The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

  Logging Camp (level 1): When built, will decrease waste and increase efficiency when logging. Increases usable yield of local wooded areas by 10%. Increases productivity when harvesting forests by 10%.

  The village wouldn’t finish the new research until after the battle with the lich lord, but nine days wasn’t that long. Once the tech was known, it would not only boost the speed that buildings went up, it would also make two precious Blueprints available. Both level one buildings would increase the village’s efficiency even further. Richter had a feeling that very soon, his village was going to undergo a mini industrial revolution.

  Even before the buildings were completed, the influx of Professionals started changing the village in strange and unexpected ways. The first thing people noticed was the boost to meals they consumed every day. The new Cook, a high elf named Takko, had bought a Talent called Natural Flavor. Every meal tasted significantly more savory. The improved food caused a +0.1 uptick in the daily Morale changes that Richter could see since the Townhall had been built.

  Everybody’s day was better with good grub. The Cook didn’t know any Recipes yet, but he was determined to learn some. The good news was it was much easier for Cooks to discover new Recipes than it was for Crafters to discover new Templates or for Smiths to discover new Schematics. The bad news was Takko’s experiments led to some negative gastrointestinal consequences. Richter had to stop Krom from beating the man with his hammer after a meal involving dung moth wings caused a burning case of “mud butt.” The chaos seed actually made it a royal decree that that particular ingredient was never to be used again. The experience wasn’t a complete loss though: the Smith’s threats prompted Takko to buy two ranks in the Culinary Invention Talent which significantly increased his chances of creating his own Recipes.

  The elven Cook was also able to create an open quest for any herb gatherers or hunters who brought him ingredients that were uncommon ranked or above. The XP the quest provided was apparently only in the ten to twenty range, but as it was repeatable, the Cook was already helping to level the village as a whole.

  The only downside, in Richter’s opinion at least, were Takko’s “experiments.” The first problem came when the elf served something he called “three penis soup” as an after dinner snack. There were so many complaints that the chaos seed had to take time out of his day to figure out what was in it. The elf revealed that it was a chowder of sorts made using squirrel penis, badger penis and deer penis. He did admit that the deer penis was doing most of the work. Richter was so horrified that he’d just walked away. On day three though, he put his foot down. A “royal” decree was proclaimed stating that fermented liver was not to be served at any meal, no matter what animal it came from!

  The other Professionals also made their presence known. Miniquests were popping up all over the place, but there were also direct effects. Joseph the Chandler started rendering animal fat and local flowers into candles. He bought a Talent, Fragrant Smoke, that magnified the scent coming off his burning candles. It did a great deal to help the funk factor in some of the longhouses, which also increased the Morale of the village by +0.03/day. Jeremiah the Soaper helped in that regard as well. The two men actually worked side by side in making their items. Jeremiah purchased a Talent called Clean Living so anyone that washed with his soaps got a bonus to their health. It helped ameliorate the daily decline in village Health that came from having so many people living in one place. When the Soaper handed out the first batch of his product, Richter could see the daily Health change in the Townhall interface improve from -0.02/day to -0.01/day.

  The Lumberjack, Berin, purchased two Talents immediately, Axeman and Boarding. The first increased the speed with which he could harvest trees and the second let him turn each length of tree into four usable units rather than just two. Berin also triggered a new settlement quest for Richter: to make a sawmill which when completed should help to advance the chaos seed’s Administration skill.

  Shiovana dove back into building Richter’s warship with gusto and told him that it would be ready in two weeks or less. It would already be done, but she had taken very seriously his instruction to change the vessel from the trade barge it had initially been designed as into a warship. She promised it would be a strong weapon of war when she was done.

  The Sailor, Jerry, was already working with a few villagers and teaching them the basics of seamanship in anticipation of getting on the water. Once the ship was ready, Richter wanted to start exploring the surrounding territory by boat. Then, when the crew was confident in their capabilities, at long last it would be time for a trading mission. Either to Yves or the wood elf kingdom that Hisako had mentioned, or perhaps all the way down to the southern tip of the River Peninsula to open relations with the island kingdoms, The Twins.

  The newly-minted Miner, Poltan, and the recently freed Miner, Enalise, were both leading teams in the iron mine. That, of course, led to a renewed request to clear the second level of the mine. The first floor had been cleared of monsters, and Terrod had assigned a strike team to patrol it regularly, but the second floor still needed to be secured. Richter promised them that it would be a priority after the lich was dealt with.

  Gloran had become a regular fixture in the Forge of Heavens and already had several new enchantments, including Life Attack. He could only enchant up to rank one, but he was practicing every day to progress to rank two. The elven Enchanter had invested his Talent Points into Increase Enchantment Potential and was saving up to purchase Increase Number of Enchantments so that he could dual enspell like Richter. He also volunteered to go hunting with the warbands each day so that he could power level and earn more Talent Points. It was a profound relief to Richter having someone else to shoulder the enchanting load each day.

  The Maid, Tifini, quickly became a favorite around the village. Her Launder Talent not only made the village washing go faster each day but also restored some durability points to people’s clothes. As most of the villagers owned only one set, that was huge. She also organized several other villagers into a cleaning squad. Her Head Matron Talent allowed her to organize a team of workers beneath her much as Roswan could organize builders. The four-man team washed and scrubbed with all the perks of her journeyman skill rank in Cleaning. Tifini apparently ran a tight ship, but Richter noticed that the longhouses and his own floor in the catacombs were quickly approaching spotless. The daily change in village Health ticked up again and actually moved into the positive range, increasing by +0.02 per day.

  Having Professional Hunters meant they were bringing in larger game. The yield from their kills even increased, thanks to one of them purchasing the Quartering Talent. The skins the village had access to also jumped a rank in quality due to Hunter Radil buying the Skinning Talent. Even better, the Hunters had started helping with village defense by increasing their tracking capabilities. Richter planned to negotiate with Hisako after the battle to secure a few more Cloaks of Concealment like the one he wore. The boost to hiding in any terrain would allow his Hunters to journey past that ten-mile radius of mist. Richter wanted to know more about what was happening outside of his domain.

  The Farmer, Danot, chose three practical Talents: Faster Crop Growth, Crop Resistance (pests), and Crop Resistance (disease). The first increased the speed at which the village’s crops would mature by 5% and the other two decreased the number of plants lost to either insects or blight. Neither of the last two had been a large issue yet, but Richter easily saw the wisdom in such preventative measures.

  The Carpenter, Ulin, worked on building the longhouses under Lezli the gnome’s direction. In addition to making the woodwork go faster, he had also invested in the Talents Burnished Glow and Wooden Art. The wood in the new buildings was now so polished that it literally shone with a soft light, and it gave the longhouses a warm and cheery glow at night. The villagers sleeping in the new longhouses reported having a better night’s sleep, and soon there were squabbles about who would sleep in the “good” o
nes each night.

  Wooden Art let Ulin carve animals and other figures into the wood of the buildings he worked on. It had another daily effect on Morale, increasing it by +0.03/day. Randolphus said such measures would also affect a City Mechanic called Beauty that would be available once the village leveled up. He told Richter that Beauty would affect Morale, Loyalty, tourism and diplomatic relations with other settlements, among other important aspects of village life.

  Burk didn’t have much to do yet as village Locksmith, but he did start making locks and lockpicks for Richter as well as giving him a few lessons in the art of bypassing them. The chaos seed was able to learn Lock Picking, a skill that was extremely similar to Disarm Traps but with subtle differences. Burk also teamed up with Ulin to build secure chests.

  The Courtesan, Inara, was fascinating to everyone who looked at her. So much so that there was no doubt there was magic at work. She had pale white skin and nearly jet-black hair. Her mysterious little smile had set more than one man stammering. From what Richter could see, she also had a “sploosh” effect on more than one village lady.

  When Richter had asked if she felt like coming to “chill” in his room, she had just trailed her finger along his jawline and given him a quest. That was how making a tavern/pleasure house became a major priority. Randolphus assured Richter that while a Courtesan could do some very interesting things in the bedroom, they were also ideal candidates for either Diplomat or Spy Jobs. It didn’t escape Richter’s notice that Inara was often seen with Burk, asking for more complicated locks to pick.

  The Cordwainer, Wudhous, was a squirrely older man with liver spots who to Richter looked like someone who’d gotten beaten by a time stick... but there was no denying that the man made a comfortable shoe. His Talent Soft Soles had Richter feeling like he was walking on air. He’d come to expect a certain amount of discomfort when wearing his armor, especially in his aching feet. Thankfully, being leader of a village had some lovely perks, including the occasional foot massage that went to completion. Now though, with Wudhous’s shoes, he was able to run for an hour in his armored boots before he started to cramp. That didn’t stop the nightly happy endings, of course, but it did help his bunions!

  Making a comfy shoe wasn’t the end of Wudhous’s contributions either. Richter had doubted how useful a Cordwainer would be, but the Profession actually had many practical Talents, increased comfort being the least of them. Cordwainers could make shoes that didn’t leave a trail, even through crisp snow. The Talent Slick Shoes left an oily wake behind you that enemies could slip in. There were shoes that made you run faster, shoes that made you taller, and shoes that could walk on water. Cordwainers could make them all.

  Wudhous said it was even possible to make shoes that gave the power of flight, though the man hadn’t unlocked any Talents that allowed for that yet. The Talent that Richter got most excited about though was within the old man’s grasp. Richter had had to give the Cordwainer his rug in trade - the guy just wouldn’t shut up about fetching rugs for some reason - but then the old Professional purchased Spring Steps as well as the prerequisite Talents that led to it.

  Spring Steps let Wudhous create shoes that increased the base height of the wearer’s vertical jump by a foot. Which was just what Richter needed to help augment his Cloud Running skill. At skill level ten, Cloud Running increased his base jump by 20%. With Spring Steps the bonus was even more pronounced.

  Of all the skills he had gained, he had to admit that Cloud Running was easily the most fun. It greatly increased the efficiency of his running by letting him glide over the ground. He could run faster and use less stamina while he did it. The problem came when Richter tried to jump up more than once.

  The skill let him “push off” the air to do a double jump like the white shinobi. The awesomeness of this fact was completely lost on Sion when Richter tried to explain it. The sprite had absolutely no problem laughing when his friend wiped out again and again though. The chaos seed discovered, once again, that there was a very large difference between having a skill and having the expertise to put it to good use. The entire village heard about how their lord tried to add a spinning flip to his jumps and ended up suffering a rather serious head injury when his stamina bottomed out.

  That did not dissuade Richter from practicing, though after that, he did try to do it away from prying eyes. Cloud Running let him jump, then jump again using the air like a spring board. The problem was, while his initial jump off the ground only used about five to ten stamina, the next air jump cost three times as much, the third jump cost three times that, and so on.

  Even choking down stamina potions wouldn’t help because the fifth jump cost four hundred to five hundred stamina. He quickly found that there was a ceiling to how high he could get. Richter’s superhuman Strength of thirty-three let him have a vertical leap of over six feet if he really put his all into it and he wasn’t wearing armor. Now, between the +20% jump boost that his ten skill levels in Cloud Running provided and his new shoes giving him another foot of air, he was clearing more than eight and a half feet from rest!

  That meant, in ideal conditions, he could clear over forty feet by performing four jumps. Even attempting a fifth, would bottom out his stamina and he risked losing consciousness. Of course, maxing it out also meant bottoming out his stamina. After nearly blacking out at a height of three to four stories, he decided that “bottoming out” wasn’t something he should do lightly. It didn’t help that Alma wouldn’t stop laughing her scaly ass off for a full hour after she healed him.

  Thankfully, going down was much easier than going up and did not have the same stamina penalty. Jumping sideways to maintain an elevation only increased the stamina required by 100%, and there was only a 50% cumulative penalty when doing a series of controlled falls. Even with the reduced price, it still drained stamina faster than the chaos seed would like. Still, Richter found he really enjoyed sliding down through the air like a skier on a slope.

  He had the bright idea to combine his jumps with climbing, by Cloud Running near a cliff face. The heavy stamina penalty only applied when he was jumping off liquid or gaseous surfaces. The problem was, physics was as big of a bitch as she’d always been. Putting the lie to every Super Mario game ever, he could not jump away from the cliff and then, in midair, change his direction so that he ended up next to the rock face again. The idea was relatively possible because it let him jump from one spot on the rock to another in a straight line, but it relied on him quickly securing another handhold. Jumping away and jumping back presented the same problem, he had to grab a handhold before his glide time ran out. Even if it worked, holding onto a cliff face drained stamina by itself, and his regen rate wasn’t so high that he could be sure that waiting would replenish his reserves. Richter could see a scenario like that going real wrong real quick, and the consequence would be skydiving without a parachute.

  Practicing with the new skill showed Richter the importance of investing stat points into Endurance. Cloud Running was an amazing skill, and according to Randolphus, a rare one. It was a stamina hog though. Even though he’d engaged in plenty of hand-to-hand combat since coming to The Land, Richter had mostly relied on clever tactics and magic to win his battles. He now saw the wisdom in bolstering his physical resilience as well. Hoping he wasn’t making a mistake, Richter invested six of his Attribute Points into Endurance. As soon as he did, he felt slight changes in his body. His muscles seemed to tighten and his weight felt more evenly distributed. He also felt wide awake, like he’d just downed four shots of espresso!

  The other twelve Attribute Points from his recent leveling he kept in reserve. He was sorely tempted to pour them all into Endurance as well though, thanks to his daily “educational opportunity” with Randolphus. Richter had thought Rogue training would involve catching flies with chopsticks or walking over rice paper without leaving a trace. Nope. It mostly involved a biomage standing by while the two men fought with short blades… without armor. Randolphus illu
strated again and again the difference between having skill levels in Small Blades and actually having expertise in using them. He didn’t teach Richter specific blade forms like Yoshi did, but he did have a million and one dirty tricks. It was the kind of education you would get knife fighting in back alleys, not fighting on a battlefield.

  Richter quickly learned the necessity of having a Life mage nearby when the Spy literally punctuated his lessons, and Richter’s mistakes, with the pointy end of his blades. The chaos seed grew to hate the sound of Randy’s cultured voice dispassionately shouting “Medic!” while his lord bled out on the ground.

  They also did a great deal of stealth training, which involved Richter stalking through the forest trying to make his way back into the village undetected. Time and again he would feel a blade pierce his thigh or arm, and once his left butt cheek. He would try to counterattack, but even turning as quickly as possible, the most he ever saw was a wisp of black cloth as Randolphus stealthed again. Each time though, the Spy left an infuriating whisper in the wind, “Do better.”

  Richter made no progress in learning the secret rank perk of Stealth, but one thing that he did succeed at was a practice that Randolphus called “chi hardening.” It was a technique that made it harder for others to learn information about him via Analyze or other means. Richter had to thicken his physical aura to do so. As he already had a great deal of experience manipulating his magical aura with Imbue Arrow, and more recently had practiced using his chi with Stun Arrow, he grasped the fundamentals fairly quickly.

  Randolphus told him it was not a perfect defense, but it would make it harder for him to be read. Keeping that information away from enemies just might save his life. Ideally, Richter would unconsciously keep his aura thickened all the time, even while sleeping. That would only come with practice, however, possibly years’ worth according to the chamberlain.