Citizens: 184 (Trained, Morale increases by 20%; working together, they are 10% more productive)
==========
Erik felt as if he were directly connected to the dungeon now. As he thought of it, a large map appeared in his vision. It showed him everything happening on the living floor of the dungeon. He waved to the side and saw the metal Affinity floor; it was hazier than the living floor. When he waved his hand again, the next floor—Earth—was even hazier, and it was hard to make out any distinctive shapes.
Erik returned to the first floor and saw that there was a glowing blue outline around the dungeon core. The outline changed as the interior of the building was altered. It turned red as the building was unable to support itself. It took shape in a few moments.
“Okay, that’s useful as hell,” Rugrat said, calling Erik back to reality. He dismissed the screen as the others in the room looked at them with concern.
“Was that you messing with the building?” Erik asked, looking at the pieces of paper in front of Rugrat.
“Yeah, so the construction ability allows us to put down blueprints of buildings. So we can plan out buildings and place them down, just like you could in strategy games,” Rugrat said. “The difference is that we can modify the blueprints or make them as we want. I’m guessing that we will be able to buy them from the store as we could in Alva Village.”
“I’ve just got a message from one of my guards. It looks like a blueprint has appeared around the dungeon core,” Glosil said.
“Will it be easier to build than if they were to make it themselves?” Erik asked. If he could groom a few architects, then they could design all of the buildings they needed instead of wasting their gold. The construction ability would allow them to use people who weren’t trained in construction much more efficiently. As the fine arrow blueprint improved the quality and the speed that the people of Alva Village could produce arrows, this construction system would allow them to do the same.
“Egbert, can you put the living floor on the table?” Erik asked.
With a few gestures, the floor appeared in the middle of the table.
Now Erik could see information ringing his vision as he looked at the table. If he stared at the information, it would pop out at him, giving him a more detailed insight.
He selected the house that Rugrat had designed and put it in the middle of the table. It was a two-story structure with a living room, kitchen, and bathroom on the first floor; upstairs, there were two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
“Do you think it would be okay to do one house per family for now?” Erik asked.
“Wait, you want to give a family this house?” Elise asked.
“Yes,” Erik said, finding her reaction strange.
“This kind of house is something that only nobles would find,” Elise said.
Rugrat and Erik could see that this was a common idea between the others in the room.
“This will be the current standard for homes within the dungeon. In the future, we will make improvements and upgrades,” Rugrat said.
“Other than houses, we will need to build a school, a hospital, an area that we can grow crops, and a warehouse district to hold the goods that we brought and the ones we will get in the future. Also, we will need to build a market square to allow people to trade among one another and sell to the trading houses that will venture out to the other villages and cities around the Beast Mountains.” Erik looked into everyone’s eyes.
“This is just the start of the Beast Mountains Dungeon. Going forward, we will develop the dungeon together. People will work—growing crops, building up the village, hunting and patrolling the area around the dungeon, or going on trade convoys to other villages and increasing their knowledge in the academy. To progress, we need to increase our strength first. I want to build up sources of food and the infrastructure of the dungeon, or at least have everything in place before we leave. We will leave you with a plan and as of right now, you are all part of the dungeon’s council. A replacement can only be picked by us, but you can vote to build more things and change items in the living floor,” Erik said.
A light appeared around the others as a screen appeared in front of their eyes.
Elise agreed to the screen and pushed it away. She was the first to do so. “Then we’re going to need to build a marketplace if we want to buy new blueprints. Also, how can we upload new building blueprints into the system?” she asked.
“As long as the blueprints are brought here, then one can test them out. The construction ability makes it so that people don’t need to design an entirely new blueprint. They can use building blocks from different buildings that are in the dungeon’s storage. Think of it as a prototype and testing tool—you can check the building out here, then you put it down in the dungeon and people can see the parts they have to make to complete it. This way, with each building, you can accurately estimate the resource cost,” Egbert said.
“It wasn’t possible to do this in Alva Village,” Blaze said.
“Did you have an architectural school of study in Alva Village?” Egbert asked.
“No,” Blaze said.
“Then you wouldn’t have been able to unlock this. The Beast Mountains Dungeon had one in the past. Certain things have been unlocked ahead of their time because of what the gnomes did and the fact that my master has given this to you freely instead of you taking over the dungeon. If you took it over, then you would have to start from the beginning. Now there are buildings you will need to create or things you need to do to unlock other abilities. You will not be able to just get Alchemy recipes because we have an Alchemy workshop and had alchemists in the past. I only have a few manuals from the gnomes that used to live here, but I still remember a lot of what I have read or the gnomes said around me. I don’t know what all of it means so while I can give you the information you need to find people that are capable of using that knowledge.”
As long as we can advance a little, then with the knowledge that Egbert kept from the gnomes, we’ll be able to advance a lot further. Erik looked to Rugrat. He had some Novice knowledge of formations, but looking at the formations in the dungeon, he was lost. If he learned more, he might be able to understand them and advance his skill faster.
Chapter: Rapid Expansion
Erik’s idea was alarming, not because of his words but the scope of it.
“What about people who might want to leave?” Blaze asked. They had come to Beast Mountains Dungeon but some might want to leave to venture through the Ten Realms.
“They are free to leave and return as they desire but for our safety, they will need to make an oath to not reveal anything about Beast Mountains Dungeon. If they come into trouble and they need help, then we will do what we can to help,” Rugrat said.
“On the military side of things, what do you want to happen?” Glosil asked.
“Sections of the military will be dispatched to protect our trading convoys, others to gain Experience in the Beast Mountains and secure a safe place around the entrance to the dungeon. They will protect and defend the dungeon and also look to go on scouting forays to see what is on the other levels.” Erik roughly explained what was happening in the other levels that had been cut off, where the creatures had turned wild, being placed into essentially holy lands of different Affinities.
He didn’t miss the glow that appeared in everyone’s eyes. If they could get access to these areas, then their strength would only increase.
“Our first priority is to build up the dungeon, to make it habitable. Then clear the area around the dungeon and establish contact with villages to trade with. From there, we will focus internally in growing our own strength. This might be sending people on missions to other cities to establish ties, or to higher realms. I won’t lie to you. I want to keep Beast Mountains Dungeon a secret as it will give us a base to increase our strength dramatically. Still, we must not become insular; we need to keep our eyes open, to create the
role of recruiter. These people will look for those who might not have a high ability, but they are driven and loyal. If they are driven and loyal, then, with lessons and resources, we can turn them into powerhouses. Also, Blaze, I want you to set up a mercenary outfit, the Alva Mercenaries. This way, our people will be able to increase their fighting abilities and gain resources.”
“I will see to it,” Blaze said.
Erik picked him as Blaze had interacted the most with the outside world, being a knight captain and someone who lived in a massive city.
“Jasper, it will be your job to establish trade with other villages. This will be to sell our products and take on further building jobs. These jobs can be passed to the crafters who we will look to develop in the Beast Mountains. Both of you will be the eyes and ears of Beast Mountains Dungeon. It will fall on you to recruit talents and increase the dungeon’s reach.”
Jasper and Blaze stood a bit taller, hearing the importance of their new roles.
“Elise, you will be in charge of the city. At the beginning, this will be a multitude of building projects, then it will turn to managing the people as well as the workshops and the academy. The library will be free to access for everyone. If someone wants to attend the academy, they must pay a fee to show their commitment. They will be supplied with housing, food, and studying supplies to push them forward. Taran, I hope that you will assist Elise in this endeavor?” Erik looked to the burly smithy.
“You have my word.” Taran wasn’t one to bow, but his word was good.
“I plan on building not only an academy where teachers will be paid to nurture students and their abilities, but also a formation workshop, woodworking shop, tailors, and a cookhouse to raise formation masters, tailors, carpenters, and chefs. We have a great number of works from the gnomes on these different crafts. People may use these facilities, but they will need to pay a fee and supply their own materials. We have seen how just having a spear or a crossbow can greatly increase our fighting strength and a good meal can increase our recovery speed. With this support, I expect great things for Beast Mountains Dungeon. I also propose that we rename the dungeon to Alva Dungeon,” Erik said.
His words were calm and slow, but they were nonetheless shocking.
“With this, we…I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen. If we told people that we even had these kinds of workshops and an academy, people would come from miles around,” Blaze said.
“I think that changing it to Alva Dungeon makes sense. I also agree with Blaze and it makes me understand why you want us to make oaths to not release this information. Other cities don’t have this ability. Cities need to have a certain population or groups enter their cities before they can build these different places. With the gnomes’ knowledge, we can pass this gap in one jump. If cities and people were to learn of this, they would come and wipe us out for these treasures. Forget the First Realm—even people from higher realms would be tempted,” Elise said.
“We will move forward together to increase our strength.” Erik knew that although he might be interested in a lot of different things, there was no way that he could complete it all by himself.
Rugrat was interested in smithing and formations; Erik in healing and Alchemy. Those were just four different paths. Backing was everything in the Ten Realms. If one was able to get good gear and to have the best training aids, then their path would be smoother and easier to travel.
Erik and Rugrat didn’t have this kind of backing, nor did the people of Alva. If they could rely on themselves to create it, they wouldn’t need to worry about these issues anymore.
They took another couple of hours to iron out the details before the meeting came to an end. All of the department heads gave oaths to not reveal anything about Alva Dungeon to any outsiders.
The dungeon was still dark when everyone left. There was a lot to be done still.
Erik and Rugrat stretched; their night was still young.
“Okay, so, blueprint time?” Rugrat asked.
“Blueprint time.” Erik called up the construction interface.
=========
Blueprints
==========
Alchemy Lab
Smithy
Formation Workshop
Tailors
Cookhouse
Mana Mine
Stone Mine
Growing House
House
Beast Stables
Barracks
Market Square
==========
Clicking on each of the blueprints, they could see the blueprint of each building with different modifications. Next to them was the resource cost. Most of them were blocked off as their Mana requirements were too high.
“First of all, we need to remove the need for these to rely on Mana. We can hook them up later when we have more power to spare,” Erik said.
“Always with the hard stuff.” Rugrat pulled out some diagrams and put them on the table. “Egbert, can these be added to the blueprints?”
Erik looked over. They were the plans for the logging camp, wall, watchtowers, as well as public bathrooms and showers. They had made all of these things in Alva Village. Rugrat, working closely with the construction crews, got a set of detailed plans that he was now using.
Egbert looked at the plans. He waved his hands and they disappeared. “You know, you could just use the input function,” Egbert complained.
==========
New Blueprints added:
Logging Camp
Wall
Watchtowers
Showers—public
Bathrooms—public
==========
“Now we just need to build a hospital and an academy,” Erik said.
“You want to do the hospital—I’ll do the academy?” Rugrat asked.
“Works for me,” Erik said.
With the blueprint tool, Erik was able to use components from the other blueprints and combine them in new ways, like blueprint copy and paste.
The hospital was extremely rudimentary. There was a seating area up front, a reception and then behind it, there was a large medical bay. Its layout was simple: a bunch of beds with dividing curtains. There were showers and bathrooms as well as supply rooms.
“Different from the healing houses I’ve seen,” Egbert commented.
“Oh?” Erik said, as he entered the “hospital” into the system. Right now, he wanted to have the basic buildings. It would be up to later architects and crafters to update and modify them as needed.
“Most healing houses look like an upscale manor as they treat only the rich and nobles. This is much simpler, focused on treating as many people as possible, instead of making them feel important,” Egbert said.
Erik looked over to Rugrat’s designs. The academy had four entrances. It was shaped like a square, with L-shaped buildings at each of the corners; each corner building had six classrooms that could hold thirty people. Rugrat had only made the basic structure; again, modifying them would be up to the users.
Other than the classrooms, there was a main building in the middle of the academy’s grounds. It was the largest by far and it had three stories, with each floor getting bigger.
It looked incredibly solid.
“What’s the main building?” Erik asked.
“The library. On the first floor, there will be Novice-grade books; on the second level, Apprentice; the third, Journeyman. Other books will be held onto by the staff until we can build more floors.”
Erik nodded. He liked the people of Alva, but he didn’t know whether they could ignore the allure of Master and Expert books. The collection Egbert had given them was vast and mainly consisted of Expert-level information.
Erik looked at the map of the floor. “Shall we start?” Erik asked.
“All right, but we should group things together.” Rugrat added a few modifiers as a circular grid line appeared around the dungeon core.
“To our nine o’clock, we have the beast stables. I think we both agree that the barracks should be there. Not only are they right next to the beast stables where they can get mounts, they’ll be right on top of the emergency exit, allowing them to react if anyone tries to force their way in. We’ve also got a road already to that area, so we don’t need to do anything else.”
Erik nodded. Rugrat didn’t waste any time and put down the barracks. It was based on gnome design but all of the formations wouldn’t be added in. It was a simple courtyard for training, with places for soldiers to sleep, take care of their gear and learn new fighting skills.
“Tracing back to the dungeon. We have this free area from half five to one o’clock. We can turn that into housing, keep them away from all of the workshops,” Rugrat said.
“Let’s put a hospital as a midway between the dungeon core and the barracks. That way, if people are hurt in the living areas they can easily get aid—also, if we’re in a fight, then the people at the barracks aren’t too far,” Erik said.
He put down his rudimentary hospital. Then they laid down where roads were going to be through the housing area. It was very linear as they didn’t want to waste space. At the twelve o’clock position, they put down a large market that would meet up with the dungeon core and extend halfway down the housing district. Behind it would be a warehousing district; continuing clockwise, one would enter the academics and workshop area.
The cookhouse bordered the market area, and then the academy. It was the largest building, with the woodworking and formation workshop behind it, the smithy and Alchemy lab in front. Continuing down, there was the manor with the tailors behind it and several large growing areas. These were basically greenhouses that would supply the people with constant food.
“All right, so how are we going to sort out pay?” Rugrat asked.
“We will give everyone a house, but then they will sign a contract to build everything we’ve planned out. We will pay people who prove themselves to be capable teachers, as well as the military. Librarians and the merchants will get a commission based off what they sell and how much. People will pay a fee to use the market; warehouse space will be rented. We will pay farmers for the growing houses and we will own everything that comes out of them. Those who go to the schools will have to pay a fee, but they can sell whatever they make. We will take a ten percent tax on anything that is sold inside the city.” Erik outlined his ideas in broad strokes.
The Two Week Curse Page 48