Chapter 13
MOVING THE SLAB was an ordeal. No creatures who were resurrected noa could see the cube—it was like it didn’t exist on the planet despite the fact that Valia and Tailyn had just recently checked the black device out with Tailyn and even slid the piece of stone to the side. And that knocked Valia and Valanil for a loop when they headed down to get Tailyn. The two children couldn’t communicate, there was the terrifying unavailable status, and the cube was the final touch that set them all on edge. In fact, it was only Forian’s fanatical devotion to the god that kept them from throwing in the towel. It said they needed to get Tailyn out, and that meant they had to do just that. The god didn’t make mistakes.
Ka-Do-Gir couldn’t see the cube either, and that just left Motar and Bar-Truk pointing in surprise at the construction. They couldn’t understand why nobody else could see something so big. But as soon as they pulled the slab to the side, there was a gasp of shock. An enormous cube had appeared as if out of nowhere—once the air from the “game” world made its way into the “original” space, resurrected noa was able to see what was going on.
“Tailyn!” Valia dashed forward, realizing only in that moment that her betrothed had been motionless the whole time. It was just a good thing he’d had the presence of mind to pull Vargot’s face mask back—he wouldn’t have been able to breathe otherwise. Still, there wasn’t much oxygen inside the cube even with that, and Tailyn had just about used it all up by the time the hour had wrapped up. Vargot had held him vertical and locked up completely as soon as it lost touch with the System. But as soon as the slab had been pushed aside to give the game access, the boy had collapsed to the ground gasping for air. Hiding from the Black Slime hadn’t been a flawless plan.
Having a hard time seeing Valia behind the mountain of messages from the god, Tailyn let himself sit up and mumble something in reply. His regeneration timer showed him it only needed ten minutes—nothing that bad had happened to him. After the space around him lit up briefly to recognize that the System had found the winner of the local event, it began showering him with rewards. Concentrating on the messages got easier with each passing second. Finally, Tailyn was able to read what they’d gotten for the bonus wave, the first and last of his life. He wasn’t about to put himself in the line of fire like that again.
Local event Defend the Safe Zone successfully completed. Three waves defeated.
All local event participants receive +3 levels.
City development points +300 (305).
***
You were selected as the one who beat the Black Slime.
Regardless of the truth, a bug was detected in the unique creature’s design, and that warrants a divine reward.
Level +10 (43).
All your attributes and skills were increased by 15.
Named item level +1 (11).
Vargot expansion received: Cullinan.
Cullinan. Description: a Vargot expansion that stores up mana generated by your Mysticism. Automatically integrates with you, letting you use the stored mana with no time penalties. Storage capacity: [Vargot level (VL) * 1000] mana. Requirements: removed.
***
The Mean Truk remote terminal gained the Craft Teacher parameter through level 5.
Discounted prices on skill improvements:
Unlock skill: 20 coins or 600 gold.
Improve skill from level 1 to level 2: 200 coins or 6000 gold.
Improve skill from level 2 to level 3: 500 coins or 15000 gold.
Improve skill from level 3 to level 4: 900 coins or 27000 gold.
Improve skill from level 4 to level 5: 1400 coins or 42000 gold.
***
You used free attribute points.
Enhancement +13 (59).
“Wait, we’re going to get that every month?” a stunned Motar asked.
“Tailyn won’t be trying any more bonus waves, so the reward will be much smaller next time,” Valia said with a pointed look at her betrothed. The latter just nodded his confirmation. The reward notwithstanding, he had no plans to take a similar risk in the future.
“So that’s two levels?” There was no stopping Motar. “Over the last month, I’ve grown more than I had my entire life before then! You know... We don’t have the taxes to pay for the next ten years... Mean Truk needs new residents, too. What do you think about me bringing my family here? Actually, all my fighters want to do the same.”
“We’ll discuss that a bit later,” Forian said. “First, we need to build the city, and then we can get it populated. Tailyn, use the CDPs to finish construction of the tavern. People need somewhere to rest and eat.”
You spent 89 CDPs finishing construction of the tavern.
You paid the Architect 140000 coins.
Changes were made to the city settings:
+10 CDPs for completing the tavern (226).
Weekly upkeep of the new building: 60 coins.
***
Mission update: The Renaissance of Mean Truk. Description: you built a tavern.
***
The Treasurer paid a 30% advance for the construction of the first living quarter.
Three hundred thousand coins left Mean Truk’s account, leaving the city with practically nothing to live on. Forty-nine thousand was only enough to last them another couple months. Still, Tailyn was in complete agreement with his Treasurer—while the city’s lixes and humans could live at the tavern for a while, they needed their own homes just as much if not more than the city wall.
Without even conferring with each other, Tailyn and Forian went to work.
You spent 50 CDPs completing a mission to design blueprints for a platinum smelter.
You transferred 70000 coins to the city treasury.
***
The Treasurer paid 20000 coins to the Architect to develop the recipe for cement. Timeline for completion: 50 days.
***
You spent 50 CDPs completing a mission to develop the recipe for cement.
***
The Treasurer paid 15000 coins to the Architect to develop the blueprints for a cement workshop. Timeline for completion: 35 days.
***
You spent 50 CDPs completing a mission to develop the blueprints for a cement workshop.
***
The Treasurer paid 15000 coins to the Architect to develop the blueprints for a marble workshop. Timeline for completion: 35 days.
“Don’t spend CDPs on that,” Forian said in time. “There’s no hurry. Clean yourself up—we’ll have a meeting in an hour. Everyone wants to know what that big bonus was and how to avoid it in the future.”
Tailyn could only sigh, the shower of gifts having nearly made him forget about the Black Slime very nearly killing him.
“Wait,” Valia said to the boy. “Help me get the cube closed.”
Surprised by her request, Tailyn complied.
“Forian, Valanil, can you see it?”
“It’s gone,” the herbalist replied with a frown. “Just don’t tell me—”
“Yes, I can see it now,” Valia said, lips pursed. “For some reason...”
“It’s because of Tailyn,” Forian said authoritatively. “At least, because of your unification. You see what he sees—it’s simple. Tailyn, help us get out of here so we can get to work.”
Ten minutes later, the boy was sitting next to the pavilion looking at his stats. They couldn’t help but cheer him up after the day’s events.
Status table
General character information
Tailyn Vlashich, head of Mean Truk, betrothed to Valia Levor
Alchemist
Level
43
Age
12
Coins
38367
Gold
68955
Main parameters
Shield level
27712
c
34912
Physical attack
3720
Magic attack
7284
Named item level
11
Companion level
6
Attributes
Enhancement
59
Mysticism
35
Intellect
35
Armor
35
Wisdom
35
Perception
35
Regeneration
35
Agility
35
Strength
35
Concealment
35
Cartographer
35
Integration
35
Resilience
35
Marauder
35
Monster Knowledge
35
Anatomy Master
35
Scanner
35
Hacking
35
Frankenstein
35
Shooting
35
Coordination
35
Protection
25
Skills
Alchemist
Points invested:
387
Herbalism
Points invested:
140
Linguist
Points invested:
1
Mining
Points invested:
35
Mentality
Points invested:
37
For the first time, Tailyn looked over his attributes with an eye for need. He’d always unlocked them specifically so he could use his named items, but they’d all, with the exception of Matilda, had the requirements removed. So did he need such a long list?
To take one example, there was cartographer, a completely useless attribute. Tailyn had built such a detailed map of the continent that there was simply nothing left to update.
Monster knowledge and anatomy master were next. Once upon a time, they’d been a big help, but that time had passed. Everyone Tailyn came up against fell into one of two categories: opponents he had no chance of damaging and opponents he could take out with a single shot from Valkyrie.
Herbalism was another example. Amilio was worth leaving, but everything else could easily have been crossed out and forgotten like a bad dream. Tailyn wasn’t about to spend time harvesting daisies or buttercups.
A tear of Alron appeared in the boy’s hand. One swallow, and he would have had a mountain of free parameter points to redistribute. Strength, agility, armor—all of them were important, only not at the level they were at. Leaving just one or two points there, Tailyn could have invested the rest in, for instance, enhancement or hacking. That would have gone much further toward keeping him alive. In fact, the only thing stopping Tailyn was that he only had four elixirs, all four of which were needed to make concentrated noa. After the god’s announcement that crystals could no longer be used to boost parameters, Tailyn had started charging another eighty of the blue stones with sunlight. Having seven of the rainbow stones they could use to resurrect other creatures was going to be a huge boon—one of them had already been promised to Ka-Do-Gir so the lix could resurrect his female. Speaking of which...
You can’t use concentrated noa to resurrect Li-Do-Ga.
You never met her personally.
“Valanil!” Tailyn yelled when he saw the new obstacle standing in the way of their plan for wealth. If Crobar didn’t have someone ancient who had known General Isr Kale, they couldn’t offer to bring him back to the land of the living. It was a promise they wouldn’t have been able to keep.
The news wasn’t great. Valanil spent some time trying to resurrect some well-known characters from the past, but she came up against the same requirement every time: she didn’t know them personally. Calling Ka-Do-Gir over, they then handed him a rainbow sphere, explained how it worked, and watched the hundred and thirty-first lix in Mean Truk appear almost immediately. She covered her nakedness with her hands and stared in confusion at the humans. As far as Li-Do-Gi was concerned, humans were the enemy, and her resurrected brain took a long time to process the fact that there was no longer any enmity between them. At least, not between those in Mean Truk. It was only her connection to Ka-Do-Gir and his charisma that helped the beauty reconcile herself to that fact.
“Okay, so we can’t resurrect just anyone,” Forian said thoughtfully once he’d listened to Tailyn tell the story of the battle with the Black Slime as well as their new discovery. “That brings with it some limitations, but they aren’t critical.”
“Not critical?” Tailyn replied indignantly. “We can’t control who people are going to resurrect! They might tell us it’s going to be one person, but they actually bring back someone else.”
“At level one with no power or equipment. We’ll add to the conditions that we can kill anyone who’s resurrected without advance warning—that’s such a tiny detail it’s barely worth spending time on,” the treasurer said in annoyance. “Today, we leave for the empire. There will be three of us, with Valia staying here. The city will be weakened if it doesn’t have at least one of its heads. We’ll go as a mage and his two students. Motar, Bar-Truk, do you have the list ready?”
“Eight, just like you asked,” the shaman replied as he held a piece of paper out to the treasurer. “The best and hardiest, and they’re ready to go.”
“Go where?” Everyone was surprised—Forian hadn’t consulted with any of them.
“To mine platinum. We have eight level three pickaxes, ore deposits, and no production to speak of. Every month, we’re going to have a local event, so we can keep skills growing. Everyone on this list, in the meantime, will get mining—platinum, and we’ll boost it to level five immediately before sending them off into the mines. There’s no time to waste. Soon, we’ll have a smithy with a platinum smelter, and we need to have plenty of ore on hand when that happens. We can start selling ingots as soon as we have a portal.”
Tailyn felt uncomfortable and out of place. Really, he should have been the one developing the city, and not Forian, making sure it was built from scratch. But he was off instead worrying about everything but Mean Truk. And the treasurer wasn’t even done.
“The tavern needs a cook. Any ideas?”
“I have a numerical,” Motar said. “She used to cook for everyone. I wouldn’t say she’s good at it, but her food is better than what we get in the store. The only problem is she doesn’t have cooking.”
“Not to mention recipes, implements, even furniture,” Forian said. “I assume we don’t have a carpenter?”
His question was met with silence. To be fair, Forian himself knew the answer, having spoken with everyone in the city to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The god wouldn’t have expected anything less.
“Li-Do-Ga can work with wood,” Ka-Do-Gir said suddenly. “At least, she could in her old life. Before she was reset.”
“We’ll unlock the carpentry skill for her and max it out right away,” Forian said quickly. “Then, we’ll buy the materials and tools. A carpentry workshop will be next after the houses, but she’ll have to work outside in the meantime. Her number one goal is getting the tavern set up—chairs, tables, and everything else. If she can, beds, too. The most important part is getting the recipes, after which she can start work on the houses. Have her name three assistants, and we’ll just unlock basic carpentry for them.”
“Do you have any idea how much that’s going to cost?” Valanil couldn’t help but ask. “Where are you going to find the coins?”
“That’s my problem. I’m the treasurer, aren’t I? The financial risks are mine, I’ll be responsible for any issues, and we’re set for the next three months regardless even with today’s expenses. By then, we should be back. If it takes longer than that, Valia can sell a few things from the chest—I’ll give her the key. For now, our objective is to make sure the population
can live decently. The tavern needs to be working, everyone should be housed, and nobody should be eating off the ground. We’re civilized creatures, after all. And sure, it’s expensive, but it’s the only way we can build the city. Does anyone have a problem with that?”
Nobody said anything, which was an answer in itself. Forian continued.
“Tailyn, with everything that’s happened, how is your Frankenstein? Can you give everyone a second immunity?”
“What are you talking about?” Mu-Ro-Din asked with interest. “What second immunity, and how would one go about getting the first? Immunity to what, actually? The usual, or something worth taking seriously?”
Isr Kale's Journal (The Alchemist Book #4): LitRPG Series Page 20