The Land: Swarm: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 5)

by Aleron Kong

  2) Livestock Pen (wooden). Durability: 170/170. 60x20 yards. Quality: Above Average. x 4.

  3) Skath Pen (steel net). Durability: 613/614. Circular pen, 20 yards in diameter. Quality: Well Crafted.

  4) Walls (mix of earthwork and marbled quartz). 5 feet tall.

  Types

  Hard packed Earthworks (53%) – Durability: Variable due to variation in Building Quality. Building Quality: Slum to Well Crafted

  Marbled Quartz (47%) – Durability: 15,225/15,225. Building Quality: Well Built

  +10% defense for defenders (2% per foot)

  +15% Line of Sight (3% per foot)

  5) Ship Cradle. (wooden) Durability: 156/163. Building Quality: Poorly Made

  Building Bonus: +0% Shipbuilding speed bonus. 0% bonus to ship stats.

  6) Inner Trench – 20 feet deep x 30 feet wide. Lined with wooden stakes.

  7) Outer Trench – 10 feet deep x 10 feet wide. Lined with wooden stakes.

  8) Earthwork Towers – Durability: 276/276. Building Quality: Slum. +60% Line of Sight (3% per foot)

  9) Rudimentary Gravel Roads – +6% travel speed while on gravel roads

  10) Forge of Heavens. (Elementum). Durability: 5,500,000/5,500,000* Building Quality: CORE.

  Access title for more information

  * indicates this is a self-healing building

  11) Dragon’s Cauldron. (Aged Glass). Durability: 8,000,000/8,000,000* Building Quality: CORE.

  Access title for more information

  * indicates this is a self-healing building

  12) Workshop (Level 1). Durability: 15,988/15,988. Building Quality: Well-built

  Building Bonus:

  +1.2% chance of a building being spontaneously increased one quality level on completion.

  12% increase to Production when erecting buildings.

  12% increase to village building Durability

  Congratulations! You have completed the Quest: Every Tool has its Place. You have created a Level 1 Workshop! As this was a villager-supplied quest, it will aid in the progression of your Administration skill.

  Reward: 2,500 (base 2,000) Experience Points.

  Reward: +5 Village-Wide Loyalty.

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 8 in Administration. +1% to Morale, Loyalty, and Production for your village.

  Congratulations! You have reached subskill level 6 in Lead from the Front. +1% Productivity for projects that you help construct yourself.

  Richter was blown away. Another 12% productivity for creating more buildings? That was awesome! He did some quick math. His Admin skill was giving +8% to Production. His Lead from the Front subskill gave another 6%. The fact that the village Loyalty had increased to ‘Dependable’ gave a 20% production boost and the new Morale level of ‘Happy’ gave another 10%. When you added the 12% from the workshop and the 6% from having given Roswan the village Job of Builder, it meant his people could now build 62% faster than they could at baseline. With the hundreds of mist workers, he could summon every day, that meant beaucoup buildings!

  Richter dismissed all of the prompts, excited and motivated to start on the next project. He looked at Roswan and asked, “So what do we do now? What’s next?”

  Roswan gave back his customary almost-glare and said, “Ale.” Then the elf just started walking way. Everyone dispersed after the construction chief.

  Richter shrugged. When the man had a good idea, the man had a good idea, “It’s Miller time!”

  CHAPTER 38 -- Day 119 -- Kuborn 9, 15368 EBG

  Richter rode the high from finishing the workshop for a while and even got Roswan to talk a bit more. The elf agreed to start building the healer’s hut in the morning. Richter asked the builder if they would use stone, but Roswan just grunted and said there wasn’t a point. Once again, the one topic the builder seemed willing to converse about was construction.

  “Grrmm. I do not know the plans, or have the blueprint, to build a level one house of healing. There would not be any extra bonus. Almost any type of building can be built as a shed without blueprints, though, and the village will still get the minimum building bonus. So wood will be good enough, and it will go up faster. If we keep the same pace, we might be able to raise it in four to five days.”

  Richter was more than pleased that they could build Sumiko’s clinic quickly. For a moment he got lost in thought about exactly how much he would like to please the revitalized sprite and exactly how she might express her appreciation. Once his musings reached completion, he gave a faintly pleased sigh and then focused back on the mustached elf. Roswan was staring at him in concern and confusion over what had just happened, but Richter didn’t let that slow him down, “I’m happy that we can get it done so quickly, but how do we get the plans for a level one building?”

  Roswan took a large bite of the eggs that were part of his contract as the village Builder. The elf slowly chewed, his mouth moving in a left to right circle as he made eye contact with the chaos seed. Richter was momentarily mesmerized by the motion of the elf’s thick caterpillar mustache that looked like it was doing that old eighties dance, the worm.

  After a moment or two, Richter realized that he had been staring intently at the man’s mouth and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. It didn’t appear that the awkward moment had been observed, but Roswan seemed determined to pay the chaos seed back for his earlier lapse in concentration. The builder kept eye contact as he chewed. Richter started to get uncomfortable, and the feeling wasn’t helped by his realization that the only thing that would make the moment more icky and uncomfortable would have been if the builder was eating a banana. Not even Roswan would break that cardinal rule, though, Richter told himself. You never make eye contact when you’re eating a banana.

  After an eternity, Roswan swallowed the trough of eggs he had put in his mouth and answered, “You could always buy the blueprints. My skill level in Construction should be high enough to raise almost any level one building. Normally only builder guilds will sell these plans, however, and your relationship with the guild must be ‘Friendly’ or better most of the time. Even then, the cost is high, grrrrmmmm. Or-” The conversation ground to a halt again as Roswan slowly shoved two whole pieces of bacon into his mouth and started chewing.

  At least he’s not making eye contact, this time, Richter thought.

  Once the elf stopped gnawing on the pork strips, he started talking again, “Or we could build the scholar’s hut. Those Scholars you have writing stuff down would probably be able to get some research done, and they might be able to figure out the plans of some level one buildings.”

  Richter sat back and let the elf eat. Unfortunately, what he was feeling now was a familiar emotion from his childhood. Even though he had loved playing strategy and RTS games as much as VRRPGs, there had always been an agonizing tension. That stemmed from the age-old quandary of allocation of resources. In almost any strategy sim, you had to make choices about what direction you wanted your settlement to develop in.

  On the one hand, you could spread your resources out and develop a village or civilization that equally balanced all facets of its society. Invest in military, then economics, then infrastructure then circle back to the military. The plus side of that strategy was that you didn’t have a glaring hole in your development. It was a conservative way to play, though and had never really been Richter’s style.

  The other side of the coin was to develop heavily in one area until you could get a bonus, or an edge, that you could use against your opponents. Instead of investing in science to get better weapons you could just make a hundred low-level warriors and swarm a neighboring settlement. The downside was that if that attack failed and your opponent had invested in science, suddenly your club-wielding fighters were getting totally owned by guys in steel armor.

  Right now, Richter had to make a decision about the building order for his construction crew. He had thought before about building the healer’s hut first because having a Life mage as the vill
age’s official Healer was a real boon. Richter harbored a real desire to get whatever building bonus could come from having a healer’s hut to augment Sumiko’s already powerful abilities. Every day that he didn’t have a place for research to be done, though, was a day that his village wasn’t moving forward technologically.

  The same argument could be made for getting a barracks built ASAP. Who knew how much more effective his strike teams could be with a formal training area? The barracks could also serve as a secondary housing structure. From his new understanding of the longhouses, they each had a max occupancy of ninety people, and that meant if everyone had to live in the five structures, they would be ‘overcrowded’ and still be insufficient for his needs. Richter knew that since it was near midsummer, many people slept outside to enjoy the temperate weather, so it wasn’t an issue yet. He could foresee housing being a problem when it got colder, though. Somehow he had a feeling that if his people were ‘overcrowded’ for months on end, there would be consequences. It would most likely start with a drop in Morale, but could also possibly allowing for the spread of disease, and those two eventualities were just off the top of his head.

  So while his people ate and drank around him, Richter rethought the building order. Walls for defense, a tavern for morale, a market for economy, a research building for science; there was so much to be done! He spoke with Randolphus, Sumiko, Sion and several other people about the village’s needs and priorities. He finally based his decision after he got support from an unexpected source.

  Richter had just finished lamenting to Randolphus that anything they built would only be a shed when Bartle spoke up. The scribe said that he had spent most of his life living inside his guild house. Apparently, it was not uncommon for guilds to accept young children with promise and raise them, getting years of service in exchange. As part of his training, Bartle had worked with a guild deputy who had a focus in architecture. The Scholar didn’t remember everything but seemed fairly certain that he could recreate the blueprint for at least a level one research facility if he worked with Roswan.

  The taciturn elf just chewed eggs while he looked at Bartle, but finally stood up and said, “Grmm. Come with me.” The two walked off to an empty table and started sketching. With the question of what to build next decided, Richter threw himself into having a good time!

  Hours later, Lorala was sitting on his lap, laughing at a particularly bad joke, when Richter stood up suddenly. The shapely elf nearly fell to the ground. She groused her displeasure and swatted him on the behind, but Richter barely noticed. With a Constitution of fifty-six, he had to work hard to get a good buzz going and now that he had one, he wasn’t about to let it go to waste. Besides, he had someone to greet.

  “Beyan! Welcome back!” Richter laughed raucously and threw an arm around the gnome’s shoulders, before pulling back, “Why the hell are you so dirty?”

  The Death mage shrugged his lord’s arm off and started speaking in an irritated voice, “I am ‘dirty’ because I just got back from my Trial and for some reason, I was released in midair, ten feet above the outer trench! I am now a Professed Alchemist, by the way, thank you so much for asking,” he said sarcastically. “As soon as Nexus told me of my success, a portal opened, and I was sucked through. I fell the ten feet to the lip of the trench, and then the other ten to the bottom of the ditch. That was almost the least of my worries because I nearly got a sharpened stake up my butt!”

  Richter was openly laughing now which clearly irritated Beyan, but the gnome still wasn’t done with his story, “I was finally able to climb out of the trench, not the easiest thing to do when the walls are steep, and it’s night, by the way, and I started walking towards the village. The next thing I know, one of your moron guards is running at me with her sword raised, shouting “Monster!” If it wasn’t for the fact that I ran into the light of one of those grey globes and that her squad leader stopped her, the damn fool might have cut my head off!”

  Tears were coming down Richter’s face.

  “I finally got inside the gate and decided to come here and eat because I am starving. THAT is why I am so dirty, my lord.” Beyan clearly did not appreciate Richter’s lack of empathy.

  After a few moments, Richter got himself under control and said, “I’m happy you’re back, Beyan, and I’m sorry I laughed. If it makes you feel any better, I know exactly how much of an asshole Nexus can be.”

  Beyan’s face wrinkled in confusion, “I do not know what you mean, my lord. Admittedly, the location of my portal home was unfortunate, but I am sure that was simply bad luck. Auditor Nexus was a wonderful host.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean ‘Auditor’?” That had been what Nexus had called himself when he had taken Elora to her Trial.

  “Auditor, my lord.” Beyan’s slow cadence made it clear that what he was saying should have been obvious. When he saw that Richter was still looking at him with a confused and ale-addled expression, he explained further, “Auditors are beings tied to The Land. In any given location, a person undergoing a Trial will have it administered by the Auditor for that area. The Auditor for the Mist Village is Nexus. I personally found him to be wonderful company!”

  Richter shook his head. He had to be mishearing the man. “Are you talking about a black-skinned giant? Gold eyes?”

  “Yes,” Beyan said. “A truly wonderful man.”

  “What aaa… What did you guys do during your Trial?” Richter asked.

  “My lord, I am sure you know that the magical nature of the Trial prevents me from discussing details.” Richter nodded. He had actually been wondering about that. A few times he had tried to speak with Randolphus or Sion about his torture at the hands of Nexus, but he had never quite seemed to be able to. From what Beyan was now saying, the trial must impose a geas upon anyone who underwent it that prevented them from sharing details. Beyan looked thoughtful for a moment, then he smiled, “I believe that I can share one thing, however.”

  At seeing Richter’s raised eyebrows, Beyan started talking again, though he chuckled a few times first. Even though Richter wasn’t sure why the gnome had had such a seemingly easy time during his trial, he was looking forward to whatever this story was. It seemed hilarious.

  “This is actually a story that Nexus told me,” Beyan started. “It was after I said the ritual words, ‘I am Alchemist,’ then he-”

  “Wait, what?” Richter interjected. “Ritual words?”

  “Yes, my lord,” Beyan’s voice had that tone again that implied what he was saying was obvious, “the words to guide your trial.” Richter just nodded, not wanting to further interrupt the story. “As I was saying, I told Nexus ‘I am Alchemist’ to begin my Trial, but before he began testing my knowledge and skill, he smiled and said he would share a story.” Beyan laughed aloud again as he recalled the memory. “You will not believe this, my lord, but some idiot not only didn’t say the ritual words, but he actually challenged the Auditor to a fight.” Richter’s face started to go red. “I think I can only share this because Nexus specifically said that I could tell this story. Obviously, I did not believe him at first; I mean who would be dumb enough to actually challenge… an Auditor? It was just like that children’s story, the Professional Moron.” Beyan laughed again, holding his sides this time. Richter started to hear a high pitched ringing in his ears, that along with his drunken state, drowned out his self-control. Beyan went right on speaking, oblivious to the maelstrom he was summoning, “I mean what kind of dumb asshole would challenge such a powerful being in the heart of its own realm. Can you believe that, my lord? That person would have to be the stupidest, ugliest, fug-”

  Whatever else Beyan was going to say was lost to history when Richter tackled him. The Death mage went down, and Richter fell right on top of him, continuing the attack. Sion body checked his friend a few moments later, but not before all the villagers got a show of their lord shaking Beyan and shouting, “You think you’re better than me? You think you’re b
etter than ME?!”

  CHAPTER 39 -- Day 120 -- Kuborn 10, 15368 EBG

  Richter awoke the next day with a headache. Memories of the night before started filtering back into his consciousness, and he groaned, both from the hangover and from remembering that he now owed Beyan an apology. He stumbled out of bed, leaving a sleeping Lorala twisted in the sheets. Thankfully, there was no giant snake to lick him this time. Futen was waiting by the door and started giving him various reports. Richter jogged outside, barely listening and made use of the latrine. Once he was done, Alma flew up to land on his shoulders.

  Luckily, Futen knew where Beyan was and so, following the remnant’s instructions, Richter headed for the the Dragon’s Cauldron. When he got to the top of the hill, however, he saw a host of his villagers gathered in the distance around the Quickening. Curious, he jogged to the northern end of the meadow and discovered what was so interesting. All of the pixies were singing. Wings of blue, yellow, black and gold flew in circles around a central figure. The song spoke of love, welcome, and homecoming. The central figure, was, of course, Elora.

  Richter smiled up at his Companion who basked in the love of her children. The song went on for long minutes and brought a sense of peace and joy. A thought occurred to him, and he checked his personal interface. Sure enough, he had received a buff.

  Song of Homecoming – Queen Elora is welcomed back by her children after she has undergone her Trial. The joy of the celestial pixies soothes all hurts and acts as a balm for troubled souls. Those who hear this song will have a positive outlook for the rest of the day.

  Looking around, all of his people had smiles on their face. A prompt appeared when the song ended that showed that Morale had increased for everyone present by +50 for the next twenty-four hours. The buff was temporary unlike the sprites’ Song of Joy and Remembrance, but it was still more than welcome. In that moment, Richter knew that despite what the future might bring, he had made the right choice in allowing Elora to bond with the Quickening. It had also helped banish his hangover; he noted happily. The pixie queen flew down to greet him. He used Analyze, and his smile grew even wider.