, this is grand, look, even all the fixtures in the kitchen and bathrooms work,"

They heard Kirt exclaim. "How the hell can there be a working fountain and fishpond in the crown of a kilometer high tree?"

They all crowded around a pond that was fed by a stream of water that was pouring from a hole in the tree.

Louie assured Sher that they can look through all the stuff in his tower that they looted from the dungeon and the other stuff for furnishing all the rooms in her new house before they left down to the market via the runes on the staircase.

The marketplace has also changed, there were roots everywhere and flowers. The roots did not hamper the marketplace in any way, rather it seemed to enhance the buildings.

'Wow, it looks like those pictures I saw about the overgrown structures in Cambodia.'

Louie marveled at the market stalls that were now built into the massive walls surrounding the market and temple.

The market was now more than one level and they quickly accepted a tour from a new ecstatic shop owner. The shops had all changed. Just like the treehouse, these buildings also had functional bathrooms and kitchens with hot and cold running water as well as every room had two runes inscribed next to the door, the one was a light rune which when triggered lit up the walls with enough light to comfortably read by, and the other rune circulated a nice breeze when activated.

There were festive lights strung across the streets with small banners that can be enhanced to show what kind of goods were sold in particle streets.

The shop fronts each had a colorful awning that when letdown covered the whole front of the store from the floor to the ceiling and turned rigid, when lowered, to form a solid lockable barrier.

Everybody was happy about the changes and the leaders decided to meet up at the tavern to talk about what all the changes meant for the town to be.

They were all sitting around a table while Louie decided to go over all the BBs that he just closed earlier in the evening.

The first one was alarming.

Attention

ERROR!!!

Temples need to be linked to a settlement.

No Cornerstone or Town Hall was detected.

Unable to claim the property as Settlement, scanning for resolution…

Scanning …

Scanning …

Scanning …

A landowner with Property deed detected.

Structure linked to a future property.

Owner of property deed to claim the structure

Y/N

If the structure is not claimed then the structure will be demolished and the blueprint will be added to your property blueprint in your inventory.

'Fuck, does this mean that if I don't claim the temple the tree will disappear or revert back to its original size? And what happens to the changes to the marketplace and Sher's house? Should I talk to the leaders? But they all seemed pretty pleased with the changes. Fuck it I'm just going to claim it for STC'

He selected the Y option. And there was another bong, that he now associated with a System-wide notification.

SYSTEM-WIDE NOTICE

Attention

The first temple to Gaea has been claimed by the Starter town Trading Company Guild (STC) in the Paarl outpost.

Congratulations to the STC Guild.

'Shit just pretend that it's a delayed notification.'

"What the hell, is this your doing Louie?" Sher asked angrily

*sigh* "I had to claim it, the option was given to me, just think if somebody like king claimed the tree and temple."

She huffed as she turned back to talk to the others at the table.

There was another flashing BB blocking his vision.

Settlement quest

Combine four Capstones at the Temple to form a unique Cornerstone to build a TownHall

Except: Y/N

Time limit: N/A

Reward: Unique Cornerstone

Failure: N/A

'A unique Cornerstone, at the temple? I smell something fishy, hope this isn't the start of some Theocracy. I have nothing against Gaea, hell, I am all for Her, but to let a bunch of priests tell me what to do, hmm I don't think so, I will definitely leave this quest unchosen for now.'

Attention

Perks for the temple will only become active when the settlement or temple has reached the appropriate level

'Jip, there is the prize for trying to break the system.'

There were more notifications about perks that the citizens of the town would receive, and then there was the last couple of BBs.

It was BBs telling him that the road that he finished to the border of Groenvallei was now connected to Paarl and there was a boon that they would receive for doing so.

Congratulations

You are the first person under the system to build/Repair a new/existing road longer than 100km, linking two structures that you own. Do you want to claim this road for your settlement

Y/N

Reward: Boon

"Nice." He clicked Y

"What, you got something?" Sher asked.

"Yea I just claimed the road and got a boon for being the first person to build or repair a road between two settlements I own."

"Boon? What's that? Like a gift or something?"

"Jip, let me see."

Congratulations

For being the first person to claim a road that you build between your settlements, you receive a boon that will allow you to place a toll on all the roads that you claim.

Place toll

Y/N

"Ok looks like it can make it a toll road, lets see what the toll entails."

He right-clicked on the toll.

Toll

70% of total mana +10G per Fast-Travel, will allow Fast-Travel for a person or party, speed of Fast-Travel will depend on the size of the party and distance between destinations. Tolls will go towards the magical upkeep of the roads and debuffs.

Non-toll paying parties who travel these roads will receive a speed and stamina increase of 25% while traveling this road.

"Damn." Louie whistled as he read the BB. Before sharing it with his party.

Fast-travel

One person can Fast-Travel up to 400km in one day on one toll road, travel will feel instant for travelers but realtime will pass at 16.6 km per hour Parties will Fast-Travel at 8.3km per hour. Fast-Travel can be temporarily interrupted by an attack of persons traveling on the road. Toll payers can not be attacked on a toll road while in Fast-Travel mode. Persons that travel a toll road but do not pay the toll can be attacked while on the roads or rest spots, but settlement buffs apply to toll roads and up to 2 meters alongside the roads. Fast-Travel can only be used once a day by a person or party.

'Damn nice, it's expensive so not everybody would be able to pay the toll, but if I do and choose to travel to Starter Town then it will take me a day but to me, it will feel like no time has passed. I wonder how that will work if I have a cart full of perishable items that I transport outside my inventory? Will the fast travel affect the items or will it be in stasis while traveling?'

Paarl Leaders

Leon Koen: (STC 2IC) pet (Seera: Black Widow) Gerard van Schalkwyk: Class: Scavenger/Tinker Mike Dekker: Class: Warrior Carla Coetzee: Class: Ranger Kirt Dempers: Class: Builder Jak de Beer: Class: Farmer/Animal husbandry Samuel De Jager: Class: None (Mayor) Arnold Brand: Class: Centurion/Armourer King ????????

Status:

Name:

Lewis (Louie) Poren

Race:

Human (Male) Lvl 12 " 457,530/819,200" = Lvl 13

Class:

Seeker (5) (27%)

Sub-classes:

(exterminator) (3%)

Titles:

Jack Black Brodifacoum, Trailblazer, Liberator. OFS (One Finger Salute) Dungeon pioneer David Selfish ?????

Affinity:

Darkness 0.002%

Affiliation:

Gaea

Statistics:

Health points (HP):

540

strength + constitution times level

Mana Points (MP):

516

Intelligence + willpower times level

Stamina (SP):

660

agility + constitution + willpower times level

Critical Hit Chance:

4%

Attributes:

Strength:

23

Agility:

18

Constitution:

22

Perception:

21

Intelligence:

28

Willpower:

15

Charisma:

7

Luck:

5

Free attribute points:

0

Skills:

Skill

Level

Progression

Wu shu:

Passive

5

95/100

Improvised weaponry:

Passive

T1: 2

05/100

Glacial Rage:

P/A

6

30/100

Meditation:

Active

6

75/100

Regeneration:

Passive

T1: 0

45/100

Mana Manipulation:

Active

9

95/100

Survival:

Passive

9

85/100

Cooking:

Passive

0

25/100

Restoration:

Passive

T1: 1

95/100

Social Sharing

Passive

1

55/100

Harvesting:

Passive

9

75/100

Herb Lore:

Passive

2

55/100

Whittling:

Passive

0

00/100

Pain resistance:

Passive

T1: 0

00/100

Poison resistance:

Passive

3

42/100

Cat`s eye:

Active

T1: 0

75/100

Senses:

Passive

6

35/100

Armourer:

Passive

5

95/100

System Minimap:

Active

7

10/100

Cartography:

Active

4

25/100

Public speaking:

Active

5

95/100

Spell Transformation: *

Active

2

10/100

Conglomerate:

Active

0

00/100

Backstab:

Active

0

00/100

Skewer:

Active

0

00/100

Scholer:

Passive

0

20/100

Learning:

Passive

#

#

Quick study:

Passive

#

#

Know-how:

Passive

#

#

This star * indicates a hidden skill

Class Skill Proficiencies:

Skill

Level

Progression

Investigation:

Active

6

65/100

Tracking:

Active

5

25/100

Intuition:

Passive

T1: 2

95/100

Analyse:

Active

T1: 9

85/100

Lore:

Passive

2

75/100

Monster Expert:

Passive

4

85/100

?????

0

00/100

Spells:

Spell

Level

Progression

Activation

Improvise:

T1: 1

35/100

Touch

Mana Construction:

T3: 7

85/100

Cast

Mana Blueprint:

2

15/100

Touch

Liquefaction:

T1: 7

65/100

Cast

Earth Sense:

T1: 5

95/100

Touch

Item Schematics:

T1: 2

80/100

Touch

Vampiric:

0

10/100

Cast

Darkorb:

1

90/100

Cast

Transfusion:

0

10/100

Touch

Electrocute:

0

30/100

Cast

Suffocate:

0

15/100

Cast

Waterboard:

1

85/100

Cast

Cauterise:

5

85/100

Touch

Shadow Step:

0

15/100

Cast

Fear:

0

30/100

Cast

Concussion Blast:

1

20/100

Cast

????

0

00/100