Raze (The Completionist Chronicles Book 4)

by Dakota Krout

  You have created a Special Rare Structure, as this building is no longer Unique to this world! Congratulations! All stats and bonuses for this building have been increased by 10% thanks to your title ‘Architect of Artifacts’. Building durability: 211,200/211,200 (Original value: 193,000) Mana: 0/35,200 (Original value: 32,000) Special: 33% chance to ignore physical damage. (Original value: 30%)

  “Aten!” Joe struggled against the mana chains that were dissipating, and they vanished into motes of light which were sucked into the shining new building. Aten’s body was still dancing, the chains twirling him in place. Joe pulled on his foot, and the man collapsed to the ground. He was already dead, and Joe was starting to get woozy.

  Then he saw the glistening tip of the ballista and realized that he had likely been poisoned. “Cleanse!”

  He washed out his ear hole, then had the water delve into his body. A moment later, poison washed out of the wound, making his ear look like a black-blood spigot. “Mike, where are you?”

  “Working on coordinating the effort to find who did this!” Mike called over, his hands flying around keyboards that only he could see. A moment later, Joe received a guild-wide quest.

  Emergency Guild Quest: A Perfect Ten. The Guild Commander has been brutally attacked! A ballista bolt took him through the chest in the middle of the Guild’s town! Find who did this, bring us their head, name, and group affiliation! Reward: 5,000 gold, promotion or accolades depending on position.

  “A perfect ten? Really?” Joe looked over at Mike.

  “I make the quest, not the name,” Mike informed him with a growl. “Feces, Aten is really the best person to deal with all this.”

  “Gimme a moment here. I’m pretty sure we are the same level. Abyss, I might be higher level than him by now.” Joe took a breath and started doing what looked like tai-chi movements. Ten seconds passed before, “Resurrection!”

  Skill increase: Resurrection (Novice III). Bring three people back to reach the next rank! People seem to die all around you. This skill should be a breeze to rank up!

  Aten stepped out of the portal just as his corpse vanished, and the gooey sensation and ick vanished from his boot a moment later as his previous body faded. “Anyone see what happened there?”

  Guild Quest updated: Feed the people! The building is in place! When it can sustain a population of at least 10,000 people, you will get the reward!

  “Someone tried to kill Joe, pretty sure,” Mike called over. “I think they were trying to see what would happen when he was killed during a big ritual.”

  Joe blanched at the thought. “Well… there wouldn't be much town left. There would be an instant release of the equivalent of a hundred ninety-two thousand mana. Boom. Big boom.”

  “Are there any… protections we can put in place to avoid something like that in the future?” Aten calmly inquired, even as Mike sat down hard. “You know what? Let’s go ahead and get that wall up right now. Mike, get the guild on high alert. I feel like this isn't the end of whatever people are sending our way. Also, start pulling enough from the treasury that we can get a full wall around the entire town by the end of the week and start hiring for guard positions. I’m seeing this as an act of war, and as we get better things…”

  He gestured at the vibrant-yet-empty greenhouse next to them. “Well, I doubt people will be less likely to attack us.”

  Chapter Forty-three

  “Ten minutes before the wall goes up!” Messengers were shouting the announcements throughout the town, which had every guild member ready for action. There would be no repeat of the near-disaster from that morning. The Guild was ready.

  “Who comes for the Wanderers?” the message changed suddenly, and the few buildings in the area shook at the reply.

  “The Strongest! The Best! We kill all the rest!”

  “I think it’s time, Joe.” Aten looked at the Rituarchitect, who was furiously writing out various formula changes. “You have a working version?”

  Instead of answering, Joe barked over at his Coven, “Kirby, where is that tri-fold array design? I need it yesterday! Big_Mo! Do you or do you not have the final calculation for the angular momentum of the drawbridge? Tolerance is three percent!”

  “Yes, Joe!” Kirby’s harried response came.

  “Big_Mo!”

  “Math is harder when getting yelled at!” Big_mo shouted back. “Done! Check it!”

  Joe looked at the equation for a bare instant. “Two percent off, go to the third decimal on step three next time! Kirby, add a sine curve right… here, and we’ll have a sympathetic link that can accommodate the power shift!”

  “Why is all this not ready?” Aten looked at the robed figures helplessly.

  “It was. We made slight adjustments,” Joe didn't even look up from his paper as he launched a reply back. “Adding in some Troll Blood. It’ll boost durability and add in a self-repair function. We’re going all out here; hold tight, Commander!”

  “Three minutes!” the words echoed over the area, and Joe nodded at the group.

  “Done! Validated, get in position!” The Coven members scattered to stand in a pentagram with Joe at the northmost point. “Need seven volunteers!”

  Seven people, including a reluctant Aten and Mike, got into the non-cardinal positions Joe indicated. “Get ready. Remember to breathe! Wall is going up in ninety seconds.”

  As the messengers counted down from ten, Joe started the ritual. It was going to be really neat to have an effect happening right at the same time as hitting zero, and showmanship was something everyone enjoyed. As the messengers hit zero, a ball of light jumped into the sky and started following the holographic path that Joe’s Survey Grid had set up. Where the ball passed, a completed wall was left behind.

  Joe and the others had been left on the ground to awkwardly stare at each other. This was… new. Every once in a while, someone would cry out as their mana was drained, but since they were all just… hanging out, this made things even more awkward. For some reason, the mana drain was invisible this time around, making the process… cringy.

  “Ah~h!”

  “Ooh!” A person spasmed and fell to his knees.

  “Yah!”

  “Ouchie!” Joe coughed and tried to pretend that someone else had said that. The wall was forming around the area with a sound like approaching thunder, leaving them in shadow as the stones mortared themselves together. There was very little in the way of overexertion; the large number of people was easily able to compensate for the mana draw needed by the wall.

  “And…” Joe watched as the ritual faded in his eyes, “done!”

  “Good work, everyone,” Aten called to the assembled people, who started to cheer. “This marks a new point of safety for our people! I know we have been having trouble sometimes, but no longer are we sleeping in unprotected areas! Now the guild has a way to point outward and tell people that we can protect our own, and soon, we can feed them all!”

  People began to cheer as Aten, the face of the guild, continued to speak. In the background, Mike was moving around the area and reassigning people. By the time Aten stopped talking, there were guards patrolling the new wall.

  Guild alert! The Guild’s Town has reached town level one! You have earned the right to appear on the map! Your leader is selecting a name for the town now… name accepted! Welcome to ‘Wanderer’s Argosy’.

  Aten was looking around proudly, waiting for people to be excited about the title. Joe was really happy when someone else was the first to speak up. “Uhm. Aten, what does that mean?”

  “Seriously?” Aten looked crestfallen. “It… Argosy means ‘a rich supply’. So here it means either that the Wanderers have a rich supply or that there is a rich supply of Wanderers!”

  Guild vote started: Petition to change name to ‘Towny McTownface’. Yes / No.

  “What? That’s a thing?” Aten called as the green bar next to ‘Yes’ rapidly filled up. “Who made that a thing? Voting?”

  Guild vo
te completed: Petition to change name to ‘Towny McTownface’ has passed! Welcome to Towny McTownface!

  Joe pretended that he hadn't voted, but he definitely had. His lips were twitching, and not a single person met Aten’s eyes. The Guild Commander was glaring at everyone. “I hate you all.”

  That got the entire group to start laughing, and soon, even Aten had to either join in or make things worse. They laughed, and Mike announced a small feast to celebrate the achievement. It was an actual achievement, with the guild being the first to raise a town to level one. Others had started with a more improved town, but they missed out on the bonus. All it gave them was an improved reputation with Ardania, but it was still great for the guild.

  A very small feast was eaten, and Joe finally did some relaxing. He checked his notifications and saw that he had gained twelve hundred combined class experience for the greenhouse and the wall. He smiled happily; there was something about being surrounded by a huge, thick wall that let you relax more fully.

  Joe ate with the group, then joined a small expedition into the Evergrowth Greenhouse so that he could teach people the functions. Only Aten, Mike, and a few other non-combat squad leaders that were going to be in charge of taking care of plants and harvesting food were allowed to go in.

  “How does this work, Joe?” Aten poked the dirt as they got to the third room, as there was still no plants or instructions of any kind.

  Joe looked over at the guild leader in surprise. “Ah… standard greenhouse rules apply? Plant seeds in those rows, water comes from there, and harvest when ripe?”

  “Fin! Come here.” Aten introduced another guy to Joe. “This is Fin, our guild’s head Herbalist. He’s a Druid and has been working tirelessly to keep us fed until now. He got a promotion for his work until now, so he’s gonna be running the show in here.”

  “Only reward for hard work is more work, right?” Fin quipped, then shook Joe's hand and motioned for him to continue.

  Pulling out a small bag of seeds he had collected for this exact purpose, Joe walked to the planter rows. A corn kernel was in his hand, but a red glow appeared when he got close to the dirt. “Looks like this area isn't good for corn. Let’s try… potatoes? Yep! There we go. Looks like french fries are back on the menu! Figure out a beef supply next, and we are going to have a good time.”

  The group watched the soil for a minute, and in that amount of time, a tiny sprout popped out of the dirt. Joe was watching the building menu and noticed the minor amount of mana accumulated by the building trickle back to zero. “Neat, looks like the building uses its mana to grow things. It’s out, so that's all for now. I’ll plant the rest of these and join you guys? Aten? A word?”

  “Nice to meet you in person, Joe!” Fin waved as he walked off.

  “Nice guy.” While the others excitedly chattered and left, Joe pulled out another seed and started walking around.

  The fifth star-annex showed that it would accept the seed, which was great because Aten was getting antsy. “What are you up to, Joe?”

  “This seed is from a grape plant that I swiped when I attended a… Noble event. Pretty sure it is the main export of a Noble family, and I doubt that they’d be happy I have it. Just so you know… so be careful with who you let know about them.”

  Aten grinned at Joe. “You sly dog.”

  “I’m good at keeping things hidden.” Joe grinned as he planted the other seeds; then he looked Aten dead in the eyes and pulled out a special plate of glass. There was a slot for things on all of the side paneling, and when Joe placed the item, it closed and locked. “Natural Imbued Glass of Fertility. Makes any plants in the area of effect produce offspring about a fifth faster. We’ll have a crop of grapes in no time.”

  “I’ll look for some discrete people who want to make wine for a living.” Aten winked at Joe. “By the way, you’ve really proven yourself to me, and I was trying to think of how to show my appreciation after our conversation. When we make a Sect, you are going to be First Elder. Third in command; basically, the Prime Minister of our group. Sound like a plan?”

  Guild Quest updated: The making of an Elder. Reward increased: position of First Elder when the Noble Wanderer’s Guild becomes a Sect. Failure: No reward.

  Joe was shocked, though quite pleased with this outcome. “Aten, thanks, man. I’ll make sure to keep the amazing things coming.”

  “Never had a doubt.” Aten fist-bumped Joe, and they left the building; the two only taking a few minutes to plant the rest of the seeds Joe had brought along. There weren't many, as Joe only had a small selection for testing purposes. The guild had a larger shipment coming in, actually having made a deal to buy some of the stock from the Golden Greens Guild that Joe had made friends with. Apparently, Teddy had found a large store of plants that had gone to seed, and she wanted to sell them before they rotted. Joe was glad that the conversion to Tatum had benefited them so quickly.

  Leaving Aten to his own devices, Joe went off to get a drink. The guild had subsidized the pub for the evening, setting the prices extra-low in celebration. He had just started taking a sip of his first drink when a well-dressed man covered by a perfectly ordinary over-cloak sat across from him. “You really screwed up this time, Traveler.”

  Joe couldn't see the man’s face, but his bearing was familiar. “Do I know you? Or how I messed up?”

  “Kind of and not likely. In that order.” The man looked up, and all of a sudden, Joe felt a sharp pressure on his forehead. Pressure in the exact spot that the King had pressed a small object into his skin to grant him a skill. The fact that the item was reacting could only mean one thing.

  This man was Royalty.

  Chapter Forty-four

  “I am actually here to warn a member of my Extended Family about a plot against him.” The unknown man seemed to be taking his time, enjoying watching Joe squirm. It was obvious that he was here out of obligation, not true care. “But first, I am wondering why you seem so familiar.”

  Joe looked at the man in puzzlement, but the man’s words made it click for him. This was the Prince. “Oh. Ah. I’m not sure you’d like to know, Your Maj–”

  *Hist*. The man made a sharp gesture, and Joe stopped talking. “None of that here, please. Just tell me. I swear I won’t hold it against you.”

  “Deal.” Joe swallowed, knowing that this was a bad idea nonetheless. “You wouldn't happen to remember a jail cell, perhaps a healer that was punched to death?”

  The man was silent. Joe sent a wave of water at a man near them who was stumbling from drinking too much, and a moment later, the man in question was sober. “I… see. Well. I never thought I’d get to do this in person. Can I see your weapon?”

  He pulled out a small item and touched it to Joe’s staff. “Superb. I’m going to send you something from me soon. My parents told me that they ‘fixed’ the issue, but I remain very unsettled over the entire affair. Thank you for my life, Joe. What I’ll do here in no way makes up for you saving my life and me taking yours, but I hope it is a small start.”

  “There is a plot against you, Joe,” the Prince informed him seriously. “Not you personally, but Travelers in general. As you return to life, there becomes a need to force you into acting a certain way without threats of your death. What has happened thus far is that most guilds and such have made it impossible to gain their skills and abilities without giving them some commitment to work for them in return; that is, joining them.”

  “Now, most of these groups caved when the Mage’s College opened, as a good portion of the pressure was coming from the Nobility. Actually, The Accords.” The Prince paused as Joe raised a hand.

  “Also my doing.”

  “…Right.” Now the Prince had a different look in his eyes than when he had started the conversation. Arrogance had shifted to concern, to friendship, to near-awe. “I see what my father likes about you. Listen. Here is where the issue lies. This wall you just built. Does it look familiar at all?”

  “Not really?”
Joe stared into the distance and tried to figure out the issue. “I’ve got nothing.”

  “You built a tier-two version of the tier-five wall that surrounds Ardania.” The fact was stated bluntly, but Joe still didn’t understand the issue.

  “The fair-use law should prevent any issues, shouldn't it?” Joe breathed, trying to figure out what was wrong.

  “Not from violations of national security,” the Prince told him grimly. “If others can see this wall, study it, and find the flaws… our Kingdom could be toppled far easier than we would ever expect. Blueprints for this structure are stored in the vault of the Architect’s Guild, and your guild will be on the hook. Not for theft: for espionage. Not for building a wall: for exposing a national secret. Treason. Your reputation cannot protect you. Your standing means nothing against this charge.”

  Joe swallowed on a dry throat and wet his lips. “What can I do?”

  “That’s up to you, but the Royal Guard got a tip about the wall being built. Likely as it was happening, since you are all being watched so closely. The Crown has issued a quest to seek the truth of the matter, and the Royal Guard will arrive in force tomorrow. If the wall is erect, which it is, this guild will be disbanded. The leaders will be jailed. All buildings owned by the guild… will be seized and turned over as thanks to the person who informed the Crown: the leader of the Architect’s Guild.”

  Joe felt his stomach sink. “They would take the buildings I made?”

  “As a reward, yes,” the Prince confirmed, looking around carefully and pulling his robe tighter. “I need to leave soon. If you make it through this, we will have a quest for you to complete in return for the warning.”

  “Wait!” Joe stopped him as he stood to leave. “What if the Guard gets here and the wall is not here?”

  “Oh…?” The Prince smiled. “Then I did my job well, and the person who made a false claim to the King would be jailed and also forced to pay reparations to the wronged party and the Kingdom.”

  Joe nodded, and the Prince resumed walking away. Joe stepped outside just after him, but in that time, the Prince had vanished. “Need to learn how to do that. Messenger~r~r!”