[unnamed kobold village] Settlement Level: 3 Owner: Margaret Emily Stevens Assets: Leader’s House (x1) Basic House (x6) Stone (17 units) Lumber (3 units) Kobolds (deceased) (x17) Reclaim? Yes/No Citizens: Kobolds (x4) Upgrade Options (Building Points 214/300) New Structures Structure Upgrades Infrastructure Infrastructure Upgrades

Loads of people would have considered being able to fire magical projectiles from their hands to be the greatest experience of their lives. Others might have been just as excited about growing physically stronger or mentally sharper through the tap of a button. But for Margaret, this was the thing that made her question if she really wanted to go home.

More excited than she’d ever been when opening a birthday or Christmas present, and she had received some pretty awesome presents in her life, Margaret tapped the ‘New Structures’ button with a shaky finger, then took a sharp breath.

New Structures (Settlement Lv. 3) Material Storage (10 pts) Fisher’s Hut (5 pts) Food Storage (10 pts) Mill (10 pts) Smokehouse (5 pts) Kitchen (10 pts) Healer’s Hut (15 pts) Inn (15 pts) General Store (10 pts) Market (10 pts) Wooden Wall (5 pts) Watchtower (5 pts) Smithy (10 pts) Leatherworker (10 pts) Bowyer (10 pts) Kiln (10 pts) Basic House (5 pts) Longhouse (10 pts) House

Margaret snapped out of her daze when she realized her chin was wet. Grimacing, she wiped the drool from her chin with her sleeve and closed her mouth.

“Must be something truly impressive to have put you in such a stupor.” Sun chuckled from next to her.

Having completely forgotten that she was not alone, Margaret jerked in surprise and nearly fell off the bench.

“Sun, I’m sorry. It’s just that this system... it’s amazing. I can do so much. Designing buildings and cities was kind of my job back where I came from. Though, I never had this level of control...”

Refocused, Margaret revisited the other building menus, starting with structure upgrades.

Structure Upgrades (Settlement Lv. 3) Material Storage Upgrade to Building Level 2 (20 pts) Add Construction Shop (10 pts) Fisher’s Hut Upgrade to Building Level 2 (10 pts) Add Fishing Boat (10 pts) Food Storage Upgrade to Building Level 2 (20 pts) Add Cold Storage (10 pts)

On and on it continued, giving two or more options for each building. Margaret minimized the list and expanded the final lists of options.

Infrastructure (Settlement Lv. 3) Dirt Path (1 pt/100 meters) Irrigation Ditch (5 pts/100 meters) Well (5 pts) Latrine (1 pt) Infrastructure Upgrades (Settlement Lv. 3) Dirt Path Upgrade to Cobblestone (20 pts) Irrigation Ditch Upgrade to Aqueduct (20 pts) Well Upgrade from Bucket/Pulley to Hand Pump (5 pts) Latrine Upgrade to Outhouse (5 pts)

“Sun, I don’t know where to start. There’s so much I can do, would you help me talk through priorities?” Margaret finally asked.

The older kobold nodded. “Of course, dear. Shall we walk while we discuss? I find it helps to keep the ideas flowing.”

Before talking buildings, Margaret brought up something she’d seen in the menus that had bothered her. “Um, I’m not sure how to bring this up, but the ownership system listed seventeen deceased kobolds among the assets. It asked if I wanted to reclaim them.”

Sun was silent for a moment as they walked. “I suppose it makes sense. Chiefs and other leaders get a boon for invaders slain in defense of the village. The... former chief must have banished them from the village before declaring them traitors and killed them. You should reclaim them, it will help you build up the village.”

“That’s-should we not bury them?”

The healer shook her head. “No, we do not wish to be underground in death. The traditional kobold burial is to return the body directly to nature. Reclaiming is not quite the same, but it is important. They will benefit nature more by helping you to drive off the heretics.”

Margaret pulled the menu back up as she walked and tapped Yes.

17 kobolds (deceased) reclaimed. Gained 34 Building Points.

So reclaiming invaders gives building points, good to know, Margaret thought.

“I think the first thing I should build is a material storage. One thing I know for sure is that organization is key. Proper prior planning prevents poor performance,” Margaret said with a smile. “Besides, one of the upgrades was a construction shop, that might make all other construction more efficient.”

Sun nodded in agreement. “It is good that you have such knowledge of building. I would likely not have chosen that first and missed out on such benefits.”

Margaret smiled at the compliment. “Okay. Well, this area is already claimed for housing, I wonder how far from the houses I can build...” She opened the menu and selected to build a material storage. As soon as she selected the building, a translucent blue barrier grew from the ground in every direction. It appeared to ring the cluster of buildings, about two hundred meters out in every direction.

“Let’s see, I’m thinking it should be away from the houses, but not in the direction of the stream, that’s where we’re more likely to have food production...”

Trailing off, Margaret began walking away from the houses, along the stone bluff that the village was built against. The forest around the village was idyllic. Margaret could easily see other villages built up in the trees on great platforms, connected with bridges and ropes. The forest floor was open and clear save for some small flowering trees, ferns, and knee high plants with beautiful broad leaves of dark green and purple.

Margaret gave serious thought as they walked to how she could expand the village without destroying the natural beauty around it. After a short walk, she noticed an area a dozen meters away from the stone bluff they’d been following that was unusually open, at least twenty meters square with none of the large, mature trees.

As she examined the area, a ghostly blue image of the material storage settled over the ground. The see-through image showed an open area with perfectly straight sides making a square. The ground was hard-packed dirt, and neat, organized piles of building materials were stacked around the perimeter.

“Here goes nothing...” Margaret murmured as she tapped Yes on the Place Here? box that had appeared. She fully expected an earth-shattering kaboom, and while the whole affair was explosion free, it was even more spectacular than she was prepared for.

The image sank into the ground, and the ground itself retreated soon after, the edges of the square indention into the earth as smooth as if it were laser-cut. In the cross-section of the ground beneath the forest, Margaret saw tree roots, smooth-cut stones, and a very surprised rabbit in a tunnel turning tail and running from the sudden disappearance of its living room.

A layer of the blue energy rose slowly from the bottom of the hole, leaving new matter behind like a giant, magic 3D printer. While the image of the material storage showed just a patch of dirt, the foundations ran deep. Solid stone footings formed first, followed by foundation walls of stone a half-meter thick. When the foundation reached the surface of the forest floor, it stopped, leaving a stone square even with the ground surrounding the whole ‘building’. A casual observer would assume that there was just a skinny stone sidewalk around the perimeter.

Once the foundation was complete, the 3D printer layer of blue light dropped back down and rose again, filling the inside of the foundation with packed dirt. This time, it continued up into the air, leaving the few above-ground features of the building. Low stone borders repeated every few meters, creating bays for storing different materials. For now, though, only bays for stone and wood were labeled. A sturdy wooden table appeared last, just inside the entrance. The table was the only feature to mark the area as magical, as upward-facing numbers and symbols floated a hand’s breadth above the tabletop.

Material Storage Created! Migrate all settlement materials to this Material Storage? Yes/No

With only a moment’s hesitation, Margaret tapped yes. The blue 3D printer returned, layering stacks of rock and lumber in their respective bays. Instead of the jagged mined rock and rough logs that were stacked in the village, perfect blocks of stone and nearly identical smooth, cylindrical logs appeared, though the bays were far from full.

The sound of pounding feet snapped Margaret out of her ‘first time watching magical construction’ stupor. Naps’ voice carried ahead of him, making him heard before he was seen.

“Mother! Things are disappearing in the village! It’s a magic attack, we’re...” His voice trailed off as Naps rounded a large tree near the edge of the new material storage area. “Ms. Margaret, what is this? The missing stone...”

“This,” Sun answered her son, “is the power of the agents of the heavens. Margaret has gifted us with a magical place. I have heard tales of similar places still standing from ancient times, when heavenly warriors came last. Any useful material placed on the ground in the entire village will find itself here, in pristine condition to build with. We are beyond blessed.”

Margaret finally let herself smile, reveling in the joy of creating something new.

“Wait till you see my next trick.”

Margaret spent thirty-five more points on buildings in short order. A food storage went up near the stream, this one an enclosed building with assorted shelves, bins, and barrels. The little food present in the village, outside of the lunch that Honor brought them all, was pulled inside. It mostly consisted of crudely preserved meat and some plants that grew wild in the forest.

Two watchtowers went up at the very edge of the boundary she was able to build within. Even though she didn’t have the manpower to staff them yet, defense seemed important enough to spend the points on.

Since her tiny tribe already had a healer, the fifteen points for a healer’s hut seemed like a smart move. Judging by Sun’s slightly frightening smile, it was a solid choice. The menu box asking Margaret if she wanted to assign Sparkles Like Gems in the Sun as the healer for the hut took her by surprise, but the message that appeared after she confirmed it really threw her for a loop.

Skill Unlocked! Conditions Met (Own a Healer’s Hut with an assigned healer), Skill Point Cost Reduced (1 point - 1 point for Healer’s Hut = Free Skill/Learned) Heal Restores Target's HP by 30% Mana Cost: 20

Building her village gave her skills? Margaret grunted in satisfaction. “Oh, yeah. This is going to be great.”

“Ms. Margaret?”

Margaret blinked out of her building trance when Truth’s voice came quietly from her side.

“Sorry, Truth, I didn’t hear you. What’s up?” she asked the lady kobold.

“It’s near sunset, we were wondering if you would like to see the chief’s quarters.”

“Why would I need to see where the chief lived?” Margaret asked, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. Maybe there’s another artifact in there?

“Um, my lady, you are the chief now.”

Oh. “I hadn’t thought like that... is that where I’m supposed to sleep?”

Truth looked away before answering. “I’m sorry, my lady, it’s the best quarters we can offer.”

It took Margaret’s brain a few moments to process that Truth was embarrassed thinking that Margaret would look down on them for not giving her a better place to sleep. “Truth, no! That’s not it! I just... where do you sleep?”

The kobold’s eyes widened. “I shared a house with the other non-bonded females.”

Somehow, Margaret felt like this conversation was more difficult than fighting the chief and his skeletons had been. “Well, it seems like I’ve got plenty of room at my place... want to be roommates?”

If the conversation was hard for Margaret, it plain shut down the kobold’s brain. After a silence that quickly approached awkward, Margaret tried again.

“Listen, I’m sorry, I don’t know... This is my first night here. I really don’t know that I can go to sleep in that place by myself. I just need a... a friend, maybe? I mean, I could sleep at your house, too. I’m a... non-bonded female, too. Would you rather I stay with you?”

There was a brief pause, and then Truth took off at a sprint. Margaret just sighed and opened the building menu again. “Well, if I’m going to try to sleep in Mr. Skellington’s house by myself, I’m at least going to have a bath first.”

She selected a plot of land just behind the houses in the village on the side closest to the stream, and purchased a bathhouse.

Skill Unlocked! Conditions Met (Own a Bathhouse), Skill Point Cost Reduced (1 point - 1 point for Bathhouse = Free Skill/Learned) Cleanse Cleans/Purifies Target (Does not cure poisons/diseases/curses) Cost: 5

“...Oh heck yeah.”