As if she didn’t believe Jason, she walked up to the deer. By chance, it just so happened that the deer stepped on Tank. That was when something miraculous happened. The deer's foot passed right through Tank’s body. It was like they existed in separate dimensions. Jason chuckled. “See?”
Tank let out a curious squeak before returning to her food. When they both finished, Jason picked up Tank and flew into the sky. Soon, the sun would be rising, which would signal the start of another day. Jason planned to challenge himself. He wanted to annihilate the first monster wave without a single casualty. He figured that nobody else had done so before.
Chapter 3
A week later, Jason beamed in delight as he looked down upon his flourishing kingdom. No longer was it a small settlement that would collapse at the smallest threat. Now, it was a bustling village with one hundred and fifty villagers.
The village was shaped in a square with well-developed dirt roads. In the center was the storage facility, now tier four. Made of stone instead of wood, it could store up to ten thousand resources. Over the past day, Jason had been stockpiling resources, and as of this moment, his storage was full.
During the past week, the nearby forest had been cut back quite a bit, giving the village sight of the surrounding landscape, as well of plenty of land to be developed. It’s time to get ready for the battle. Jason cracked his fingers. It was time to go all out. He purchased two buildings; a smithy and a barracks. The buildings instantly appeared in the desired locations.
Under the units section of his screen, two new units appeared. A spearman and a swordsman. Each cost twice as much as a villager. A spearman didn’t deal as much damage and had less health, but the increased range made them less likely to die. These two units didn’t appear out of thin air like villagers. Instead, a villager was converted into a different unit type. Thankfully Jason had plenty of villagers to spare.
Jason recalled how many monsters would appear during the first monster wave. Considering that his goal was to prevent anybody from dying, he needed to overwhelm the monsters by having superior numbers.
He spent half of his remaining resources purchasing fifty spearmen. Such an army composition didn’t deal much damage, but he wasn’t finished. He spent his remaining resources on defenses. A five-foot-high palisade was erected around the village. On the inside was a platform for his spearmen to stand on. Like this, his spearmen would be able to attack without worry for their safety. This was something the swordsman unit wouldn’t be able to do.
If push came to shove, his villagers could join the fight. The only problem was that they only had tools for weapons, and their health was severely lacking. The monsters would massacre them. These fifty spearmen would have to hold.
Jason made sure to build a gate in each cardinal direction so that his villagers could continue to gather resources during the little time he had left.
As the sun neared the horizon, a horn suddenly sounded in the distance. Jason narrowed his eyes as he turned to face the noise. There, to the south, he saw something. Green creatures exited the forest, covered in leather armor and carrying crude weapons. They were goblins, with levels ranging from five to ten. To Jason, they were nothing much, but he was unable to participate in the fight. The problem was that his combat units were fresh recruits. They had no combat experience, meaning their morale would quickly fall should things go south. In addition, they had no combat skills.
Over the past week, Jason had prepared as much as he could. The only thing he could do was trust in his village. As the goblin horde approached, he sent out his will. His villagers ran back and forth in a panic, while his spearmen lined up on the palisade. When they saw the goblins, they froze and trembled in fear.
“Don’t be afraid! We have the defender’s advantage!” A youth with short brown hair called out to his brothers-in-arms.
“Defender’s advantage? What’s that?” The nearby spearmen asked in confusion.
The youth tapped the palisade with a grin. “See this? A goblin is only what, four feet tall? Up here, we must be giants to them!”
The spearmen glanced at their weapons and then over the palisade. Upon realizing that the youth’s words were true, their fear vanished into the wind.
As Jason watched from above, his eyebrows rose in surprise. A special unit? He focused on the youth with brown hair, whereupon a screen with detailed information appeared. Jason nodded his head. I was right. This kid Ronald has the makings of a leader.
Sometimes, a unit has a random chance of acquiring a skill. Ronald had the Brave passive skill, which allowed him to keep a cool head. Thanks to him, his spearmen were no longer trembling. With this being the case, Jason would make sure that Ronald would survive this battle. He had the makings of a hero unit. Jason shivered at the thought. If he could get a hero unit this early, the development of his kingdom would skyrocket.
The horn sounded again, this time followed by high-pitched shrieks. The goblins started to sprint at full speed. They would reach the palisade in a few moments. Just as Jason was about to send a command, Ronald called out. “Spears at the ready!”
The spearmen lowered their spears over the palisade, turning it into a barbed wall. The goblins charged forward recklessly, hollering all the way. Their war cries quickly turned into screams. The frontline was littered with holes as they turned into shish-kebabs.
There were multiple flashes of light as the first goblins died. The goblins behind them were undeterred. Unlike normal goblins, they held no fear. Their mission was simple: destroy the village at any cost. When they reached the palisade, they hacked at it with their weapons.
The palisade trembled underneath the spearmen, making them stagger. One fell forward over the palisade, screaming in horror. Up above, Jason clicked his tongue in annoyance. Just then, a hand stretched out and grabbed the falling spearman, stabilizing him. It was Ronald. “Watch your footing!”
After saving his fellow soldier, Ronald turned and stabbed out repeatedly. He cared not for accuracy. There was no need. As long as he pierced forward, he was sure to hit something. Suddenly, a green arrow facing up appeared above Ronald’s head. Only Jason could see this. When he did, his eyes glittered as he once again read Ronald’s information. He gained the Pierce skill! Jason clenched his hands in excitement. This kid would be his lucky star.
As the goblins hacked and slashed at the palisade, the durability of the wall fell. It was only made out of wood, so its health wasn’t the highest. Deep cuts covered the palisade. It was on the verge of collapsing.
Just as it was about to break, the last goblin fell to the ground, dead. The combination of fifty spearmen and palisade was too much for the first monster horde. They were completely outclassed.
Ronald raised his spear and roared, followed by the rest of the spearmen. Jason let out a sigh of relief. If the goblins had better equipment, the battle would have gone completely different. Thankfully, this was only the first monster wave, so the difficulty wasn’t that high.
After the spearmen finished celebrating, Jason commanded them to return to a non-combat state, except for a few. After the first week, monsters were allowed to roam freely. This meant the village would occasionally be beset by monsters. That meant patrols would now be mandatory. Not only that, but when villagers entered the forest for resources, there was a chance they would encounter monsters and be killed.
To counter this, Jason planned to set up a squad system. He would send squads into the forest to clear out the monsters nearest to the village. In this way his villagers would at least have some degree of protection.
As night fell, the village fell asleep. Only a few spearmen remained awake to patrol the palisade. Jason set up a shift system so that the spearmen on patrol would remain well rested. He also set up ten squads, each with five spearmen. The composition of the squad was lacking, to say the least. It was a problem to be fixed later. When he was finished, the sun once again rose over the hori
zon. With the speed set at sixteen times, night passed in less than an hour.
When his village awoke, the villagers and squads set out to perform their tasks.
There was one thing that left Jason full of anticipation. His goal was to complete the tower in less than five years. He had reached the middle floors in record time, but that was only because they were rather easy. From this moment on, it would take much longer to ascend. He had twenty years of catching up to do. That was what made this floor unique. He had the option of speeding things up by sixteen times. That meant if he used his experience in the kingdom-building floor he would be able to quickly catch up and surpass the other ascenders.
Just then, a report from a villager broke him away from his thoughts. As he read the notification, his eyes squinted in glee. A mine! To the east, a mine full of iron had been found. Finally, Jason would be able to start producing equipment for his units, but more importantly, for himself to consume.
Another notification came, which caused Jason to pause. The same villager that just made the report suddenly died. He could tell because the connection between them was severed. That meant one thing: there were monsters in the mine. Monsters which needed to be wiped out.
Jason cast out his will. Ronald received Jason’s command and turned to the east, calling out to his fellow squad members. “Follow me, my brothers and sisters!”
Chapter 4
Deep in the forest to the east was a giant crater, littered with chunks of raw iron. Wandering inside were level 15 rock golems. Considering that Ronald and his group of spearmen were all under level 10, Jason knew they were completely outmatched if they fought head-on. Not only were the golems a higher level, but Jason’s units had poor equipment.
As Jason’s thoughts spun, he ordered a group of villagers that were out scavenging to head over to the mine as fast as possible. Jason wanted to build structures at the top of the mine, but it was impossible unless a villager unit was nearby. When the villagers arrived, Jason began his plan.
Wooden walls were erected at the top of the mine, creating a narrow passageway. It was so narrow that only a single golem would be able to pass through at a time. When the structures were finished, Jason began the next phase of the plan.
Ronald looked down from the top of the mine, watching as the golems wandered aimlessly. Just then, he received a divine command. He slid down the side of the mine, sending rocks and dirt flying in his wake. After making it a third of the way down, he slammed his spear into the ground, stopping himself. Not more than twenty feet away was a golem, turning in his direction from the noise. Upon seeing Ronald, it roared and stumbled over.
Ronald turned and climbed back up as fast as he could. The golem was hot on his tail. The roars grew closer. Ronald wanted to glance back, but decided that he couldn’t afford to waste a single moment. It was good that he didn’t, because just as he reached the top of the mine, he could feel its hand brushing against his back.
Heart pumping wildly, Ronald rushed down the narrow passageway created by the wooden walls. The golem followed after him, unaware of the trap that was about to be sprung.
“Now!” Ronald hollered as he turned around. On each side of the wooden wall, numerous spearmen suddenly appeared. They had been been hiding, waiting for Ronald’s command.
The golem froze to a halt. Its head was just a tad higher than the walls, so it got a good look at the spearmen. It wanted to raise its hands and swat them away, but found that it couldn’t. The passage was so narrow that it didn’t have enough room to raise its limbs. It felt a stinging pain as numerous spears slammed into its body. It roared and struggled, but the reinforced wooden walls held on.
A short minute later, the golem dispersed into light. Numerous spearmen leveled up, Ronald included. After a brief moment of respite, Ronald went to gather another golem.
An hour later, Jason nodded to himself. With the tactic of luring individual golems and ambushing them, Ronald’s squad leveled up several times, making them the highest-level squad under Jason’s command. With their new strength, they no longer needed to employ such tactics. They could fight the golems head-on.
By nightfall, the mine was cleared of monsters. Jason spent the majority of his resources to build a wooden wall around the mine. It was deep in the forest, and quite far from the village, so it was best to have a squad dedicated to protecting the mine from the occasional monster attack. That way his miners could harvest ore in peace. At the same time, he invested in building a mining outpost in the center of the mine. At tier one, it boosted mining speed by ten percent.
Jason planned to have his kingdom specialize in producing equipment. That meant he would need to supply his kingdom with a vast amount of ore. He wanted to transform this into an active mine by the end of the next day. After a moment of calculation, he decided to dedicate thirty villagers to the mine. Jason also didn’t forget to begin building a road between his village and the mine. Efficiency was key to growth.
Two days later, Jason inspected the information on his village. He couldn’t help but be pleased at its progress. Less than two weeks since the village was created, he had almost two hundred villagers and a hundred spearmen. Thanks to the river, he had a steady supply of food.
Now that the iron mine was up and running, the village gained a steady supply of iron ore. That meant it was time to upgrade the smithy to tier two. A tier two smithy was able to forge iron ore into iron bars, which could then be used to create iron equipment. With iron equipment in hand, Jason would be able to outfit his spearmen with it, boosting their survivability and damage.
Everything was progressing smoothly. The only thing that Jason wanted now was a gold mine, but that was being greedy. It was already great that he found a river and iron mine so early.
As Jason watched his villagers run here and there, he fell into thought. Maybe I could…? He glanced at his resources before coming to a decision. It was early, much too early, but his village was progressing rapidly. Because of that, he decided to build a research center.
After consuming quite a bit of stone and wood, a large building appeared near the center of the village. It was filled with books and scrolls. Jason scrolled through his villager’s information and picked out five villagers with the highest intelligence stat. He changed their roles to researcher.
A tier one research building only allowed five units to research at a time, while a tier two building allowed ten, but it was way too expensive to upgrade. Jason could do it, but it would drastically slow down the development of his village. It wasn’t worth the risk.
A research building was the most important building a kingdom could have, besides maybe a royal palace or god statue, but those things were basically a money sink. Jason was still years away from being able to build those. Until then, a research building was considered the most important.
A research building had one function: the ability to unlock new technologies. It didn’t cost anything to research, unless you counted time as a resource. Jason had a plethora of options to pick from. He could research a bow to unlock the archer unit, a farm to unlock farming, a wheel to unlock carriages, stone walls, and many other things.
For now, Jason focused on one thing. Growth, growth, growth! He needed to catch up to the other ascenders and surpass them. He couldn’t afford to waste time here. With that being the case, a farm it was. With farming, he would gain access to an unlimited amount of food. The only thing that mattered with farming was how much land one had access too. The more land, the more food.
When ascenders started building farms in the alternate timeline, they didn’t account for one thing. A very important thing. Monster attacks. When monsters attacked, they would destroy all of the farms they came across. Ascenders learned the hard way that when one started to farm, it drastically increased the amount of land one had to protect.
Jason wasn’t worried. He already had a hundred spearmen
before the second monster wave. The monster wave would be handled with ease. In addition, the nearby forest was filled with squads on patrol. Jason set it up so that no monster would be able to slip through.
It would take five days for farming to be researched. Until then, Jason made sure his woodcutters continued to cut back the forest. The more space he had, the more farms he could create.
Before he knew it, the second monster wave arrived. Two hundred goblins marched from every direction towards his village. As they passed by the iron mine, they destroyed the mining outpost and wooden walls. Thankfully, Jason already sent his miners back to the village, lest they be killed in the attack.
The morale of his units was at an all-time high, largely due to the perfect victory last week. No longer did the spearmen cower on the walls. No, they faced the monster horde without fear.
After less than an hour, the monsters were killed. Another perfect victory.
Chapter 5
As Jason was celebrating with Tank, his communication necklace trembled. He willed the connection to form. “What’s up?”
One word came from the other side. “Training.”
“Now? ” Jason rolled his eyes.
Olivia invoked the sacred oath Jason had sworn not long ago. “You promised.”
Jason’s eyebrow twitched. “Fine. Meet me at the colosseum in ten minutes.”
“If you aren’t there…” Her voice trailed off.
“I’ll honor my word.” Jason groaned inwardly. This girl is so needy.
With that, the connection was severed. Jason shook his head before performing a final check on his kingdom. After confirming that there were no problems, he paused time itself. The villagers, and even the wind, halted. It’s better to play it safe. Only when the kingdom was fully self-sufficient and there was no chance of the kingdom randomly collapsing would Jason keep time running when he was outside of the kingdom-building floor. Before then, it wasn’t worth the risk.
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