by Seth Ring
“Thank you, Thorn.” Velin’s normally cold face broke into a small smile as she looked down, adjusting her hair behind her ear. After a moment of warm silence she returned to her business-like attitude, obviously uncomfortable with such personal conversation. “Once it was clear that you are determined to control the valley I started planning. Take a look and let me know what you think.”
Turning his attention back to the map, Thorn listened carefully as Velin outlined the situation. Crimson Snake scouts had been spotted less than a day’s march from the valley, which meant that the army was going to arrive slightly ahead of schedule. Assuming the army was less than a day’s march behind the scouts, the invasion was eminent.
“Our ability to defend the valley will rely on a few things. First, we’ll have to be able to defend it physically. What I mean is that we are going to have to win the battle. The invading force is almost five times our number. They have as many player soldiers as we have native soldiers. Normally, this sort of battle will be unwinnable. Our only option is fortifications if we want to put up a fight. Thorn, I’m not sure what you have in mind yet, so I have not planned a defensive strategy.
“Assuming we can stop the army outside the valley, we’re going to have to face the second issue. We don’t have a way to make them leave. This is a game, so the players can respawn which puts us in a bind. There is nothing to stop the Crimson Snakes from camping on our doorstep until they wear us out. My only idea is to put pressure on Angdrin from inside Ragnarok, but to do that we would have to give up some control.” Pausing, she looked at Thorn. “Both of these things are out of my hands. I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help in terms of planning.”
“No problem.” Thorn’s gaze rested on the map as he considered the two problems Velin had outlined. “I’m working on the second problem as we speak. For now, let’s focus on dealing with the fight we have coming. I’ve got a plan drawn up for the temple that should help with our defense. It ended up going sort of a fortress monastery style. Big walls and that sort of thing which should allow us to minimize our disadvantage.” Opening his interface, Thorn sent the design of the new temple to Velin and Captain Del’har. “I’ve never fought a war before, so I don’t know if we need to make any modifications. Take a look and let me know what you think.”
“This…” After looking over the design Velin was lost for words. She had expected a sketch and had instead gotten full architectural blueprints showing elegant buildings behind a towering wall. “Where did you get this?”
“Ah. I drew it a few years ago. Went through a castle phase and had a lot of time on my hands. Like, excessive amounts of time. This design is based on Punakha Dzong, a fortress in Bhutan. I thought it looked the most temple-like but it is also easy to defend. Though, this is a bit bigger because of the width of the pass. Anything jump out at you that wouldn’t work?”
“No, my lord, this looks quite impressive.” Captain Del’har shook his head.
Seeing that Velin was still speechless, Thorn nodded and stepped outside the tent. Knowing that Thorn was going to be building the temple in the pass, the Wolfkin had made camp away from the entrance. After making sure the area was clear, Thorn opened the store and uploaded his blueprints.
A few adjustments had to be made to allow the temple to fit in the space properly, but within less than half an hour the order was ready to go. Giving everything a once over to make sure he was not missing any of the details, Thorn smiled and hit the accept order button.
“Behold, the Temple of the Moon!”
*bzzt*
Error: Insufficient Funds due to account spending cap
Your order exceeds the fund limit set on your account. Please contact your guardian regarding raising the spending cap on the attached account.
Blushing with embarrassment as Captain Del’har and Velin stared at the empty pass, Thorn called his aunt.
“Xavier! How are you? Are you having fun?”
“Hi.” Still bright red, Thorn got straight to the point. “Can you raise my spending cap on my account? I’m trying to build a building but the system says I can’t because my spending is capped.”
“Oh? Your limit is five million. What on earth would you spend more than five million on?”
Rather than trying to explain everything from the beginning, Thorn sent his aunt the blueprints and shared his vision through the call.
“Remember that valley I told you about? Well, it’s mine and I’d like to keep it. I’m going to build a big fortress here to block the only way in.” Thorn pointed to the entrance to the pass. “However, the cost is pretty serious. Sixty million.”
“Sixty million credits?! Are you crazy?” Julia’s eyebrows shot up when she heard the price. “What on earth could make it cost so much?”
“Well, I’m trying to make it both a temple and a fortress so it is a bit bigger than most castles. And there are two sub levels that can be used as extra barracks or storage, plus a mini shopping district. And some towers for ballista. And I might have added three heavy duty gates and a giant wolf head on top of the fortress with a waterfall coming out of its mouth. Oh, and I made the walls taller.”
“Xavier, the base price for a system-built castle is twenty million. Twenty-five, tops. There is no way that stuff cost forty million credits.”
“Well, this is more of a town than a castle.”
“A town?!”
“Yeah. After all, people are going to need places to stay, right? So I added a large hotel and there are storefronts for people to rent. And I saw that I could add all sorts of different production facilities, so I did. This way, as our guild adds players with production classes we’ll be set up already. Ah, and I bought a bunch of resources too. That was at least three million.”
“You built a town? You better be mining gold out of that valley if you want to make sixty million credits back.”
“Gold? Haha, I have something better. A race. The Wolfkin spawn here and their racial advancement quests are tied to the valley as well. So, anyone who wants to play a Wolfkin is going to be spending time here. There is also at least one ancient ruin in the mountains behind the valley, probably more than that. According to Velin, any time there is a new race there is a large influx of new players or people buying race changes.
“Even if it is not a popular race we can expect at least a million players. If each of them spends sixty credits in the valley our cost will be pretty much covered. To say nothing of the merchants that will come in to serve the new players. Add the other natural resources the valley possesses to that and whoever controls this valley will be making bank. I intend for that to be us.”
“And here I thought that you were just playing around.” At the prospect of making money Julia’s eyes lit up. “I’ve adjusted your spending cap, you shouldn’t have any problem. You’re doing great, hun, I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Thanks! Love you.” Closing the call, Thorn turned back to the empty pass and tried again. As he hit the button to accept the order the world shimmered, as if a wave of heat passed through the air. As the world stabilized, a familiar figure appeared.
“Greetings, traveler.”
“Hello, Myst.” Thorn smiled at the beauty in her shimmering blue dress.
“My system indicates that you have made a large purchase. I am here to ensure satisfaction. Please indicate that the details here are correct. If they are correct please initial at the six highlighted locations and sign on the last page.”
“Thanks, what is the time frame on the build?” Thorn asked after flipping through the document on the pad Myst handed him.
“That is a great question, traveler. The time frame on the construction of your ordered building is forty-seven minutes and thirty-six seconds from the project’s commencement.” Accepting the pad back from Thorn, Myst tapped it a few times. “Thank you for finalizing your purchase. Would you like to give a name to your project?”
“Yeah. Let's call it Moon Wolf Citadel.”
The air in the pass shivered again and froze. Curious, Thorn reached out, only to feel a smooth invisible wall blocking his hand. In the center of the pass a large blue box appeared with a large white zero on it.
[0%]
CHAPTER FOURTY
The new temple was laid out in a large rectangle, built to stretch from one side of the pass to the other. Walking with his hand on the clear wall Thorn found that it stretched the whole distance. Dropping his hand he returned to stand with Velin and the Captain, watching as a greyish blue fog rose from the ground, filling the space where the temple would be built. Suddenly, dirt fountained from inside the layer of fog, jetting up into the air where it disappeared.
[1%]
After thirty seconds the large number in the center of the wall climbed from zero to one. Shortly after, large stone blocks began to fall from the sky, vanishing into the roiling cloud. As time went on, other materials like timber, brick, and metal would appear and drop into the fog. Every thirty seconds the number would tick up and the fog obscuring their view would climb.
As they stood watching, Thorn looked around.
“Where is Mina?”
“She logged out.”
“Is she mad at me?”
“Most likely. Please excuse her immaturity, she can be quite emotional and I think she is fairly sensitive right now.”
“It is no problem. Would it be helpful if I sent her a message?”
“No,” sighing, Velin tucked her hair behind her ear. “I think she needs time to think things through. Life has been moving fast since we climbed the tower with Ouroboros and she probably needs a bit of space to sort through the changes. Our relationship is not quite the same as it was, or as Mina hopes for it to be, and that is causing her some distress.”
“Alright.” Thorn nodded. “Let me know if there is anything I can do.”
“Thank you.”
After watching the gradually appearing temple in silence for a moment, Thorn changed the subject.
“I guess I don’t actually know much about you and Mina. You live together, right? Have you lived together long?”
“That is true, I guess we’ve never really talked about ourselves.” The corners of Velin’s lips curled slightly, her small smile lighting up her face. “Mina and I have been friends for a long time. Since elementary school. We were roommates in college as well.”
“Wait, that means you’re in your twenties?” Asked Thorn, not bothering to conceal his shock.
“Yes. I’m twenty-five, Mina is twenty-four. How old did you think we were?”
“I mean, I would have guessed around that for you but I definitely thought Mina was sixteen.”
“Haha, that is sort of understandable. Most people take her to be younger because of her height. How old are you?”
“Uh. Sixteen.”
“No way.” Velin smirked. Seeing Thorn’s serious gaze, her smile faltered. “No way. You are sixteen? How…?” Trailing off, Velin held up her hand, as if she could measure Thorn’s height.
“How am I so tall?” Thorn chuckled. “I grew fast. Thankfully, I’ve stopped growing.” Seeing that Velin was distracted by his revelation, Thorn prompted her. “You were saying that you and Mina knew each other in college?”
“Hm, yes. That is right. We lived together in college. When we got out we joined Ragnarok. That was about two years ago. Since we were already good friends we got an apartment together. Since then we’ve been playing Nova Terra and trying to help Ouroboros grow his influence.”
“What did you study in school that got you a job with a guild?”
“I studied to be an information engineer. I was lucky that I was hired as an analyst almost right away. Mina studied communications but spent most of her time playing Nova Terra. She was hired as a combatant.” Seeing Thorn’s eyebrows rise, Velin defended her friend. “Don’t be fooled, Mina is an excellent player. She has great timing and her skill set is good in group fights. Wait until Ragnarok gets here. She earned her Ice Witch class by her own hard work.”
“Alright, I’ll pay attention. Both of you are great players, have you ever considered joining the Society of Roses?”
“Considered? What use would that be? They don’t accept new members. And even if they did, the application list would be at least twenty miles long.”
“Oh yeah? Are they pretty popular?”
“Popular is an understatement.” Velin pulled out her notebook and flipped to an empty page. “They are the most well-known group in the game. It doesn’t hurt that the Queen of Roses is rich and powerful in real life either.”
“Queen of Roses?”
“Ah, I forget how much you don’t know. The Queen of Roses is Athena, the leader of the Society of Roses guild. Her real name is Julia Lee. She is the CEO of Atlas.” As Velin finished speaking her eyes went wide and she shot a glance at Thorn who was watching the glowing number. With some effort she kept her voice from quivering. “She is strong, pretty, and rich. The envy of pretty much everyone in Nova Terra.”
“I can imagine.” Thorn rubbed the bridge of his nose as he diverted the topic. “Looks like the temple is about done. Let’s check it out.
*ding*
[100%]
As the glowing numbers reached one hundred, the invisible wall dissipated and the blue fog rolled back, revealing Moon Wolf Citadel in all its glory. A tall stone wall towered above Thorn’s head, easily reaching twenty-five feet high. Four tall towers stood at the corners of the walls, providing an excellent field of view of both sides of the pass. Lit in a soft, blue glow by magical ever-burning torches, the citadel looked like something out of a fairytale.
The fortress itself sat in the center of the citadel, aligned with the two large metal-studded wooden gates that controlled the entrance and exit of the Moon Wolf Citadel. Stone walls radiated out from the fortress like the spokes of a wheel, dividing the citadel into six sections. Two walls ran from the fortress to the sides of the gatehouses, forming a funnel leading from the gate to a tunnel running underneath the fortress.
To the sides of the fortress were the various areas that Thorn had built in preparation for the influx of players who would be arriving in the valley. Apart from the pathway leading through the citadel, the rest of the space was divided into four distinct districts. On the right side of the main gate was the merchant square, packed with empty shops and open areas for trade. Based on what he had observed in Berum, Thorn expected that most players would be spending their time in this area.
On the other side of the entrance, Thorn had placed the residential and training districts. While there, players would be able to arrange housing, visit inns, or get training in a variety of different basic skills. Purchasing a training hall had added quite a bit of cost to the citadel’s price, but the fees Thorn would be able to collect from it made it an easy choice. Unlike the merchant area, Thorn had also left about half of the space in this section of the citadel empty to allow for future buildings to go in.
Behind the merchant area were the production buildings that Thorn had purchased. Much like the training hall, their cost had been high but Thorn felt that the expense was necessary in order to create a solid base for his guild. This area also had several residences that could be used by members of the guild and natives who settled into the Moon Wolf Citadel.
The last section of the citadel was the reconstructed temple. The area the temple took up was bigger than Greymane Keep and connected directly with the fortress in the center of the citadel. It had been expanded to include quarters for the disciples in training as well as four sectors for the different courts. Additionally, the temple was connected to a subterranean area containing a barracks and extra storage. Connected with tunnels to various sections of the city wall, the subterranean levels allowed for quick access to every p
art of the city.
Towering over the center of the pass, the fortress was an imposing affair. Sitting squarely in between the two tall peaks, it almost looked like a new mountain had been added. The fortress sat over a large tunnel that connected the front and back gates. Thorn had made sure that the tunnel was big enough to move two wagons through side by side but had also added six metal portcullises for a measure of defense. The inside of the fortress had the typical great room and ballroom, while the rest of the fortress was split up between the kitchen, a few offices, bedrooms, storage rooms, and even a wizard’s tower.