The Land: Swarm: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 5)

by Aleron Kong

  The elf only knew how to construct a few rings and bracelets, and sadly, was too low in both the Crafting and Enchanting skills to teach Richter how to make magic items, but still Richter had learned to make simple rings. He had started carrying coils of high steel wire around with him to make braided rings and bracelets in his spare time. It was monotonous, but it had allowed him to slowly increase his Crafting skill.

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 3 in Crafting. +1% Enchantment Potential. +1% Success in combining components.

  Even if he had the requisite skills, Richter wasn’t sure that he could afford to make a portal yet. From talking with Randolphus about the materials, it was going to cost him roughly four thousand gold to build a single portal. If the chamberlain’s records were correct, which they always were, he had about forty-four hundred gold in hard coins. The chamberlain said that the jewels he possessed should be worth another twenty to thirty thousand gold and the Tefonim jewelry would hopefully sell for another several thousand gold, but Randolphus stressed the word “should.” The last easily tradeable good Richter had were the kobold coins. The common ones were worth another five thousand or so, and there were also dozens of Dark Khan coins that Randolphus said should sell from anywhere between one hundred and one thousand gold each.

  The problem was that the village was in a forest, weeks away from civilization. If they had to rely on Abbas, Randolphus warned that they would take heavy losses both in buying and selling. The best idea would be to make a trading expedition personally, but they would need Shiovana’s ship to do that. The elvish woman said it was still weeks away from completion. The conclusion was simple. If Richter wanted to build the portal, they would have to leave the safety of the forest. With the threat of the bugbears, goblins, and worsening monster attacks, this was not a decision to be made lightly.

  After the conversation, Richter shook his head, frustrated. Barely a month before, he had delighted in the fact that that he was rich, and by the standards of Earth or The Land, he had been right. Now that he was looking at his wealth through the lens of needing to build up his settlement, though, and not simply one man’s finances, the truth was that he didn’t have that much. One thing became abundantly clear: he needed to work on his village’s economy.

  Richter looked regretfully at the advanced portal techs a final time and realized that between the high research costs and the practical difficulties of even building a portal, he couldn’t justify researching them yet. He closed that prompt and read the last waiting notification.

  Know This! As Master of a Place of Power, you are granted one base research point per day for each magic that comprises your node of ley lines.

  Richter closed the prompt. The math was pretty easy. It meant that at baseline, his village would earn four research points a day. The question was, how many research points had he earned by this point? Richter opened the town interface and quickly found the science tab.

  Available Research Points (RP): 436

  Daily Earned Research: 4.48 RP/day

  1) 1 Point per Ley Lines: 4 Total

  2) 0.1 Points per level of Research Skill*: 0.00 *Normal research restrictions apply

  Research Rate Modifiers: +12% rate for House of Scholarship (level 1)

  Richter examined the information in the prompt. He was happy that he had been earning research points, or RPs, since he had claimed the village, though it was a bit of a shock that he had been the Master of his Place of Power for more than a hundred days. The time had flown by. He got lost in reviewing everything that had happened to him for a moment, but then focused back on the task at hand. With four hundred and thirty-six RPs, he should be able to power through at least one or two of the low-level techs. How he would ever earn enough to research one of the portal techs, he had no idea, but at least this was a start.

  Richter didn’t understand how the Research skill came into play. He also didn’t want to start research something when if he made another choice, an even better tech might be revealed down the line. Fortunately, both of the Scholars had immediately entered their new building. He walked over to where they were already arguing good-naturedly about who got the ‘good’ room.

  “Bartle, Bea, I need a moment,” Richter said.

  “My lord?” Bea asked.

  “Of course, Lord Richter,” Bartle said promptly.

  “I am trying to choose the first tech for the village to research now that we have this new building. Most of the tech tree that I can see is greyed out, though. I thought you two could tell me what is available after I research these initial techs.” Richter ran through the sciences that were available for research.

  Bartle didn’t interrupt, but when Richter stopped his recitation, the Scholar shook his head, “I am afraid we will not be able to be of much help, my lord. The question of what lies in the Fog of Knowledge has plagued wise men and kings for millennia.”

  Richter could hear the special emphasis Bartle placed on “Fog of Knowledge.” Bea was nodding his head and spoke up as well, “Yes, Lord Richter. The problem is that the tech tree changes for each settlement and race that is pursuing research.”

  The chaos seed furrowed his brow and sighed. Everything just had to be difficult. He motioned for the Scholars to continue.

  “Neither I, nor Bea, are experts in the field of research, despite being Scholars,” Bartle started. “We both focused on the scribing arts, though I do have a skill level of twenty-three in Research. Bea has…,”

  “A skill level of seventeen,” the other Scholar supplied.

  Bartle picked up where he had left off, “The reason no one can know what is hidden in the Fog of Knowledge is that it varies based on multiple factors. The location of your village, the presence of ley lines, the buildings which have been constructed, the resources in the general area, and many other considerations affect what technologies can be discovered. Sometimes even the time of year that research is being done will change what techs are available. Many branches of research can only be studied by a specific race. For instance, I have heard of a tech called Ambient Particles that can only be learned by star elves. It opens a path of unique magic for their people.”

  “Okay, I think I follow you,” Richter said, though it still didn’t make sense to him why one type of person could research something that another group could not. That was the entire point of science. It was immutable and indiscriminate. Of course, that was based upon his view of Earth science. The same science that would say waving his hand and speaking an incantation shouldn’t make fire shoot from his fingers, but Richter had definitely been lighting bitches up.

  Ultimately, he decided not to pull too hard on the logic thread. Scientists back home couldn’t even explain how a bumblebee could fly. Besides, he now thought that he understood about how his Limitless ability was coming into play with the village’s research. His people had the chance to learn techs that had previously only been available to specific races. It might give his village a real edge in the future. There was one more question he needed to ask, “I still don’t understand how the Research skill translates into research points.”

  “That is actually easy to explain,” Bea answered. “Anyone with the Research skill can contribute to the research points for a settlement. Each skill level equals one tenth of a research point.”

  Richter nodded. It seemed straight forward enough. It didn’t explain the asterisk, though; that had spoken about ‘restrictions.’ “Is there anything else to it?”

  “As with all things, my lord,” Bea answered, “there are many factors that can affect the final amount of research generated, but there is one other thing that I believe you should know now. The rank of a researcher determines how much total research can be generated in a given span. Novices, for instance, no matter how many are working on a given tech, can only generate ten research points per day in a level one settlement like this. You cannot decipher the secrets of the universe with one billion level one researchers. Certain buildings or
techs can alter that limit somewhat, but a good rule of thumb is that each rank has an upper limit that is ten times as large as the rank below it. Both Bartle and I are initiates in the Research skill, so our maximum contribution would be one hundred RPs per day, though we are obviously well shy of that goal. It advances from there until you reach the rank of master. With enough master researchers, you could theoretically generate a million research points each day towards a specific tech. As far as I know, however, there are no master researchers on the entire River Peninsula.”

  “The other point I would add,” Bartle said, “is that the RPs generated by researchers are only a potential daily yield. Having someone who has the research skill, but is spending their days as guardsmen will not aid in discovering new techs. It takes several hours of work each day for a person to generate their maximal research points, and that amount of time varies depending on the many factors, such as the researchers familiarity with a given topic of study.” His lips twisted in mild distaste, “That is why both Bea and I focused on scribing instead.” Bea nodded vigorously. The fact that neither Scholar liked doing research was obvious.

  Richter heaved a big sigh when he saw that, “Sooooo, here’s what I’m going to need you to do…” The Scholars listened to him attentively, but as he spoke, both their faces and their spirits fell.

  CHAPTER 42 -- Day 127 -- Kuborn 17, 15368 EBG

  There was a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth, but ultimately the scribes bent to Richter’s will. They both agreed to make research their primary responsibility each day. A quick check of tech window showed that the number of daily research points had increased.

  Total Research Points (RP): 436

  Daily Earned Research: 8.96 RP/day

  1) 1 Point per Ley Lines: 4 Total

  2) 0.1 Points per level of Research Skill*: 4.0 *Normal research restrictions apply

  Research Modifiers: +12% for House of Scholarship

  Randolphus was present, helping to coordinate the last minute needs of the scholars. After a quick check of the Knowledge Tablet, the chamberlain said that there were twelve other villagers, most of them arcane gnomes, that were listed as having the Research skill. Richter grimaced at hearing how few of his people could advance the village’s pursuit of technology. Randolphus told him that the small number was not surprising. He further explained that it would be rare for anyone to even be tested for the skill, so more villagers might have it and simply did not know.

  As soon as Richter heard that, he made a proclamation. Every villager, including the children, was to be tested for an affinity in Research. Randolphus then asked a question that gave him pause, though. “Should people be forced into research if they want to do a different job, my lord?”

  Richter waffled on that for a moment, but only for a moment. He wouldn’t be running a forced labor camp, but he also wasn’t offering a free lunch. “Anyone already pursuing a specific position, can remain in it, but make it clear that incentives will be offered if they would like to switch. Any of the dozens of unskilled villagers that are getting a wage, though, will be assigned under the Scholars.” He didn’t think it would be a hard sell seeing as how the unskilled villagers were normally used for the dirtiest, and smelliest, duties.

  Richter gave the Scholars one more responsibility, the education of the village’s children. Every child from the age of six to the age of maturity, fourteen, was to attend classes for three hours every morning until the noonday meal. Any adults that were not otherwise occupied were also welcome to attend the classes, regardless of age. Richter said he would leave the specific topics to be covered in the hands of the scribes. He also said that they were welcome to have other villagers lead the classes as guest lecturers. The Scholars were given permission to say that Richter ‘strongly recommended’ that other villagers cooperate. Surprisingly, both Bea and Bartle seemed intrigued by this latest duty, though they were still not happy about having to do research every day.

  Before he left, Richter decided to sweeten the pot. He took a folded piece of paper out of his Bag of Holding. They watched him while he slowly unfolded it, and then their eyes widened when they saw that it was a copy of the rubbing he had gotten from the runes near the Dark magic portal. Both Scholars immediately forgot about their reservations and started pouring over the two sheets of paper. They both knew that they would have to advance in various techs before they could formally research Runes, but having a tangible reminder of the knowledge that could one day be at their fingertips lit a fire in them. Richter left the two men with a smug smile, feeling confident that they would do what was needed to drive research in the village.

  All that remained was to decide what branch of research to pursue. For Richter, it was pretty much a no-brainer. He chose to play to the village’s strengths, namely, his Core buildings and his own ability to enchant. The chaos seed made his choice. A bright light appeared in the sky and a white beam descended onto the house of scholarship.

  Know This! Anyone relevant who belongs to your settlement will now be able to access this information!

  Congratulations! You have researched: Smithing Tools I. Smiths in your settlement will now have an increased chance to make higher quality weapons and armor.

  You now have 229 Free Research Points available.

  You have unlocked new research!

  Smithing Tools II. Cost: 396 Research Points. Refine the tools used to create the weapons of your people. Successful research will increase the chance of your smiths to create arms and armor of higher qualities.

  Two more techs were revealed branching off of Smithing Tools II, and the fog rolled back.

  Keen Edge I. Cost: 362 Research Points. Edged weapons created by your smith will have 5% better armor penetration.

  Improved Balance I. Cost: 426 Research Points. Your smiths will learn to make weapons with better balance. Attack speed on anyone using these weapons will be improved by 5%.

  More filament stemmed from these two sphere and the Smithing Tools globe lit up. Part of Richter wanted to stop there, but he decided to take a chance on a tech that might show great dividends.

  Congratulations! You have researched: Astronomy I. Your people now have a rudimentary understanding of the movement of the stars, planets, and other cosmic bodies.

  You now have 177 Free Research Points available.

  You have unlocked new research!

  Astronomy II. Cost: 105 Research Points. Successful research will give your people a basic idea of how to predict the movement of the stars, planets, and other cosmic bodies.

  You have completed a Quest: My God! It’s Full of Stars I! You have obtained a rudimentary understanding of planetary bodies. As this was a villager supplied quest, your Administration skill increases.

  Reward: 625 experience (base 1,000 x 1.25 x 0.5) points.

  Reward: +5 village-wide Loyalty. Additional +5 Loyalty from Krom.

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 9 in Administration. +1% to Morale, Loyalty, and Production for your village.

  Richter had hoped that the tech would resolve the quest. He looked at the prompt and saw that two more spheres were revealed as the Fog of Knowledge was pushed back. The first didn’t interest him too much, but the next one made Richter want to do a happy dance. The Scholars stared at him because he decided to take a minute and actually dance!

  Astrology I: Cost: 117 Research Points. Obtaining this tech will give a rudimentary understanding of how the movements of the cosmos can predict events in The Land.

  Forge of Heavens: Cost: 138 Research Points. This technology will unlock a branch of research that is specific to your Core building, the Forge of Heavens. (Unique)

  Congratulations! Through your pursuit of knowledge, you have discovered a Unique Tech! Dedication to this line of research will give benefits that are exclusive to your Settlement!

  Richter couldn’t buy the second tech fast enough!

  You now have 39 Free Research Points available.

  Y
ou have unlocked new research!

  Learn Enchantments I (Forge of Heavens): Cost: 294 Research Points. This tech will increase the chance of the Forge learning new enchantments by 5%

  Predict Auspicious Times I (Forge of Heavens): Cost: 320 Research Points. The tech will provide knowledge of specific dates and times to forge weapons and armor to obtain extra effects.

  Elementum Bonus to Spell barriers I (Forge of Heavens): Cost: 438 Research Points. This tech will increase the spell barrier penetration of Forge of Heaven Weapons by 20%.

  Elementum Bonus to Spell Resistance I (Forge of Heavens): Cost: 437 Research Points. This tech will increase the spell resistance given to each piece of armor by 20%.

  More filaments branched off all of the new research spheres. It was a bit frustrating to not be able to afford any of these new techs, but it was also exciting to see the new possibilities. He chose Predict Auspicious Times I and a prompt appeared.

  You have 39 free research points available. Once they are assigned to a specific tech, they cannot be redistributed. Do you wish to assign these points to Predict Auspicious Times I (Forge of Heavens)? Yes or No?

  Richter reaffirmed his choice.

  The Mist Village has begun research on Predict Auspicious Times I (Forge of Heavens). Progression 39/320 RPs. Predicted time to completion: 31 days, 8 hours, 38 minutes and 24 seconds.

  Know This! Any future research must be invested directly into a specific tech. Further free Research Points may be earned in various ways.

  Now he was cooking! Richter did a fist pump. Then in response to the Scholars’ confused looks he described what a fist pump was. One thing was now clear to the chaos seed, research had to be a priority! A smile crossed his face as a cherished childhood memory rose in his mind. Knowledge is Power!