A loud ‘thump’ from behind my home drew my attention. An Ogre stood in the open field, drawing a massive crossbow. A hundred meters away was a giant target that was shredded by several two-meter-long quarrels.
“Easy on the tension!” a voice said shrilly, and a short goblin wearing metal goggles walked around the giant brute. I recognized him as one of the engineers I’d recruited for the War Machine Workshop we had recently built.
“What’s this?” I asked as I approached the two.
The goblin’s eyes widened, and the Ogre nearly slammed his head into the ground in his urgency to bow down to me.
“Shadow Lord!” the goblin exclaimed, then bowed awkwardly. “We were testing one of the latest weapons the researchers invented.”
“Impressive,” I said, pointing my chin at the giant crossbow.
“It’s not bad,” the goblin admitted. “It’s too big for anyone but an Ogre to draw and aim, but it carries quite a punch. A direct hit would pierce a knight’s armor.”
“Impressive,” I repeated. “Carry on. Oh, have you seen Kaedric by any chance?”
“Ahem.” The goblin’s expression grew pained.
“He’s standing right behind me, isn’t he?” I said with a sigh.
“Yes, my lord,” the seneschal’s urbane voice came over my shoulder.
I turned to face him. The hob stood with his head bowed and his mandibles slightly ajar. I noticed that the bulkiness he had gained after a year of feasting on enemy kobolds’ brains had somewhat receded, giving him a sort of distinguished appearance. In a monstrous sort of way. “I know everything that happens in the clan, and I still have no idea how you’re always there when I need you, or how you keep sneaking up on me. Don’t you ever go home?” I frowned as I realized something. “Wait a minute … do you even have a home? What do you do when I’m not around?”
The mandibled hob tilted his head at me. “Oversee the clan, of course.”
“Yeah, but where do you sleep?”
“My kind requires little sleep. I occasionally spend several minutes in a trancelike state. Mostly while overseeing a repetitive project that doesn't require much of my attention. It also helps stave off my hunger.”
I shrugged. It adds character.
“How may I be of service, my lord?” Kaedric asked.
“It’s been nearly a week since I was last in the valley,” I said. “We should catch up on things. Then I want to start coordinating our settlements’ trade routes.”
“I’d be happy to provide you with updated clan status. However, you should confer with your Minister of Trade for matters concerning global economics.”
“Alright. I’ll talk to him next. Now, what do I need to know?”
My seneschal took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Overall, I’d say that the clan is doing very well. Our population growth has far outpaced our food generation rate. Normally, that would prohibit us from providing them with the required daily upkeep, but we have more than enough thanks to the daily contribution we receive from the conquered vassal settlements.
“With that in mind, daily food gain, after subtracting upkeep, is nearing 2,000 units. Our daily income from taxes has increased to roughly 1,500 gold, and the clan’s treasury currently stands at 16,050 gold. Our expansions into Ogre Fort and Raider’s Camp are progressing well. They are providing a constant yield of ore, coal, and meat.
“Since you upgraded Goblin’s Gorge to a city, the capital bonuses have also increased. Our warfare production chains now produce several dozen pieces of gear per day for our soldiers. We’ve also captured most of the supplies from the army you defeated near Woodhaven, so we have enough gear at the moment to equip more than 2,000 soldiers.”
“Good!” I beamed at him. We needed a bit more than 2,000 troops, but that was a decent start. “What else?”
“Energy yield is at an all-time high,” Kaedric said. “With the contribution from our new vassal settlements, our daily yield stands at 133,228. That number increases as our vassals recover their militias and increase their population. We currently have 787,534 EP at our disposal.”
“That’s incredible.” I suddenly remembered something. “You said we produce close to 2,000 units of food after upkeep. Exactly how much is the daily upkeep?”
Kaedric didn’t even pause to consider the question. “Exactly 1,058 basic and 75 advanced food. And that includes the 50 percent reduction that Eternal Night gives us.”
That was still a lot. “If I’m remembering right, there’s a blessing option that completely mitigates upkeep.”
“There is, my lord. The cathedral’s controls are only available to the priesthood, but I believe there is such an option for the Eternal Night blessing. However, it only affects those inside the local zone of influence.”
I nodded. “And that’s the reason I hadn’t purchased it before; it cost too much for the return. But now that we’re swimming with energy … how much upkeep is spent on the workers and those who always stay in the valley?”
Kaedric’s eyes went distant for just a moment. “Roughly 120 units of basic food. It varies as the army often rotates back soldiers for training.”
“Alright, give me a second.” I brought up the Shrine Interface and accessed the Eternal Night’s upgrade options.
Eternal Night blessing. Rank: 2
Enemies: -10% max HP. Cost: 500 FP. [Purchased]
Enemies: -10% max MP. Cost: 500 FP.
Enemies: -10% damage. Cost: 800 FP. [Purchased]
Enemies: -10% armor and resistances. Cost: 1000 FP. [Purchased]
Allies: No food upkeep required. 1,000 FP.
Eternal Night Rank 3: 4,000 FP
I had 710 faith points available, so I brought up the Energy Options menu and purchased 300 points for 3,000 EP. Then I returned to the Zone Blessings menu and selected the upkeep upgrade.
Zone Blessing upgrade [no upkeep]. Purchased
Shadow-Touched creatures inside the local zone of influence are sustained by the blessed darkness, requiring no food.
“There,” I said. “That should help improve our food gain a little.”
Just for the fun of it, I accessed the Energy Options menu again to check what it would take to raise my level to 100.
Level Increase: 63 → 100. XP required: 862,100. Cost: 1,293,150 EP
Insufficient energy (784,534 EP available)
I had to fight to suppress a grin. In just a few more days I would be able to purchase level 100 for myself. Of course, levels weren’t everything; skills were more important. So I’d need about a hundred thousand or so points to also raise my skills. The ease at which I juggled these incredible numbers made me feel lightheaded. But I had to be realistic; being powerful was important, but it wasn’t the most vital thing. I couldn’t be everywhere at once, after all, and there would always be individuals more powerful than me to fight. Spending so much EP on myself was … inefficient. Having a large and powerful army was more important.
“How do you think we should invest all that extra energy?” I asked my seneschal. “Should we use it to raise the default levels of all workers from 10 to 20? That should further boost our economy, right?”
“It will take over four and a half million EP to increase the level of every one of our 226 workers,” Kaedric said calmly.
I winced. “That’s significantly more expensive than when we raised them all to level 10.”
“The EP cost grows exponentially, with notable increases every 50 levels.”
A quick test with the interface showed that purchasing a single level after level 100 would cost over 80,000 EP. “Any other suggestions?”
“We can set aside a portion of the daily EP yield to purchase XP that will be distributed among all clan members.”
“Right.” I suddenly remembered the first time I’d inspected the Ene
rgy Options, back when my clan’s population was still in double digits, it was set on buying XP for clan members, giving the lion’s share to the chief and elite guards. “But I think I prefer a more direct approach. Maybe use it to build instant settlements in places with rich resources?”
“Excellent idea, my lord,” Kaedric said amicably. “Where would that be?”
“Eh …” I remembered the Badlands were notoriously known for their lack of rich resource deposits. We’d long since reached the maximum amount of resources we could extract from the valley and were only able to go beyond it by trading with other settlements. “I see your point. What about increasing the level of our army? The lowest level is 17 if I remember correctly; what would it cost to bring everyone to level 20?”
“Raising 1,630 soldiers to that level will cost somewhere in excess of 12 million EP,” Kaedric said. I could almost swear I heard some smugness in his otherwise neutral tone. “And might I add that, at their current level, resurrecting the entire army will cost over 300,000 EP.”
“Damn,” I said, feeling frustrated.
I hate you, I sent to him.
“My lord?” Kaedric inquired.
“Never mind,” I said. “We’ll keep the energy in reserve until I have a concrete use for it.”
Governor skill level increased to 15.
It looked like my second Social-dependent skill had just reached the new cap. At least I was doing something right.
“What else is going on with the clan?” I asked.
“We’re doing reasonably well in terms of non-military related resources such as stone, wood, leather, and the like. The settlement-wide upgrade I’ve been overseeing has put a strain on our resource production, but we’ve been able to maintain the expansion rate thanks to the stocks we’ve amassed thus far.”
“I noticed that. This place is entirely different. Everywhere I look I see two, three, or four-story buildings.”
Kaedric nodded. “We’ve added more wings to all the workshops, increased the size of the warehouse and the inn, and upgraded all existing lodgings by several floors. To my estimate, the clan can now accommodate double the number of crafters and artisans we currently hold.”
“Can accommodate?” I repeated. “Why haven’t you already summoned them?”
“Despite our increased workspace, our resource gathering ratio to manufacturing capability holds a delicate balance. If we suddenly recruit ten more blacksmiths, we won’t have enough metal to keep them occupied. And if we increase the amount of metal we bring in via the Export Office, we’d soon run out of wood needed to trade for it, hampering all our other projects that rely on wood.”
“I see.” I rubbed my chin. “I guess that’s one of the things I’ll need to remember when I talk with Yeshy. Is he still at the gremlins’ market?”
“No, my lord. The Minister of Trade is inspecting the various Gremlin’s Guilds you’ve built in the conquered settlements. He should be back tomorrow.”
“Right.” Monster clans could trade with each other via export offices, but ‘civilized’ settlements were different. Those types of settlements used more of a real-life approach which necessitated physically ferrying goods from one place to another. The Gremlin’s Guild allowed us to connect monster and non-monster settlements with trade routes; something I intended to take full advantage of. But first I’d have to find the fledgling minister. The workday had already ended, so tracking down the gremlin would have to wait for tomorrow.
“I guess I’ll turn in, then,” I said. I did, after all, have a hot date waiting for me. “I’ll see you later, Kaedric.”
The mandibled hob bowed his head. “Of course, my lord.”
***
Tika nearly charged me when I appeared back in our room. From her perspective, it’d been a week since we’d last spent some time together.
I took the beautiful huntress in my arms, marveling at how much easier it was with my new boss tier, then I threw her onto the bed.
To my surprise, Tika nimbly grabbed the bedpost and launched herself upward, perching on a wooden beam, and smirked down at me. “How are you going to get to me now, Chief?”
I grinned back at her. “With magic.”
“Not fair,” she protested, easily evading a blob of darkness that tried to push her down. She leaped to another beam, displaying a level of nimbleness that left no room for doubt about where our daughter got her athleticism.
“Well, how else will I ever catch up to you?” I asked.
She dropped down on top of me, her weight and momentum throwing us both onto the bed. “By asking nicely,” she whispered in my ear.
“Well if you think I’m gonna beg …” Goosebumps rose along my neck as her hot breath drove tingles of pleasure through my sensitive goblin ears. “Then you’re absolutely right.”
***
The next day arrived all too quickly and with it my long list of responsibilities.
Once we’d finished eating, I reluctantly got up from the dining table, kissed Lirian and Tika goodbye, and left the house.
I still had two days before my follow-up meeting with Crowley, but I had plenty of things to take care of. I needed to get an update from Sullivan on the state of our conquests, track down Yeshlimashu to discuss the global economy, and evade Ragnar who was apparently looking for me.
I stepped onto the bustling road outside my house and closed my eyes, letting the information tendrils that saturated my settlement wash over me. The amount of information was substantially larger than before, but I focused my thoughts on a specific area. The gremlin marketplace was bustling with activity, but I couldn’t detect the presence of the one gremlin I needed.
That made Sullivan my next target.
I decided to brush up on the status of the army before talking to him, so I accessed the Settlement Interface, navigated to the population tab, and filtered the list to combat-oriented individuals. The result was still many pages long.
That would be great.
The list shrank to a more manageable size.
Military Forces [1,849 units total]
Bosses: 15
● Tier 1: 9 (not including Ogre Mages)
● Tier 2: 4
● Tier 3: 2
Ogres: 127
● Infernal Ogres: 93
● Ogre Mages (tier 1 boss): 34
Hobgoblins: 1,523
● Warriors/Scouts: 388
● Lieutenants: 1,133
● Adepts: 2
Kobolds: 92
● Assassins: 92
Goblins: 92
● Healers: 92
Vassal mobilized forces [current unit count: 1,544]
Koboldtopia: 132
Akzar: 800 (max: 2,400)
Novenguard: 115 (max: 2,000)
LiceNest: 12
Whitebanner: 250 (max: 2,000)
Storg: 250 (max: 500)
Vic said.
I nodded. My army was closing in on 2,000 soldiers, and the amount of militia I could raise, when fully restored in a few weeks, would be triple that amount. Of course, a mobilized force was inferior to my own troops. I couldn’t resurrect them, though they restored themselves over time, and aside from Akzar, which specialized in warfare, most of the mobilized soldiers were lower level than mine.
I switched over to the Breeder’s Den Interface to check on my available food for summoning new troops.
Breeder’s Den
Basic food available: 21,030
Advanced food available: 663
Exquisite food available: 718
I had already concluded that summoning hobgoblin lieutena
nts was far better than calling up normal warriors. Lieutenants cost more, and though they were only marginally stronger than the normal soldiers, they more than made up for the extra cost by coming into the world as named, autonomous individuals. But they required advanced food. With my current stocks, I could only summon 33 of them. The amount of exquisite food was sufficient to summon a new batch of goblin healers, but they also required advanced food.
Kaedric, I projected my thoughts through my enchanted earring. See if you can shift food ingredients from basic food to increase our advanced food yield.
Do it, I instructed. I cut the mental connection and turned my attention back to the Settlement Interface.
“Let’s see about the soldiers’ equipment,” I muttered and accessed the clan’s inventory, filtering the list to show combat gear.
Inventory [Weapons & Armor]
● Willow shortbows: 103
● Hob steel armor: 2,152
● Hob kobold-scaled armor: 42
● Weapons (assorted): 2,152
● Hob shields: 1,110
● Ogre spiked mace: 38
● Ogre leather armor: 34
The amount of gear was more than satisfying. Reading the line of kobold-scaled armor brought a smile to my face. After butchering a few hundred kobolds on our way to rescue the captured players, we’d collected the scales they left behind. It took a little while, but our crafters came up with a way to incorporate them into our oxsaurian leather armor, improving it significantly.
Our successful conquests had netted my clan some hefty rewards. I could only hope it would be enough to support us against the powerful enemies we would meet soon.
I had to conquer Everance, free the imprisoned players, find David Tenenbaum, decipher the rest of the tablet, locate the VI conduit, and hopefully find a way to free every last player from the digital prison NEO had turned into.
Life Reset: Salvation (Life Reset - Neo Book 6) Page 3
