Yulli’s training ability was especially important. I was raising a hob army to battle players, and I wanted the majority of my soldiers to be able to inflict damage from a distance, keeping them away from the enemy tanks.
It was time to recruit my army.
I checked our food supplies as I rode Tempest to the Breeder’s Den.
Warehouse: Food
843 raw meat
311 raw fish
384 gathered edibles
655 gathered ingredients
100 travel rations
29 purple salt
22 magmashrooms
Gandork’s ‘Special Stew’ required five portions of meat, three edible herbs, and two gathered ingredients to produce 12 units of basic food – 13, if I added in the mess hall bonuses and Gandork’s cook skill. That meant …. I ran some calculations in my head, and a wide grin spread across my face as I arrived at the number.
“Kaedric, ” I addressed the hob who had shadowed my movements since leaving the barracks, “have Gandork cook 1,700 units of food and bring it to the Breeder’s Den, along with all of our travel rations.”
Kaedric’s expression remained as stoic as ever. “Yes, my lord. That is 1,800 food in total.”
I opened the Breeder’s Den Interface. Oh right, the adepts. Sixty units of exquisite and several dozen of other food were in its stores, left over from previous summonings.
Since it would take some time for Gandork to complete my large-scale order, I decided to go ahead and summon my new clergy. For the first time, I selected ‘Goblin Adept’ from the list. There were two specialization options: Blessings and Curses. These guys were going to man the faraway shrines, so being able to inflict curses was more important than support magic. I selected three Curses-specialized adepts.
The Breeder’s Den erupted in familiar noises, this time adding a high-pitched hymn to the ruckus. A moment later, the noise subsided and the door flap was thrown open as three goblins stepped outside. Two males and one female. All were of medium build, for goblins, with a dark complexion and sunken eyes. Each one had a sacrificial bone dagger tucked in their loincloth.
Kuzai came from the direction of the cabins and stood beside me, eyeing the new priests.
“They will serve the master well,” the unhinged dwarf giggled.
I ignored him and fiddled with the Energy Interface, investing 351 EP and raising all the new goblins to level 3. They were all intelligent, named goblins. VI-seeded, as Vic would put it.
“Welcome to the GreenPiece Clan,” I started. “I have called you to bolster our strength. Soon, an army of travelers will come for us and we must be ready to meet them. Our dark master, Nihilator, will lend us his power, but it will be your job to operate faraway shrines and channel their power into our clan. Err … you.” I pointed at the female adept who specialized in curses. “You will join the next coal expedition to the Raider’s Camp. There’s an altar there. It’s your job to maintain it.”
The goblin bowed before me and replied with a hollow, steady voice, “At once, High Priest.”
That was new.
The other two stood expectantly looking at me. “You two go to the barracks, train with the soldiers. Once the Dark Temple is completed, you will help maintain it.”
The two bowed as one, murmuring in unison, “Yes, High Priest.”
“Before you go, I have something to give you.” I granted them each Lucky Bastard, Drilling Arrow, and Drain Mana.
“Now go and serve,” I ordered them. “Prepare for the coming fight.”
As the trio departed, two goblin gofers came toward me, each straining under a heavy load of food. My large order was slowly being fulfilled. A hundred units of food in, 1,700 to go.
“That was an interesting display,” Kuzai said in his unsettling voice. ”I have noticed you did not offer the same boons to me.”
“That’s because I don’t trust you,” I said bluntly.
“We are all servants of the master,” he declared. “Helping each other only increases his strength in the end.”
“Just say you want to have the new cool spells.”
“It tries to cheapen the worth of the master’s followers.” Kuzai was back to talking to himself. “It doesn't understand that the individual does not matter, our only purpose is to serve.”
I sighed. “Fine, if you’re going to get all emotional about it … give me your hand.” The system already considered him as part of the clan, so it was serving my own interests to make him stronger.
I felt a shiver of revulsion run through me as I held his three-knuckled fingers and granted him the same skills. “There, happy?”
“The Master’s will is served,” he declared haughtily.
The gofers came in on another round, carrying more food – 200 out of 1,800 total.
There was no sense standing here all day waiting for the food to arrive. I could queue in the troops I wanted and let the system handle the rest.
A hob soldier cost 70 simple food and an Ogre 150. I opened the interface again and queued in three Ogres and 20 hobgoblin warriors; eight scouts, six shield bearers, and six swordsmen. As an afterthought, I also queued in two new lumberjack workers to replace those that had been killed. There was enough leftover food in the Breeder’s Den itself to compensate for the extra units.
The building shook, shrieking noises coupled with howls of pain emanating from within. The door flap flew open and a huge leg burst out. There was no way the building could have held the rest of the creature’s body, but as I watched in apprehension, the rest of it followed, somehow flowing out through the too-narrow opening. An Ogre.
But this was no normal Ogre. Though it had a dark complexion and black stripes like the rest of my clan, there were bits of red mixed in as well. Chitinous ridges ran along his forearms and across his back, and two short horns protruded from his forehead. An Infernal Ogre.
Infernal Ogre
Level: 10
HP: 140/140, MP: 70/70
Attributes: P: 14; M: -2; S: -2
Skills: Bashing Weapons 10, Ignite 1
Traits: Ogre (+4 P, -2 M, -2 S), Demonic (fire affinity)
Resistances: Physical 75%, Magic 30%, Fire 75%, Holy -50%, Cold -50%
Description: Having their blood mixed with that of demons, the Infernal Ogre is as strong as a normal Ogre with a high fire resistance and a minor magical ability to manipulate fire.
I looked at the Ogre towering over me. Despite its fierce appearance, the hulking creature instilled a sense of hope in me. This was a powerful ally in my fight against Vatras and his minions. And the best part was that he started at level 10! The fire resistance was a nice addition. Most mage players preferred to use fire-based spells as they usually inflicted the most damage, but more than a few went the ice spells path. That could prove hazardous to these new recruits, not to mention their vulnerability to holy spells. I had already witnessed how powerful a priest was when facing demons.
Once the fighting started, I would have to manipulate the battleground carefully, making sure to use the Ogre to fight melee and fire-oriented mages and use my other forces to bring down those players that held the advantage against them. Utilized correctly, a strike force of Ogres could be devastating.
But what is this Ignite skill? I frowned. It sounded like a skill meant to be used for starting campfires. I mentally clicked on the skill.
Ignite (*)
The creature can produce flames on his body. The fire can be used to start fires or inflict minor fire damage on enemies. It can also be used to ignite a held melee weapon for an added fire damage.
Level 1: Novice
Effect: Add 3% fire damage
Coming from Vic, that was surprising. You think so?
awed.
I’d walked right into that one.
The gofers came running in with more food.
“Kuzai, please keep an eye on the new recruits. Once they all arrive, bring them to the shrine.”
“It plans something to do with the master,” the dwarf murmured.
“Don’t worry, I think you’ll like what’s coming next,” I assured him and left him standing there.
As I walked toward the smithy to check up on the other essentials, my thoughts were racing. I was finally at the point I’d waited for so long: I had the means and the resources to train a sizeable fighting force.
Food was still an issue, but no longer as severe. I could now import ingredients via the Export Office. I just had to make sure our daily food production could sustain the increased population and fulfill our clan’s upkeep. This was no idle concern; the Ogres themselves required a double amount of food each day. I didn’t have to feed them, of course, but I wanted each of my soldiers to be at peak combat efficiency, and that meant taking care of their needs. Food was the least of them.
I arrived at the smithy and saw Barzel, our clan’s general smith, busy at work with our advanced crafters – Kadoc and Baja Reed, and their four gofers.
I stood at the entrance and watched as the busy goblins poured molten metal from a crucible into round molds, creating metal links, then hammered them together, crafting a strong, metal chain.
“That looks strong enough to chain an Ogre,” I said as I entered the smithy.
They all stopped working and jerked their heads toward me.
“Dread Totem! My apologies, we didn’t notice your arrival,” Barzel said.
“That’s quite alright, Barzel,” I chuckled softly. “I didn’t want to interrupt; you looked like you needed to concentrate. What on earth do we need such a thick chain for?”
“One of the newcomers has commissioned it,” the smith said.
“It’s not the same as crafting weapons,” Kadoc chimed in, “but it’s good metalworking experience.”
“Yes,” Baja nodded his consent.
I focused on them briefly, noting that both their respective smithing skills had already reached level 10 and were on the verge of breaking into the Apprentice ranks.
“Good job, everyone. We have started mobilizing; I’ll need you to begin mass-producing weapons and armor for the troops.”
“We still need a dedicated workshop for each of us,” Kadoc said. “Barzel has been very accommodating, letting us use his forge and anvil, but this equipment is meant for tool crafting. Our work requires more advanced equipment.”
I took out the high-steel tools we had recovered from the Ogre fort’s smithy and laid them on the table. “Tools like these?”
The three smiths’ eyes bulged as they inspected the magnificent, gleaming instruments.
“That … those are dwarven made!” Baja exclaimed. “You raided one of their strongholds and looted their forges?” He sounded impressed.
“Err … something like that,” I said evasively. I didn’t want to disappoint my clanmates with the truth. “These should help produce better items, right?”
“Yes, Dread Totem,” Kadoc answered. “These will help immensely. However, we still need proper workshops. The smithy’s forge is simply not strong enough to endure the process of crafting good-quality weapons and armor.”
“I see …” I had hoped the tools I’d found would make these buildings obsolete, but it looked like there was no way around it. “We will build your workshops as soon as the Dark Temple is finished. In the meantime, is there anything you can do to prepare for that?”
The two specialized goblins nodded. “We can start by making the base metal sheets, bracings, and sword grips. Those can be obtained with the tools we have here.”
Barzel cleared his throat. “That raises another problem, Dread Totem.”
There was always something. “Yes?”
“Our metal stores are quite low, I’m afraid. Our two miners produce just enough for me to create enough tools for everyone and supply the needed materials for construction, but if you want us to mass-produce weapons and armor, we will need much more metal. And stronger metal, too. We mostly used tin and copper to create bronze items. We have very little iron, which we use sparingly.”
I sighed. “I understand. I’ll take care of it.”
Well, that was what the Export Office was for, and there was no time like the present. I opened the Settlement Interface and navigated to ‘Export Office.’ I set the filter of desired goods to ‘metal’ and a list opened: tin, copper, bronze, iron, steel, high steel …
“I assume high-steel will bring the best results?” I asked.
“I’m afraid that we cannot work such an advanced metal yet,” Barzel said.
“So … steel?”
“It would be the best for now, however, –”
I prepared myself mentally for another obstacle …
“– as we have plenty of coal, we can produce steel on our own, provided we have enough iron.”
Hmmm, good news for a change. I brightened up. “You got it.”
I selected ‘iron’ from the list.
Select a resource to trade for [iron]
Resource
Available Amount
Exchange Rate
Gathered Ingredients
Arrows
Rabbit Pelts
Lumber
…
390
545
443
382
…
30
100
40
3
…
Just as I hoped, lumber proved to be the ideal currency when dealing with the gremlin market. “How much iron will you need?”
“A standard sword requires five ingots,” Kadoc said.
“And armor and shields can take ten to 20 ingots, depends on how thick you want it,” Baja added.
In order to equip my current troops, I’ll need to bring in about 300 iron ingots. I only had enough lumber for about 120 units of iron, and I didn’t want to waste it all at once, so I ordered 60 ingots for now. My smiths wouldn’t be able to make much headway without their workshops anyway.
As things stood right now, I should bring in more than two extra lumberjacks. After summoning all the soldiers, my food stores were nearly depleted; recruiting more goblins wouldn’t leave us any reserves. Ah, what are 60 more units of basic food? I gave a mental shrug, opened the Breeder’s Den Interface and queued in two extra lumberjacks. I checked our daily production status and saw that our updated lumber daily yield was 137. Not half bad.
While I fiddled with the interface, I noticed that all the new troops were now summoned, so I left the smithy and made my way to the shrine.
Instead of walking through the graveled roads, I took the direct route, cutting through the open valley.
I found myself passing by the two deadbeat farmers. They were straining to pull the plow I had brought. Looks like Barzel managed to fix it. I stopped to observe their progress.
The two goblins were giving their all against the heavy plow, but it moved at a snail’s speed. Despite that, they left deep grooves in the ground behind them. I really hoped the new equipment would do the trick.
A short walk later, I arrived at the area below the shrine.
Kuzai was waiting for me with new recruits. Twenty hobgoblins stood in three ordered lines behind him, and behind them towered the three massive Infernal Ogres.
This was an impressive force, and it was all thanks to Tal for gifting me with the Breeder’s Den from the start.
For a moment, I wondered how ‘normal’ goblin clans recruited their warriors without having access to such a structure, but I understood the answer straight away. Kaedric had already explained it to me: The goblin chief doubled as the clan ‘stallion’ and sired new warriors. For a split second, I had a vivid image of what it would be like but banished the thought from my mind. I was not prepared to
shoulder that aspect of being a goblin chief. Despite the obvious misgiving, it was inefficient. Goblin warriors were vastly inferior to their hobgoblin kin.
As I surveyed my new troops, I realized that all of the hobgoblins were level 4 straight out of the production line. I did not expect that. That explains how all the hob soldiers we encountered before were between level 4 and 6, I realized with a start. I had made the right call by not using goblin soldiers anymore. The amount of energy I saved by not having to level them up was significant.
None of the new troops had any weapons and they all wore simple loincloths. That will have to be corrected, I mused. After the ceremony.
I climbed the ladder up to Totem’s Watch and looked at the gathered mob below. Then I walked over to the shrine and drew my black bone dagger.
Now that I had my new troops, it was time to sacrifice them.
“Let us begin.”
23 – Preaching to the Choir
I stared tiredly at the last hobgoblin soldier. The bloody remains of eight hobs and one Ogre pooled at my feet. The Ogre explosion was particularly gory, I remembered with a shudder. I could still taste the piece of brain that somehow managed to land in my mouth. Unsurprisingly, it was bland.
Their sacrifice was unfortunate but necessary. It was just the side effect of what I was really after – intelligent, resurrectable soldiers.
One by one, I beckoned my soldiers to lean over the shrine. Once prostrate, I granted them the Lucky Bastard skill. Those that survived were seeded with VIs and adopted the name I had given them. Those that didn’t were offered as tributes to Nihilator, granting me quadruple Faith Points and a void crystal. So they too served the clan in a way.
“Come here, let’s finish this,” I said tiredly to the last hob. The mindless creature came without hesitation and lay on top of the shrine, apathetic to the blood and gore that covered it.
Life Reset: EvP (Environment vs. Player) (New Era Online Book 2) Page 36