“Alright alright,” I surrendered. I just woke up and wasn’t up for an argument, “Whatever you say.”
A full day has passed. I checked my Interface. The Stonemason produced two stones yesterday, and by tomorrow will provide a total of about 7.5 stones, 75 bricks. At my current rate, the brick molding process would provide additional 28 pieces in 16 hours of work, so we’ll have just enough to supply the Shrine’s requirements.
I shook my head, by that calculation, we’ll only have enough brick by the end of day three. And that was too late. Our deadline was at midnight of that day, and the Builders won’t have enough time to do the actual construction work by the time they’ll receive all the stone. We had to produce more before then. So, if we work all day and all night, up until tomorrow morning, for 32 hours… We can make...56 more bricks! More than enough! I was saved!
It was decided. I spent the rest of the day making more molds, While Vic kept refilling them. By the end of the day, we had 12 molds and 21 new bricks.
The worker kept hauling the bricks up to the surface, and once again brought us dinner. After making 12 molds, I couldn’t stand the sight of them. My connection to Vic had a range limitation, so I had to remain here so Vic could keep filling the molds. I slept while Vic worked through the night.
After hard and tedious work, we met our quota. In the last two days, we managed to produce a total of 81 bricks. That meant having just over 8 construction worthy stones.
This endeavor made it clear how important stone production was for my village. I promised myself I would summon a second Stonemason as soon as we had more picks. I had spent a little bit over two days in this dark claustrophobic tunnel, and enough was enough.
“Alright Vic, we’ve accomplished our goal. Let’s get out of here, I miss the sun.”
Vic shrugged, “I didn’t know you two were on such good terms, but count me in, I got bored of playing with burning hell dough.”
We gathered our things, leaving twenty-something bricks in a neat pile for the worker to carry out. Then we finally left the cave.
While we were making our way back, I received a pleasant surprise. Tal replied to my message.
New Era Online [Internal messaging service]:
From: SuperWolf#23
Subject: RE: Another question from your green pal
Hi Bro,
It’s been over half a day since your last message, so I guess things are serious. I looked up some references in the company’s database, and what I’ve found is…not good. When the game was being developed, bosses of tier 7 and higher received an ability called ‘Devourer’. It basically meant that they could permanently destroy any creature, even players, by fixing their respawn point in an instant-death location (usually their belly). Initially, the designers thought the extra danger would make epic bosses more feared and would add to the realism, but testing showed that players really didn’t like losing their character permanently (imagine that). So Guy was tasked with disposing of all the bosses that had that ability. I heard he unleashed some sort of an in-game armageddon type war to accomplish that. As unlikely as it seems, it looks like he missed one. *Sigh* looks like you keep unwrapping more and more bugs in the game. I’m afraid it’s entirely possible this boss could make good on his threat… I advise you to do anything in your power to mollify him. If I don’t hear from you in the next 6 hours (3 days for you), I’m going to start rounding up friends and allies to raid that son of a bitch. We’ll get you out, no matter what, but it might take me a few days to get a proper raid party together… Stay strong man, I believe in you.
-Tal
Thanks for the warning Tal, I’ll sure try my best to avoid spending eternity in a black void of perpetual torture, I thought darkly. Though it was nice to know that if all else had failed, someone out there was going to mount a rescue operation.
When we got back to the village, I accessed the Settlement Interface, and checked the Buildings and Construction menu:
Buildings and Construction
Max Constructor skill: 12
Builders count: 4 (skills 12, 11, 7, 6)
Daily BP base: 41 (11 + 10.5 + 8.5 + 11)
Under construction: Shrine (82/100 BP), Construction Yard (33/80 BP)
The Shrine construction seemed to be progressing nicely.
Right next to the cave stood a neat stack of bricks most of them lava-made. It should be sufficient for the Shrine requirements. I looked up toward the stone shelf and saw Zuban energetically directing and helping the two Apprentice ranked Builders to assemble the Shrine.
“HI, Zuban,” I called over to him “How goes the work?”
“We have everything that we need now, Esteemed Totem. The workers’ morale is a bit of a hindrance, but we’ll keep working as long as it takes. We should be finished a few hours before midnight though.”
“Good, keep it up!” I called back. Zuban himself seemed a bit tired and less energetic than usual. The expected time to finish was a little closer than I would like, but there was nothing I could do about it, except wait. But… I frowned, what did Zuban meant by morale being a hindrance?
I opened the Interface again, and saw with shock that efficiency was down to -14%! What was going on!? There was the usual -5% penalty for using crude tools and -3% for low support infrastructure, but the morale penalty, which until now was -2% has grown to -6%. I had to get to the bottom of this.
“Vic, can you summarize all the data you have about settlement morale in a separate menu?” I asked my companion.
“Hmm… sure boss. Aaaand done. Go ahead, check it out.”
I did. The Interface now had a new tab, simply called ‘Morale’. I clicked on it, and a new menu appeared.
Morale Information
Total morale: -30 (Positive morale grants bonuses. Negative morale doubles penalties)
Effect: -6% total efficiency, -0.6% daily EP.
One-time modifiers: --
Dynamic modifiers: --
Continuous modifiers:
● Lack of lodging: -27
● Longer work day: -5
● Guba’s special stew: +2
What the hell!? Why didn’t anyone tell me morale was so important for NPCs? In my ignorance, it seems, I had ignored a very important element in NPC settlement development. Morale mattered here.
I reviewed the morale penalties. Lack of lodging had increased negative effect on morale. The most logical conclusion for that would be that I kept summoning new goblins, without providing lodging for the existing ones, so the morale kept getting lower and lower. The workers, also, apparently didn’t appreciate the longer work hours. Well…Zuban did warn me it might happen. Once the shrine was completed they could go back to normal work days, which should take care of that penalty. Lack of Lodging also explained what the ‘Continuous modifier’ category meant, it was for ongoing effects. Guba’s special stew bonus was also a complete surprise. I never questioned why Guba made the same stew day after day when it was obvious the goblins could just eat basic food, similar to the food I supplied the Breeder’s Den. Now it was clear, it gave a small morale bonus! I knew that different types of high-quality food grant bonuses, but I never thought of analyzing Guba’s daily stew. My appreciation for our gruff chemist-turned-cook deepened at the realization. Perhaps a proficient cook would be able to prepare food with even a higher morale bonus? I wondered. Wait a minute... I thought with sudden realization. I quickly accessed the construction menu again and viewed the available buildings. Here it is:
Mess Hall, large: Public dining place. Includes a kitchen, increase food production by 10%, increases morale by 20.
Required resources: 140 wood, Constructor: Novice, assigned cook, 250
There it was, that small piece of information I kept ignoring. The Mess Hall improves morale by 20 points! It was safe to assume that good quality food was a large part of that bonus. Well, that building just got a higher priority. I thought, then grimaced. There was so much to do, so much to build. It was a go
od thing that the Construction Yard was being built right now, it will help improve our construction speed. I really need to get two more Builders for Zuban, then he’ll have six, the maximum he can currently manage. That would speed up things nicely, and I would finally be able to build some houses for my goblins.
Well, there was nothing more I could do about it now, but I had plenty of errands to run. I went over to the campfire to find Guba. She was at the fire, cooking fish in a frying pan, concentration deeply. With her free hand, she was sprinkling herbs over the fish. As I looked, the pan sizzled louder and louder, the fish began to smoke, then to char. Guba swore under her breath and with a flick of her wrist launched the ruined fish at a small pile of burnt fish on the ground. I winced at the waste of my precious food supply. There was no alternative, I had to have more Advanced Food, and the Herbal Seasoned Fish was the only advanced recipe Guba knew.
“Hi Guba,” I said as I approached, not wanting to startle her.
“So, you been back, eh?” She replied in her usual gruff manner. “I been starting to think you was lost in that cave.”
“Nope,” I replied curtly. “How goes the fish frying business?”
She made a face, “I’m still burning about half the fish.” Her face lighted up as she smiled, “But I had some success as well. Luck was smiling, it’s been a wee bit more than half the fishies I managed to cook properly.”
“Excellent news,” I beamed at her. Lucky Bastard was beginning to be the most beneficial skill in my arsenal.
Vic was rummaging around in the clan’s food pile, so I decided to get an update on our inventory. “Vic, tell me what’s the status of our food stocks please.”
“Hmmm, looks like 30 raw meat, 7 units of gathered edibles, 14 gathered ingredients and…12 units of advanced food, boss.”
Twelve already! The new Cook was as good as here. That meant I needed that Mess Hall up as soon as possible. But the damn thing required 140 wood!
“Vic, what’s our wood supply looks like?”
“We have 21 raw logs, 44 timbers.”
I sighed; I’ll need another Woodcutter or a Lumber Mill, or else - what I dreaded most - I would have to roll up my sleeves and go pick a fight with some trees again. I shook my head, it was too much information to handle at the moment, and it still remained to be seen if I’ll survive to see the next morning.
I had one more thing to check.
“Guba, would you look at these mushrooms. Do you know if they can be used for anything?” I showed her the samples of the two most common mushrooms I found in the cave, the Cave Dew, and Roundhound mushrooms.
“Hmm…” She squinted her eyes as she carefully examined the mushrooms. “Both be good eating.” She finally replied. ”If you have enough of them, it’s a good day’s meal. They can also be used as ingredients if you know the proper recipes. WHICH I DON’T,” She quickly emphasized. “Where did you find those?”
“Back in the cave,” I motioned in the general direction. And there were loads more, these mushrooms could turn out to be a great find!
“Humph! Then I suggest you’ll send our Gatherer to harvest them as soon as possible. Ye’ can feed a whole army on ‘shrooms alone, if ye’ got enough of ‘em.”
Right, the Gatherer skill did mention something about harvesting.
“Vic, find the Gatherer please, show him the mushroom cave and have him start harvesting edible mushrooms.” The mushroom chamber was close to the cave’s entrance, well inside our connection's range.
“Oh, alright,” Vic said without much enthusiasm and walked away.
“One more thing, Guba,” I looked at her and held out my closed hand. She looked at it curiously, bewildered. I slowly opened my closed fist, to display the two gallbladders I got in the cave. Guba’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Wonderful!” she murmured as she inspected the two small items still in my hand. “It’s been awhile since I seen one of those.”
"Here you go,” I handed her the gallbladders. “How soon can you make me some more permanent potions?”
She absentmindedly took the items from me, as she pondered the question.
“See…” She slowly started. I immediately got the feeling I wouldn’t like what she was going to say next.
“Thing is… I need more than just them ingredients… I got none of the required tools with me; you see…”
I sighed. I hate being right sometimes.
“What do you need then?”
“A proper Chemist’s set, or better yet, a proper Chemist’s Lab.”
Quest update: Gallbladders for Guba
In order to make more Minor Permanent Health Potion, Guba needs the rare gallbladder of cave dwelling creatures. Bring her some. Additionally, she requires access to either a Chemist’s set, or a Chemist’s Lab.
Quest Type: simple, repeatable.
Reward: a potion per gallbladder. Reputation with Guba: +50 per gallbladder. XP
Reward (repeatable): 200 XP, 100 reputation with Guba.
Current rank: Friendly. Points to next rank: 2380
Level up! You have reached Character Level 12. You have 1 ability point to allocate.
That was amusing. I needed exactly 200 XP for a level up, and Guba awarded them to me. But the new quest requirement was a going to be a problem. I sighed again. Because I didn’t have access to any markets, getting a chemistry set was out of the question. The Chemist Lab was available in the Construction menu, but it required all sorts of construction resources I couldn’t access yet, glass for one. Besides that, it had a monstrous BP requirement of 400 points. That would stop any other construction for a long time. No, the Chemist Lab was out of the question for now.
“Now leave me be!” Guba said sharply, “It’s time for the evening stew!”
Now that I knew how beneficial the stew was for morale, I didn’t dare argue.
Since I just gained a new level, I accessed my character sheet, then hesitated, considering where to invest my new ability point. I was a clan leader and mayor of a settlement now. Lately, I’ve been feeling I ought to have more Social related skills, things to boost my goblins’ morale and maybe increase efficiency as well. I shook my head. No, I had bigger troubles closing on me from all sides. The looming hobgoblin menace, wandering players, the untrustworthy beast in the cave. In short, my personal combat power was a priority for now. Security was paramount. When this area is safe, I can concentrate on developing my Social skills. So for the time being, I had to invest the new points into Mental. I opened my character sheet, and did just that, increasing my Mental ability to 14.
I was just about to head back to my house when I heard a small Ding sound and the indication for a new message appeared. That’s weird, I didn’t expect Tal to be messaging me again so soon.
I opened the message. This time, it wasn’t from Tal.
New Era Online [Internal messaging service]:
From: Legal#298
Subject: Official notification
Mr. Berman,
following your contract with the company, I hereby inform you that the parameters for your conditions have been met. We have successfully located two willing individuals with sufficient cerebral connectivity, who have agreed to sign our enhanced user terms agreement. They will be joining you in the game shortly. The players have been informed of your existence. However, far as they know, you are an Alpha tester of some new features in the game.
Per your signed NDA with the company, you ARE NOT TO INFORM THEM of your unique circumstances, including, but not limited to your inability to log out. The two individuals are undergoing their character creation at this moment and should arrive at your location shortly.
Sincerely,
Suzanne de’More.
Legal dept
Well, it’s about damn time! I thought with satisfaction. Allowing new players to join and support me was one of the conditions I demanded in my conversation with that lawyer bastard, Mr. Emery. I had no idea why he agreed, since allowing other
players to interact with me could only put the company in jeopardy. But I was sure, being the weasel that he was, he knew how to cover his bases. For all I knew, he was going to sell the ability to experience time dilation as a new feature of the game, and make a killing out of it while he was at it. Or, he could even be testing me, sending in a couple of his men to check if I kept my word and remained silent when given the opportunity to go public. Or, they could be genuine players, fascinated with the idea of playing as mobs. Either way, I should handle them with care, when they arrive.
Usually, new players spawned in graveyards, so I sent Vrick, Bek and the warriors to guard the cemetery, emphasizing they should show any newcomers all possible courtesy.
There was nothing else to do about it until they arrive, so I made my way back to my house. I sat on the floor, my back against the wall and opened the Settlement Interface. I started playing around with the settings, with nothing really to do. As I sat, my discomfort grew, it was quite depressing to have a nice house, with no furniture. Soon my back started to hurt. How I longed to have a simple chair, I would even be willing to settle on a rickety stool. I sighed, for now, the floor would have to suffice.
I kept glancing at the Shrine’s progress every few minutes. 81/100 BP… 82/100 BP…. 83/100 BP…
It was getting dark, the Shrine would be ready soon enough. I got back up and went to the main campfire. All my goblins, except the Builders and the Stonemason were present. Shit, I forgot about the stonemason. I realized with alarm. I better stop her from working more overtime, or her morale will go so low he won’t be effective anymore, “Vic, let the stonemason know she can take it easy, will ya?”.
Life Reset: A LitRPG Novel (New Era Online Book 1) Page 44
